Steam Era: The Lord of 'Puluo'

Chapter 1002 540: Blood of Brothers

After leaving the community, Li Banfeng answered the phone and heard Ma Wu's voice: "Old Qi, there's been a change in Inner State, Luo Lijun was swapped out by them, Inner State might have other plans, be very careful, it's best if you can come to Soda Kiln once."

Hanging up the phone, Li Banfeng looked up at the community.

He didn't enter the gate but turned towards Flower Lake Park.

...

Ma Wu paced back and forth in the factory, uneasy, Feng Daiku advised: "Wulang, don't worry too much, Li Qi is a smart person, and his cultivation level is not low, it won't be easy for Inner State to deal with him."

Ma Wu couldn't rest easy, he had just received news from Shen Rongqing: "Zhang Gunli is also a smart man, with an absurdly high cultivation level, yet he fell at the hands of He Jiaqing? What we're afraid of is calculated plans against unforeseen circumstances."

After waiting for half a day, Li Banfeng arrived at Soda Kiln, and Ma Wu first talked about Zhang Gunli's situation: "Shen Rongqing didn't explain in detail, but Zhang Gunli is definitely dead, and the Smiling Face Ghost King was involved, I heard from Miss Feng, these are legendary figures from Puluo State."

The Smiling Face Ghost King should be Ah Gui, right?

He is now under Senior Brother Sun, but why would Senior Brother Sun get involved in this matter?

Short on money?

Senior Brother Sun surely has many ways to make money.

Short on Magical Treasures?

Zhang Gunli's magical treasures, how useful can they be to Senior Brother Sun?

Feng Chongli once sold a pair of Judge's Pens to Li Qiyi, earning 800,000 Ocean Dollars, he's involved in major deals, still belonging to Snowflake Beach, is it necessary for him to take a high-interest loan?

Li Banfeng found himself with major doubts about Snowflake Beach's situation.

Putting this matter aside for now, Li Banfeng's purpose of coming this time focuses on the River Snail Girl.

Ma Wu introduced: "Her name is Luo Yanjun, she's Luo Lijun's twin sister."

Li Banfeng stared at Luo Yanjun, looking her over repeatedly, and really couldn't tell her apart from Luo Lijun, no idea how Ma Wu managed to differentiate them.

"Your name is Luo Yanjun?"

"Yes."

Even their voices are identical.

"Why did you take over for Luo Lijun as the Gatekeeper?"

Luo Yanjun shook her antennae: "Neither my sister nor I are gatekeepers, this entrance has a newly appointed gatekeeper, he's from the lower clan, always inside the gate, never showing his face, our family belongs to the upper clan, we don't need to handle gatekeeping tasks."

Li Banfeng didn't quite understand: "What are upper clan people?"

Luo Yanjun explained: "Within our clan, there are upper clan and lower clan, the Luo Family belongs to the upper clan, holding a high status among the upper clan, my sister even made significant contributions, her words in the clan carry substantial weight."

Her words didn't really answer Li Banfeng's question, but conveyed a message.

Luo Lijun is not a simple transmitter, using New Land in exchange for Li Banfeng's backing, Luo Lijun played a significant part in this affair.

Li Banfeng said: "Go on, I'm listening."

Luo Yanjun said: "As for why I took over from my sister, I'm not clear on that either, the Imperial Court issued a document, and I came,

The document clearly stated for me to substitute my sister's identity, my sister and I grew up together, it's not the first time I've impersonated her, our looks are a given, even our personalities I can mimic flawlessly,

One time my sister made a major mistake, I took the punishment from our family, and even while getting beaten, not even our own mother could tell us apart, yet Ma Junyang managed to figure it out..."

Li Banfeng glanced at Ma Wu, he was curious about this too.

Ma Wu asked calmly: "Stop talking about useless things, just tell me why you replaced Luo Lijun?"

"I truly don't know," Luo Yanjun repeatedly shook her head, "since receiving the document, I haven't seen my sister again, I suspect she might be imprisoned."

Li Banfeng was startled: "Your sister is a major figure in the upper clan, how could she be imprisoned?"

Luo Yanjun's ability to express herself seemed poor, she struggled to explain: "Major figures in the upper clan are not alone, what they want to do varies too,

Just like my father, at his most glorious, everything in the clan was at his command, yet when he was down, he also became a prisoner."

Her words were contradictory, seemingly never addressing the question.

Does this girl truly have a communication disorder?

She is a wealthy heiress, with notable status even in Inner State, not to the point of being unable to articulate a thing clearly.

Carefully dissecting her words, Li Banfeng discovered plenty of information, information regarding Inner State.

From the perspective of Outside Provinces and Puluo State, Inner State appears united, pure Inner State people are at the top, and Puluo State cultivators who go to Inner State are enslaved by them.

But in reality, among pure Inner State people, there are different levels and factions, there's still strife and intrigue amongst them.

After a long silence, Li Banfeng said to Ma Wu: "I suspect she still hasn't told the truth."

Ma Wu nodded: "I think so too, Old Qi, you step back for a bit, I'll ask her more carefully."

Luo Yanjun quickly said: "Please don't come again, what I said is really true, I can only say this much, I'm not lying to you."

"Only say this much?" Ma Wu chuckled, "Just from this sentence, I know there's definitely more to it! Old Qi, you don't need to step back, I'm taking action now!"

Luo Yanjun waved her antennae: "I really don't want to deceive you, even if I did, it wasn't my intention."

Ma Wu didn't want to waste words anymore, ready to roll up his sleeves!

"Hold on!" Li Qi stopped Ma Wu, asking Luo Yanjun again, "You told us these things, why exactly?"

Luo Yanjun pointed her antennae at Ma Wu: "For him."

"Is this the truth you speak?"

Luo Yanjun shook her head.

This made Ma Wu even more furious, what does this mean? Plainly telling me she's lying?

Li Banfeng asked again: "Are there things you can't voluntarily say?"

Luo Yanjun straightened up: "There are things I can't say, you can ask, the things you ask I may not answer completely, but I can answer partly."

The more Ma Wu heard, the more confused he became, yet Li Banfeng understood some.

"They have taboos, taboos we temporarily cannot comprehend."

Ma Wu understood, these are unspoken taboos, somewhat similar to some curse techniques of Puluo State.

Luo Yanjun doesn't have communication problems, she simply can't express certain things.

Li Banfeng pondered for a moment, asked: "By telling us this, are you seeking our help?"

Luo Yanjun still didn't answer the question, instead, she talked about family matters: "My father became a prisoner, he said he could certainly regain justice, later he died in prison."

PS: Luo Yanjun is a smart person, even smarter than her sister.