Chapter 239: Chapter 239: The Disappearance Method Reappears
Yu An still remembered her first meeting with the Beast God. He had said that He often took the form of a Beastman to save His subjects from peril.
At the time, Yu An had thought the Beast God was a surprisingly good deity, but after seeing this book, she completely rejected her previous thoughts.
The Beast God did indeed help His subjects, but the predicaments the Beastmen encountered were personally created by the Beast God Himself!
He wasn’t the administrator for the Beastman World chosen by the Heaven and Earth Stone. If He failed to collect enough Power of Faith within a certain period, the anomalies in the Beastman World would be detected by the Heaven and Earth Stone.
The Beast God also had a malicious personality. He loved watching people express their profound gratitude to Him, the "culprit," so He would create numerous difficulties and then step forward righteously to resolve them.
Afterward, He would "casually" reveal His identity as the Beast God. This way, He both made a fool of the world and obtained the Power of Faith.
Yu An slowly flipped through the pages. The Merfolk Clan was listed right there in its pages. The Beast God had smugly recorded how He had ruined the Treasure Pearl Sea on the Beast God Continent, making it unsuitable for the Merfolk to live, and how He then led the Merfolk Clan to the Beastman Continent.
Along the way, the Merfolk Clan suffered countless casualties and paid a terrible price to finally reach the Beastman Continent.
The method of making the Merfolk children feign death and then taking them away was revealed to the Demon by the Beast God.
Yu An felt a little guilty. No matter what, the Demon was a part of her. But she understood that the blame didn’t lie with anyone who was used, but with the Beast God.
Only when the Beast God was brought to justice could the spirits of all those who were harmed rest in peace!
When Master Zhu was dragged over, he was a bit dazed. It wasn’t until he was being tortured that he realized the gold mine had been discovered.
Seeing Yu An’s impartial and incorruptible expression, he tried to hide the truth, but faced with the torture instruments, he lost his nerve and spilled the beans about everything he’d done.
"Hall Master, spare my life! I... I was just temporarily blinded by greed! I’ll donate all my money, I just beg you to let me live!"
Master Zhu was shaking like a leaf. He’d never expected Yu An to investigate such matters.
That’s right, he hadn’t expected Yu An *to investigate*, not that he hadn’t expected *to be caught*.
Before, there was no overall Hall Master. Each branch hall managed its own affairs. No matter who held the positions of the Four Great Hall Masters, they would never condescend to inspect the branch halls personally.
They would only send people to investigate, and those people were very easy to bribe. The reports that made it back to the main hall would only "report the good and hide the bad."
Moreover, it wasn’t just the investigators sent to the branch halls who were easy to bribe; the Four Great Hall Masters could be bribed as well.
The Endless Land seemed like a Paradise, but on the inside, it was even filthier than the Beastman Continent or the Beast God Continent!
Master Zhu subconsciously glanced at Ao Yi. He remembered entrusting someone half a year ago to deliver a large "gift" to the Four Great Hall Masters, implicitly indicating that he had discovered a gold mine and was currently mining it.
The Four Great Hall Masters had gladly accepted the gift and even hinted that he didn’t need to be too careful. With the Beast God away, he could ramp up his mining operations, as long as he gave them a respectful cut later.
They did this because seventy percent of the confiscated gold would go straight into the Beast God’s pocket. The Hall Masters were only human, and humans love wealth. Even if the Beast God was a god, He shouldn’t be so greedy!
The previous Four Great Hall Masters had been loyal to the Beast God, but this current generation had their own selfish motives. When Master Zhu contacted them privately to ask for help covering things up, they had agreed.
That was why he hadn’t been too vigilant. He felt that even if Hall Master Yu An was hard to bribe, the East Hall Master would help him cover things up.
But now, why wasn’t the East Hall Master playing by the script?!
Master Zhu glanced at Ao Yi again. Using his not-so-bright brain, he came to a conclusion: he had been set up by the Four Great Hall Masters!
’So much for helping me cover it up. They actually wanted to take the whole gold mine for themselves!’
"Spare your life?"
Yu An threw a roster in front of him, her voice ice-cold. "If I spare your life, then what about all these people you killed?!"
"For your own selfish gain, you pulled off a grand deception using fake deaths, sending innocent people to the mines without spending a single coin."
"They toiled day and night without rest. Many died from exhaustion and illness, and you just had them thrown into a mass grave... How do you propose to settle this debt!"
Master Zhu’s face was ashen. "Hall... Hall Master, I..."
Seeing the truly awful look on Yu An’s face, he knew his life was forfeit. Gritting his teeth, he implicated the Four Great Hall Masters.
Ao Yi was stunned. ’How could I not know about a deal like that with Zhu Chenghui?’
Yu An glanced at him, knowing that the ones who made the deal with Master Zhu must have been the Four Great Hall Masters whom Ao Yi and his brothers had replaced.
The Four Great Hall Masters of the Beast God Hall were replaced every so often. A year ago, the new Hall Masters took their posts; all four were middle-aged men.
A while ago, the Beast God, for some unknown reason, had not only brought Yu An’s family here but had also brought Ao Yi and his three brothers.
He had also replaced the memories of Ao Yi and his three brothers, making them believe they were the Four Great Hall Masters who had taken office a year ago. The memories of everyone in the Endless Land regarding the current Four Great Hall Masters were altered accordingly.
It’s just that the Beast God treated them like ants, not putting much effort into it. This resulted in their memories being imperfect. On the surface, they seemed fine, but in reality, they were full of holes.
"Utter nonsense!"
Before Ao Yi could even defend himself, Yu An spoke in a heavy voice, "The Four Great Hall Masters are all loyal to the Beast God. How could they possibly make such a deal with you?"
"Guards! Tie up Zhu Chenghui and announce his crimes to the public! Let all the people of Qi Yuan City know what Zhu Chenghui has done!"
Zhu Chenghui instantly collapsed to the ground, allowing the guards to drag him away without a shred of strength to resist.
The people of Qi Yuan City never imagined that in just a few short days, the Master Zhu who they thought loved his people like his own children would be revealed to be rotten to the core.
Once the roster was released, the eyes of the victims’ families turned red with grief and rage.
So, all this time, the one they had been thanking was actually the murderer of their loved ones!
Yu An had Zhu Chenghui directly beheaded and his head put on public display. The surviving miners from the gold mine had already been brought back safely by Ao Yi’s men, and the Beast God Hall’s personnel would escort them home.
Fortunately, they were all from Qi Yuan City or nearby villages, so they knew where their homes were.
Executing one Zhu Chenghui was simple, but the subsequent cleanup was difficult. Yu An spent several days handling it.
Most importantly, after this incident, the common people began to doubt the Beast God Hall. Ao Yi mentioned this issue to Yu An, but she didn’t address it.
She could handle everything else, but this one thing, she let it fester.
If the Beast God Hall’s reputation was damaged, the Beast God’s Power of Faith would slowly disappear, and Yu An was happy to see it happen.
"Ultimately, it’s just poor management on the Beast God Hall’s part. There’s no need to interfere. Sometimes, meddling only makes things worse."
Yu An casually found an excuse to brush him off, then redirected Ao Yi’s attention to another matter.
"Right, the recent disappearance of a hundred people wasn’t Zhu Chenghui’s doing. East Hall Master, what are your thoughts on the matter?"
His attention successfully diverted, Ao Yi began, "Hall Master, I believe... Hall Master!"
Before he could finish his sentence, Yu An, who had been standing right in front of him, suddenly vanished.
She had disappeared in the exact same way as some of the people in the case of the hundred missing persons!
