I'm an Orthodox Profession

Eleven-thirty at night. Two furtive figures appeared at the entrance of a residential compound in Shakou District. "This place is a dump. Are you sure Kong Liangping lives here? He's the captain of the public security brigade—how could he live in a shithole like this?" Kou Beiyue craned his neck to peer into the compound. "That's where you're being naive!" Zhang Yuanqing sneered. "Look at this compound. It looks run-down on the surface, but the security's actually tight. Officials love living in places like this. Luxury apartments and upscale complexes—those are for rich people." Shakou District was a fair distance from Kangyang District. After meeting up, the two of them had slurped down a bowl of noodles and then taken a cab over, an hour and a half in total. Zhang Yuanqing had paid for the noodles, and he'd paid for the cab too. Only after asking did he learn that Kou Beiyue had just a few hundred yuan in his pocket, all of it spent on lodging. So it went: as long as you can't steal and can't rob, a man with no knack for making money still won't make any—even after becoming a Spirit Realm walker. "Let's climb the wall," Kou Beiyue said, eyeing the perimeter wall topped with high-voltage pulse netting. "Climb the wall? No, that's far too inelegant." Zhang Yuanqing walked straight toward the guard booth. "Follow me." Kou Beiyue watched his back recede quickly and had no choice but to follow. Zhang Yuanqing reached the booth window and tapped on it. The old man sitting inside, playing on his phone, looked up and saw the young man at the window. A second later, his pupils lost focus and he sat there blankly. Zhang Yuanqing gestured for Kou Beiyue to follow and entered the compound first. These days he was getting more and more adept at the Charm technique. Once inside, they followed the building numbers and found Building 3, where Kong Liangping lived. With nimble agility they climbed up to the second-floor stairwell and slipped into the building without trouble. In front of Apartment 202, Zhang Yuanqing rapped on the security door with his knuckles. *Thump, thump.* He knocked for a good while before footsteps came from inside, approaching the entryway. "Who is it?" a middle-aged woman's voice called out. The figure stopped at the door and studied the two men through the peephole. "Property management!" "What is it?" "It's like this—your car parked downstairs has been scraped. The owner's waiting down there, so you should go take a look." Lies came easily to Zhang Yuanqing's lips. "What?" Hearing that her car had been scraped, the woman's already scant caution evaporated. She yanked the door open, ready to storm downstairs and demand compensation. But the moment she opened it, she froze, standing woodenly in place—her mind trapped in a stairwell she would never escape. Caught in a ghost wall. Zhang Yuanqing stepped past the woman into the apartment, Kou Beiyue right behind him. The first thing they saw was a lavishly decorated living room. From the furniture to the appliances, everything exuded class and luxury. It was hard to imagine anyone spending so much on renovations in an old complex like this. It belonged in an upscale complex, a villa, a large flat-floor apartment. Past the living room, the hallway had a bedroom and a bathroom on the left, and the master bedroom on the right. The master bedroom door was half open, light spilling out. A middle-aged man with a receding hairline lay asleep on his side. Hearing footsteps, he opened his eyes and asked: "Who is it, knocking at this hour... Who are you people?!" Seeing two strangers enter, he bolted upright, eyes wary and alert, instinctively glancing at the two "thugs'" hands and waists to see if they were armed. Zhang Yuanqing ignored him and looked back. Kou Beiyue's face was dark, his breathing rapid, his eyes flickering with loathing and hatred. The two thugs' silence seemed to give Kong Liangping confidence. He threw off the covers, got out of bed, and shouted: "You two little thieves—do you know who I am? You dare rob the home of the public security brigade captain? Want to eat prison food for the rest of your lives? Who do you two run with?" His presence was forceful, his face savage—not cowering like an ordinary man. He grabbed his phone with one hand and, with the other, pulled a telescopic baton from the enclosed balcony and swung it viciously at Zhang Yuanqing's head. Zhang Yuanqing kicked straight into the big belly. Kong Liangping's nearly two-hundred-jin body flew backward. The baton slipped from his hand; he hit the floor and rolled twice, clutching his stomach, his senses contorted with pain, yet unable to scream. "I'm going to kill him." Kou Beiyue summoned a military dagger, his face ashen, and strode forward. Zhang Yuanqing slapped him aside, stepped up, grabbed Kong Liangping's thinning hair, and delivered two slaps. The fleshy cheeks swelled up at once. Kong Liangping finally got his breath back and screamed at the top of his lungs. "Shut up!" Zhang Yuanqing frowned. Kong Liangping kept screaming, apparently trying to draw the neighbors' attention with his cries. As a public security captain, his cunning was beyond ordinary men. Zhang Yuanqing grabbed his hair and shoved his head down. *Thud*—in the muffled sound, the screaming stopped abruptly. Blood spurted from Kong Liangping's nose, and his mouth filled with bloody froth. His nose was broken, and his front teeth had come out. Zhang Yuanqing sneered, "Try screaming again!" Kong Liangping didn't dare. His voice was terrified: "Y-you want money, right? Take whatever you want from the house, whatever you want..." "We don't want money. We just want to ask you a few things." "Wh-what things..." The nosebleed had run into his mouth, but he didn't dare wipe it. "Remember Kou Yusi? The case you handled two years ago," Zhang Yuanqing said. Kong Liangping blanked for a moment. Two or three seconds later, he finally remembered the name. "Who—who are you people, really? I handled that case. That girl was pitiful, done in by her beast of a brother—" Before he could finish, Kou Beiyue roared like a young lion: "Shut your mouth! You're the beasts!" Zhang Yuanqing held out a hand to stop him. "This guy's a wily old fox. Stop wasting breath on him. Stick to the plan." Kou Beiyue took a deep breath and suppressed the rage surging in his chest. He crouched down, gripped Kong Liangping's neck, and crimson symbols surfaced in his eyes. At the Transcendent stage, the Bewitch skill needed considerable time to fully control a person. The fastest way was actually violent interrogation—beat Kong Liangping until he talked. But though Zhang Yuanqing had killed, he couldn't bring himself to torture anyone; he had a mental block about it. While Kou Beiyue bewitched Kong Liangping, Zhang Yuanqing walked out of the bedroom, led the dazed middle-aged woman from the doorway back into the living room, then hid in the dark hallway, listening to see whether the neighboring households had noticed anything amiss and were calling the police. Fortunately, the soundproofing in Kong Liangping's home was good. The commotion they'd made hadn't been loud and hadn't lasted long. The residents on the same floor noticed nothing. Zhang Yuanqing quietly returned to the living room, closed the security door, and opened his attribute panel. He cursed inwardly: *Fuck.* Two Morality Points deducted. A big loss. Tomorrow he'd have Guan Ya help him donate some money to charity to earn back the two points. He sat on the living room sofa and waited. About half an hour later, Kou Beiyue's voice came from inside: "Done." Zhang Yuanqing rose at once and went to the bedroom. Kong Liangping sat on the edge of the bed in his pajamas, tissue stuffed up his nose to stop the bleeding, his expression uneasy and stiff, like a schoolboy who'd done something wrong. "I bewitched him with 'confess and be lenient, resist and be harsh,'" Kou Beiyue said in a low voice. "He's very obedient now—answers whatever he's asked. The effect lasts twelve hours." *Since when did "confess and be lenient" need bewitching?* Zhang Yuanqing complained inwardly. He looked at the terrified Kong Liangping and said: "During your time as brigade captain, what lawless and corrupt things have you done?" With a face full of remorse, Kong Liangping confessed his misdeeds: taking bribes, extorting the families of detainees, improper relations with female subordinates, soliciting prostitutes, and so on. *Good grief,* Zhang Yuanqing thought. *If Heavenly King Demonic Eye knew about this, he'd flay you alive.* "What was the business with Kou Yusi's case?" Zhang Yuanqing asked. "It was the higher-ups' idea. They had me handle it—fabricate evidence, frame Kou Yusi's brother. All at the higher-ups' instruction. I just did as I was told. They promised that if I handled the case, he'd promote me to brigade captain." "Who are the higher-ups?" "The special department and Director Lu," Kong Liangping said. Zhang Yuanqing knew the special department meant the Five Elements Alliance. The officers of the Public Security Bureau knew the special department existed, but most didn't know its employees had superpowers—and even those who did had signed confidentiality agreements. It couldn't stamp out the "rumors" entirely, but it greatly limited their spread. Of course, the Bureau's higher-ups certainly knew about Spirit Realm walkers—brigade captains, directors, and the like. Some wealthy merchants and high officials were superstitious about feng shui and fortune-telling and held certain "reclusive masters" in special esteem. That was where the rumors came from. Zhang Yuanqing glanced at Kou Beiyue, then asked: "Why did the special department's people want to kill Kou Yusi?" Kong Liangping's face showed struggle; this seemed to be a secret he couldn't tell. A dozen seconds later, his will was crushed by the bewitching power, and he answered truthfully: "Because that woman was a sparrow kept in the Bronze Sparrow Tower." What did that mean? Zhang Yuanqing and Kou Beiyue both looked blank. The former's blankness was not understanding what kind of place the Bronze Sparrow Tower referred to; the latter had simply never heard the words and was completely lost. Kong Liangping explained: "Bronze Sparrow Tower is what we call it in our circles. It's at No. 38 Xinyuan Road, a rather out-of-the-way part of Shakou District. I only learned about it later—before that I had no right to know. "The man behind it is called Master Wu, real name Wu Xingye. He owns many companies in Songhai; his assets are said to be in the tens of billions. Master Wu used to run shady rackets and made his fortune through unorthodox means. "Later he got into pyramid schemes. Besides swindling money for him, the scheme teams specifically lured pretty girls from out of town and sent them into the Bronze Sparrow Tower to be broken in—trained into playthings too afraid to resist, for the amusement of the powerful. "That Lu fellow and the higher-ups of that special unit are regulars at the Bronze Sparrow Tower. And there are many more like them." Zhang Yuanqing felt the veins on his forehead throb. Kou Beiyue's chest heaved. Veins bulged on the back of the hand gripping the dagger, and he squeezed out his words through gritted teeth: "My sister quit her job to go into business with someone from her hometown, and that's how she got lured in. It's because I was useless—she was always worrying about my future, and it made her anxious about making money. She was in there for a month. I don't dare imagine what she went through." Zhang Yuanqing took a deep breath. "How long? I mean, how long has the Bronze Sparrow Tower existed?" Kong Liangping thought about it. "Going on ten years, I'd say." "No one ever investigated?" Zhang Yuanqing said. "Now and then a girl would escape, but it was quickly hushed up. The ones who escaped were sent back, and after a few days of torture they were docile. It's just beating—beat them till it hurts, till they're scared, and they're docile. The other women inside saw that escaping was useless, so few dared to resist. Be good, serve Master Wu's guests well, and at least you won't lack food or clothes—better than losing your life, right?" A place of sensual indulgence, a place to satisfy the private desires of the powerful. No wonder Chi Yue'an wanted to silence her with death. This wasn't simple imprisonment and abuse; behind it was a whole string of prominent figures. Zhang Yuanqing suppressed the anger in his heart. "Do you know Master Wu's address?" "No," Kong Liangping said. "But most of the time he's at the Bronze Sparrow Tower. Three or four days a week, roughly. There are important guests there every day for entertainment—he has to play cards with them, lose money, and then pick young, pretty girls to serve them." "Do you have a photo of him?" Zhang Yuanqing said. Kong Liangping shook his head. "He keeps a low profile and doesn't have photos taken. I can describe his looks: about one meter eighty, in his forties, full beard, a mole on his right cheek." Zhang Yuanqing silently noted it down, then turned to Kou Beiyue. "Knock him out. We're paying the Bronze Sparrow Tower a visit." "I'm going to kill him," Kou Beiyue said. Zhang Yuanqing said gravely, "No. He's an important witness." Kou Beiyue said, word by word, "I don't need a witness. I want blood for blood." He turned to look at Zhang Yuanqing. "You—step outside for a bit." In the youth's eyes were anger, pain, and a trace of pleading. Zhang Yuanqing opened his mouth, said nothing more, and withdrew from the bedroom, closing the door. The night was deep. It was exactly midnight. Zhang Yuanqing bought a pack of cigarettes at a 24-hour convenience store, and the two non-smokers walked along the empty, silent street, taking a puff and blowing it out. Rarely had Zhang Yuanqing felt the urge to "have a smoke" the way he did now. "If you kill him, by dawn this won't stay hidden. We won't have much time," Zhang Yuanqing said, exhaling a mouthful of smoke he hadn't drawn into his lungs. Kou Beiyue was full of fight, his face no longer gloomy. "Then let's go to the Bronze Sparrow Tower now, kill that Master Wu, and get the women out." "Foolish!" Zhang Yuanqing snorted coldly. "Kill him, and Chi Yue'an will kowtow in thanks. What we need to do is bring down a Deacon. Ugh—if only it were just him. But this is a very serious matter, and too many people are involved. "We don't know whether, besides Chi Yue'an, other Deacons or official walkers are involved. This is going to be a mess to handle." Kou Beiyue thought for a moment. "Then what about reporting it?" "Reporting?" Zhang Yuanqing considered it. "If we go through official channels, a report needs evidence—at least some evidence in hand—before an Elder will take it up. "As for the others, don't forget that some wealthy and powerful figures are involved too. They're not under the Five Elements Alliance's authority; the Alliance only governs Spirit Realm walkers. You don't know how much the higher-ups frown on the Alliance overstepping into 'secular' affairs. "Also, this kind of case can only be reported under a real name. Anonymous reports mostly get buried, because too many people are implicated. But a real-name report exposes us, which puts us at a serious disadvantage." Kou Beiyue was unconcerned. "We go to the Bronze Sparrow Tower now and find the evidence. What's there to be afraid of? When a man's dead, he's dead—a dead man's balls point at the sky. I've fought for my life in dungeons; I've been carrying my head at my waist for a long time." Then it belatedly registered, and he glanced at Zhang Yuanqing. "Then you stay out of it. My reputation's already in ruins anyway—my parents disowned me, Xiao Yuan doesn't want me. If I die, it's all over." Zhang Yuanqing looked back at him. "If it were me two months ago, I'd probably chicken out and keep my head down. But now... I'm an orthodox profession. Even you, an evil profession, know to root out evil and promote good. If I chickened out, how could I justify a fifty-thousand-a-month salary?" "Besides..." He flashed an utterly wild grin. "I've got superpowers now. Why should I keep putting up with this bullshit and these beasts of men?"