The moment Ji Jue received the call, he halted his Dissociation Art practice for the day, splashed water on his face, took leave from Ye Chun, and headed out the door.
Seeing his senior apprentice sister personally see him off, watching him leave with sorrowful tears and sobbing little pearls, he figured their bond had grown deeper by the day and she truly couldn't bear to see him go.
Catching sight of Ye Chun dancing for sheer joy in the rearview mirror, Ji Jue couldn't help making up his mind—once he wrapped things up, he would definitely hurry back.
He didn't hesitate, nor did he deliberate much.
Human relationships worked that way: you scratch my back, I scratch yours. From Sister Wen to Lao Zhang to Xiao An, they had all looked after him plenty. Besides, even Tong Hua... could occasionally fence illicit goods for him, and she had a sweet tongue too.
When people called asking for his help, Ji Jue naturally felt bound by duty to step forward heroically.
Besides, after contributing his share of DKP, how could he possibly be left out when the boss dropped loot?
There was no couple in Couple's Beef Slices, no wives in wife cakes, and characters in gacha games could have lives of their own... So the mystery of getting poorer the more one practiced alchemy seemed to have an answer.
Less than two days into introductory Transmutation practice, eight hundred thousand was already gone from Ji Jue's card!
Buying various materials gram by gram, testing and practicing gram by gram—the moment he pushed open the workshop door, his bank balance started practicing the high dive.
And it was diving faster than he ever could!
If things went on like this, why would it even take half a year? No matter how carefully he pinched pennies, he would be bankrupt in four or five months!
Right now, Ji Jue slammed on the brakes, pulling Little Niuma into an alley in the shantytown. He hopped off, and before Tong Hua could speak, a smug grin spread across his face. He raised his left hand, raked his hair back forcefully to showcase the ring on his index finger, and beamed. "Oh? How did you guys know I succeeded on my first try making a blessed item?"
Who the fuck asked you!
Before Tong Hua could even react, she was hit dead-on with his flex. She finally understood what Little Chun had been complaining about in their private group chat over the past few days.
Dog!
What an absolute dog!
She decided that the moment she got back, she would rename their group chat to "Sisters Slay the Dog"!
Yet the moment it sank in, she couldn't help drawing in another sharp breath. A blessed item? You? Are you serious?
Counting from the start, how many months had it even been? Had it been four? And he was already forging independently?
Bro, you really are a fucking tryhard!
"And it was rated Grade A." Ji Jue admired her expression, twisting the knife to utterly sink the SS Tong Hua.
"Congratulations, Brother Ji Jue!"
Though he didn't quite understand what was going on, Xiao An raised a fist anyway. He had no clue what they were talking about, but knowing Brother Ji Jue was amazing was enough.
Lao Zhang clapped him on the shoulder and praised, "Not bad, kid! I knew you had the stuff!"
A tryhard and a dog—his future was boundless!
"Thanks, thanks!"
Ji Jue cupped his hands, thoroughly satisfied at last. He rolled his neck and asked, "Let me see what the deal is."
Tong Hua looked numb and refused to speak.
"To put it simply, a bunch of outsiders were hired to come to Yacheng and get involved in the Wild Gathering's infighting. They dragged innocent people into it, and the crime scene isn't pretty."
Lao Zhang pulled a thick dossier from his oversized boxer shorts like a magician, leaving Ji Jue wanting nothing more than to ask where on earth the old man had pulled that from.
Yet when Ji Jue opened it and saw the photos and background details, he fell silent.
The fingers gripping the paper slowly whitened.
"Excuse me, give me a minute."
Setting the dossier down, he stepped to the side and dialed a number. "Brother Feng, it's me. Yeah, Yacheng's been chaotic these past few days... Sister Layla mentioned it? Mm, that's good. Keep an eye out these couple of days. Should I move back? Mm, alright. If anything happens and you can't reach me, call Sister Wen or the teacher. Don't worry, I'm doing fine."
After hanging up, he caught Lao Zhang's approving expression. "You family members have a great bond."
"We're family, after all."
Ji Jue grinned and cut the chatter. Reaching out through the air toward a security camera, he projected his thought: [Hey bro, let me ask you something.]
[Anytime, brother!]
The camera instantly buzzed with excitement: [I've shot a ton of wild vids lately! Wanna see? It's intense!]
After a brief exchange, Ji Jue pulled back his hand and shook his head.
"No good. It didn't catch anything. Just white noise and static. Those people probably had professional jamming equipment on them."
"See, I told you! I told you!" Seeing Ji Jue shake his head, Tong Hua puffed out her chest, recovering from her earlier deflation. "Our Aeth—"
"We can still track them, though," Ji Jue added, choking off the excuse in her throat.
Professional interference was itself the most distinct giveaway.
All he had to do was ask the cameras one by one if they had experienced interference, and he could trace the targets' movements chronologically.
After spending an hour circling the shantytown, the trail Ji Jue uncovered pointed toward the outermost edge of Beishan District—a run-down, seaside residential complex.
The other party was clearly a professional hit squad—ruthless, clean, and carrying jamming devices, laying down false trails throughout their retreat to ensure no one could track them.
Yet even the best-laid plans had flaws.
When surveillance cameras were combined with Aether record reading, the interference became an eye-catching blemish.
With the clues Ji Jue provided, Tong Hua navigated the intricate Aether records with ease. Searching straight for key parameters, she quickly locked onto a van with swapped plates.
It was the exact same brand as the van he had chased the very first time—a knockoff replica of a Haian Auto Works model. One could only say that criminals shared a universal consensus on the cost-effectiveness of their getaway vehicles.
After leaving the scene, they had run their jamming devices while driving a massive detour all the way to Nanlu District, switched to a white van, and then somehow circled right back into Beishan District.
In the end, they had settled into that rundown residential block.
"The developer went bankrupt, property prices collapsed, and beachfront buildings in Beishan District aren't worth anything, so barely anyone lives here." After inspecting the weathered state of the buildings, Ji Jue confirmed, "It should be right here. Wait a moment."
With that, he hopped on his electric scooter, took a lap around the complex, made brief stops outside a few convenience stores and restaurants, and finally pulled up in front of a print shop.
He pointed a finger at the printer, which began humming and whirring on its own. Soon, a thick stack of slightly blurry color photos piled up.
They were all faces Ji Jue had spotted in the convenience store and restaurant surveillance feeds.
Finally, after sitting in the security booth at the entrance for a brief moment, he returned to the Beishan Section's car and handed over the intel. "They rented 401, but they're actually staying in 101. There should be five of them, but only one ever shows his face outside to buy groceries. They should all be inside right now; none have left."
Outsiders, five people, temporary tenants.
The one who showed his face buying supplies had a tree tattoo on his wrist—the same one Tong Hua had caught in the distorted records at the crime scene.
That belonged to the Sacred Tree Sect popular in the southern Empire.
These people were Imperials.
"Spot on. It all matches."
Lao Zhang held the documents, nodding slowly. "From this insignia and skin tone, they're likely from the Empire's Mountain Land Dragon Army. Ever since the mutiny in Mid-Continent a few years back, their unit was disbanded. Most Imperials working as mercenaries these days came from that wave of downsizing and restructuring."
Only now did the slow-witted Xiao An finally catch up.
Full of admiration, he said, "Brother Ji Jue, amazing!"
"Hey, I did a lot of work too, okay?" Tong Hua fumed, pinching his cheeks. "Big Sis treats you so well on regular days, so why don't you ever remember my heroic feats? All you've got is this face getting more and more squishy!"
"Alright, alright, Huahua was amazing too, truly amazing!" Lao Zhang chuckled and ruffled her hair to stop the horsing around, sounding entirely like he was coaxing a child.
With specific features and the appearance of the visible member, their entire record of activity surfaced in the Security Bureau's database.
Three Swarms, one Vortex, one Mirror.
A standard team setup for Celestial Chosen—no shortage of damage dealers or support, tactically versatile, and ruthlessly efficient. Before arriving in Yacheng, they had operated across the Northern and Southern Continents as well as the Thousand Islands, building a notable reputation.
Their arrival in Yacheng this time was likely motivated by the chaos—where money was plentiful and fools were ripe for the picking. They hadn't committed to a specific employer, clearly having resolved to back whichever side offered the most coin and manpower.
Everyone was out to make money; trimming one's sails to the wind was standard practice. Who had time to seek death for fun?
There was no middleman; they had directly accepted an anonymous contract posted on the Wild Gathering. The employer and the hirelings never met. The full bounty had been placed in escrow when the listing was posted, and the Wild Gathering would release payment upon completion.
Yes, even now... the Wild Gathering's bounty system was still operational.
Even though their own ranks were drowning in blood and locked in a vicious struggle to the death.
One could only say that whoever built the Wild Gathering originally was a prodigy of peerless genius.
From its inception, the design fully leveraged the modular, decentralized nature of the White Stag. Core operations were largely broken down and compartmentalized. Aside from routing communications through headquarters, the branches had little contact with one another.
Moreover, the people running the mundane operations were essentially office clerks working nine-to-five, punching clocks, stressing over rising KPIs, performance metrics, and bank mortgages. The Wild Gathering's headquarters even paid their local social security and housing provident funds.
In a sense, they were the true hands of the chieftains, tightening their grip in another fashion on the ever-flowing channels of the world's underbelly.
Even in times like these, they maintained their original stance—which was having no stance at all. They rejected no one; any bounty submitted was posted. Whether anyone accepted it or successfully carried it out was none of the Wild Gathering's concern.
Coiling through the underbelly of the world, this bizarre behemoth known as the Wild Gathering had been born from the crevices beyond order. As long as humanity needed that orderless wilderness to exist, its power would never end.
Even now, Chen Xingzhou's bounty remained listed.
As did bounties on Lei Wuye's godsons, goddaughters, and every other contender... Until one of them emerged as the sole boss, this bloody contest would not stop.
And before then, some people were going to die.
To pay for what they had done.
"You first, or me?"
Standing before the dilapidated apartment building, the old man holding a teapot in one hand and a cattail fan in the other turned to look at Xiao An beside him. "If you're short on kills, how about I play support for you?"
"No need. It doesn't feel challenging," Xiao An casually looked away from the sky. "Let's just do it the usual way. No need to cut me any slack."
"Heh, suit yourself."
Lao Zhang grinned and fished a large plastic bag from his oversized boxers, stashing his teapot, cattail fan, keychain, walnuts, and assorted knickknacks inside, before leaving it by the entrance.
Swaggering forward, he stepped into the darkness within the stairwell.
Before long,
an earth-shattering roar of thunder erupted!
The ground quaked violently.
Chapter 118