“We’ve found casualties from the incident with the giant snake. The two Hunters were thoroughly corroded by some poison, destroying their appearance beyond recognition. No one was able to tell they were human corpses, but their identities have just been verified. It was confirmed that they had died to the snake’s poison after it appeared,” Mo Fan read the news out loud.
Mo Fan was confused, looking at the news. Didn’t they already release an official statement saying that no one had died in the incident? Why would they suddenly find two casualties, after such a long time?
“It’s a frame-up, someone is trying to make false charges against the Skyscraping Snake!” Tangyue’s face turned furiously red.
“Why would you assume that it’s a setup… Miss Tangyue, your phone is ringing,” said Mo Fan.
Tangyue received the call with a frown. From her stern expression, the call was probably from her superior.
“Come with me.” Tangyue hung up the phone and dragged Mo Fan to the boat.
“Where are we going?”
“The Enforcement Union’s meeting room.”
——
Following Tangyue, Mo Fan arrived with her at Hangzhou’s Magic Association Building.
They took the elevator straight up to the highest floor. It was a meeting room with a clear, spectacular view over the entire city.
The entrance of the room was guarded by a group of men in uniforms. Each of them possessed rather outstanding cultivation. Mo Fan could not help but exclaim in his heart, as the guards defending the entrance were all Advanced Magicians!
They waited for a short time outside of the room before a man with black long hair came out. His eagle-like eyes glanced at Tangyue, then at Mo Fan.
“My student, Mo Fan,” introduced Tangyue.
The man nodded slightly before inviting the two into the room with a gesture.
The room consisted of a standard, huge round table. Several appropriately-dressed men and women were seated across the table. There were seven or eight of them.
The remaining twenty-some people stood at the side. They were all from the Magic Court, judging from their outfits.
Those outside of the room were already Advanced Magicians, but the ones in the room were even more shocking. Was there anyone on the same level as him?
These people were the authoritative figures among Magicians!
Mo Fan could recall the man with the long black hair. He was the one standing on the silver skyscraper while staring the Skyscraping Snake in the eyes. His strength significantly outmatched Zhan Kong’s, but even he was standing on the side instead of sitting down.
“He’s my eldest Senior Brother, Heiyu. He’s also the Vice Head of the Magic Court, ” said Tangyue in a soft tone to Mo Fan, who was standing beside her.
Mo Fan nodded. He was just trying to figure out what level the man’s cultivation was, when a middle-aged man with a thick beard slammed his hand hard on the table and snapped, “There are people dying, and yet you’re still protecting that poisonous snake! The Magic Palace didn’t send me here to negotiate. I’m here to eliminate the threat in the West Lake, returning peace to Hangzhou. You better hand over the Skyscraping Snake to us!”
Tangyue glared at the man while cursing under her breath.
Mo Fan whispered when he saw her teacher on the verge of losing her temper, “Who’s that?”
“Zhu Meng, a senator of the Enforcement Union,” said Tangyue, while clenching her teeth.
“It seems like he has been getting on your nerves?” said Mo Fan.
Tangyue told Mo Fan the entire sequence of events without holding any information back.
It turned out that the Enforcement Union was well aware of the existence of the Skyscraping Snake. The governing body in Hangzhou tacitly consented to the Totem Tribe inheriting their succession. However, a whole faction in the Magic Palace, under Zhu Meng’s lead, greatly opposed it.
Zhu Meng’s faction in the Magic Association and the Enforcement Union was an untiring advocate of eliminating hidden threats. They proposed that everything that could possibly bring disasters to cities or mankind be eliminated at all cost.
As a result, the totem beast living in West Lake was treated as the highest priority to be eliminated in Zhu Meng’s faction. They had always kept an eye on the Three Pools Mirroring the Moon, and tirelessly proposed to the highest authorities to eliminate the threat of the city. Frankly speaking, they would not allow the snake to stay inside the city, as no one knew when it would be enraged and bring a great disaster to Hangzhou City.
Zhu Meng’s proposal had earned support from many senators, thus there was already an operation being planned to eliminate the threat. However, some of the old members strongly advocated that the Totem Beast was considered a great magical heritage of their nation since ancient times. Furthermore, the Skyscraping Snake had yet to harm anyone’s life, thus as long as Hangzhou’s government did not request an order of expulsion, they had no right to chase the Skyscraping Snake away from West Lake.
“In simple words, this Zhu Meng is your god’s greatest enemy,” Mo Fan whispered back, as he glanced at the man with the beard.
“Mm, he has come straight here to make a punitive charge against us just when the casualties were found… as if he had been waiting long enough,” said Tangyue.
“But, why are you so confident that the Skyscraping Snake is being framed?” Mo Fan was confused.
As a matter of fact, Mo Fan did agree that it was too dangerous to let such a gigantic beast reside in the city. If Tangyue had not told him about the inheritance of their tribe, he would actually lean toward Zhu Meng’s proposal.
“The big guy is poisonous, but he doesn’t spread it randomly, nor would he use it against humans. If he were releasing his poison, you won’t find a single thing alive in the vicinity of West Lake. A week ago, we sent someone to investigate. The place where he appeared was a construction area where a skyscraper is being built. No one was there when it appeared. Its gigantic size didn’t even crush anyone there, let alone poisoning anyone!” Tangyue blurted out angrily.
Tangyue was more familiar with the Skyscraping Snake than anyone else. He would never kill without a reason, especially humans that worshiped him.
The Skyscraping Snake was definitely not responsible for the corpses that were found a week later!
“Most importantly, the Skyscraping Snake excretes a fluid that helps with his ecdysis during this period, thus it wouldn’t be poisonous throughout this period. Therefore, someone must have framed up the big guy with the two corpses that had appeared out of nowhere.” Tangyue was extremely confident.
“I see,” Mo Fan nodded.
The Skyscraping Snake was not poisonous during the ecdysis, but two people had been killed by poison. Mo Fan did not think that Tangyue would come up with a lie that could be validated very easily.
It turned out that someone was indeed purposely framing up the Skyscraping Snake.
Meanwhile, the incident that had lost the public’s attention was revived once again due to the casualties. Many people demanded the government to explain themselves. Some even accused the government of hiding the truth.
“So, you think he’s behind it?” Mo Fan glanced at the senator called Zhu Meng and whispered.
“It must be him!” said Tangyue confidently.
The Skyscraping Snake was considered a huge thorn in Zhu Meng’s eyes, as its existence alone was a great slap to his face. He had earned his reputation solely from championing his threat-elimination strategy!