Chapter 112: The Rotten Vegetable Village Foursome

After Yan Jing proved he wasn't the one who had made the fried rice, the thoughts of everyone in the main reception hall quietly began to shift.

And after he posed his question, that shift deepened into profound suspicion.

Right. If that plate of fried rice had been sitting on the table the whole time, why was that young girl the only one who had been poisoned?

"This rice is cold."

At some point, Old Master Liu had picked up the plate containing the half-eaten poisoned fried rice.

He rubbed a pinch of rice between his fingers and spoke.

"It's much colder than the other dishes."

Off to the side, the higher-ups of Sun-Swallowing Tower exchanged glances upon hearing this, their brows furrowing.

An executive stepped forward and touched the rice. He then walked over to the table and touched the rest of the dishes, one by one.

Frowning, he closed his eyes. Weird Energy surged around his body. After a long moment, he said, "Indeed, this rice is colder than the other dishes."

"However..."

Confusion flashed in his eyes. If he remembered correctly, this fried rice was supposed to be one of the last dishes served.

"It must have been cooled down right here."

Chen Nian walked over to a cardboard box sitting on a nearby table. He felt the tabletop with his hand, then lightly tapped the box with his fingertips.

In an instant, electrical currents seemed to run across the surface of the cardboard.

"They used a highly integrated Energy Storage Core to forcibly bypass Old Sin City's restrictions on small appliances, barely managing to power an impeller to generate airflow. Then, they used Weird Energy to freeze water into ice and placed it in front of the impeller to cool the air. The idea is quite old-school, but the circuit routing is flawed. If they modified the Weird Energy interface inlet into a T-shaped circuit, and then at the tail end..."

"...that way, this Energy Storage Core would be more than enough to cool the entire main reception hall."

When Chen Nian finished speaking, the entire reception hall fell dead silent.

Other than a few technicians who dedicated themselves to studying electrical appliances, no one in Old Sin City understood this kind of knowledge.

Even in Solitude Lane, not one of those eccentric geniuses was a master of electronics.

Faced with Chen Nian's explanation, a nearby staff member looked unconvinced and muttered softly, "Who knows if what you're saying is even true."

Chen Nian glanced at him, then said slowly, "The tail end of this Energy Storage Core is partially damaged. Someone probably tried to pry it open to siphon off the Weird Energy inside, but their technique was incredibly crude. You could even say they tried to brute-force it apart."

"Although they stopped immediately upon realizing the Energy Storage Core was at risk of exploding, gaps were still left between a small section of the contact layers. They were never patched up, which led to a Weird Energy leak."

"Furthermore, there are faint marks on the tail section."

Chen Nian looked right at the man, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"They look like bite marks."

The moment he said that, the man shuddered in terror. He stumbled back several steps, his face deathly pale as he waved his hands frantically.

"It wasn't me! I didn't do it!!!"

"My lord, I don't know who did it either!! I really don't!!!"

He looked at Giant Mouth, pleading desperately, terrified that Giant Mouth might lose his temper and swallow him whole on the spot.

Chen Nian paid no mind to Giant Mouth's already exceedingly ugly expression. He continued calmly, "Based on calculations of this Energy Storage Core's operating power and the ice's melting rate, this plate of fried rice has been sitting here for about twenty to twenty-five minutes."

"So, who put it here, and why did they put it here?"

As soon as he finished, Yan Jing smiled.

"I think everyone at this table should be perfectly clear on that."

With that, he walked over to the girl whose face was devoid of all color. He slowly leaned down and said, "This spot is where the dishes are served from, right?"

"Twenty to twenty-five minutes ago would be right before Mr. Giant Mouth announced the turning point for our Old Sin City."

"May I ask, how many of the guests at this table noticed this fried rice?"

At those words, everyone at the table looked at each other in dismay.

Then, a scattered few raised their hands, stating they had noticed a plate of fried rice.

But the vast majority of them had absolutely no recollection of the dish.

Looking closely at the positions of the few who had raised their hands, they were all seated to the left of the dead girl. And sitting to her right was none other than the short-haired girl, Yu Ling.

Yan Jing looked toward the server who had brought out the food, still smiling.

"Sir, was this where you served the fried rice?"

"Yes, y-yes it was."

The server nodded incessantly. At this point, as long as it cleared him of suspicion, he would agree with anything Yan Jing said.

"Then it seems this plate of fried rice never moved with the rotation of the table."

Yan Jing smiled.

"It must have been moved aside right after being served by someone sitting near the serving spot while Mr. Giant Mouth was speaking."

The faces of those seated next to the serving spot immediately changed color.

"Mr. Giant Mouth, I believe Elder Honesty is here, correct? We just need him to question everyone one by one to find out the truth."

Yan Jing looked at Giant Mouth and chuckled.

"Of course, the few of us will accept questioning as well."

Farther away, the heavily bearded Elder Honesty immediately stood up.

"Although a lie-detection test is quite draining, it won't be a problem if the scope is narrowed down to just these few people. In a few hours, I can point out the true culprit!"

Evidently, while this elder wasn't as profusely benevolent as Elder Kindness, who would take everything upon himself, he was still a warmhearted man.

Giant Mouth was just about to agree when, unexpectedly, Yu Ling, who had been sitting quietly the entire time, suddenly spoke up.

"I object!"

She stood up, glaring coldly at Yan Jing.

"Having someone from the Honesty Pathway conduct a lie-detection test is equivalent to allowing his Weird Energy to enter our bodies. For those of us on the Life Pathway, that is absolutely unacceptable."

"Even if that plate of fried rice was placed there, someone else could have poisoned it when we weren't looking. This proves nothing."

"Furthermore, the people seated on the serving side are all from our Dandelion Manor. Your words are undoubtedly implying that we from Dandelion Manor are murdering our own people! And not just implying it—you're trying to humiliate us in front of everyone!"

"Our three factions are about to hold our final summit. Whether or not someone among us is caught lying, your accusations alone will strip us of our bargaining power in the eyes of everyone here!"

At her words, the two leaders from Dandelion Manor immediately stepped forward to voice their refusal of the lie-detection test.

They had also realized that if they let people from other Domains boss them around, none of the guests present would take them seriously anymore.

At the very least, they would be considered a notch beneath Sun-Swallowing Tower.

Just like that, Yu Ling's words successfully elevated the incident from a simple murder case to a political dispute.

Seeing that the lie-detection test was about to be dropped, the people from Sleepland refused to let it slide.

Humiliating Dandelion Manor in public was a great thing for them!

Thus, the scene instantly descended into chaos.

The people from Sleepland and Dandelion Manor began shifting the blame back and forth, each side accusing the other of being the poisoner. This marriage alliance hadn't even begun, yet it had devolved into a screaming match right on the spot. Because of lingering tensions from the incidents over the past few days, there was even a faint trend toward physical violence.

Yan Jing, Old Master Liu, and the others watched the scene with mocking expressions, thoroughly enjoying the show.

Until finally, a thunderous crash brought the farce to an abrupt halt.

Everyone looked over to see Giant Mouth. In a fit of rage, he had effortlessly smashed a massive round table to pieces with a single slap.

"Enough."

Giant Mouth's eyes were gloomy as he glared at the crowd. "This matter ends here."

He couldn't let it go on any longer. This would only turn the three factions into a laughingstock.

He hadn't expected a petty poisoning case to become this complicated just by being tied to the Old Sin City summit.

For a Third Tier expert like him, slaughtering everyone in the room seemed simpler than finding the culprit.

But today, he couldn't kill.

Because of the Third Tier figures backing these people, he couldn't kill. To prevent Sun-Swallowing Tower from becoming public enemy number one, he couldn't kill. And to win the hearts of the people and become the Lord of Old Sin City, he couldn't kill.

Meanwhile, Yu Xiran also seemed to rouse at the deafening crash.

After inquiring about the situation, she shed a few tears before speaking softly.

"Mr. Giant Mouth, today is a special occasion, after all. Since Yu'er's situation still hasn't been figured out after all this time, let's set it aside for now."

"Though it's unfair to Yu'er..."

There was an indescribable sense of desolation in her smile.

"Right now, everything is just conjecture without any real clues. If we ruin such an important occasion over groundless suspicions, then our Dandelion Manor will truly become the sinners of Old Sin City."

"Compared to the future of Old Sin City, everything else can be put on hold."

A heavy silence fell over the crowd.

It was true. Right now, they only had witness testimony with no hard evidence. It was impossible to know how long the bickering would drag on.

In comparison, while the drama was entertaining to watch, Old Sin City only having ten years left was the true crisis.

Just as everyone accepted that this matter would be left unresolved, and just as an imperceptible smile crept onto Yu Xiran's face...

...a strained voice suddenly rang out.

"F-f-found it!!"

The crowd turned toward the sound, looking at where Mantou was.

They saw the Cerebral Palsy Girl, who had always lacked presence within the Rotten Vegetable Village Foursome. At some point, she had run over to a nearby trash can, practically burying half her body inside it. Now, she struggled to her feet, lifting a small handful of ash wrapped in paper. She offered a foolish, simple-minded grin.

"I-it... it... it's this!"

"This is the same... same as the p-poison in the... in the plate...!!"