Chapter 38

Wang Teng immediately puffed out his chest: “Director Su, rest assured! I’ll protect them both!”

He patted his own chest, but didn’t notice he bumped into the nearby file rack, sending several folders clattering to the floor.

Jiang Xia and Ye Lingxi exchanged a helpless glance, then bent down to help him pick up the files.

Outside the branch’s main gate, Wang Teng finally dropped his goofy grin, his expression turning serious.

“Let’s go! Let’s get our first mission done smoothly!”

The three arrived at the Hongliu Alley factory; Wang Teng glanced around. “Old Xia, there’s no one here—did we get the wrong location?”

Ye Lingxi pointed to footprints on the ground. “These are fresh prints. We’re not wrong—they must’ve left.”

Jiang Xia nodded. “We wait here. We’ll catch them in the act.”

Hours passed.

Wang Teng could no longer hold back. “It’s almost night—why haven’t they shown up? Is the intel wrong?”

The moment he finished speaking, the factory gate swung open. Jiang Xia clamped a hand over Wang Teng’s mouth and yanked him into a corner.

Three shadowy figures entered. The one in the center, dressed in black, sensed an unusual aura and halted, scanning the surroundings.

Wang Teng, about to act, accidentally stepped on a metal plate—*bang, bang!*

“Run!” The central black-clad man reacted fastest, grabbing the two beside him and sprinting toward the warehouse deep inside the factory.

Wang Teng’s eyes flashed—he summoned a rune on his palm. “Think Itachi can escape? Not a chance!”

“Gravity Rune: Sink!”

Hundreds of times normal gravity crushed the three black-clad men to the ground, leaving them writhing and moaning.

Ye Lingxi stopped, flicking out several threads of ice that bound the three men tightly.

One of the black-clad men stumbled and fell, his black sack spilling onto the ground—several stones engraved with demonic beast symbols rolled out.

Jiang Xia bent down, picked up the sack, and as soon as his fingers touched the stones, a chilling energy slithered up his fingertips—he clenched his fist, suppressing it with his own spiritual power.

“Don’t touch those stones!” No sooner had Jiang Xia spoken than the foremost black-clad man broke free of his bindings.

He pulled a short dagger from his sleeve and slashed toward Jiang Xia. “Wood Release: Piercing Technique!”

Wooden spikes erupted from Jiang Xia’s arm, piercing straight through the black-clad man’s body before the dagger could land.

Seeing the man still struggling, Jiang Xia formed hand seals.

The wooden spikes exploded inside the man’s body, branching wildly along his meridians—fabric tore, bones cracked.

His final scream choked in his throat; his body swelled like a soaked sponge, then rapidly shriveled—leaving only a grotesque corpse, stretched and distorted by protruding wooden branches.

Wang Teng sealed the acupoints of the remaining two black-clad men, bound them tightly, and threw them onto the ground like zongzi.

He stood with hands on hips, panting, looking down at the groaning men and smirked. “How’s that for combat power?”

Ye Lingxi knelt, examining the token on the pierced man’s body—a carved “13.” Her brow furrowed. “Another Cult of the Dark God operative. Probably a minor leader.”

Jiang Xia stepped to one of the bound men, stared into his eyes. “What were Itachi doing here? What are these stones for?”

The man glared at Jiang Xia, then fell silent.

Seeing him stubbornly refuse to speak, Jiang Xia stopped wasting words—his Rinnegan’s tomoe spun. “Mind Dive!”

He placed his hand on the black-clad man’s head and yanked hard—a purple spiritual essence tore free from the man’s body.

The man’s eyes went vacant; his body collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

Ye Lingxi stood frozen. Even as the General’s granddaughter, raised among the elite, she’d never seen such a technique.

Wang Teng leapt back, pointing at the spirit, mouth gaping wide enough to swallow a fist. “W-WTF! Old Xia, that’s brutal—Itachi just ripped out his soul?!”

After reading the memories, Jiang Xia crushed the spirit—it dissolved. He turned to the stunned pair.

“It’s one of my abilities. I can strip an enemy’s soul and extract their memories.”

Wang Teng’s eyes gleamed with envy. “Your ability’s insane—giants, meteorites, now soul-draining?!”

Ye Lingxi recovered and asked, “So what’s their goal? Are they from the Cult of the Dark God?”

Jiang Xia shook his head. “This one’s just a regular bounty hunter. But the one who posted the reward? Definitely the Cult of the Dark God.”

He glanced at the first black-clad man, then pointed to the sack.

“He’s the real one—Thirteenth Seat of the Cult in Linjiang. Their mission: smuggle these stones into the city.”

“These three are just one squad. I suspect many other bounty hunters are involved.”

Wang Teng slapped the last black-clad man. “Itachi’ve seen our methods. Speak up. Don’t make things worse for yourself.”

The man shuddered under the blow, teeth chattering.

“I… I’m just a regular bounty hunter. Saw this job on the black market—high pay, low risk. Took it.”

Wang Teng kicked a nearby metal barrel—*clang!* “That’s it? What about the other squads? How many others?”

“I don’t know how many! I heard every bounty hunter nearby was scrambling for this job. If I’d known it was this dangerous, I’d have died before taking it!”

The black-clad man lay trembling on the ground, repeating over and over: “I won’t do it again… I won’t do it again…”

Jiang Xia crouched, grabbed his hair, and forced him to meet his gaze.

“I’ll ask Itachi again: On the wanted list before, how many wanted to kill a student named Jiang Xia? And why was the bounty withdrawn?”

The man grew pale under Jiang Xia’s stare, straining to remember. “I… I heard the student Jiang Xia was just a Martial Master.”

“But I’m only at the peak of Martial Practitioner. And the bounty was so high—it had to be a trap.”

“I heard the top ten bounty hunters all wanted to go after him. But Jiang Xia kept hiding inside the Night Watch HQ. Then the Night Watch forcibly pulled the bounty.”

The man clutched Jiang Xia’s leg, sobbing. “I swear, that’s all I know! Please spare me! I won’t do it again!”

Jiang Xia frowned, kicked the man off his leg—just enough force to send him sprawling on his back, no bones broken.

“Take him back. That’s enough for a report.”

Wang Teng rushed forward, grabbed the rope tied to the man’s back, and dragged him like a sack of grain.

“Let’s go! Stop crying! If Itachi dare cause trouble again, Itachi’ll have plenty more to cry about!”

The black-clad man’s feet scraped the ground as he was dragged, mumbling frantically: “I told Itachi everything…”—his voice cracked with terror.

Ye Lingxi bent down, tied the sack containing the mysterious stones tightly, then wrapped two more layers of ice threads around it to prevent energy leakage.

“We need to clean up the Hongliu Alley scene. The body and the fight traces can’t stay.”

She pulled out her communicator and tapped twice. “I’ve notified the cleanup team. Let’s take him back to the branch.”

The three escorted the black-clad man toward the branch, Wang Teng muttering under his breath all the way.

“Never thought the top ten bounty hunters all wanted Itachi, Old Xia. While Itachi were holed up in HQ, the outside world must’ve been like a gold rush.”

Jiang Xia said nothing, his mind racing, connecting the dots.

Ye Lingxi glanced at him, softly: “The Night Watch forcibly withdrew the bounty—that means it’s still under control. Don’t worry.”

More than half an hour later, the three stepped through the gates of the Night Watch’s Linjiang branch.