Who hid My Corpse!

Goddamn, goddamn, goddamn!

Lair was sprinting through the alley, cursing in his mind, with four or five Rhein Knights relentlessly pursuing him.

Lair really wanted to tell the guys chasing him that they had the wrong person. Although he was a thief, he hadn't succeeded in stealing anything yet. He'd just taken a quick look inside the carriage and got caught. They should be chasing the guy who had actually stolen something!

However, Lair also knew that, in this situation, there was no way those people would believe him. He was between a rock and a hard place, and slowing down even a little bit would instantly get him caught. He couldn't imagine what would happen if he, a grown man, got caught by the Rhein people, so he could only keep running as fast as he could.

... All because of that guy!

Lair was referring to his fellow thief who had landed him in this predicament. He knew that guy because it was that guy who had sold him the tipoff for tonight.

But what Lair didn't expect was that the guy not only sold him information but also sold him out!

Once I get out of this, I'm definitely going to...

"Thud."

Lair felt a sharp pain in his right leg. Instinctively, he looked down and found that his right leg had been pierced by a Holy Arrow.

And with that, he "thumped" to the ground, rolling seven or eight times forward.

He wanted to get up and keep running, but after several attempts, he couldn't manage it. By then, his pursuers had caught up to him.

"Wait, wait!" Lair quickly raised his hands in surrender, "I have nothing to do with it, I didn't steal your stuff!"

The pursuers had reached his side and, hearing his words, let out a cold laugh: "Do you take us for idiots?"

"No, no, no, it's true, I'm not lying to you! I did plan to steal, but I hadn't succeeded yet!" In order to save his life, Lair blurted out the "truth," even opening his backpack for them to see, "Look, there's nothing in here, just my own stuff."

"Ha, still trying to fence stolen goods?"

"It's not fencing! I haven't had the time to fence anything; you've been chasing me since it all started and haven't stopped!" Lair pleaded, "Please, let me go. I was set up by that guy. He threw me out to divert your attention... yeah, yeah, that's it, he even gave me the tipoff!"

Seeing Lair shift all the blame to someone else, the pursuers naturally didn't believe him. However, after checking Lair's backpack, they indeed didn't find the missing goods from the carriage, so they couldn't help but frown.

"Really, it's all that guy! He planned everything; I'm just a victim!" Lair started kowtowing to the pursuers, "Please, let me go! I'll give you all of my possessions... everything."

Lair uttered the last part through gritted teeth.

After all, his backpack contained his entire fortune, but he knew hesitating now was like sealing his fate with a coffin lid, so he didn't dare hesitate.

And even though Lair decided to risk everything, in the eyes of the pursuers, he was merely a joke.

"Ha ha, you're already in our hands and still trying to bargain?" The pursuer lowered his head and said in Lair's ear, "You dared to act against us... do you know who we are?"

Lair felt a tightness in his chest; he knew this was the key issue, so he feigned ignorance and said, "Aren't you just an ordinary caravan?"

Yes, what's more crucial than those goods is finding out who these people are.

Although the people in the black market knew the Rhein Church themselves were the biggest "black merchants," involved in drug dealing and human trafficking with ease, Rhein's followers were unaware. Their splendor tolerated no stain, let alone this kind of darkness.

So if Lair wanted to stay alive, he could only play dumb about the other party's identity.

However...

The pursuer chuckled: "Ha ha, at least you have some brains."

Hearing this, Lair thought he'd done the right thing and was about to breathe a sigh of relief when the pursuer continued.

"Too bad, not much of it." The pursuer said leisurely, "Playing dumb is useless; we all know you recognize our identity."

"I..." Lair gritted his teeth, "really don't know."

The pursuer smirked: "Then I'll tell you."

Lair was stunned for a moment, instinctively trying to cover his ears, but the pursuer already spoke: "We're Rhein."

A brief silence.

Lair's mouth slowly fell open as he realized what was happening; he jumped up to escape but was kicked by a Rhein Knight and pinned down.

"You really didn't have to play dumb." The Rhein Knight said leisurely, "Once we caught you, your fate was sealed. Don't forget we're the Orthodox; it's our duty to execute you black merchants."

"No, no!" Lair shouted, "Don't kill me! I can lead you to the one who actually stole from you! I can lead you to him! Just don't kill me!"

"Haha, trusting you old cons is less plausible than trusting myself." This Rhein Knight seemed tired of entangling with Lair, turned around, and said to his people, "Get rid of him, make it clean, then we'll find that guy."

"Yes, boss!"

From behind the Rhein Knight came a hearty male voice that Lair found somewhat familiar. He looked up quickly and saw a robust man grimacing as he approached.