Chapter 164: The Little Genius Girl

When Tang Tian and his group arrived at the Gu family’s back door and found no sounds of battle, Tang Tian could not help but let out a sigh of relief. The group stealthily made their way back to the courtyard where they lived, entirely familiar with the route.

Nobody was there!

Tang Tian breathed a huge sigh of relief. Hauling Zhai Hengzhan over his shoulder like a common thief, he slipped into the room, followed closely by Ling Xu.

"Has Ah Tian not returned yet?"

Gu Xue’s voice suddenly rang out from outside the courtyard, startling both Tang Tian and Ling Xu. The two exchanged glances, and Tang Tian hissed in a low voice, "Quickly, hide these two things!"

Things...

Zhai Hengzhan remained calm and composed, but the little vine girl’s eyes widened instantly, practically breathing fire.

Footsteps were drawing closer. Tang Tian’s gaze swept across the room and landed on the wardrobe in the corner. His spirits instantly lifted. He yanked it open—the size was just right!

"Here, here!" Tang Tian hastily beckoned to Ling Xu.

Zhai Hengzhan and the little vine girl were stood upright inside the cabinet. Tang Tian warned them, "You two had better not move around. If you dare to twitch, humph!" Tang Tian noticed the little girl's eyes darting around mischievously, clearly paying his words no mind.

This captive had no awareness of being a captive at all...

With a swift motion, Tang Tian whipped an extremely sharp dagger out of his water-bottle armor case. The blade still carried the lingering aroma of roasted meat, as he usually used it to slice up barbecue.

A knife used for eating meat was still a knife. The icy blade pressed against the little girl's neck, and the bone-chilling cold instantly froze her entire body.

No matter how mischievous a little girl might be, she was completely terrified at that moment.

"If you dare to move even a little, I'll slash your face to pieces!" Tang Tian glared, deliberately lowering his voice to threaten her.

Only when he saw genuine fear welling up in the little girl's eyes did Tang Tian withdraw the dagger with a sense of satisfaction. The footsteps outside the room were growing closer. Tang Tian hurriedly shut the wardrobe, tossing his gorilla mask inside along the way, followed immediately by Ling Xu’s panda mask.

Ghost Claw and Bing retreated back into the light gate.

Creak. The door was pushed open.

Upon seeing Tang Tian and Ling Xu, Gu Xue let out a sigh of relief, but her delicate brows instantly arched upwards in anger, her fair face frosting over. "Where on earth have the two of you been messing around?"

The words were out of her mouth before she realized her phrasing was inappropriate, and a blush instantly crept up the back of her neck.

"Aha! Little Xuxu and I decided to have a serious spar, but the place here is too small and we were afraid of wrecking the house. We ran a bit too far and ended up getting lost," Tang Tian laughed it off awkwardly.

Standing to the side, Ling Xu kept his eyes fixed on the bridge of his nose and his mind turned inward, uttering not a single word.

"Lost?" Gu Xue was stunned, asking with a hint of oddity, "Just how far did you two run to actually get lost?"

Tang Tian scratched his head, putting on a bewildered expression. "We aren't really sure either. If we knew, how could we have gotten lost?"

He quickly changed the subject. "Has the Enforcer Group arrived yet?"

"They're here!" Gu Xue shot Tang Tian a sideways glance. "They arrived two days ago. Fortunately, we can't count on you guys; you're always useless at critical moments."

"Fortunately you weren't here, though. Those fellows are far too arrogant. Elder Yu and the others arrived in time, so no major conflict broke out." Gu Xue’s tone grew heavy. "However, Uncle Mu was injured."

"Ah!" Tang Tian was suddenly startled, a flash of uncontainable rage crossing his face. "How severe is the injury? Who struck him?"

"He'll need to rest and recover for a while." Gu Xue already somewhat regretted telling Tang Tian about this; she knew he would definitely not let the matter rest, and she worried he would get hurt. She hurriedly added, "There's nothing seriously wrong. Ah Tian, don't go out much lately. I've already told them you two are in seclusion. This incident isn't as simple as it seems—it's a struggle between the Enforcer Group and the local powerhouses. Although the Enforcer Group isn't weak, the various clans also possess formidable strength. The friction between both sides goes back a long way, and while they've always maintained restraint, this time it has completely erupted. The most important thing for us right now is to sit back and watch how the situation develops."

Tang Tian’s expression darkened.

Seeing this, Gu Xue grew even more anxious. "Ah Tian, you must not make a move right now. Over the past few days, experts from various clans have been arriving one after another, and the situation here is extremely delicate and complex. Ah Tian, please don't do anything reckless!"

"Miss!" Suddenly, the butler’s loud shout came from the outer courtyard.

Gu Xue was startled, her face instantly regaining its composure as she raised her voice to reply, "What is it?"

"Elder Yu asks for your presence to discuss a matter," the butler replied hastily.

"Understood," Gu Xue responded.

She turned back around, lowered her voice, and gazed intently at Tang Tian. "Ah Tian, you must not act rashly. As formidable as you are, you can't withstand sheer numbers!"

Tang Tian could feel the deep concern woven into Gu Xue's words, and a wave of warmth stirred in his heart. His expression softened, and he said, "Mn, I know."

Gu Xue felt slightly more at ease. "I'll go take a look first."

After giving Tang Tian a few more words of caution, she turned and left.

The moment Gu Xue was gone, Tang Tian’s suppressed fury erupted instantly. "Those bastards! We absolutely cannot let them off!"

"Right!" Ling Xu was similarly filled with righteous indignation. "In the name of justice!"

Tang Tian suddenly calmed down and glanced sideways at Ling Xu. "How severe are your injuries?"

"Not heavy. I can recover after meditating for two hours." Ling Xu looked eager to try. "Are we going to fight? No, wait! Are we going to uphold justice?"

"That's right! We are going to uphold justice!" Tang Tian sneered, a hint of ferocity crossing his features. "What if there are many of them? Does having numbers mean we have to swallow our anger? There has to be a way—Bing, come out quickly!"

Bing's figure flashed into view.

"Do you have any good ideas?" Tang Tian asked Bing, his eyes filled with anticipation. "You're our strategist now!"

Bing spread his hands with a helpless expression. "I'm just an instructor; I'm completely useless when it comes to these underhanded plots."

Tang Tian couldn't help but feel deeply disappointed, muttering to himself, "Even you have no way out? If Qianhui were here, she'd definitely find a solution!"

Ling Xu let out a cold snort. "If you ask me, we should just go beat them up. Didn't someone say once that all justice is upheld by fists?"

"All justice is upheld by fists..." Tang Tian couldn't help chewing on those words.

"Brilliant!" Bing praised, looking at Ling Xu with a trace of surprise.

Suddenly, the wardrobe began to bang rhythmically.

Tang Tian’s brows knitted together instantly. Striding over in a rage, he yanked the wardrobe open. The little girl let out a muffled stream of mmm-mmm sounds.

"What are you ghost-screaming for? Tired of living?!" Tang Tian asked, radiating a murderous and ferocious aura.

The little girl continued to mmm-mmm protest. Looking slightly puzzled, Tang Tian removed the silk scarf from her mouth and cold-snorted, "You'd better not try any tricks!"

After catching her breath, the little girl opened her wide eyes and put on a completely harmless expression. "I'm very good at scheming. I can help you!"

Tang Tian looked the little girl up and down, then burst out laughing. "How old are you? Have you even finished learning arithmetic up to one hundred? Schemes, my foot!"

Rolling her eyes at Tang Tian with a look of utter disdain, the little girl retorted, "Arithmetic up to one hundred? Are you measuring me by your own standard? I'm terribly sorry to disappoint you. My mathematics was studied under Grandmaster Ageda, with a minor in astronomy; my languages were learned under the erudite Grandmaster Riser, and I am fluent in three languages and conversant in six; my painting was mentored by Grandmaster Ning Yuan, and my dance by Grandmaster Gongsun. Beyond that, my interests include mechanism engineering, soul core research..."

Tang Tian, Ling Xu, and Bing were all left completely dumbfounded.

"Can you do arithmetic up to one hundred?" Tang Tian turned his head to ask Ling Xu.

Ling Xu looked blank. "What is that? A spear technique?"

Tang Tian let out a breath of relief and patted Ling Xu on the shoulder, deeply moved by the sentiment that "I am not alone in this world."

The little girl said quite casually, "To be honest, your current situation is extremely dangerous."

"Pfft!" Tang Tian sneered in contempt. "Don't try to scare us."

"Justice will surely vanquish evil!" Ling Xu declared with righteous sternness.

Bing moved aside quietly without a sound to distance himself from the two of them.

"Although I didn't catch everything that was said earlier, I can still roughly deduce the Gu family's predicament. The Enforcer Group clearly came here with some kind of ulterior motive, but I'm certain you haven't figured out their true intentions yet. As for that so-called Elder Yu, he is clearly doing this to establish his own authority. Now that both sides are locked in a stalemate, the Gu family is the fuse for this whole event. There are two layers of danger in this. First, that Elder Yu stepping in for the Gu family was never out of pure goodwill. If I were Elder Yu, besides using this opportunity to build my prestige, I would naturally take advantage of the momentum to swallow up the Gu family. The Gu family is weak and besieged on all sides—they're practically a piece of prime fat meat. Why wouldn't someone swallow them? Besides, don't forget that you are the fuse, the spark. If he wants to control the situation, he will tightly control the Gu family in his own hands to prevent any variables."

The cold smile blooming on the little girl's face sent a chill through Tang Tian’s heart, though he stubbornly put up a front. "We'll just have to see if we agree to that!"

"You?" The little girl's smile remained cold. "It's not that I look down on you, but Elder Yu has a massive force backing him up—that is momentum. Do you know what unstoppable momentum means? Once that momentum takes shape, there's nothing you can do to block it. He only needs to casually find a few people to kill you off, and can the Gu family do anything about it? You guys are formidable, but they have numbers. You could be attacked by 'mysterious individuals,' hmph—they can easily pin the blame entirely on the Enforcer Group. In a situation like this, everyone will naturally assume the Enforcer Group did it! That just creates a fresh round of conflict."

Tang Tian’s hands and feet grew cold. Although he wasn't very smart, he could tell the little girl's reasoning was sound. Forcing himself to stay calm, he asked, "Then what is the second danger?"

Knowing her words had subdued Tang Tian, the little girl breathed a silent sigh of relief and calmly continued, "The second danger is that you still haven't figured out the Enforcer Group's real purpose. If their goals don't align with the other faction's and there is no fundamental conflict, both sides will inevitably reach a compromise. And when that happens, the Gu family will undoubtedly become the sacrificial lambs of that compromise."

Tang Tian was left gaping, muttering, "What could the Gu family possibly have that the Enforcer Group would covet?"

The little girl sneered. "Who knows? Maybe it's that beautiful lady you mentioned earlier. Just hearing her voice told me she's an absolute stunner!"

Tang Tian's expression darkened instantly as he glared fiercely at the little girl. "If you don't want to suffer, you'd better not make jokes like that!"

The little girl felt a prickle of panic under his stare; Tang Tian right now looked just like a dangerous wild beast.

This guy really was a perfect match for that gorilla mask...

Prudently, she changed the subject. "Don't you want to know how to deal with them?"

Tang Tian's attention was successfully diverted. "How do we deal with them?"

A look of smug satisfaction appeared on the little girl's face. "Actually, it's very simple. Bring the Gu family out from under Elder Yu's protection and into the open, into everyone's field of view. In the sunlight, nothing can hide; any hand that tries to reach out toward you will have to exercise a fair bit of caution. And Elder Yu won't be able to just pull his people away anymore."

A sudden realization dawned on Tang Tian, who slapped his forehead in excitement. "Such a simple method—why didn't I think of it!"

The little girl wore a proud expression. "Such a kindergarten-level problem... Mmm... mmm..."

The silk scarf was once again stuffed into her mouth. Her eyes bulged wide, and she glared at Tang Tian with intense fury.

With an innocent smile that looked harmless to both humans and animals, Tang Tian patted her little head and said hypocritically, "Little genius maiden, I'll go try your method first. If it works, I'll come back and thank you!"

"Mmm... mmm..."

The little girl's angry muffled noises were cut off by the wardrobe door closing.