Strongest Scammer: Scamming The World, One Death At A Time-Chapter 627: The First Target, Huamu Ye

But Han Yu was not looking only for strength.

He was looking for cracks.

Weaknesses.

Opportunities.

He turned to leave the estate and walked a few more streets.

At a medicinal herb shop he overheard a group of men complaining.

"My cousin works for Birch Leaf. He says their profits have doubled this year."

"Of course. They are practically robbing people."

"I heard Young Master Ye has been buying more women again."

"Disgusting. That brat is going to meet his end someday."

"If only someone strong enough appeared to teach him."

Han Yu filed those complaints away.

He lingered near a tavern next, pretending to drink watered wine.

Inside, a group of hunters were speaking loudly.

"Huamu Ye nearly died last week."

"What happened."

"Some outsider cursed at him. Called him a useless mushroom. He charged at the man, but the outsider pushed him into a fruit stall. He cried for Elder Bai like a child."

"But Elder Bai showed up, right?"

"Yes. The outsider escaped that day. If Elder Bai caught him, he would be dead."

Han Yu almost laughed.

'So that is the kind of person he is. Good.'

He spent two hours gathering such information, slowly weaving together the true face of the Birch Leaf Merchant Guild.

And when he was satisfied, he returned to the small courtyard where the Fen remnants waited.

Driver Yun returned at the same time, entering with soft footsteps. His expression was calm but serious.

"Honored disciple," Yun said. "I have gathered the information you asked for."

Han Yu nodded.

"Speak."

Yun began calmly.

"The Birch Leaf Merchant Guild is rich. Too rich for a local power. Their taxes are suspiciously low and their shops are expanding too quickly. Every shop that competes with them either goes bankrupt or is bought out within a year or two."

Qing Luan clenched her fists.

"So they did the same to my mother's clan."

"Yes," Yun confirmed. "They have done it to many households. They appear to be backed by an external force. And people suspect it is the Lushan Clan. They deny it, but too many connections point that way."

Han Yu's eyes darkened slightly.

"Perfect."

He set his straw hat aside.

"Now that we know their structure, their guard force, their young master, their debts, their businesses and their backer…"

A cold smile stretched across his lips.

"We can begin."

He tapped the table lightly.

"Tonight, I will decide who dies first."

Qing Luan shivered with anticipation, hatred burning hotter behind her eyes.

"Just tell me what to do."

Han Yu leaned forward, his voice calm.

"You will do nothing yet."

Her breath hitched.

"I will show you how revenge begins."

And with that, the real hunt started.

Morning in White Peacock Town carried a crisp bite of lingering night air. The streets slowly filled as stalls opened and vendors began shouting prices for fresh vegetables, steaming buns, and morning porridge. Carts rattled over cobblestones. The smell of fried dough, soy milk, and meat buns drifted lazily through the roads.

Han Yu sat at a tiny outdoor eatery on the corner of a wide street. He wore dull, dusty brown clothes, a patched tunic, and a straw hat that shadowed most of his face. To anyone watching, he looked like a migrant worker drinking his first bowl of hot soy milk before a day of labor.

He dipped a fried dough stick into the steaming bowl and chewed slowly, his posture relaxed, his aura suppressed to the point of insignificance. No one glanced at him twice.

Exactly as planned.

Driver Yun stood far down the street near a noodle stall.

His robe was faded. His hair was tied simply. He looked like a middle aged worker eating breakfast before heading to a work site. His acting was perfect. He blended so well that even Han Yu could barely pick his face out of the crowd.

Both men waited.

Across the town, Qing Luan and the Fen family stayed hidden in the small courtyard. They had no role in the first step of the plan. This was a test run. A spark to start a wildfire. The first move of a long game of humiliation and retribution.

Han Yu had spent most of the previous night aligning everything.

They already knew the infamous schedule of Huamu Ye.

A schedule so predictable, so painfully repetitive, that even children in the town could recite it.

Wake up around eight. Stretch. Eat breakfast made by servants.

Leave the Birch Leaf residence at ten.

Walk through the wealthier streets, then drift into the markets.

Harass women until noon. If he found someone attractive enough, he would flirt with shameless bravado. If she resisted, which was often, he would order his guards to drag her away for an interrogation that was clearly not an interrogation.

In the afternoon he would drink and gamble. His friends were other spoiled sons of lesser merchant clans who circled around him like flies around a rotten fruit. Flattery was their entire purpose.

By nightfall he would stagger into one of the local pleasure houses and leave drunk and half conscious, guided by his guards.

It was shameful. It was disgusting.

It was perfect.

Because it made him predictable. Very, very predictable.

Han Yu did not even need to do much investigation. Just walking around the marketplace one afternoon had been enough for ten people to volunteer gossip about the Birch Leaf scion.

Today would be no different.

Han Yu finished the last of his soy milk and placed the empty bowl on the table. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and stood up slowly, stretching his arms like a laborer preparing for work.

His spirit sense stretched quietly.

'There.'

The familiar cluster of presences appeared at the far end of the road. A group of ten men walking in formation. Nine guards, one worthless young master strutting at the center as if the street itself existed to support his footsteps.

Huamu Ye.