Chapter 74 - Mastermo Has Gone Crazy

The middle-aged demon who was the first to accuse Taki was enraged to see this young man acting so rudely but all he could do was glare. This was the son of the demon king and a pure-blood, how could he say anything against him?

Before anyone could react, Doji decided to pour gasoline over the rising flames, "So you are saying that you'll accept the punishment? If you are not guilty, why should you be accepting it so easily?"

Zhihao smirked as he heard this, he was ready to break open the skull of this supposed-to-be brother of his, "Do you have a way out for me?"

Doji was silent as he heard this. 

"Very well then." The demon king spoke up. 

Everyone thought that he would sentence the punishment for Zhihao. Some guards got ready to catch him in case the young prince decided to run away, but the order never came, and instead, the demon king said something extremely shocking and unbelievable, "I believe you."

Zhihao was celebrating in his mind. He was really just winging it and it seemed that it had worked. 

"But I can't let you go like this."

Zhihao hadn't even sighed in relief before the breath he was ready to let out got stuck in his throat once again. 

"The ghost festival must go on. You still have time, use it to find the original vessel and bring it back here. Ten minutes, that's all I give you."

Zhihao gulped. 

Damn it...

To find the original vessel in under ten minutes? He couldn't even be sure that it was Kazan who stole her so how was he to do that? Might as well tell him to become the vessel instead, that would've been much easier. 

Doji was not impressed with how this had gone down, but he was a good actor and his face betrayed nothing, "Your highness, I was with Taki since the beginning, you can ask others who saw us. He was with me and I didn't see anyone who had switched the vessel out so how will Taki find the thief?"

Zhihao looked at the demon and his smile deepened. This demon was certainly very impressive, he was well versed with his tongue. 

On one hand, the demon had spoken up in Taki's stead, showing that he supported his brother, while on the other hand, he had also pointed his finger at Taki and called him out to be lying. 

"You were with him throughout the way?" The middle-aged demon who was already not fond of Taki spoke up instantly as he caught the loophole. 

Doji smiled, hardly noticeable and seemingly innocent at first glance, "I was." 

This demon was not completely lying. He had walked with Taki when they were near the ghost festival and so naturally there were witnesses of the situation. He had told the truth but not exactly the whole truth, he had left aside a big chunk of the critical information and it was that he did not escort Taki all the way, he had joined him halfway here, and the vessel was probably switched out before that. 

Taki had witnesses to support his statement whereas Zhihao had nothing. The only person who had seen Taki before he met up with Doji was Kazan and that man was the perpetrator here so he would naturally not stand up as a witness to protect Taki. 

[You are doomed!]

Zhihao shook his head. 

For the first time in his life, Zhihao felt like Alvi had misjudged him a bit too much. He was not doomed at all. 

Doji was tricky and intelligent but Zhihao wasn't too lacking in that department. 

"Brother, I trust you but now that you have pointed it out, I can't help but question, was it you who switched the vessel out?"

The crowd went silent. The ghosts that were unhappy with having to come to this ghost festival suddenly felt like they did a good job with choosing to come. This was some high-quality tea they weren't going to get another chance to witness.

These two brothers were always so different from one another and it was bound for them to one day fight like this. 

Doji was taken back by his brothers words, demon Taki had never outrightly tried to slander him like this. 

"I was only trying to speak up for you, why are you trying to push the blame on me?" 

"I'm not trying to push the blame on you. I just think that there are some things I find questionable in your statement."

"What questionable things? The most suspicious one is you, is it not?" The middle-aged demon sneered and Zhihao immediately understood that this demon was biased towards Doji, just like how the demon king was biased towards Taki.

Zhihao, "Doji just said that he didn't see anyone switching out the vessel, but how does he know that the vessel was switched out by someone on my way over here."

Doji scoffed, "What do you mean? Of course, it was switched out. If it wasn't then that would mean you did it on purpose and I don't think you'd do something like this."

Alvi mentally rolled her eyes as she heard this man speaking nonsense. He really did have a well-versed tongue.

Zhihao smiled, "But I'm afraid I have failed to keep up your trust in me."

"???"

[What the hell are you doing now?]

Zhihao had previously thought that it was one of the two who had tricked him. It was either Doji or Kazan, but now he was almost sure that it was both. They were in this together and were plotting against Taki since the beginning. 

It was all a well-arranged plan that had been successful so far. 

Zhihao had really been fooled this time. 

The gambling bar didn't change the story, it just made sure that the original plan went smoothly without a failure. If the gambling bar was not used, he would still have met Kazan and Doji along the way, but the two would not have been successful in their plan, there would have been loopholes that were noticed by Zhihao. If he was guessing right at this moment, the gambling bar's use wasn't the arrival of the two NPCs, it was the deduction of the hints and traces. 

Zhihao couldn't fully understand the negative gambling bar, but with the amount of information he collected, he had managed to evaluate it somewhat correctly. 

"What do you mean?" Doji asked as he narrowed his eyes at this hateful brother of his. 

"I never said that I do not know who did this." Zhihao smiled, his smile sent a shiver down the spine of not only Doji but also Alvi, "I know exactly who did this, but I have no proof."

"Who is it?" The middle-aged demon asked in shock. 

"Aren't you looking at the perpetrator? It's me." 

"..."

Everyone went silent. 

Just what in the hell was this young prince spouting?

"But didn't you just say that you were innocent?" Doji asked. 

"I am still innocent." Zhihao nodded his head.

"Speak clearly! Are you innocent or not?" The middle-aged demon seemed to be losingly his composure as he listened to Zhihao. 

"I am the one to blame, but I'm innocent."

[You are really giving me mixed signals here.]

[What are you planning?]

"I'm innocent because I didn't know I was a part of this plan, but since I have been involved in it, I am also responsible to take the blame," Zhihao spoke as he met the eyes of the demon king, seated high up on his chair. 

"What plan?" The demon king asked coldly. 

"The plan to ruin this festival." Zhihao smiled, "Now that I know that there was a plan, I would naturally also know where the original vessel is."

"Where is it?" Doji was confused and this time his expressions weren't fake. He really didn't know what Taki was talking about. 

"It's with Kazan."

"..."

[How are you going to prove it?]

"Who is Kazan?" The demon king would have never heard of a low-ranked demon so of course, he didn't know who Kazan was. 

Zhihao wasn't embarrassed to answer the demon king, "He's my ex-boyfriend."

"..."

Doji glared at Taki with hostility, he had a bad feeling about this. 

"How are you going to prove that Kazan did it?" Doji asked and instantly regretted speaking up impulsively. 

"We ask him." 

"Do you think he'll talk if he was guilty?" The demon king questioned. 

"Father really doesn't know the way to make someone talk?" Zhihao smiled coldly, "We torture out the answer from him."

The guards who stood by the side had already understood what they were supposed to do so they didn't waste any further time and went on in search of the said demon who was going to be tortured soon. 

[Doji seems to hate you more.]

[Good job.]

[But the real Taki would never decide to torture Kazan like this.]

[Are you not afraid of going OOC?]

Zhihao shook his head as he heard this. The real Taki would not physically torture Kazan but who said Zhihao was going to physically torture him?

Kazan loved Taki. Even if he said that he hated Taki, he still loved him a lot and Zhihao was once again planning to use this against him. 

A minute later, the guards returned with Kazan who was held captive with his hands restricted by the guards standing beside him. 

Zhihao stepped forward and asked, "Kazen, where is the vessel?"

[It's Kazan!]

Kazan looked at Zhihao with an indecipherable expression, "Why are you asking me? Didn't you say that you'd take care of it?"

"I said I'd take responsibility for the vessel and now that it is lost, I'm taking responsibility by catching the thief."

"Are you calling me a thief?" Kazan was enraged. 

"I didn't call you anything." Taki stepped forward and in front of him was the fire pit, he looked down and felt a shiver go down his spine as he saw the bottom that was filled with burning souls with their hands flapping here and there as if they were being tortured.

Doji, "What are you trying to do?" 

"I was wondering if I'd survive the jump."

"..."

[You have gone crazy haven't you?]

[What the hell?!]

Zhihao was standing extremely close to the fire pit and with just one more step, he'd be falling into it. 

"Since I decided to take responsibility. If I can't find the real person responsible for this, I'll jump."

"..."

[...]

[You have lost it!]

Nobody could know what was going inside Zhihao's mind and they dare not want to. 

What type of demon would want to willingly jump in that fire pit?!

Doji suddenly understood what Taki was trying to do. This man was tricking them. Doji looked at Kazan who had a priceless expression on his face, he despised this. Taki was planning on using Kazan's feelings again and this was one thing, Doji was never able to fight against. 

"Don't bluff. You would never jump!" Kazan yelled out in anger. 

Zhihao smiled in return, "You think I won't?"

"..."

When Kazan looked at the crazy look in the man's eyes, he wasn't confident anymore. 

Zhihao decided to play around a bit as he walked on the edge of the pit, acting like he was drunk and couldn't find his balance. If he lost a footing, death would be the least of his worries. 

"You know, I really liked you, Kazan." 

"..."

They had already lost.

At this moment, Doji really hated involving Kazan in his plan. 

"Don't joke around with me!" Kazan screamed.

Taki looked at Kazan and smiled, it was the same smile that Kazan had fallen in love with when he saw it for the first time. 

Zhihao didn't say anything, he simply met Kazan's eyes and mouthed out a 'goodbye'

Kazan's eyes widened as he saw the man lean back, falling freely into the fire pit.