Those Who Obey Me Shall Prosper

Li Banfeng sat in his office, listening to Luo Zhengnan recount what he had seen and heard at Desong Cliff. The situation at Desong Cliff was highly unusual: the battle for the local spirit had escalated into a localized war. From what Luo Zhengnan had observed, multiple gangs and sects from Puluo Province were participating in the fight, including people from the Sanying Sect and the White Crane Gang. Li Banfeng found it hard to understand. "What are they going to Desong Cliff for? What are Shen Jinzhong and Bai Wuchuan thinking? Would the Virtue Cultivators ever carve out a piece of territory for them?" "Seventh Master, you can't blame the two gang leaders for this. I asked a few friends. Several hall masters from the Sanying Sect and the White Crane Gang have close ties with Song Demei, the village chief of Deyuan Village. When Song Demei reached out, those hall masters brought their men over." "Can hall masters take people into a fight without asking their gang leaders?" "Seventh Master, these two factions are simply too large; the leaders can't oversee every little thing. Besides, even if they had asked, the leaders couldn't easily stop them. Operating in the martial world relies entirely on relationships and favors. If they refused to let them go, those two sects wouldn't be able to get by at Desong Cliff in the future!" "Did anyone from the Qingyun Society go?" Luo Zhengnan had sent people to inquire. "No one from the Qingyun Society went. They're under He Jiaqing's command now. He might not be familiar with gang operations yet, so he issued a strict order: anyone who dares get involved in the affairs of Desong Cliff will be punished by gang rules with no leniency." He Jiaqing wasn't unfamiliar with gang rules; he simply saw that something was wrong. "Has the fighting at Desong Cliff been fierce these past two days?" "Since Dr. Critic arrived, the fighting has mostly died down, but it's hard to say how long that will last." What was Critic's purpose in going to Desong Cliff? What benefits had the Peddler promised him? While Li Banfeng was pondering this, Tangyuan suddenly entered the office. "Seventh Master, Lightbulb found Hulu Village." "He didn't go in, did he?" Li Banfeng didn't take it too seriously. Finding Hulu Village was no big deal. Lightbulb didn't have any insurmountable hurdles in his life either; even if he went in, he would be out in half a month at most. "He didn't go in. He used a stealth space tracking device and locked onto Hulu Village!" A stealth space tracking device? The Dark Star Bureau had such good toys? Li Banfeng hadn't even discovered these treasures. *Little Shen, why don't you stay in Hulu Village for a couple more days?* Since the Dark Star Bureau had stealth space tracking devices, why hadn't they deployed them sooner? With something like that, they should have found Hulu Village long ago! If Lightbulb truly locked onto Hulu Village, that was serious trouble. If the Dark Star Bureau lined up and marched into Hulu Village, it wouldn't be as simple as staying there for two weeks—A'yi would probably lock them up for the rest of their lives. Locked up for life or not, did the Dark Star Bureau's affairs really matter that much to him? Li Banfeng rushed to the scene and saw that Guan Zhengyang's car had arrived ahead of him. Li Banfeng felt things were about to go south. Guan Zhengyang had brought over a hundred men, all clad in camouflage gear and protective face masks, currently conducting pre-battle deployments. Li Banfeng asked Tangyuan, "Who are these people?" Tangyuan lowered her voice. "This is the Dark Star Special Operations Team, a special unit personally overseen by Director Guan. Their weapons, equipment, and combat capabilities are all top-notch." Back then, Guan Zhengyang had been in charge of the Dark Energy Research Lab. After the lab was dissolved, along came a special operations team. The man really loved to stir up new projects. Lightbulb was standing in front of an RV. Seeing Li Banfeng arrive, he hurried over to report on the situation. Mingxing followed right behind, chiming in now and then. "Bureau Chief Li, while on patrol, I noticed something anomalous at No. 21 Wenyu Road—namely, that hair salon over there. I was operating Tracker No. 6 at the time. Confronted with the anomaly, I immediately activated the device and locked onto the entrance to Hulu Village..." Mingxing chimed in from the side, "Tracker No. 6 is the bureau's most advanced sixth-generation stealth space equipment. Today, the two of us were tasked with escorting it." Lightbulb rolled his eyes at Mingxing, produced a notebook, and handed it to Li Banfeng. "I've recorded the time, location, and detailed circumstances of the incident. Please take a look." Mingxing added, "The moment the incident occurred, we immediately evacuated the surrounding residents and cordoned off Wenyu Road." Lightbulb, pushed past his limit, glared at Mingxing. "What are you playing at?" Mingxing blinked. "I'm just stating the facts." "Can you stop muddying the waters every single time? Haven't you used this cheap trick enough? Doesn't it sicken you?" Mingxing shrugged. "I don't know what you mean." "I was the only one who spotted the entrance to Hulu Village! You weren't even in the vehicle at the time! Why are you trying to latch onto my credit?" Mingxing fell silent. The rest of the team chuckled under their breath. Whenever credit was to be had, he would jump in to leach a share. By blurring critical details so leadership couldn't tell whose achievement it really was, Mingxing could at least walk away with the title of participant—or, with any luck, key participant. This was Mingxing's go-to tactic, something everyone on the security squad knew full well. Li Banfeng glanced over Lightbulb's notes. In truth, Lightbulb's credit had also come down to pure dumb luck. This so-called stealth space tracking device couldn't actively track stealth spaces on its own. Its working principle was that once a stealth space was spotted, it could lock onto the entrance and establish a conduit to enter. Hulu Village appeared and vanished without a trace; spotting its entrance was purely accidental. If one spotted the entrance and only then called for the tracking device, the entrance would have vanished long ago, leaving the tracker unable to find Hulu Village's location. The device could only work if it happened to be right in the vicinity at the exact moment Hulu Village appeared, but the odds of that were infinitesimally small. Yet despite those minuscule odds, Lightbulb had managed to stumble into it. Lightbulb and Mingxing's mission had been to deliver the tracking device to Mijian for her to direct and deploy. Unbeknownst to anyone, while en route, Mingxing had gone off to buy drinks, and Lightbulb rolled down the window to smoke. Poking his head out, he saw two pretty young women standing in front of the hair salon. Lightbulb described the scene to Li Banfeng in detail: "Those two ladies had hourglass figures and were extraordinarily pretty. They waved at me, calling out, 'Dong Xiaoning, come play with us!' "How could I possibly go to a place like that? I was on duty! I hadn't planned on paying them any mind, but then, those two ladies suddenly vanished! "I realized something was off. This was remarkably similar to the signs of Hulu Village appearing. I immediately fired up the tracking device. The new model takes only sixteen seconds to boot up, and the moment it came online, it displayed a successful lock." Mingxing added from the side, "I was back in under a minute." Lightbulb waved his hand dismissively. "Missed it is missed it. Shamelessly freeloading won't change that. Bureau Chief Li, Hulu Village is currently locked under our control. As long as we open the tracker's entrance, we can head straight into Hulu Village." Before Li Banfeng could even see what the tracking device looked like, Guan Zhengyang stepped forward with his men and took over the equipment. "Director Guan, what is the meaning of this?" "Bureau Chief Li, I have already reported to high command. This mission is being handed over to the Special Operations Team; the Dark Star Bureau doesn't need to meddle any further. I heard the briefings from these two young fellows. Though it was a blind cat running into a dead mouse, it still counts as an achievement for your bureau. You certainly won't miss out on the commendations you deserve." "Director Guan, I didn't hear you clearly!" Li Banfeng tapped the projector. "I am taking over this operation! Did you understand me?" Guan Zhengyang repeated. Li Banfeng ordered all Dark Star Bureau personnel to pull back. With a single bark of command from Guan Zhengyang, more than a hundred Special Operations Team members boarded the RV. How large could an RV be to hold over a hundred people? In truth, none of the people boarding the RV lingered inside; they stepped straight through the vector conduit into the locked stealth space. Fearing that Li Banfeng might be angry, Lightbulb whispered, "Bureau Chief Li, let's not stoop to his level. When it comes to fighting, keeping out of it might not be a bad thing." Li Banfeng wasn't angry. He was pondering something: had what Lightbulb seen really been Hulu Village? The greeters who came out of Hulu Village generally didn't know a guest's name. The only reason they had known the name Li Qi was that Zhuizi had leaked it to them. "Dong Xiaoning, come play with us!"—that line alone did not fit the rules of Hulu Village. As he pondered, all hundred-plus members of the Special Operations Team had entered the stealth space. Li Banfeng asked Tangyuan, "Who called Guan Zhengyang here?" "Who else?" Tangyuan glanced toward Deputy Bureau Chief Wang, gritting her teeth. "Only that shameless brownnoser!" Wearing a headset and watching the surveillance feeds, Guan Zhengyang struck the imposing posture of an overall commander. The operatives communicated solely with him and took orders from him alone. Fifteen minutes later, communication with the Special Operations Team was severed. Guan Zhengyang's expression grew slightly awkward, but he could still offer a reasonable explanation. If Hulu Village was a dark-dimension space, radio communications would certainly be blocked upon entering. But Li Banfeng was contemplating another matter: was Hulu Village really a dark-dimension space? Even if it were, the Special Operations Team's tactics were flawed; they should have left some operatives stationed near the exit of the vector conduit to maintain communications. After about fifteen more minutes, voice communications were finally restored, but the video feed remained down. Guan Zhengyang took the transmission in person. His expression shifted from eager anticipation to solemn gravity, and then to extreme tension. It was clear that the operation's outcome was far from optimistic. If they had encountered Hulu Village, that wouldn't be so bad; Li Banfeng surmised they had likely run into something else entirely. "Support! Provide support, quick!" Guan Zhengyang shouted toward Li Banfeng. Li Banfeng and the security squad had already pulled back. Now Guan Zhengyang was suddenly yelling for support without explaining a single thing about the situation; Li Banfeng certainly wasn't about to lead his personnel into a charge. Deputy Bureau Chief Wang grew frantic. "Bureau Chief Li, did you hear Director Guan calling for backup? Security squad, on my command, immediately—" Li Banfeng hauled Deputy Bureau Chief Wang up by the collar, carried him over to Guan Zhengyang, and asked, "What happened?" Before Guan Zhengyang could speak, several operatives burst out of the RV, the team leader among them. He shouted to Guan Zhengyang, "Director, please close the vector conduit entrance immediately!" "Close it immediately...?" Guan Zhengyang froze for a good while. "Only you few are left?" *Whoosh!* A grayish-white sphere roughly fifty centimeters in diameter lunged out of the RV, slamming directly into Guan Zhengyang. Guan Zhengyang was knocked to the ground. The spherical object opened a massive maw and clamped down over Guan Zhengyang's entire head. The team leader took over Guan Zhengyang's role, ordering the immediate closure of the vector conduit. The remaining operatives rushed forward and grappled with the spherical creature, trying to pry it off Guan Zhengyang. They didn't dare use weapons or dark-energy carriers, nor did they dare employ dark abilities carelessly, terrified of hurting Guan Zhengyang. Deputy Bureau Chief Wang grew frantic. "Bureau Chief Li, think of something..." Li Banfeng hoisted Deputy Bureau Chief Wang and prepared to toss him over beside Guan Zhengyang. Shivering like a leaf, Deputy Bureau Chief Wang didn't dare utter another word. Under the operatives' relentless strikes, the spherical creature spat Guan Zhengyang out and began retaliating against the team. Its counterattacks were crude and repetitive, consisting merely of snapping and biting with its mouth. Perhaps poorly adapted to its surroundings, the sphere moved quite sluggishly. The operatives were well acclimated to the street environment and quickly found their combat rhythm. Relying on their superior speed, two Strollers moved to the creature's eight o'clock and four o'clock positions and opened fire. The bullets they used packed immense firepower, capable of piercing the sphere's thick outer shell. The spherical creature's mind was equally simplistic: hit, it attacked back. It lunged toward the attacker at four o'clock. Anticipating its line of attack, the other operatives blasted the sphere apart with a rocket launcher. Throughout the entire ordeal, Li Banfeng watched from the sidelines; not a single member of the Dark Star Bureau lifted a finger. Paramedics arrived on the scene and loaded Guan Zhengyang into an ambulance. One had to admit Director Guan was remarkably hard to kill. The last time he was abducted by the Birch Hermitage, he hadn't died, losing only an ear. This time, after having his head gnawed on by an unidentified creature, he still hadn't died. However, his condition was far worse than before. Guan Zhengyang had now lost both ears, his nose was gone, the skin on his face was practically stripped away, and only a single lock of hair dangled from the right side of his scalp. Deputy Bureau Chief Wang was moved to tears. "Director Guan, say something..." Seeing how deeply devoted Deputy Bureau Chief Wang was, Li Banfeng arranged for him alone to tend to Guan Zhengyang. Just him. No other member of the Dark Star Bureau was permitted to go. With the Special Operations Team currently lacking a director, the team leader didn't know whom to report to. He wanted to call high command directly, but feared he wouldn't strike the right balance and might say things he shouldn't. Yet if he remained silent, he couldn't shoulder the blame either. As he hesitated, Li Banfeng walked over with a smile. "Tell me the details of what happened inside." The team leader looked around. "Our team does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Dark Star Bureau..." "Reluctant to speak?" A hint of chill crept into Li Banfeng's smile. The intimidating aura of a cultivator above the clouds sent shivers down the leader's spine. Having just endured a brutal battle that claimed most of his squad, with the team director critically injured, the leader's mental defenses crumbled under the pressure. He recounted the battle to Li Banfeng. "After entering the vector conduit, the Special Operations Team strictly carried out the operational plan. Fifteen operatives conducted an initial probe of the stealth space's interior, confirming no anomalies. Subsequently, the rest of the team was deployed into the space in succession." "What do you mean by 'no anomalies'?" "There was nothing inside the space. Within our visual and scanning range, we detected no life-forms whatsoever." Evidently, what they had entered was not Hulu Village. Li Banfeng asked, "So you let all the operatives enter the stealth space?" "I didn't. I left fifteen operatives stationed at the exit of the vector conduit to maintain communications, but they were attacked first." According to the leader's description, the spherical life-forms had appeared inside the vector conduit, not inside the stealth space. Because the communications personnel were hit first, communications had cut out. Li Banfeng believed the team leader wouldn't lie, but there was a serious flaw in his account. "The vector conduit was established by our tracking device. How could spherical creatures have been in there?" The team leader couldn't provide a reasonable explanation. Li Banfeng told him to continue recounting the battle. An attack inside the conduit meant the team's retreat was cut off. The leader had no choice but to fight his way back from the stealth space, battling the spherical creatures for control of the vector conduit. By the leader's estimate, there were between thirty and fifty spherical creatures. In such a confined conduit, they held a tremendous tactical advantage. Because fighting could only occur in a single direction, the operatives had to face their vicious biting head-on. That was how the heavy casualties had occurred. Li Banfeng envisioned the vector conduit as an ordinary tunnel, yet he still couldn't understand the sequence of events. "When you entered, you didn't encounter any spherical creatures. Why did they suddenly appear inside the conduit later on?" The team leader couldn't explain that either. When the spherical creatures appeared, he had already entered the stealth space and was not at the scene. One surviving communications operative described what had happened: "Those monsters crawled out of the walls! They can enter the walls and move through them. Our communication equipment was ambushed first..." The operative sketched and wrote, trying his best to convey the entire battle. A swarm of monsters that could hide in walls, navigate through them, attack from within them, and possessed such extraordinary adaptability to tunnels—Li Banfeng really wanted to see what the actual battle had looked like. "Didn't you bring unmanned equipment?" "We had several drones, but none of them could be brought out. Those drones played a crucial role in the final blocking action." There were things the team leader couldn't say aloud out of respect for the many fallen operatives. Yet purely in terms of combat performance, the drones had outperformed the operatives. Their automatic targeting was vastly faster, and the chances of them being struck by the spheres were far lower. "What about the video feeds transmitted back by the drones?" Several operatives who hadn't entered the tunnel, having remained behind to assist Guan Zhengyang with command, replied, "Bureau Chief Li, all footage from the scene is stored in dedicated equipment. Only Director Guan has the access password." Li Banfeng was at a loss for words. From start to finish, the thing Guan Zhengyang did best was keeping secrets. Still, there was no need to rush if the video couldn't be viewed right now, because sooner or later, this matter would land back on the Dark Star Bureau's shoulders. By afternoon, high command convened an emergency meeting and summoned Li Banfeng to attend. Li Banfeng wasn't in the mood, so he simply sent them the recording captured by his projector. In the video, Guan Zhengyang had made it abundantly clear: they were taking over the operation, and Li Banfeng was ordered to withdraw his people. This stealth space had nothing to do with Hulu Village, and this incident had nothing to do with the Dark Star Bureau; the division of responsibility between the two sides was crystal clear. Pinning the blame on him was out of the question. Besides, Li Banfeng was from Puluo Province; if they refused to be reasonable, he could just throw down the towel and walk away. High command could only urge Li Banfeng to adopt a broader perspective and shoulder the responsibility. Li Banfeng felt his perspective was plenty broad. His terms were equally explicit: if he was to investigate and clear up this dark-dimension space, he wanted three-headed people, and the Dark Star Bureau wanted harmonizing agents. High command agreed to Li Qi's terms and issued an official directive. Li Banfeng was in no hurry to launch the investigation, however; he wasn't about to treat his security personnel's lives as disposable probes the way Guan Zhengyang had. He needed to first understand how the tracking device worked, while also figuring out the true origin of the spherical creatures and the stealth space. If those spherical creatures had been parasitic inside the tracking device from the very beginning, the manufacturer of the equipment would be under heavy suspicion. Under Li Qi's orders, all evidence was placed under the sole custody of the Dark Star Bureau, with no outside interference allowed. The tracking device remained sealed on-site for Li Qi's personal inspection, and no one else was permitted near it. Late into the night, Li Qi boarded the RV and examined the appearance of the tracking device. The tracker's structure was simpler than Li Banfeng had imagined: an equipment cabinet, a display screen, a power distribution unit, plus a door with a metal frame. It truly was a door, complete not just with a frame, but with a door panel. Behind the door panel lay the connection to the cabinet. In front, it was locked shut, and the lock couldn't be opened. According to the operating manual, this door could only be opened after the tracking device was powered on. Li Banfeng entered his companion dwelling and carried his lady out. Having reviewed the manual beforehand, his lady looked over the components and grasped the device's operational sequence. "Darling lady, should we fire it up and give it a try?" "Do not rush, Husband. As you said, this contraption has locked onto an unnameable place. If we open it now, there is no telling what might be released. Allow this humble servant to examine it carefully first." After spending the entire night, the gramophone figured out the tracker's working principles. "This is quite a wonderful thing. Later, I will write out a list for Husband. Once Husband helps me purchase a few materials, I can make some modifications to the Dark Bridge Cannon. If the modifications succeed, firing a single shot could easily transport a hundred or more people." With the technology to breach Boundaries growing ever more mature, Li Banfeng was in high spirits. Was it time to return to Puluo Province? Should he still bother with the affairs of the Dark Star Bureau? Li Banfeng sat in his office, mulling over his next move, when Tangyuan entered to report the latest progress. "Bureau Chief Li, we made a major discovery among the remains of the spherical life-form. This fragment bears the insignia of the Steam Restoration Faction." "What does the Steam Restoration Faction do?" Li Banfeng asked, completely bewildered. "It is an enthusiast organization dedicated to steam engine craft. They like using steam-era technology to recreate modern equipment." "Are you saying that spherical life-form was manufactured by a grassroots organization?" Li Banfeng shook his head repeatedly. He refused to believe a grassroots organization could possess technology of such caliber. Yet Tangyuan was utterly certain. "Bureau Chief Li, we investigated the Steam Restoration Faction three years ago. What this grassroots organization is capable of might come as a huge surprise to you." Li Banfeng frowned. "Then don't bother investigating. Go straight to arresting people!" "We can't catch them!" Tangyuan shook her head. "Three years ago, the Dark Star Bureau mobilized its full strength and failed to arrest a single person affiliated with the Steam Restoration Faction." Li Banfeng felt there was something wrong with how Tangyuan was putting it. "If you said you couldn't track down a specific individual, that would be reasonable. But to claim that in the whole of Huan Country, you couldn't find a single member of an entire organization—that sounds a bit far-fetched." "Seventh Master, how would I dare make things up to you?" Tangyuan said earnestly. "This organization is too powerful. Ever since its founding, the Dark Star Bureau has never encountered an opponent like them." "Now I really want to see it for myself." Li Banfeng looked at the photograph Tangyuan had brought. On the fragment of the spherical creature's remains was a square with an exhaust valve attached—the insignia of the Steam Restoration Faction. A grassroots organization certainly couldn't manufacture that spherical entity on its own, but if they had ties to the Inner States, that was another story. Was this incident connected to the impending war the Inner States was about to launch? The matter at Desong Cliff hadn't settled down either. If the Inner States truly made a move, would they target the Outer States or Puluo Province? After Tangyuan left, Li Banfeng contacted Luo Zhengnan to ask about the situation at Desong Cliff. "Seventh Master, Desong Cliff is doing fine. No one's fighting lately. Whoever fights gets sick—first their hands rot, then their feet rot, and if they still want to fight, their whole body rots away." Only Critic could come up with a tactic like that. The real question was, how did he pull it off? How could he strike with pinpoint accuracy against anyone who harbored thoughts of fighting? *** In a mountain cave, Critic was rolling out noodles. "This is traditional food from Puluo Province. Compared to the bread I bake, it ought to suit your palate better." The child hugged the bread and took a bite. In truth, he was very fond of bread. Critic dropped the sliced noodles into the pot and told the boy, "I have prepared new food. Out of respect for me, do not eat so much bread." The child nodded, then took another bite of bread. Critic grew irritated. "I am warning you one more time: you had better recall some useful information for me soon. My patience with you is truly wearing thin!" The child nodded and continued eating his bread. Once the noodles were cooked, Critic specially prepared the fried soybean paste. The child ate a mouthful of noodles, took a bite of bread, and then took a bite of the paste. Critic shook his head helplessly. "I have taught you for so long; you should at least grasp basic table manners. What we are eating today is zhajiangmian." The child dipped the bread into the savory paste, took a bite, and declared, "Tasty!" Critic sighed. Eating his noodles, he spoke to the child: "I expanded the scope of the rule. It is no longer just those who proactively attack me who fall ill; those who made me a promise and then broke it will fall ill as well. "I gave it careful thought. In truth, this has already exceeded the scope of a mere rule—it should be considered a technique. What do you think this technique should be called?" The child looked up. "Noodles are tasty." "I am talking to you about techniques! Do you understand techniques? The name I want to give this technique is: Those Who Obey Me Shall Prosper! What do you think of this name? Is it a bit too ostentatious?" The child nodded. "Give me noodle broth. Noodles are tasty!" Critic sighed. "Can you not show a little more focus? My patience with you is truly wearing thin." "Giving you noodle broth!" The child ladled a bowl of noodle broth and carried it to the cave entrance. A daolao ghost stood at the cave entrance. The child carried the noodle broth over to him. The daolao ghost refused the boy. He was standing guard at the cave entrance; that was his job. "Noodle broth, tasty!" The child kept holding the bowl out. "Eat it while it's hot," Critic ordered. The daolao ghost lifted the bowl of noodle broth and gulped it down ravenously. When he finished, the daolao ghost managed a strained smile at the boy and handed the bowl back to him. This daolao ghost had been planted at the cave entrance by Critic. He had warned the child many times not to water the seed, yet the boy had watered it anyway. To Critic's surprise, the daolao ghost hadn't harmed the child. Though it had snarled and roared, terrifying the boy, the child had indeed escaped unharmed. "'Those Who Obey Me Shall Prosper'—a very fine technique." Critic nodded slightly, feeling a touch smug. "If I truly master this technique, perhaps I won't have to kill everyone after all." PS: What is so special about this child? What exactly is Critic trying to learn from him?