The Overlord of Puluo

Late that night, Chen Changrui led more than a dozen core members of the Dark Star Bureau to the Third Hospital of Yuezhou. Among them were Blockhead, Candy, Awly, Brick, Clammie, Orange, Wowo Bun, Crabapple, and several others.

Chen Changrui had chosen them himself. However, Xiao Zhenggong didn't trust his selection as he looked down on every one of them. He wanted to come in person, but he couldn't leave the Dark Star Bureau.

He had already used the Balancer Seal, so he now had to bear the price of using the Balancer Seal. For the next stretch of time, if he wanted to keep his position as the Balancer, he would have no choice but to obey every arrangement made by the bureau.

Aside from these core members, Old Chen had also brought a few younger team members who still had room to grow and were worth training. Tangyuan, Chuunibyou, Lightbulb, and Star were among them.

As they walked, Candy could not keep her grumbling to herself. "Doesn't Sugar Cube have a pretty high standing in the Bureau? The higher-ups praise her every day. If she's so capable, why isn't she here?"

Awly gave a cold little laugh. "When the higher-ups call someone capable, they don't necessarily mean she can fight. Though with what you got, I doubt you are any worse than Sugar Cube."

Candy did, in fact, have plenty to be proud of. When it came to looks and figure, she was well ahead of Sugar Cube.

Candy huffed. "I'm a decent woman."

Orange laughed. "You make it sound like Sugar Cube is not a decent woman."

Chen Changrui coughed and said, "He Jiaqing's level is quite high. All of you must follow the combat plan strictly. Tangyuan, you are all the future core members of our team. Your task tonight is to watch and learn. Without my orders, none of you are to join the operation. Understood?"

Tangyuan was very excited. She really cherished this chance to learn.

Lightbulb was a little nervous. He was busy going over the hospital layout in his head and trying to find a decent escape route.

Star felt rather gloomy. Captain Chen was calling him a future core member. However, the current core members had one thing in common. They were all good in a fight, though none of them held especially high rank.

As for Qin Minghui, whose code name was Chuunibyou, he was staring blankly at a newspaper.

As they drew near the hospital, Chen Changrui reminded them again. "He Jiaqing's cultivation level is very high. All of you must follow the combat plan exactly."

Crabapple asked, "Captain Chen, level seven is the highest level for a Dark Ability User, isn't it? Is He Jiaqing level seven?"

Chen Changrui did not answer.

According to the Dark Star Bureau's official procedures, level seven was indeed the highest level a Dark Ability User could reach.

When they were five hundred meters from the hospital, the vehicles stopped. The team members got out one after another and slipped into position.

Blockhead lightly touched the button on his sleeve.

***

Candy and Crabapple took the elevator up to the inpatient building. They had dressed themselves as nurses, with thermometers and record books in hand, and together they made their way toward He Jiaqing's room.

When they arrived, He Haisheng was nowhere to be seen. Only He Jiaqing was there, lying in bed.

Crabapple took out her thermometer and flicked it three times. This was her sending a signal to Chen Changrui.

The message she sent was: He Jiaqing present. He Haisheng absent.

Chen Changrui contacted Clammie.

Immediately, Clammie had eyes growing all over and the eyes stretched outward in every direction, quietly watching the hospital from one corner to the next.

With so many eyes, Clammie noticed He Haisheng right away and sent Chen Changrui a message.

"Captain Chen, I see He Haisheng. He's smoking in the back courtyard."

Chen Changrui ordered Clammie to keep watching He Haisheng. At the same time, Blockhead and Brick took their places in the corridor, while Awly and Orange covered the stairwell.

Wowo Bun, being a Wanderer, was quick on his feet, so he led the others into position downstairs.

According to the battle plan, Candy and Crabapple would make the first move.

Candy was a Subduer, which meant she could restrain He Jiaqing the moment the operation began. Crabapple was a Sleep Inducer, which meant she could send him into a deep sleep before he had a chance to make trouble.

If Candy and Crabapple managed that much, their part would be finished. After that, Blockhead and Brick would handle the arrest.

Blockhead had brought a forbidden item with him. It was a hunter's net, and any cultivator below level seven had no chance of breaking free once it closed around them.

Brick had brought a forbidden item of his own, and it suited him wonderfully. It was a brick. A very handy brick. If he struck He Jiaqing on the head with it, He Jiaqing would lose consciousness for half a minute.

If Brick didn't get the chance to hit He Jiaqing directly, throwing the brick would also work. As long as it struck He Jiaqing on the head, it could still knock him unconscious. The effect would not last as long, but this particular brick had a strange advantage. Once thrown, it had a remarkably high chance of finding its target. Under normal circumstances, it could land a hit more than eighty percent of the time.

Once Blockhead and Brick completed the arrest, the rest of the team would move in to help bring He Jiaqing back to the Dark Star Bureau.

If the arrest failed and He Jiaqing tried to escape through the stairs, he would run straight into Awly and Orange's ambush. If he jumped out the window, Wowo Bun would be waiting for him below.

If the arrest still failed, Brick, Awly, and Wowo Bun would take over. All three had brought forbidden items with tremendous killing power, and when the time came, they would kill He Jiaqing on the spot.

Clammie would keep He Haisheng under watch the entire time. They did not need to arrest He Haisheng, but they could not allow him to interfere with the operation either.

Once everything was ready, Crabapple went to He Jiaqing's bedside and took his temperature first. By then, she had already activated her ability, quietly sending He Jiaqing into a deep sleep.

Candy seemed to be checking the readings on the monitor, but she had already activated her ability as well, pinning He Jiaqing to the bed without a sound.

The two of them had succeeded.

Blockhead and Brick rushed into the room. Blockhead pulled out the hunter's net, and Brick raised his brick.

Boom!

He Jiaqing suddenly exploded. One moment, he was lying on the hospital bed. The next, he had burst into a mess of blood and flesh.

Crabapple stood frozen in place, drenched in blood. Some of it belonged to He Jiaqing. Some of it was her own. The blast had sent fragments of bone flying through the room, and several of them had struck her.

Candy had been standing a little farther away, so her injuries were not as serious. She rushed forward and caught Crabapple by the arm.

Blockhead and Brick stood in the hospital room, stunned and at a complete loss.

Awly and Orange heard the explosion, but they stayed at the stairwell and waited for Chen Changrui's order.

Everyone's attention had been pulled toward the blast in the hospital room, Chen Changrui's included.

Clammie was the only one who had all eyes on He Haisheng.

"Captain Chen, He Haisheng is running!"

Chen Changrui froze as well.

He Haisheng was running... However, Chen Changeui's attention was not on He Haisheng at all. He was still thinking about the explosion in the hospital room.

The explosion had not been part of the plan.

"Which way is he running?"

"The hospital's back gate!"

Chen Changrui didn't act recklessly. He ordered the rest to remain in their positions and he went alone to catch He Haisheng.

He took a lighter from his pocket and flicked the wheel with his thumb. The moment the flame sprang up, Chen Changrui's speed changed.

It was a Wanderer forbidden item, and it did exactly what Wanderer forbidden items were supposed to do. It made a man terribly quick.

With the lighter pulling him forward, Chen Changrui reached the back courtyard just in time to catch a faint glimpse of He Haisheng.

He Haisheng had already rushed out through the back gate.

Lightbulb and Chuunibyou were stationed near that gate to observe.

Chen Changrui was not worried about Lightbulb. Lightbulb, at least, had the good sense to be afraid. He was worried about Chuunibyou. If Chuunibyou tried to stop He Haisheng, he would die.

Chuunibyou did not make a move. He only watched coldly as He Haisheng fled the hospital.

Chen Changrui kept chasing He Haisheng. He went after him for one whole street before the flame in the lighter went out.

He had not caught He Haisheng.

Ahead of him, He Haisheng's figure dissolved into thick smoke and vanished. Chen Changrui put the lighter away and returned to the hospital.

Nothing else happened in the room. There was only the torn mess of flesh and blood that had once been He Jiaqing.

Elsewhere in the hospital, however, a great many things had happened. Crabapple and Candy were sent off for treatment, while Blockhead and Brick pulled up a police cordon around the room.

The whole hospital had heard the explosion. Patients, doctors, and nurses had all been badly frightened, and Orange and Awly were busy speaking with the hospital staff, doing their best to keep order at the scene.

Chen Changrui sat in the hospital room, staring at the blood and flesh scattered across the floor, and fell into a deep thought.

Is this really He Jiaqing's flesh and blood? No, that is impossible. Why would He Jiaqing blow himself to pieces? This has to be a puppet.

But if it really was a puppet, how did I fail to see it? Did He Jiaqing escape long ago? Then why didn't He Haisheng run too? Why did he wait until now?

Chen Changrui pressed a hand to his forehead and went back through the entire operation in his mind.

After thinking it over for more than ten minutes, he bent down, picked up a piece of flesh, and held it close to his nose.

There was the smell of blood. There was the smell of scorching. And there was smoke. Not the smoke of something burned, but the smell of cigarettes.

Why would He Jiaqing's flesh smell like cigarettes?

Chen Changrui sat there in a daze for a long while. Then, little by little, the clues began to join together in his mind.

He Jiaqing had escaped long ago. The Dark Star Bureau had not reacted because a puppet was still lying in the hospital bed. But how had that puppet fooled Chen Changrui, who was a high-level Surveillant?

This was He Haisheng's doing. The puppet had been filled with smoke. He Haisheng had used that smoke to control it, and it was the same smoke that had deceived Chen Changrui's eyes.

Once the operation began, everyone's attention had been fixed on "He Jiaqing." Only Clammie had been assigned to watch He Haisheng.

After "He Jiaqing" exploded, even Chen Changrui forgot about He Haisheng for a moment. That moment was all He Haisheng needed to escape.

It didn't matter if He Haisheng escaped as the mission was to capture He Jiaqing. But where were they supposed to find He Jiaqing? They didn't even know when he escaped!

Chen Changrui had always considered himself the most experienced man in the Dark Star Bureau. He had also believed, with equal confidence, that the people he brought tonight were the best the Bureau had to offer.

Yet in front of the high-level figures from Puluo Province, they all seemed painfully inexperienced. A plan that had looked foolproof had turned out to be full of holes.

What was he supposed to do next?

***

"The next thing they should do is celebrate," He Haisheng said and lit a cigarette, then tossed one to He Jiaqing.

"Will they put out a warrant for you?" asked He Jiaqing

He Haisheng shook his head. "No. Their target was you. If they couldn't capture you, they were supposed to kill you. Now you are dead, and that mess of flesh and blood on the floor is their proof.

"They can take it for testing if they like. The DNA will match yours. As far as the Bureau is concerned, the mission is complete, and they will not go looking for extra trouble.

"Especially not after causing such a commotion. The Outer Provinces will do everything they can to quiet this down. As for what really happened, not many people will care."

He Jiaqing let out a sigh. "I still have not spent enough time in the Outer Provinces. I still don't understand the people here well enough."

"It's not hard to understand them. They are much simpler than people from Puluo Province." He Haisheng took a puff from his cigarette. "I am not worried about the Dark Star Bureau. What worries me now is the Border Controller.

"Xiao Zhenggong is a Balancer, and from the look of things, he has already used the Balancer Seal. Our family's business is going to suffer for it."

"Then we can only hope that Eldest Aunt can handle it."

He Haisheng shook his head. "She cannot handle this."

"Then why don't you go back and take a look?"

He Haisheng gave a bitter smile. "What would I go back for? To wag my tail for the Border Controller? "I have been wagging it for all these years, and I have had enough. Jiaqing, you were right. We have to live with dignity."

***

At the He Famil's main residence, He Yuxiu stubbed out her cigarette and looked over the hundred or so people gathered in the main hall.

Some were blood relatives of the He Family. Some were He Family subordinates. All of them had gathered to do something very dangerous with He Yuxiu.

Throughout the previous day, the Border Controller had sent men to seal off the He Family's businesses and freeze their accounts at every bank without giving any explanation.

After asking around through several channels, He Yuxiu finally learned a little of what had happened. It had something to do with the Jiangxiang Gang. Two of the Jiangxiang Gang's halls had been wiped out, and somehow, the Border Controller had turned around and locked down the He Family instead.

He Yuxiu was furious. "What the hell is the Jiangxiang Gang to us? Their halls get wiped out, and what does that have to do with my family? How doe this give them the right to touch the He Family's business?"

He Yuxiu did not know that Xiao Zhenggong was a Balancer. She had no real concept of what a Balancer was, and she knew nothing of the power of the Balancer Seal.

She only knew one thing. The He Family's fortune was about to be destroyed. It could not be destroyed in her hands. She had to fight to get it back.

Dozens of people from the main family had come, all of them with some backbone. In the outer family, there were those with backbone as well and over a dozen had come.

He Yuxiu was about to lead them all to the Border Control Office and demand an explanation from the Border Controller.

Just as everyone was preparing to leave, Lu Chunying rushed into the mansion and stopped He Yuxiu.

"Big Sis Yuxiu, listen to me. You absolutely cannot go!"

He Yuxiu stroked Lu Chunying's hair. "Girl, I do like you, so listen to me and go home. I did not call you here, and this matter does not involve you."

Lu Chunying looked up at He Yuxiu. She knew exactly how she had to speak to He Yuxiu.

"Big Sis Yuxiu, I will say this plainly. If you are going to storm the Border Control Office, I will go with you. If I back down, then I am the lowest little turtle bastard under heaven!

"But you cannot go today. The Chu Family is already waiting at the Border Control Office. The moment you show up, Boss Chu will ambush you. "If you don't believe me, then let us go together. I will risk my life with you today!"

He Yuxiu felt really confused. "Boss Chu? Chu Huaijun? Why would he work for the Outer Provinces?"

Ma Wu said, "Big Sis Yuxiu, the Border Controller promised Chu Huaijun that if the Chu Family gets this done, half of the He Family's business will be handed over to them. That is why the Chu Family is now serving the Border Controller with all its heart. Chu Huaijun might even send men straight to the He Family's front gate."

Author's Note:

PS: Chu Huaijun's father died in the hands of the Border Control Office, but he doesn't seem to mind at all.