Chapter 887: Our Territory! He Can

Xu Jingming is the Magistrate of Mo City, responsible for overseeing all affairs of the Thunder Martial Arts Academies in Mo City, Jiangnan Province, and Suzhou-Hangzhou Province.

Su Qingli is the headmaster, but she only handles affairs at the regional chairman level—no need for her to intervene personally.

Song Qiuyun and Jiang Chu have joined the Thunder Martial Arts Academy, but they still have training sessions to attend.

So, the next day at noon.

After leaving the ninth-rank Thorn Sword Grass at the villa, Xu Jingming boarded a fighter jet with his guard unit and Ling Shuang, heading for Suzhou-Hangzhou Province.

Like Jiangnan Province, Suzhou-Hangzhou Province is also one of Daxia's major economic provinces.

Its permanent population exceeds 120 million, one-twentieth of whom are psychics.

Jingnan City, the provincial capital, is especially prosperous and wealthy, concentrating nearly one-third of all psychics in Suzhou-Hangzhou Province.

In the bustling heart of Jingnan City stands a tower over a hundred meters tall.

Across its front facade, the four large characters "Thunder Martial Arts Academy" are painted in bold, swirling strokes; on its side wall is a massive azure lightning emblem.

The people entering and leaving the academy include not only powerful psychics.

But also high school students in uniforms, taking their lunch break to complete a few training sets.

Jingnan City has six administrative districts, each with its own Thunder Martial Arts Academy building.

This one is the most luxurious of the six buildings.

"Have there been any updates from Mo City lately?"

On the top floor, in the regional chairman's office.

Li Gang sat on the sofa, facing a man whose appearance bore a slight resemblance to his own.

This man was Li Gang's cousin, Li Kun, a seventh-rank upper-tier adept and the branch head here.

For the past period, Li Kun had been responsible for monitoring developments in Mo City.

Of course, the main focus was Xu Jingming's movements.

"What updates could there be? I've already notified all directors and chairmen.

Suzhou-Hangzhou Province is a solid iron block—we've left them no leverage."

Li Kun said proudly, "But Xu Jingming really has some skill.

He vanished for a month, and when he reappeared, he'd already broken through to eighth rank."

"What good is strength if he can't find any evidence against us? He can't remove us."

Li Gang sneered, "If he forcibly removes us, he'll only cause panic within the academy and damage his own authority."

With the Li family backing him, he had no fear of Xu Jingming.

Even at the inauguration banquet held in Mo City, he didn't bother to attend.

"That's true, but Pang Tian and Ma Shan have fully sided with him.

This past month, nearly all our people in Mo City and Jiangnan Province have been purged by them."

Li Kun gritted his teeth.

Although the Li family has three councilors and is large and wealthy,

it also has many members; losing their positions in Mo City and Jiangnan Province would cost them substantial profits.

"Don't worry—they'll regret it. The clan head has already contacted Master Hu and is preparing the final plan.

If nothing goes wrong, the Thunder Martial Arts Academy will ultimately fall into our Li family's hands."

Li Gang sneered.

To the Li family, a Thunder Martial Arts Academy without a ninth-rank peak adept was merely a slightly stronger insect.

They had once planned to proceed slowly.

But Xu Jingming's sudden rise and obvious targeting

forced them to abandon their original plan and become more aggressive.

"Really?"

Li Kun's eyes lit up. "Hao Ge suffered so badly at Xu Jingming's hands—he deserves to pay."

Although Li Hao was famously a spoiled brat, he treated his brothers well.

All of them had good relations with each other.

"No need to wait long—we'll see him humiliated tonight."

Li Gang smiled. "The Flame Divine Temple's Green defeated the Star Martial Saint at noon today.

Tonight's match—Xu Jingming will lose for sure."

"Haha, good.

Xu Jingming is just too arrogant—he beat Meng Ke and still isn't satisfied, trying to challenge the eighth-rank rankings."

Li Kun laughed heartily. "Looks like I can't miss tonight's match."

He paused, then added hesitantly:

"By the way, the resource warehouse just reported that a lot of items went missing last night."

"Hmm?"

Li Gang frowned. "Wasn't there a seventh-rank peak mentalist guarding the warehouse? How did something get stolen?"

"According to the AI's analysis, it was an eighth-rank Grand Master skilled in stealth.

He not only blocked the mentalist's perception but also evaded all surveillance.

The alarm only triggered after he left, when the AI's scheduled inventory check found items missing."

Li Kun sighed helplessly.

"An eighth-rank Grand Master?"

Li Gang blinked. "How much in Daxia currency did we lose?"

"32. billion Daxia currency," Li Kun replied.

"32. billion? That's not much."

Li Gang was speechless at this answer.

It wasn't that the value was insignificant—in fact, it was one-sixth of Jingnan City's total resource reserves.

But for an eighth-rank Grand Master, it was a trivial amount.

Not worth risking exposure by stealing from the Thunder Martial Arts Academy.

"Investigate first—see if you can catch who did it. Don't notify headquarters."

After a moment's thought, Li Gang ordered.

Xu Jingming is surely looking to strike them—he wouldn't be foolish enough to hand over evidence himself.

"I thought the same—I've already ordered them to keep it quiet."

Li Kun nodded.

Suddenly—

Li Gang's expression turned startled and uncertain as he stared out the office's floor-to-ceiling window.

"What's wrong?"

Before Li Kun finished asking, his face also changed as he looked outside.

Whoosh—

A black, triangular fighter jet appeared on the horizon, speeding toward them.

"That's… Xu Jingming's jet? When did he come to Suzhou-Hangzhou Province?"

Li Kun looked stunned.

Though they resisted Xu Jingming's authority, they had memorized the appearance of this Obsidian-class jet.

"I don't know."

Li Gang shook his head, eyes glinting. "When the army comes, meet it with soldiers; when the water rises, block it with earth.

Suzhou-Hangzhou Province is our territory—he won't stir up any big waves.

Come on, gather all the directors—we'll go welcome our inspector."

Li Gang rose from the sofa and walked out with steady steps.

After all, they had operated in Suzhou-Hangzhou Province for over a decade.

A newly appointed inspector who'd been in office for only a month couldn't possibly threaten them.

Thinking this, Li Kun also regained his composure and stood to follow.