At that moment, the sound of footsteps approached. A yamen runner hurried in, holding a small bamboo tube in his right hand and carrying a butter paper bag in his left, inside of which were steaming hot meat buns.

The yamen runner first handed over the bamboo tube.

The girl in the yellow dress didn’t take it. Her bright eyes, as if filled with starlight, glanced at the meat buns.

Sensing her intent, the yamen runner switched the order. The girl in the yellow dress happily started munching on the meat bun, then finally accepted the bamboo tube, pulled out a slip of paper, and unfolded it to read:

“My people report that for twenty li along the way, no demonic aura was detected in the river, nor were there any traces on the riverbank.”

“Bang!”

The tense atmosphere finally exploded. Mr. Brooks slammed the table in anger, his face livid: “Two taels of silver—where could it be taken? It has to come ashore, it has to come ashore. It’s been three days, and we haven’t even found a trace of the culprit.”

“Damn it! What kind of demon dares to intercept the Great Feng’s tax silver? I will see it utterly destroyed!”

If the tax silver isn’t recovered, he’ll have to take the blame.

The emperor won’t care whether he feels wronged or not. Once you’re in this seat, you have to shoulder the responsibility.

That’s how officialdom is: it’s hard to climb up, but easy to fall down.

The middle-aged man John Carter let out a breath and picked up the previous topic: “Could it be that our investigation is headed in the wrong direction? Maybe it wasn’t done by a demon.”

Mr. Brooks looked at him, took a deep breath, and suppressed his anger: “If it wasn’t a demon, then where did the demonic wind come from? The silver entered the river—how could it just vanish into thin air? How could it cause waves several zhang high and crack both riverbanks?”

Chapter Three: Even in a Xianxia World, One Can Reason

No one could answer this question.

John Carter said, “What would be the demon’s motive for stealing the tax silver?”

Mr. Brooks pondered briefly: “Demons act without conscience, doing as they please. To seek a reason is only to trouble ourselves.”

But the girl in the yellow dress had a different opinion: “Isn’t human flesh tastier... mm, wait a moment, let me finish my bun first.”

She chomped down both big meat buns, her own face puffing up like a soup dumpling. After swallowing with effort and taking a sip of tea, she continued the previous topic, now free to speak her mind about human flesh:

“Demons act without scruples. To them, silver may not be as tempting as living humans. Even if they wanted silver, stealing or robbing would be safer than directly hijacking tax silver.”

In the capital of Great Feng, robbing tax silver in broad daylight was far too risky.

Mr. Brooks nodded: “That makes sense. We can’t rule out that someone is behind this.”

John Carter narrowed his eyes: “Then who would instruct a demon to steal the tax silver? What’s the reason? Why must it be this batch of tax silver, and why exactly two taels?”

“We can think of it this way: the mastermind needs a large sum of money, but can’t make too much noise... more precisely, can’t amass wealth recklessly.” Mr. Brooks was struck by a thought.

“So they set their sights on the tax silver?” The girl in the yellow dress pursed her brightly colored lips.

“The route for transporting the tax silver is random, decided at the last minute by the Hundred-man Commander Peter Bennett of the Imperial Blade Guard, yet the demon was able to ambush in the river ahead of time... There’s a high chance there’s an insider in the escort team.” John Carter said, glancing at Mr. Brooks:

“Should we go to Yunlu Academy and ask a Confucian master to perform a heart inquiry?”

The girl in the yellow dress shot him a sideways glance: “Do you look down on our Directorate of Celestial Monitoring’s aura-reading techniques? I already told you, none of the soldiers escorting the tax silver had any idea.”

The line of thought stalled again, and the three fell silent.

The air suddenly grew quiet.

John Carter lowered his head to carefully examine the case files, Mr. Brooks sighed repeatedly. The girl in the yellow dress fiddled with the feng shui compass at her waist, thinking that she needed to leave the Jingzhao Prefecture before sunset and head to the palace to mooch a meal from the princess.

The palace chef’s skills were the best in the world!

Compared to the others, the girl in the yellow dress named Emily was more of a guest advisor, assisting with the case.

She held no official position. Though she was one of the people in charge of the case, she didn’t have to bear much responsibility.

Mr. Brooks’s eyes flickered as he probed: “The case is progressing slowly, and time is of the essence. It’s truly making me anxious. John Adams, how about we consult George Washington?”

The middle-aged man shot him a sideways glance and snorted coldly: “You civil officials have the capital assessment, and we nightwatchers have ours. To be honest, this is George Washington’s test for me.”

Mr. Brooks said with a bitter smile: “If this case isn’t solved, I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep my seat. Everyone in the court is watching us.”

The two exchanged silent glances, the atmosphere heavy.

......

“If it really is the work of a demon, then I’m completely out of options!” Andrew Bennett’s face turned pale, feeling the deep malice of the heavens.

There really are monsters in this world. The demon race has existed since ancient times, hunting and devouring humans and vice versa.

In the vast mountains of the southern border, there is a nation of ten thousand demons—the largest gathering place of the demon race.

The history books call that war the “Jiazi Demon Purge.”

Since then, the demon race’s fortune has waned, and they have gradually declined. Meanwhile, Buddhism soared, and both Buddhism and Daoism flourished.

In Andrew Bennett’s understanding from his later knowledge, in this battle for the top of the food chain, humanity emerged victorious.

If the tax silver was taken by a demon, then he could only save himself and the The Bennett Family by recovering the silver.

As an indomitable white silver at the peak of Qi Refinement, Andrew Bennett felt he had no way to turn the tables.

It was autumn, the weather damp and cold, and Andrew Bennett broke out in a cold sweat.