Stirling wiped the muzzle of his gun and put it back on the belt, a sneer on his face. Why didn't Stirling challenge Romeo in close combat to test his own martial arts prowess? Come on, who's crazy enough to choose hand-to-hand combat over a ranged weapon?

  At last, after three breaths, the text Stirling had longed for came into view.

  [Kill the Pathos worshipper Romeo and gain a lifespan of 21 years and seven days!]

  Only after reading this did Stirling relax. What an exhilarating battle, and he'd nearly been hurt!

  At that moment, Stirling felt a sense of having survived a catastrophe, even though this catastrophe hadn't even broken his skin. It was just that his lifespan, over a decade long, had made him wary these days, feeling like a cut below others always. But from today on, Stirling was at least half a normal person!

  Thinking of this, Stirling's mood abruptly brightened. He approached Romeo, blade in hand, and checked on him. The bard lay motionless, cannot die anymore.

  Stirling poked Romeo's body with his blade, then stabbed him several times. Seeing no movement, he squatted down and examined his head. Stirling noticed that Romeo's long hair had swiftly gone wild during the fighting. It even looked like a shield, protecting him from attacks. It was very impressive. But it seemed his Malice-Breaking Orb was too powerful. Now the charred corpse was completely hairless during the explosion, with a large, blackened hole in its chest. The entire body exuded a pungent, burning odor.

  Stirling looked at the corpse before him, feeling overwhelmed with emotion. Romeo first inspired him to join the dojo when Stirling had just arrived and felt lost in the city. Now, the bard had also given him another 21 years of life. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him a Warmth ambassador.

  Stirling shook his head and stood up. He then pulled out the Quicksand Map from his pocket and spread it out to study it in the moonlight.

  The small red cross vanished, showing that the threat was gone. A smile finally crept onto Stirling's lips.

  Then, Stirling picked up the oil lamp from the ground, lit it, and walked into the bedroom.

  Stirling muttered as he searched the inner bedroom. Soon, Stirling stood before a tile in the inner bedroom, with a strange expression on his face. The reason was clear: when he knocked on the tile; it felt hollow. This meant that there would probably be something inside. It must be said that Romeo and he truly had a connection. He had been supportive of Stirling from the beginning to the end, and their ways of hiding things were alike.

  Stirling shook his head, then squatted down and used his Tang Dao to lift a brick from a distance. The expected poisonous smoke and hidden weapons didn't appear, but that was understandable. After all, hiding things in a bedroom is for easier access. Adding a trap and poisonous smoke would only be troublesome.

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  Stirling carefully walked to the pit and looked inside. He found a white statue clearly laid there. The statue's face resembled both a man and a woman, with long hair tied up behind its head, seated in a lotus position. It was unclear if it was the face of the Pathos God, worshipped by the Pathos Shrine.

  Stirling's heart shank a little, and the phrase instantly came to mind.

  This worship of the gods referred to the statues of the 108 Disaster Stars. Stirling recently learned that value ranks the statues. Gold is the highest, purple second. Crystal, blood, and white descend one by one. There are five different class statuses. The pure white statue in front of him looked just like the ones Stirling had heard about lately. Considering Romeo's status as a worshipper, the statue's name was easy to guess.

  A single statue can create a friar of the Womb Realm. This is like a samurai reaching the rhino-skin realm. Stirling stood by the pit, a sudden wave of doubt rising in his heart.

  Stirling speculated about what had happened, but his confusion grew.

  He didn't know Romeo's identity, let alone the presence of a stone statue of worship here. So why did Romeo suddenly want to kill him? Undeterred, Stirling searched Romeo's room again. Finally, he found a letter hidden between the quilts on the bed.

  To avoid poisoning the letter, Stirling tore off the sheets and wrapped them around his hands a few times. Then he took the letter to the inner room and read it in the moonlight. After a moment, Stirling closed the letter without a word. He glanced at the charred corpse in the corner and muttered:

  The letter wasn't about the information Stirling wanted, but it linked to another secret.

  It was from Vajra Temple to the Pathos Shrine. The latter was working with the Yearning Temple to cause chaos in Farfield City. If Yearning Temple's plan succeeded, they would agree to the Pathos Shrine's some demands. Someone named "Sahaya", which looked like the name of a monk, signed the envelope.

  Stirling might not have got the answer he wanted, but he saw why Romeo acted so gutsy in the outer city. Stirling believed Romeo had a motive to murder him. He feared his neighbor might reveal his secret, especially a samurai neighbor.

  Shaking his head, Stirling folded the envelope and wrapped it in a sheet. Then, he returned to the bedroom and hacked the quilt and bed into pieces with a knife. He then overturned the cabinets, creating the illusion of searching for something. Stirling then wrapped his hands in a cloth and carried out the statue, wrapping it in a cushion. He tidied up the scene to ensure nothing was missing. Then, he quietly left with all his things.

  Stirling's courtyard was next door, but he wasn't silly enough to just climb over the wall to go home straight. He went back into the room, climbed onto the roof using the beams, and then jumped down from the back. Finally, he ran away from home. An hour later, after a full circle, Stirling quietly arrived at his room's door. He glanced around. Finding nothing wrong, he opened the door and stepped into the house.

  Back in the cabin, Stirling first removed his "Stealth Suit." Even though the ink had dried long ago, Stirling was satisfied with its performance tonight.

  Before entering Romeo's courtyard, he wandered through other areas of the Three Rivers District. He left ink stains on the ground to confuse future investigators. Although this world lacked cameras or fingerprint recognition, Stirling believed that extreme caution was necessary. Counter-detection measures are essential. They must leave no room for hidden dangers.

  Stirling first took out the letter, lit it with the flame from the lamp, and held it quietly until it burned to ash. Then, Stirling returned to the kitchen, lit wood in the stove, and tossed the "stealth suit" in. After finishing all this, Stirling returned to the table. He opened the cushions and revealed a white statue.