"You killed them?" The old clan leader Fulin was a bit taken aback.
"You should know that I had a feud with Baylin," Dudian said with a light smile. "When the consortium was investigating, they probably wouldn't have noticed a lowly junior hunter like me. If you were to investigate, you should be able to find out that when they were on a mission, I was also temporarily dispatched outside the Wall to cooperate with Glary in hunting down the Black Weaver."
The old clan leader Fulin was stunned. When Dudian mentioned Glary and the Black Weaver, he immediately recalled several major events that had occurred that year, and these two incidents happened to overlap.
"You, you weren't even a junior hunter at that time. At most, you were just a trainee hunter recruit. How could you possibly have killed Baylin? She was a middle-rank hunter!" The old clan leader Fulin said in disbelief.
Dudian glanced at his desk and smiled, saying, "If you've read the latest newspapers, you should know the news about the death of Deacon Hollett of the Tribunal."
The old clan leader Fulin was taken aback and suddenly widened his eyes, looking at Dudian in horror.
"That's right, I killed him too," Dudian said with a smile.
The old clan leader Fulin couldn't help but ask, "He was a deacon of the Tribunal. Why did you kill him?"
"The main driving force behind my imprisonment back then was his judgment document," Dudian smiled slightly and said, "I'm telling you these two things just to let you know that if I wanted to, your Lane family would be completely destroyed tonight. Please believe this for sure!"
The old clan leader Fulin's pupils shrank slightly. He stared blankly at Dudian. After a long silence, he suddenly seemed a bit tired. A lot of sweat seeped out on his old face, and he could no longer hide the trembling of his body. He slowly sat back in his chair and said, "So, I have no choice?"
Dudian stroked his chin and thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Hmm, it seems there really is no choice. Unless... you choose to maintain the noble character of a noble, insist on opposing the criminal, and then be gloriously exterminated. In that case, perhaps in the historical records of later generations, you can leave a glorious record, and you won't be Shameful for the ancestors of the Lane family."
The old clan leader Fulin smiled bitterly and said, "You don't need to mock me. Since you were able to escape from the Thistle Flower Prison, I knew that you were no ordinary person. Perhaps the Baylin team was really killed by you. Anyway, you have the strength to kill an old man like me. Even for the sake of saving my own life, I will agree to you. However, if Deacon Hollett was really killed by you, the Tribunal will definitely find out. Even if I bail you out, you will be sent back to prison and executed immediately!"
Dudian smiled and said, "Don't worry about this. I have my own way to deal with it."
The old clan leader Fulin couldn't help but look at him, hesitated to speak, and finally held back his question, saying, "Since you have your own plan, I won't say much. However, the mine in Red Leaf Mountain can hardly produce any more ore. It's almost a useless mine. Even if we sell it, it's hard to get a high price for it."
Dudian smiled and said, "A mine is like a person. As long as you dress it up a bit, even if it was originally ugly, it can look presentable after some modification. I believe I don't need to go into details about how to do it specifically."
The old clan leader Fulin gave him a deep look and said, "I understand."
Dudian slowly walked up to the desk and said, "It's getting late. You can write the bail letter now and ask a servant to send it to the Tribunal to submit the bail application."
The old clan leader Fulin's face changed slightly. He stared at the teenager carefully. Finally, he sighed in his heart and said, "I can probably believe that Baylin and the others really died at your hands." As he spoke, he took out some writing paper from the drawer, filled the quill pen with ink, and began to write.
Dudian watched quietly. After a while, the bail letter was written, and at the end, the emblem of the Lane family was stamped on it.
"Tomorrow, I will try to sell the mine and raise money to help you deal with this matter," the old clan leader Fulin closed the letter and sighed.
Dudian nodded, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Don't worry too much. When you've finished the task, I'll give you a big gift."
The old clan leader Fulin smiled bitterly and said nothing.
After a while, after Dudian hid himself, the old clan leader Fulin called the butler, handed over the letter, and ordered him to send it to the Tribunal overnight.
Dudian hid in the dark and observed carefully in case the old man Fulin secretly replaced the letter. After the butler left, he smelled that the letter with the old man Fulin's scent was transferred to another person's hand. That person rode a horse and left the ancient castle.
After the door was closed, Dudian came out from behind the door and said to the old clan leader Fulin, "It's getting late. I'll go back to sleep first. I wish you a good dream too. This is a good beginning."
The old clan leader Fulin smiled bitterly. He was destined to stay up all night tonight.
...
...
The day after Hollett's body was found.
In the warden's office of the inner fortress of the Thistle Flower Prison.
A figure in black armor pushed the door open and rushed in. With a quick glance, he saw Jones behind the desk and asked, "Warden, I heard you have news about the criminal?"
"That's right," Jones saw him arrive and threw a letter on the desk to him, saying, "This is the latest news. The whereabouts of that little devil have been exposed, and he's in the commercial district."
The young man in black armor quickly opened the letter and read it. His expression changed and he said, "He killed Deacon Hollett? Wasn't he in the slum district? How could he have run to the commercial district?"
Jones said in a deep voice, "He probably went to the slum district on purpose to expose himself in the direction of your search, making you think that he was hiding in the slum district and ignoring the search in other areas."
Hearing his words, the young man in black armor felt as if he had been slapped hard in the face. Anger appeared in his eyes and he said, "You mean we were played by him?"
Jones said indifferently, "From the moment he escaped from prison, he was already playing tricks on us. Now, you immediately dispatch people to the commercial district to search for his whereabouts. I trust your sense of smell. Search the entire commercial district, and you will definitely be able to dig him out!"
The young man in black armor had a gloomy expression. Looking at the letter in his hand, he suddenly said, "It only says in this letter that there are two steel nails. These steel nails are not exclusive to our prison. They can be forged in some blacksmith shops. Could it be just a coincidence? If I were him, when being wanted, I would go to great lengths to lead our search team to the slum district. There's no reason to do such a thing all of a sudden and expose my own whereabouts, which would make the previous plan in vain. Isn't that so?"
Jones looked at him and said, "Even if he didn't do this, you've been searching in the slum district for so many days and still haven't found a trace of him. Sooner or later, you would shift your attention to other areas. He should know that there's a possibility of being exposed by doing this and also know that we will go there to search. The purpose of doing this is just to find out where our search team is and try to lead us by the nose."
The young man in black armor couldn't help but ask, "Since you know this, why do you still want me to go?"
Jones sighed and said, "There's no other way. Even if I know what that little devil is thinking, I still have to take the bait. After all, a deacon of the Tribunal is dead, and the most suspected person at present is this escaped little devil. If we don't take some action, how can the Tribunal and the nobles still trust our prison?"
The young man in black armor was a bit silent. After a while, he said, "I'll send some people there and also send another group of people to search in the residential district."
Jones nodded and said, "Good. I was just thinking the same. But you must take charge of the investigation in the commercial district this time. Otherwise, we can't give an explanation to the Tribunal."
"I understand," the young man in black armor nodded slightly.
"Just after escaping from prison, I thought he would be more obedient and find a hidden corner to hide in. Instead, he caused such a big mess. He's really making a huge ruckus," Jones squeezed his fingers slightly and squinted his eyes, saying, "Once we catch that little devil, I'll skin him alive and then pour chili water on him to make him suffer excruciating pain!"