Chapter 328: Shocking News!

A young man wearing a tailcoat walked down the pitch-black alley, step by step.

His polished leather shoes crunched grittily against the stone slabs. He had just experienced a battle that hardly counted as one. The dark red blood on his metallic arms proved he'd fought, but he had won so easily that his shoes were still completely clean.

Aside from the Fourth Tier combatant, the rest were completely useless, literally shattering at the slightest touch.

Only the burly man from the security booth had fired a cannon round that blew a hole through the tailcoat on his chest. The bullet, the size of a baby's fist, was still lodged in his metallic skeleton.

That was the heaviest injury he had sustained in this battle.

And that was the extent of it.

He stopped at the mouth of the alley, looked at the heavily injured Chen Xiaojing behind Yan Jing, and spoke indifferently:

"Step aside."

This wasn't a negotiation. As if to prove it, an eerie glow flared from the seams between every interlocking piece of metal on his thick mechanical arms. His already massive hands expanded a full size larger, looking as if they could effortlessly crush a person's skull.

But Yan Jing smiled.

"I know you. The TV mentioned you. Your codename is Yaoguang, your support color is black, and you love eating smashed cucumber."

According to the profile and silhouette shown on TV, those massive mechanical fists were Yaoguang's signature feature.

By the standards of die-hard fans, Yan Jing—having memorized the features and support colors of every Seven Stars member—would be considered a devoted mega-fan. More than that, he was a rare group fan, not just a solo stan.

"I said, step aside."

Yaoguang spoke again from the opposite side. At Yan Jing's words, his handsome face—which looked no older than eighteen or nineteen—turned as cold as frost.

"No,"

Yan Jing shook his head.

"You want to kill her, but she can't die."

Yaoguang's voice was frigid:

"The crimes she's committed are enough for her to die a hundred times over."

Yan Jing shook his head.

"The Peace Heavenly Kingdom doesn't have the death penalty."

"It does now." Yaoguang wasted no more time on words. Driven by Weird Energy, his metal-constructed legs roared into motion. He accelerated instantly, shattering the stone slabs beneath his feet as he closed in on Yan Jing at terrifying speed.

The companion in his earpiece had already analyzed Yan Jing's Tier: around the Third Tier. In front of Yaoguang, someone like that was no different from a blank sheet of paper. Yan Jing's eyes flickered, and then, he simply blinked.

Click—

A shutter sound, so faint it was almost inaudible, rang out. In Yaoguang's ear, his companion's voice carried a rare trace of panic:

"Something's wrong! The Weird Energy fluctuations from him are skyrocketing!"

But it was already too late.

In Yaoguang's eyes, the surrounding abandoned residential buildings rapidly stretched upward, shooting straight into the clouds, while he felt as if he had sunk into the dust.

Mind control...

His thoughts seemed to jam up.

In the final second before his thoughts stalled completely, he heard a syringe plunging into muscle. The neural enhancement serum inside his body had sensed his mental oscillations exceeding normal levels and triggered an emergency injection.

This serum could forcefully stimulate his nervous system, mitigating eighty percent of the mind control's effects.

But by the time he broke free from the control, a pitch-black spear was already suspended directly above his power core.

A mere two inches away. Any closer, and his power core would be completely destroyed.

Yan Jing's expression was perfectly calm. Holding the spear one-handed, he looked at the shocked Yaoguang.

"Even if there is a death penalty, it doesn't matter. Like I said, she can't die yet."

Between the sharp, eerie gleam of the spear tip and the power core lay only the slight lift of Yan Jing's hand. The next instant, Yaoguang's entire body would be paralyzed by the destruction of his core. It would be too late for anyone to save him, especially since the wail of police sirens had already begun echoing around them.

Yaoguang could hear his power core blaring frantic warnings through bone conduction, but he simply couldn't think of any way to escape this predicament.

However, just as the sirens of the Law Enforcement Agency drew near, Yan Jing retracted his black spear. He then hoisted the fallen Chen Xiaojing onto his shoulder and walked out.

"Let's meet again next time, Mr. Pojun."

Legend had it that there were seven stars in the northern night sky, bent like a ladle. The direction they pointed shifted across the heavens, alternating through spring, summer, autumn, and winter. They were known as the Big Dipper.

The Seven Stars all had names. Among them, Yaoguang was the seventh star, also known as Pojun.

Slung over Yan Jing's shoulder, Chen Xiaojing felt a deep sense of powerlessness well up in her heart.

She had witnessed everything that just happened. A pitch-black spear blooming with netherworld flowers had materialized in the man's hands. The moment the spear tip rose, the wind swept up the hem of his beige trench coat. By the time the hem fell back down, the spear tip was already resting against his opponent's chest.

All the wind and dust had been sublimated in that split-second sound of tearing air, becoming nothing more than a backdrop for this unadorned, simple thrust.

The spear strike had been far too dazzling, especially since the man had been standing right in front of her.

Because of that, she knew that even if given another chance, she would still step right into the trap set by the very man carrying her.

It was an unsolvable dilemma.

"Will you come visit me?" she asked softly.

"No."

The man's icy tone was the polar opposite of his gentle appearance. "Do you remember what I instructed you to do?"

"Yeah."

She nodded, then took a deep breath. "If—"

"There are no ifs."

"Just put Mr. Luo as the recipient of the transferred assets."

Yan Jing spoke softly, completely crushing all of Chen Xiaojing's fantasies.

She offered a bitter smile. Now, she truly felt some regret—

It wasn't until Yan Jing's figure vanished at the mouth of the alley that Yaoguang snapped out of it as if waking from a dream. He lightly tapped his earpiece:

"Do we have any data on that guy?"

"...It'll take some time. Right now, we only know he's likely a mysterious partner of Chen Xiaojing who showed up recently."

His companion changed the subject:

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Yaoguang said calmly:

"He held back."

"Can't be helped. We'll just have to report this as a mission failure."

His companion wiped away some sweat.

"As long as you kept your life, it's fine. In that situation just now, even if those elites had come, there's a high chance they wouldn't have been able to save you either."

"It was my mistake. That guy is really strange. When he turned and walked away just now, I ran another scan—"

"What Tier was he?" Yaoguang asked.

He figured the man had to be at the Fifth Tier, and an exceptionally strong Fifth Tier at that. Otherwise, he couldn't possibly have mind-controlled him for that long.

But his companion's answer stunned him:

"It's zero. He doesn't have a Tier at all."

"That's impossible."

He frowned in denial.

"Of course it's impossible!" his companion replied.

"I'm almost at the Fifth Tier! If he can completely evade my detection, just think about what Tier he must be!"

...

Yaoguang felt a bit better. At the very least, he hadn't lost to someone of the same Tier.

Hearing the chaotic footsteps approaching, he knew the bugs from the Law Enforcement Agency had arrived. His Weird Energy surged, and he vaulted over the wall. Before long, his figure vanished into the fading twilight of the setting sun.

"Chen Xiaojing, the illegitimate daughter of Chen Wang, the fourth-largest shareholder on the Galaxy Group's board of directors, turned herself in at 18:02 this afternoon."

"According to her own confession, she has committed crimes including human trafficking, illegal imprisonment, abuse, and the coercion of mentally disabled individuals. She is currently in the custody of the Law Enforcement Agency and is awaiting investigation by prosecutors. For further updates, please stay tuned to Wave News, as we will continue to follow this story..."

Zeng Qing sat on the sofa, staring at the news report on the TV screen. She thought she was dreaming.

It wasn't until she repeatedly dialed Chen Xiaojing's Information Component, only to be met with an automated message that the number no longer existed, that she realized in shock that this might not be a joke.

Just as she was carefully searching for reports from other news agencies regarding this incident, the Information Component on her wrist rang. It was Zhou Mo.

"Hello? What's going on with Chen Xiaojing?"

She got straight to the point:

"Is it really her?!"

"Well... how should I put this..."

Zhou Mo's tone revealed a profound sense of powerlessness.

"If I said that even I haven't figured out what's going on yet, would you believe me?"

"I called to ask if you knew anything... after all, the two of you seem to have been sharing some kind of secret lately—"

"..."

Zeng Qing was rendered speechless.

Chen Xiaojing had been arrested by the Law Enforcement Agency. If even Zhou Mo didn't know what was happening, then probably no one could figure it out.

"All I can tell you is that the evidence is ironclad, and someone is pulling the strings from behind the scenes. Even with Song Haozhe warning the media, they couldn't suppress it in the end. Public opinion has already exploded. Chen Xiaojing is basically beyond saving. The chances of her getting life in prison are close to a hundred percent."

"Cut all ties with her while you still can. I'm busy over here, so I've gotta go."

Beep, beep, beep—

The Information Component call disconnected.

Zeng Qing stared blankly at the news of Chen Xiaojing's arrest playing before her, stunned for a long time.

Although her relationship with Chen Xiaojing wasn't exactly good—she had always looked down on Chen Xiaojing's way of doing things—now that things had actually reached this point, she still felt an inexplicable sense of sympathy for her downfall.

"Wait—there's someone else... that guy might know!"

She remembered what Zhou Mo had just said and immediately thought of Yan Jing. She promptly dialed Yan Jing's Information Component:

"Hello?"

From the other end of the Information Component came Yan Jing's deep voice.

"Did you see the news?" Zeng Qing asked urgently.

"What news?"

Yan Jing asked in return.

"It's all over every channel, it doesn't matter which one!" Zeng Qing took a deep breath. She truly felt like she couldn't hold a conversation with this man; just hearing him speak a single sentence sent rage surging through her.

"You mean Chen Xiaojing?"

"Yes!"

"Yeah, I saw it."

Yan Jing said slowly.

"Then... do you know exactly what's going on?"

Zeng Qing hadn't harbored much hope, but Yan Jing's response stunned her:

"I know. I thought she was taking too big of a cut of the money, so I kicked her out."

...

Listening to the voice coming from her Information Component, Zeng Qing didn't know how to respond for a moment.

She was somewhat bewildered.

Yan Jing sounded like he was spouting total nonsense, yet it simultaneously made a twisted sort of sense. It sounded exactly like his style.

"...Are you serious?"

Zeng Qing swallowed hard.

"I have no reason to lie to you," Yan Jing said. "You aren't worth me expending that much effort."

"Are you crazy!!!"

Zeng Qing's eyes widened. "Do you have any idea how many connections Chen Xiaojing had? Without her, where are we going to find that many buyers?!"

But just as her words fell, a media outlet on the TV screen updated the news:

"This is Wave News, with High-Tech news updates. Chen Xiaojing has over thirty businesses under her name, eight of which are implicated in the case. As for the rest of the businesses that currently show no legal risks, excluding the seizure of related profits, Chen Xiaojing has announced that she has transferred them, free of charge, to an unnamed individual."

"As for the name of this individual, Chen Xiaojing stated that she is unwilling to reveal it. She has also declared to the Law Enforcement Agency that if these businesses undergo secondary investigations, she will refuse to cooperate in all subsequent stages of the inquiry..."

Zeng Qing stood dumbfounded. It felt as though in just a few short hours, the entire world had gone mad.

From the other end of the Information Component, Yan Jing's voice drifted over:

"Do you have any other questions?"