Infinite Mask Game.

When Wei Miao returned to the Secretarial Ceremony, she had already removed her disguise on the way.

She had just sat down in the study and taken a sip of tea when a guard brought her a stack of documents and placed them in front of her.

It was taller than a pen holder, piled up to chest height.

Wei Miao twirled the pen in her hand and instructed them to investigate a few people.

She returned before noon, and by the time she had finished reviewing all the documents, the evening glow had already spread far and wide.

This is despite her quick wit, strong mental strength, ability to read ten lines at a glance, and extremely high efficiency.

For an average person, it might be difficult to finish watching it even late at night.

There have been so many things piling up in the capital these past few days that the Imperial Censor has not been working at full capacity like this for a long time.

The last time was when Lu Shaoqing carried out a major purge.

The Imperial Censorate never relaxed its control over the powerful officials and dignitaries of the capital. Previously, there had been unusual activity within the Wang family; a lowly servant was brought to the head of the household for a conversation, during which no one else entered. The next morning, the servant drowned himself in the river.

This style of dying overnight is all too familiar.

When Chen Huaiyue went to investigate, he found nothing. It wasn't until he obtained Lu Shaoqing's permission, kidnapped the head of the Wang family, and treated him well in the Fengchang Prison, that he made any progress.

He said that the servant was acting on the orders of Emperor Kaihong to win him over.

The Wang family had sided with Emperor Kaihong, but they were also the quickest to turn against him when Lu Shaoqing took over.

The head of the family, Wang Yu, was of mediocre talent, holding the rank of fifth-grade official in the Ministry of Revenue. His superiors were mostly Lu Shaoqing's cronies, and as a traitor, he had no hope of promotion.

If you can betray the Lord the first time, you can certainly betray the Lord the second time.

However, Wang Yu was truly wary of Lu Shaoqing's abilities. Even though the servant said they would stir up a storm in the capital and promised tempting resources, he dared not easily agree.

Moreover, Lu Kaiyi was once a loser.

When the Imperial Censor came to his door, Wang Yu was timid and dared not tell the whole story, fearing that he would be secretly investigated.

But when he was imprisoned, he confessed very readily in order to protect himself.

Recently, the Imperial Secret Service has discovered several families with unusual characteristics, such as the Wang family.

The people responsible for making contact were all ordinary servants, and when investigating their past whereabouts, they could not find out when they had ever been in contact with Emperor Kaihong.

Some of them had even worked in the palace since childhood, loyal and devoted. It was completely unexpected that they would become Emperor Kaihong's subordinates, which was quite surprising and the reason was inexplicable.

Moreover, they die very quickly and in various ways.

"The only thing they have in common is that they are all mortals."

Wei Miao had always suspected that the mysterious person was Emperor Kaihong, and the timing of his disturbances was quite consistent.

However, if Talin can influence the will of others, then the defection of these servants can be explained if the person Talin usurped was Lu Kaiyi.

The only problem is that Lu Kaiyi was originally a martial artist.

Judging His power from the crimson contamination, but Helin should not be able to contaminate warriors, as inner demons are extremely protective of their food.

Taking a hard line might disturb the divine statues behind the martial artists, which is something Dan Lin doesn't want to see.

"Unless He directly replaces Lu Kaiyi's personality, not just corrupts it, but completely replaces it, and then disguises himself as Lu Kaiyi's personality."

Wei Miao was unsure whether Dan Lin had such an ability.

But if He wanted to find a physical body to operate in the world and usurp the throne, no one's identity was more convenient than Lu Kaiyi's.

"Let's assume that Talin is the Kaihong Emperor... Although he is working in secret and trying to win over old officials, only absolute military force can help him overthrow the status quo."

"Where did He get his military strength? Did He develop slowly by corrupting those mortals?" Military power was firmly in Lu Shaoqing's hands, and the commander of the Imperial Guard was a powerful figure at the seventh level, who had followed Lu Shaoqing for twenty years.

Wei Miao didn't know where He wanted to get external help to defeat him in the capital, on Lu Shaoqing's home turf.

It is impossible for one person to fight against an army. Battle formations can connect the power of multiple martial artists, like grains of sand forming a tower, and can fight against the Seven Sects of different levels.

“Fu’an Gong…” Wei Miao recalled the matter that the Five Lucky Rats had asked her to investigate. “Fu’an Gong is a folk belief, not a deity in itself, and cannot enable people to transcend the mundane.”

The intelligence department of the Secretariat naturally took notice of this matter and compiled it into information.

Because the idols in this world can indeed grant people extraordinary powers, mortals are keen to worship the gods, hoping to gain their favor.

If certain deities have shone brightly in history, after a period of time, people in the mortal world will create corresponding clay statues of the deities to worship and seek blessings.

They place their hopes on the idols, even though they would never even glance at mortals.

There are always lucky ones who manage to escape danger in times of crisis, and the stories are often mythologized as divine favor in the course of their transmission.

Therefore, the practice of worshipping gods became popular among the people.

After all, most of the common people are ignorant.

Unlike other folk beliefs, Fu'an Gong's origins are mysterious.

There is no historical record of this deity. It is said that as long as patients sincerely worship Fu'an Gong, they can receive protection, prevent their condition from worsening, and even recover on their own.

It spread after the plague had raged, and first appeared in the southwest corner of the capital.

The scribe traced the source and found that the first to receive the Fu'an Gong statue were several patients. They went to an incense and candle shop hoping to purchase a statue of a deity with "healing" functions.

It is not uncommon for people to place their hopes on idols when they are desperate.

Unexpectedly, the shop owner went out of his way to recommend a deity they had never heard of before, "Fu'an Gong," and patted his chest to guarantee that He could cure the epidemic.

The group bought the product with some skepticism, but to their surprise, their condition improved the next day, and they miraculously recovered on the third day, causing a sensation.

The medical staff examined them and found that they had indeed inexplicably escaped the plague and recovered their health.

As the rumors intensified, shops selling idols worked overnight to produce idols of Fu'an Gong, hoping to make a fortune.

As a result, the clay statues of gods became wildly popular and spread widely.

Within just a few days, many patients had enshrined Him in their homes.

The incense and candle shop that first sold Fu'an Gong has closed down, and the owner has disappeared without a trace.

Fu'an Gong is not 100% effective; some people are still suffering from illness, while others have recovered smoothly.

The diviner investigated many households but found no pattern to its effectiveness.

However, the improvement rate in the southwest corner is twice that of other areas.

The earliest statues of Fu'an Gong were also investigated, and no special power was found in them.

In short, everything about it seemed suspicious from beginning to end.

A short while later, Lin Ming received her order and rushed over.

He was holding a half-meter-tall statue of the God of Fu'an in his arms.

He placed the idol on the desk, stepped back, and began his report.

“I examined the patients who miraculously recovered and found no trace of interference from other forces. If they had received Yuehe Qigong treatment, their bodies should be in excellent health. But in fact, even after recovery, they still have sequelae such as insufficient Qi and blood, which does not conform to the results of direct treatment with Qigong.”

"It's more like the plague itself spared them." (End of Chapter)