Strongest Scammer: Scamming The World, One Death At A Time-Chapter 158: Rising Suspicions

"A saboteur?" Nie Jing narrowed his eyes.

"Or..." Elder Yu Xuan tilted his head, "an idiot who mixed things without reading the labels."

Nie Jing grunted. "This couldn’t have been a normal prank. Even some of the elders were affected! I spent half the day trying to stop Elder Qin from conducting a symphony with kitchen utensils."

Yu Xuan nodded solemnly. "He said the soup ladle was his ’final instrument.’"

The two fell into a moment of grim silence.

Then Nie Jing’s eyes narrowed further. "We need to find out who was near the pavilion before the explosion. Surely someone saw something."

Elsewhere, in a quiet corner of the Outer Sect, Han Yu sneezed. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com

He sat on a wooden bench, casually carving a peach with a small knife.

"Hmm. Someone must be talking about me," he muttered, smugly admiring the spiraling fruit skin. "Hopefully not about the duck."

His courtyard remained untouched, serene, and entirely devoid of pink smoke. No one had seen him near the Alchemy Pavilion—after all, who would suspect a recently resurrected ex-servant at the Qi Refining Realm of launching the sect’s greatest giggle-inducing disaster?

He even had a built-in alibi: "recuperating in isolation" with some of the pills that Li Mei had gifted him. He had waved that excuse around several times already and was rapidly building a reputation as a "quiet but promising returnee."

Back at the Pavilion, Elder Nie Jing paced with growing suspicion—but without direction.

"We’ll have to review surveillance talismans. Maybe the formation crystals recorded something."

Yu Xuan frowned. "Ah... unfortunately, the smoke seems to have scrambled some of the inscriptions. The only visual we got is of... uh... a panda."

"A panda?"

"Yes. It was wearing a pirate hat and appeared mid-blast. It did a somersault, flipped its hat and then exploded into confetti."

"...Is the pirate panda a real suspect?"

"...We hope not."

Meanwhile, Han Yu sat cross-legged in his courtyard, happily absorbing lingering threads of joy, surprise, and even a bit of confusion energy drifting his way as people continued laughing about the event.

"Perfect," he said with a grin. "They chase shadows while I harvest gold."

Several days had passed since the Alchemy Pavilion Incident, and while the laughter had finally died down, the investigation had not. Elder Nie Jing’s patience was running thin, but he had found nothing. The mysterious alchemist had vanished like mist in the wind.

Han Yu, meanwhile, sat smugly on a low garden wall near the southern outer courtyard, tossing a plum in one hand while subtly watching his latest "test subject."

This time, he had decided to target a particularly proud Inner Sect Disciple named Luo Feng, known for his arrogance, flowing white robes, and deep disdain for the Outer Court. The perfect type to squeeze some wrath or surprise out of.

More importantly, Luo Feng had a public habit of doing "Enlightenment Walks," where he’d lecture younger disciples in a theatrical voice about the "path of true cultivation"—i.e., how awesome he was.

Han Yu had prepared accordingly.

When the lecture began, he "accidentally" released a Mild Delayed-Explosion Slippery Oil Pellet—something Li Mei had made him test previously—under the flagstone steps of the speaking platform. Harmless, but extremely inconvenient.

PHWOOF!

Luo Feng stepped forward dramatically—and slipped.

The man flipped in midair, flailed, and slammed directly into a water urn behind him. The crash was glorious, and the splash drenched half the crowd. Han Yu, hidden on a nearby rooftop with a spyglass, had to bite his tongue to avoid laughing.

"Excellent... surprise, embarrassment, anger... so many emotions!" he whispered gleefully, feeling the gray wisps of Surprise Energy and thick dark blue strands of RedWrath Energy seep into his body like morning dew. His Soul Qi reservoir quivered with joy.

But then—trouble.

"You! Stop right there!" someone shouted.

Han Yu blinked.

Across the courtyard, a sharp-eyed Elder Liu Feiyan, who just happened to be passing by, narrowed her eyes at the strange shimmer she had seen on the rooftop moments earlier.

"What was that... strange energy?" she muttered, eyes scanning the rooftops.

Han Yu’s body froze. An elder had sensed it?!

SHUA!

Without hesitation, Han Yu tucked the spyglass into his sleeve and vaulted backward, vanishing into the tiled maze of outer-sect rooftops. He used the movement technique he had gotten from the Rat Ink infused scroll Li Mei had made him use a while back, to duck behind chimneys and over walls, narrowly avoiding being spotted.

Elder Liu Feiyan landed atop the original rooftop seconds later. Her brows furrowed.

"...Gone?" she murmured, sweeping her gaze over the area. "But what did I sense..."

Han Yu didn’t stop running until he was three sectors away and safely back inside his courtyard, where he promptly fell onto the floor, panting and wild-eyed.

"That... that was way too close..." he wheezed. "An elder felt it. She felt the Eight Emotions energy leak. I can’t use it like that again. Damn!" He didn’t know it was possible as it hadn’t happened before.

’Is it that elder that’s sensitive or was it the high concentration of Eight Emotions Energy that was the reason?’ He sat there for a moment, sweat dripping from his brow.

"Alright. No more flashy rooftop surveillance. No more public stunts near elders. Han Yu, you fool, you just got back from the dead!"

Still, he couldn’t help but grin as he opened his palm. A thin layer of glowing threads danced on his skin—evidence of a successful harvest.

He had to admit: it was thrilling. Addictive, even. The risk, the reward, the exhilaration of walking the edge of disaster—it almost made him feel alive.

But he’d have to change tactics. No more public stunts for now.

"I’ll go back to my roots," Han Yu muttered, nodding to himself. "Annoy people in private. Like a professional."

Back at the site of the mishap, Elder Liu Feiyan continued scanning the rooftops. But no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t sense anything.