But just as Lin Mu had stepped out of the room, the voice of senior Xukong was heard in his head.
"Didn't you want to give them the things you have taken from the mayor's office?" Xukong questioned.
Lin Mu suddenly realized that he had forgotten about this in the situation and knew that he should do this before going. He thus turned around in that second, and the people inside the room witnessed this. Hei Bao had a confused expression as he saw him suddenly return.
"Did you need anything else?" Hei Wan questioned.
"Ah, yes. I forgot to give some things to you people." Lin Mu answered.
Hei Wan tilted her head in a questioning manner, as she then saw Lin Mu withdrew multiple items from his spatial treasure and placed them on the ground and the table.
There were scrolls, registers, ledgers, documents, and some random items in it. Though a shocked expression appeared on her face when she saw the golden shining bars in Lin Mu's hand.
But that wasn't the end of it as Lin Mu kept on withdrawing one golden bar after the other until finally, a small pile of around forty gold bars was formed on the table.
~Gasp~
"This… this…" Hei Bao stuttered upon seeing the pile of gold on the table.
"Where did you get this? Wait, is this all from the town head's office?" Hei Wan questioned upon identifying some of the missing things from the office.
Lin Mu nodded in response as he spoke.
"Yes, I got all of these from the town head's office. I thought they would have clues, and it didn't seem right to trust anyone else at that time, so I just kept them with me."
Hei Wan nodded as she understood his reasoning. Until now, they were not completely sure about the identities of the culprits, thus knew that it would be best to remain cautious.
"That's fine, you did well." Hei Wan replied as she kept on looking at the items.
Lin Mu then extended his hand toward the gold and picked up one of the bars. He pointed at the engraving on it and showed it to Hei Wan.
"Do you know what this is?" Lin Mu questioned, feeling a bit uneasy.
Hei Wan looked at it and instantly recognized the markings on the gold bars.
"Yes, I know. These are the gold bars which are issued by the kingdom to various towns and cities for their financial needs." Hei Wan answered.
The moment Lin Mu heard her answer, the suspicions within his mind were confirmed as he gritted his teeth and clenched his other hand. Faint traces of anger appeared in his eyes as his aura changed slightly.
Both Hei Wan and Hei Bao noticed this change and knew that something had gone wrong. Hei Wan particularly felt the faint killing intent she had felt from Lin Mu before, emanating again.
"Wha-what's wrong?" Hei Wan asked with concern.
Lin Mu took a deep breath and silently chanted the calming heart sutra to suppress the rage that was rising from within him. He knew that this was not the right time, and he needed to be clear headed at this time.
A few seconds later the calming heart sutra showed its effects and Lin Mu returned to his normal self. He took a deep breath and looked at Hei Wan.
"This gold is for the use of the town, right? So that the people can take benefit from it when they have problems. But the town head never did that here. The people have always suffered in the winters." Lin Mu answered in one breath.
Hei Wan understood his words and knew what he was meaning.
"I can swear on my lord, I'll get to the end of this and ensure that justice is done." Hei Wan replied in an assuring tone.
Lin Mu simply nodded and just left the room. He thought that he shouldn't spend any more time here as it would just keep on bothering him. He could also see that Hei Wan was speaking from her heart and decided to trust her to deal with it.
Lin Mu didn't know what he would do if the matter was left up to him. He feared that he may end up doing something that he would perhaps come to regret later. Thus he decided that it would be better for him to just focus on his cultivation.
After Lin Mu was gone from the room, Hei Bao's brows furrowed with confusion. He turned to Hei Wan and looked at her. At this point, there was no one else except for the two of them left in the room.
"He is not fine, is he?" Hei Bao asked.
Hei Wan shook her head before speaking.
"No… but he will be, I know it. Whatever he's dealing with right now, he needs to get through it himself. From the short time we have been acquainted, I've understood one thing, and that is that he is a self-reliant person. He would function better if he deals with it himself." Hei Wan explained.
"If you say so. I just hope that he recovers quickly and doesn't enter a dark place. I… fear him." Hei Bao spoke with apprehension.
Hei Wan's eyes went wide as she focused on Hei Bao.
"You felt it too?!" Hei Wan questioned.
"Do you mean the change in his aura?" Hei Bao counter questioned.
"Yes. I thought it was just me, but now it seems like his aura has indeed changed. Before only I could feel it because it was faint, but now that you can too. That just means that his killing intent is growing stronger." Hei Wan answered.
"He wasn't like this when we first met him, though. He only changed after he met the town head and killed him." Hei Bao spoke.
"Hmm, that is true. That just means that I need to investigate this matter even more closely. After all, I've given him my word." Hei Wan replied.
Hei Bao then went silent for a bit and rubbed his chin, before speaking again.
"Are you sure the lord will be fine with such a large expense? Just the sheer quantity of weapons in that list is troubling, not to mention that some of them will have to be custom made." Hei Bao questioned with a concerned tone.
~Sigh~
Hei Wan let out a sigh and rubbed her forehead in fatigue.
"The lord's letter arrived this morning. It was in response to the first report that I gave him about Lin Mu. He's ordered that everything is to be done to keep him on our side and to ensure that no enmity occurs. The expense on the weapons is nothing compared to what he's willing to spend." Hei Wan answered.
"But don't you find that it's strange he's asking for so many weapons? It's enough to equip a small army. What would he even do with so many of them?" Hei Bao asked, unable to suppress the doubts within his heart.
"Whatever it may be, it's not our concern now. The Lord has given us our orders and they are to befriend Lin Mu and make him our ally. We will just do our best to satisfy the request." Hei Wan replied in a stern tone.
Hei Bao noticed her strict tone and understood that he was now starting to perhaps bother her a lot more than he should. He thus decided to change the topic.
"About our reinforcements, where are they coming from? And about the core condensation realm expert, is the lord really willing to use them?" Hei Bao asked.
~Sigh~
Hei Wan let out another sigh as she just decided to answer his queries. While she wanted nothing more than to just return to her work, she understood that Hei Bao had the right to ask her these questions, and it would be better if he was clear about their situation.
"The reinforcements are coming from our inactive members. They are all those who had been disguising themselves as commoners and a few other people from the corps. As for the core condensation realm expert, we were lucky that he was able to complete his mission early." Hei Wan took a brief pause and then continued.
"We were originally unsure about the background of Lin Mu and had suspicions that he belonged to a sect. We also didn't know about the personality of Lin Mu, thus the Lord had chosen that person to come. He is the most experienced in interacting and dealing with disciples of cultivations sects, thus he was the best choice.��� Hei Wan explained.
"Let's just hope everything goes well." Hei Bao spoke as he turned towards the unconscious culprit.
A grim expression appeared on his face as he walked towards the culprit that was chained to the chair and spoke, "In the meantime… we can have some fun."
He then firmly held the unconscious culprits' fingers and in a snap, bent them.
"AAAAGHHH!!!!"
The pain-filled shouts of the culprits thus echoed in the room, as he had a rude awakening.