Strongest Scammer: Scamming The World, One Death At A Time-Chapter 602: A Late Night Intruder

But Han Yu only cast one cold glance in the direction of the girls.

It was enough.

All their hope froze instantly. One of the girls nearly dropped a plate. Another lowered her head so quickly her forehead almost touched the floor. None dared to meet his gaze again.

To them, that look alone felt like a crushing wave of intimidation. To Han Yu, it was simply disinterest.

He had seen enough peerless beauties to be unmoved by mortal girls. And even if he had not, he would never indulge while wearing Ju Fan's identity and while carrying the burden of rescuing his companions. Every hour counted.

The girls finished cleaning in silence and scurried out, bowing several times before closing the door gently behind them.

Han Yu exhaled, but he did not sleep. Sleeping in an unfamiliar village, especially when Zhao Liumen might have already sent someone, would be foolish. Instead, he sat cross legged on the wooden floor and began cultivating.

His spirit sense flowed outward like a silent wave.

He already mapped the entire layout of the village several times. The houses, the barns, the small shrine near the center, and the clusters of fruit trees seemed ordinary. He sensed around ten cultivators among the villagers, all weak, all Qi Refining realm.

The village head was the strongest among them. The rest were likely hunters or people with minor talent.

All of this aligned with what he had seen.

Hours passed.

Midnight drifted by.The darkness grew deeper.The faint sound of insects filled the quiet night.

Around three in the morning, Han Yu felt something shift.

A presence appeared at the edge of the village, slipping over the palisade wall with a smooth movement that a Body Tempering Realm cultivator could never replicate. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Han Yu did not move. His spirit sense simply sharpened.

The newcomer was around the late Qi Refining realm. Too weak to threaten him, but far stronger than most people in the village. The man was careful, landing lightly and keeping his Qi suppressed.

But to Han Yu's senses, the presence was unmistakable.

The intruder did not approach the guest house. Instead, he headed toward a small structure near the center of the village.

Han Yu focused on it.

A shrine.

A very small one. Barely large enough for two people to stand inside. He had thought nothing of it earlier. Just a mortal shrine built from rough stone and decorated with old prayers written on wooden tablets or paper.

But now, someone was sneaking directly towards it in the middle of the night.

"Interesting…"

Han Yu remained still, his eyes opening slowly. The fire in the oil lamp flickered faintly.

'Let us see what you are here for.'

He kept his presence suppressed and continued watching through his spirit sense, waiting to see what would happen next.

Han Yu watched the intruder move like a shadow through the sleeping village.

From his place in the dark guest room, he sat cross legged on the simple wooden bed, eyes closed, spirit sense spread out over every house and alley. The village was quiet. He could feel the slow breathing of the farmers and hunters, the faint flicker of Qi in the few cultivators that lived here, all of them resting.

The intruder kept low, darting along the sides of houses, avoiding pools of lantern light, slipping through gaps between walls and sheds like a rat that knew every corner. Han Yu followed him with his spirit sense as he headed not toward the guest house where Han Yu stayed, but toward the far side of the village.

There, at the very edge, stood a small wooden structure that his spirit sense had already inspected earlier.

The shrine.

It was a simple thing. One room, a raised platform, a few old incense burners, a wooden rack bearing ancestral tablets that glowed faintly with leftover incense smoke and the warmth of repeated prayer. There were no formations etched beneath it, no hidden arrays in the floor.

At least, that was what it had seemed like at first glance.

The intruder slipped inside.

Han Yu let his perception sink through the wooden walls and watched.

The interior was cramped. The man had to hunch slightly to avoid bumping his head on the low rafters. He stood there for a moment, eyes adjusting in the dark, then went straight to the ancestral platform as if he already knew what he was looking for.

He dropped to one knee, running practiced hands along the base of the altar, fingers seeking purchase along the back edge. After a few breaths, his hand stopped.

There.

He pressed his thumb into a tiny depression at the back that no ordinary villager would ever have reason to notice. A faint click sounded, so soft only Han Yu's perception could hear it.

A small compartment slid open.

Inside was a bundle wrapped in old cloth.

The man's shoulders relaxed. He reached in and drew it out with both hands, cradling it almost reverently. Beneath the wrappings, Han Yu could feel the distinct shape of a book, and something else. Not spirit stones, not metal. The energy signature was muted, but old. Important.

"So you are not here for me," Han Yu thought. "You came for that."

He narrowed his eyes.

The thief did not bother to check the tablets or close the compartment carefully. He just shut the panel with a dull thud, stowed the wrapped book inside his robes, and slipped out of the shrine again. His movements were faster now, more anxious. He knew every second increased the risk of being caught.

Han Yu still did not move from the bed.

He wanted to see how far this man would get. He needed a reason to act as Ju Fan. Killing someone in a random shrine with no witnesses would not fit the persona he had carefully built. But if something happened openly, in front of the villagers, it would be a different matter.

The intruder cut through a side alley, hugging the walls of small houses. The night was still, the crickets faint, the air cool against the packed dirt streets.