"Let’s go."
The bald Advisor Sun glanced at Feng Yuan, who was leaning on a crutch beside him, and Gan Wen Yao, whose face was bruised and swollen. His brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.
Making an appearance with two such broken soldiers was rather embarrassing.
If they weren’t his direct subordinates from the Bureau of Cultural Relics and familiar with the situation in Yun Port City, he really wouldn’t have wanted to bring them along.
The three of them followed the flow of the crowd, slowly walking out of the first-class carriage area and onto the noisy platform of the Yun Port City train station.
The early morning train station was a cacophony of human voices, thick with steam. Travelers carrying large and small bags, shouting porters, and crowds waiting to greet arrivals were all crammed together.
And amidst this crowded chaos, a few nimble young newsboys with clear, loud voices darted through the crowd like fish swimming through water.
They waved the newspapers in their hands, their crisp cries rising and falling.
"Extra! Extra! Breaking news! Fu Jinqian—the great scum, traitor, and collaborator with the Wa Country, whose evil knew no bounds—died a bizarre and violent death last night in the Wa Country Concession! Not a single member of his family was spared! It’s suspected a mysterious hero was delivering justice for heaven!"
"Extra! Extra! Fu Jinmin, chairman of the Da Guanxi Daily, found dead in his own villa! The Fu brothers both perished on the same day! A new dawn has come to Yun Port City!"
This news was like cold water hitting boiling oil, stirring up an even greater wave of discussion on the already noisy platform.
Many people stopped to pull out money and buy a paper. One by one, their faces showed shock, curiosity, and even expressions of gleeful satisfaction.
Advisor Sun’s steps faltered slightly as his sharp gaze swept across the headlines of the newspapers in the newsboys’ hands.
Just then, a young newsboy, too engrossed in his sales pitch, was backing up while shouting. Not watching where he was going, he slammed solidly into Advisor Sun with a THUD!
"Oof!" The newsboy jumped in fright, nearly dropping the stack of papers in his hands.
He looked up and saw he had bumped into a gentleman of extraordinary bearing and fine clothes, which sent him into an even greater panic. He immediately began bowing and scraping, apologizing profusely. "Sorry! I’m so sorry, sir! It was my fault, I wasn’t looking! Are you alright?"
Advisor Sun, who hadn’t budged an inch from the impact, looked down at the terrified newsboy and said coolly, "No matter."
Then, he casually pulled a leather wallet from his coat, took out a ten Daxia Yuan banknote, and handed it over. "Give me one."
The newsboy’s eyes went wide as saucers as he stared at the "large banknote." He could hardly believe it and frantically waved his hands. "Sir! A paper only costs two yuan! This... this is too much..."
"Keep the change." Advisor Sun pushed the money into the newsboy’s hand and took a newspaper.
Overjoyed and astonished, the newsboy bowed repeatedly at Advisor Sun’s retreating back. "Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir! You’re a really good person!"
Behind them, Feng Yuan couldn’t contain his curiosity. He hobbled closer on his crutch and craned his neck to peek at the front page of the newspaper Advisor Sun had just unfolded.
He saw a sensational headline printed in extra-large, bold, black characters, with a brief report and a blurry photograph from the scene below it.
After reading, Feng Yuan was stunned for a moment, then a look of vindicated satisfaction spread across his face. He couldn’t help but shout his approval without restraint.
"Huh? So it’s true! These damn traitors! Utter scum! A good death! A wonderful death! Haha!"
His voice was not quiet, drawing sidelong glances from some of the people nearby.
But Feng Yuan didn’t care at all. He even turned to Advisor Sun, his voice filled with excitement. "Advisor Sun, look! This is what they call ’what goes around, comes around’!"
"These bastards acted like tyrants in our Daxia New Country by being dogs for the Wa Country people, trafficking opium and people, and committing every evil deed imaginable!"
"And his brother, Fu Jinmin, looked so shifty-eyed. He definitely wasn’t any good either! For both of them to drop dead now is truly cause for celebration!"
’Feng Yuan never considered himself a good person.’
’Sometimes he had to use dirty tricks to complete his missions. But no matter how his own people fought amongst themselves behind closed doors, that was all family business!’
’But for people like the Fu brothers to collude with foreign enemies, harm their own compatriots, and betray their ancestors—that was another matter entirely!’
Sun Niangu held the newspaper and listened quietly to Feng Yuan’s "impassioned speech," his own expression remaining impassive.
Meanwhile, within the Wa Country Concession, the eye of the storm, Fu Jinqian’s luxurious villa—located in the core area of the concession, near the Consulate—was now surrounded by layer after layer of security.
Stern-faced Wa Country soldiers, armed with live ammunition, were stationed every few steps, sealing off the entire area completely.
The villa’s main hall was in a state of chaos. The bodies had been removed, but shocking bloodstains and signs of a struggle remained.
A stocky man in his forties, sporting a typical Wa Country "toothbrush mustache," stood with his head bowed respectfully. He wore a khaki-colored officer’s uniform with epaulets indicating the rank of lieutenant colonel.
His face was ashen, and his eyes were filled with rage.
This man was none other than Lieutenant Colonel Kameida Koji, one of the commanders of the Wa Country garrison in the concession.
Standing before Kameida Koji was a short, elderly man dressed in a wide, black, traditional Wa Country haori and hakama. He was bald on top and wore gold-rimmed circular glasses.
The old man was thin and frail, and while he looked unassuming, he was in fact the highest-ranking official of the Wa Country Concession in Yun Port City.
The Wa Country Consul for Yun Port City, Yamamoto Ichirō.
Yamamoto Ichirō slowly turned around, his gaze finally settling on Kameida Koji.
"Your daughter was a noble Yin Yang Master, cultivated through the painstaking efforts of our Great Wa Empire."
"To be able to kill her so cleanly while she was protected by her shikigami... looking across all of Yun Port City, the only ones capable of such a feat are likely the Grandmasters of Huajin of Daxia."
Upon hearing this, Kameida Koji’s already ugly expression turned even more ferocious. His eyes seemed to spit fire, and his fists clenched so tightly they cracked.
His daughter’s marriage to Fu Jinqian was, on the surface, a political union. In reality, she was a pawn he had personally placed to completely tie down the Fu Family, a powerful local force.
He used their connections and channels in both the legal and criminal underworlds of Yun Port City to secretly carry out human trafficking for the Great Wa Country—for certain unspeakable "experiments"—as well as other dirty dealings like smuggling arms and transporting opium.
Now that the entire Fu Family had been slaughtered overnight, it meant that one of their most important chains of interest in Yun Port City had been violently severed! The losses were immeasurable!
"Hai! The Honorable Consul speaks with great clarity!" Kameida Koji bowed sharply.
"It was this subordinate’s negligence and failure to provide adequate protection that caused the Great Wa Country to suffer such a major loss. I implore the Honorable Consul to punish me severely!"
He knew the gravity of the situation and that he couldn’t escape the blame. Taking the initiative to request punishment was perhaps his only chance to turn things around.
Hearing this, Yamamoto Ichirō let out an almost inaudible snort. He didn’t respond immediately, merely pushing up his glasses gently with a finger.
Seeing that Yamamoto Ichirō didn’t fly into a rage, Kameida Koji’s mind raced as he tried to atone for his failure. He immediately began to analyze the situation: "Honorable Consul, on the surface, Yun Port City only has four Grandmasters of Huajin."
"And to be capable of such a clean and decisive kill, the perpetrator must be a Grandmaster of Huajin who entered the Huajin Realm long ago, one whose strength is unfathomable!"
He paused, thinking himself incredibly clever. "First, we can rule out the one with the shallowest foundation—that would be Lu Yun of the Lu Family."

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