The Union Captain's words were like thunder to the ears of everyone that was present in the room.
They were spoken lightly, but were clear for everyone as if spoken right next to you. After all, the weight of those words was far too heavy for them to not focus on.
"Someone is targeting us?" They muttered in surprise.
"How is that possible?" Ding Yao couldn't believe it either.
"There is a very small chance of this happening other wise. Both the escape of Cong Shui and the disappearance of the Spiral Flake Crystal must be related." The Union Captain stated.
"Think of it, what are the chances of someone being able to cleanly take care of our people and not leave any traces? Who is so capable that they can steal from a sealed spatial storage pouch, and not alert anyone?" The scarred faced man elaborated.
Hearing this, the people in the hall finally started realizing.
"So there was someone watching us?" someone in the hall muttered.
"They could have been after us from the start and taken the chance to help Cong Shui just because it occurred." Ding Yao said after thinking.
The Union Captain's expression darkened as he knew this was not as simple as before.
'For them to steal from a sealed spatial storage pouch, that too one that is from the Black Candle Pavilion… they must be an Immortal formation master with great proficiency with space.' The Union Captain analyzed the situation.
But the more he thought about it, the heavier its implications got. He knew the Saber Battle Union had several foes, as well as competitors. But the number of people that fit the criteria of the thief's abilities were very few.
And those few people were all those that could not be touched. They were either old experts that could flatten the Saber Battle Union with a single palm, or were employed by the empires themselves.
But neither of those seemed to be people who would bother acting against the Saber Battle Union.
'For them, getting something like a Crystal Flake Crystal isn't that difficult. If they really wanted to, they can very easily buy it outright. We wouldn't be able to match their wealth anyway.' Wu Laotian had been a Saber Battle Union Captain for nearly a thousand years, but this was the first time he was facing a situation like this.
Other than him, there were four more Union Captains and above them was the head who was the strongest expert. He was at the Seventh Tribulation Stage of the Immortal realm, and could be considered as one of the top experts of the entire Rust Sky world.
'I can't tell this to Union Head without concrete proof, either. He's still in seclusion and is preparing for the mission later… he'll be too furious if we disturb him right now.' Wu Laotian felt a little exhausted.
But he inferred one big thing from all this. He need to spend a lot more effort in collecting information before they could act.
"If it was someone proficient in space and formations, it would also make sense for them to get rid of our men without leaving any traces. Heck, if there were any traces, they could very well erase them too." Wu Laotian said out loud, feeling more and more frustrated.
The others heard this words and couldn't help but tremble. After all, even in the Rust Sky world, the number of people who were proficient in space was far too low.
"Is it really as you think, Union Captain?" Ding Yao asked, feeling weak.
"It is one of the viable options." Wu Laotian replied. "Which is why I want you all to gather as much intelligence as possible. Figure out if someone has set out bounties upon us, or if there is someone that has probed information about us." He ordered.
"Y-yes! I'll head to the Black Candle Pavilion right away!" Ding Yao replied.
"No!" but Wu Laotian stopped him. "Don't go there. It is likely that they might have employed the Black Candle Pavilion to gather intel on us. Or there is even a chance that they will be watching that place." He warned.
~gulp~
Hearing this, Ding Yao swallowed his saliva in fear, knowing that he might have just walked into a death trap.
"What should we do then?" Ding Yao asked. "Black Candle Pavilion is the only place that'll have information like this."
"We won't do this on our own. Send someone else to gather information for us on a commission." Wu Laotian stated. "And send them to another branch of the Black Candle Pavilion, not the same one here." He added.
"We'll do that Union Captain. I'll contact a few itinerant cultivators and see what can be done." Ding Yao replied quickly.
But this was not the end of their concerns either.
"Union Captain what should we do about Cong Shui then? I think it is likely they'll be watching her too." Someone reminded.
"That's true. They'll be expecting us to go after her again. In fact, they might even be watching her this time and waiting for us to make a move." Wu Laotian agreed. "We'll have to tread carefully. For now just track where Cong Shui is going, but don't go to capture her." He modified his earlier orders.
"Yes, Union Captain." They nodded in agreement.
"You all are dismissed for now." Wu Laotian said before taking his leave himself. 'I need a drink…'
Wu Laotian though, had no idea how close he had gotten with his assessment of the culprit. The only thing he got wrong was that Lin Mu wasn't as powerful as he had estimated him to be.
And he didn't know that the person he was looking out for was still in the city too.
Unfortunately for him, there wasn't much he could do other than to take things slow. And Lin Mu wasn't going to give them much of a chance either, as he'll be leaving the city soon enough.
😉