Strongest Scammer: Scamming The World, One Death At A Time-Chapter 621: The Missing Fen Clan

The driver slowly lifted a shaking finger toward the row of buildings in front of them.

"Honored Disciple… Young Miss… the clan… the Fen clan… it is gone."

Han Yu leaned forward slightly and followed the direction of his finger.

Where a clan courtyard should have been, he saw a long stretch of new buildings. Shops with bright signs, a small medicinal store, a tailor shop, a pottery merchant, and even a small wine tavern. People were entering and exiting freely, laughing, shouting, bargaining.

There was no gate.No clan emblem.No courtyard.No walls.No presence of a family estate.

Not even rubble.

Just a completely rebuilt commercial street.

'So the clan is gone… and not recently,' Han Yu thought.

Qing Luan stared blankly before whispering with a trembling voice, "Where… where is the courtyard? The gate should be right there. Mother told me it was large enough to house three generations…"

Driver Yun shook his head repeatedly. "I… I do not understand. When I was young, I visited this place many times. The Fen clan courtyard was right here. A tall red gate stood where that pottery shop is now." He pointed with disbelief. "There was a lotus pond… and a training yard… and an ancestral hall. But…"

He swallowed, voice cracking.

"There is nothing left."

Qing Luan began to tremble, her eyes filling with tears. "Then… then where is everyone? Where is my…"

She could not finish her sentence.

Han Yu stepped out of the carriage slowly. His expression was calm, but inside his mind sharpened with suspicion.

'This was not caused by natural decline. A clan cannot disappear overnight without leaving any trace. Someone erased them. Or bought them out. Or destroyed them quietly without drawing attention.'

He placed a hand on the carriage door and spoke in a calm, cold voice:

"Driver Yun. You knew the Fen clan well. Go ask around. I want to know who bought this land, when it happened, and what happened to the clan members."

Driver Yun bowed immediately, his face tight. "At once, Honored Disciple."

Qing Luan looked at Han Yu with desperate eyes, silently pleading for answers she could not voice.

Han Yu met her gaze.

He said only:

"We will find the truth."

Green trust energy surged from her again, thick and bright.

Han Yu stepped forward, hands behind his back, and looked over the bustling street where a clan once stood.

His eyes were calm.

But his thoughts were like knives.

'Someone erased this clan. Someone who wanted the land. Or someone who wanted the Fen clan dead.'

His lips curved in a faint, cold smile.

'And whoever did it… will reveal themselves soon enough.'

Driver Yun returned exactly thirty minutes later, his breath uneven and his face drained of color. The moment he stepped into the carriage street where Han Yu and Qing Luan waited, Han Yu could already tell the truth he carried was not pleasant.

Han Yu spoke first. His tone was calm, cold, and sharpened by authority.

"Speak."

Driver Yun bowed, trying to compose himself before answering. His voice trembled faintly.

"Honored Disciple, Young Miss… the Fen clan… their end was worse than I imagined."

Qing Luan tensed, clutching the edge of her robe with trembling fingers. Her eyes shook as she forced herself to meet the driver's gaze.

"What happened?" she whispered.

Driver Yun inhaled deeply.

"The Fen clan was deeply in debt. Much deeper than any of us ever knew. It looks like they didn't want to trouble madam Hualing with the truth. Their businesses in the town had already been failing for years.

The merchants in the area began targeting their trade routes, undercutting prices and stealing their customers. Without strong financial backing and without cultivators strong enough to protect their interests, they lost almost everything."

Han Yu nodded slowly. He had already guessed that the decline had external hands at work. Small clans did not vanish alone. There was always someone behind the curtain.

Driver Yun continued.

"I learned that the Fen clan patriarch passed away five years ago. He was already very old and the pressure of the debts, the failing businesses, and the shrinking clan proved too much. Some say he died quietly in his sleep. Others say he died of heart fire from stress. After his death, the remaining elders tried to keep the clan afloat."

He took a shaky breath.

"But with no successor strong enough… and with no support… they could not maintain anything. One debt collector followed another. One failed business followed the next. Eventually… they were forced to sell the clan estate."

Qing Luan covered her mouth, tears welling uncontrollably.

"They… sold it…?" she said in a trembling voice.

Driver Yun nodded sadly.

"Yes, Young Miss. They sold the courtyard, the training grounds, the ancestral hall… everything. The new owners tore everything down and built businesses on the land. The Fen clan fell apart. Most members scattered to other towns. Others became laborers. And…"

His face twisted with sorrow.

"I heard there are still a few members living here, in the poorest district."

Han Yu spoke without hesitation.

"Take us to them."

Driver Yun bowed again. "As you command."

He led the carriage through narrow, twisting streets far from the bustling central area. The houses grew smaller, older, and more worn as they went deeper. The air grew thick with the scent of poverty. Eventually, the streets grew too narrow for the carriage.

"We must proceed on foot from here," Driver Yun said quietly.

Han Yu stepped out, followed by Qing Luan. She wrapped her arms around herself, trembling not from cold but from dread.

'Good,' Han Yu thought. 'Let her heart grow raw. The deeper the wound, the deeper the hatred I can shape later.'

Driver Yun led them down a cramped alley. They passed cracked walls, thinning roofs, mold growing in corners that never saw sunlight. Finally, they stopped before a tiny courtyard.

Han Yu's spirit sense swept over the place silently, checking every corner of the place.