Star Trace Gate

Chapter 944 Clues to the Treasury, A New Squad

Inside the baggage depot.

Ren Ye, holding the general ledger, said excitedly, "This records the locations of all the treasuries in Beifeng Town after the city fell, as well as the monk-soldier offices that carried out the tasks of counting, receiving, and recording the assets. It even includes the dates. I spoke with Wang Anquan today, and he said that some details in this general ledger were fabricated by him out of necessity and are fake. But one thing is certain: the locations of the treasuries cannot be faked, because the Divine Court is not a makeshift organization. There are strict regulations regarding where this huge amount of star resources is stored."

"This means that no matter who has that huge amount of star resources now, it must have been stored in the special treasuries of various government departments before the city fell."

"Furthermore, I believe that the monk-soldier office responsible for inventorying, receiving, and recording the data should have kept accurate records without falsification. Just like you said, breaking into the treasury and plundering the money is actually a technical task. A place that can store so much star energy must be heavily guarded, with layers upon layers of arrays. Sending only one or two squads of soldiers wouldn't be enough to break through the arrays or take away so much star energy in such a short time. Therefore, when the largest treasury in Beifeng Town was 'invented' that day, there must have been many soldiers present."

"As the saying goes, too many eyes see too many. If so many soldiers were present that day, wouldn't Wang Anquan be asking for trouble by making such an obvious false record in the ledger? He can't possibly silence all the soldiers. If this matter gets back to Tianzhao Temple, and a soldier claims to have participated in the receiving of the treasury that day, but there's no record of the details of his work in the ledger... that would be the crime of 'deceiving the emperor,' and he would definitely be held accountable."

"Based on my observation of Wang Anquan, he shouldn't make such a stupid mistake. Therefore, I'm certain that the records from the monk soldiers' office that day, who were responsible for smashing open the various treasuries and taking inventory, are accurate. Of course, although a large number of monk soldiers were transferred to smash the treasuries, most of them probably didn't know the specific details of the inventory, let alone the true quantity of Star Source. To put it bluntly, the higher-ups only let them do the work of smashing doors and breaking formations. Once that was done, they would definitely leave them outside to wait. And when they actually saw the Star Source, the higher-ups would definitely not let everyone go in to admire it... Otherwise, how could they secretly smuggle the Star Source away? They would definitely only find a few trusted confidants to do the job quietly."

Ren Ye brandished the ledger in his hand, his eyebrows dancing with excitement as he analyzed, "Let's simplify things for now. The locations of these government treasuries are the primary crime scenes where the enormous amount of Star Source disappeared. These locations are definitely real and unchanging. Therefore, what we need to do most now is to investigate the main crime scene and see the specific situation there. Then, according to the ledger, we need to verify the list of personnel who were at the treasury crime scene that day, and carefully screen the leaders. This way, we will definitely be able to find clues, at least to figure out who is most likely to have taken the enormous amount of Star Source."

"Hiss...!" Master Chu gasped, his emotional appeal fully expressed: "After you explained it to me like that, I feel completely refreshed, even my anus feels much clearer."

"Why do you, a monk, use such vulgar language?" Ren waved his hand speechlessly. "Let's do as you say, we'll take it two ways. First, we'll go to the crime scene to check things out, and then late at night... I'll put on that disguise and go probe them. What do you think?"

Master Chu paused briefly: "This crime scene? Do you have a clue?"

"brush!"

Upon hearing this, Ren immediately opened the general ledger and pointed to the central page, saying, "Do we still need to look for directions? Which government office in the entire Beifeng Town is the richest? It must be the Ministry of Revenue's treasury, which is in charge of the local finances!"

He pointed to the page and frowned, saying, "And look, this record of the Ministry of Revenue's treasury is also the most unusual. On May 4th, the guard battalion of the Martial Monk Supervisory Office, the vanguard battalion of the cooks' army, the vanguard battalion of the left wing army... these scattered monk soldiers from more than a dozen different government offices joined forces to surround the Ministry of Revenue's treasury, suppress those who resisted to the death, and finally jointly took over the Star Source Treasures here."

Upon hearing this, Master Chu was shocked: "My God, more than a dozen government offices mobilized together to surround the Ministry of Revenue's treasury. That means... this place really is a piece of fat meat, and everyone wants to grab it."

“That’s right.” Ren Ye nodded immediately, his expression solemn as he judged, “Think about it, the treasuries of the other Divine Court offices are all allocated by the Ministry of Revenue. To put it bluntly, what they can get is just small change. The one that truly controls the financial lifeline of this place must be the Ministry of Revenue’s treasury… I think that the huge sum of over two hundred million Star Sources was taken from here, and perhaps the exact amount is even more than that…!”

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go straight to the crime scene and take a look." Upon hearing the figure of over two hundred million, Master Chu immediately became decisive and efficient.

“You’re right, there’s no time to lose, let’s go now.” Ren Ye had also become interested in the whereabouts of this huge amount of star resources, and then hurriedly put away the ledger and waved his hand, saying, “Let’s not wait for dinner, let’s just buy something on the way and have a meal.”

"go!"

The two acted immediately, exchanging only a few words before leaving the supply depot together.

On their way to the ruins of the Ministry of Revenue's treasury, the two of them each bought a generously portioned smoked meat roll, which they then wolfed down as they hurried along.

It was already evening, and normally this would be the busiest time in Beifeng Town. After dinner, the locals would come out for a stroll and find some of their favorite entertainment.

However, ever since the fall of Beifeng Town, the town's garrison and the martial monks' supervisory office have implemented a very strict curfew policy, prohibiting ordinary people from going out and forbidding them from having too frequent contact with each other. Otherwise, if they are discovered or reported, they may be imprisoned, or even killed without any review or investigation.

Under such high pressure, Beifeng Town has long lost its former hustle and bustle. All that remains is a deserted, desolate, and utterly empty street stretching for miles. Along the way, although the shops are still open, there are very few customers. Because even buying things requires permission and is monitored, this has created an extremely oppressive atmosphere where people stay at home rather than go out to avoid getting into trouble.

After Ren Ye and Chu Daoye finished eating the smoked meat rolls, they arrived at the outside of the Ministry of Revenue compound, which was now in ruins.

Judging from the scale of the ruins, this place must have been a large, three-courtyard compound with all kinds of facilities, a high-level unit. But now, it is a scene of collapsed buildings, broken bricks and tiles everywhere, and the aftermath of a fire.

Ren Ye stood in front of the gate, unable to even discern which direction the former gate of the Ministry of Revenue was in, because the surrounding walls had collapsed and looked like a pile of rubble.

However, to Ren Ye and Chu Daoye's surprise, there was a group of bald men in black standing guard outside the ruins, clearly indicating that they did not allow strangers to enter.

Ren wiped the grease from the corner of his mouth, stepped towards a bald man who looked like the leader, and then smiled and said, "Hehe, junior brother, I am the chief officer of the Inner Palace's Logistics Department, my Dharma name is Zhenyi. I have some important business to attend to today and need to enter this place. I hope you can do me a favor."

The bald man, who had been chatting with someone, asked in a cool tone when Ren also spoke up, "May I ask, sir, do you have a waist token?"

"Yes." Ren Ye directly took off his waist tag and handed it to the other party for a thorough check.

The bald man looked to be only in his early twenties, and his behavior was nothing like that of a monk, exuding arrogance and conceit. He took Ren Ye's waist token, examined it carefully, and then forced a smile, saying, "I am a guard captain of the Martial Monk Supervisory Office. I was dispatched by Lord Niu to lead my monk soldiers to seal off this place. Lord Zhenyi, your waist token is fine, but Lord Niu gave instructions that this Divine Court Treasury is very important... No one is allowed to enter without authorization."

"Hehe, sir, I'm just following orders. I hope you won't make things difficult for me." Although the bald man spoke politely, he mentioned Niu Dali several times, clearly trying to intimidate him. He even handed back the waist token with one hand, as if to say, "You can't come in here. Go back."

Ren smiled but did not take back the waist token. He simply said, "I came here to do some work for the temple, and it's an urgent matter. If you do me a favor, I'll talk to Lord Niu later and make sure you won't be punished."

“Since you want to speak to Lord Niu, why don’t you go now? As long as I get the order, I’ll let you in immediately.” The young bald man’s face gradually turned cold.

“I’ll say it again, I’m on a mission for the temple,” Ren Ye emphasized, frowning.

"Master Zhenyi, the temple is too far from me. All I can see is Master Niu. I don't know if you can understand what I'm saying." The young bald man had a cold smile on his lips and his eyes were filled with a fierce and ruthless intent.

"Hehe." Ren Ye looked at his cold expression, but inexplicably laughed. Then he pointed at him, turned to Chu Daoye and said, "Look at this junior brother. He is both responsible and loyal. He is simply a model among the monk soldiers."

Upon hearing this, Master Chu immediately chimed in, "This man truly possesses unparalleled loyalty and righteousness! My lord, I advise you not to make things difficult for him."

"Am I in a difficult position?" Ren asked rhetorically, glancing sideways.

"My lord, to be honest, your behavior just now was indeed a bit tactless. They made it so clear, yet you were still dawdling like a woman," Master Chu commented objectively.

The two of them, singing in unison, left the young bald man dumbfounded, wondering what they were up to.

"You're right to reprimand me. I'm the commander, I shouldn't have been so blind." Ren Ye nodded slightly in agreement and waved his hand, instructing, "Alright, then we won't make things difficult for this junior brother. Just record it truthfully...!"

"Alright." Master Chu immediately raised his hand and pretended to summon paper and pen, then lowered his head and began to write.

The young bald man was instantly dumbfounded and subconsciously asked, "What are you writing down?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Lord Chu didn't even look up, only coldly replying, "This is my master's official record, which will be submitted to the temple later. On the second day of his mission, Zhenyi noticed some discrepancies and suspicious points in the details of the Ministry of Revenue's accounts. He then prepared to check the accounts, but was obstructed by Lord Niu's personal guards, who claimed... that the temple was too far away, and all they could see was Lord Niu. Commander Zhenyi felt that what they said was very true, so he decided not to investigate. He hopes that all the Buddhas in the temple will go into seclusion and ponder why these accounts are questionable."

Upon hearing this account, the young bald man's face turned pale instantly, and he hurriedly tried to stop him, saying, "This...this can't be remembered like that, can it?"

"Excuse me, do I need Lord Niu's permission to remember how I write it down?" Master Chu asked curiously.

"No, that's not it...!" The young bald man immediately waved his hand and said, "I didn't mean to make things difficult for you two, it's just...!"

"Can you get out of my sight and stand somewhere I can't see you?!" Master Chu pointed directly to the street corner in the distance and said, enunciating each word clearly, "Keep chanting Amitabha while you get out... right now!"

The young bald man's face immediately turned red from the scolding, and veins bulged on his forehead.

"What, you seem a little unconvinced?!"

"No, absolutely not." The young bald man gritted his teeth, then said, "Amitabha...please don't remember...Amitabha, this humble monk will leave now...!"