Chapter 293: Surprise Attack

"Presumptuous?"

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

"My Inspection Bureau is handling a case according to the law, and you say I am presumptuous? What, does your Chen family dare to defy the national law?!"

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

By what right did the Inspection Bureau dare to be so forceful?

"Make the arrests!"

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

Chen Yujing suppressed his anger: "Lu Sheng, if we truly tear off the mask, are you certain that acting Chief Inspector can clean up the mess in the end?!"

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 end up in the end."

Chen Yujing sneered and said nothing more.

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

The last time the Inspection Bureau directly arrested people from the Chen family was because Li Fei had been attacked; that time, the Chen family only had one ordinary steward taken away.

Although they lost some face, it was not yet too serious.

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

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

Therefore, after Lu Sheng left, the Chen family began to exert their influence with full force.

The Inspection Bureau.

The 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, and having transferred over with Lan Changqun, he was a true confidant.

"I heard the Inspection Bureau suddenly sent people to the Chen residence 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 offense the Chen family has committed? Has the Inspection Bureau already obtained conclusive evidence?"

Li Lei also spoke in an 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, and the nature of these crimes is very severe, so the Inspection Bureau must take thunderous measures."

"In other words, they haven't been legally convicted yet, right?"

Cui Ding asked.

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

Li Lei retorted.

"Hahaha, Chief Inspector Li is right. It was my rashness."

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

"However, the Chen family has made great contributions to Xingcheng after all. If there is no conclusive evidence, I hope the Inspection Bureau 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 Inspection Bureau 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 newly arrived Chief Administrator Lan Changqun were indeed very close. It was not 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 Inspection Bureau and the Stop-Gong Bureau were clearly on the same front, while the Supervisory Bureau was a force left behind by Gu Zhenhui; because of Li Fei's connection, it was also on good terms with Li Lei's side.

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

Under Han Zhangwen's influence, the current Judicial Bureau was impartial and basically able to enforce the law justly.

As a result, among the six bureaus of Xingcheng, the new Chief Administrator Lan Changqun could only influence the one Internal Affairs Bureau.

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 act according to others' whims in the future.

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

After the call from the Chief Administrator's office, the Inspection Bureau received several more calls from the Internal Affairs Bureau one after another:

One came from the Military Affairs Department, saying that the batch of training ammunition the Inspection Bureau applied for last month could not be approved for the time being.

One came from the Household Affairs Department, saying that the Inspection Bureau's budget for the next quarter might have to be reduced.

And one came from the Personnel Department, saying that the annual performance reviews of several squadron leaders needed to be re-audited.

Although the Inspection Bureau was a force-wielding institution and could be very confident if it really had to clash head-on with someone,

everyone was operating within 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 Inspection Bureau, the Stop-Gong Bureau, and the City Guard could never operate independently.

Budget, equipment supply, salaries, promotion reviews, and so on—these were all areas where the Internal Affairs Bureau could influence the Inspection Bureau.

When people from various departments were calling the Inspection Bureau, the Chen family's influence was truly manifested.

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

"Brother Li, this is Cheng Bi."

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

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

"Little Brother Cheng, is there something you need?"

Li Lei asked.

"Just now, someone here in the Supervisory Bureau wanted to investigate several of the Inspection Bureau's battalion and squadron leaders, but I suppressed it."

Cheng Bi said.

"Oh?"

Li Lei narrowed his eyes.

The Supervisory Bureau 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 person could be found to have all sorts of problems, because the system itself was imperfect and contained various loopholes.

Therefore, if the Supervisory Bureau really wanted to target the Inspection Bureau, 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 that he had no major dirt that others could use against him; even if minor problems were truly found, he would not be severely harmed.

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

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

Compared to the obstruction from the Internal Affairs Bureau, this kind of counterattack was truly sharp!

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

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

"Thanks, Little Brother Cheng."

Li Lei thanked him.

"Brother Li, no need to be polite. How is the progress?"

Cheng Bi asked.

Li Lei had communicated with him in advance before moving against the Chen family.

"The people we 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 act immediately on mine!"

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

"Understood."

Lu Sheng nodded.

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

The Chen family was relatively low-key in Xingcheng, but in Chen Village, they were absolute local tyrants, acting in an arrogant and domineering manner and committing many crimes.

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

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

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

A smile appeared on Li Lei's face.

"Xiao Fei? He's back?"

Lu Sheng was startled.

"Yes, he's back on break."

"There is still a certain amount of risk in Xiao Fei going."

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

Once bitten by a snake, one is afraid of a rope for ten years.

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

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

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

Li Fei defeated a peak Qi Transformation realm 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 realm expert, he would be invincible!

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

"That's good."

Lu Sheng stopped talking, turned around, and walked out of the office.

Soon, the entire First Brigade, the unit with the strongest combat power in the Xingcheng Inspection Bureau, assembled.

Besides them, the Stop-Conflict Academy also sent reinforcements, consisting of one Official Martial Master, four Martial Masters, and fifteen Body-Breaking realm martial artists.

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

Just as the convoy was about to leave the city, one 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 following along, but he hadn't told Li Lei that Li Tianyu was going too.

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

With his current strength, returning to Xingcheng felt like a max-level character coming back to farm a newbie village dungeon.

He had enough confidence to protect Li Tianyu.

"Does my dad really not know? Won't we be scolded to death by him when we get back?"

Only then did Li Tianyu realize 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.

"No way!"

Li Tianyu looked excited. "Once we arrive, if a fight really breaks out, you aren't allowed to just jump in. Don't scare them away; leave them for me."

"Fine."

Li Fei looked ahead and said calmly.

The direction the convoy took out of the city was opposite to the direction of Chen Village. After driving for a while and confirming no one was following, the convoy suddenly turned and headed toward Chen Village.

There was no conversation along the way. After driving for over two hours, the convoy arrived near Chen Village.

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

Thus, everyone got out of the vehicles and walked toward Chen Village.

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

It wasn't until the main force was within two kilometers of 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 group of experts from the Stop-Conflict Academy running in the front were the first to charge into the village:

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

They shouted while firing shots into the air.

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

The village immediately descended into chaos.

These martial artists from the Stop-Conflict Academy quickly spread out to surround the entire Chen Village, preventing anyone from escaping.

Li Fei and Li Tianyu also walked into this large-scale village.

Li Fei carried a Ghost-Slaying Blade in his hand, while Li Tianyu held a red-tasseled spear.

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 the important figures in Chen Village. Do you dare to charge straight into the dragon's den?"

"What's there to be afraid of!"

After saying that, Li Tianyu charged toward that direction with her spear.

Li Fei followed behind her, relaxed.

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

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

Li Tianyu did not hesitate; she took a running start, accelerated, kicked off the courtyard wall, and easily vaulted over the wall, which was over four meters high.

Li Fei followed behind her; he didn't even take a running start, just 'lightly' leaped, as if stepping over a threshold, and landed inside the wall.

"Who's there?!"

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

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

"Inspection Bureau on official business! Everyone drop your weapons immediately and squat down with your hands on your heads!"

Li Tianyu held her long spear and shouted imposingly.

"Squat your mother!"

"Kill them—"

Swish—

Swish—

Two guards did not hesitate to pull the triggers of their crossbows, firing two arrows at Li Fei and Li Tianyu.

Since ancient times, imperial power did not reach the countryside; in such remote and desolate places, the local powerful clans held the most authority.

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

Li Fei easily dodged the incoming arrows, while Li Tianyu was startled, not expecting the other side to attack without warning.

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

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

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

During middle school, her martial skills were the best in the Stop-Conflict department, revealing extraordinary talent.

After entering the Martial University, this talent blossomed further.

Seeing that the other side was about to shoot more 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 charged forward with her spear.

(End of chapter)