Compromised?
The sudden turn of events gave Ji Jue an instinctive bad feeling.
The operation hadn't even begun, he had been careful to this degree, and everyone had taken every precaution, yet the target had already bolted?
Where on earth had they slipped up?
In the span of a single heartbeat, Ji Jue's thoughts raced, replaying everything from beginning to end, yet he found no flaw whatsoever—not to mention having a professional White Stag Hunter like An Ning right beside them.
None of the radio bands or phone communications he was monitoring showed the slightest irregularity.
Around the time of the explosion, only a single phone call had gone out or come in, and that was just a flatbread vendor on the other side of the market nagging his son to deliver an order.
Which meant... it was purely a coincidence?
The moment he realized this, Ji Jue had already reached out, holding down the eager An Ning.
"There are too many people. Don't engage here."
"Mm."
An Ning sat obediently in her seat, but through the one-way tint on the glass, she quietly watched the figure fleeing through the crowd, her mind filled with confusion.
As a White Stag Hunter, discerning nature and pedigree was second nature to her, requiring no effort at all; one glance was enough to tell whether someone was a wolf or a dog.
Then that brought up a problem...
That guy wasn't a wolf!
Yet how was he not a dog either?
At best, he was merely a corrupted being of the White Stag lineage—aberrant to some degree, but nowhere near the mark.
In the past, An Ning wouldn't have spared him a second glance. The crux right now was that as she focused on locking onto him with total concentration, she found it utterly baffling—why did such a shoddy specimen, who looked completely like a common mongrel through and through, possess just a trace of a wolf's scent?
A bit like one, yet not; seemingly so, yet not quite.
This was why she had been racking Ji Jue's brain without making any sense of it—either you were or you weren't, what kind of ghostly nonsense was 'sort of is, sort of isn't'?
Taking ten thousand steps back, even if a wolf had bizarre tastes, the lowest standards, and was starved half to death, surely it wouldn't take a fancy to such junk?!
The bizarre nature of the situation was as absurd as some scooter-racing, dyed-blonde delinquent covered in tattoos scoring barely two hundred points on the exams, beating out countless top students, and getting admitted into Tianmen's flagship program.
Either he had wild avenues, solid connections, or both... Whichever it was, it warranted digging all the way to the bottom.
Fortunately Uncle and the others had chased off outside the city, or else how could such a lucky break fall to her?
Brother Ji Jue really was the best.
At the thought, she couldn't help leaning in a little closer.
Lost in contemplation, he didn't push her away this time.
*Hooray, Brother Ji Jue consented!*
...
Amidst the chaotic traffic, the minivan turned silently into an alleyway, weaving without a sound and tailing that silhouette from afar under An Ning's direction.
And through it all, Tong Shan hadn't said a word, holding his breath and focusing his spirit.
As if his mind had drifted beyond the physical world.
A trace of pallor surfaced in his dark pupils, reflecting shifting light and shadows. A thread of telekinesis, faint to the point of being nearly imperceptible, had already extended into the raging inferno in the distance, carrying his perception.
As if witnessing it with his own eyes, every detail was crystal clear.
Under the blaze, vast amounts of tobacco were consumed, billowing clouds of thick smoke churning as the aromas of various fruit essential oils continuously evaporated. What should have been refreshing was so overwhelmingly concentrated now that it turned nauseatingly thick.
Yet his perception moved downward, deeper and deeper... following the fissures into the earth, sinking into the profound subterranean space concealed beneath the hookah shop's facade.
Dozens of meters underground, there was another cavity with a hidden entryway.
Hardly surprising.
In a hellhole like Tacheng, if a household didn't have a basement and something illicit stashed away, people would suspect they were just amateurs!
By now, the basement had already collapsed in the explosion, damaged beyond recognition. Yet under the tracing gaze of the Eye of Aether, every clue sprang to life before his eyes.
Fragments of shattered glass pieced themselves together, their complete contours emerging in his eyes; charred plastic and sheet metal reformed, restoring rows of instruments.
Numerous residual footprints remained, speaking to how bustling it once was.
And in even greater abundance were corpses, corpses, corpses, corpses, and more corpses. Monkeys, birds, and even humans... Remnants of fur, feathers, hair, and biological tissue had charred in the flames, their former appearances indistinguishable.
It was unmistakably an entire laboratory!
Indeed, there was foul play!
Tong Shan broke into a cold sweat, vigilance surging within him—what was the White Nation Restoration Front doing quietly operating a lab in Tacheng?
Could it possibly be for the good of the White Nation or the benefit of the Mid-Continent?!
Looking at it now, no wonder an explosion had occurred out of nowhere. It wasn't because they had been exposed at all, but because the other side had come specifically to destroy evidence and wipe out all traces!
Had Ji Jue not reacted in time, they probably wouldn't have known what was happening at all.
After all... it was simply too commonplace.
Even leaving suicide vests aside, crumbling buildings, fires, and runaway explosives were as ordinary as eating and drinking in a dump like Tacheng.
A few years ago, when Huanyu Heavy Industries' chemical plant blew up, it flattened half a mountain; what did a minor commotion like this count for?
Once the locals who panicked initially realized this wasn't some demographic purge by the Federation or the Empire, they quickly settled back down, going right back to buying groceries or selling their bodies as though nothing had happened.
"That guy is highly suspicious; there's definitely something wrong with him. Everyone stay sharp and mind your force when making a move."
After a brief hesitation, Tong Shan glanced at Ji Jue and An Ning, showing an apologetic look. "If possible, please try to take him alive."
"No problem here," Ji Jue waved his hand. "When it comes to materials, the fresher the better. Slaying on demand works just fine."
"Killing junk like this doesn't yield much of a bounty anyway." An Ning nodded indifferently, then perked up eagerly. "Once I'm done interrogating him, Brother Ji Jue, you can use him however you want! Want me to pin his hands down for you?"
For a moment, the siblings Ji Liu and Ji Xue were struck speechless.
Ji Jue's vibe as an artisan was already bizarre enough, but how did having An Ning around buff his stats even further? No matter how you looked at it, this was completely unhinged!
They had assumed it was a depraved artisan manipulating an innocent young girl, but turns out it was a villainous black dragon and evil phoenix joining forces like fish in water... In the end, Swarm and Tianyuan suffered simply from being too normal!
"All right, get ready."
Tong Shan tore off two sheets of paper and slapped them onto Ji Xue and Ji Liu. "Wait for my sig—never mind. Everyone follow Miss An's lead."
In matters like this, it was best left to the professional.
"Leave it to me."
An Ning grinned, slid open the window, flipped out, leaped deftly across the roofs of vehicles, and then sprang as light as a feather onto the top of a wall, gliding nimbly between buildings.
Within a few paces, her presence vanished completely, disappearing from sensory observations. Unless one looked with naked eyes, she was virtually undetectable, like a formless phantom.
Lightly springing onto a pagoda, she watched from afar as the figure among the crowd turned into an alley as the pedestrians dispersed.
Clutching the lamb to his chest, the shepherd glanced back warily. Seeing no pursuers, he breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
He gave a smug smile.
*Riches are won in peril. Taking this gamble, in the end, I—*
*Snap!*
His body swayed, and the little lamb fell from his arms onto the ground. When he looked down in daze, he discovered that what had dropped to the ground was not just the lamb, but one of his own arms.
Blood spurted like a fountain, yet he felt no pain.
He instinctively tried to scream, but no sound came out. The gash across his throat split open, crimson spraying violently, followed in rapid succession by his right arm and both legs.
In the blink of an eye, he collapsed onto the ground, clinging to his last breath.
*Done!*
He hadn't even had time to react.
The smile on An Ning's face vanished in an instant. Showing no mercy, she struck again, the Flying Light of the Hunting Finger piercing through the air—only to freeze dead in midair, hovering suspended in empty space, humming and vibrating.
It was blocked.
Immediately following, the walls cracked, stone slabs undulating like tidal waves, and violent force erupted out of thin air, seizing the dying corrupted being on the ground and yanking him flying into the distance.
A sudden ambush!
"Stay right there!"
Tong Shan thrust out a hand with full force—beneath the turbulent gravity, his telekinesis surged outward, forcefully pinning the corrupted being in place as cracking and snapping reverberated ceaselessly through the air.
Both sides clashed head-on in a fierce collision, an explosive roar detonating as gale-force winds swept outward.
Gravitational force and telekinesis intertwined, locked in a stalemate.
Fearsome power erupted incessantly in empty space, surging like the tide without any visible medium, while cracks spread frantically across the surrounding physical structures.
"Olivia?!"
Mid-air, Tong Shan's face turned livid as he looked into the distance. At the other end of the alley, shimmering mirages trembled to reveal the figures of a group.
"Terribly sorry, Tong."
The executor of the Bureau of Secrecy grinned with a mocking sneer. "I spotted this man first. You'll have to get in line."
"Save your bullshit for when you get home."
Tong Shan said coldly, "You've crossed the line. This isn't imperial jurisdiction!"
"These are special times. Jurisdictional boundaries were lifted days ago, and your director signed off on it too." Olivia grew increasingly amused. "How about you head back and look it over, and come find me once you've figured it out?"
Even during their brief exchange, the contest between the two hadn't paused for a fraction of a second; if anything, it intensified. In Olivia's hand, an intricate contraption resembling a globe rose spinning, the gravitational pull soaring.
Tong Shan moved to draw his sword, but no sooner had his palm pressed against the hilt than a red dot landed upon him.
Beneath camouflage netting in a distant pagoda, a hidden sniper finally revealed himself, holding his breath and locking onto Tong Shan's position, the alchemical bullet chambered in his rifle radiating lethal malice.
Not only that, right behind Olivia, a Swarm follower drew twin sabers, blood flames rising as he readied to strike.
Further out, a concealed Tianyuan adept raised a hand, sealing off the perimeter.
Swords were drawn, bows strung tight.
No, to be precise, they had come fully prepared!
As if foreknowing their movements, they had laid an ambush beforehand, the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.
Olivia smiled as she looked toward An Ning atop the white pagoda: "Is the House of An of the Hunting Finger going to meddle in a struggle between Tianyuan?"
An Ning said nothing, offering no reaction.
As though she were completely detached from the situation.
In a feud between the Security Bureau and the Bureau of Secrecy, it was completely natural for a White Stag Hunter to stand by and watch. Nor was she likely to intervene.
At this, Olivia sneered and flicked her fingers once more.
An invisible gravitational vortex materialized out of thin air above the vehicle they had arrived in, like a sword of Damocles hanging overhead. The violent gravity was poised to strike, capable of crashing down with crushing force at any second.
"Whoever's in the van, behave."
Olivia turned back to Tong Shan and gave a regretful warning: "Think of your comrades, Tong. You'd best not act rashly."
Tong Shan seemed helpless. Slowly, he released his grip on the hilt of his sword.
"I should be the one advising you to exercise caution." A flicker of sympathy crossed Tong Shan's face. "You'd best not act rashly, Olivia—for your own sake."
An Ning, who had seemed a bystander, silently produced a round-headed brooch in her hand, locking onto Olivia.
Casting aside her earlier indifference, she didn't bother hiding her malice in the slightest.
And in that moment of silence, the vehicle's window slowly rolled down.
Revealing a face that struck everyone in the Bureau of Secrecy dumbfounded.
Wearing a calm, unbothered smile, he glanced at their stunned expressions.
"Brother Shan, feels like out-of-town gangs aren't very polite."
"Happens all the time,"
Tong Shan shrugged regretfully. "Once the lights are off, everyone's slitting each other's throats. Can you really expect us to be one big happy family?"
"How terrifying."
Ji Jue chuckled, resting his arm against the window frame as he called out toward Olivia in the distance: "So, may I ask: is the Bureau of Secrecy planning to kill me?"
Olivia's face twitched for an instant, unable to conceal her shock.
She had never imagined there would be someone else inside the minivan—let alone Ji Jue!
If it were anyone else, she could dismiss them as uninvolved bystanders, killing them with impunity. But look at that face—a face one would recognize even if burned to ashes!
In less than a few days, he had skyrocketed from an outsider into a pivotal figure holding immense sway in all of Tacheng. Just his limitless output of alchemical bullets alone held the jugular of the entire city.
To put it bluntly, if Tong Shan died, so what? Between the Security Bureau and the Bureau of Secrecy, one more blood feud hardly made a difference, and Olivia might even get promoted and earn a raise.
But Ji Jue was different.
If anything actually happened to him, hell would break loose!
Leaving aside how the Federation's garrison base would go rabid, the Empire had demands for his supply as well, all right? Even Shaban had spread the word that the local Wasteland Market would refuse any bounties or contracts concerning Mr. Ji...
Besides, did anyone truly think the Ring of Taiyi had no teeth?
Gustav was ruthlessly fierce when he handled affairs. If any mishap befell Ji Jue, as a Golden Ribbon artisan, the association would have every single artisan in Tacheng go on strike just to spite them!
If he died here today, there would be no cleaning up this mess!
No one would walk away unscathed!
"Mr. Ji, when it comes to imperial and federate matters, one cannot always afford such delicate care."
Olivia forced a strained smile onto her stern, icy face. "To avoid any misunderstandings, could I trouble Your Excellency to temporarily refrain from getting involved?"
"Oh? And what if I say no?"
Ji Jue remained smiling, motionless as he watched her. "I specifically hired the Flying Light of the Hunting Finger to cooperate with Tacheng in purging terrorists and safeguarding the order and stability of the Mid-Continent. Surely after producing results, I wouldn't end up becoming a thorn in the Empire's side, would I?
Is Tacheng incapable of accommodating me? Or is this solely your idea, Miss Olivia?"
In an instant, Olivia's expression darkened—were it not for this critical juncture, she could grind this pretty boy into dust and scatter his ashes without anyone daring to speak a word! Goddamn artisan, give him an inch and he takes a mile!
A bone-chilling cold uncontrollably surged from her, causing her subordinates beside her to pale. One warned in a low voice, "Boss, stay calm, please! It's not worth it!"
Olivia's face grew darker still, fury boiling within her.
Or rather, she was riding a tiger and couldn't dismount.
As an operative of the Bureau of Secrecy, backing down before the Security Bureau would certainly earn her a reprimand and make her a laughingstock if word got out. But if she threw caution to the wind and fought in earnest, and Ji Jue ended up suddenly dropping dead here, her outcome wouldn't be pretty either.
In that brief stalemate, a shrill wail suddenly erupted.
Subjected to the dual tearing and ravaging of gravity and telekinesis, the corrupted being, crushed nearly to dust, writhed and struggled feebly on the verge of death.
Blood slowly spread, dyeing the lamb's white wool a gory crimson.
And as the lamb's body broke apart, traces of a hair-raising aura actually drifted out from within it, sending chills down everyone's spines.
Driven completely mad by agony, ignoring the ravages of telekinesis and gravity, the corrupted being snapped his jaws open, sinking his broken teeth into the flesh of the lamb and sucking greedily.
Pained, the lamb brought out from the laboratory let out a shrill bleat, and shockingly turned its head, gnawing right back into the corrupted being.
A frenzied banquet.
Devouring each other, it was impossible to tell whether the man was eating the sheep or the sheep was eating the man. What was certain was that amidst this ferocious gnawing, something entirely different and grotesque was rapidly condensing into form!
Right before the eyes of Tong Shan and Olivia, the mutually gnawing, mangled flesh squirmed, merging together.
Human bones and beast bones knitted together. Once the white wool fell away, stiff, bristly black hairs sprouted luxuriantly from the sheep-headed corrupted being.
It threw its head back and let out a piercing howl, a roar, and in an instant galloped forward on all fours, its speed unfathomably fast.
Incredibly, neither telekinesis nor gravity could lock onto it—it slipped past their grasp entirely!
As if it simply did not exist!
"...A wolf?!"
An Ning's pupils dilated abruptly. Being the first to realize what had happened made it all the more incomprehensible and unbelievable—right under her nose, an ordinary, shoddy White Stag corrupted being had fused with a bizarre sheep and actually turned into a genuine wolf!
Admittedly, it was weak, small, and laughable, its strength hardly worth mentioning, but a sheep was a sheep, and a wolf was a wolf! How could such a preposterous phenomenon ever occur?!
Unfortunately, reality didn't care about reason, nor did it give a damn about common sense.
At this very moment, right before everyone's eyes—the wolf had arrived!
In an instant, friend or foe, none had time to ponder further. Without hesitation, they struck out with all their might toward the snarling newborn wolf, determined to seize it.
Only Ji Jue remained seated where he was, watching the howling, sprinting wolf, feeling an urge to applaud.
He had just been fretting over how to fan the flames between the Federation and the Empire, never expecting that such an explosive, hardcore scoop would deliver itself right to his doorstep!
Wasn't this way better than biting a lighter?
You truly never disappoint, Shehri!
Chapter 611