Chapter 339: Death of a Council Member

The crisp sound of shattering glass erupted high above the street.

Like a swirling storm surging toward the skyscraper opposite, light and shadow converged on the painted figure. In a mere instant, he landed before the fifth-floor window across the way.

"You need to get the car ready."

Intersecting lines surged from Yan Jing's pupils.

He looked at the stunned Qi Ming. In a flash, he bound the young man tight, plummeted through the shattered window, and deposited him in the parking lot below.

There was, of course, no need for him to expose the painting spirit's abilities.

So he had done it on purpose.

The painting spirit's power was only a fraction of his trump cards. Revealing just a glimpse of it would save him a lot of explaining.

Right now, he gently stirred his mind, linking with Xiao Xin, who floated above Wen Tian.

A manifested painting spirit couldn't share vision with Yan Jing—at most, it could sense its surroundings through weird energy fluctuations. But Xiao Xin could.

Xiao Xin's figure flashed to his side, connecting with his mind to sketch out the situation in the room before instantly vanishing again.

Through these frequent jumps, the scenes gradually overlapped and sharpened in Yan Jing's mind.

Finally, they locked onto Wen Tian's figure.

Inside the restaurant across the street, Yi Ji smashed right through the heavy bulletproof glass, landing with precision in front of a shocked Wen Tian. Their eyes met.

Click—

A faint shutter sound rang out.

Memory Severance. Fear Memories.

Within the Screen draped in fear, the Thorn Spear of Blooming Flowers was thrust into Wen Tian's chest. Blood bloomed.

In the next instant, Yi Ji placed his finger against Wen Tian's brow. An ancient aura blossomed from his fingertip in a vortex.

Praying for Death Evolution.

It all happened too fast. A mere two or three seconds later, by the time the bodyguards at the door reacted, Wen Tian had been reduced to a corpse.

Her pale skin was already mottled with lividity, making her look as though she had been dead for hours.

Watching the panicked bodyguards, Yi Ji offered a faint smile. His body exploded, turning into thousands of streams of flowing weird energy that dissolved into the air and faded into nothingness.

He left nothing behind.

From start to finish, the assassination of the council candidate had taken exactly as long as a single change of the streetlights.

Having finished the job, Yan Jing withdrew his gaze and leisurely walked downstairs.

He arrived beside the car Qi Ming had just stolen and tapped on the window.

After he got in, Qi Ming's brain was still completely short-circuiting, but his physical instincts took over. He slammed the gas pedal and whisked Yan Jing away.

In the brief moment he had been bound by the threads Yan Jing released, he had felt their strength and realized with shock that he had absolutely no way to resist.

Which meant if Yan Jing wanted him dead, he would have practically zero chance to fight back.

He checked the system and saw the mission target count had dropped from two to one.

Wen Tian was really dead...

How long had it taken? Two minutes? One minute? Probably not even that.

How did he do it...?

"Where are we going?"

His throat felt tight.

"Are we meeting up with the others?"

"No, we're going to Tianhe Apartments. The place Li Chengxi is heading, according to the paper,"

Yan Jing said with a smile.

Though Yan Jing wasn't following their previous plan, Qi Ming didn't say a word this time.

He was perceptive enough to understand that the man beside him had put on that display specifically for him to see.

Without his extraction, would the man really have been unable to retreat? What a joke.

He even felt that, given the methods Yan Jing had just shown, the man could have completed this mission entirely on his own.

The only probable reason Yan Jing had kept him around—and let him witness such a visually impactful scene—was to send a message.

It was a show of force.

'You wanted to see, didn't you?'

'Well, now you have.'

'So please, shut your mouth.'

"I'll emphasize this to you one more time," Shen Youran's voice echoed in his mind.

"I know you're all heavenly prodigies, but don't compare yourselves to Xiao Yanzi, unless you want to humiliate yourselves. Cooperate with him. That's my only demand."

"I'm telling you upfront: keep personal matters personal and business matters business. If he gets angry, I get angry."

"..."

In the silence, the car sped down the highway into the distance.

...

...

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Zeng Qing and Yan Jing were currently negotiating a deal with a pharmaceutical distribution company.

"Mr. Luo, three eerie points a bottle. This is the utmost sincerity I can offer."

The man across from them laced his fingers together, a confident look on his face.

"Three eerie points?"

Beside him, Zeng Qing's face turned cold.

Let alone making a profit, they would lose one eerie point on every bottle at this price.

Due to the bill introduced by Wen Tian, they had hoarded a full 50,000 bottles of this biological agent and couldn't offload them. If they accepted the price this man offered, they would be taking a loss of over 50,000 eerie points on this batch.

Furthermore... word would quickly get out that they had accepted such a humiliating price.

For the next batch, buyers would only press them further, driving the price even lower.

"That's impossible, Mr. Mi,"

Zeng Qing said coldly.

"We came to you hoping for a little help, not to be robbed blind while our house is on fire."

"Does this not count as help?" Mi Junwei spread his hands.

"If I don't take these off your hands now, I imagine the price will only plunge further once Councilor Wen's bill is fully implemented."

"When that time comes, you'll be losing a lot more than fifty or sixty thousand eerie points, Miss Zeng."

"To be honest, the only reason I'm offering this price is out of respect for you. Otherwise, wouldn't you have to sell to me even if I only offered two eerie points a bottle?"

Mi Junwei was supremely confident, believing the other party would swallow the loss.

Because pharmaceutical companies had long since become hot potatoes.

And the backer he had found after Chen Xiaojing's downfall was none other than Wen Tian.

Wen Tian had promised him that once this man surnamed Luo sold off his pharmaceutical inventory, the councilor would propose another bill to repeal the previous one.

Buy low, sell high, and make an absolute killing.

"..."

Hearing him dress up extortion as a favor, Zeng Qing was livid. Even though this man was part of Chen Xiaojing's network, she was still a member of the Four Masters Society. She had stepped forward this time hoping her status would carry some weight.

And this was the result?

"We're not selling."

Zeng Qing stood up with a frosty expression.

It was just a few hundred thousand in dead stock. At worst, they would declare bankruptcy, just like the previous pharmaceutical companies.

If this man wouldn't give her face, he could forget about doing business so easily in the future.

"Um... Miss Zeng, is there really a need to get this angry?"

Seeing Zeng Qing's fury, the man's eyes flickered.

Though he had secretly clung to Wen Tian's coattails, Zeng Qing was still Zeng Qing. As a businessman who naturally avoided making enemies, he hurriedly smiled and said, "You know as well as I do that even at the price I just offered, this batch is a loss. I'll have to waste manpower and money sneaking it into the black market. You have to leave me some margin for profit, right?"

"You're a businesswoman. I'm sure you understand that profit comes first in business, don't you?"

"What do you say, Mr. Luo?"

Through their brief negotiation, the man had realized Yan Jing was much easier to manipulate than Zeng Qing, so he shifted the focus to him.

"As for me..."

A hint of clarity seemed to return to Yan Jing's eyes.

He smiled.

"I'd like to use the restroom first. When I get back, we can discuss the exact price again. Honestly, the number you threw out isn't entirely off the table."

"Great, no problem."

Mi Junwei nodded, quite pleased.

Zeng Qing's expression grew even darker. Though she wanted to stop him, she ultimately stayed silent.

While the two waited for Yan Jing, Zeng Qing's Information Component suddenly rang.

She stepped aside to answer it. A few seconds later, her eyes widened, and her expression morphed into one of utter shock.

Meanwhile, Mi Junwei scrolled through the news on his Information Component for a moment. Suddenly catching sight of a message, his eyes bulged just as wildly. A second later, beads of sweat broke out on his forehead.

A few minutes later, Zeng Qing hung up and sat back down across from Mi Junwei with a cold sneer.

Mi Junwei's face was deathly pale.

It was as if the world had turned upside down in those few short minutes, completely swapping their positions of power.

"M-Miss Zeng, that price you mentioned earlier... I think I could perhaps consider it."

Mi Junwei spoke first, but was met with Zeng Qing's icy stare.

"Do you take me for a fool, Mr. Mi?"

"Council Member Li Chengxi died violently in the streets, and Councilor Wen Tian was assassinated in a café. Without anyone left to push this bill, how long do you think it will hold up once the new councilors take office?"

Mi Junwei wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.

"But it will still take some time for it to be completely forgotten. You surely need the cash flow, right? How about this, Miss Zeng: I'm willing to pay eight eerie points a bottle, and I'll take as many as you have."

Double their original cost. He wasn't just offering this price for profit anymore.

Wen Tian was dead; he desperately needed a new backer.

"I don't think that'll be necessary."

Just then, Yan Jing's voice rang out from behind them.

Mi Junwei looked at Yan Jing walking toward them, a bad premonition suddenly rising in his chest.

"There's no need to wait for this so-called bill to be naturally forgotten."

Yan Jing said with a smile.

"I believe Councilor Xu Chao will help us repeal it once he takes office."

Xu Chao...

Hearing this name, both Mi Junwei and Zeng Qing froze.

Then Zeng Qing whipped her head toward Yan Jing, shock written all over her face.

So that money had ultimately been wired to...

"It seems I backed the right horse."

Yan Jing's eyes crinkled in a smile.

"Councilor Xu is quite lucky. With Councilor Wen and Council Member Li dead, he should have the most ballots now, shouldn't he?"

"..."

Mi Junwei sprang to his feet, scrambled over to Yan Jing, and dropped squarely to his knees with a thud.

"I-I was out of line earlier. M-Mr. Luo... For this batch of medicine, I'm willing to offer ten eerie points a bottle. I only ask that you give me a chance and let us be friends."

"Fifteen eerie points a bottle."

Yan Jing's smile vanished.

"Otherwise, I doubt anyone will supply you with goods ever again, Mr. Mi."

"..." Mi Junwei trembled all over. This medicine could be fenced for seven eerie points a bottle at best. At fifteen eerie points, he would be taking an eight-point loss on every single bottle.

Calculating it out... that was a whopping 400,000 eerie points!