Chapter 161-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation

The two chatted for a long time. Apart from matters related to Wen Xiaoxing, there were also some daily routines after Bai Muqing entered the Knight Order. Talking about the new environment, even Bai Muqing spoke more. She had basically no communication with others in the team; she preferred to take on tasks to solve Demonic Domains. Compared to colleagues, she was more willing to see monsters, as well as people's excited and grateful expressions.

Ye Zheng listened with a faint smile. When Bai Muqing's throat felt slightly dry, she would offer water at the right time. But when Bai Muqing clumsily tried to steer the topic towards Ye Zheng, Ye Zheng always glossed over it lightly.

She even began to suspect, was her tone just now too tough? Ye Zheng didn't like that commanding tone.

A strange feeling rose in the bottom of Bai Muqing's heart. The person in front of her was like a magnificent maze, easily trapping people, yet unwilling to let anyone find the door to her true heart.

But when Bai Muqing lay on her side on the soft pillow, that slight strangeness quickly dissipated. This was her first time being a guest at a friend's house. The soft and fluffy touch from her cheek almost made her drop all her defenses.

Sleep, she told herself. Starting tomorrow, she would act together with Ye Zheng.

Ye Zheng was woken up by continuous abrupt noises from downstairs.

She slept late last night. Being suddenly woken up early in the morning when sleep was heavy, no matter how good her temper was, it was inevitable to feel dissatisfied resentment.

Ye Zheng sat on the bed spacing out for a while, then neatly tidied herself up and walked out of the bedroom. She found that Bai Muqing also walked out of the guest room. Her brows were slightly furrowed; it looked like she was also woken up.

The two stood at the top of the stairs on the second floor. Ye Zheng looked down. The main hall was already a mess; vases, tableware, and chairs were lying everywhere. The man standing in the middle of the ruins kicked the table a few times as if not relieved, but couldn't move it.

Ye Zheng looked at Bai Muqing somewhat embarrassedly. Letting a guest witness such shameful family affairs was truly rude.

She asked Bai Muqing to wait a moment on the second floor and walked downstairs. She asked a maid with her gaze, but the maid shook her head slightly; she didn't know why Mr. Ye suddenly went crazy either.

Ye Zheng stood not far from Ye Fanjing. She observed his clothes; it seemed he had just returned home this morning. Something unsatisfactory probably happened at work, and he could only fly into a rage at home.

Her heart suddenly skipped a beat. Ye Zheng remembered that Ye Fanjing had been promoted. He was no longer a judge of the upper district but the Chief Judge of the Ability Tribunal. The holding of this ability competition was also within his responsibilities.

"Father, is there a problem with the competition?"

Ye Fanjing abruptly heard a slightly deep female voice. He turned his head and found that Ye Zheng was actually at home.

Since that trial, he had intentionally or unintentionally avoided this daughter. But today he was too angry and threw all scruples to the back of his mind at once. He snorted coldly, "You still have the nerve to ask about the competition? I heard from Ye Di that you couldn't even be seen in the second half of the competition!"

"A few weeks ago, His Highness Sykes worked hard to collect evidence for you and stood up for you in court..."

"It was the Divine Adjudication that declared me innocent," Ye Zheng interrupted him coldly.

Mentioning the Divine Adjudication, Ye Fanjing's expression restrained a bit, as if he finally remembered that the daughter in front of him was no longer an ordinary noble child relying on family shade, but Saintess Ye Zheng recognized by the Divine Sword and Divine Blood, whom even the Emperor had to treat with courtesy.

But he was her father!

Thinking of this, Ye Fanjing straightened his chest slightly. He rolled his eyes, his tone softening. "The Crown Prince lost the competition this time, of course, it can't be blamed on you. Who told that girl from the Middle District to be so cunning? Her luck is even more amazing. I've already had people investigate if there's anything fishy."

The biggest 'fishy' thing, Ye Zheng, was standing right in front of him. She raised her eyebrows and asked:

"You smashed the whole living room just for this matter?"

Ye Fanjing scratched his hair irritably. "It's because other monsters appeared at Amber Lake, causing a small accident."

"...How is that possible?"

"Did an accident happen to a contestant?"

Ye Zheng completely shook off her sleepiness. According to the information she got and the observation on site, the only monster in Amber Lake was the Deep Blue Giant Eel. Why would other monsters suddenly appear?

"The contestants are fine. It was some workers who hadn't moved out of Amber Lake yet who had an accident. That monster suddenly appeared in the workers' residence. Who could have predicted this?"

Ye Zheng furrowed her brows, her dark eyes staring heavily at Ye Fanjing. "According to the rules, all workers must move out of Amber Lake before the competition."

The day before the competition, the contest staff released the Deep Blue Giant Eel for the competition. Although it was an aquatic monster, its danger couldn't be underestimated. So apart from the contestants, no one should appear in the Amber Lake Demonic Domain, let alone ordinary people without abilities.

"This is your dereliction of duty. How many people had accidents?"

"...23 people, not too many. Fortunately, a contestant named Percy happened to leave from that direction and saved the remaining 30 people."

Percy?

Once Percy was involved, this matter was definitely not an accident. Did Percy happen to pass by, or did someone arrange for him to pass by?

Ye Zheng looked coldly at Ye Fanjing's hesitant look and guessed his thoughts at once. Such an accident happened just as he took office; he probably wanted to use her influence as the Saintess to quell the incident for him.

"Tell me first, why didn't you evacuate all the workers?"

Ye Fanjing spoke vaguely, "It was those people who didn't want to leave, not that our people didn't want to evacuate them. That group of people insisted on staying to demonstrate for a bit of compensation fee. But if a precedent is set, what if others follow suit and bargain?"

"It's all an unexpected disaster. Who would have thought a monster would pop out out of nowhere?"

It wasn't a sudden misfortune; all this couldn't be a coincidence. Ye Zheng's brain spun rapidly. Ye Fanjing was certainly detestable, but the possibility of a monster appearing out of thin air was too low. Perhaps someone used Ye Fanjing's inaction to deliberately manufacture this accident.

Ye Zheng could only infer the cause of this incident from the result. It was highly probable that it wasn't due to a grudge among the workers, because ordinary people couldn't drive monsters at all, and people with such ability were unlikely to target ordinary people.

Targeting Ye Fanjing? Not impossible, after all, many people coveted his current position.

But thinking deeper, Ye Fanjing's biggest title now wasn't the Chief Judge of the Ability Tribunal, but... Saintess Ye Zheng's father.

Once this matter blew up, it would be another explosive event triggering public outrage in the lower district. If someone guided it, public opinion could very likely burn onto her!

This matter was aimed at her!

Ye Zheng breathed more heavily. To smear her, they didn't hesitate to use dozens of lives as the price.

Damn it. Ye Fanjing deserved to die, the person behind the scenes deserved to die... Ye Zheng's fingernails almost dug into her palms.

One beneficiary of this matter was Wen Jian who had been targeting her, but Ye Zheng thought the possibility of it being Wen Jian was small. He sent out Wen Xiaoxing, confident that that monster could definitely kill her, and at the same time found evidence of her faking her ability. It was unlikely to be his handiwork.

Another beneficiary—Percy.

He lost the competition but saved thirty innocent people. The bigger this matter fermented, the more he would be praised as a hero.

Percy saving innocent people, it was understandable for people to praise him, provided that Percy saving people wasn't a link in the mastermind's plan.

Ye Zheng rubbed her temples. Perhaps due to lack of sleep, she was prone to overthinking. It was also possible that the creator specially arranged for Percy to pass by and save people.

Protagonists could always trigger some miraculous encounters. He might have even stumbled upon and disrupted this plan by mistake. After all, the greater the casualties of this accident, the greater the damage to her reputation. The mastermind didn't need to arrange for Percy to save people halfway.

Suddenly, Ye Zheng's face paused. This ruthless yet restrained style, she seemed to have seen it not long ago.

Arranging people to give false testimony to sue her in court, while secretly guiding Sykes to save the scene.

Enemies were truly coming one after another, all a group of big shots. Was it necessary to be so afraid of her? Ye Zheng felt she hadn't done anything earth-shattering either.

A cold aura approached. Ye Zheng turned her head. Bai Muqing, who had been staying on the second floor, walked to her side.

As if sensing her gaze, her head tilted slightly, and her white pupils turned somewhat stiffly in her direction as a response to her gaze.

Eyes were a decoration for her. To blend in with normal people, Bai Muqing occasionally learned to move her eyes like ordinary people, but what she didn't know was that ordinary people wanted to stay away even more after seeing it.

A trace of a smile flashed through the bottom of Ye Zheng's dark, heavy eyes like breaking ice, and then her expression returned to coldness.

"Ye Fanjing," Ye Zheng called him by his full name, "You respond to this matter immediately. Don't play dead. Make a compensation plan, and then accept punishment according to the regulations."

Hearing her daughter's commanding speech, Ye Fanjing widened his eyes. His lips moved as if he wanted to say something else, but Ye Zheng left the living room quickly with another strange girl who suddenly appeared, without looking at him again.

Ye Fanjing pondered and recalled that excessively white strange girl, opening his mouth wide in surprise. He finally remembered who she was.

Ye Zheng was really striving for success, huh. Ye Fanjing savored it, his anger suddenly dissipating by half. He decided to do as Ye Zheng said first. As for what punishment, his daughter was Saintess Ye Zheng; who would come to punish him?

On the neat street, two girls dressed in a low-key manner walked side by side.

"This matter has nothing to do with you. It's your father's fault."

"What if I say it has something to do with me?"

Bai Muqing, wearing a hat, kept her expression unchanged. "The person behind the scenes killed innocent people and tried to harm you as well, a double crime."

Ye Zheng laughed. "Muqing, I think you are more suitable to be the Chief Judge of the Ability Tribunal than Ye Fanjing."

"Your father..." Bai Muqing originally wanted to comfort her, but found that Ye Zheng's father didn't have a single point worthy of praise, and shut her mouth awkwardly.

"Don't worry, I don't care about him, so naturally I won't be sad for him."

Bai Muqing was still a little worried. Even as cold as she was, if she knew her father was such a dirty person, she couldn't be indifferent.

She used [Divine Domain] to quietly detect and found Ye Zheng's soul was very calm. Too calm, which made it seem strange instead.

Ye Zheng squeezed Bai Muqing's hand and said, "Let's go to that place according to the plan first."

For Ye Zheng, she had recognized Ye Fanjing as a person long ago. If there was any impact of this matter on her, it was that she finally made up her mind—

In order to achieve her goal, she must completely sever ties with Ye Fanjing, this father, and his family.

She was just Ye Zheng, Saintess Ye Zheng.

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