The Truth Behind the Attack

From his fragmented memories of Firefall Town, Ye Wei'an quickly found the key fragments:

It was in a dimly lit room filled with the smell of cheap tobacco and sour ale, and a man who seemed out of place sat opposite Grumman.

The man was middle-aged, wearing a gray cloak over a well-tailored dark linen shirt with a neatly trimmed collar. His long, clean fingers contrasted sharply with Grumman's rough, grimy hands. He spoke slowly and deliberately, using refined language, and most importantly—he was incredibly generous.

"Same as always, this time the target is Ye Weian Xia Xing. My master wants him to disappear completely. This is the deposit." The man said, pushing a bag of gold coins towards them.

"As expected, this attack was premeditated." Upon seeing this, Ye Wei'an's spirits lifted.

This face stirred up the original owner's long-buried memories: Madam Xia Xing—that is, the Baron's legal wife—had a private male servant whose appearance and temperament were about 80% similar to this person's, except that his beard was shorter.

But this is also reasonable. After all, Ye Wei'an studied magic in the capital Susar for four years, and his impression of the people around Madam Xia Xing was still from four years ago. It is not surprising that there are slight differences in appearance.

Grumman didn't know the other man's name, only his nickname "Grey Raven," because he always wore a grey cloak.

This person was one of his regular customers, having helped him dispose of stolen goods more than once, and he had also helped "Grey Raven" deal with more than one person.

Grumman never pried into the other party's background, but he wasn't without his suspicions:

Judging from "Grey Raven's" demeanor, tone, unassailable status in Firefall Town, and the targets of his missions, this person is most likely a member of the Xia Xing family. However, he doesn't know which member of the Xia Xing family he is specifically loyal to.

This corresponds to the original owner's memories.

Therefore, the mastermind behind this ambush is quite obvious.

The memory continues to unfold—

"Grey Raven" provided Grumman with mission intelligence: the convoy's precise route, the possible travel time, the number and composition of the escorts... down to the smallest detail.

He even provided the mission objective, namely the situation of Ye Wei'an himself, and the level of detail in the intelligence was frightening.

This could not possibly have been gathered from hearsay; it could only have been leaked from within the Xia Xing family.

When Ye Wei'an heard "Grey Raven" describe "Target" as "mediocre, cowardly, and lacking in combat ability" in his memory, he clearly felt a strong surge of anger from the depths of his memory, a feeling of being deceived.

This is not hard to understand.

It was this "mediocre, cowardly, and utterly useless" good-for-nothing who single-handedly reversed Grumman's seemingly insurmountable victory and even captured him.

Grumman racked his brains but couldn't figure out the existence of the system, and could only attribute the crushing defeat to a serious intelligence failure.

The rage was so intense that the memory scenes before his eyes began to fluctuate violently, like the surface of a lake ravaged by a storm, as if they were about to completely collapse at any moment.

Ye Wei'an frowned slightly, his mental energy condensed into a heavy hammer, and he slammed it down fiercely.

The effect is immediate.

No matter how furious the barbarians are, they are still no match for absolute mental power.

The scene quickly stabilized, and the memories continued to play.

"Grey Raven" continues to deliver information in the scene.

To Ye Wei'an's relief, the entire introduction of the guard team never mentioned the existence of an "insider".

This was undoubtedly good news—it meant that there were no spies of Lady Xia Xing in the guard.

Soon, he saw the most crucial part—how to collect the final payment after the deal was done.

"Grey Raven" mentioned this: "May Woking bless our business. Grumman, if you succeed, bring a token that proves that bastard is dead to the 'Wandering Dragon' tavern in Firefall. Go upstairs to 'Sage's' room; I'll be waiting for you there for the next week."

The scene shifts, and after "Grey Raven" leaves, Grumman eagerly tears open his money bag and roughly dumps the gold coins onto the table.

The reward for this mission was two thousand gold coins. As per the rules, he gave 30% of that as an advance payment, which was a full six hundred coins.

Unfortunately, in the hands of a spendthrift outlaw like Grumman, money never stayed overnight.

Most of the gold coins had already been used to reward his men with wine and meat, to buy them new leather armor, and to fund Grumman's own extravagant spending on women's bellies.

In the end, less than a hundred remained.

Ye Wei'an saw that Grumman had secretly hidden the gold coins in the half-collapsed abandoned windmill in the southeast corner of Firefall Town under the cover of night.

He pried open a loose floorboard and stuffed the gold coins into a rusty iron box.

This was his personal secret vault, his last escape route, unknown even to his most trusted confidants.

My memory of the connection method ends here.

Ye Wei'an's mind stirred slightly, but he did not rush to withdraw his mental energy. Instead, he took the opportunity to search his memory for another key: besides Grumman, were there any other people who knew about the rendezvous?

A brief memory surfaced: the stalker nicknamed "Goat" was likely an insider.

As the absolute leader of the bandit gang, Grumman controlled all the channels for accepting missions and selling stolen goods. Only "Goat" knew some of the relevant information because he could occasionally give Grumman some advice.

That guy was the first to run away when things turned bad during the previous fierce battle.

Ye Wei'an immediately realized that he didn't have much time left.

He must reach Firefall before "Goat".

Having confirmed that the intelligence gathering was complete, Ye Wei'an severed the [detection mind].

The moment the connection was severed, Grumman felt as if his spine had been ripped out, and he lurched forward, then fell into a fit of heavy breathing.

His clothes were soaked with cold sweat, as if he had just been pulled out of the water, looking extremely disheveled.

He struggled to lift his head, meeting Ye Wei'an's unfathomable black eyes—there was no anger there, only a hint of pity and condescending mockery.

"I told you, even if you don't say it, I have ways of knowing what you're thinking."

"What...what do you know?"

"Firefall Town, southeast corner, abandoned windmill, loose floor."

Ye Weian spoke slowly and deliberately, but every word he uttered was like a heavy hammer blow to the barbarian's heart.

"The 'Wandering Dragon' tavern. Second floor. The 'Sage' room." He paused slightly, watching with amusement as the last glimmer of hope in the other's eyes quickly faded. "Your secrets are all here. Do you need me to help you remember further, Grumman?"

The last bit of color drained from the barbarian's face.

"This is impossible...this is unfair! This is blasphemous...Usga, are you blind?"

The barbarians howled in despair, but this fierce god of war never responded to the cries of the weak.

Before this terrifying mage, he experienced for the first time the helplessness of those he had once wantonly humiliated.

His strength and his rage were utterly useless in protecting him. He was stripped naked without any resistance, all his secrets and reliance were exposed, and not even the last shred of dignity was left.

Looking at Grumman lying on the ground, Yevian knew that the barbarian's will had been broken and he would no longer pose a threat.

Ye Wei'an then ordered the guards, "I've finished the interrogation. Gag him and take him away to keep him under control."

"Yes, young master!" The guards tore a rag and stuffed it into Grumman's mouth before dragging him away.

Before leaving, one of the guards couldn't help but glance at Ye Weian quickly, his eyes filled with an indescribable awe.

Having witnessed the magician's abilities firsthand, they understood why the nobles spoke of magicians with both fear and longing.

This method of seeing into people's hearts is more terrifying than any form of torture.

The bandit leader was taken away, but Ye Wei'an's interrogation was not over yet. Out of caution, he selected another one from among the captured henchmen.

When he was dragged out, the robber cried like a coward.

He was clearly terrified by Grumman's distraught appearance earlier.

Even a tough guy like the leader was driven to the brink of collapse by the torment, how could a lowly pawn like him possibly get away with it?

"Don't kill me! I beg you... Mother Earth, Chantia, I still have family members..."

Of course, he was overthinking it.

Ye Wei'an would never waste his precious second-ring spell slot on a nobody who doesn't even deserve a name.

To deal with this kind of person, a zero-link "friendship technique" is enough.

As the magical light flashed, the bandit's eyes immediately changed.

The initial fear vanished instantly, replaced by a sense of closeness.

In his senses, distorted by magic, the demon king before him appeared friendly and approachable, like an old friend with whom he could confide.

He answered Ye Wei'an's questions without reservation.

Over the next half hour, Ye Wei'an screened all the prisoners one by one and got the answer he wanted.

These henchmen didn't know Grumman's secret, but they all confirmed that Grumman had indeed taken them to Firefall three days ago.

Some of them even saw Grumman meet with a "well-dressed gentleman" alone.

More importantly, they all confirmed that before the operation, Grumman emphasized to them: "Be sure to kill the noble young master in the group," and promised an exceptionally generous bounty for it.

The trail is now closed.