Chapter 504: Point Them Out One by One

Chapter 504: Pointing Them Out One by One

"Within our Central Branch, there is one chief and four deputies, making five directors in total. Grandmaster Meng Xi was the first-ranked deputy director and a strong candidate for the next chief, which is why he was qualified to manage both our department and Shangxian. If he hadn't truly met with disaster, how could Grandmaster Lu possibly have taken over?"

Zou Sijiu organized his thoughts and followed the other man's lead: "So you mean Grandmaster Meng's death is related to the accomplices of the Lord of Chi?"

"It's nine times out of ten!"

The man said in a deep voice: "That's why the branch is being so careful; they are afraid those traitors might quietly slip into our Central Branch to cause sabotage. After all, to be able to kill Grandmaster Meng, their strength is probably not to be underestimated, especially the lone Martial Sequence named Li Jun who leads them, and that Daoist Sequence traitor Chen Qisheng..."

"Is there anyone named Zou Sijiu?"

The man froze upon hearing this, "The name Zou Sijiu sounds a bit familiar, but I can't think of it all of a sudden. Yin Ying, why did you suddenly ask about this person?"

"Nothing, I just think he should also be worthy of our focused attention." Zou Sijiu said with a cold face, pronouncing every word deliberately.

Liang Huo's voice trembled: "I don't even know where he got this bit of money, or how long he had been scraping it together. It was very little money, completely insufficient to repair his injuries, but the Lord of Chi smiled and said it was fine. He asked me to temporarily keep his arm safe for him, exchanged all the money for ammunition, turned around, and walked out the door."

"Liang Huo's attitude is very unyielding; he has consistently refused to cooperate with us."

The obscure and difficult-to-fathom meaning in those eyes left Zou Sijiu temporarily unable to grasp the other party's attitude.

Liang Huo's tone was desolate, his expression utterly dejected.

"You say he died to save you, so will you avenge him?"

"I am doing this entirely for your own good, Yin Ying, you should be able to understand this."

"He also told me that his luck had turned around, and he had found a brother to whom he could entrust his back. Unfortunately, the other guy was also a Martial Sequence who wasn't doing very well, whose only merit was that, just like him, he had a foul temper and fought like his life didn't matter."

"A great deal. I knew him back when I had just become a Mohist Sequence."

"Then is there anything I can do to help you?"

Qin Ge said indifferently: "My purpose in having you come this time is to notify you that you no longer need to follow Liang Huo's case; someone else will take over."

"No need."

Zou Sijiu composed himself, quickly checked his disguise, and after ensuring there were no omissions, only then stood up and walked toward the room marked with the words 'Room Chief'.

Although he had already heard this news from different mouths, Liang Huo was still unwilling to believe it.

"My lord, you were looking for me?"

Liang Huo turned his head to look at Lord Ma, a deep sorrow written across his utterly ordinary countenance, along with a tiny flicker of hope.

"Room Chief? Which Sequence is this?"

On the writing desk lay a rectangular nameplate inscribed with 'Chief of the Tenth Room for Serious Cases, Mohist Office of Universal Love, Qin Ge'.

"Why don't we, tonight at my house—"

Qin Ge pulled out an electronic dossier and pushed it in front of Zou Sijiu.

"Dead. He detonated his own Bright Ghost body to save our group of people."

Zou Sijiu weighed his words and said prudently: "However, if you give me a little more time, my lord, I will certainly be able to pry some useful information out of him."

Lord Ma rested his head on his hands and let out a soft grunt of assent, signaling Liang Huo to continue speaking.

"The day I met him was in this very workshop. He came alone to buy parts, wanting to reconnect his severed arm."

With his elbows resting on his knees, Lord Ma leaned forward and lowered his head, the single eye embedded in his helmet staring fixedly at the ground.

Upon receiving permission, Zou Sijiu pushed open the door and entered.

Zou Sijiu sneered incessantly in his heart, but before he could speak, he heard Qin Ge's tone soften as he said: "Actually, the higher-ups originally intended for you to maintain contact with Liang Huo to avoid alerting the enemy by a sudden change of personnel, but I resolutely opposed their arrangement. I slammed the table right then and told them that doing so was completely playing with my subordinate's life and safety, and I, Qin Ge, could never agree to it."

"The Lord of Chi was also a stubborn character. Having received cold shoulders from others, he still didn't know how to keep a low profile, and frequently clashed with the people in the Central Branch, almost always outnumbered. The result goes without saying; naturally, he was beaten miserably. Moreover, because no one was willing to associate with him, even when he was injured, he couldn't find anyone in the Central Branch to help him repair."

"Is the Lord of Chi really dead?"

"The Lord of Chi fought all his life, yet who could have thought that in the end, he still couldn't escape the murderous hands of those bastards."

"Based on the contents of the official gazette, we surmise that this band of fierce bandits should have left Liaodong by now, and are highly likely to infiltrate Jinling next."

"That would be for the best."

Just as the conversation between the two was about to fall into a deadlock, the copper bell on Zou Sijiu's desk suddenly began to swing on its own.

Liang Huo's eyes went blank, his voice as faint as if he were murmuring in his sleep.

Sitting behind the writing desk, Qin Ge offered a lukewarm grunt of assent, neither speaking to invite Zou Sijiu to sit down nor looking away as he sized him up from head to toe.

Qin Ge said solemnly: "In other words, the bait that is Liang Huo is highly likely to hook a big fish in the near future."

"We will!"

"That evening, I thought he wouldn't come back, and just as I was preparing to close the shop, the Lord of Chi returned with a stack of banknotes—a full one hundred thousand Imperial Bills. He told me to let loose and do the repairs, using the best of all materials. If the money wasn't enough, he would go find those people to collect debts, saying this money was all owed to him by others."

The brains of this lot of blacksmiths weren't stupid, their news was just a bit slow.

"It is not your fault, but rather the higher-ups believe that given Liang Huo's current danger coefficient, it is no longer suitable for you to maintain contact. Sit down and speak."

"Of course you can."

The man smiled: "The sky won't fall down!"

"I wonder how my lord wishes for me to return the favor?"

What kind of a godforsaken profligate character had he actually disguised himself as?!

"At that time, I understood absolutely nothing about these things. Every time he spoke over there, I buried my head in work here. Thinking back on it now, I really regret it so much. I should have advised him more; if I had done so back then, he might not have defected from the Central Branch, nor would he have died in the Japanese District."

"He told me that the Central Branch treated the Bright Ghosts poorly, using them as slaves. Furthermore, the research group at the Central Branch had developed a technology that could evade the contract between a Bright Ghost and a Mohist Sequence, no longer treating Bright Ghosts as comrades-in-arms but as tools that could be sold out at any moment. He wanted to seek justice for those Bright Ghosts who had died in vain."

Without the slightest hesitation, the spoken words carried the weight of a thudding stone.

"Back then he was already a Seventh-Rank Mohist Armor, but because several generations of armor masters had died in succession, he was not well-regarded within the Central Branch. If it weren't for the fact that he was a divine artifact capable of surviving independently of an armor master, possessing a tiny bit of value, he would probably have been destroyed by the people of the Central Branch long ago."

"Yin Ying, you have been in charge of Liang Huo's investigation for some time now. Has there been any progress?"

"Room Chief Qin is looking for you, Yin Ying, go quickly."

"This is the latest internal official gazette from the Confucian Sequence. Not long ago, Li Jun and his companions appeared in Liaodong Province, inhumanly slaughtering a second-class aristocratic clan, and even stormed into the residential tower of the Lu family, killing Lu Ning's only son, Lu Siyi."

Liang Huo said softly: "It was the first time I had ever seen such a wretched piece of Mohist Armor. His entire body was covered with gashes hacked by weapons and dents struck by bullets, and poorly skilled repair scars covered him piece by piece, with quite a few wire harnesses directly exposed to the outside. As for the arm he held in his hand, the fracture was jagged; I could tell at a single glance that it had been broken off by someone alive."

What entered the field of vision were three walls hung entirely with various weapons and firearms. Behind a writing desk made of the same iron material sat a man with a face like ancient bronze, a short beard upon his upper lip, and an aura of natural dignity that commanded awe without anger.

Lord Ma sat opposite Liang Huo and spoke in a calm tone.

The man's expression tightened; dropping a single sentence, he quickly returned to his own workstation.

Liang Huo stared with a pair of reddened eyes fixedly at Lord Ma, his rising and falling chest like a pulling bellows, heavy and incomparable breaths issuing from his mouth before he collapsed dejectedly into the chair after a long while.

"At the time, I thought he was some 'escaped ghost' who had smuggled out from a loophole in the Bright Ghost Realm, without any background to rely on, which was why he was living in such a miserable state. Yet even though he had fallen to such a plight, the Lord of Chi did not rob or extort me, but pulled out a pile of money and placed it on the counter."

"From then on, he frequently came here, and there was never a time when his body was free of injuries; broken hands and snapped feet were completely normal occurrences. Once we became familiar with each other, he would also chat with me after repairing his injuries, right in the spot where you are sitting now."

Liang Huo stood up, walked to the side of that counter, and curved his two palms into arcs, placing them upon the counter.

"Why?"

"How much do you know about the Lord of Chi's past?"

"You call that money? It was all scattered notes in bits and pieces, and many were tattered and ruined, stained with red spots of blood."

Grandpappy Zou is already sitting right in front of you all, and you're still thinking about how to fish?

Zou Siqiu's heart sank, and he hurriedly asked, “Did I do something wrong?”

Qin Ge stepped out from behind the desk, positioned himself behind Zou Siqiu, and pressed both hands onto his shoulders.

He said, “Do not worry. Across the ten major departments of the Compassionate Love Institute, more than a hundred inked orders are pending, and some will be investigated. We should calmly finish the tasks at hand.”

Zou Siqiu's fists bulged with blue veins; he gritted his teeth and replied, “Yin Ying, I thank you for your concern.”

Zou Siqiu smiled broadly, revealing a set of pearly white teeth.

He told him, “Remember this bond. You need not pursue the Lianghuo affair further, but you must not idle, lest gossip arise. I have arranged another steady assignment for you: investigate a young man named Wang Qi.”

Qin Ge patted Zou Siqiu's shoulder and laughed, “Yin Ying, I have done so much for you; perhaps you should return the favor.”

Ma Wangye slowly lifted his head; the crimson glow in his single eye spiraled into a vortex, and a deep, shadowy gaze emerged, like a tiger's eye about to bite.

He said, “Name each person who has looked at him coldly over the years, who has cursed him, who has struck him—point them out to me one by one.”