VGAB Chapter 63

Qin Luo found an empty room, shoved Tan Zheng inside, and then grabbed some paper and a pen before taking a seat at a vacant spot.

“Speak up, what’s the grudge between you and Hu Ling?”

Tan Zheng snorted, “As a Taoist, it’s my duty to vanquish demons and evil spirits. Do I need a reason to kill a fox spirit?”

Qin Luo uncapped his pen and briskly wrote on the paper, “Apart from that, is there any other reason?”

“No.”

Qin Luo set down the pen, “It seems like you have strong opinions about our management bureau?”

“No comment,” Tan Zheng scowled. Hu Ling pushed the door open and poked his head in, “Qin Luo, the things you wanted are here.”

“Come in quickly.” Qin Luo took the talisman paper from Hu Ling with a cheerful smile and walked up to Tan Zheng.

“Luckily, I foresaw this and had Hu Ling get a True Word Talisman from Liu Ge.”

With that, ignoring Tan Zheng’s dark expression, he slapped the talisman onto Tan Zheng’s forehead.

“Now, let’s ask again,” Qin Luo picked up the notebook. “Why did you want to kill Hu Ling?”

“Demon, calamity to the nation,” Tan Zheng clenched his lips, attempting to resist the power of the True Word Talisman.

“You’re the demon, your whole family is a bunch of demons!”

Qin Luo restrained him, “Hu Ling, calm down.”

Hu Ling, infuriated, bared his fox claws, “When he was chasing me, I told him a hundred and eighty times that the one involved with the emperor was just an ordinary white fox in disguise.”

Qin Luo held the notebook, “No other additions? So, you attacked Hu Ling out of personal bias.”

The True Word Talisman flashed, and Tan Zheng involuntarily spoke with a fierce tone, “He also insulted the reputation of the Holy Emperor, tarnishing the image of the Holy Emperor. With deceitful words, a mere fox spirit dared to claim to be the reincarnation of the Holy Emperor. He must be killed as a warning to others.”

Upon hearing this, Qin Luo was momentarily stunned. Having been in this world for a while, he naturally knew that the Holy Emperor referred to his great-uncle, and Hu Ling gained fame by portraying his great-uncle.

Thinking about it, Qin Luo instinctively looked at Hu Ling and indeed saw the same look of confusion on his face.

“Damn it!” Since finishing that TV series, Hu Ling, who had been having a streak of bad luck, was now completely choked with blood in his throat, regretting it immensely.

If he could turn back time, he would never have taken on that role.

Qin Luo sympathetically glanced at Hu Ling with his eyes, then turned to Tan Zheng. “Do you think the character played by Hu Ling has damaged the image of the Holy Emperor in your eyes, and upon discovering he belongs to the fox clan, you decided to take action against him? Do you have anything to add to the above?”

“No.” The True Word Talisman flashed again, and Qin Luo made a checkmark on the recording paper.

Then, he put down the pen, looked at Tan Zheng with curiosity, and asked, “Since you are so protective of the Holy Emperor’s image, do you know who saved Hu Ling from your hands?”

“I don’t know,” Tan Zheng replied stiffly.

“Heh—” Hu Ling, on the side, let out a cold and elegant laugh, mocking, “Someone keeps chanting ‘Holy Emperor,’ but he doesn’t even recognize the Holy Emperor standing right in front of him.”

Tan Zheng widened his eyes and asked slowly, word by word, “What… did… you… say?”

Qin Luo shrugged, “Hu Ling is right. The one who saved him is the Holy Emperor you’re thinking of.”

Tan Zheng’s eyes widened instantly, then he became overwhelmed and fainted.

A tall figure appeared in the room.

“Qin Luo, what were you saying about the Holy Emperor just now?”

Qin Luo and Hu Ling turned to look, puzzled. “Boss, how did you come over?”

Dragon Lord stared at Hu Ling intently, “You said the Holy Emperor saved you?”

The tone was a bit peculiar.

Hu Ling pondered in his heart and slightly nodded in a tentative gesture. Seeing the other’s gaze darken, he quickly pointed at Qin Luo and explained, “The Holy Emperor is Qin Luo’s great-uncle. Perhaps, because Qin Luo and I are friends, the Holy Emperor intervened to save me out of consideration for Qin Luo.”

As expected, the dangerous aura around the person receded after he said this.

Qin Luo wasn’t foolish either, observing this change, he asked, “Does Dragon Lord know my great-uncle?”

The exceptionally handsome young man nodded reservedly. Back when he was attached to the Panlong pillar in the Hall of Diligence, he could see him attending court every day, so they naturally knew each other.

“Oh.” Qin Luo looked surprised, “I’ve never heard my great-uncle mention you. It turns out my great-uncle and Dragon Lord have some connection.”

Out of sympathy, Hu Ling discreetly pinched him.

Seeing that Qin Luo regarded Dragon Lord as someone extraordinary, and Qin Luo actually directly said that his great-uncle never mentioned Dragon Lord, wasn’t this implying to Dragon Lord that he had been forgotten altogether?

Qin Luo, feeling the pinch, turned around immediately, “Hu Ling, why did you pinch me? Dragon Lord is here; don’t mess around.”

You fool, it’s because Dragon Lord is here that I don’t want you to speak!

Thinking like this, Hu Ling met the deathly gaze sent by the Dragon Lord. The smile on his face instantly froze, and he silently withdrew his hand.

Well, if you’re looking for trouble on your own and blame others for stopping you, you’re beyond help.

“Where is he now?” 

Qin Luo scratched his head, feeling somewhat embarrassed, “Uncle is in the house I rented.”

“A rented house?” Dragon Lord’s voice raised a couple of degrees, “You actually let him live in a rented house, just like you?”

For some reason, Qin Luo felt a sense of shame, “Boss, you know, I’m currently an unregistered resident, and Uncle, too. Although Uncle has earned enough to buy a house, due to registration issues, I can’t buy a house for the time being.”

Dragon Lord’s gaze turned even colder, “You dare let him earn money for you? Can’t you speak up about not having a registration? Do you think our Special Management Bureau can’t handle something as simple as getting a registration?”

“But I asked the masters at the bureau, and they said registration is handled by another department…” Qin Luo weakly retorted.

Dragon Lord furrowed his brows tightly, “I’ll have someone arrange it later.”

“Oh? No, there’s no need,” Qin Luo hurriedly shook his head, “Although I didn’t have a registration before, a girl helped me out a couple of days ago. She said she could arrange it for me.”

As he spoke, Qin Luo’s phone started ringing. He looked at it and saw an unfamiliar number with no contact information.

Qin Luo glanced at Dragon Lord, who turned his head away, saying, “Answer it.”

Qin Luo answered the call.

“Master Qin, your registration has been processed. Where are you now? I can bring it to you.”

“Oh, just send it through express delivery. No need to bother you with a trip,” Qin Luo unexpectedly responded and quickly provided the bureau’s address.

“Alright.” The girl on the other end sounded a bit disappointed.

Qin Luo expressed his gratitude and ended the call.

“I have an empty house nearby that you can use for free. After all, even if your registration is done, it may take some time to get an appointment for a residence permit,” Dragon Lord suggested.

Dragon Lord suddenly spoke, and Qin Luo was startled by his unexpected generosity. “Free, lend it to me for free?”

Dragon Lord raised his chin slightly. “Discuss it and give me an answer tomorrow morning. If you’re not interested in the one nearby, I have several others in different locations.”

His words carried an undeniable tone, and Qin Luo nodded in a daze. He then watched as the Dragon Lord’s figure flashed and disappeared on the spot.

“Weird,” Qin Luo muttered and then looked at Hu Ling. “What did you do just now, pinching me? You almost made me lose control in front of the boss.”

Hu Ling gritted his teeth. “You don’t appreciate good intentions. I was saving you, you know!”

“I wasn’t in any danger,” Qin Luo said, puzzled.

Hu Ling: “…”

“Forget about that,” Qin Luo said, holding a notebook. “We also need to have someone handle the surveillance video from the area.”

Hu Ling suddenly spoke, “Qin Luo, let me borrow your phone.”

Qin Luo handed him the phone, asking, “Didn’t you bring your own phone?”

Hu Ling, without lifting his head, opened a social media app. “Roaming fees on my phone are too expensive, and my data is running out.”

Skillfully, he opened Weibo, and on the trending page was the segment about the accident. The news headline read, “Truck mysteriously turns and crashes into the pedestrian walkway, driver burned to death on the spot.”

It seems that the details of the accident are not known to the public.

Hu Ling intended to exit the app, but his hand subconsciously tapped the search button. At a glance, Hu Ling saw his name trending.

#Hu Ling Suspected to Co-habit Love Nest with Same-Sex Partner#

Hu Ling raised an eyebrow and clicked on the trending topic. The top post featured a photo taken by paparazzi of him mistakenly confessing to the big shot, walking downstairs with Qin Luo, and being secretly photographed on the street.

The comments section was filled with his fans angrily condemning the gossip account. Hu Ling felt a slight sense of relief – thankfully, his fans were rational and didn’t believe in this baseless speculation.

“What are you looking at?” Qin Luo, seeing the redness on Hu Ling’s face, couldn’t help but curiously approach.

Hu Ling, looking somewhat guilty, quickly turned off his phone. “Nothing, just checking the aftermath of that accident.”

“No need to worry about that accident; our department will take care of the follow-up work,” Qin Luo reassured him, taking the phone.

“The driver’s death isn’t your fault either. If you hadn’t forced it to change direction, pedestrians along the way might have suffered.”

Knock, knock, knock.

A knocking sound came from the door, and Liu Neng poked his head in, handing over an envelope. “Qin Luo, this is the bonus the boss just gave you and the compensation for the work injury last time.”

Qin Luo was startled, quickly took the envelope, and found it to be thin, making it impossible to discern its contents by touch.

Curious, he opened it, revealing a check lying silently inside.

“How much is it?” asked Hu Ling with curiosity.

Putting the check back into the envelope, Qin Luo pinched himself hard.

The pain was unmistakable.

“Damn, it’s not a dream.” Qin Luo blurted out, “The boss actually gave me a bonus of two hundred thousand!”

Even if he considered the accumulated bonuses from before, the amount on this check far exceeded what he expected to receive.

Liu Neng looked inside, “What about that Tan Zheng? Is he okay?” With his head lowered, he couldn’t have been beaten to death, could he?

“He’s fine, just fainted from anger,” Qin Luo slowly explained. “I used a truth-speaking talisman to ask him a few questions, and he got worked up.”

“Oh, I see,” Liu Neng breathed a sigh of relief. “I’ve got things to do, so I’ll leave first.”

After Liu Neng left, Qin Luo organized his records and placed them back into his files. Finally, he had the opportunity to ask Hu Ling about the matter concerning the Nine-Tailed Fox.

“What’s the deal with the White Fox?”

Hu Ling shrugged, “That white fox had a heavy vanity. In order to become a Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox, it stole tails from other foxes and attached them to itself. The result was that, after the infatuated ruler who admired it caused the destruction of a nation, someone accidentally saw the true tail and eight fake tails behind that white fox. In a moment, they firmly believed that the white fox belonged to our Nine-Tailed Fox clan.”

This led to the defamation of the reputation of the Nine-Tailed Fox clan, and even after several hundred years, it has not been cleared.

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