Chapter 184: Surprise Attack

"Insolent?"

In the main courtyard of the Chen residence, Lu Sheng stared at Chen Yujing without the slightest hint of fear:

"My Inspectorate is handling this case according to the law, and you call me insolent? What is this, does your Chen family dare to defy the laws of the nation?!"

Chen Yujing narrowed his eyes; Lu Sheng's attitude was beyond his expectations.

By what right did the Inspectorate dare to be so unyielding?

"Make the arrests!"

Lu Sheng stopped wasting words and waved his hand, signaling his team members to begin the arrests.

Chen Yujing suppressed his anger: "Lu Sheng, if we truly tear off the mask of civility, are you certain that the acting Chief Inspector can handle the aftermath?!"

He emphasized the word "acting."

Lu Sheng looked at him: "Chen Yujing, the Chen family has committed countless crimes; you should be thinking about how the Chen family will handle the aftermath."

Chen Yujing sneered and said nothing more.

Ten-plus minutes later, Lu Sheng took away a total of eleven people from the Chen family.

The last time the Inspectorate had directly arrested people from the Chen family was when Li Fei was attacked; that time, only an ordinary steward had been taken away.

Although they lost some face, it wasn't too serious.

But this time, among the eleven people taken, five were core members of the Chen family!

This was no longer just a slap in the face; it was a declaration of war!

Therefore, after Lu Sheng left, the Chen family began to mobilize their influence to the fullest extent.

The Inspectorate.

Chief Inspector's office.

The first call Li Lei received was from the Chief Administrator's office.

"Hello?"

"Chief Inspector Li, this is Cui Ding."

"Secretary Cui, is there something you need?"

Li Lei asked calmly.

Cui Ding was the secretary to Xingcheng's new Chief Administrator, Lan Changqun. Having transferred over with Lan Changqun, he was a true confidant.

"I heard the Inspectorate suddenly sent people to the Chen family and took away many people. Chief Administrator Lan is very concerned about this matter, so he asked me to call and inquire."

Cui Ding said unhurriedly, "I wonder what crime the Chen family has committed? Has the Inspectorate already obtained conclusive evidence?"

Li Lei replied in an equally unhurried tone: "We have already obtained some key evidence, and bringing them in is for the purpose of further investigation. The Chen family is involved in multiple homicide cases of a very severe nature, so the Inspectorate must take thunderous measures."

"In other words, there is no conviction yet, correct?"

Cui Ding asked.

"Handling a case has its own procedures. If we could convict directly, what would be the need for our Inspectorate? Wouldn't you agree, Secretary Cui?"

Li Lei countered.

"Hahaha, Chief Inspector Li is right; it was my presumption."

Cui Ding's tone softened, then he changed the subject:

"However, the Chen family has made significant contributions to Xingcheng after all. If there is no conclusive evidence, I hope the Inspectorate can release them soon. This is Chief Administrator Lan's intention."

Li Lei also laughed: "Of course. Please convey to Chief Administrator Lan that the Inspectorate will certainly handle the case according to the law and will absolutely not act recklessly."

Afterward, the two hung up, and Li Lei fell into deep thought in his office.

The Chen family and the new Chief Administrator, Lan Changqun, were indeed very close. It wasn't that the Chen family was so powerful that they had already won over a Chief Administrator, but rather that Lan Changqun needed to maintain a balance.

Nowadays, the Inspectorate and the Stop-Gore Academy were clearly on the same front, and the Supervisory Academy was the force left behind by Gu Zhenhui; because of Li Fei, they were also on good terms with Li Lei's side.

The Justice Academy had always held a transcendent status, and after the Judicial Academy was reshuffled, the most upright and incorruptible Han Zhangwen was promoted to Chief Justice (see Chapter 95 of Volume 1).

Under Han Zhangwen's influence, the current Judicial Academy was impartial and basically capable of enforcing the law justly.

As a result, of the six academies in Xingcheng, the new Chief Administrator Lan Changqun could only influence the Interior Academy.

He naturally had to find a way to win over the Chen family; otherwise, the "ecology" of Xingcheng would be unbalanced, and he, as Chief Administrator, might have to look at others' faces to get things done in the future.

Li Lei naturally couldn't completely ignore Lan Changqun's words; after all, the other party was his direct superior, and his position as Chief Inspector was still "acting" for the time being. Whether he could be confirmed in the future depended in part on Lan Changqun.

After the call from the Chief Administrator's office, the Inspectorate received multiple calls from the Interior Academy in succession:

One came from the Armaments Division, saying that the batch of training ammunition the Inspectorate had applied for last month could not be approved for the time being.

One came from the Household Division, saying that the Inspectorate's budget for the next quarter might need to be reduced.

There was also one from the Personnel Division, saying that the annual performance reviews of several squadron leaders needed to be re-audited...

Although the Inspectorate was a force-wielding organization and could be very confident if they really had a head-on conflict with someone,

everyone was mixing in the same system, and it was too easy to hold each other back. The system of the Great Lan Dynasty determined from the very beginning that force-wielding collectives like the Inspectorate, the Stop-Gore Academy, and the City Guard could never operate independently.

Funding, equipment supply, wages, promotion reviews, etc. —these were all areas where the Interior Academy could influence the Inspectorate.

When people from every division were calling the Inspectorate, the Chen family's influence was truly manifested.

Not long after, Li Lei received another call, this time from the Supervisory Academy:

"Brother Li, this is Cheng Bi."

Cheng Bi was the one who had originally made Li Fei a secret supervisor; he was a confidant of the previous Chief Administrator, Gu Zhenhui.

Before Gu Zhenhui stepped down, he had made special arrangements, leaving a way out for his own people in the Supervisory Academy. Cheng Bi was also promoted to Chief Secretary, becoming a big figure second only to the head of the Supervisory Academy, a level 10 official, an official appointed by the imperial court.

"Brother Cheng, is there something you need?"

Li Lei asked.

"Just now, someone in the Supervisory Academy wanted to investigate several brigade leaders and squadron leaders of the Inspectorate, but I suppressed it."

Cheng Bi said.

"Oh?"

Li Lei narrowed his eyes.

The Supervisory Academy had the authority to supervise all officials; as long as they were willing, they could always find problems.

In this era, there were no "perfect" officials. Even the most upright and incorruptible people could be found to have various problems, because the system itself was imperfect and contained various loopholes.

Therefore, if the Supervisory Academy really wanted to target the Inspectorate, they could find problems with anyone from Li Lei, the acting Chief Inspector, down to the most ordinary squad leader.

Of course, Li Lei asked himself if there were any major handles that others could grasp; even if some minor problems were really found, he wouldn't be hurt to the core.

It was just that among his subordinates, some might truly not be able to withstand an investigation.

The Supervisory Academy having such a reaction was naturally one of the Chen family's counterattacks.

Compared to the obstruction from the Interior Academy, this kind of counterattack was truly sharp!

Fortunately, Li Lei also had allies in the Supervisory Academy.

After Gu Zhenhui stepped down, the force he left in the Supervisory Academy chose to form an alliance with Li Lei, so Cheng Bi had been very close to Li Lei for the past half year.

"Thanks, Brother Cheng."

Li Lei thanked him.

"Brother Li, don't be polite. How is the progress?"

Cheng Bi asked.

Li Lei had cleared the air with him before moving against the Chen family.

"The people brought back are being interrogated. We are still missing a few key figures, and then the chain of evidence will be complete."

Li Lei said.

Cheng Bi: "Good, as long as you succeed on your end, I can launch my side immediately!"

"Good."

Li Lei hung up the phone, and then he made a call.

A few minutes later, Lu Sheng walked into his office.

"Chief Inspector."

"Old Lu, you take a team and make a trip to Chen Village!"

"Good."

Lu Sheng nodded.

Over the past few days, the Inspectorate, through intelligence provided by Li Fei, had been secretly investigating Chen Village, and as soon as they investigated, they found many problems.

The Chen family was relatively low-key in Xingcheng, but in Chen Village, they were absolute local tyrants, acting arrogantly and domineeringly, and had committed many crimes.

The charges Lu Sheng mentioned when he went to the Chen residence to make arrests were not made up; they were true.

So now he had to go to Chen Village to arrest a few key figures.

"This time, Xiao Fei will go with you."

A smile appeared on Li Lei's face.

"Xiao Fei? He's back?"

Lu Sheng was startled.

"Yes, he's back on break."

"It's still somewhat risky for Xiao Fei to go."

Lu Sheng didn't know about Li Fei's exploits, so he couldn't help but remind him.

Once bitten, twice shy.

He had once taken his own son on an operation, only for it to end in such a tragedy; the shadow in his heart had never dissipated.

"Rest assured, Xiao Fei is very powerful now."

Li Lei said with a smile, a look of pride appearing on his face.

Li Fei had defeated a peak Qi Transformation stage expert who had consumed a Limit-Breaking Pill on the Dragon-Tiger Platform; with such combat power in Xingcheng, as long as he didn't encounter a Dao Foundation stage expert, no one could defeat him!

Therefore, Li Lei was quite at ease about this operation.

"That's good."

Lu Sheng stopped wasting words and turned to walk out of the office.

Soon, the entire First Brigade, the most powerful combat force of the Xingcheng Inspectorate, assembled.

In addition, the Stop-Gore Academy also sent reinforcements, totaling one official Martial Master, four Martial Masters, and fifteen Body-Breaking stage martial artists.

Soon, everyone boarded the vehicles, and one van after another drove out of the Inspectorate's gate.

Just as the convoy was about to leave the city, a car followed the convoy and left the city together.

In the car, Li Fei was driving, and Li Tianyu was sitting in the passenger seat.

Li Fei had only told Li Lei that he would be going along this time, but he hadn't told Li Lei that Li Tianyu was going too.

Li Tianyu was currently at the late Body-Breaking stage of cultivation; to break through the realm, she had to experience life-and-death tempering, which was why Li Fei wanted to take this opportunity to take Li Tianyu to Chen Village.

With his current strength, returning to Xingcheng felt like a max-level character returning to a newbie village to re-clear a dungeon.

He had enough confidence to protect Li Tianyu.

"My dad really doesn't know? Won't we be scolded to death by him after we go back?"

Li Tianyu only now realized that Li Lei didn't know about this.

"Then do you want to go back now?"

Li Fei turned his head to look at her and asked with a smile.

"Not going back!"

Li Tianyu looked excited, "After we arrive in a while, if a battle really breaks out, you are not allowed to make a move casually; don't scare people away, leave them for me."

"Fine."

Li Fei looked ahead and said calmly.

The direction the convoy left the city was opposite to the direction of Chen Village. After driving for a stretch and confirming no one was following, the convoy suddenly turned and drove toward Chen Village.

No words were spoken along the way. After driving for more than two hours, the convoy arrived near Chen Village.

The road ahead was narrow and rugged, making it impossible to drive.

So everyone got out of the cars and walked toward Chen Village.

The experts from the Stop-Gore Academy walked in the front to act as scouts, controlling all villagers they encountered along the way to prevent them from tipping off the others.

It wasn't until the main force was only two kilometers away from Chen Village that the alarm was finally triggered, and the village reacted.

"Everyone, run forward!"

Lu Sheng, who was leading the team, ordered decisively.

Over a hundred people quickly ran toward Chen Village.

Soon, the experts from the Stop-Gore Academy running in the front were the first to rush into the village:

"Nobody move! Hands on your heads and squat on the ground!"

They shouted while firing into the sky.

For these villagers, the deterrent power of guns was much stronger than that of swords and blades.

The village was instantly in chaos.

These martial artists from the Stop-Gore Academy quickly spread out to surround the entire Chen Village so that no one could escape.

Li Fei took Li Tianyu and also walked into this large village.

Li Fei was carrying the Ghost-Slaying Blade, while Li Tianyu held a red-tasseled spear in her hand.

This was her weapon.

"What do we do next?"

Li Tianyu asked Li Fei subconsciously.

Li Fei pointed to a building in the distance and smiled:

"That should be the residence of important figures in Chen Village. Do you dare to break into the Dragon's Pool?"

"What's there to be afraid of!"

After saying that, Li Tianyu held her spear and rushed toward that side.

Li Fei followed behind easily.

Soon, Li Tianyu arrived outside the building Li Fei had just pointed to.

The outer wall was very high, and there was even a bunker inside!

Li Tianyu didn't hesitate; she took a running start, accelerated, kicked off the wall, and easily leaped over the four-meter-plus high wall.

Li Fei followed behind her; he didn't even need a running start, just a "light" leap, as if crossing a threshold, and he leaped inside the wall just like that.

"Who goes there?!"

As soon as the two landed, they heard shouts coming from all around.

Several guards holding blades and heavy crossbows were guarding near the wall.

"Inspectorate handling a case! Everyone put down your weapons immediately, hands on your heads and squat down!"

Li Tianyu held her long spear and shouted majestically.

"Squat your mother!"

"Kill them—"

Swish—

Swish—

Two guards didn't hesitate to pull the triggers of their heavy crossbows, shooting two arrows at Li Fei and Li Tianyu.

Since ancient times, imperial power did not reach the countryside; in such remote and isolated places, the local tyrants held the greatest say.

For example, in this Chen Village, many people only recognized the character "Chen"; as for any imperial laws, they simply didn't exist!

Li Fei easily dodged the incoming arrows, while Li Tianyu was startled, not expecting the other party to act as soon as they spoke.

Just as the arrow was about to hit her face, she swung the iron spear in her hand and shook the arrow away in time.

The spear was the most difficult of all cold weapons, but Li Tianyu chose to practice spear techniques after entering the Martial University.

Besides liking it, it was also because she truly had high talent in spear techniques.

During middle school, her martial skills were the best practiced in the Stop-Gore Department, revealing extraordinary talent.

After entering the Martial University, this talent blossomed further.

Seeing the other party continue to shoot arrows, a sharp look appeared in Li Tianyu's eyes.

Her dream was to become a female general of the Great Lan Dynasty.

This was the first battle of the future female general!

Facing the incoming arrows, Li Tianyu held her spear and charged up.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 185 =====