Chapter 21: Hiding Place
In the Furong Team’s base, the Furong District security bureau.
In the spacious meeting room on the third floor, six people were seated sparsely.
The person presiding over the meeting was the deacon, Xu Liushuang.
He reached out and pressed a button, and the projection immediately began to play.
A photo of a middle-aged man was shown. The man’s cheeks were thin, his eyes were dejected, and his hair was messy. He looked like a middle-aged uncle who was in a slump. The most obvious feature was the three moles on his neck where the one in the middle was blue.
Xu Liushuang looked at the screen and introduced, “Yang Zhichao, thirty-two years old, a local of Tianmu City. His parents passed away when he was young and he has been alone since. He thus rented a house and lived outside all year round. Six years ago, he married into the Yang family and became a live-in son-in-law, moving in with his father-in-law. His life after marriage was not harmonious, and he was often scolded by her in-laws. It was also rumored that his wife had an affair. Last year, his wife gave birth to a daughter whom Yang Zhichao found to not be related by blood. Perhaps it was because of the grievances accumulated over the years, or the anger caused by his wife’s cheating, but Yang Zhichao awakened his ability and killed all twelve members of the Yang family overnight. He didn’t even let the two-month-old baby live. All the victims were mummified, and their blood had been sucked dry. As the profession is unknown, the temporary code name is “vampire”.”
Then, photos of the crime scene were shown. One could see that all corpses of the men and women, old and young, were shriveled up. There was only one wound on the bodies as if they had been stabbed by fangs.
Su Mo thought to himself, “This live-in son-in-law was quite fierce. Even the God of War can’t compare.”
Xu Liushuang continued, “After that, the bureau tried to encircle and annihilate him, but he has used his ability to escape time and time again. He then disappeared for about half a year. When he reappeared, he had already stepped into level 3. As a result, the government has lost two experts, and as many as five civilian Transcendents have died at his hands. More importantly, we also found out that he has joined the Secret Covenant Travel Agency.”
Su Mo immediately raised his hand and asked, “May I ask what’s the Secret Covenant Travel Agency?”
Xu Liushuang explained, “Just like how the officials have organizations like the Dawn Bureau and the Transcendent Professions Alliance, the evil professions also have their societies and organizations. The largest groups are the Spirit Cultivators Association, the Secret Covenant Travel Agency, and the Planter Alliance. However, the one that is mainly active here is the Secret Covenant Travel Agency.”
Xue Qiaoqiao smiled and added, “It’s said that Secret Covenant Travel Agency’s original name was Honeymoon Travel Agency. It was founded by a pair of newly-wedded couples on their honeymoon. Even though both of them had awakened evil professions, they decided to help each other and unite the other evil professions to try to wash away their sins. However, as the organization continued to grow, more and more people with ulterior motives eventually joined. In the end, the couple was usurped and killed by their subordinates, and their supporters were also wiped out. As such, the Honeymoon Travel Agency was then renamed as the Secret Covenant Travel Agency, and later became one of the famous three evil factions.”
Hearing this inside story, Su Mo could only sigh.
Xu Liushuang continued, “Yang Zhichao’s methods are cruel, his profession is unknown, his abilities are strange, and he has even joined the Secret Covenant Travel Agency. As a result, the bureau’s bounty on him had been raised to 5000 points. If an internal member completes this quest, the person won’t get any points. Instead, he’ll get one third-class merit.”
“Wow!” Su Mo could not help but gasp.
Chu Qingwu held her head and teased, “Now you should know how hard it is to get a merit, right?”
Su Mo was unwilling to show weakness, “When I break through to level 4, I’ll kill him like a chicken!”
“You can’t possibly think that he’s just going to stay put, right? He might even be at level 6 by then.”
“That’s not necessarily true. Who knows what’s the upper limit of a special profession? Maybe the path would be broken at level 3. Otherwise, why would he suddenly appear now? Wouldn’t it be better to break through to level 4 before coming out?”
“Xiao Su is right,” Zhang Zhenyu, who was wearing a red suit and a blue polka dot tie, nodded in agreement, “His sudden appearance this time is very likely related to his advancement ritual. We can use his advancement ritual as a breakthrough point. Perhaps we can determine his position and kill him at level 3 in advance.
“The problem is that no one knows the contents of his ritual, so there’s no way to track him,” Old Master Zhou sipped his tea and hit the nail on the head.
“The only clue we have is Wang Linglan. Her illness is probably related to Yang Zhichao’s advancement ritual. She wasn’t randomly chosen. She must have something special. Perhaps we can start from her,” Xu Liushuang deduced.
Xue Qiaoqiao was not optimistic about this, “Although Wang Linglan is under our protection now, Wang Pengju would definitely not allow his daughter to be used as bait. Judging from Yang Zhichao’s cunning, he must have an alternative too.”
“Where’s Qian Tao?” Xu Liushuang turned to look at Zhang Zhenyu.
Zhang Zhenyu was a little embarrassed as he replied, “He was busy all night in the Heaven on Earth Club last night, so he might not be up yet.”
The veins on Xu Liushuang’s forehead could not stop jumping, “Is this how he is as a ranger?”
“Should I give him a call now?”
“Forget it. Tell him about this later. Keep an eye on Yang Zhichao’s movements and inform us as soon as you have any news.
“Understood,” Zhang Zhenyu nodded in response.
Xu Liushuang looked at the crowd and said in a deep voice, “Yang Zhichao’s appearance is a good thing for us. After all, he hasn’t started his advancement ritual yet. If he breaks through to level 4, the problem will be ten times more complicated than it is now. Everyone should pay attention to the related aspects during this period. If you encounter him by accident, call for backup immediately. We don’t have to fight him one-on-one. A group battle is the most suitable strategy for us.”
“Understood!” Everyone nodded in agreement.
“Then, let’s move on to the next topic,” Xu Liushuang changed the projecting image, and the screen immediately showed several locations:
“When we were killing the fox demons in Boyue Villa Area earlier, we obtained some additional clues that point to the fox lord hiding behind them. After days and nights of search and analysis by the society’s support personnel, they have already roughly determined four locations. Any of these four locations could be where the fox lord is hiding,” As he spoke, Xu Liushuang showed the four locations one by one.
Leshang Fitness Club, Wei-Zhao BRPG Club, Sesame Street Shopping Center, and Space 7 Escape Room.
Looking at these four locations, everyone present fell into deep thought.
They could understand the possibility of the fox lord being at the fitness club, BRPG club, and escape room. After all, it was easy to encounter young hunting targets at those places.
On the other hand, the Sesame Street Shopping Center could be considered one of the famous shopping centers in Tianmu City. It was very normal for the fox demons and fox lord to spend money here.
After all, even a fox demon couldn’t be busy with missions all day long. It had to enjoy life as well.
All of these places seemed to have reasons that allowed the fox demons to go frequently.
So the question was, where was the fox lord hiding?
Those hearts couldn’t just disappear for no reason.
Xu Liushuang was just planning to gather personnel and investigate the locations one by one when Su Mo said hesitantly, “I might know where the fox lord is hiding.”