Chapter 129: Placing the Piece

August 31st.

On the last day of the month, Li Fei arrived at the Martial Arts Hall early in the morning as usual.

However, before he could go find Hao Yi, a group of people found him first.

"Brother Fei!"

The person in the lead had a smile plastered on his face and greeted him enthusiastically.

Li Fei looked at this person.

The other party was named Luo Hua, the son of a squadron leader in the First Battalion of the Inspectorate, and also one of the core figures in Lu Zhangwu's former small group.

Ever since Lu Zhangwu died unexpectedly and Lu Sheng was demoted, this small group that once belonged to the descendants of the Inspectorate had basically been on the verge of disbanding.

Later, after Li Lei was promoted beyond his rank to become the battalion commander of the First Battalion, which surprised everyone, people had successively come to find Li Fei, hoping he would step forward to become the new "leader," but Li Fei had brushed them all off.

He had too many things to keep him busy during this period; he really had no heart or energy to be any sort of leader or to socialize with these descendants of the Inspectorate.

"Brother Fei, today is the end-of-month assessment. How have you considered the matter I proposed before?"

Luo Hua asked.

Li Fei asked, "What is the content of this end-of-month assessment?"

He had been busy with sensory training these past two days, "taking blades" every day, and had almost forgotten about the monthly exam.

"This monthly exam is related to a major event that happened in the last two days."

Luo Hua said, "Recently, a fierce person called the Green-Faced Ghost has appeared in the Xingcheng underworld. Does Brother Fei know about him?"

"Uh."

Li Fei paused for a moment, "I know a little bit."

"This Green-Faced Ghost first killed a third-rank judge of the Judicial Academy, and then openly wounded people at the Green Origin Fist Stronghold. It is said he beat the Private Secretary of the Tiger Blade Gang until he was critically injured and dying!"

Luo Hua said in a low voice with an excited expression:

"Our monthly exam this time is to participate in a joint operation between the three academies—the Inspectorate, the Stop-Conflict Academy, and the Justice Academy—to arrest the Green-Faced Ghost together."

"I see."

Li Fei paused again, "Do they already know where the Green-Faced Ghost is?"

Luo Hua shook his head: "That, they don't, but we have to participate in the search operation with the people from the Inspectorate."

"Then if they don't end up finding the person, how will this monthly exam be calculated?"

Li Fei asked.

Luo Hua was taken aback: "A joint operation of the three academies, such a big move, surely they can find the person, right?"

"Hmm."

Li Fei nodded, "What you say makes sense."

"Brother Fei."

Luo Hua pointed to the people behind him, "For this operation, we will all look to you for leadership!"

Compared to the small group when Lu Zhangwu was still around, the number of people in front of Li Fei now was not even half of what it used to be.

Wu Yihua had taken office and become the Chief Inspector, so the internal structure of the Inspectorate was completely different from before; many people did not dare to oppose the Tiger Blade Gang anymore and chose to withdraw from this group.

The people in front of Li Fei were basically all children of fathers in the First Battalion; Li Lei was their fathers' direct superior, which was why they chose to let Li Fei be the leader.

"Let's help each other out."

Li Fei gave a response.

He had no need to push these students away; after all, Li Lei still needed the support of these people's fathers.

"Great!"

Seeing that Li Fei had agreed, Luo Hua and the others were overjoyed.

"With Brother Fei leading us this time, maybe we can catch the Green-Faced Ghost and make a great contribution!"

Someone flattered him.

"..."

Upon hearing this, Li Fei could only smile, not knowing what to say for a moment.

Afterwards, he went to Hao Yi's office to inquire about the monthly exam.

It was indeed just as Luo Hua had said.

"If you fail to find the Green-Faced Ghost, or if you don't encounter the Green-Faced Ghost during this search operation and have no opportunity to perform, then other assessment methods will be arranged later."

Hao Yi said to Li Fei.

"Understood."

Li Fei nodded.

Hao Yi recalled the phone call from last night, his expression slightly unnatural:

"This Green-Faced Ghost possesses the combat power of a Martial Master and is someone skilled in combat. The implant he uses should be power-oriented. If you really encounter him, do not force a confrontation."

Li Fei bowed to Hao Yi:

"The student understands."

Next, just like the monthly exam last month, all Grade A students gathered in the grand auditorium, the Vice Hall Master gave a speech, and then seven or eight senior instructors led the teams to depart.

This time, it was also the Inspectorate's transport vehicles that drove into the Martial Arts Hall to pick people up, taking all the Grade A students to the search area.

"Little Brother Fei, I was sent by Battalion Commander Li."

Inside the vehicle, an inspector who was riding in the same car as Li Fei and the others spoke up:

"We are conducting a city-wide search this time. Battalion Commander Li is in charge of the Kaiping District, and he sent me to pick you up to join the search on his side."

"Alright, thank you for your hard work."

Li Fei nodded, feeling a bit emotional.

During the last monthly exam, a similar situation happened between Lu Zhangwu and Lu Sheng, and now it had become Li Fei and Li Lei.

At this very moment, it was just like that moment in the past.

Luo Hua and the others in the car also had strange expressions, clearly also thinking of the past.

It was just that the final results for Lu Zhangwu and Lu Sheng were not very good, and one wondered what the result of this monthly exam would be.

Yu Mansion.

In the room where Zhang Mingze was recovering from his injuries, Physician Huang, who had been guarding the bedside, suddenly looked happy and hurriedly applied a few needles to Zhang Mingze, who was lying on the bed.

"Cough, cough, cough."

Zhang Mingze, who had been in a coma, suddenly began to cough and slowly opened his eyes.

"Go notify the Gang Leader, the Private Secretary has woken up!"

Physician Huang turned and shouted to the people guarding outside.

Soon, the sound of hurried footsteps came, and Yu Hu walked in quickly, looking at Zhang Mingze on the bed the first moment he arrived.

Seeing that the other party had regained consciousness, his expression immediately turned happy, and he turned to ask Physician Huang:

"How is his condition?"

Physician Huang had just finished taking his pulse and said to Yu Hu:

"Since the Private Secretary has been able to wake up, it means he has already stepped one foot out of the gates of hell. As long as his injuries do not continue to worsen in the next few days, his life can be considered saved."

"That's good! That's good!"

Yu Hu was overjoyed upon hearing this, "Physician Huang, I will have to trouble you to put in more effort in the coming days."

Physician Huang hurriedly bowed: "Gang Leader, you are too kind."

"Gang Leader."

On the bed, Zhang Mingze called out weakly.

Yu Hu hurriedly walked to the bedside: "You focus on recovering from your injuries; don't worry about other matters for now."

Zhang Mingze shook his head slightly, looking at Yu Hu:

"Gang Leader, tell me the current situation."

Physician Huang, who was to the side, saw this and hurriedly said: "Private Secretary Zhang, you should not exhaust your mind right now."

But Zhang Mingze just stared fixedly at Yu Hu.

He knew that since he had been severely injured and nearly died this time, Yu Hu would inevitably take major action.

Yu Hu looked at the look in Zhang Mingze's eyes and sighed.

He understood the other party's personality too well, so he could only quickly recount his arrangements and what had happened over the past two days.

"What is Gu Zhenhui's reaction?"

After listening to Yu Hu's description, Zhang Mingze asked.

"I had the Administration Hall propose a joint operation of the three academies—the Inspectorate, the Stop-Conflict Academy, and the Justice Academy—and Gu Zhenhui did not object. The officials of his faction were also very cooperative."

Yu Hu said, "He wants to avoid suspicion."

"Hmm."

Zhang Mingze hummed, falling into deep thought.

Because of his severe injuries, his thinking was a bit slow. He closed his eyes and pondered for a good while, then suddenly began to cough:

"Cough, cough, cough, cough!"

"Private Secretary!"

Physician Huang hurriedly stepped forward to apply two more needles to Zhang Mingze, helping the other party calm his breathing.

Zhang Mingze looked at Yu Hu and said weakly:

"The Gang Leader's move to make public that the Green-Faced Ghost killed Feng Zhenshan was very clever. However,"

"it also left behind a flaw."

Inside the room, Yu Hu's gaze sharpened.

In Kaiping District, Li Fei and the others had already linked up with the First Battalion of the Inspectorate and split into dozens of small squads to begin the search.

Because the vast majority of people living in Kaiping District were either wealthy or noble, the search here could not involve barging into people's homes one by one; they could only search as thoroughly as possible.

"Male, height around 178, medium build, likely has multiple sword wounds on his body."

This was the information Li Fei and the others had received regarding the Green-Faced Ghost.

Besides this, everyone held a drawing of the Green-Faced Ghost mask, and all search personnel were going around asking people if they had seen this mask, while simultaneously investigating all suspicious individuals.

Because it was still raining heavily, everyone was holding umbrellas and operating in the rain.

After searching for several hours, Luo Hua and the others, who had initially been ambitious and looking forward to encountering the Green-Faced Ghost and finding an opportunity to distinguish themselves, all looked like wilted eggplants.

"How long is this going to take?"

Luo Hua couldn't help but complain.

"This kind of massive search is just a matter of luck; it's possible there will be no results even after a dozen days."

An accompanying inspector said.

"Is it possible that the Green-Faced Ghost has already left the city?"

A female trainee asked.

"That possibility is relatively small, because all the main roads out of the city were blocked at the very first moment, and then every person leaving the city was strictly checked; it would be very difficult for the target to slip out of the city without a sound."

"Sigh, this assessment is just too boring."

Another trainee grumbled.

Li Fei, who had been silent the whole time, heard this and chimed in:

"It is quite boring."

He himself was participating in the search; if he could actually be searched out, the Green-Faced Ghost would truly be a ghost!

Bang!

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out from the distance.

Everyone present was stunned.

Then they heard a sharp whistle, followed by faint shouting:

"The Green-Faced Ghost has been spotted!"

"The Green-Faced Ghost is here!"

Launching tomorrow

(End of this chapter)