Chapter 398

Just as the gunshot rang out.

At the very end of the bodyguard line, Tong Shan, wearing sunglasses, sighed and flicked his finger. Instantly, the steel nail that had just left the barrel lost its target and veered off into the sky.

The attacker shouted, roared, and pulled the trigger again.

Still in vain.

After firing two steel nail bullets, he looked through the dissipating smoke at the unscathed Xu Chaoxian, paused for a moment, and then instinctively swung the hammer-like modified firearm in his hand and charged toward the podium.

Regrettably, there was no more chance.

No, there was never a chance to begin with.

The security guards and bodyguards on the sidelines had already pounced, pinning him to the ground. Under layer after layer of suppression, the attacker's mask fell off, revealing scars like those from acid erosion, ugly and wretched.

He lifted his head stubbornly, staring at Xu Chaoxian, who was protected in the middle by his subordinates, his eyes bloodshot.

Roaring and struggling again and again.

"Running dog!!!"

He roared vaguely, as if weeping blood: "You bunch of running dogs!!! Xu Chaoxian, you'll die without a burial place sooner or later! You motherfucker..."

His mouth was gagged.

Drag him away.

The corner of Tong Shan's eye twitched, and his gaze dropped.

A silent sigh.

Running dog, huh...

Inside the venue, the brief chaos soon came to an end. It seemed this wasn't the first time they had encountered such a thing; from Xu Chaoxian to his subordinates, everyone was unfazed.

"The enthusiasm of our friends here seems a bit excessive. Sports shouldn't be aimed at the audience, otherwise, you'll be penalized..."

The Viceroy, whose hair remained perfectly in place, still stood on the podium, continuing his speech with grace. He used what had just happened to make a joke, sparking a wave of canned laughter.

Among those enthusiastic or indifferent faces, there were still quite a few filled with regret, not hiding it at all.

What a pity.

Why didn't you die?

Ji Jue looked down at his phone screen. Isis reported, [Sir, communication anomaly.]

His eyebrows arched and then furrowed again. He stood up and reached out to Lu Ma, who was still in shock: "Let's go, the scene is too chaotic, it won't be easy to leave once it's over."

He picked up his third sister, took Lu Ma's hand, and walked toward the exit.

Before his eyes, the text messages intercepted and decrypted by Isis appeared, two temporary numbers.

[That piece of trash failed!]

[It can only be you, Ajelam. Everyone will remember your sacrifice.]

[Don't forget what you promised me.]

[Rest assured, White King Eternal, my brother, we will reunite in paradise.]

[White King Eternal!]

In less than a minute, a few short messages flashed before Ji Jue's eyes. The signal lock was complete. In the aisle, Ji Jue suddenly turned his head and looked at the opposite stand.

In that surging crowd.

A bearded man clutching a phone was biting his lip in hesitation, his expression shifting. He suddenly stood up and pulled open his jacket, revealing dense cables and explosives.

He shouted toward the direction of the live broadcast camera:

"--Long live the White State!!!"

The detonator was pressed!

Pop!

At that instant, a loud roar echoed.

Above everyone's heads, the moment he stood up to shout, Tong Shan suddenly turned his head. The psychokinesis covering the entire venue had already detected the abnormal clues. With a flick of his finger, the psychokinesis stirred the air in the middle of the venue, creating a thunderclap out of thin air.

It drew everyone's gaze.

The man covered in explosives was already frozen in place, unable to move, not even able to control his blinking. Layers of psychokinesis enveloped him, creating an invisible barrier, a lockdown.

The hand holding the detonator snapped off in mid-air, suspended, even the pressure of the press maintained in its original state.

Then, from bottom to top, it rapidly disintegrated.

"Useless."

Ji Jue sighed, able to distinguish the specific structure with just a glance: "Besides active triggering, there's also a countdown and remote control..."

The subtle words were like a whisper, but he knew Tong Shan could hear them.

And so, that gaze cast his way became even more helpless.

"Do me a favor."

Tong Shan sighed: "Consider it a debt I owe you."

"Don't be like that, Shan Ge."

Ji Jue shook his head, helpless.

Instantly, like a *deus ex machina*, the explosives tangled with dense cables and tape on the attacker's body disintegrated into thin air, the detonators fell off, and there was no longer any response.

Not only that, the phone in the attacker's pocket lit up out of thin air, tracing the records. Soon, on Tong Shan's phone, two different seat numbers, photos of a man and woman who seemed completely unrelated, two mobile coordinates outside the venue, and a vehicle parked on the street outside Tianmen appeared...

Hmm, it was actually a new product from Coast, a classic replica bread van.

Thanks for the support!

Ji Jue pressed his phone twice, directly killing the engine.

After putting the phone away, he felt a wave of disgust, finally experiencing the frustration that Tong Zhiwu had long since grown accustomed to: the powerlessness of not being able to stand someone, yet being unable to leave them dead on the street due to various connections.

No way around it.

Xu Chaoxian can't die yet.

At the very least, he can't be blown up here.

Otherwise, at least half the venue would be buried with this dog, and this shitty competition was sponsored by him anyway!

You bunch of dogs, you have absolutely no sense of location.

Next, with Ji Jue using his full-map and wall-hack cheats, the efficiency of the Anquan Bureau was rapid, and they soon took down most of the people involved before the chaos could escalate.

However, there were always accidents.

When the Anquan Bureau Chosen One who went to the front stands to make an arrest returned, his expression was ashamed, his head lowered: "Team Tong, one got away."

"What happened?" Tong Shan frowned.

"I, I don't know..." the Chosen One stammered: "I, I just had a moment of distraction, he, no, she... in short, that person just disappeared!"

He couldn't even tell if the person in that seat was a man or a woman, old or young, what their features were, or what they looked like.

It wasn't just him; Tong Shan, who should have been monitoring the overall situation and grasping the state of affairs, had actually missed the opponent as well, and hadn't even noticed...

"Heart Pivot?" Tong Shan frowned.

"Heart Pivot, indeed."

In the darkness at the exit of the passage not far away, Ji Jue realized with a sigh.

There is nothing more troublesome than finding a Heart Pivot among a large group of people; it's even more troublesome than picking a strand of ginger out of a pot of shredded potatoes. At the very least, you can devour all the shredded potatoes, but you can't just kill everyone here, right?

Sometimes, this 'ginger strand' will even disguise itself as the texture of a potato strand to deceive you, making your conscience feel bad so you can't bring yourself to take a bite...

No way around it, these bastards have all their stealth skills maxed out, and they all have blessing sequences that ignore or lower their presence; they are incredibly insidious.

Before they are willing to reveal their true colors, they will seem more like an ordinary person than any ordinary person. It's even possible that the person themselves wasn't even there, and what came here was just a puppet.

Thinking of this, Ji Jue felt a headache.

What a pain...

If he had known, he wouldn't have come. What does the life or death of this piece of shit Xu Chaoxian have to do with him?

Yet, the piece of shit had no self-awareness and stuck to him relentlessly. As soon as they reached the exit and turned the corner, Xu Chaoxian walked up with a warm laugh, stretching out both hands to greet him enthusiastically: "This must be Mr. Ji, right? Oh my, it's our first time meeting. Truly young and promising, young and promising!"

"Heh."

Ji Jue glanced at the hands extended toward him and just gave a polite smile: "Glad you know."

He withdrew his gaze and turned to leave.

Not buying it at all.

Xu Chaoxian paused for a moment, then laughed indifferently, shrugging in self-deprecation: "It seems this Viceroy of mine really isn't very well-liked."

Tong Shan, standing behind him, was silent, as if he hadn't heard.

He just glanced at the back of his head.

You motherfucker know that too?!

It was another half hour before Ji Jue saw Tong Shan walk out.

He was sitting in the shade of the steps playing with his phone. Hearing the familiar footsteps behind him, he turned back and laughed: "Finished?"

"This is only the beginning."

Tong Shan sighed: "There's a whole pile of things to do later, it's a pain in the ass. I have to write reports, and I have to hunt down that Heart Pivot... It's probably going to be a whole lot of bullshit."

"What was that about just now?" Ji Jue asked curiously.

"That bunch of Central Landers?" Tong Shan tugged at his tie to catch his breath: "The White State restoration organization, a bunch of fanatics from the Southern Holy Unification Alliance. To retaliate for the military department arresting one of their priests a few days ago, they planned to give the Federation another traditional Central Land surprise."

Ji Jue shook his head: "I meant the one before..."

Tong Shan fell silent.

He instinctively touched his pocket but restrained the urge to smoke. In the end, he just shook his head helplessly: "A poor devil with nowhere left to go."

An accident, a chemical pollution incident, a backroom deal, a scapegoat and a poor wretch, an unexpected blow, a family falling apart, family members dying of cancer because of it... and an empty shell for whom living no longer had any meaning.

"That's enough, goddammit."

He sighed wearily.

Ji Jue didn't speak, silently watching the long-lost scenery on the school plaza.

In the brief silence, Tong Shan's phone vibrated again with a progress report.

He looked down at his phone and asked suddenly before leaving: "Free tonight? Let's get together?"

"Your treat? That's rare."

Ji Jue was stunned, grinning playfully: "After having my sister eat with me so many times, you've finally found your conscience? Aren't you afraid of being reported for extravagance and waste?"

"I'm leaving the day after tomorrow, so reporting has nothing to do with me."

Tong Shan shrugged, as if relieved, and grinned: "Coming or not? Steak and seafood, all you can eat."

"I'm in!"

Ji Jue nodded without hesitation: "Definitely coming."

"I'll send you the address later."

Tong Shan walked away without looking back.

Leaving Ji Jue sitting on the steps, watching the sunset glow gradually rising, feeling a sluggish shock and confusion. After a long time, he sighed wistfully.

He thought it was rare for Tong Zhiwu to be generous for once, and that the future looked promising, but it turned out there was no future?

Too fast.

Leaving just like that, so fast it caught people off guard.

But in reality, if you count the time, it was already quite slow. The transfer order had been down for over a month, and now that the handover was complete, Tong Shan was to be transferred away from the Yacheng Anquan Bureau.

From now on, the life or death of Xu Chaoxian would no longer be any of his business.

He was free.

It was truly something to celebrate!

But who's going to make up for all those meals I'm owed? You dummy! Don't blame me for bullying your sister for fun, okay!

Ji Jue sighed, stood up, patted his pant legs, and walked toward Lu Ling and the others who were waving at him.

I'll go buy a bottle of good wine later.

As it turned out, the wine was bought.

Tong Zhiwu didn't get a single drop!

The moment Ji Jue's wine was placed on the table, the cold dishes hadn't even made a full round before they were already polished off by the group from the Beishan district who had arrived first.

"It's rare for you kid to have a heart."

Wen Wen slapped the table and stood up, picking up the wine bottle, extremely heroic: "Come, I'll show everyone how it's done first..."

Pop!

After flicking the bottle cap off, she downed it in one second, then sighed contentedly and sat down: "You guys go ahead, go ahead!"

Then, another whole case of hard liquor was brought over, and she handed out a bottle to everyone to rinse their mouths first.

Suddenly there was a round of applause, well, mostly from Tong Hua, who had obtained the privilege of being exempt from drinking by wearing a 'confession letter' on her head, plus little An, who was holding juice and looking confused.

"..."

Feeling this intense atmosphere, Ji Jue's eye twitched, feeling that there was no way he was walking out of here upright tonight.

Watching her being so uninhibited, Ji Jue immediately winked at Old Zhang across the table, his lips moving silently: How long has she been off the wagon?

Old Zhang made a gesture of seven, and Ji Jue immediately breathed a sigh of relief, thank goodness, and then he saw him make another seven...

And then another...

Twenty-one days!

Ji Jue's vision went black.

Fuck, how bad is the rebound going to be?!