Lu Yun leaned back in the rear seat, his Purple Vine Staff resting beside him as he gazed at the rapidly passing streetscape.
A moment later, he spoke. "Ah Fu, what’s the situation at Jade Mushroom Mountain?"
In the front passenger seat, Lu Fu turned slightly. "Master, Jade Mushroom Mountain is located twenty li outside the city. It’s a range of several peaks, not particularly high, but the forests are deep and the vegetation is dense, so it’s rarely visited."
"Some of the wild ginseng and Lingzhi sold by the major apothecaries in the city are actually sourced from that area."
"Of course, they don’t gather it themselves. Mountain folk and herb gatherers risk venturing deep inside."
He paused before adding, "However, the place isn’t exactly peaceful. There are a few small gangs of mountain bandits, maybe a few dozen men in total, holed up between the foot of the mountains and the midway point."
"They don’t dare kill anyone, at least. When they run into lone herb gatherers, they just collect a toll and let them pass. The Yun Port City garrison can’t be bothered with them—not that they could handle them even if they tried."
"Prepare three days’ worth of military rations for tomorrow. Pick fifty of our best fighters, equip them with rifles and handguns, and make sure they have ample ammunition."
Lu Fu simply replied to Lu Yun’s command, "Yes, Master."
In the west district of Yun Port City stood an inconspicuous, gray-white, three-story building.
On the wall beside the security entrance hung a white plaque with black lettering: "Yun Port City Special Artifacts Investigation Department."
Inside the Team Two office on the second floor of the main building.
"Gu Sican, can you please stop fixating on the Lu Family all day?"
Fang Jingtang slammed the tea mug in his hand onto the table, his brow furrowed deeply.
"You’ve only been resting for a few days, haven’t you? You just got your stitches out, right? I don’t want to wake up one day and hear you’ve died in the line of duty."
Beside him, Ren Shuhan said nothing. He just took a drag from his cigarette and nodded sullenly.
The two men, both in their forties, watched her—one pleading earnestly, the other offering silent support.
Their gazes were all fixed on the young woman standing in the middle of the office.
Gu Sican was twenty-four, with chin-length hair. She wore a dark gray, military-style jacket, a matching high-waisted, knee-length skirt, and tall boots.
With a sharp, commanding presence, she swept her gaze over everyone in the office, her eyes landing first on Fang Jingtang and Ren Shuhan.
Next, she shot a disdainful look at the fat man, Lei Yaoyang, slouched in his chair.
His belly pressed against his desk, and he always had a lazy, couldn’t-care-less attitude.
Of course, Gu Sican didn’t forget the last person: an ordinary-looking young man who currently had his head down, flipping through a file and pretending to be busy.
A moment later, Gu Sican took a deep breath and said through clenched teeth, "Captain Fang, Captain Ren, you two both took a punch that night. And it wasn’t a light one, was it?"
When she saw the embarrassed looks on their faces, she immediately changed her target, pointing at Lei Yaoyang. "And this damn fatty took a bullet."
Then she turned on the young man still buried in his files. "Guo Haotian, you’re the worst of them all, you bastard! You actually knelt and surrendered. You’re a coward!"
Hearing Gu Sican dare to bring up that night, the fatty Lei Yaoyang nearly dropped the cigarette from his fingers.
He viciously stubbed his cigarette out in the ashtray and shot upright, his stomach slamming into the edge of the desk. "Gu Sican! You have the fucking nerve to talk? You’re the one who fired that shot! You shot me!!!"
"This is a workplace injury! Elder Lu didn’t shoot me, you did! You psycho!"
"I’m filing a complaint against you for assaulting a colleague!"
"You!"
"’You’ what! If your brother-in-law wasn’t the secretary to the damn President in Yanjing, I’d have kicked your ass a thousand times over by now!"
Gu Sican’s face went pale, then red with rage. She wanted to throttle the fat man right then and there.
Sensing things were about to get out of hand, Fang Jingtang quickly stood up to play peacemaker. He guided Gu Sican toward a nearby chair. "Alright, that’s enough. Both of you. Yaoyang, you too."
He shot Ren Shuhan a meaningful look. Ren Shuhan got the message, stubbed out his cigarette, and cleared his throat. "Sican, Advisor Sun personally gave the order. The Lu Family case is out of our hands for now."
He paused, his tone becoming more serious. "It’s not that we’re dropping the case. We’re just changing our approach. We’re going to handle it with more deliberation. More care. And at our own pace. Understand?"
Gu Sican said nothing, her cold gaze fixed on the smug-looking Lei Yaoyang.
Ren Shuhan hadn’t expected a response and simply continued, "Don’t forget, we have other business to attend to."
He pulled a thin file from his desk, opened it, and slid it to the center. "Last week, we got a tip from a black market informant. Someone was selling an artifact from the Zulong Dynasty on the shadow market."
"We brought him in for a ’chat.’ Turns out he’s a low-level mountain bandit from out near Jade Mushroom Mountain."
"According to him, a few months ago, his gang accidentally unearthed an ancient tomb deeper in the mountains."
"The tomb is huge and buried deep. They don’t know what dynasty it belongs to. They looted a ton of gold, silver, and other treasures. A lot of the antiques are from the Yin Dynasty, but there are also some from the Zulong Dynasty, which predates it by several hundred years."
"He said they found several items from the Zulong Dynasty, and their leader took something that looked like an ochre-colored gemstone."
As he finished his last sentence, the entire office fell silent for a few seconds.
Fang Jingtang was the one to break the silence. "Tomorrow, we’re taking some heat and heading into the mountains. We’ll take out that nest of bandits and recover everything we can from the tomb."
He paused, his eyes sweeping over each of their faces. "If we get lucky and find an Immortality Crystal..."
Fang Jingtang didn’t need to finish the sentence. Everyone knew what it meant.
It would be a major accomplishment, which meant the higher-ups would grant them another reward of Immortal Flesh.
Naturally, Gu Sican’s interest was piqued.
The last time, the piece of Immortal Flesh she received had been minuscule—about the size of a fingertip.
After she consumed her share, her vital energy had churned violently for three days and three nights.
A few days later, she had broken through to the Dark Force realm.

Comments

Loading...