My Wife is Unbeatable in the Whole World, Touch Me If You Dare!-Chapter 449 - 309: Alarming the Thief Sect

Li Nuo's lips moved slightly, looking at Yiren's expectant eyes, he couldn't bear to tell her that times have changed. Now, not only does he possess the Fourth Realm's cultivation of Legalism, but his stealing techniques have also reached the Transformation Realm, he no longer needs to pretend to be married to anyone.

He alone can uproot the Thief Sect of Zhao Country.

Song Yiren saw him standing there in a daze, frowned and said, "Why, are you unwilling?"

Li Nuo came back to his senses, shook his head and said, "It's not that I'm unwilling... but, have you really thought it through?"

Song Yiren glanced at him and said, "When Li Anning could do it back then, do you think I'm inferior to her?"

Li Nuo spread his hands and said, "It's fine as long as you have no objections."

He extended his hand to Yiren, softly saying, "Let's go, wife."

Upon hearing these two words, Song Yiren's body trembled slightly, feeling a tingling sensation as if touched by electricity.

Wife...

Did he finally call her wife?

This title "wife", she didn't know how long she had waited for it, how many grievances she had endured in between...

Clearly he was her husband, yet she could only watch him get close to other women, calling other women "wife."

This belated "wife" made her nose tingle, almost bringing tears to her eyes.

After a long time, she came back to her senses, placed her hand in Li Nuo's hand, tightly holding it, and said, "Let's go..."

The Embassy wouldn't conduct sleep checks, even staying out overnight wouldn't be an issue.

However, the surroundings of the Embassy were heavily guarded, with twelve imperial guard patrols every two-hour.

To facilitate investigating the Thief Sect, Li Nuo planned to live outside for a few days.

They wandered outside until evening, when Li Nuo chose an inn.

Staying at an inn requires an identity verification, Li Nuo and Yiren's identity proofs were already handled by Honglu Si officers when they moved into the Embassy at noon.

He held Yiren's hand, walked out of the Embassy, found an inn on the street, handed over their identity proofs, and said, "One upper room."

Li Nuo prepaid the room fee for three days, under the guidance of the innkeeper, he and Yiren reached a room at the end of the corridor on the second floor of the inn.

The innkeeper led them into the room, smiled and said, "This is your room, if you need anything, you can instruct the younger ones downstairs."

After speaking, he closed the door and left.

Song Yiren looked at the oddly shaped chairs, the whip, shackles, candles on the table, and the ropes hanging midair, and said in surprise, "Why are these messy things in the room?"

Li Nuo didn't expect such thoughtful service from the Zhao Country's inn either, but he had no use for these things.

He stored these messy items in the cabinet, saying, "Ignore those, it's late, let's rest early today, tomorrow morning we'll go out to investigate."

Song Yiren looked at the only bed in the room, unsure of what to say.

Li Nuo walked to the bed, looked at her and asked, "Do you want to sleep outside or inside?"

Song Yiren was stunned, "Ah..."

Li Nuo said, "Anning and I did it this way too back then, don't worry, just sleeping on the same bed, if you don't want, I can ask the innkeeper to bring another quilt, I can sleep on the floor..."

Song Yiren waved her hand and said, "No need."

Li Anning could do it, why couldn't she?

Just sleeping on the same bed, he is her husband, with marriage certificate as proof, sleeping on the same bed with her husband is a normal thing...

She thought for a moment and said, "I'll, I'll sleep inside..."

She took off her shoes, lay on the bed, and tightly clutched the quilt.

Li Nuo lay beside her, smelling a familiar fragrance.

Yiren and Jiaren not only looked exactly the same, but even their scent was identical, which is why he couldn't distinguish when Yiren started pretending to be his wife.

Yiren lying beside him felt like his wife was beside him.

Li Nuo slept very peacefully, while Song Yiren tightly clutched the quilt, staring at the ceiling with no sleepiness at all.

She always felt, that ever since arriving in Zhao Country, he had changed.

The past him always kept a deliberate distance from her.

But after leaving home, she no longer felt that way.

She really wanted to know what her mother told him that day...

Before leaving, Sister Phoenix advised her to be more proactive at the right time.

But on the first day, they already slept on the same bed, what more proactive could she be?

She turned her head, feeling a bit happy inside.

Today he called her "wife"...

...

Early the next morning, Li Nuo woke up.

Yiren was still asleep. He went downstairs alone to buy breakfast. When he returned, Yiren had already gotten up and was washing.

After breakfast, the two went out together.

Today's task was to stake out the steward of that particular stronghold.

The Thief Sect had a strict hierarchical system. Only by finding the steward could they possibly locate the Chief above.

And to find the protector, they also had to start with the Chief.

The reason they chose to go undercover last time was because they coincidentally caught the Thief Sect meeting. This time, luck wouldn't be on their side, and they didn't have the chance to catch them all in one go.

He and Yiren acted separately, each tracking people coming in and out of the hideout.

It was difficult to distinguish the Thief Sect steward from the ordinary thieves in appearance, but their behaviors made them easy to differentiate.

Ordinary thieves had only one task, which was to steal as much as possible. Stewards generally didn't need to steal personally; their responsibilities were to manage the thieves under them and to recruit potential new members.

Li Nuo tracked three people in succession before he finally noticed a middle-aged man.

He appeared to be just an ordinary scholar, genteel and refined, not involved in any theft. Instead, he found a tea stall at a busy street corner, drinking tea while scanning the crowd.

Such street corners were also places where thieves frequently lurked.

Li Nuo stood by for a while and noted several petty thieves. Their methods were very clumsy; evidently, they had not received professional training. Some hesitated for a long time, not daring to act, while others attempted theft and were caught on the spot.

The middle-aged scholar watched and shook his head repeatedly...

After finishing his pot of tea, he stood up and disappeared into the crowd.

Li Nuo followed him at a measured pace. The Thief Sect steward was evidently very cautious, seemingly afraid of being followed, and circled around several times in the street before finally entering an inn.

Tracking and counter-tracking were essential skills for an excellent thief.

With Li Nuo's mastery of the Stealing Technique, following a mere Thief Sect steward wouldn't be detected.

A moment later, he entered the inn, found a seat in the hall, ordered two small dishes, and closed his eyes as if resting while waiting.

Upon reaching the Legalism Fourth Realm, the most iconic ability was Drawing a Prison. At the same time, his five senses improved greatly, especially his vision and hearing when he was focused.

Legalism referred to this ability as 'detecting the tiniest details'. Although it didn't offer much help in combat, it significantly aided investigations by uncovering clues invisible to others.

As Li Nuo closed his eyes, various sounds began flooding into his ears.

"Is the food for table seven ready yet? The guests have urged several times."

"Young Master, have another drink. Open your mouth; I'll feed you..."

"I told you the food here was good, worth the extra cost..."

"Steward Zhang, you left a sign to contact me. What's the matter?"

On the second floor of the inn, inside a private room.

Steward Zhang looked at a portly man and whispered, "I didn't mean to disturb you, Chief. There's a vital matter I need to report to you..."

For safety within the Thief Sect, only higher-ups could contact lower levels.

Stewards wishing to contact the Chief needed to leave a sign at designated places. After seeing it, the Chief would arrange a meeting time and location.

After hearing Steward Zhang's report, the portly man abruptly stood up and asked, "What, you say someone can steal the money pouch from one of your thieves from a distance?"

Steward Zhang nodded and replied, "Zhu Liu said this; it shouldn't be false. He also mentioned that the person knew about the Thief Sect and its code and released him after taking his silver."

Looking at the Chief opposite him, he continued, "Chief, could the one who did this be a protector or an envoy?"

The portly man shook his head and said, "Impossible. Even protectors and envoys don't have such abilities. Could it be..."

Thinking of something he had witnessed, a look of reverence appeared in his eyes.

As the Thief Sect Chief, he had seen the Sect Leader once two years ago.

Back then, the Sect Leader demonstrated the ability to steal from a distance in front of all the high-ranking members.

He himself was present at the time and remembered clearly that the Sect Leader could steal items from three feet away. That incredible skill commanded utter submission from everyone present.

As thieves, reaching that pinnacle was their lifelong pursuit.

His expression showed nostalgia as he murmured, "Could the Sect Leader have returned?"

Steward Zhang had heard of the Sect Leader's legend from the Chief. He was shocked and asked, "What? Is it really the Sect Leader? But Zhu Liu said it's a young person..."

Although Chief Qi had seen the Sect Leader, he didn't know what the Sect Leader looked like.

The Sect Leader was always mysterious, only showing himself in disguise last time, with no one knowing his appearance or age.

After a moment of contemplation, he said, "I will report to the protector first. Whether it's the Sect Leader or not, a capable person like this must be taken seriously..."

No more words were exchanged, and after Steward Zhang left the inn, the portly man waited a quarter of an hour before he too went downstairs.

He crossed two streets, reached a certain alley corner, looked around, took a piece of white chalk from his sleeve, and etched a triangular mark on the alley wall...