Hidden moth

Chapter 30: Games with Asymmetric Information
When outsiders saw this person walking out of the house, they would not be surprised and would just think that she was a companion who came with Zhao Huaizhen.

But Zhao Huaizhen was quite surprised, because he came here alone, booked this small courtyard and ordered a roasted whole lamb. There was no one else in the room just now, so how could someone suddenly appear without a sound?
After seeing who it was, he reacted quickly. He smiled and stood up and said, "Sister Lin, why are you here?"

Sister Lin sat down and said, "I'm here for the same reason you came. You're eating a whole roasted lamb by yourself, aren't you afraid of getting stuffed?"

Zhao Huaizhen said somewhat awkwardly, "I came here today to ask Brother Peng something... This is Peng Xian, Fellow Daoist Peng from Xingshen Sect."

Then he introduced to Peng Xian, "This is Senior Lin Qingshuang of the Guanshen Sect, the highly respected Sister Lin... Please sit down for a moment. I'll go get two sets of tableware."

Lin Qingshuang is a practitioner of the Guanshen Sect and a third-rank medical scientist. He is over sixty years old, but he is very good at health preservation through practicing the Guanshen Sect. He looks even younger than Zhao Huanzhen, who is nearly forty years old.

The first level of body observation technique is called "diagnostician".

The second level of body observation technique is commonly known as "moxibustion guest".

He has mastered the third level of body observation technique and calls himself a "medical scientist".

He is at the fourth level of body observation technique and is jokingly called "Doctor".

He has reached the fifth level of the Body Observation Technique and is known as "Zhu You Ren".

The sixth level of body observation technique is honored as "doctor".

Although Lin Qingshuang is only a third-rank sorcerer, she is a true veteran of the Guanshen Sect. Her Taoist partner was also a Guanshen Sect sorcerer, but died in an accident at a young age.

After the death of his Taoist companion, Lin Qingshuang became somewhat disheartened and didn't pay much attention to the affairs of the sect. He opened a pharmacy in his hometown of Hengzhou and sat in the pharmacy on weekdays. He only wanted to break through the fourth level of cultivation in his lifetime and become a true cultivator as the legend said.

Lin Qingshuang herself had no children or nephews, but her Taoist companion had taken in a disciple also surnamed Lin, named Lin Hualei. Lin Hualei was now a second-level acupuncturist, and was extremely filial to his master's wife, even moving to Hengzhou to live nearby so she could look after him.

Although Lin Qingshuang didn't care about the affairs of the Shu Sect, her cultivation wasn't very high, and her status within the sect was limited, her potential connections were quite influential. Some of the current elders and deacons of the Guanshen Sect were her former fellow disciples.

Strictly speaking, Zhao Huaizhen should have called her "Master Uncle." However, in modern society, seniority was no longer strictly used in ordinary situations for disciples who were not from the same sect.

Zhao Huaizhen called her Sister Lin with the intention of currying favor, but he couldn't be so shameless as to call her Sister Lin.

Zhao Huanzhen was already in a bad mood, and was a bit arrogant today. When Peng Xian came over, there was only one set of tableware in front of him on the table, and he didn't even ask the waiter to put another set, so Lin Qingshuang made the sarcastic remark about eating alone.

But no matter how arrogant Zhao Huanzhen was, he couldn't put on airs in front of Lin Qingshuang. He immediately went to get two sets of tableware and placed them in front of Peng Xian.

Peng Xian didn't know Lin Qingshuang, but he had heard of her name and felt very uncomfortable because he had pretended to be a disciple of the Guanshen Sect and even accepted an apprentice to teach him the Guanshen technique. Subconsciously, he didn't want to have too much dealings with the Guanshen Sect practitioners.

But it was not a good time to leave at this moment, so Peng Xian could only say hello and stay with him.

Zhao Huanzhen sat back down before asking, "I'm here to investigate Liang Kai's case. Does Sister Lin know anything?"

Lin Qingshuang's face was as cold as ice, and her eyes were slightly red. "I suddenly heard the tragic news a few days ago. My disciple Lin Hualei was killed. His body was washed up on the east beach of Chongguang Island. I personally rushed to examine it. He must have been killed seven days ago, stabbed in the back..."

Peng Xian, who was standing by, couldn't get a word in, his head was buzzing, and he felt uncomfortable between his butt and the stool. He felt like he couldn't sit still, because the matter seemed to be getting bigger and more complicated.

Chongguang Island is located at the mouth of a large river, approximately 300 kilometers downstream from Qiyuan. Formed by silt deposits, it is a large island whose eastern mudflats are now a nature reserve, home to a variety of bird species.

Dongtan Beach on Sogo Island is also known as a bird-watching destination. On weekdays, many tourists go there specifically to watch various birds, and many people bring various equipment to take pictures.

Lin Hualei's body was discovered by a bird photography enthusiast, who immediately called the police.

After the police confirmed the identity of the deceased, they managed to notify his relatives and friends. Guanshenmen immediately received the news, and a deacon rushed there, and Lin Qingshuang of course went as well.

They managed to examine the body and concluded that he died last Saturday. The cause of death was falling into the water after being stabbed in the back. He may have wanted to jump into the river to escape, but ultimately failed and his body was washed downstream by the river.

Lin Hualei had a good relationship with his master's wife and would tell her almost everything. Hengzhou was right next to Qiyuan, and some time ago, Lin Hualei had heard rumors and came to Qiyuan to search for the hidden moth.

Lin Qingshuang had advised him not to get involved, saying that a hidden moth is a hidden moth, so why bother taking away someone else's opportunity? However, Lin Hualei said that he just wanted to try his hand at it, and whether it would succeed or not was irrelevant; he would just consider it a training exercise.

Like Qian Ruan, Lin Hualei also set his sights on He Kao and secretly replaced He Kao's animal claw pendant.

Interestingly, he was secretly discovered by Qian Guran. He was the second person to steal the beast claw after Qian Guran, and he once rented in the 911 building of Sesame Apartment.

In fact, Lao Qian discovered all the people who had stolen and replaced the animal claws, a total of six people including himself.

After Lin Hualei succeeded, he had a video call with Lin Qingshuang, telling her about the various clues he found in the investigation of the hidden moth. He suspected that He Kao's pendant was the hidden moth's, and he had successfully stolen it, but he didn't know how to use it.

Lin Hualei was the same as Qian Ruoran. After getting the pendant, he was thinking about it, thinking that there was some ritual or special method to activate it, or that it needed to be worn for a long time to communicate with the mind... or he was mistaken.

In the video, Lin Hualei showed the pendant to his master's wife. He had studied it for a long time but couldn't figure it out, so he wanted to ask Lin Qingshuang for advice. Lin Qingshuang, of course, couldn't see any mystery in the video, only saying that since it was useless, it wasn't a Hidden Moth item, and it would be best to return it to the owner.

Lin Hualei said that there was no need to return it. If it was not the Hidden Moth's item, he had already exchanged it for a fake one, which would be the same for ordinary people to wear. If it was the Hidden Moth's item, it would probably be taken away if he returned it, because there were other people watching He Kao.

Lin Qingshuang felt something was wrong at the time and asked whether anyone had discovered that Lin Hualei had replaced the beast claws.
Lin Hualei replied that he had run into Liang Kai, a disciple of the Danding Sect, at Zhima Apartment. Liang Kai had also been targeting He Kao, and he might or might not have noticed, as Lin Hualei was being very secretive.

Lin Hualei stayed in Qiyuan, probably wanting to secretly observe He Kao's reaction and see if he could notice that the pendant had been swapped. If He Kao was truly the Hidden Moth, he would surely try to use the pendant, and he would also be able to discover how to use it.

Unfortunately, Lin Hualei did not find anything, but suddenly lost contact last week, and then news came that he was assassinated.

Lin Hualei might have met other sorcerers, but he only mentioned Liang Kai's name, probably because he only knew Liang Kai. After all, Liang Kai had a wide circle of friends and was very proud of being Wan Zhongle's disciple.

Lin Hualei was assassinated last Saturday, while Liang Kai was killed on Monday morning. Judging from the timing, Liang Kai is also a strong possibility. Regardless of whether the murderer is Liang Kai or not, in Lin Qingshuang's opinion, Liang Kai is the most likely suspect.

Zhao Huanzhen broke out in a cold sweat after hearing this. Senior Lin Qingshuang clearly suspected Liang Kai of murder and treasure-stealing, and even he couldn't guarantee that his junior brother was absolutely not a suspect.

After thinking for a while, he carefully formulated his words and said, "Senior Lin, are you suspecting that my Junior Brother Liang assassinated your disciple? You have no evidence, and my Junior Brother is already dead, so there's no way to ask about the circumstances."

At this time, he didn't dare to call her "big sister" anymore, and just called her "senior" honestly.

Lin Qingshuang: "Alive or dead, I want to see the body! I heard that the police still consider him missing. How dare you conclude that Liang Kai is dead? Are you hoping he's dead so there won't be any evidence?"

Zhao Zhenzhen shook his hands repeatedly and said, "No, no, no, that's not what I meant. Please don't misunderstand me! It's just that my master speculated that Junior Brother Liang is in grave danger, and of course I hope he's still alive.

"My disciple's murder can be inferred to be the work of Yin Mo. Do you think there is such a possibility? Your disciple and my disciple were both murdered by the same person. If we want to find the murderer of your disciple, we must first find Yin Mo, who murdered my disciple."

Lin Qingshuang: "I don't care about the Hidden Moth or anything related to it. My disciple shouldn't have been so greedy that he lost his life. Today, I just want to find out who killed him. I won't stop until I get to the bottom of it!"

Now they have the following clues:

First, He Kao is not a hidden moth. Even if he was once, he has lost the things that made him a hidden moth. Now the hidden moth is someone else.

Second, Liang Kai disappeared and was probably taken away by the hidden moth. This hidden moth was not He Kao, and he might have just obtained the hidden moth and knew how to use it.

Third, Lin Hualei had stolen something from He Kao before his death: a beast claw pendant. He had thought it belonged to the Hidden Moth, but he didn't know how to use it, so it's possible he had made a mistake.

Fourth, Lin Hualei had run into Liang Kai at Sesame Apartment, and Liang Kai was also secretly spying on He Kao. It's very likely that Liang Kai had discovered his theft of the pendant.

Lin Qingshuang speculated that Liang Kai must have discovered that Lin Hualei had replaced the beast claw and thought it was the hidden moth's thing, so he murdered Lin Hualei. Then Liang Kai found that the beast claw was useless and sneaked into He Kao's room with a gun, forcing He Kao to tell him how to use the beast claw.

Although there was no evidence, Lin Qingshuang suspected that the armed intruder that night was Liang Kai, because it happened in the early hours of Sunday morning, just after Lin Hualei was killed.

He Kao ended up calling the police, making the incident known to everyone and angering the real Yin Mo, who punished Liang Kai and left him unknown whether he was alive or dead.

Unfortunately, these are Lin Qingshuang's inferences and there is no conclusive evidence.

After some analysis, Zhao Huanzhen pondered and said, "Senior Lin, from what you said, you have concluded that He Kao is not a Hidden Moth. It is not that he has lost the Hidden Moth, but that he was not a Hidden Moth in the first place.

But you should know that his father's name is Zhou Du, and he must have been a hidden moth."

Lin Qingshuang glanced at the person opposite with an expressionless face: "His father died in prison. How old was he then? There was no chance for him to pass on the Hidden Moth item to him!

Moreover, it has been twenty years since Zhou Du's death. The things related to the Hidden Moth may have changed hands during these twenty years, and the Hidden Moth may have nothing to do with him now.

Look, he's still wearing a beast claw pendant. It must have been replaced, and it's clearly a recent item, still brimming with blood. Yet, he's completely oblivious to it, acting as if it were nothing special. "Do you think he's a Hidden Moth, and that thing is a Hidden Moth item?"

Zhao Huanzhen: "It's certainly not the case, but since some people are speculating like this, others don't want to miss the opportunity. In fact, if you want to investigate your disciple, you do have a clue.

Your disciple stole that person's pendant, but the pendant was not found among my junior brother's belongings.

The missing pendant is the clue. Whoever possesses it could be the murderer of your disciple, or even my fellow apprentice."

At this moment, someone across the street shouted, "General Peng, the first sheep has been tested, why don't you come over and eat?"

Peng Xian, who was already afraid to breathe heavily, was suddenly startled and quickly replied loudly, "You guys eat first. I'll sit here with my friends for a while."

At this time, Lin Qingshuang turned around and asked, "General Peng, I heard what you just said. You have already made arrangements here, so you should know more about the situation. Is there nothing you can tell me?"

Peng Xian thought to himself, this question clearly indicates suspicion, and he has become a suspect. Thinking quickly, he quickly replied, "Actually, there is a very suspicious person. His name is Qian Guran..."

**
(End of this chapter)