Evil Deeds Come Easily

"I'm afraid the days ahead won't be easy." Inside the car as it slowly pulled to a stop, Ji Jue sighed softly. Recalling the bizarre atmosphere at the reception and the countless gazes directed his way, he couldn't shake the feeling of an impending storm. It was true that the Empire and the Federation had already issued diplomatic notes and official notices demanding order, stability, and production output. Yet not once did they say: *Don't fight among yourselves!* On the contrary, boosting phlogiston production and expanding mining operations required equipment and manpower. The interests and trends they represented would only drive everyone to tear into one another. One could easily foresee that in the days to come, even if things appeared calmer on the surface, the struggles in the shadows would only escalate. It was not peace, but plunder carried out in peace's name. And Ji Jue happened to be the newcomer nobody wanted to see. Yan Fei grinned. "Don't worry, Mr. Ji. Whoever comes, I'll beat 'em to death." Ji Jue lifted his eyes and glanced at this reckless fool, unable to hold back a sigh. He felt as though this side account had been completely bricked... muscle had completely gone to his head! Old Gou, meanwhile, remained calm from start to finish. Whatever they were going to do wasn't his call anyway; he was just a tool, going wherever the boss pointed. In this godforsaken world, taking it one day at a time was enough. "How about some late-night snacks?" He pulled out his phone and suggested, thinking they should at least enjoy a few good meals while they could. "Sure, I haven't eaten much either..." Ji Jue's smile suddenly froze on his face. He reached out and caught Old Gou, who was walking ahead of him. Old Gou turned back in confusion, bewildered. They were right at the company door, so why stop? In that split second, the final tick sounded. Then—*click*— *BOOM!!!!* In the tranquil night, at the heart of downtown Tacheng, an office building abruptly vomited jets of crimson fire. Countless shards of glass and debris exploded outward, spraying in every direction. An explosion! The abrupt shockwave and violent change in air pressure were completely shut out by a torrent of swirling quicksilver. In the fierce tremor, the entire hallway rocked, screams ringing out amid chaotic clamor. Through the billowing clouds of thick smoke, flickering lights illuminated Ji Jue's expressionless face. And right before his eyes... The company office he had just rented, finished renovating, and moved into had been blown to smithereens! With this explosive yield, had it not been for Ji Jue's material property interference and reinforcement, the entire building probably would have snapped in half and burned to the ground, wouldn't it? "Ah Chang!" Yan Fei's face changed drastically. Stricken with terror, he stared at the ruined office—his brother had difficulty moving around, so instead of going with them, he had stayed behind in the office to rest! At this moment, the screaming youth was practically hysterical. Disregarding the thick smoke, he charged into the office, shouting and roaring. Until coughing reached his ears. "Bro, I'm okay!" A wheelchair that had sprouted legs stepped out of the thick smoke, picking its way through the rubble. The youth seated upon it had barely more than soiled hems on his clothes, tightly clutching a cracked bead of solidified quicksilver in his hand, still shaken. Behind him followed a Riot Cat whose armor glowed red-hot, throwing sparks all over. "Just now, the thing Mr. Ji gave me suddenly activated... and that machine too..." Yan Chang struggled to collect his thoughts and report the situation. "I didn't sense any killing intent or malice, so the culprit shouldn't be here, but the bomb..." "A package bomb. On a timer." Ji Jue lowered his eyes and kicked a ceramic fragment that had landed at his feet. "Not mechanical. Looks like it was specially modified to counter my abilities and expertise. How thoughtful of them." No one spoke. Only Ji Jue's soft sigh echoed. "Is this the local welcoming ceremony?" Stepping on the fragments beneath his feet, he looked out the window at the stirred-up nightscape and suddenly chuckled. "No matter how many times I experience it, it's still so thrilling." "Boss..." Old Gou wiped his sweat, his face pale as he asked for instructions. "What do we do next?" Ji Jue didn't answer. What else could they do? Run around biting people like a rabid dog? The other side was probably counting on him doing just that! From the beginning until now—from before he even set foot on the Mid-Continent until his return from the reception—the bizarre probing and provocations had never ceased. They were forcing him to retaliate, to draw his blade and fight all out! If you didn't fight back, you'd be kicked out of the game; if you didn't struggle, you couldn't gain a foothold! Yet if things blew up out of control and everyone united against him, probably not even Fan Yun would be able to protect him. No—more likely, Fan Yun would turn around and treat him as the prime culprit who disrupted order and stability, hanging his corpse from the prow of a warship to make a spectacular example of him! He knew this full well. There was only one thing Ji Jue still couldn't wrap his head around. All he wanted was to find a quiet place to develop and maybe hunt some wolves on the side—why did every single one of them treat him like a soft persimmon they could squeeze? Now, the choice was placed before him once more. In the silence, Ji Jue looked out the shattered window at the scattered lights in the night and the peering eyes lurking in the dark. Suddenly, he smiled. "Call the police," he replied without a second thought. "..." Silence—still dead silence. Old Gou was completely stunned, blank-faced. Honestly, even if Ji Jue had said, *Grab your gear and follow me, we're going to bathe this place in blood,* he wouldn't have been surprised. He had even begun drafting a mental script on how to talk Ji Jue down quickly and stabilize the situation first. This response was the one thing he had never anticipated. "C-Call the police?" "Yeah, what else? We're law-abiding citizens. How could we knowingly break the law?" Ji Jue's smile grew increasingly cheerful. Casually yanking a tabletop out of the rubble, he sat down and waved nonchalantly. "Call the cops, Old Gou! "Have faith that the laws and justice of the Mid-Continent will surely give us an answer!" "..." Cold sweat began to trickle down Old Gou's neck. He didn't understand what Ji Jue was playing at, but instinctively, a chill ran down his spine. In the silence, he said nothing after all. He took out his phone. *Fight! Fight! Fight!!!* The moment the explosion's fire flared, countless pairs of watching eyes in the shadows were illuminated. They had anticipated it, yet they still couldn't resist gloating in high spirits. What a spectacle! Less than a minute after the explosion occurred, Shaban received the news. Three minutes later, intelligence brokers had already delivered precise updates into the hands of every client. Ten minutes later, almost all his industry peers were awake, sitting behind office desks, twirling pens, crossing their legs, waiting for news. Or constantly placing and receiving calls, probing each other. None could restrain their malicious and mocking smiles. Now there's going to be a good show to watch! The roar of the explosion was like a clap of thunder sweeping across the dreary wasteland, waking countless crocodiles beneath the surface of the water as they silently floated up to watch. They were admiring the farce unfolding before them, waiting for Ji Jue's next move. What none of them expected was... Ji Jue didn't make a move. Ji Jue sat down. Then, in the distance, sirens began to wail. Even when the police cars pulled up downstairs, the vast majority of people were still in a state of utter stupefaction, incredulous: *What the hell? What happened? Where am I?* *That bastard called the police?!* No, bro, what are you thinking! Mudaheka is basically coming at you with his cards face-up—go slap him across the face! What are you expecting from the puppet regime propped up here in Tacheng and those patrolmen underneath them who don't know how to do anything except take bribes? They don't even know how to clean up a crime scene! Are you expecting them to deliver justice for you? Or waiting for the police to collect evidence and press charges so the courts can clear your name? They couldn't comprehend it, couldn't figure it out, but they felt utterly shocked. Even Fan Yun froze when he got the news, holding the phone in his hand and staring blankly for a long time. "Called the police?" "Yes." "You mean that... calling the police?" Fan Yun hesitated, double-checking. "811?" "Yes, that's right!" His assistant, who had confirmed it multiple times, wiped his sweat and nodded decisively. "He... called the police!" "..." Fan Yun was silent, unable to utter a word. He looked toward the screen in his assistant's hands. In the photograph, the young man being taken in for questioning was walking beside the police officers, calm and composed, his steps light. He turned back, looking toward the camera. Silently grinning. Smiling. Not only were the onlookers dumbfounded; the police were dumbfounded too. In a police station that functioned purely as decorative window dressing, the local cops stared at one another. The unlucky commanding officer on duty wiped his sweat, at a complete loss as to what act of theater this was. Yet amid the silence and hesitation, they had to respond somehow. "Just... first... let's just follow the procedure." Roused from bed by his subordinates for overtime before he had even slept off his hangover, the chief inspector felt a splitting headache, wishing he could just hang himself from a beam. He waved his hand irritably. "Don't you know how to follow the procedure? Do I need to teach you?!" And so, his subordinates caught on and finally breathed a sigh of relief. Like that, the commissioner instructed the chief, the chief instructed the deputy chief, the deputy chief instructed the inspector, the inspector instructed the superintendent, and the superintendent instructed the new temp hire under him. Follow the procedure! Just go through the motions; step by step, the procedure would finish itself—or maybe it wouldn't, but who cared? That was completely normal! Nothing could be done about it; the Mid-Continent had its own unique circumstances. Let's just take a statement first. Everything else could wait for later. And so, inside the interrogation room, a trembling young man pushed open the door, plucked up his courage, and sat across from Ji Jue, met with his smile. So gentle and genial. Ji Jue even comforted him in return: "Don't be nervous. Just handle it as usual. I have faith in Mid-Continent's public security." This load of crap almost made the new rookie laugh: *How the fuck do you have more confidence than I do?!* Having no choice, he could only flip open his notebook. Steeling himself under the gaze of countless peering eyes behind the cameras, he stiffly began the questioning... In contrast to the officer's stiff tension, Ji Jue acted as if he were right at home, chattering away animatedly with spit flying, having already downed several cups of coffee. "Hey, brother, you have no idea how dangerous it was at the time!" Ji Jue gestured with two fingers. "Just by a hair—just that tiny bit, and I would've been blown to bits! These unlawful elements are simply too brazen! They don't respect Tacheng at all!" *Bro, stop talking, please, let's stop talking!* The young officer wiped his sweat, hesitating. *Forget unlawful elements—even we haven't ever taken public security seriously...* Still, the questioning was nearly over; he had to see it through to the end. Helplessly eyeing the drivel in his notebook, he turned the page, picked up his pen once more, and asked as a matter of routine: "So, do you have any suspects in mind?" In that instant, silence fell abruptly. The young officer looked up blankly, sensing that the atmosphere in the room had suddenly shifted. The warmth vanished; the gentleness was gone, though he had no idea what had happened. Only the "victim" seated before him was smiling. His smile grew increasingly cheerful. "I do." Ji Jue slowly nodded, his smile beaming. "I suspect that the person who attacked me—the real mastermind behind the scenes—" He paused, then said with absolute conviction: "—is the Evil Transmutation Cult!" *Snap!* The sound of something breaking seemed to echo. A disturbance came from outside the room, faintly reverberating through walls that soundproofing couldn't fully muffle. Only the young man taking notes remained completely clueless. He still hadn't figured out the situation. *Evil Transmutation what cult? What on earth...?* In the corridor outside, someone was already sprinting over in a cold sweat, stumbling and scrambling on all fours, shouting in panic and barking orders: "Stop, stop right now! Fucking stop!" The superintendent shrieked and roared, "Tell that brat to shut up! Don't let him ask another question!!!!" But he was too far away. And too slow. He could not prevent the oblivious young man in the interrogation room from asking once more the question capable of whipping up a raging tempest to engulf all of Tacheng: "What did you just say?" And so, Ji Jue smiled and answered decisively, informing those behind the cameras, informing everyone here and everyone not here: "—The [Evil Transmutation Cult]!" *Fuck!* In the chief's office, the sweat-drenched chief inspector stood frozen in shock, staring at everything unfolding before him. A shrill ringing suddenly screamed in his ears; darkness flared in bursts before his eyes. Instinctively pushing himself up, he couldn't hold his footing, stumbling back two paces before tripping and tumbling to the floor. Yet he felt no pain—only the piercing, deafening ringing in his ears. *It's over. It's all over!* In the instant realization dawned upon him, he could no longer stop wishing he were dead... This time, things had blown wide open!