Kidnapping

"Last night..." Xie Lingxi sat down on the sofa by the floor-to-ceiling window, took the phone, and asked, "Does this have to do with the Xiahou family?" The female assistant shook her head. "It has to do with Yuanshi Tianzun." Hearing that, Xie Lingxi grew even more interested and urged, "What is it? Tell me!" "I heard from an official walker that while the Kangyang District official squad was hunting down a fugitive from the Spirit Society, they were ambushed. Supposedly, the enemies were four level 3 evil professions, which threw the squad into dire straits. In the end, it was your friend, Yuanshi Tianzun, who wiped out the Spirit Society's Witch Doctors all on his own." "He killed four level 3 Witch Doctors? Really?" Xie Lingxi's mouth fell slightly agape, her delicate face blank with shock. *Is Brother Yuanshi really that strong?* "I can't confirm whether it's true or false. I heard the Centurion of Kangyang District gave orders not to disclose the details of last night," the female assistant said, shaking her head. She had gotten the news from a female walker she was on good terms with. It was no secret and had already spread within certain small circles of female walkers. As for whether there was any exaggeration, the assistant had no way of verifying. After all, even regular official walkers on the ground might not know the full picture. Besides, it was not critical classified intelligence she had to dig up, so she had not probed any deeper. She had only brought it up so the young miss could stay informed about the Five Elements Alliance and her friend's movements. *He can't possibly be that strong. No, he cleared an S-rank Spirit Realm with the highest rating—it's entirely possible he got some powerful consumable or item... An item is also part of one's strength. Brother Yuanshi has enormous potential. If I get the chance, I definitely have to introduce him to Dad...* Thoughts whirled through Xie Lingxi's mind, and a sweet smile blossomed across her face. "Heh, compared to him, Xiahou Tianyuan is like a sinister rat. You can step out now. I'm going to call Brother Yuanshi and console him—after all, he was bullied by Xiahou Tianyuan." The female assistant was flabbergasted. "I don't think Xiahou Tianyuan could bully him, could he?" "What do you know!" Xie Lingxi rolled her eyes. *** At eight-thirty in the morning, Zhang Yuanqing arrived at the office with his backpack slung over his shoulders. Li Dongze's shoulder was heavily bandaged and swollen. Leaning on his walking cane with one hand, he looked at Zhang Yuanqing coming up the stairs and could not help asking, "You come to the office every single day. Don't you have classes?" Zhang Yuanqing replied with righteous indignation, "How could I let my studies get in the way of shining bright and serving the organization? But Decurion, since you brought it up, I actually wanted to ask: a person's energy is limited, so I don't really want to keep studying. "Does the Five Elements Alliance have a way for me to skip classes and still get my graduation diploma?" Sitting by her desk eating a simple breakfast, Guan Ya chimed in upon hearing this, "Sure. That way, everyone will know Yuanshi Tianzun is a student at Songhai University." Li Dongze patted his subordinate's shoulder, saying with gratification, "Your desire to shine bright and serve the organization is commendable, but don't neglect your studies. After all, you're not a Fire Master who can clear dungeons even after throwing their brain away." *Decurion, you're dissing Fire Masters again!* Zhang Yuanqing chimed in, "Alright, Decurion has a point. Scouts are truly the most badass profession." Li Dongze beamed happily and patted his trusted subordinate on the shoulder. "I'll prepare a case of cola for you. Whenever you want one, just grab it from my office. Alright, down to business..." His gaze swept past Guan Ya and Wang Tai as he announced, "I need to recuperate for a while. While I'm away, someone will take my place. Guan Ya, Yuanshi, assist the acting Decurion properly in hunting down Hei Wuchang. They will report for duty the day after tomorrow." *Huh? The Decurion is leaving?* Zhang Yuanqing was startled. Then he realized: Li Dongze's shoulder had been pierced clean through by Spider Woman, and he had not been treated with Life Essence. Scouts possessed no healing skills, nor did they have the self-healing ability of a Night Wanderer. With an injury like that, he truly did need to rest for a period. "Decurion, who's the new Decurion?" Zhang Yuanqing asked curiously. "Acting! An *acting* Decurion!" Li Dongze emphasized. He did not elaborate further, simply leaving behind, "You'll know once you meet them. I hope you get along well with them." Leaning on his cane with one hand, he left the second floor. The moment Li Dongze was gone, Zhang Yuanqing immediately dragged a chair over to sit next to Guan Ya. Looking at her exquisite, well-defined profile, he asked conspiratorially, "Is the incoming Decurion one of those squad members who never showed up?" She wore an expensive perfume that smelled richly fragrant without being overpowering. Guan Ya hummed in confirmation and smiled. "Last night's battle left quite a few people bedridden, leading to a personnel shortage. Fu Qingyang plans to bring back the two guys from Squad Two who've been idling on nominal duty." "The Decurion didn't seem too fond of them?" Zhang Yuanqing finally voiced the question he had wondered about for so long. "If you were leading a bunch of disobedient subordinates whom you couldn't beat in a fight and couldn't even scold, you wouldn't like them either." "Is the Decurion that weak?" Guan Ya shot him a sidelong glance, the corners of her lip-glossed mouth curving up. "What on earth gave you the illusion that the Decurion is strong? The Decurion's combat power has always ranked second to last in Squad Two—the dead last being Wang Tai. When it comes to physical combat, even I can crush the Decurion, let alone those two guys. Then you arrived, and he was still second to last." Zhang Yuanqing was left speechless, feeling a pang of sympathy for Li Dongze. After teasing Li Dongze, Guan Ya turned serious. "I have to warn you. Of those two, one is a Fire Master—he despises evil like an enemy, behaves impulsively with a fiery temper, and cannot tolerate a speck of sand in his eye. You can't leer at my ass anymore, or you'll get beaten up." "Sister Guan Ya, don't frame me. When have I ever leered at your ass?" "You haven't?" "I clearly stare at your chest." Guan Ya rolled her eyes at him and continued, "The other is a Water Ghost. He has a very bizarre temperament and is difficult to get along with. The Decurion was infuriated by him to the point of vomiting blood several times—well, figuratively speaking. Still, he's very upright and likes upright people. "Most importantly, both of them come from extraordinary backgrounds. Building good rapport with them will do you a lot of good." Zhang Yuanqing adopted an attentive posture, ready to hear more. "One of them is the child of a higher-up in the Scarlet Fire Gang, a level 3 Fire Master. The other doesn't have much of a background, but he's a level 4 Saint stage." Guan Ya listed their details as if counting family treasures. As she spoke, she opened a drawer, took out a notepad, turned her back, and verified the notes before nodding. "Yep, my memory serves me right. That's basically it." Zhang Yuanqing caught a quick glimpse and vaguely made out: *Yuanshi Tianzun, Scorpio male, zodiac traits: dark-minded, holds grudges, high sex dr... Note: Extremely high probability of being seduced by women from other organizations...* *This damn woman...* He ground his teeth. Just then, the phone in his pocket rang. Zhang Yuanqing pulled it out to check. *Xie Lingxi?* Zhang Yuanqing quietly slipped into the restroom. *** Suburbs of Songhai. Wearing a peaked cap and a mask, hands in his pockets, Wang Qian walked briskly along the uneven sidewalk. Compared to the city center, the suburbs had much more dilapidated infrastructure. The roadway tilted left and right due to subsidence, and the sidewalk was pitted and bumpy, strewn with cracked paving bricks. Furthermore, since there was nowhere left to demolish in the city proper, real estate developers had bought land here to build houses. Construction sites were everywhere, making the area look increasingly chaotic. For Wang Qian, however, the more chaotic the place, the easier it was to hide. He traversed a long stretch of sidewalk, crossed a construction site, and arrived outside a low, run-down single-story brick house. *Thump, thump, thump.* He knocked on the door in a distinct rhythm and said in a low voice, "It's me, Wang Qian." The door opened. A chubby, round middle-aged man with an afro, a beer belly, and a tattered overcoat poked his head out. After glancing left and right, he pulled Wang Qian inside. The room was a messy sty, with beer cans, dirty clothes, and takeout containers strewn everywhere. Besides the plump man, two other people were in the room. One was a hot girl in jeans and a black tube top, a cigarette dangling from her lips as she sat before the television playing video games. The other was a pale young man wearing over-ear headphones, lying on the sofa listening to music. "Why are you here?" The plump man scratched his afro, which had clearly not been washed in ages, and said in a heavy voice, "It's a critical period. Don't wander around... What happened to you?" He suddenly sensed something was wrong. Wang Qian's eyes were bloodshot, his face was ashen, and a thick malice hung between his brows. "Boss..." Wang Qian gritted his teeth and said, "My sister's been kidnapped." The hot girl playing video games set down her controller, and the young man on the sofa opened his eyes. Mad Love Great Sage frowned. "How do you know?" Wang Qian took a deep breath to steady his emotions. "I wanted to contact my family today, so I went out of my way to call from a neighboring district. My mom told me that my sister was kidnapped. It has to be the Xiahou family's doing! Otherwise, out of the blue, who would kidnap my sister?" "Doing that could get you tracked and pinpointed!" Mad Love Great Sage roared in anger. "If I hadn't called home, I still wouldn't know my sister was in trouble!" Wang Qian shouted back, his eyes rimmed red. The hot girl slammed her controller onto the floor, cursed, and snarled, "The Xiahou family isn't playing by the rules. I'm done holding back! Let the Palace Master rally the brothers—at worst, we'll take them down with us in mutual destruction!" The young man wearing headphones sneered, "Stupid. Why drag ourselves down with them? Since they dare lay a hand on Wang Qian's family, our families are in danger too. In that case, we might as well abandon our families altogether. From now on, we exclusively hunt down members of the Xiahou clan until their entire bloodline is wiped out. Who's afraid of whom?" Mad Love Great Sage glared at him. "Tiandiburen, I don't think your 'orphan strategy' will work. It's too extreme." "To stop killing with killing, to stop war with war—that has always been the tenet of the Palace of Halting Slaughter," the young man countered. For a moment, Mad Love Great Sage had no retort. He could only say helplessly, "The Palace Master has her own plans. Since she told us to lie low, we lie low and don't ruin her business. Things haven't reached that point yet. Let me think of a way..." Silence fell over the room. A dozen seconds later, Mad Love Great Sage's eyes lit up. "We shouldn't be the ones stepping in for this. The Xiahou family broke the rules by kidnapping an ordinary person, so we should go to the official organization." The hot girl cursed again and said irritably, "Go to who? Who can help Wang Qian? The Five Elements Alliance is blatantly biased toward the Xiahou family! Hell, plenty of them belong to the Xiahou faction! Looking to the officials is worse than looking to a dog!" Mad Love Great Sage turned toward Wang Qian. "Don't you know Yuanshi Tianzun from Kangyang District's Squad Two? Try reaching out to him."