Chapter 477: Wife and Mason Have No Good House

Seeing that Wan Song disregarded his own life, He Lingchuan leaned closer and asked, "Do you remember Qinggu?"

"The woman from the Red Pavilion," Wan Song sneered. "Are you trying to threaten me with her?"

"Even someone as capable as Wan can be sidelined; she's nothing," He Lingchuan chuckled. "I'm talking about the child in her belly—"

Wan Song's expression shifted slightly as he heard the stretched-out words: "—which is your child."

Wan Song froze, then burst into loud laughter. "Ah ha ha ha ha... Ouch!"

He'd pulled at his wound, and it hurt terribly.

But the more it hurt, the more he wanted to laugh.

"You're saying, you're saying Qinggu is pregnant with my child?" Tears welled up in his eyes. "Can't you at least draft your lies before you tell them?"

He Lingchuan sighed, "You're practically dead. Why are you still keeping secrets for Mr. Mai?"

"I just love seeing you desperately flailing about!" Wan Song took a couple of breaths. "If I die, you won't be able to complete your mission, and you'll be in big trouble too!"

Two patches of flushed color appeared on his cheeks, and his spirits seemed to lift considerably. He Lingchuan knew this was the last burst of energy before death.

Patiently waiting for Wan Song to finish laughing, He Lingchuan calmly said, "Alright, you asked for this. The doctor said, based on the dates, there's no problem. Qinggu only had you as a client during that period. Don't you remember? A hundred days ago, you received a large sum of money and generously booked her for a whole month."

"I just saw her a few days ago, and she didn't even mention it!"

"Of course, she didn't know herself. Some women don't show any signs of pregnancy even after three months," He Lingchuan stated. "It wasn't until we took her into custody and she suddenly fainted that a doctor came to examine her pulse."

"Your words mean nothing, you're just making things up!" Wan Song snapped. "Women like Qinggu take precautions; it's impossible for her to be pregnant!"

"Believe it or not." He Lingchuan pointed to Wan Song's broken leg. "I've already ordered someone to cut off a piece of your flesh, and Qinggu is waiting outside. If you don't believe it, we can perform a Caesarean section right now to take out the child and test if it's your flesh and blood."

Wan Song scoffed, "Do whatever you want."

He Lingchuan nodded to the officer nearby. The officer immediately went out and soon returned, carrying a woman whom he placed on another bed beside Wan Song.

The unconscious woman was Qinggu.

Wan Song frowned. "What happened to her?"

"Time is precious, so I had to knock her unconscious first." He Lingchuan spread his hands. "You didn't think I'd dissect her while she was awake, did you? I'm not that cruel."

He turned to the doctor nearby. "I haven't performed a C-section on such a small fetus before. How big is a three-month-old fetus?"

The doctor held up a finger. "About a finger length."

"Can you tell the gender?"

"Yes, it already has a rudimentary form."

He Lingchuan pointed at Qinggu. "Alright, proceed."

The doctor hesitated. "This..." He was a healer, not a killer.

"You can't do it?"

"My lord, this..."

"Never mind, I'll do it myself." He Lingchuan drew a dagger from his boot, casually wiped it with a piece of cloth from a nearby plate, and then deftly twirled it.

Wan Song sneered, disbelieving.

This guy was bluffing. "Even if she really is pregnant, and even if it's truly my child, what good would come from you cutting it out?" Would he cooperate with this guy after his child was killed?

"You block my path, I'll sever your lineage. No benefit, but it'll satisfy my anger." He Lingchuan tapped Wan Song's face with the back of the blade, revealing a sinister smile. "Come on, let's hurt each other."

Wan Song glared fiercely at him.

He Lingchuan walked over to Qinggu, and with a sudden flick of his dagger, cut through both her outer and inner clothing. The doctor pulled back the torn garments, exposing the woman's abdomen.

His strike was incredibly fast, leaving a blurred afterimage, yet it seemed almost casual.

Wan Song was caught off guard, his eyebrows twitching in surprise.

He Lingchuan had already extended his divine sense, allowing him to observe every detail of Wan Song's expression without needing to look up, and he now had a clear understanding of the situation.

"Last chance." He Lingchuan poked Qinggu's belly, and Wan Song's gaze sharpened, noticing he was using the hilt of the dagger. "The crimes you've committed are enough to implicate your entire clan; there's no escaping it. But the higher-ups don't know there's an unborn child of the Wan family here. As long as I don't say anything, and the doctor here doesn't say anything, you can still leave a descendant in this world. So, will you cooperate or not?"

Wan Song sneered but remained silent, though He Lingchuan noticed his cheeks bulge, indicating he was likely clenching his teeth.

The doctor beside them couldn't help but interject, "My lord, just half an inch deep with the blade first..."

"What, are you afraid of harming the fetus?" He Lingchuan said to Wan Song with a half-smile. "Open your eyes wide and see if your offspring is male or female."

With that, he pressed the dagger just below Qinggu's navel and dragged it across.

Wan Song saw with his own eyes the dagger tip pierce the skin, confirming that the other party was indeed intent on performing a Caesarean section and was utterly ruthless. He finally cried out, "Stop!"

A trickle of blood flowed from Qinggu's belly, but not much. He Lingchuan paused with the dagger in hand, tilting his head to ask, "Will you confess?"

"I'll talk," Wan Song gasped. "Just don't hurt it."

Though he was a cold and unfeeling person, at the brink of death, he still deeply hoped to have offspring left in the world.

"That's better. Mr. Mai is just your employer, not your real father. Why would you protect him with your own son's life?" He Lingchuan thought for a moment. "Oh, he's not, is he?"

"No."

Only then did He Lingchuan retract the dagger, wipe the blood from its tip, and tell the doctor, "Take her down and stop the bleeding."

At this point, Wan Song no longer feared showing his weakness and anxiously asked the doctor, "Is my child alright?"

The doctor carefully checked the pulse and shook his head. "It's fine."

Then, everyone carried Qinggu out.

He Lingchuan sat down again. "Alright, let's be straightforward. I've spared your child's life. How will you repay me?"

Wan Song closed his eyes, deflated. "What do you want to ask?"

"What are the pulp pearls used for?" He Lingchuan began to throw out his questions. "Why is their consumption so high?"

"First, swear an oath," Wan Song, not foolish, replied. "Promise my child will be safe."

"Fine, I swear to heaven that I will absolutely not harm any of your descendants, Wan Song. Is that good enough?"

Only then did Wan Song speak. "They are one of the main ingredients for refining Longevity Pills, also known as Immortality Elixirs. As for how they are refined or what other ingredients are needed, I don't know any of that."

"Immortality Elixir?" He Lingchuan's heart stirred. The name sounded familiar; he seemed to recall the late Prince Yuan mentioning it in the illusory vision of Qianxing City's ruins. "What are its effects?"

"It... I heard it can extend the user's lifespan." Wan Song coughed a few times, blood oozing from the corner of his mouth. "It was originally called Longevity Pill, but later they simply adopted the name 'Immortality Elixir' from ancient mythical elixirs. But I've never used it, so I'm not clear on the specifics."

"You're constantly hunting for pulp pearls for Mr. Mai; why don't you get some Immortality Elixir for yourself?"

"Easy for you to say," Wan Song said coldly. "Is that something I'm allowed to take?"

He glanced at He Lingchuan. "You don't need to beat around the bush. I've never seen the finished product, nor am I privy to it. Just like a bricklayer doesn't get a good house, or a carpenter a good bed. I've accepted that."

"Then who takes it?"

"I don't know. I just hand over the pulp pearls for money." Wan Song rolled his eyes. "Who else could use it? Only the rich and powerful, obviously."

"Tell me about the messenger from Lingxu City." With a few monsters nearby, He Lingchuan moved on to the question they were most concerned about. "Why did you kill it?"

"I didn't know beforehand," Wan Song said somewhat helplessly. "If I had known, why would I have attacked it and courted disaster for myself?"

"How did you find it?" He Lingchuan found it strange. "A white-shouldered eagle flies in the sky; how did you know when it would land?"

"There's a small lake outside Shuangyi Town, with clear water and plenty of fish and shrimp. Many migratory birds go there to rest and refuel, including quite a few bird demons," Wan Song recalled. "Those days, we hadn't found any suitable monsters in the wilderness, so Mr. Mai ordered us to try our luck by the lake near Shuangyi City. When we got there, we saw that white-shouldered eagle... It was drinking water, the biggest and most noticeable one, and other birds kept their distance from it. Monsters like it produce the most pulp pearls, so we chose it."

He licked his lips. "It was already evening then, and we figured the white-shouldered eagle would stay there overnight, so we waited until dark to make our move. The process was very smooth, without any hitches."

"So the white-shouldered eagle was killed in its sleep?" He Lingchuan knew that such flying messengers usually conveyed verbal messages unless it was a lengthy discourse. Information was safer when not put on paper. But conversely, precisely because there was no written message, the white-shouldered eagle had died a truly unjust death.

"...Yes."

"In other words, your selection of that white-shouldered eagle as a target was purely coincidental, not pre-planned?"

"We can't foresee the future," Wan Song said, gasping for breath at this point.

He Lingchuan waited for a few breaths, seeing that Wan Song was drifting into unconsciousness. He had no choice but to reach out and push him. "Snap out of it, if you fall asleep now, you won't wake up."

Wan Song slowly came to.

"Tell me more about Mr. Mai. How did this person appear?"

This time, Wan Song thought for a while before recalling his original memories. "My previous contact was named Bai. A few years ago, he was replaced by Mr. Mai. Mr. Mai's temper is much better than Mr. Bai's, and he's quite amiable. He even secured higher wages for us. Twice during the New Year, he even sent us festive goods."

"How do you know he took over from Mr. Bai, and didn't just kill him and take his place?"

"The tokens and passphrases all matched," Wan Song said indifferently. "As long as the payment was regular, I couldn't care less about anything else."

"Who is Mr. Mai's superior?" Since Wan Song's previous contact could be replaced, it meant Mr. Mai wasn't the highest authority.

"I'm not sure, I've never met them." Wan Song saw He Lingchuan's brow furrow, fearing his answer wasn't satisfactory, and added, "But that person should live in the north. Both times Mr. Mai brought us New Year's goods, they were specialties from Baishaque. And once..."

"Yes?"

"One time, Mr. Mai suddenly requested the Snail Toad's deployment, not for hunting monsters, but to transport people."

"Oh?" He Lingchuan's interest was piqued. "Who?"

"There were four people in total, all wearing masks; I don't know their origins. But the leader was a woman, not only evident from her physique, but she also thanked Mr. Mai. Mr. Mai said it was unnecessary, just returning a favor, and made the woman swear an oath never to reveal the existence of the Snail Toad."