Chapter 564: Many Traitors

Lin Dong’s assurance clearly hadn’t fully reassured the burly man. He pressed further, “How do you prove you won’t go back on your word and kill me once you find out who’s behind this?”
“If I were to use torture, could you withstand it?” Lin Dong laughed. “That’s my guarantee—my character as a guarantee.”
The burly man was speechless. Thinking it through as Lin Dong suggested, it indeed made sense. Having enough strength to subdue someone but not using it, plus a decent attitude—this could indeed be considered good character.
Of course, it was also possible he was just too lazy to use torture, but compared to good character, the latter was still more likely.
After hesitating for a moment, the burly man spoke up, “Liu Changman, the owner of Xingrong Restaurant, offered five hundred taels of silver to have me infiltrate Lin’s Inn, throw a stone at your door, and then observe your reaction after seeing the note!”
“Was it him who gave you the stone?” Lin Dong took the opportunity to ask.
The burly man nodded.
Lin Dong and Yun Lan stood up at the same time, leaving the burly man falling back behind.
“Take care, you two!” The burly man quickly bowed.
As they stepped out of the room and prepared to leave quickly, Lin Dong suddenly turned around.
“Brother, you said you had good character.” The burly man was terrified by Lin Dong’s sudden move, his face filled with despair.
“I just suddenly remembered to ask—how did you know which room mine was?” Lin Dong smiled.
The burly man sighed in relief and explained, “It was Liu Changman who told me.”
“What will you say when reporting back to Liu Changman?” Lin Dong asked.
“I know, I know!” The burly man nodded eagerly. “I swear I’ll only say that after finding the note, Manager Lin looked serious, cursed Ma Chun, and then went back to his room. Other than that, I promise not to say anything else, not even to anyone else.”
“Smart!” Lin Dong gave the burly man a thumbs up. Amidst his forced smile, he and Yun Lan leaped into the air.
Lin Dong knew the address of Liu Changman’s residence. After leaving the burly man’s house, they rushed to Liu Changman’s estate in the south of the city.
Compared to the burly man’s house, Liu Changman’s estate as a wealthy man in the capital was naturally much larger. After climbing over the wall, Yun Lan began to investigate systematically from left to right.
It wasn’t until dawn, when the sky showed faint light, that Yun Lan had thoroughly searched every inch of the estate, examining every grayish-white stone.
The result disappointed Lin Dong somewhat. There wasn’t a single pure stone in the entire Liu family’s estate, nor was there any sign of withered grass.

“Could it be that the man in black is deceiving us? Otherwise, how is there no Pure Stone? Given the size of that Pure Stone just now, there should be at least one nearby. Unless…” Yun Lan frowned and said, “Unless this Pure Stone was brought from elsewhere and accidentally found by Liu Changman.”
Lin Dong thought for a moment before slowly shaking his head. “It probably isn’t, but we can’t be completely sure. I’ll go back there later to observe the situation with the man in black. You check the surroundings too; it’s possible it was picked up from outside.”
Yun Lan pondered for a while before nodding helplessly. The two parted outside Liu’s house, each filled with suspicion—one to search around while the other returned to the east side of the city to keep an eye on the burly man.
Early in the morning, the burly man got up, led a tall horse, and headed straight to Liu’s residence. He delivered Liu Changman’s message exactly as promised, word for word, without any deviation in meaning.
At noon, the burly man returned to the house. After lunch, he gave a few instructions to the maids and went back to his room to practice cultivation.
For two days in a row, Lin Dong was at a loss. No matter how well the burly man hid himself, he couldn’t avoid leaving some clues. Yet, he really found nothing unusual during those two days.
“It seems the only possibility is that it was picked up from outside,” Yun Lan said helplessly. “Moreover, the place where it was picked up is quite far from Liu’s family. I’ve searched within twenty miles around, and there’s not a trace of any Pure Stone.”
“We’ll have to go back and plan carefully, conducting a thorough investigation!” Lin Dong was also frustrated. Things always took longer than expected. The last ingredient for the Breakthrough Pill seemed unlikely to be found in just a few days.
Unable to think of any solution for the time being, the two returned to Lin’s Inn. Yun Lan continued her cultivation, while Lin Dong’s own cultivation pace wasn’t slower than his controlled practice. When needed, he let his spiritual energy slowly flow into his dantian.
Not long after sitting down on the wooden bed, Lin Dong suddenly stood up.
Excitedly, he left his room and headed straight for the lobby.
In the lobby, Lin’s Inn was still very busy. Although the power of the spirit stone heaters had gradually diminished as the weather grew warmer, the appeal of the spirit stone fans was rising again. Coupled with the lingering fragrance of the piped flowers and their two signature dishes, VIP cards, seven spicy dishes, and grilled meat… Lin’s Inn’s business had surpassed that of many top restaurants, even rivaling Fenglin Restaurant.
He asked the waiter to call Ma Chun, who was serving guests upstairs. Before Ma Chun could ask anything, Lin Dong gave him a signal and strode toward the backyard.

Regarding when they could join the ranks of the top fighters and enter the inner circle, Lin Dong had only taken a few steps before eagerly asking, “Has anyone from Xingrong Restaurant approached you?”
Ma Chun shook his head.
“I guess it won’t take many days. If they do, decide as appropriate whether to agree to join Xingrong Restaurant,” Lin Dong decided.
“The boss wants to take them one by one, starting with Xingrong Restaurant?” Ma Chun was surprised.
“No, there’s something I need you to handle,” Lin Dong explained. “A few days ago, Xingrong Restaurant hired a fighter to throw stones at my room. Yun Lan discovered that those stones were a type of ore used to make the Breakthrough Pill. After investigating for a few days, we concluded that the stones must have been picked up by Liu Changman or someone from the Liu family.”
“The boss wants me to pretend to agree to join Liu Changman, then find out where the stones came from?” Ma Chun realized.
“That’s right!” Lin Dong handed Ma Chun a stone found by Yun Lan—identical in color and shape to the one used to break his door, except it didn’t contain pure stone—and instructed, “Think carefully about how to do this. You must ensure success. As a suggestion, after getting in touch with Liu Changman, you can ask him to take you to the Liu family’s home for a meal, and bring out the stone I gave you during the meal.”
After a pause, Lin Dong continued, “Someone who brought a stone in must be a child. If it wasn’t long ago, the child who found it might still be able to recognize it. Then try to extract information by tricking them into talking. Also, pretend you like collecting stones. This stone has distinct edges and is quite unique. Try to get Liu Changman to help you investigate it. Decide for yourself how to proceed, depending on the situation. You should understand how urgent this is, but also how important—it requires thorough planning before taking action.”
Ma Chun thought for a moment, then looked up with determination and said confidently, “Don’t worry, boss. I guarantee I’ll find out where the stone came from.”
“Hmm, there’s still some time before the share distribution. During this time, have Liu An come to help you share the workload. This will give you time to think, and it will also let the owners of the top restaurants know that you’re no longer in power at Lin’s Inn and that I’m looking for someone to replace you. It would be best if Liu An had a few arguments with you in the meantime,” Lin Dong instructed.
“Understood!” Ma Chun nodded and asked, “Should we return the silver notes sent by the owners of the top restaurants?”
“The silver notes…”

Lin Dong frowned. Over the past two months, the top restaurants had tried every trick in the book to undermine Ma Chun’s loyalty to Lin’s Inn. Among these, offering silver notes to tempt Ma Chun was the most effective method—after all, who doesn’t love money?
As per his instructions, Ma Chun accepted any silver notes or rare items without refusal, then used excuses like “I need to think it over” to shirk responsibility. Naturally, these silver notes and rare items ended up in Lin’s Inn’s pocket, and the top restaurants would never get them back. While Lin Dong wasn’t willing to let them suffer completely, he also wasn’t about to go to extremes.
Now that he had to choose to side with Xingrong Restaurant, given the close ties between the top restaurants, they were likely already aware of Ma Chun’s decision. If he changed his mind and refused to return the money, it would undoubtedly arouse their suspicion.
“I’ll return it once I’ve planned to meet with Liu Changman,” Lin Dong decided to let the top restaurants off for now, deciding to settle this account after the shares were distributed.
“Alright, if there are no further instructions, shall I go back and figure something out?” Ma Chun asked.
“Also, when acting with Liu An, try to have Liang Yufei present. If he’s not there, find a way to let him know,” Lin Dong instructed.
“You mean Liang Yufei is a spy for Xingrong Restaurant?” Ma Chun asked.
Lin Dong nodded. “If nothing goes wrong, Liu Changman did indeed recruit him as a spy for the inn.”
“With all this money, almost all our inn staff have become spies for others. It’s a shame—I’ve treated them well all these years, and you’ve given them rewards from time to time,” Ma Chun grumbled, clearly dissatisfied.
Ever since it became clear that Lin’s Inn could be used to strain his relationship with Lin Dong, the top restaurants had tried every trick to win him over. To make him consider leaving Lin’s Inn, they kept creating conflicts. To get him to join their restaurant, they offered large sums of money as gifts. To understand his feelings and the inn’s activities and find the best opportunity to strike, they needed a spy.
Over the past two months, many of Lin’s Inn’s staff had already been corrupted. From the staff attributes in the inn’s system, Lin Dong could see that out of over forty staff members, whose loyalty had originally been above 80, seven now had loyalty levels below 60, including Liang Yufei.
“People die for money, birds die for food. Don’t be too harsh—just make him return whatever benefits he’s received and give him a scolding.”

Lin Dong wasn’t as irritable as Ma Chun. Lin’s Inn was indeed good to its staff, but not to the point where they needed to be overly grateful. With 180 taels of silver worth several years’ wages, he believed the staff could hold out. It would be strange for them to refuse such a large sum of money right in front of them.