Star Trace Gate

Chapter 899 Framing the Mastermind, the Only Chance of Survival

Beside the dry well.

Li Xiaopang recounted in detail everything he had overheard in the council hall and made a very pessimistic judgment: "There's no hope. Anyone who commits a crime, once their identity is exposed, will not be able to escape the clan hall's fatal blow... They are doomed."

Under the moonlight, the storyteller remained silent for a long time before looking up at Ren Ye: "What he said is indeed true... You are really stupid! How could you leave such an important clue in the peach grove courtyard?"

Not far away, Ren Ye's forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat, and he was thinking very intently, seemingly not having heard what the other person was saying.

"Look at him, he's still pretending, still trying to act all smart," Li Xiaopang said slyly. "I really don't know where this blind man's confidence comes from!"

"Shh!"

Ren Ye turned back to them with a blank expression and said succinctly, "The entire prison break plan was my idea. It involved so many steps and so many people, but I didn't leave any evidence... Then use your brains to think about it carefully. How could I be stupid enough to leave a single drop of blood at a place like Peach Blossom Courtyard, which the three major halls would definitely check carefully?"

Li Xiaopang was a little confused: "What do you mean?! If you didn't leave any bloodstains, where did the blood-stained stone come from?"

Ren pondered for a long time, then shook his head and said, "To put it this way, when Zhou Taozhi went mad that day and used all her divine power to attack Zhao Mingdi, I was indeed affected. My internal organs were shaken, and I vomited blood from my mouth and nose... But before the blood flowed out, I swallowed it back down, and after Zhou Taozhi rushed out of the courtyard, I made sure to check the area beneath me to make sure not a single drop of blood fell to the ground...!"

"I remember this detail perfectly clearly, and there's no way I could be wrong."

He replied with absolute certainty, "I left no clues at the scene."

The storyteller frowned, his voice hoarse, "You mean... this is another frame-up?!"

“That’s right.” Ren Ye nodded heavily: “It’s a frame-up.”

"So much irrefutable evidence has been presented, and it all makes perfect sense..." Li Xiaopang said suspiciously, "You have to understand, for these pieces of evidence to convince the four clan leaders and the twelve elders in charge, they must be irrefutable and convincing. Who has the ability to orchestrate such a large-scale scheme? And all to frame a blind man of the third rank... What is their purpose?"

Ren listened to the other party's words but did not rush to respond. Instead, he began to deduce the situation in his mind again.

He had just listened to the fat boy's entire account and had accurately grasped the key to the problem: the bloodstains on the gravel.

He could say with absolute certainty that the drop of blood was definitely not left by him at the scene. But according to Little Fatty's account, the clan hall had specially invited a high-ranking shaman who, through the method of summoning blood and souls, had peered into his soul's appearance, and this... should not be faked.

After all, there are so many powerful figures in the clan hall. If the sorcerer Wei Zhen had only used a fake spell to draw out his own soul, the other elders would surely have noticed something amiss. Therefore, this person was probably not an accomplice of the framer, but merely a sorcerer temporarily invited to help with the covert investigation.

In other words, the drop of blood that the wizard drew was real, it was his own.

At this point in the deduction, a contradiction arises. Ren is certain that he did not leave a single drop of blood at the scene, yet Xun Tang found a piece of gravel stained with his actual blood in the peach grove... These two points are highly contradictory.

How did Xun Tang obtain his own true blood?

Blood? !

This is something I see every single day...

When Ren thought of this, his gaze gradually turned gloomy, and he instantly recalled the experience of being disemboweled by Zhao Mi every night.

Every day when he performed cesarean section, he would bleed profusely, sometimes even habitually soaking his uniform. No one else could silently inflict such a wound on him and obtain his own blood.

Furthermore, according to Xiao Pang's account, three people from the kitchen came forward to testify that they saw Ren Ye appear in the area where the plates were set out that day, and that he even squatted down for a moment.

This is also a fabrication!

Who is Little Bad King? He's a former anti-fraud officer, someone who has received comprehensive, systematic training! He knows better than criminals how to commit crimes. So, when he stole the plates that day, he specifically paid attention to the kitchen staff's movements, making sure they weren't paying any attention to him before taking advantage of the chaos to strike.

You see, for the kitchen servants, having hundreds of prison guards eating at the same time entering the hall at midday was an exceptionally noisy scene. It was really difficult for them to notice the actions of any one of them, especially for someone like Ren Ye, who was practically invisible and just cannon fodder in the unit. But from Ren Ye's perspective, it was incredibly easy for him to secretly observe the movements of a dozen or so kitchen staff.

He was certain that he had not been noticed by the kitchen staff when he stole the plates.

Therefore, the testimonies of these three people in the kitchen are problematic. Either they were bribed, or their souls were affected by some kind of mysterious magic, causing memories that were not originally present to appear in their minds.

Furthermore, the claim that the Heavenly Spirit Rat tracked down Aunt Tianwei's scent sounds utterly absurd. This kind of evidence is one-sided; if the person framing her had the Heavenly Spirit Rat track Aunt Tianwei beforehand and memorize her scent, they could easily fabricate false evidence during the subsequent investigation.

So, who exactly has the ability to fabricate so many details of false evidence to frame someone else?

An obvious answer suddenly appeared in Ren Ye's mind.

He suddenly remembered that three days ago, after he was disemboweled, Zhao Mi asked him with a gloomy look, "Where were you when Zhou Taozhi went mad?"

That's right. Based on the details above, the person who framed him should be Zhao Mi, or rather... the entire Zhao family.

Only Zhao Mi could easily obtain his true blood, and only he could control the direction of the patrol's investigation, because his son was the one in charge of the patrol.

Without Zhao Haochen's help, it would have been very difficult for Zhao Mi to smoothly insert so much false evidence into the case on his own.

That day, when Brother Yu and his two companions tried to frame him with the shoes, the entire patrol's reaction was very strange. Not only were they slow to arrive, but they were also slow to surround him. Furthermore, when Brother Yu was finally cornered, they chose to kill him in a very short time.

This behavior is rife with conspiracy. If the people patrolling the hall have problems, who can order them around?

The connection of these details is seamless, and everything matches perfectly.

"call……!"

Ren let out a long sigh and couldn't help but say, "Zhao Haochen... my intuition that I felt uneasy earlier was right. His excessive enthusiasm towards me was actually for a purpose. That sunny, kind, and unpretentious Young Master Zhao... it was all just a well-acted performance. He and his father are just greedy and despicable people."

"The vast world of countless hidden realms truly is the best teacher. It has taught me yet another lesson...!"

Based on this deduction, Ren could almost conclude that the source of all these conspiracies was actually the scheme of the Zhao family father and son.

Is this the time for them to "harvest" me? They no longer want to support me, so they found a good reason to dig out my star core, thereby merging it with the original eyes and completely stripping the blind man of his astonishing inheritance.

However, this father and son probably didn't expect that the "real culprit" they wanted to frame was actually the real culprit!

Haha, that's a bit ironic...

"What did you mean by 'Young Master Zhao' just now?!" Li Xiaopang asked in astonishment, "What happened to Zhao Haochen?"

"Do you even need to ask?!" The storyteller was somewhat speechless. "He's already figured it out; the person who framed him was Zhao Hao Chen. Actually, I've figured it out too. Apart from the Zhao family, there shouldn't be anyone else capable of turning this frame-up case into an airtight case... But how did he obtain your true blood?"

"This matter is no longer important." Ren Ye waved his hand and said softly, "The Zhao family went to such lengths to frame me, simply to take everything from me within the rules. If I am not an inside agent but suddenly die and have my star core dug out, it will inevitably attract the attention of the other three major clans, and even the elders of the clan hall. After all, when I was taken out of my coffin, I was the center of attention. Now that I have died tragically and had my star core dug out, it will definitely not be left unresolved. It may even cause the clan hall to reopen the investigation into the deaths of the three tomb guardians."

"But if I were an inside man, having an affair with a death row inmate who was an intruder, then if I suddenly died or disappeared, there would be a thousand plausible investigation results. I might have had an internal conflict with Number 79 and been murdered to silence me; or I might have become completely bound to Number 79, completely betrayed him, and used some strange secret method together to leave the Illusion Village. In short, whatever the Zhao family does next will be reasonable and legal."

"Damn it, the Zhao family father and son are really too cunning."

He gritted his teeth and cursed angrily.

"Whether it's underhanded or not, that's no longer important. What we should be considering now is how to survive all three of us... successfully evade legal punishment, and break up without anyone noticing, so we never have to contact each other again." Li Xiaopang was so scared he almost wet himself, his voice trembling as he said, "The clan hall has already sent experts to capture you, and our village is a secluded place... what should we do?"

"Now...!" After a moment's thought, the storyteller wanted to offer his suggestion.

"Damn it, you reminded me." Ren Ye suddenly came to his senses, his face turning pale. "The Zhao family father and son not only framed me, but also framed my aunt... Damn it, I have to go home now to find my aunt, otherwise she'll be in danger."

"Are you crazy?! If you go back now, aren't you just walking into a trap? I told you, when I left just now, the clan hall had already given orders to go to your house to arrest people. At this moment, Aunt Tianwei might have already started confessing your crimes...!" Li Xiaopang quickly stopped him: "You absolutely cannot go back."

"That's my only family, I have to go back." When Ren Ye said this, there was absolutely no falsehood in his words. Although he wasn't the "blind man" himself, he had experienced everything the other person had gone through and lived over such a long time, and he had developed a strong sense of kinship with his aunt Tianwei.

Every time he saw his aunt Tianwei, he would think of his father, because the latter had also raised him and his sister alone in a difficult life, and had done everything he could for his children.

"Trust me, if you don't get caught, your aunt still has a chance to survive. After all, the Zhao family's real target is you, and they will definitely hold onto this very important bargaining chip." Li Xiaopang's IQ fluctuated wildly, but in this moment he instantly transformed into the Crouching Dragon, earnestly persuading, "But if you go back and get caught, then everything is over, neither you nor your aunt will survive...!"

"Wait a minute, you two, stop arguing! Someone's coming! And there are two of them, one in front and one behind...!" Just then, the storyteller suddenly waved his hand and raised his eyebrows, saying, "Quiet down, you two quickly hide in the treasure bottle I've placed in the well."

"Okay, if a major battle breaks out, you must flee immediately," Ren Ye immediately instructed.

"Go!"

The storyteller urged him on.

"Swish, swish...!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Little Fatty and Ren Ye jumped into the well together and disappeared into a treasure bottle space, their presence completely vanishing.