Chapter 315 The Whereabouts of Master Wang

Chapter 315 Master Wang's Whereabouts

"Boom!"

A thunderous sound erupted from the flames. Su Bai, standing there, felt the ground beneath his feet shake, as if a massive structure nearby had just collapsed.

The spreading fire gradually receded, signifying that Xiao Huo had consumed all the filth it could.

The enigmatic blue flames had subsisted on impurities even before gaining consciousness. Thus, they only incinerated filth, leaving inanimate objects largely unharmed.

So, as the blue flames dissipated, Su Bai found himself still in the backyard, now a scene of ruins. Yet, it looked subtly different from before the fire.

This transformation wasn't merely due to the complete consumption of the lingering Ghost Lady and the old butler; it was also because the pavilion, once perched over the dry pond, had utterly collapsed!

During the game, Su Bai had mostly stayed in the eastern courtyard, so the pavilion hadn't left a deep impression. He only recalled it, like the winding bridge and stone path around it, being riddled with age-old cracks, seemingly destined to crumble into true ruins, just like everything else.

However, Su Bai hadn't anticipated the pavilion's immediate collapse after Xiao Huo had eaten its fill.

"Not very tasty," Xiao Huo, now a small flame once more, grumbled with a reluctant burp. "What I ate at that hotel was far more delicious. The food here feels dry and bland, lacking any chewiness."

Su Bai didn't know what it felt like to devour filth, but based on Xiao Huo's description, the filth in this mansion was probably to the filth in the Luolimasi Hotel what plain steamed buns are to a gourmet feast.

Su Bai initially paid little mind to the collapsed pavilion, as the mansion itself had long since become a ruin. But just as he was about to check if the main gate, now cleansed by fire, could be opened, A Xi tugged at his sleeve and pointed with her other hand toward the fallen pavilion.

"Is there something wrong with that pavilion?"

A Xi, her face still veiled, slowly nodded.

Puzzled, Su Bai approached the pond, carefully stepping onto the cracked winding bridge, inching closer to the pavilion's wreckage. The nearer he got, the more clearly he saw numerous new cracks on the pavilion that hadn't been there before. Yet, beyond that, nothing else seemed suspicious.

"What is this?"

Reaching the pavilion's ruins, Su Bai discovered that the collapsed structure concealed a hollow space beneath—an invisible underground area!

It was unclear if there had been a mechanism in the pavilion to access this underground space or basement, but the collapse had fractured the pavilion's foundation, revealing a subterranean area no one had previously discovered.

Even the old butler, trapped in the mansion and digging through the pond's mud for who knows how many years, likely had no idea that a basement lay hidden beneath this pavilion.

Which meant...

Su Bai suddenly recalled the illusion he and the other players had witnessed: the old butler leaving Master Wang tied up in the pavilion before departing alone. Upon his return, Master Wang had vanished without a trace. From that point on, Master Wang, a character equally steeped in sin and filth, had remained mysteriously missing from the narrative.

But if a hidden basement truly existed in this newly built mansion, no one would have known about it better than Master Wang, its owner.

Which meant...

Su Bai stepped over the pavilion's debris to the edge of the newly revealed pit and peered down.

Although Su Bai could see in the dark, even he could only discern blurry shadows in this underground space, where no moonlight could penetrate. So, at Su Bai's signal, Xiao Huo, floating nearby, intensified its flame and drifted first into the pitch-black subterranean void.

Guided by Xiao Huo's light, Su Bai unhesitatingly leaped into the underground space.

The hidden basement reeked of an unbearable stench, but what the flame illuminated still made Su Bai gasp.

The oil lamps on the walls had long run dry. A skeleton, lying amidst a small mountain of "gold and silver treasures" for an unknown duration, was revealed. Despite only a few half-rotted scraps of clothing nearby, Su Bai was absolutely certain this skeleton was the mysteriously missing Master Wang.

And that mountain-like pile of "gold and silver treasures," filling nearly half the basement, must have been the "wealth" Master Wang acquired by selling off his family assets after murdering his wife—the very "treasure" the old butler had sought until his dying breath.

"Hah."

Even though the tragedies within this mansion had little to do with Su Bai, gazing at that pile of so-called "gold and silver treasures," even he, an unrelated outsider, couldn't help but let out a helpless laugh.

The blue flame was bright enough to illuminate the entire, though not vast, basement. So, when Su Bai crouched down to pick up a "gold ingot" from the floor, he clearly saw that despite its perfect shape, most of its gold plating had flaked off, revealing the cheap, deceptive material beneath.

Beside it, an open wooden box carefully held several large white pearls, resembling the legendary "luminous pearls." Yet, even in the pitch-dark basement, these "luminous pearls" did not glow as the legends claimed.

And scattered across the floor were gold and silver ornaments, nearly half of which had lost their plating. It turned out that more than half of all the "gold and silver treasures" hidden in this basement were fakes.

"It was all for these things..."

Su Bai recalled the old butler's earlier story: after Master Wang murdered his wife, her family's wealth had little to do with him, a live-in son-in-law. To quickly amass a fortune, Master Wang resorted to illicit means, finding unscrupulous buyers willing to take risks. He sold off his wife's family assets at low prices for chests of gold and silver jewelry, believing only then would the wealth truly be his.

But that foolish Master Wang, who committed murder for money, never imagined that the cunning merchants who "helped" him sell the assets had no intention of dealing fairly from the start. They planned to swindle him all along. Realizing Master Wang's lack of discernment, they gave him gold and silver jewelry mixed with numerous fakes, while absconding with his wife's family assets.

They seized the vast family fortune through what was essentially fraud. Even if Master Wang's wife's family came to reclaim the assets, the merchants would simply present the contracts signed by Master Wang, deflecting all blame onto Master Wang, who had long since vanished to parts unknown.

This was also why Master Wang was so terrified that the old butler would expose him.

And in the end...

"In the end, he died here? Buried in this filthy place with a pile of useless trash."