Chapter 1589: Releasing the Unrestrained Insect

Just then, the wooden door to the study creaked open, and Dong Rui walked in. "You're rushing in to claim credit and get some candy, aren't you?"

He glared at Gui Yuan, who quickly popped the last candy into its mouth, its monkey face full of innocence.

Dong Rui pointed at the net pouch in He Lingchuan's hand. "We've been searching the entire estate for days and finally caught these two. I knew it; insect puppets have so many flaws. Tian must have left some behind!"

When Tian Yun last came to Yongquan Villa, he released many insect puppets to gather intelligence. Although he later escaped Wanqi Liang's pursuit and got away successfully, Dong Rui was convinced that he couldn't have recovered every single insect puppet he released.

Yongquan Villa is too large, with complex terrain and many trees, so some insect puppets were bound to get separated.

Yang Shan and his two demon puppets searched the villa for several days, finally finding these two insect puppets that had gone astray.

"What do we do now?" He Lingchuan asked, consulting the expert.

"I've already fed them and given them some medicine, so they'll be a bit more compliant." Dong Rui pulled out a cricket cage from somewhere; it wasn't made of straw. "This cage is woven from young tendrils of demon-eating vines. Tie a string to them and put them inside. Don't let them out when I'm not around, lest they harm someone."

"Tie a string?"

"Haven't you ever played with leashed beetles as a child?"

He Lingchuan shook his head.

"You rich young masters really haven't played with the good stuff," Dong Rui scoffed, taking out a spider silk thread and tying a small knot around the gap behind the beetle's neck.

During this process, the carnivorous beetle, capable of killing Situ Yu, obediently lay still on his finger.

Dong Rui tied the spider silk securely, tossed the beetle into the air, and the beetle immediately flew.

It instinctively flew towards the window, but Dong Rui gave a gentle tug, and the beetle was pulled back by the silk, landing on the tabletop.

"Its demon puppet master isn't here, so right now it's acting purely on instinct." Dong Rui gently stroked the beetle's back a few times to soothe it, then casually picked it up and tossed it into the cricket cage. "Insect puppets have no intelligence whatsoever; their demon puppet masters must conduct extensive instinct-strengthening training with them."

He Lingchuan rubbed his neck, feeling a bit tired. "Can you explain this in a way I can understand?"

Explaining things to a layman was more exhausting than conducting experiments. "You wouldn't understand if I explained too much, so I'll put it simply: Tian definitely has a 'progenitor insect' or 'king insect,' similar to a queen bee or an ant queen. As long as the progenitor insect obeys him, the other insect puppets will obey it."

For precision, he added: "These beetles don't naturally possess such instincts; Tian modified them."

"Oh, I see. That's quite clear."

"These two in the cricket cage have been away from the progenitor insect for a long time, and they've undergone instinct-strengthening training. Once they sense the progenitor insect's aura—"

He Lingchuan finished his sentence: "They'll instinctively go looking for the progenitor insect?"

"Exactly. There are too many of these gregarious insect puppets, so it's impossible for a demon puppet master to control or retrieve them one by one. Their nature was designed this way."

"If we take these two insect puppets for a walk around Tianshui City, we might find their master?"

"Theoretically, yes," Dong Rui said, also facing reality. "But there are two problems. First, Tianshui City is vast, and we don't know which hidden corner Tian is hiding in. Second, I'm not sure how far these two insect puppets can sense the progenitor insect—it could be hundreds of zhang, or only dozens. If the range is too small, we might miss him."

"It can't be too small," He Lingchuan asserted. "Tian Yun released them into Yongquan Villa, which indicates he can control insect puppets over a large area."

Yongquan Villa covers a very large area, extending far more than a few hundred zhang in all directions.

"The place where we ate that day was more than three li from your mountain cellar." He Lingchuan pointed at the insect puppets and asked, "Where were these two caught?"

"In the dense woods behind the northwest warehouse."

"That's even further, over ten li away."

This time, Dong Rui shook his head. "That's impossible! No demon puppet master can control insect puppets from such a distance! Unless they just flew off randomly by themselves later. But these beetles, before they were modified, weren't migratory. Even with wings, they preferred to stay on a single tree."

"Maybe they became more active after modification?" He Lingchuan tugged at the spider silk tied to the beetle. "If their sensing range is wide, that makes things easier. The next step is to determine the search area."

Tianshui City is vast, so how can we narrow down the search area?

"Tian Yun said he was from the Zhengxin Merchant Association. I had someone check, and there really is such an association. The association has two storefronts in Tianshui City and indeed deals in pet trade. The leader of the association is also named Tian Yun, but its main store isn't in Tianshui City. We just don't know if this Tian Yun is *that* Tian Yun." He Lingchuan analyzed, "When he mentioned the Zhengxin Merchant Association, he likely intended to gain my trust, and it's also easy to verify, so he wouldn't need to lie about that."

"So, should we pay the Zhengxin Merchant Association a visit?"

"I had people track him; he'd know he'd been exposed and definitely wouldn't show up there. He mentioned the Zhengxin Merchant Association because he was confident I couldn't trace him through it. In other words, he won't go near any warehouses, storefronts, or properties under that association's name. He'll have found another place to stay within Tianshui City."

Dong Rui added, "Xiao An said that 'Father's' residence is large and spacious, and many people obey him. Both times she went out with her father, he was constantly surrounded by people."

"You're both demon puppet masters, but he has servants in droves and immense wealth, while you're all alone?" He Lingchuan launched a personal attack.

Dong Rui spat. "He's loaded with money! If I had that much money, I'd have a bunch of people kneeling and calling me 'daddy' too!"

Who wouldn't want to live a life of pampered ease? "Isn't it because my backer isn't strong enough?"

"I'm not strong enough?" He Lingchuan pointed at his own nose. "Did my 1,764,238 taels of silver just go down the drain?"

"Uh..." Dong Rui was speechless.

Why does this guy keep such precise accounts? It seemed he had indeed drawn exactly that much research funding from He Lingchuan, all told.

Dong Rui cleared his throat. "Anyway, Tian Yun has many people around him, so he'd likely be accompanied by a retinue whenever he goes out. He's also rich, so he wouldn't stay in a low-grade inn. Therefore, he's either staying in a luxurious inn or he bought a large residence."

He Lingchuan mused. "When I spoke with him that day, he seemed quite unaware of Tianshui City's recent developments. He hadn't bought any properties in the new city, and even about the Secluded Lake Villa, which I personally oversaw, he had only heard its name and knew nothing about it."

"This means he likely hasn't been in Tianshui City for the past two months. Assuming he originally owned property in Tianshui City, if it was purchased under Tian Yun's name or the Zhengxin Merchant Association's name, then he can't stay there now."