Regardless of who ultimately ascends to power in the Sheng Lan Family, for Lin Yu...

At least for now, it is not the right time for him to meddle in the affairs of the Sheng Lan Family.

After all, he still has his own matters to attend to.

Having silently updated his assessment of Sheng Lan Kui in his heart, Lin Yu steered the conversation back on track.

"Your ideas are quite interesting, Your Excellency Sheng Lan Kui, but we can discuss these political views of yours in detail another time when we have the chance..."

Hearing Lin Yu's words, Sheng Lan Kui also snapped back to attention.

"Oh, right, you came to me for a serious matter..."

His expression turned solemn: "Just how much do you know about that commission I accepted?"

"C-77? Almost everything," Lin Yu said calmly. "It's about assassinating Alt Mercury at Sleepless Sky Huoxing's birthday banquet two days from now, correct?"

Although Sheng Lan Kui had anticipated that Lin Yu might know the contents of this commission, when Lin Yu actually voiced these details, Sheng Lan Kui couldn't help but slightly change his expression.

"Where exactly did the information leak... Are you perhaps representing Sleepless Sky Huole?"

"No, wait... Could it be that the Sleepless Night Family Head sent you?"

Lin Yu did not directly answer Sheng Lan Kui's questions, merely watching quietly as the other filled in the blanks himself.

These Peerage Nobility families, long embroiled in intricate power struggles, had long since developed a habitual mindset: every event of significant consequence initiated by an individual was often a deliberate act with a strong purpose, an external manifestation of the will of some family or faction.

Within this circle, it seemed "acting on a whim" simply did not exist.

Based on this... Lin Yu only needed to provide the starting point for his deception; these nobles would complete the rest themselves.

"Regardless, the fact that you chose to negotiate with me means... this matter is negotiable, correct?"

As Sheng Lan Kui asked, Lin Yu gave a slight nod.

"I need to know what role you played in this commission."

Perhaps wary of the potential backing of the Sleepless Night Family Head behind Lin Yu, Sheng Lan Kui immediately distanced himself.

"I did indeed participate in this commission. After all... if Alt Mercury dies, it would be beneficial for the Saint-Lan family."

"The weakening of the alliance between the Mercury family and the Sleepless Sky family, the Autumn family and Mercury family falling back into a stalemate... these are outcomes our Saint-Lan family would be happy to see... So, after learning of this matter, I chose to become the 'supervisor' and 'team leader' for this commission."

"However, I did not initiate this commission—that I can guarantee—and if you want me to withdraw from it, or even stop them, I can comply."

"Only... since the other party issued this commission and specifically selected me as the 'supervisor,' they must have also prepared countermeasures and contingency plans against me."

"Even if I, as the 'team leader,' actively sabotage and hinder the team I lead, the other party surely has their own backup plan."

Sheng Lan Kui spoke seriously. Lin Yu did not immediately state his own stance or make a demand of Sheng Lan Kui.

"I see..."

He nodded and looked at Sheng Lan Kui: "What else?"

Sheng Lan Kui sighed: "And also... this assassination is scheduled to take place at Miss Huoxing's Coming-of-Age Ceremony..."

"You want to minimize the impact of this assassination through your efforts, to prevent it from ruining Sleepless Sky Huoxing's Coming-of-Age Ceremony?"

Lin Yu asked curiously.

Sheng Lan Kui looked at Lin Yu, first showing a puzzled expression, then a sudden, pleased arrogance appeared on his face: "Ha, Furbollo, although you are clever and have the support of the Sleepless Night Family Head... you truly do not understand Miss Huoxing!"

"Given her personality, if a murder case were to occur at her Coming-of-Age Ceremony, Miss Huoxing would absolutely not feel annoyance, displeasure, or think something like 'my birthday celebration has been ruined'... Instead, she would feel extremely, extremely excited and delighted!"

Listening to Sheng Lan Kui's statement, Lin Yu felt the other was not joking.

Regarding the mental state of this "Sleepless Sky Huoxing," Lin Yu couldn't help but feel a few more degrees of awe.

"So that's how it is. So, part of the reason you chose to accept this task was also to add some excitement for Sleepless Sky Huoxing?"

Sheng Lan Kui did not deny it: "A little bit... but ultimately, it's because this matter aligns with my interests anyway."

"Aren't you afraid of offending the Mercury family if this is exposed?"

Sheng Lan Kui shook his head: "It's true that exposure before the deed is done would offend the Mercury family, but if they only find out I was involved after he's already dead, what then?"

"Besides, do you think there are few people within the Mercury family itself who want him dead... Killing a Peerage Noble is certainly taboo, but I didn't plan to do it myself—if the matter is exposed, I'll just say I wanted to gather intelligence and secretly prevent it, which is why I infiltrated the group, and I didn't report it for fear of alerting the enemy and letting the mastermind behind the scenes escape... Coupled with some compensation and transfer of benefits, the Mercury family naturally wouldn't be able to pursue me further."

"If it weren't for you, the famously legendary 'Detective,' asking these questions, or if your backing wasn't that Sleepless Night Family Head, I wouldn't be so frank... It's just that you came directly to me, and I felt trying to hide it from you would probably be difficult to succeed, hence the candid admission—if the Mercury family came asking, I would absolutely insist there was no subjective intent to harm."

"Taking a step back, even if the other party really had some evidence... offering more benefits later would probably settle it."

As Sheng Lan Kui spoke, Lin Yu nodded.

This world was truly cruel...

Even the lives of Peerage Nobility could be priced and appear on the negotiation table as "transaction" content.

It's just that the asking price was usually too high, so few people traded in such things.

With the conversation having reached this point, Lin Yu felt the timing was about right.

"So, do you know who the mastermind behind this is now?"

Lin Yu asked. Sheng Lan Kui laughed.

"Ha, that..."

"I really don't know!"

Lin Yu was taken aback.

"You still don't know? Weren't you directly appointed as the team leader by the other party? I thought you had already been in direct contact with them!"

"It's true we were in contact, but we only communicated via communicator, and it was after I chose to accept the mission that the other party proactively contacted me through some middleman in the Outer City," Sheng Lan Kui recalled, speaking helplessly. "That guy is strange. Clearly a very distinctive character, yet I don't recall any such figure among the Peerage Nobility."

"I can only guess that the other party is probably not a member of our Saint-Lan family—because he recognized my identity, yet didn't expose me to the family, nor did he try to curry favor with me—if the other party were a Saint-Lan family member, this simply couldn't happen."

"Because in the current Saint-Lan family, there are only my enemies and my friends, no members who remain neutral!"