Lin Zhongtian breathed a sigh of relief and placed the antidote on a nearby shelf. Who in the Martial Arts Alliance didn't know about his conflict with Xu Ke yesterday? If they found out how obsequious he was being toward Xu Ke now, he would completely disgrace the title of Long Capital Elder. Outside the office, Yuan Shang, who was pretending to just be passing by, stifled a laugh as he slowly walked away.

After handing the antidote to Lin Zhongtian, Xu Ke and Wang Wu sat down and began to brew tea as if they owned the place. Seeing Xu Ke select his favorite and most expensive tea leaves, Lin Zhongtian's expression was one of visible anguish. He was usually the one dishing out this sort of arrogant, robbery-like treatment. He never imagined that today, the tables would be turned on him by Xu Ke.

"What were they here for?" Xu Ke asked, having only poured tea for himself and Wang Wu.

Being so blatantly ignored by Xu Ke, Lin Zhongtian was beyond aggrieved. But no matter how resentful he felt, he could only swallow his pride and force a smile. "They just came to see Li Lang."

"What did they say?"

"Well…" Lin Zhongtian hesitated, glancing furtively at the antidote on the shelf. He wanted to use the details of Ye Chong and Li Shichuan's conversation with Li Lang to bargain for more antidote from Xu Ke. With his personality, now that he felt he had an information advantage, he believed he was being his most reasonable self by even offering a trade.

But Xu Ke was having none of it. He scoffed, "So you don't even want this bottle anymore?"

Hearing this, Lin Zhongtian was horrified and quickly snatched the antidote from the shelf, stuffing it into his pocket. "They, uh, they didn't say anything important. Li Lang just told them what you instructed him to say last night."

How can this man be so utterly ruthless? Lin Zhongtian cursed inwardly.

"They had no reaction to what Li Lang said?" Xu Ke raised an eyebrow.

Lin Zhongtian pondered for a moment before saying, "Ye Chong cursed Li Lang out a few times."

"Did Ye Chong say he wasn't going to save him?"

"No, he didn't say that…"

Xu Ke nodded. "Do you have a recording? Let me hear it."

"I do!" This time, Lin Zhongtian had no intention of trying to bargain; he was afraid Xu Ke would just take it by force. He obediently produced the recording of Ye Chong and Li Shichuan's visit with Li Lang.

In principle, the Martial Arts Alliance was forbidden from monitoring visits to its prisoners. But that didn't matter, as Xu Ke had already coordinated in secret with Li Shichuan, Li Lang, Lin Zhongtian, and Yuan Shang. Getting his hands on the recording was a simple matter. As a result, during the entire visit, only Ye Chong was genuinely there to investigate.

The recording played:

Li Shichuan was silent.

Ye Chong started off amiably. "Li Lang, tell me what happened last night. Did Xu Ke order you to kill them?"

"Were you framed by Lin Zhongtian and Xu Ke working together?"

Li Lang denied it flatly, his voice tinged with a hint of fear toward Ye Chong. "No, I was the one who killed them. It wasn't Xu Ke or Lin Zhongtian who framed me. Lin Zhongtian just caught me."

Hearing this, a slight smile touched the corners of Xu Ke's lips.

BANG.

Ye Chong's amiable tone vanished, and the sound of a fist slamming a table echoed. "What nonsense are you spouting? You piece of… Where would you get the guts to kill someone? Where would you get the ability?"

"Did Xu Ke bribe you?!"

The smile on Xu Ke's face widened. It seems the Ye Family really did come to save Li Lang, but they never expected him to actually be the 'murderer.'

Li Lang sounded meek. "I'm sorry, Young Master Chong. How could Xu Ke possibly bribe me? I'm telling the truth. I was just muddle-headed last night. When Xu Ke brought Chang Yi and Sun Luo here, they were already poisoned. After he took Xu Yi away, I thought about our huge losses for the night. My original plan was to rescue Chang Yi and Sun Luo, and then deal with Xu Ke. I never expected that we'd be the ones to lose two people instead. It's a huge loss!"

Ye Chong grew even angrier. "Was it our people who were taken out? The men were rescued, our objective was achieved. Shouldn't we just go straight to Wong Ting and the Huang Family to demand payment? You killing someone just complicates things! Wasn't saving them pointless, then? You imbecile, you fool!"

Ye Chong had completely dropped his usual pretense of being a gentleman.

"Young Master Chong, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" Li Lang sounded as if he was on the verge of tears. "But it was a golden opportunity. If I could kill both Sun Luo and Chang Yi, wouldn't that weaken the Huang Family's power? At the same time, it would make Wong Ting see the Huang Family as useless for causing him to lose a key general like Sun Luo. It could drive a wedge between Wong Ting and the Huang Family.

"Besides, nobody would believe I would actually kill anyone. They would just assume Xu Ke did it and framed me for it. If we could successfully pin the blame on Xu Ke, it would make the hatred between him and Wong Ting irreconcilable, which would be a great help to us. Weakening the Huang Family, driving a wedge between them and Wong Ting, and deepening Wong Ting's hatred for Xu Ke—I thought it was like killing three birds with one stone.

"I also wanted to demonstrate my decisiveness and skill to you, Young Master Chong. I wanted to earn your favor… After all, you are the sole future Ye Family Patriarch…"

As he finished, Li Lang's voice carried a hint of guilt.

Ye Chong scoffed, "So, in the end, all that other stuff was nonsense. You just wanted to show off your abilities to me, right?"

This was all part of his plan. He knew the elaborate reasons Li Lang gave would sound somewhat unreliable. However, given Li Lang's personality—the kind of person who would willingly offer his face to be slapped at the Jincheng Hotel just to frame someone—it was far more believable that he would do something as stupid as killing Chang Yi and Sun Luo just to show off for Ye Chong, the 'future Ye Family Patriarch.' Moreover, Xu Ke also knew that the title of Family Head was Ye Chong's greatest obsession and the main reason he wanted to kill Ye Fan. Using that title as a potent lure would surely cloud his judgment so much he wouldn't know which way was up.

After Ye Chong spoke, Li Lang let out a low "mm."

Ye Chong immediately roared in fury, "You're hopelessly stupid!!!"

After that, the recording fell silent for a long time. The atmosphere was deathly still.

Seeing this, the smile on Xu Ke's lips widened even more. Ye Chong's reaction meant he was now mostly convinced by Li Lang's story.

Just then, Li Shichuan's voice, choked with sobs, cut in. "Young Master Chong, please calm down! I'm begging you, you have to save Lang'er!"

"Your son did something this idiotic, and you want me to save him? How?" Ye Chong demanded angrily.

But Li Shichuan quickly added, "The truth of what happened doesn't matter now, Young Master Chong. Regardless of what really happened, we just have to believe that Xu Ke was the one who killed them. As long as we can convince the Huang Family and Wong Ting that Xu Ke is the killer and that Lang'er is innocent, they will surely forgive him. Then, the Ye Family suffers no losses. We won't lose Lang'er, we'll have weakened our rivals, and Xu Ke will take all the blame. Isn't that killing two birds with one stone?"

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