Volume 2, Chapter 84 – Reminder

When Bai Xiang brought up coming to the North District to investigate, Zhang Daoming still took it very seriously.

He even led the team personally, driving Bai Xiang around the North District for a sweep, making sure this official car was enough to cow all the underground gangs so none of them would be stupid enough to bump into Bai Xiang and go seeking death.

He had already experienced firsthand what kind of temper this “once-in-a-millennium genius swordsman” had.

She hadn’t made many moves so far, but basically, once her sword came out, it meant a killing spree.

Bai Xiang sat in the passenger seat. When Zhang Daoming pulled up beneath the building of “Jinhua Dance Hall,” she suddenly said, “I don’t have a Swordsman’s License yet.”

Huh?

Zhang Daoming turned his head to look at her, eyes wide.

For a moment he didn’t understand what that was supposed to mean.

“I haven’t gotten my Swordsman’s License,” Bai Xiang repeated when she saw his expression. “So I can’t just kill people as I please.”

Good grief.

Zhang Daoming’s face practically twisted.

The Swordsman’s License was a dual recognition of both a swordsman’s strength and moral character!

What exactly did you take the Swordsman’s License for?

A license to kill?

“My Swordsman’s License assessment is stuck at the second stage.” Bai Xiang paused, then added, “The later stages might involve a cross-border mission. I haven’t accepted it yet.”

Once an assessment mission was issued, examinees were given seven days to consider whether to accept it, so Bai Xiang wasn’t in a rush. She wanted to observe how things developed before making a decision.

“The second stage?” This time Zhang Daoming was genuinely shocked. “Nice, that’s the Grade A-Plus License assessment!”

He waited a few seconds. The air in the car sat there in awkward silence with him.

Zhang Daoming: “…”

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Come on, in normal social interaction, when something like this happens— I express my amazement at the topic you’ve opened— aren’t you supposed to keep going and tell me more?

Like give me a hint what kind of mission it is, and then I’ll follow up, keep the conversation going… and do my best to praise you!

But Bai Xiang didn’t say anything.

Instead, she turned her head and stared at Zhang Daoming, looking for all the world like she was wondering why he wasn’t continuing.

“Chief Inspector Zhang has no advice?” Bai Xiang spoke again. “When it comes to cross-border missions, Chief Inspector Zhang definitely knows more than I do.”

So she was waiting for my opinion?

She wasn’t like this before…

The Chief Inspector’s eyelids twitched. He still remembered when he’d first come into contact with Bai Xiang— how proper and courteous this girl had been back then.

Sure enough, money changes people, and strength changes people too.

“If you really want my advice, I don’t recommend you go.” Zhang Daoming glanced at Bai Xiang, then probed, “The Sami Union?”

Bai Xiang stayed silent.

“Qinghuai?”

“Stansha?”

“Shinu?”

Bai Xiang’s lashes trembled slightly.

So it was Shinu.

Zhang Daoming nodded inwardly.

Oh, right, it should be called Luohou now…

“Then I really don’t recommend it.” Zhang Daoming shook his head. “Luohou is a mess— not your average mess.”

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“Your grandpa— Old Master Bai.”

“When he was young, he went to Luohou to make a living. Worked as a mercenary. If you’ve got time, you can ask him. He’ll definitely explain it a lot clearer than I can.”

“How messy are we talking?” Bai Xiang asked.

How messy?

Zhang Daoming froze for a moment. He was just about to say that organ trafficking over there was ten thousand times more rampant than in the North District here— that a lot of people had their organs auctioned and pre-ordered the moment they were born, and their whole process of growing up was basically like being raised as livestock, with no human dignity at all… when he heard Bai Xiang ask again, “Messy enough that the ruling class could be overturned?”

Screech—

On reflex, Zhang Daoming slammed the brakes, then stared at Bai Xiang in surprise.

What did that mean?

No, ma’am, what exactly are you getting at?

“Chief Inspector Zhang should know I just got back from the Qiyun Circuit.” Bai Xiang stared straight ahead, not looking aside.

“And I encountered some things in the Qiyun Circuit… Chief Inspector Zhang should have channels to find out about them too.”

“I just find it a bit suspicious.”

“It’s not just this exchange meet. It also includes Luohou’s people requesting to change the prefix of the Protectorate’s name. And I’ve flipped through the history books— the Shinu people in the past never had that kind of guts. When you add all these things together, it’s very suspicious.”

“Do you know what you’re saying?” Zhang Daoming nervously glanced around before, with a bit of a tremor, starting the car again.

He could hear exactly what Bai Xiang was getting at.

My God— she was actually hinting that the regime in Luohou might have been overthrown and taken over?

But the question was, who even had that kind of means?

Luohou was right up against the southwest of Great Yu. And who was king in the southwest?

A chill ran through him.

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A real, bone-deep chill.

“Uh—” So Zhang Daoming chose to deflect the spearhead. “It’s true— the Sami Union might have a chance of controlling them through combined technological and commercial infiltration.”

“That’s excessive.”

“A lot of people think that’s excessive.”

Doesn’t want to talk about it?

Bai Xiang chuckled, not planning to push him any further.

She hadn’t intended to immediately pull him in as an ally anyway. The only reason she’d brought this up with Zhang Daoming was that he still more or less did things for the people at the bottom, and most likely couldn’t stomach certain other things.

She was just giving Zhang Daoming a reminder, so he’d have a prior concept of that possibility in his mind.

That was enough.

Any more than that, and talking about it would be pointless.

The car continued its sweep around the North District. On his own authority, Zhang Daoming even called in the person in charge of this area, an Inspector named Shao Ran, and told him to contact the local gang bosses and question them.

The result of the questioning was a total dead end. No one had seen Lian Feng come through.

“Shao Ran still has a case to handle… a taxi went into the Black River. We probably won’t find any leads here.”

On the way back, Zhang Daoming spoke to Bai Xiang with a tinge of apology.

“All I can say is I’ll help you keep an eye out in the future. After all, as long as he’s still alive, there’s no way he won’t show himself.”

“Sorry to trouble you, Chief Inspector.”

Bai Xiang had gone back to that properly courteous demeanor again. After getting out of the car, she went up the long flight of steps and vanished from sight.

Zhang Daoming lifted his gaze, staring at her until she disappeared, then lit a cigarette and took a drag.

Could it be… that kind of insane possibility?

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She’d already formed connections all the way up to the Nine Daos and Nine Prefectures. Was there some inside story on that side dragging her in?

If that was the case, then the Inspectorate adjudicator, Lu Xueling, refusing to approve a search warrant would make sense.

After all, if the news had already filtered down to someone at his level, the Imperial House would definitely know about it too.

It might even be that this was a trap, just waiting for that person to obediently bite…

Mm!

A violent shiver ran through Zhang Daoming.

Fuck, what am I doing thinking this far?

Keeping Chilong Circuit in line is enough. Whoever comes here to stir up trouble, I’ll beat the hell out of them!

He stomped on the gas, and the patrol car shot off into the night.

Elsewhere, Bai Xiang returned to her suite, scooped the sleeping Bai Zhuqing up from where she’d collapsed on the table, and laid her sideways on the bed. Only then did she pull open the zipper on her backpack and take out the Sword Dao insights of the Shangqing Dao Lord.

Meet-up the night after tomorrow.

There were still two days to go until the operation to investigate Qingyun Pharmaceuticals.

Her cultivation realm was already there, and her physical attributes conservatively estimated had surpassed the Purple Core realm; the only thing she lacked now was some exquisite technique.

“Time to update the Shenming Sword as well.”

Bai Xiang stroked the manuscript.

At the same time, a muffled peal of thunder rolled through the night.

Then came a curtain of pouring rain, as if it meant to drown the whole human world.