After hearing senior Xukong's praise about the Lord, Lin Mu understood that he must be careful with him. A person as smart as the Lord must be carefully dealt with.
Hei Bao saw that Lin Mu was still staring at the metal plates, thus spoke out,
"Are you fine?"
Lin Mu snapped out of his thoughts and hurriedly spoke,
"Ah yes. Let's go now."
Hei Bao nodded and led Lin Mu out of the safe house. A few minutes later they were standing in the shop upstairs. There, Hei Bao went to talk with the old woman and spoke to her about Lin Mu and their current situation. The Old Woman did not speak much and only nodded, before leaving the room to do her own tasks.
Hei Bao showed Lin Mu off to the door and let him leave. Lin Mu stepped out of the door and saw the dim sunlight that was illuminating the town and the clouds that were trying to block it. There did not seem to be any snow today, and the previous day's snow had melted too. He let out a breath and saw it fog up.
"Should I take a look around the town?" Lin Mu muttered to himself.
"I think you should; get an idea of what's actually happening. You may also need to talk with those people from the night vigil." Xukong advised.
"Ah yes! The night vigil. I nearly forgot about them." Lin mu replied.
Having decided what he was gonna do, Lin Mu chose a path and started walking on it. He first decided to go check on the mercenary camp as it was close by. The safe house was located in the western part of the town, thus this was the most obvious choice.
Lin Mu saw some people while walking and observed that they seemed to be unnerved and some seemed to even be scared. Lin Mu spotted some familiar faces, but they were not the residents of the eastern part. He continued on and reached the mercenary camp.
As soon as he got close to the mercenary camp, he could hear the increase in the noise. He crossed the exit and saw the mercenaries gathered up in an area. They all seemed to be shouting about something, and a tall and muscled mercenary seemed to be directing them.
Lin Mu went to the group to try and listen to what was happening. He glanced at the tall and muscled mercenary and could sense that he was different. He got even more closer and narrowed his eyes after hearing their shouts.
"We won't stand this anymore! They did not listen to us when mercenaries disappeared, and now that it happened to their own townsmen, they're up in arms about it." The tall and muscled mercenary shouted.
"YES!" The crowd shouted.
"They did not give us answers first and now they suspect us, we won't bear this injustice!" The tall and muscled mercenary shouted.
"YES WE WON'T!" The crowd shouted again.
Lin Mu was a little stunned after hearing the mercenary's shouts. He would have never thought that instead of doing a proper investigation, they were instead trying to pin it on the mercenaries.
"Has the town head become senile?" Lin Mu wondered.
"The machinations seem to be running deep. There's more to this than we think, but unless we look more into it, we won't know." Xukong replied.
"Should we interfere in this though?" Lin Mu questioned himself.
"You're not directly involved in this, except for the part where you were attacked. I would say that you should just watch and wait, let these 'Hei corps' do their part. Though the final decision is still up to you." Xukong advised.
Lin Mu thought it over for a minute and then made up his mind.
"We'll wait and watch, only if push comes to shove, will we act. Besides, I still need to cultivate." Lin Mu spoke.
Lin Mu then turned around and was just about to walk away when he suddenly felt something.
"Spirit sense!" Lin Mu whispered and turned around.
The instant Lin Mu turned around, his eyes met the eyes of the mercenary that was directing the crowd. Their gazes clashed and Lin Mu understood. He spread his spirit sense probe and started to observe everything more closely. Lin Mu found the source of spirit sense and determined it to be the mercenary. The leading mercenary showed momentary shock when Lin Mu did this.
The leading mercenary then withdrew his spirit sense and nodded at Lin Mu before gesturing with his eyes. Lin Mu understood this and walked aside.
"It seems like he wants to meet you," Xukong spoke.
"Indeed, let's see what he has to say." Lin Mu replied and readied himself.
While waiting for the mercenary, Lin Mu probed the other mercenaries in the crowd and discovered that there were two more cultivators in there. These cultivators were standing near the leading mercenary and did not detect anything when Lin Mu used his spirit sense to observe them.
"Hmm, these two probably don't have spirit sense and haven't experienced it before either, I think." Lin Mu guessed.
"Or they're good at hiding their expression," Xukong spoke.
"It doesn't seem like it. Their cultivation was at the early stage of the Qi refining realm, unlike the other mercenary who is at the peak stage of the Qi refining realm." Lin Mu replied.
"You will have to be careful, he may already know your cultivation base as well," Xukong advised.
"Yes, senior. Though I feel confident that I can deal with it if things go sideways." Lin Mu spoke with determination.
'Haha, at least his confidence is increasing well.' Xukong thought with mirth.
Lin Mu waited for the mercenary and kept on listening to the shouts of the crowd.
"My fellow mercenaries, even if we are from different companies, we need to unite. Our superiors are out there working hard and thus can't help us currently. We need to deal with this ourselves." The leading mercenary said before shouting one last time.
"YES!" The crowd shouted in unison.
The leading mercenary then left the area, and the crowd dispersed into smaller groups. The shouting had stopped, yet the mercenaries were still discussing amongst themselves in the groups. The leading mercenary spoke to the two other cultivators and then started walking towards Lin Mu's location.
Lin Mu was standing a little distance from the crowd and was leaning against a tree. He watched as the three cultivator mercenaries approached him. Their expressions seem to be neutral and they were walking with an unhurried gait.
The trio reached Lin Mu and stood in front of him.
"Greetings fellow cultivator." The trio greeted with cupped hands.
'I should have guessed this beforehand.' Lin Mu thought with a chuckle.
"Greetings." Lin Mu responded.
The three men then lowered their hands and a neutral yet amicable expression appeared on their faces.
"I am Hong Luo from the Crimson fang mercenary company. May I have the opportunity to know fellow cultivator's name?" The leading mercenary spoke.
"I am Lin Mu."
The two accompanying cultivators had an irked expression upon hearing Lin Mu introduce himself in this way. But then the leading mercenary seemed to have secretly tapped them, after which they abruptly changed it back. This happened in nearly an instant, yet Lin Mu was able to detect it.
"Why are you here, brother Lin Mu?" Hong Luo asked.
"Oh, I was just passing by and heard some shouts, thus I came to look." Lin Mu spoke.
"Ah yes. We are, you see, in a rather complex predicament." Hong Luo replied.
"What's exactly happening, though? I would like to know more." Lin Mu questioned.
"I'm sure brother Lin Mu must've heard about the recent incidents of mercenaries disappearing." Hong Luo spoke.
"I did indeed and something happened in the town as well, I reckon." Lin Mu replied.
"Since you already know this, then its more simple to explain. The town head basically suspects that someone from the mercenaries is to blame for the disappearances. They did not listen to us when the first incident happened and now when the townsmen disappeared, they have the audacity to blame us." Hong Luo explained.
"That is rather wrong of the town head." Lin Mu replied.
Lin Mu did actually feel that something was wrong with the town head. He seemed to be acting strangely and was taking absurd decisions.
"Brother Lin Mu is on the same page as us, that makes me delighted." Hong Luo spoke, while the other two cultivators nodded.
Lin Mu then realized that the two cultivators had not spoken anything yet.
"And these two are?" Lin Mu questioned.
"Forgive me, I forgot to introduce them. These two are the Ming brothers and they are both mute, thus they can't speak. They are part of the Crimson fang mercenary company as well." Hong Luo answered.
"So what did you want from me?" Lin Mu asked the actual question that he's been meaning to do.
Upon hearing Lin Mu's question, Hong Lou's expression became serious.