Demon, come and cultivate for me.

There are specific guidelines for finding residential properties.

First, you shouldn't look for wealthy families living in mansions, because the owners of such houses are not short of money and would not let strangers live in their homes for a little money.

Poor families are no good either; their houses are dilapidated, with few rooms, and they may not even have a place to live.

If you're going to look for someone, look for someone in between, someone whose circumstances are similar.

Persistence pays off, and Zhou Chu actually found a suitable family.

The owners of this house are an elderly couple. The younger members of the family have been busy at the shop these past few days and haven't had time to come home.

The courtyard has two sections, with five or six rooms empty.

The host received ten taels of silver and happily led Zhou Chu and the others to choose a house. He then prepared a table of food and wine for them.

The dishes weren't particularly exquisite, but they were plentiful, including both fish and meat.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, it was completely dark, and the group went back to their rooms.

Zhou Chu locked himself in his room and went to sleep in the middle of the night when he suddenly heard a commotion outside.

He put on his coat, pushed open the door, and saw the elderly couple who owned the house lying in a pool of blood.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a dark shadow on the roof where the old couple lived.

Looking up, the dark figure suddenly darted towards the backyard.

"What's wrong?"

Hearing the commotion, Xu Yuan also ran out of the room.

"A thief has broken in!" Zhou Chu channeled his inner energy and flashed towards the backyard to chase after him.

As soon as they arrived at the backyard, they heard the door to Zhaoji's room slam shut from the inside with a loud "bang".

Did Zhaoji commit murder?

The moment this thought crossed Zhou Chu's mind, a scream came from Zhao Ji's room.

not good!

Zhou Chu immediately set up a formation to cover Zhao Ji's room, and then broke down the door to rush into the room.

Unexpectedly, the door suddenly opened, and Zhou Chu bumped into nothing.

In the darkness, Zhou Chu felt himself bump into something soft, and they both fell to the ground.

A whiff of perfume wafted through the air, and then another startled cry rang out: "Ah—who's there!"

Zhou Chu quickly covered the woman's mouth with his hand, then got up and pulled her up.

He whispered, "There's a thief. Be careful."

Zhou Chu only released Zhao Ji after feeling her nod.

Whoosh!

A metallic whistling sound came from behind.

Zhou Chu bent down to dodge, and at the same time drew his sword and thrust it behind him.

His sword strikes were as swift as lightning, leaving his opponent no time to dodge.

puff!

It hit.

However, the feedback from my hand didn't feel like a sword blade piercing my skin; instead, it felt like a piece of paper being pierced through.

Zhou Chu turned around and, by the faint moonlight, saw a pale human face behind him.

The eyebrows, eyes, nose and mouth on the face were actually drawn on, and the sides of the face were painted with bright red blush.

This... is clearly a paper figure used when burying four people.

Before Zhou Chu could react, the paper figure's crimson lips curled up in a strange way, and ignoring the sword still stuck in its body, it lunged straight at Zhou Chu.

Zhou Chu forcefully lifted it upwards, and the paper figure immediately split in two, falling to the ground and unable to get up.

Zhao Ji lit the candle and saw the paper figure on the ground with its upper body split in two. She was instantly terrified.

Zhou Chu took the oil lamp from Zhao Ji and used the tip of his sword to lift the paper figure to examine it.

The paper figure was holding a short sword in its left hand, but it was also made of white paper, and the bloodstains on it had not yet dried.

In his right hand he was carrying a bundle, which, when opened, was filled with loose silver coins.

It's obvious they stole from more than just this one house.

"I don't know who did this. Stealing money is one thing, but to actually take someone's life is another!" Zhou Chu cursed as he threw the paper figure on the ground, then turned to Zhao Ji and said, "Check if any of your things are missing."

Zhao Ji was only wearing a thin undergarment, which could not cover up a large area of ​​her fair and jade-like skin, especially her proud chest.

Zhou Chu realized he had seen something he shouldn't have and quickly turned around.

Zhao Ji chuckled dismissively, then turned and walked confidently towards the bed to check her belongings.

"Oh no!" Zhao Ji exclaimed.

"What's wrong?"

"The silver and map in my bundle are gone."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chu opened the bundle in the paper figure's hand again. Inside were only some loose silver coins and a pile of Qi copper coins; nothing else.

This is strange.

The paper figure that was clearly thief is trapped here and hasn't gotten out, so how could the blueprints be missing?

The map was given to Zhou Chu by the Crown Prince before he set off. There was only one copy, and it was extremely confidential. Of the five people, only Zhou Chu and Zhao Ji had seen it.

On the way, Zhou Chu was afraid that he might lose the map due to carelessness, so he entrusted it to Zhao Ji for safekeeping.

It wasn't that Zhou Chu was afraid of losing the map or not being able to find his target; he had already imprinted the map on the Tai Xu Wu Xiang Diagram, so there was no need to worry about that at all.

He was just afraid that the map would fall into the wrong hands and leak the secret.

There are no text descriptions on the map, but I'm afraid that someone with a keen eye might figure out its secrets.

Suddenly, a terrifying thought occurred to Zhou Chu:

The real thief might still be in this room.

The deliberate act of throwing out the paper figure for Zhou Chu to break might just be a ruse by the thieves to escape unscathed.

Thinking of this, Zhou Chu became alert again.

Now that the enemy is in the dark while we are in the light, our advantage is gone, and we cannot rashly reveal it.

Zhou Chu suppressed his thoughts and deliberately asked, "Did you lose it on the way?"

Zhaoji opened another bundle and looked through it: "Impossible, I saw it when I was packing my new clothes."

This stupid woman still doesn't understand what I mean.

Zhou Chu added, "If you can't find it, don't bother looking. I saw someone selling it at the market today, so I'll just buy another one at the market tomorrow."

"They still sell these?" Zhao Ji looked up at Zhou Chu upon hearing this, only to see him frantically giving her meaningful glances. She immediately understood:

"Oh, I thought only Yan State sold it, I didn't expect Qi State had it too. Never mind, I won't look for it anymore."

Zhou Chu slowly walked towards the bed and looked around the room.

The house is simply furnished, with low beds and no awkward corners.

But he still couldn't find where the thieves were hiding.

"Sister, aren't you scared living alone in such a big room? Why didn't you invite me to sleep with you?" Zhou Chu pulled Zhao Ji into his arms before she could answer.

"I've missed my sister terribly these past few days."

A hint of panic flickered in Zhao Ji's eyes, but excitement shone through. She stretched out her arms and hooked them around Zhou Chu's neck.

"Your sister misses you too..."

As she spoke, she hugged Zhou Chu tightly, her lips close to Zhou Chu's ear, her voice barely audible: "What's wrong?"

Zhou Chu focused his attention on listening to the sounds inside the room, but he didn't notice anything unusual.

The thief seemed very cautious.

Zhou Chu gave Zhao Ji's smooth neck a hard kiss, deliberately making a sound.

Zhao Ji gave a soft "Mmm," a sound that was partly feigned and partly genuine, and her body went limp as she nestled tightly into Zhou Chu's arms.

"Little brother, I want..."

Zhou Chu then laid him down on the bed and pulled down the bed curtains.

Immediately afterwards, indescribable sounds between a man and a woman came from inside.

Inside the bed curtains, Zhou Chu listened intently to the sounds outside with a solemn expression, his body swaying constantly, causing the bed to creak.

Zhao Ji cooperated with his rhythm, letting out soft humming.

Outside the bed curtains, a dark figure silently descended from the roof beam, then walked to the window, gently pushed it open, and leaped outside.