Aftermath

Lin Xiaowei, Zhang Qing, and Ye Yuhe looked completely deflated, drooping like frost-bitten eggplants. Xia Wuyuan had no choice but to redirect their focus. "Let's find a way to save the people first." Seeing that the situation had spiraled out of control, Ou Zhengyang, Chairman of Yulong International, lost every shred of his earlier arrogance. He quietly tried to slip out of the room. "Did I say you could leave?" Yaoguang flicked up a severed piece of an expandable baton from the floor with his foot, then kicked it forward with pinpoint accuracy. *Whoosh!* Power erupted! A shrill whistle tore through the air! Ou Zhengyang, who had just turned to sneak out of the office, had his calf completely impaled by the broken baton. Screaming in agony, he collapsed face-first onto the floor. "Where is the 'cargo' that General Manager You spoke of?" Yaoguang asked, stepping toward him. "I... I don't know! I only handle operations..." Cold sweat poured down Ou Zhengyang's forehead, his face pale as paper. "Young Master Su... our Ou family in Shanlong has plenty of business dealings with the Su family in logistics. For the sake of our families being business partners... spare me..." "I'll ask once more. Where is the 'cargo'?" Yaoguang raised his sword, pointing the tip directly at Ou Zhengyang's head. "Su Yaoguang, stop killing people!" Lin Xiaowei shouted in a panic. "I don't kill humans. I kill demons," Yaoguang said. A moment later, he looked down at Ou Zhengyang with an impassive face. "Demons living among humanity." That look... It sent an instant shiver through Ou Zhengyang, a terror unlike anything he had ever felt washing over him. He realized that if he did not speak, this lunatic Third Young Master Su... Would truly slaughter him. "I don't know! I really don't know!" he cried desperately. "You Long handled all of it... I never asked questions! I only... only received three portions of divine blood every year..." "Divine blood?!" Xia Wuyuan's head snapped up. "What is divine blood?" Lin Xiaowei could not help asking. "A specialized drug that can only be extracted from human bodies. It is said to prolong life, and if consumed in large quantities, it can preserve youth indefinitely." A look of grim solemnity flickered in Xia Wuyuan's eyes. "As far back as ten years ago, this substance was strictly banned by the World Health Organization." "Then you are useless..." Yaoguang paid no heed to the exchange between Xia Wuyuan and Lin Xiaowei, simply raising the sword in his hand. "Basement four!" Ou Zhengyang screamed at the top of his lungs. "Basement four! All their illicit operations are handled on the fourth basement level! If there really is 'cargo,' it has to be down there! Swipe a keycard in Elevator Number Six and it takes you straight down!" Upon hearing this, Yaoguang turned to Lin Xiaowei, Xia Wuyuan, and the others. "What are you staring for? Take the card and go down to save them." Snapping back to their senses, Xia Wuyuan, Lin Xiaowei, and the rest quickly hurried over to You Long's corpse, swiftly retrieving a card from his person. The pair rushed toward the exit. Yet just before stepping out of the room, Lin Xiaowei paused. She said to Xia Wuyuan, "I'm staying." Xia Wuyuan looked at her, his peripheral vision sweeping over Yaoguang. "It's pointless. If he really is..." He hesitated, leaving the sentence unfinished, and skipped ahead. "You'll only throw your life away for nothing." "What if all along, he was forced to kill just to investigate this 'divine blood' affair?" Lin Xiaowei said. Xia Wuyuan understood why she said that. On one hand, the Lin and Su families shared a measure of goodwill, and Lin Xiaowei and Su Yaoyu were genuine friends. On the other hand... Su Yaoguang's background was simply too sensitive. Unless there was incontrovertible proof, the Su family's legal team had countless ways to extricate him from this incident. Even though they had witnessed Su Yaoguang kill You Long with their own eyes, it could easily be spun as fighting valiantly against dangerous criminals. Far from bringing him to justice, the Security Department might even end up awarding him a commemorative banner. "Be careful," Xia Wuyuan said, quickly departing with Ye Yuhe, Zhang Qing, and the others. Time was running out. Just as Yaoguang had said, every second wasted could cost lives; they could not afford to tarry for even a moment. Xia Wuyuan and his companions left in haste, not daring to call for local backup. From Ou Zhengyang's remarks earlier, it was easy to deduce that the Shanlong City Security Department was already in league with Yulong International and could not be trusted. If they wanted reinforcements, they could only request them from Yunmeng City, and it would likely take over an hour for those officers to arrive. "If you turn yourselves in honestly, you might still earn leniency by confessing. Otherwise..." Lin Xiaowei turned her gaze to Jiang Feng and the few pale-faced security guards remaining in the room. "We confess! We turn ourselves in!" "We were wrong! We shouldn't have helped evil flourish!" Before she could even finish, the men clamored to speak, seemingly terrified that lagging in their surrender would lead them down the same path as their fallen colleagues. Yaoguang ignored Lin Xiaowei as she locked the men in the opposite room to await trial, choosing instead to crouch down beside Ou Zhengyang. "Young... Young Master Su, I've told you everything I know. Could you call an ambulance for me... Your father, Su Huaifeng, and I even shared drinks in the past..." Fine beads of sweat covered Ou Zhengyang's forehead, though whether from agonizing pain or sheer terror remained unclear. "Shared drinks? You didn't hesitate for half a second when ordering your men to deal with me," Yaoguang remarked. "They would have exercised restraint! They would never have truly harmed you, Young Master Su..." Ou Zhengyang scrambled to explain. "Tell me. Who was You Long's superior?" Yaoguang said calmly. "I know there is someone above him." Ou Zhengyang's pupils contracted. Yet very quickly, he spoke with absolute certainty: "There isn't anyone! You Long was the mastermind behind all of this! God knows where they acquired the technology to refine divine blood, merely leasing space from Yulong International..." He hastily steered the topic to profess his innocence. "At the start, we had no idea they were involved in such unlawful operations! If we'd known, not in a hundred lifetimes would we have dared let them set up shop! Holding a treasure bowl like Yulong International, why would we risk prison? We boarded their pirate ship completely unwittingly..." "Sounds like a major figure your Ou family cannot afford to offend," Yaoguang said. "I don't know what you're talking about! I broke the law, and I accept the penalty!" Ou Zhengyang immediately turned toward Lin Xiaowei, who was returning from the doorway, and shouted, "Inspector Lin, I surrender! Whatever sentence my crimes call for, however many years behind bars, I'll take it! It's what I deserve..." "A few years behind bars?" Yaoguang rested his blade horizontally across Ou Zhengyang's throat. Having just secured Jiang Feng and the others, Lin Xiaowei seemed to realize what was about to happen and rushed over in alarm. "Su Yaoguang, stop!" The icy steel pushed the terror in Ou Zhengyang's eyes past every limit. He thrashed violently, shouting, "Inspector Lin, save me—" *Shriek!* Before he could finish, Chengying slashed across, slicing through his throat. Blood erupted outward. Ou Zhengyang's eyes bulged as his hands clamped frantically around his neck, as though doing so could stem the gush of blood and slow the draining of his life. "Don't!" Running up, Lin Xiaowei cried out with a trembling voice, but she could only watch helplessly as Ou Zhengyang's struggles grew weaker and weaker. She whipped her head toward Yaoguang. He had just taken a life, yet Su Yaoguang looked as if nothing had happened at all. Such cold-blooded detachment... Left her in utter disbelief and sent a profound chill down her spine. Yaoguang wiped Chengying against the expensive suit Ou Zhengyang wore, then stood up. "You will testify that he was killed while mounting a desperate resistance despite incontrovertible evidence, right?" he asked. "You... you..." Lin Xiaowei stared at him, her chest heaving violently. "Or do you truly believe that with his status and influence, legal sanctions would keep him in prison for long? Five years? Three years? One year? Or perhaps a suspended sentence that amounts to no time served at all?" Yaoguang straightened his posture. Lin Xiaowei parted her lips, desperate to offer a rebuttal, but in the end... She could not utter a single word. "Leave it at that. You can handle the rest as you see fit," Yaoguang said, turning toward the doorway. "Wait." Lin Xiaowei watched him. "Over this recent period, many Martial Masters were murdered one after another... Did you... did you kill them?" "I haven't killed any humans," Yaoguang said calmly. Lin Xiaowei stared speechlessly at the floor covered in corpses. *How can you say that with a straight face?* Yaoguang seemed to realize that such phrasing was somewhat ill-timed under the present circumstances, so he offered a different formulation: "Those I kill aren't worthy of being human." "Su Yaoguang." Just as he reached the door, Lin Xiaowei called out once more. She took a deep breath. "For now, I will believe that you don't slaughter the innocent. Given your background, there's no reason to lie to me. But I hope... if something like this happens in the future, you will inform us..." "Inform you?" Yaoguang said indifferently, "Just like earlier, would you have been able to extract useful information from Ou Zhengyang? By the time you dragged it out of him, those dozens of people would have already been slaughtered and every trace erased. What would you even have been able to investigate by then?" At those words, Lin Xiaowei fell silent once more. "My words were a bit harsh. In truth, it's merely your position that restricts your actions." Yaoguang shook his head. "Enough. I'll leave the aftermath to you." With that, he turned and walked away.