"The key is to make money."

  After calming down, Chen Shi realized the crucial point.

  This system is just like those games from the tech giant in his previous life, always demanding money.

  However, as a stable hand, his monthly allowance, plus the tributes from his underlings, only amounted to five hundred coins. How long would it take to save up enough for one simution?

  "I need to find a way to earn some quick cash."

  Speaking of quick cash, Chen Shi suddenly recalled a saying from his past life: the methods to get rich quick are all written in the criminal code—

  Robbery, extortion, bckmail...

  Robbery relies too much on physical strength, which he couldn't manage.

  Extortion and bckmail depend more on intelligence. Forcing someone to pay up without using force is even more difficult and requires a professional team.

  "Perhaps I can try the second route."

  Chen Shi thought silently.

  With the simutor, he could easily foresee the future, making intelligence gathering very convenient and highly accurate. As long as he uncovered some unspeakable secret of a wealthy individual, he could use it for a hefty bckmail.

  He wasn't worried about his low strength preventing him from accessing secrets, because most secrets in the world would eventually surface over time, as long as he survived long enough in the simution.

  The Divine General's Manor is so rge, there must be plenty of dirty dealings.

  "Brother Chen, are you okay?"

  At this moment, a young man with a sharp nose and thin lips walked in, holding steamed buns and soy milk. "I heard some noise just now and thought your house had colpsed."

  It was Li Pao.

  He delivered breakfast to him at this time every day.

  Chen Shi gnced at him, picked up a steamed bun from the oiled paper package, and smiled, "It's nothing, I was just practicing martial arts."

  "Practicing martial arts?"

  Li Pao was taken aback.

  He looked around.

  Then, his gaze was drawn to the hole in the earthen bed, and his eyes widened in disbelief, "This... Brother Chen, could it be that you—"

  Chen Shi took a sip of soy milk and said, "That's right, I've entered the Martial Path."

  Li Pao was so shocked he couldn't speak.

  Entering the Martial Path at eighteen.

  He was already qualified to be cultivated as a family guard of the Divine Manor.

  The most important thing was that he had been following Chen Shi for the past two years and had never seen him practice any martial arts.

  Could he really be a genius?

  "Pao, you don't seem very happy?" Chen Shi's gaze was deep.

  Snapping back to reality, Li Pao looked aggrieved, "Why would brother tease me like this? You are the leader of our Azure Gang and my big brother, my dearest friend. With you as a martial artist, I can benefit here at the stables. I'm too happy to be anything but pleased, why wouldn't I be?"

  After a pause, Li Pao added seriously, "Please, brother, don't joke like this in the future, to avoid harming our brotherly bond."

  "I didn't think it through."

  Swallowing a bite of the steamed bun, Chen Shi continued, "We are brothers, right?"

  Li Pao seemed slightly displeased, "Do you even need to ask?"

  Chen Shi: "What makes us brothers?"

  Li Pao replied without hesitation, "As close as siblings, sharing life and death, wealth and honor, glory and disgrace!"

  Chen Shi: "Alright, then help your brother with something."

  Li Pao: "Just say the word, brother!"

  Chen Shi: "Lend me twenty taels of silver."

  Li Pao's face stiffened, "This... Brother Chen, I don't have that much money on hand."

  Chen Shi: "Then lend me ten taels. You've been at the stables for so many years, you should have that much, right?"

  Li Pao stammered, "I, I've been a bit tight on money tely..."

  "Never mind then." Chen Shi waved his hand, indicating he didn't care, and casually said, "Pao'er, there's actually a traitor lurking in our Azure Gang."

  "Oh?" Li Pao's expression turned serious, "Is that so? Who is it?"

  Chen Shi looked Li Pao up and down, "This person is six feet tall, wearing a gray long robe, with a sharp nose and thin lips, holding a high position in the Azure Gang, always trying to harm me and take my pce. According to the gang rules, how should such a person be dealt with?"

  Hearing this, Li Pao was stunned.

  He looked up, meeting Chen Shi's piercing gaze, and felt a sudden panic, "Of course, he should be dealt with. But since he's a brother in the gang, brother should be cautious and not wrong a good person based on snder..."

  "Naturally."

  Chen Shi took out a hemp rope, slowly approached Li Pao, and smiled, "Do you know, a few days ago, I dreamt of an old monk who said I was destined to meet him. In the dream, he taught me a Buddhist skill called Telepathy, which can read people's thoughts, possessing mysterious powers."

  Li Pao asked in surprise, "Is there really such a method in the world?"

  Chen Shi nodded, "The old monk said this method comes from the Ten Thousand Buddhas Mountain, one of the five major cultivation sects in the Wei Kingdom, and is extremely profound."

  Li Pao swallowed hard, "But... what does this have to do with the traitor?"

  Chen Shi said slowly, "Just before dawn, I was chatting with the Ninth Young Master's servant in the stables when I sensed that traitor spying from the shadows. So I used Telepathy to test it out, and guess what I heard?"

  Li Pao's heart skipped a beat, "What did you hear?"

  "That traitor pns to ruin my agreement with the Young Master by going to the Seventh Madam to report and expose..."

  He looped the rough hemp rope around Li Pao's neck.

  Tightened it.

  Chen Shi lifted him up, holding him in mid-air, his cold eyes meeting his, "Do you think he deserves to die?"

  "Brother Chen, you mustn't act rashly." Li Pao forced himself to stay calm, looking into Chen Shi's eyes with a serious expression, "In the Divine General's Manor, only the master has the right to execute servants. If we overstep, we might bring disaster upon ourselves."

  Chen Shi said nothing.

  His grip began to tighten.

  "Chen... Brother Chen, don't do this." Li Pao sensed Chen Shi's murderous intent, cold sweat pouring down his body, "I still have thirty taels of silver on me, saved over the years to get married. If you need money urgently, take it..."

  With that, Li Pao hurriedly pulled out a cloth bag from his pocket.

  Chen Shi took it.

  Weighed it.

  Then let go.

  Watching Li Pao colpse to the ground, Chen Shi slowly squatted down, patted his shoulder, and smiled, "Pao'er, don't bme your brother for being ruthless. I am the leader of the Azure Gang, and if you make a mistake, I can't cover for you, understand?"

  Li Pao's eyes were filled with fear, his lips trembling, "Un-understand..."

  "Good."

  Chen Shi nodded, sitting back on the bed.

  He watched Li Pao.

  For a long time.

  Then uttered a single word, "Scram."

  Li Pao shuddered.

  Driven by the instinct to survive, he crawled away without even saying "thank you," disappearing from Chen Shi's sight.

  "This Li Pao, I wonder if he's connected to that masked man in bck..."

  Chen Shi muttered to himself.

  In the simution, the masked man in bck had said, "Chen Shi, I've finally caught you."

  Does this mean the man in bck has been secretly watching him all along?

  Perhaps he's even lurking around the Divine General's Manor, quietly observing him. The reason he hasn't barged in to capture him might be due to fear of the Manor's power.

  Therefore, it can be inferred that anything leading to his departure from the Divine General's Manor might have been orchestrated by the masked man in bck.

  For instance, his recent expulsion from the Manor.

  Was it a coincidence?

  Or was it deliberate?

  If it's the tter, then it's truly terrifying.