Chapter 332: The Deterrence of the Fourth Rite

Recalling her earlier discussion with Yan Jing about whether the Four Masters Society had blood on their hands, Zeng Qing pursed her lips, her gaze darting away.

There was no need to even mention Song Haozhe's recent threat to kill Chen Xiaojing; the issues uncovered about her alone went far beyond simple murder.

She took a deep breath and looked at Song Haozhe.

"No. Whether Mr. Luo agrees or not, I personally feel this needs further discussion."

"I know Chen Xiaojing holds secrets about the three of us, but she's already been locked up. I don't think she poses a threat anymore."

"For public opinion to fester, it has to pass through the Law Enforcement Agency and social media. With you two guarding those gates, nothing is getting through."

"After all these years, I'd like to think there's still some sentiment between us."

Song Haozhe smiled at her words.

"So, there's no room for discussion?"

"Song Haozhe."

Zeng Qing couldn't wrap her head around it.

"Why exactly do you want Chen Xiaojing dead? No matter how worried you are, you have to know that someone dying in prison—especially her—would be a massive political incident. The chances of us being targeted then would be no smaller than if she just spilled those secrets herself."

Pressed by Zeng Qing, Song Haozhe looked down at the teacup in front of him and chuckled.

"Right, why am I so worried?"

"Probably because someone told me yesterday that Chen Xiaojing left a person on the outside who can submit evidence for her at any time."

"Zeng Qing, who do you think that person could be?"

With that, he raised his eyes to look at a stunned Zeng Qing.

Zeng Qing immediately turned her head, her shocked gaze landing on Yan Jing, who was casually sipping his tea.

She was completely bewildered.

If what Song Haozhe said was true, and Yan Jing was the person Chen Xiaojing had left on the outside to deliver messages for her, then...

But Yan Jing had said he was the one who personally sent Chen Xiaojing to prison. What exactly was the relationship between these two?

Her mind felt like mush. To Song Haozhe, however, her changing expressions looked as though she were struggling to choose a side.

"Heh."

He sneered. Ignoring the fully served feast, he stood up, grabbed the fox animal species beside him, and strode toward the door.

As he passed Zeng Qing, he reached out and patted her shoulder.

"Xiao Qing, think about it carefully, yeah?"

With a smile, he walked out the door.

"Once you've made up your mind, I'll be in the next room. You can come right over and knock on my door."

Bang! The door slammed shut.

Yan Jing and Zeng Qing were left alone at the table, surrounded by a full banquet.

Zeng Qing looked up at Yan Jing, who was heartily devouring the food, and said in disbelief, "You can still eat?"

"Relax, it's not poisoned. I already checked it all with weird energy."

Yan Jing said softly:

"There was just a bit of sedative in that cup of tea earlier, but since you didn't drink any, it shouldn't be an issue."

Zeng Qing's eyes went wide. "There were sedatives in the tea?!"

She picked up the teacup, weird energy surging in her hand. A moment later, she asked in confusion, "Why can't I sense anything?"

"Do you want the truth or a lie?"

Yan Jing kept his focus on eating.

"The truth, obviously!"

"Because you're too weak," Yan Jing said, his face expressionless. "You're nearly thirty, yet you're only at the Second Tier. You plutocrats are pathetic. No wonder your own family kicked you out."

Zeng Qing felt she shouldn't have asked for the truth.

She looked down at the tea in her cup again. Normally, she would have a family-appointed bodyguard secretly tailing her, and in situations like this, they would test for poison.

But because this was a private dinner involving both the Four Masters Society and Yan Jing, she hadn't brought him along.

"Is there really a sedative?"

She was still half-skeptical.

"Yeah."

Yan Jing nodded, picking up a short rib with his chopsticks and placing it in his bowl.

"Then why are you fine?"

Zeng Qing had seen Yan Jing drink plenty of tea just a moment ago.

Yan Jing didn't answer. Zeng Qing pursed her lips and dropped the subject.

She knew that pressing further would likely yield an even more insulting answer.

Unable to verify his claim, she simply picked up the teacup.

She didn't believe Song Haozhe would slip sedatives into a private dinner. If he had, the dose couldn't possibly be so small that Yan Jing had no reaction at all.

Conversely, if there really was a sedative, she shouldn't have any major issues either, given that Yan Jing was completely unaffected.

Clinging to this near-perfect logic, she downed the tea in one gulp.

Half a second later, her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed heavily onto the table.

Unfazed, Yan Jing quietly finished his meal. Then, hoisting Zeng Qing over his shoulder, he walked out the door.

Confronted by an approaching waiter, he smiled.

"Mr. Song is paying."

"..."

In the next room, a fierce battle had just concluded.

The male fox animal species lay half-dead, tossed aside by Song Haozhe.

Bare-chested and dripping with sweat, Song Haozhe quickly drained a bottle of mineral water and tossed it aside.

"Judging by the time, it should be about ready."

He let out a cold laugh.

Drinking tea kept Zeng Qing awake, so she usually avoided it.

Given his seemingly irrational outburst earlier, the two of them definitely would have let their guard down. They never would have expected him to slip them a sedative.

Once Yan Jing collapsed, Zeng Qing would naturally know what she had to do.

Right on cue, a knock sounded at the door.

Overjoyed, Song Haozhe hurried over and pulled it open.

But the person outside wasn't Zeng Qing, nor was it Yan Jing. It was a tall old man in a black suit, his hair slicked back immaculately.

Seeing Song Haozhe, the old man bowed slightly.

"Young Master, that man has left."

"What do you mean, he left?!"

Song Haozhe was incredulous.

Even someone at the Fifth Tier would have dropped from that sedative, and he had clearly seen the man drink the tea.

"I don't know."

The old man shook his head.

"That is why I didn't stop him."

He himself was only at the Fifth Tier. The man had downed the sedative yet acted like nothing had happened; his strength was unfathomable. Attacking recklessly would only court disaster.

"So you just let him walk away?!"

Song Haozhe looked ready to storm out of the room. "And Zeng Qing?!"

"He took her with him."

The old man spoke softly.

Song Haozhe slammed his fist violently against the wooden door, the veins bulging on the back of his hand.

"Fuck!!!"

The composure he had displayed at the end of their meeting in the parlor was entirely gone. His gaze was now as dark as a deep abyss.

This was the first—and only—time he, Song Haozhe, had suffered a loss in Muke District!

"Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!!!"

Recalling what had happened in the parlor only made him angrier. Finally, he dialed Zhou Mo directly.

"I couldn't keep him. He's harder to deal with than I imagined."

"Are you serious?" Zhou Mo was stunned. It was the first time he'd ever heard Song Haozhe admit someone was hard to handle.

"Do you fucking think I'm joking with you right now?!" Song Haozhe's roar echoed from the Information Component, forcing Zhou Mo to accept that their opponent truly was difficult.

Whenever Song Haozhe was pissed off and had nowhere to vent, he would take his anger out on the nearest person. Clearly, Zhou Mo was the lucky winner today.

"Alright. Don't worry about the rest of this for now."

After hearing the whole story and mulling it over, Zhou Mo said, "I'll take care of it."

"How are you going to take care of it?"

Song Haozhe asked with a scowl.

"I told you to drop it for now. I'll contact you when I have a plan."

Without another word, Zhou Mo hung up, leaving Song Haozhe to rage in impotent fury.

Inside an office building.

Zhou Mo reviewed the intelligence his subordinates had gathered on the assets Yan Jing had inherited from Chen Xiaojing. After a moment of thought, he dialed a number.

"Hello?"

A middle-aged man's voice came through the line.

"Councilor Wen, it's me, Zhou Mo."

He spoke.

"Go ahead, President Zhou."

The middle-aged man was none other than Wen Tian, one of the two councilors of the Peace Faction.

"It's about this: I was looking at that support plan for medical enterprises you proposed three years ago. It reduced almost all fees for medical companies, aside from basic profit taxes, by around thirty percent, correct?"

"Yes."

The man answered respectfully.

"As you know, at the time, that person was still—" "That's enough."

Zhou Mo cut him off directly.

He knew perfectly well that this plan had been proposed when Chen Xiaojing was still around, but he didn't want to hear that name right now. "Things have changed."

Zhou Mo said softly, "Since they received such excellent support, the requirements naturally ought to be stricter. Let's run a few major audits to see if the money invested in medical enterprises over the years went to waste."

"Understood, right away."

Wen Tian easily caught the underlying meaning in Zhou Mo's words.

"I'll arrange for people to conduct the audits immediately. They should begin on the next working day, which is the day after tomorrow."

"Good."

Zhou Mo nodded. Just before ending the call, he spoke again.

"There are too many medical enterprises out there, a real mixed bag. If anyone fails to meet the standards, they need to be made an example of."

"I understand. Perfectly clear."

Hanging up, Zhou Mo sighed and leaned back in his recliner.

That brainless Song Haozhe. They were in a civilized society now; why resort to such crude methods?

Besides, they were just squashing an ant.

Even a Fifth Tier expert was nothing more than a slightly larger ant here in the Peace Heavenly Kingdom.

This was the Peace Heavenly Kingdom, where violence didn't solve problems. Meanwhile, Yan Jing arrived at the underground parking lot, lifted the Information Component on Zeng Qing's right wrist to scan the car door open, and started the engine.

But just as the engine roared to life, a figure stepped out from a nearby corner, blocking the front of the car.

It was a balding man in a suit and tie, whose appearance obviously aligned with Zeng Qing's tastes.

As he stared at Yan Jing inside the vehicle, weird energy surged around him. Half of his body instantly underwent Mechanization. Cold gun barrels filled his chest and thighs, and bullets the thickness of a middle finger packed tightly into the launch ports on his shoulders. His eyes turned into electronic optics, flashing with an icy crimson light as they locked onto Yan Jing's face.

"Put Lord Zeng down."

The man demanded, his killing intent wholly exposed.

But the next second, a sudden change occurred.

An aura that seemed to hail from ancient times began to spread from Yan Jing. Streams of weird energy rippled outward like flowing water, transforming into a grand river in an instant, and finally manifesting as an ocean of weird energy that nearly swallowed the entire parking lot.

Yan Jing's originally black-pupiled eyes were now ice-cold. Sun, moon, and stars seemed to float within them, shifting and alternating. A colossal hand grasping a glowing Paintbrush manifested within the depths; with a single flick of the tip, an old world was annihilated, and a new one was conjured.

His aura skyrocketed, quickly breaking past the Fifth Tier, reaching the Sixth Tier, and then the Seventh Rank.

Seeing Yan Jing's instant transformation, the man faced him like a mortal enemy. He felt that Yan Jing could crush him into dust with just a gentle wave of his hand.

He wanted to run, but his legs trembled inexplicably, leaving him entirely unable to take a step.

"Scram."

Yan Jing spoke only a single word, but the man was so terrified he nearly collapsed to the ground.