One of Our Own

From the moment Wen Wen appeared, the corner of Yu Hanguang's eye began twitching uncontrollably. He had to fight the urge to curse out loud. After receiving Jiang Jin's triumphant report, he had intended to come by and see what kind of brilliant result Jiang Jin could produce to impress him. Yet the second he arrived, his vision went black with fury. There was no brilliant result whatsoever—only this dog getting butchered with ease by two punks who had come out of nowhere. At this point, how could he still not realize that he had been dragged straight into a pit by that damned fool Jiang Jin? Fucking shameless bastard, trying to pull a badger game on him? Still, when had Wen Wen—that stubborn blockhead who only ever went straight at things—learned how to hold back? Instead of storming in personally to tear her opponent apart and leave leverage against herself, she had sent two lab rats ahead to bait him into stepping in... He had never expected that those two boys tearing in to kill and burn were merely chumming the water, while the hook had been waiting in the dark all along! Soon, his gaze settled onto Ji Jue. Along with his realization came a faint flicker of killing intent. Sure enough, the kid was a menace... Even so, not the slightest ripple of emotion showed on his face. Facing Wen Wen's interrogation, he merely said indifferently, "I received a report that a band of terrorists stormed a building in Beishan District and were slaughtering innocent citizens. In my haste, I didn't bother with procedure and came directly. "On the other hand, Section Chief Wen, weren't you a bit too slow in arriving? "Could it be that you're in league with these two?" "Terrorists? Where? How come I don't see any?" Acting as if she were blind, Wen Wen swept her eyes around the room, brushing past the corpses on the floor and the countless spent cartridges without a care. "Instead, what I see is a gang suspected of illicit smuggling, kidnapping, extortion, and murder. With ironclad evidence, I was just getting ready to slaughter every last one of them and call it a day. Who would have thought the mastermind was actually someone else? "The protective umbrella behind them couldn't happen to be you, could it?" With that, she tossed over a smartphone. The photos and videos on it, along with all the criminal evidence Ji Jue had gathered, were laid bare across the screen. The harsh, glaring light stung Yu Hanguang's eyes. It stuffed the excuse right back down his throat. Wen Wen rolled her wrists, looking eager to throw down. "Section Chief Yu, hand the man over, please. Otherwise, this won't be easy to settle." Hearing this, Jiang Jin went blank, his face turning ashen. Subconsciously, he looked toward his only lifesaver. But Yu Hanguang remained expressionless, unyielding. Hand him over? Hand him over my ass! There was no way he would give Jiang Jin up—not out of pity for his loyalty or competence, but because he knew far too well this scumbag's knack for blowing with the wind. God only knew if this disgraceful piece of trash had been keeping ledgers over the years. If this woman caught him by the short hairs, he would probably be in an embarrassing bind for a long time to come! Otherwise, why would he have saved the bastard's life just moments ago? "I think you must be mistaken, Section Chief Wen." Yu Hanguang raised his hand slightly, containing the crystallization spreading in the surroundings and shielding Jiang Jin behind him. "I've been tailing this gang in secret for a long time as well, and was just frustrated by the lack of evidence. I didn't expect you to be so efficient. It works out nicely, making it convenient for us to wipe them out in one fell swoop." "Is that so?" Wen Wen laughed in amusement. "You don't look like you're about to eradicate the evil, though. Isn't the ringleader of the gang sitting right behind your ass, safe and sound?" "I already said, it's a misunderstanding." A trace of gloom surfaced on Yu Hanguang's face. "He's an informant I developed, with a file in Lihua District. According to the rules, he is under my management. There's no reason to hand him over to anyone else. "Right, 'Mister' Jiang?" He tilted his head slightly, shooting a glance at the disgraceful wretch behind him. "Huh? Ah! Yes, yes, yes, exactly!" In an instant, Jiang Jin was overwhelmed with joy. Across his pale face, which had been on the verge of total blood loss, a flush of color actually reemerged. "A misunderstanding, it's all a misunderstanding!" He almost wept tears of joy. "We're all on the same—" *Bang!* In a flash, that smiling face shattered into ruin. An unexpected blast erupted when no one anticipated it. The bullet bored in through the back of his head and, right in front of everyone, punched straight through that grotesque face still smeared with residual delight, leaving behind a grin-like fissure. Joy and cheer ground to a screeching halt. Only a deathly silence remained. "*Whew—*" Ji Jue raised his hand and calmly blew away the gunpowder smoke from the muzzle. "An informant? What a coincidence." He smiled faintly at the stunned Yu Hanguang. "Me too." He gave a belated sigh and shrugged with theatrical regret. "Oh dear, an informant killing an informant—the flood washed over the Dragon King's temple! Who would've thought we were on the same side? "If only you'd said so earlier... right?" At that instant, a furious gleam of lightning flared in Yu Hanguang's eyes. His murderous intent was vicious, like a razor-sharp blade that across the long distance nearly tore Ji Jue to shreds! The reason he didn't strike, aside from Wen Wen's protection, was largely the object spinning in Ji Jue's other hand. A smartphone. Jiang Jin's smartphone. Now that Jiang Jin was dead, no one knew what was stored inside it! That disgraceful piece of trash couldn't even keep a tight grip on something so fatal?! His expression twitched faintly. Inside his narrowed pupils, the churning malice was almost impossible to suppress. Especially when he saw Ji Jue's absurd look of *'Don't mind him, the kid doesn't know any better, he was just killing for fun'* and *'Big bro-ther, you wouldn't be mad, would you?'*... Ji Jue, on the other hand, didn't give a damn. He stared straight back at him, eager to see whether the man had the guts to make a move. Investigating Ji Jue was one thing, but the moment Jiang Jin's men went after Lu Ling, the two sides had become absolute, irreconcilable enemies. Even if Yu Hanguang could wipe his hands clean like a nonstick pan, the reality remained the same! If he didn't seize the moment to pick a side and cling to a sturdy thigh, was he supposed to be pathetic enough to kowtow, serve tea, admit fault, and act like a dog? Kneeling had never solved anything other than making a fool of oneself; it only made people like this bolder and more arrogant. When you had nothing left to lose, if you couldn't show some spine, you could only wait to be slaughtered! Amid this hair-raising, dead silence, Yu Hanguang ultimately withdrew his gaze. He did not lash out on the spot. No one knew whether he was wary of Wen Wen or of what was inside that phone. "Fine. Very good." He squeezed the words through his teeth. "I will remember Section Chief Wen's help today." "No need to thank me. We're colleagues; helping each other out is only natural," Wen Wen said with a bright smile. "Though Jiang Jin is dead, we did manage to catch another survivor..." As she spoke, a shy kid walked in from outside with his eyes downcast. He looked even younger than Ji Jue, like a middle schooler, leaning on a cane with slightly staggering steps. Behind him followed a despairing, sweat-drenched figure. It was Bai Yi, who had found no way of escape. He offered no resistance. He lacked the courage to resist, and even breathing took every ounce of his strength. At this moment, he looked as though he were bound by an invisible leash, completely incapable of uttering a word! Wen Wen waved her hand generously. "If you're interested, why don't you take him back with you? Consider it a gift from the Beishan Section, so your trip wasn't entirely in vain." Yu Hanguang's face turned livid, his fury no longer restrainable. "No need. To eradicate evil, you must be thorough. Wherever he came from, let him be buried there!" With just a flick of his fingers, Bai Yi's expression changed violently. Thick, dark blood seeped from his nose and mouth as he screamed in agony, reduced to ash from the inside out by invisible flames! Dead! Yu Hanguang shot Ji Jue a cold glare, said nothing, and turned to leave. But then a voice sounded behind him. "Oh, right, Section Chief Yu." Wen Wen draped an arm over Ji Jue's shoulder, smiling gently. "Bumps and scrapes between colleagues are normal. But my little brother's health isn't great... If he gets bumped or scraped, and I get upset, I might not be quite as reasonable as I was today." If you want to talk about rules, then we play by the rules. If someone refuses to play by the rules, then... there's no point in keeping the table around. Yu Hanguang's footsteps halted. As if grinding his teeth, he quickened his pace, never looking back. Just like when he arrived, a flash of lightning erupted, and he vanished without a trace... Too bad. However imposing his arrival had been, his departure was just as humiliated. "Wow, he looks just like a stray dog." Ji Jue clicked his tongue in admiration, only to feel a heavy smack against his head. "You little brat, you've really got some nerve," Wen Wen said, shaking her head helplessly. "That prick Yu Hanguang is shady as hell. You've thoroughly offended him this time." "Don't I still have you, Sister Wen?" Ji Jue took the opportunity to lean in, resting against Wen Wen's shoulder, acting delicate and utterly drained. "I sacrificed so much for you, so you definitely won't leave me out in the cold, right? Hmm~?" The moment that last lilt slipped out, Wen Wen looked like she had seen a ghost, goosebumps breaking out all over her. She almost smashed Ji Jue's stupid head in with a punch! *Fuck, an anime weeb, fall back everyone...* Where the hell did this little devil come from?! Suffocated by the overwhelming stench of manipulative innocence, her fingers pinched Ji Jue's cheek, gradually exerting more and more force until Ji Jue pitifully cried out for mercy. Only then did she slowly let go. "Make another joke like that with me, and I'll confiscate your tool of the trade, you hear me?" Her warning came with a cold, fake smile. Ji Jue nodded obediently, his head bobbing so fast it blurred into an afterimage. Ever since she received Ji Jue's phone call and heard that outrageously absurd rumor, she had been on the verge of exploding on the spot! She had barely held back from punching Tong Hua's head off as the girl tried not to laugh. If Ji Jue hadn't stopped her, claiming he had a better plan, she would have blown Jiang Jin, his syndicate, and their whole families to pieces dozens of times over by now! If it were just a rumor, that would have been bad enough. But seeing how everyone else looked half-believing and half-doubting, wondering if it was true, had nearly broken her sanity. Even if she suddenly lost her mind and wanted to find a partner, and even if this kid had some decent looks, with an age gap like that, was she the kind of person so starved for options she'd rob the cradle?! "All right, scurry home and get some sleep, you brat. You don't have to worry about a damn thing. If they dare break the rules and you lose a single hair, I'll wipe out Yu Hanguang's entire family." Suppressing the urge to smash Ji Jue's head in alongside the rest, she snatched Jiang Jin's phone from his hand and waved dismissively. "Forget about tonight. In a couple of days, report to Beishan District on your own!" "Huh?" Ji Jue was baffled. "Aren't you my informant?" Wen Wen snorted coldly. "Shouldn't you meet my colleagues? Don't go around not even recognizing your own people—it'd be embarrassing if word got out." With that, she waved her hand and vanished into thin air. The child beside her blinked, quickly nodded to Ji Jue and the others, and hurried after her. *** Although she had been furious at being saddled with such a ridiculous scandal, seeing that dog Yu Hanguang swallow such a bitter defeat put Wen Wen in a fantastic mood. In particular, the resentment built up over being marginalized by those idiots in the open and behind the scenes for so long dissipated mostly in an instant. Well, not mostly, a small part... actually, maybe not even a small part, but she wasn't someone who held grudges, so at least a bit! "Let's go, Xiao An." She whistled and waved. "Call over Ah Hua and Lao Zhang over there. Team-building drinks on me~" Behind her, the child following in her footsteps looked up, trying to read her expression, and suddenly murmured, "Sister Wen, you haven't smiled this happily in a long time." "..." In the sudden silence, Wen Wen froze as if struck by lightning. She turned around stiffly, her face twitching. "...Who taught you that load of crap?" "Huh? Sister Hua told me," An Ran said innocently, flipping through a notebook. "She said if Sister Wen smiled after finishing the job, I should say that..." "Tong Hua—" Wen Wen squeezed the name through her teeth. *See if I don't twist your damn head off tonight to use as a wine cup!* "Come, let me teach you the second half of that line..." Forcing a smile, she pinched An Ran's ear without mercy. "—Run your mouth like that, and kiss this month's bonus goodbye!"