My Scales Can Make Equivalent Exchange-Chapter 76 - Playing the Victim

‘Well, this should be alright.’

After a moment of thought, Wang Zijia felt that it was still not safe. Finally, he gritted his teeth and rushed back into the foul-smelling valley.

When he emerged from the mouth of the valley, he was completely covered in the foul stench, his hair disheveled, and his body splotched with putrid mud. He looked like a man completely soaked in grime.

With an extremely haggard appearance, he made a swift exit from the valley. The Huang family members waiting outside immediately knelt and bowed as soon as they saw him.

“Greetings, Exalted Immortal!”

“Thank you, Exalted Immortal!”

“…”

Wang Zijia ignored them, took out his Identity Order Symbol, and activated the Task Emergency Contact Alarm.

As Wang Zijia acted, the Identity Order Symbol in his hand began to flash with spiritual light, like an emergency beacon.

Having done all this, Wang Zijia waited, not bothering to clean himself up and maintaining his pitiful appearance.

Anyway, his sense of smell had been numbed by the stench, so he couldn’t tell whether it was foul or not.

“Whoosh… whoosh…”

Wang waited for about two quarters of an hour before three beams of Escape Light pierced the pre-dawn darkness and rocketed in from the horizon.

In an instant, they were in front of Wang Zijia.

“What happened… er… what’s that smell!”

“Senior Brother… I’m so glad you guys are here. If you’d been any later, you wouldn’t have been able to see me…”

Upon seeing the arrivals, Wang Zijia, who had been simmering with emotion for some time, immediately let loose. He began to sob, sniveling and tearing up, and made to throw himself at the legs of the leading child.

Being only sixteen years old himself and possessing a chubby, childlike face, he performed his crying spell to the hilt. Coupled with Wang Zijia’s current pitiful state, he looked utterly pitiful.

The leader, without leaving a trace, took a step back to avoid Wang Zijia’s move of sobbing and clinging to his legs. He then subconsciously glared at Shou Xingye, who had previously transferred the task to Wang Zijia.

“That is…” Shou Xingye was also somewhat stunned for a moment. He subconsciously wanted to step forward to comfort Wang Zijia, but froze mid-gesture. With a fluctuation of mana, he lifted Wang Zijia into the air and said:

“Junior Brother Wang, stop crying for a moment and tell me why you activated the emergency plan. Also, what happened to the decent Huang Family Valley….”

As he was lifted into the air by Shou Xingye, Wang Zijia instinctively wiped his tears, accidentally smearing mud all over his face, making him look more pitiable.

The three members of the Law Enforcement Team couldn’t help but twitch their mouths at the sight of this. Shou Xingye’s face was a picture of awkwardness, his lips moving several times, but he didn’t know what to say.

“After I took over the task from Senior Brother, I immediately activated the protection array of the Huang family’s ancestral hall, and I haven’t taken a single step away. I even had them deliver my meals to the door…”

So saying, Wang Zijia narrated the course of events, slightly modified, his nose running and his eyes tearing all the while. He only omitted the part where he “collected cards,” nurtured the demonic being, and drew upon the pollution, and added some details about the difficult battle.

“You’re saying not some random demonic being but the Huang family members themselves were nurturing a ghost and causing havoc? And it was all happening right here in this valley?”

“Mhm!”

Wang Zijia, his face smeared with mud, nodded his head in grievance.

The three Law Enforcement Team senior brothers looked at each other, wordless. Selecting a purification point at someone’s doorstep was indeed somewhat… Even though they could shift the blame, they found the situation extremely awkward.

“Well… Junior Brother Wang, you go get cleaned up first. Leave the rest to us.” It was only after a moment of silence that Shou Xingye spoke up.

Upon hearing this, Wang Zijia finally left, looking aggrieved.

“Look what you’ve done. If the Zhang and Lin families find out about this, there might be another ripple of ‘discontent’ in the guild.” The leader glared at Shou Xingye and said:

“And also the Xiang family. I heard this one is their favored future son-in-law, a rare kind-hearted individual. Look at what you’ve made him look like.”

“Captain, I didn’t pick this location!” Shou Xingye responded, looking aggrieved.

“And now you’re talking back!” The captain glared at Shou Xingye and said angrily, “Get to the valley and check if there are any other fish that slipped through the net and see if the ends have not been tied up properly.”

“By the way, when the captain arrives later, get a Peace Talisman for the kid. We can’t let him be contaminated by this Sinister Qi and ruin his foundation. Otherwise, if it stirs up the Three Sects, we’re in for a headache.”

“Okay!” Shou Xingye replied. He and his Law Enforcement Team partner entered the foul-smelling valley to begin the inspection.

…

At noon the next day, when the Law Enforcement Team finally confirmed that there were no omissions, the valley was already surrounded by people from the Zhang and Lin families.

As for Wang Zijia, he was personally escorted back to the sect by Shou Xingye.

When the two arrived at the outskirts of Wanyu Immortal City and officially entered the sect’s territory, Shou Xingye landed on a hill and said to Wang Zijia, “I won’t accompany you anymore, Junior Brother. You can go back to the guild by yourself. I still have tasks to attend to.”

“Alright, Senior Brother Shou!” Wang Zijia replied sincerely.

Shou Xingye looked at Wang Zijia, hesitated, and then said, “Although the incident was somewhat accidental, it was indeed due to our oversight. Don’t take it to heart, Junior Brother.”

“I understand. It was an accident, and the senior brothers of the Law Enforcement Team can’t be blamed. It’s just my bad luck.” Wang Zijia, now clean and back to his innocent chubby self, sincerely replied with an innocent look on his young face.

Shou Xingye heaved a sigh of relief at his words. If this matter were to stir up trouble with the Xiang family, even if they could shift the blame, they would definitely face blame.

This was because they not only failed to completely eradicate the devil but also set up the purification point right at the front door of the family’s house, which was quite a blow.