Chapter 633: Scam

“How can you be here?” Song Benlang reacted quickly, knowing he was doomed. Before he could bite down on a hidden poison capsule, Ye Mo slapped him, sending poison and teeth flying.

“Is your organization full of rats? Why the fondness for rat poison? If I didn’t know about this… ‘fetish,’ I’d be screwed,” Ye Mo sneered. He wouldn’t waste a Lotus Life Pill on Song Benlang.

“You’ll get nothing from me,” Song Benlang said, his Chinese less fluent than Sophia’s.

Ye Mo sneered. “Tell me: what’s the relationship between the Black Sun Empire and Northern Sand?”

Song Benlang’s face changed. He instinctively tried to bite down again, remembering the poison was gone.

Ye Mo didn’t wait. He patted Song Benlang’s forehead, easily extracting information from the non-Yellow Level operative.

…

Half an hour later, Ye Mo left the bar with Song Benlang’s communication device and GPS. Song Benlang was dead. Ye Mo wasn’t interested in pursuing Sophia or Cassy. He wanted to identify the Black Sun Empire’s operatives sent after him. Even Song Benlang was uncertain about the organizations’ connection, but Ye Mo suspected one existed, lacking evidence.

Regrettably, Song Benlang and his associates were only field agents, unaware of the Black Sun Empire’s headquarters. They only knew of occasional gatherings at various Japanese hotels, summoned by HQ. Catching a bigger fish was necessary to locate the headquarters.

Ye Mo guessed the Black Sun Empire was wary after the Black Star Island incident. Song Benlang’s communicator buzzed with incomprehensible messages, ignored by Ye Mo as he headed to the location Song Benlang had used as bait.

Losing his spirit sense lock on the target, Ye Mo used the GPS, leading him to a barren beach. A long-dead body—the man hired to deliver the gold—lay there. The gold was gone, replaced by a signal emitter.

No one was around. Ye Mo concluded his opponent, realizing Song Benlang’s death, had retreated, likely taking the gold Ye Mo had spirit-sense marked for study. Ye Mo wasn’t disappointed; he’d achieved his goal. Killing one more person wouldn’t have significantly changed the situation.

Ye Mo left for Shen Qianqian, intending to ask about a trip to Luo Yue. He found her arguing outside a store, her veil removed, her anger evident.

“What’s going on?” Ye Mo asked.

Shen Qianqian rushed to his side. “These people are shameless! This store’s reputable, never selling fakes. Two women claimed their purchase was counterfeit, demanding a refund. The police sided with them, arresting the owner, ordering the store closed, and demanding tenfold compensation.”

Ye Mo realized they were in front of a Luo Yue store. He knew his business wouldn't sell fakes.

“Where’s the owner?” Ye Mo asked.

“Here,” a youth with a slap mark on his face said, anger in his eyes.

Ye Mo asked, “Who hit you?”

“That woman’s husband. She framed us, claiming fake beauty pills. We offered on-the-spot checks, but they declined. Then they returned, accusing us of selling fakes!” the youth explained.

Ye Mo nodded. “Shouldn’t you slap them back?”

“Huh?” The youth hesitated, eyeing the woman’s large husband.

“If not, the slap was for nothing,” Ye Mo said, not intending to fire him, but disliking timidity.

The owner, emboldened, charged, slapping the offender. The man reacted but was stopped.

Slap, slap—

The police moved to arrest the owner.

Ye Mo intervened. “This is a Luo Yue store. Arresting its owner without certainty challenges Luo Yue. Don't blame Luo Yue for retaliation.”

They stopped. Challenging Luo Yue was too risky. They remembered the large ransoms paid after Luo Yue’s conflict with the US alliance and the City Lord’s protective nature.

The onlookers murmured, especially the two women.

An officer countered, “Hitting people is wrong. We’ll take him away.”

The owner, in Korean, retorted, “He hit me first. Why wasn’t he taken away?”

Ye Mo sneered. “Fraudulent claims, yet you arrest the innocent and demand compensation from Luo Yue? If you don’t compensate Luo Yue by nightfall and report the responsible TV channel, Luo Yue leaves South Korea. South Korea will no longer be friendly.”

The crowd laughed.

The police, embarrassed, were about to take the owner away.

Ye Mo instructed the owner, “Ask the women why they used fake medicine to frame Luo Yue.”

The owner hesitated, but Shen Qianqian, in fluent Korean, asked the women, “You bought real beauty pills. Why frame the store with fakes?”

Many laughed. Who would admit to that?