"A missing persons case?"
Fu Qingyang had left the killing trial two days later than Zhang Yuanqing. Afterward, occupied with the handovers following his promotion and reassignment, as well as personnel arrangements, he hadn't followed the case.
Hearing that it involved "Lust Divine General," however, his tone grew grave, and he asked bluntly:
"Give me your location."
"Sijiaochang Community, front entrance, inside Li Dongze's business van." The moment Zhang Yuanqing finished speaking, the line went dead.
Setting down his phone, Zhang Yuanqing leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes to rest, his brows furrowed tightly as he suppressed the surging anger in his chest. Li Dongze leaned on his cane, staring out at the brightly lit street, waiting in silence.
The atmosphere in the van was somewhat oppressive.
After half a minute, Li Dongze suddenly asked, "Yuanshi, what did you see in the target's memories?"
Zhang Yuanqing opened his eyes, not understanding the Decurion's point. "Everything I saw, I already told you."
Li Dongze nodded, leaning on his cane as he scrutinized him. "If that was all, why would it make you this furious? I'm not saying this doesn't warrant anger, but you should be steadier than this."
Zhang Yuanqing pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Decurion, now isn't the time to lecture me. Any normal person would be enraged seeing this sort of thing. When we handled the Tongque Tower case, I was even angrier than I am now."
"This isn't a lecture!" Li Dongze shook his head, looking dead serious. "It's precisely because you dealt with the Tongque Tower case that you should be steadier and more mature. Yuanshi, though you haven't been a Spirit Realm walker for long, you've survived more life-and-death crises than I have. Having been through so much, why have you become more extreme instead?"
"More extreme?" Zhang Yuanqing asked in surprise. "Decurion, what do you mean by that?"
Li Dongze phrased his words carefully. "Do you remember when we investigated Lei Yibing's disappearance, Guan Ya was the one who searched your room?"
Zhang Yuanqing nodded. "I even remember warning her not to look at my browser history. Who knows if she actually listened."
Li Dongze said, "Her assessment of you back then was that while you appeared cheerful and optimistic on the surface, deep down you were brooding and calculated, someone who disliked socializing."
Zhang Yuanqing paused, thinking to himself: *So that's how that woman saw me back then.*
Li Dongze continued, "Deep-minded, precocious, tactful, possessed of a sense of justice, exceptionally adept at navigating human relations, with your own understanding of society and human nature... That was my evaluation of you. As a Scout, I pride myself on reading people accurately. In my judgment, when faced with a case like this, you should have responded with calm composure.
"Yet today, your emotions, your expression, your eyes—they all tell me that you are consumed by extreme rage, impatient to slaughter Lust Divine General. I've noticed that far from maturing, you've actually become more extreme than before.
"I haven't worked with you in a while, so comparing you then to you now makes the difference glaringly obvious."
Zhang Yuanqing's brows knitted tightly at the critique.
He hadn't felt anything off about himself, but the Decurion was a Scout; he wouldn't shoot arrows without a target.
"But Guan Ya and the Centurion never mentioned anything like that to me," Zhang Yuanqing said.
Li Dongze shook his head. "Insight requires an observable phenomenon to be perceived. Under normal circumstances, a person's emotions and temperament remain concealed. If they aren't shown, how could anyone observe them? Had it not been for tonight's case, even I wouldn't have noticed the change in you.
"I told you before that many Night Wanderers see their minds gradually warp as they clear solo trials. Furthermore, the drawbacks of many props can alter one's personality bit by bit. You have so many props—perhaps one of them has been influencing you without your knowledge.
"Yuanshi, perhaps you should go to Tang Hospital and have Deacon Sun evaluate you for psychological issues."
*But none of my props have drawbacks that make someone extreme,* Zhang Yuanqing thought, taking the Decurion's advice to heart as he mentally reviewed each of his props. He couldn't find a single match.
Instead, it brought to mind something he had almost forgotten—Heavenly King Demonic Eye's curse!
*No way, no way. Demonic Eye's curse felt more like hot air. Elder Gou checked me and confirmed I wasn't cursed. Besides, even if there really was a curse, I've used the divine power of the sun so many times since then—it would've been purified long ago.*
Just then, a light tap sounded against the car window.
Zhang Yuanqing and Li Dongze turned their heads in unison. Through the glass, they saw a tall, straight figure dressed in a white suit standing beside the vehicle, having arrived unnoticed.
Li Dongze opened the door at once. "Elder Fu, so fast?"
Fu Qingyang slipped into the cabin and took Li Dongze's seat, while the latter had already tactfully relocated to the rear.
"After advancing to Dominator, I can fly on a sword," Fu Qingyang explained simply. Turning his head, his bright, profound eyes locked onto Zhang Yuanqing. "Tell me about the case."
Li Dongze briefly recounted the background of the missing persons case, and Zhang Yuanqing reiterated the intelligence he had gathered from spirit questioning.
Having heard them out, Fu Qingyang reached his conclusion and said, "Head to the bar and rescue the victims. Lust Divine General has likely evacuated by now."
Zhang Yuanqing said thoughtfully, "Because of that pupa?"
Fu Qingyang nodded. "As the number of missing persons continued to climb, the case was bound to attract official attention and investigation, meaning whoever was tasked with procuring prey had a high probability of being exposed.
"Therefore, the pupa that Lust Divine General made him swallow most likely possesses the ability to monitor the host's status. Once the host dies, he senses it immediately."
Li Dongze said with regret, "My oversight. We should have played the long game to catch the bigger fish."
Fu Qingyang replied indifferently, "The outcome would not have differed. Lust Divine General's survival to this day proves he is sufficiently cautious and experienced. The pupa was not his only precaution.
"Playing the long game would have achieved little."
Zhang Yuanqing promptly gave the bar's address to the driver. The business van sped through streets bathed in downy-yellow lamplight, getting on and off the elevated expressway twice. After half an hour, it finally arrived at the bar street from the memory fragments.
At the deepest end of the street hung the colorful neon sign of the bar. Inside, the lights were blazing, yet it was completely deserted, a lock hanging on the glass doors.
Just as Fu Qingyang had deduced, Lust Divine General had already evacuated.
"Kuangqing Bar..."
Zhang Yuanqing looked up at the sign flashing with vibrant colors. The bar's name shone brightly in the dark night.
The three stepped out of the vehicle. Fu Qingyang pressed two fingers against his forehead, and a pale white halo rippled outward, spreading in all directions.
He turned his head toward Zhang Yuanqing and nodded.
Zhang Yuanqing still wasn't completely at ease. He retrieved his compact mirror and checked his physiognomy; seeing no signs of misfortune, he strode up to the locked glass doors and lashed out with a kick.
With a resounding crash, the tempered glass doors shattered into pieces, sending glass shards scattering like a blizzard.
The three entered the bar. Unfinished drinks remained on table after table; one could easily imagine how crowded it had been before their arrival.
Passing through the outer lounge, they followed a corridor deeper inside. At the end of the passage stood a pair of double iron doors twice the height of a man.
Just as Zhang Yuanqing moved to push them open, Fu Qingyang said in a low voice, "The doors are poisoned!"
*Poisoned? Colorless and odorless?* Zhang Yuanqing scrutinized the iron doors but noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Yet Fu Qingyang wouldn't lie to him.
Taking two steps back, he kicked directly between the double doors.
*Bang!*
The lock was forced open with violent impact, followed immediately by shrill screams from within.
Past the doors lay an extremely spacious hall. At its center was a swimming pool, flanked by long tables draped in white cloths laden with fruits and food.
To the left of the pool was a waterbed four meters long and two meters wide.
Everything matched what Zhang Yuanqing had seen in the scarred man's memory fragments.
Women in swimwear stood scattered about—some by the banquet tables, some in the pool—all looking toward the entrance in terror.
"Who are you people?"
A mature woman near the entrance summoned her courage and snapped, "Daring to intrude upon Master's pool of indulgence is a capital offense!"
*They're all still alive.* Zhang Yuanqing let out a silent breath, but he immediately caught the woman's bizarre wording and frowned. "Master? Do you even remember who you are?"
The mature, seductive woman held her head high at once, declaring proudly, "I am Xu Jiao, Master's slave. This is where we attend to Master. You barged in without permission—are you looking to die?"
The other women said nothing, staring with eyes full of fear mixed with hostility.
"They've been bewitched; their cognition has been corrupted. Given Lust Divine General's level, the damage is irreversible. They will never forget their identities as slaves," Fu Qingyang said in a low voice.
"There's no way to undo it?" Zhang Yuanqing's heart sank.
"An ordinary person's mind is far too fragile." Fu Qingyang walked over to a table, picked up a plate, and smashed it onto the floor. "Some things are simple to shatter, but you can never restore them to how they were."
Lust Divine General hadn't killed them, but this was far more vicious than slaughter.
Even if these victims were rescued, they could never return to normal. The rest of their lives were ruined.
Zhang Yuanqing felt none of the joy of saving lives, only a crushing weight on his chest.
Fu Qingyang added, "Restoring them to normal is impossible, but there is a way to suppress the bewitchment's effects so they can continue living like normal people."
Under his subordinate's suddenly brightening gaze, Fu Qingyang said, "A Musician's hypnosis—fighting poison with poison."
*Using hypnosis to forcefully rewrite their warped perceptions, keeping them immersed in hypnosis for the rest of their lives?* Zhang Yuanqing smiled bitterly. It was indeed fighting poison with poison.
Keeping Lizhi, the missing member from the Palace of Halting Slaughter, in mind, he scanned the crowd, yet none of the women matched the pretty girl from the memory fragments.
In the end, Zhang Yuanqing found Lizhi on the colossal waterbed. The waterbed was soft, and covered under the duvet, her sunken form made it hard to notice anyone lying there without looking closely.
Zhang Yuanqing pulled back the blanket. The first thing he saw was a pale face with wide, staring eyes and dead, hollow pupils, her pretty features contorted in anguish.
His hand froze for a beat before he slowly peeled back a bit more of the blanket, revealing her naked upper body. Her fair skin was covered in bruises—she had clearly suffered torment and humiliation prior to death.
He didn't pull the blanket any further down. Letting go of the duvet, he gently stroked the face that had lost its former beauty and closed her eyes.
A woman in swimwear standing beside the waterbed said, "She refused to obey Master's orders and offended Master, so Master granted her death."
When she said this, she seemed completely unaware of anything wrong, as though it were only right for Master to hold dominion over their lives and deaths.
Li Dongze leaned on his cane and walked over to the bed, frowning. "Lust Divine General killed her?"
"She was from the Palace of Halting Slaughter, an orthodox profession," Zhang Yuanqing said.
Understanding dawned on Li Dongze. Lust Divine General hadn't spared the other women out of mercy, but because Morality Points wouldn't allow it. Killing a walker of the orthodox faction, on the other hand, wouldn't deduct Morality Points—it would actually boost his Reputation.
Since he couldn't take her with him to enjoy further, why would he let her live upon fleeing?
While the two spoke, Fu Qingyang had already swept through the hall without missing a single detail. Strolling back to the bedside, he instructed:
"Li Dongze, call the Kangyang District Security Bureau and have them handle the cleanup."
With that, he turned and walked out of the hall.
He was going to use his Scout abilities to attempt tracking Lust Divine General.
Zhang Yuanqing sat by the bed, took out his phone, and dialed Mad Love Great Sage's number.
Once the call connected, he gave only the address before hanging up.
Twenty-odd minutes later, hurried footsteps echoed down the outer corridor, followed by a middle-aged man with a potbelly and an afro bursting into the room.
Rushing into the hall, he glanced around anxiously at the crowd before finally looking toward Zhang Yuanqing by the bed. "Yuanshi Tianzun? Where's Lizhi? Where is she?"
Zhang Yuanqing didn't answer, merely shifting his gaze to the thin quilt beside him.
Seeming to understand, Mad Love Great Sage's expression shifted drastically. Striding to the bed, he gripped a corner of the quilt. After a brief hesitation, he prepared to pull it back.
Zhang Yuanqing pressed a hand down on his and shook his head.
Mad Love Great Sage's lips quivered, and the hand clutching the quilt trembled slightly, tightening and loosening by turns. In the end, he peeled back the blanket little by little.
He stopped almost immediately, realizing why Yuanshi Tianzun had tried to stop him.
"Who did it?"
A flash of grief and desolation appeared in Mad Love Great Sage's eyes.
"Soldier Master Sect, Lust Divine General," Zhang Yuanqing said.
"Lust..." Mad Love Great Sage murmured under his breath. After a long moment, he said, "I'm taking Lizhi with me. Thank you!"
He rolled Lizhi's body in the thin quilt, lifted her in his arms, and departed in silence.
***
Fujia Bay, second-floor conference hall.
Fu Qingyang sat at the head of the long conference table, listening to Li Dongze's report.
"The proprietor of Kuangqing Bar is an ordinary person. Bewitched by Heavenly King Demonic Eye, he gifted the bar's usage rights to Demonic Eye, who used it as a venue for the Soldier Master Sect to run a black market.
"Every night's profits from the bar were delivered back to the owner by Demonic Eye's people, a practice that continued until Lust Divine General took over and put an end to it.
"We found no POS terminals, payment QR codes, or electronic payment methods in the bar; the evil classes likely transacted in cash. We did collect quite a few fingerprints, however, which are currently being compared against the fingerprint database...
"On the Security Bureau's end, medical examinations were arranged for the thirty-two rescued women. Unfortunately, no DNA from Lust Divine General was found in their systems; it was likely cleaned up beforehand...
"The women are currently staying in a hotel near the Kangyang District Security Bureau, awaiting hypnosis by a Saint-stage Musician. Their families haven't been notified yet..."
When Li Dongze finished reporting, Fu Qingyang nodded slightly. Looking around at the captains seated at the table, he said:
"Lust Divine General is lecherous by nature. He can hold back for a moment, but not forever. So long as he remains in Songhai, sooner or later he will strike again. Moving forward, instruct the security bureaus of all districts to watch for missing persons reports. The moment anything is discovered, report it immediately; I will oversee this personally."
Hunting down a Saint-stage evil class was a long-term operation; making swift progress in the short term was difficult.
Bailong and the others nodded in agreement.
Fu Qingyang added, "Qingteng, Bailong, Guan Ya—do not go out alone anytime soon. It is best to be accompanied by colleagues whenever entering or leaving. I will post an announcement on the forum shortly to caution all female colleagues in Songhai."
The complexions of the three beauties turned somewhat unsightly. The thought of those captive victims sent a wave of disgust through them.
Compared to enemies who slaughtered people without batting an eye, Lust Divine General's actions disgusted them even more.
***
The next day, 8:30 PM.
On the television, the Songhai Channel was broadcasting a news segment:
"Recently, the Security Bureau busted a rampant criminal ring that forced women into prostitution, rescuing thirty-two female victims. Several fugitives from this organization remain at large in Songhai. We urge women to remain vigilant against approaches by strangers, and we ask all citizens to report any individual who has been out of contact for more than twenty-four hours to the Security Bureau immediately..."
Squatting on the sofa with her arms wrapped around her knees, Jiang Yu'er let out a disgusted "Eww!"
"How gross!
"Mom, starting today I'm not going to work. I'm scared."
Grandma spat, "You just want to slack off! Still, public security in Songhai really is getting worse and worse. First the terrorist attack at Pingtai Hospital, then the massacre at the financial firm, and now some syndicate forcing women into prostitution.
"How about this: from now on, have Yuanjun escort you to and from work."
Grandma was deeply dissatisfied with the state of the world.
"I don't want him; I want Yuanzi to escort me." His young aunt tilted her body and rested her head on her nephew's shoulder.
Zhang Yuanqing gently pushed his aunt away. "I'm heading back to my room."
Staring at his back, his aunt asked blankly, "Mom, did that Guan Ya dump Yuanzi?"
"Nonsense!" Grandma made as if to smack her.
***
In the bedroom, Zhang Yuanqing lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling.
For the immediate future, he actually wasn't worried about Lust Divine General stirring up trouble again. The man would undoubtedly lie low to avoid the heat; even if his urges flared up, he would just hire professional milkers to take care of it.
Over time, however, the embers would flare up once more.
*Lust Divine General hasn't been in Songhai long, yet he's already harmed so many innocent women. He usually operates up north—one can only imagine how many people have fallen victim to his clutches. Absolutely vile. That scoundrel is utterly vile...*
*I need to find a way to eliminate Lust Divine General. Hopefully he hasn't left Songhai yet. Oh right, Xiao Yuan often attends the black markets run by the Soldier Master Sect. I wonder if she has any leads.*
Zhang Yuanqing picked up his phone and sent a message to "Magic Aunt Xiao Yuan":
"Xiao Yuan, can you trace Lust Divine General's whereabouts?"
After sending the message, he waited a long time without receiving a reply.
For some reason, Xiao Yuan had been ignoring him lately.
*Ask my life mentor?* Zhang Yuanqing instinctively tapped on Ling Jun's avatar, only to see a large red exclamation mark, which reminded him that his great mentor had blacklisted him.
*Great, I'll have to figure out a way to appease Ling Jun first.*
*Ding!*
Just then, a text message arrived in his inbox.
Zhang Yuanqing opened it. The sender was an unknown number, and the message contained a single, brief sentence:
"Meet at the old spot!"
Reading just those few words, Zhang Yuanqing knew who was looking for him.
The Palace Master of Halting Slaughter!
This was the first time that crazy woman had contacted him since he cleared the killing trial.
It was likely over Lizhi's death.
Chapter 303