Chapter 301: The Li Family

After killing Chai Jue, Li Fei did not continue to attack the remaining people, but instead turned and kicked the door of a car with great force.

BOOM!!!

The car door was kicked inward, and then, propelled by the immense force, it slid a distance along the ground.

Li Fei rushed up to deliver a second kick; this time, he forcibly kicked the car off the road, causing it to flip over into the grass on the side.

Such terrifying explosive power scared the Chen family martial artists so much that they dared not step forward, while Li Fei turned and rushed toward the next car.

He had already utilized 【Blood Rage】 during his earlier exchange with Chai Jue, consuming 7 Blood Souls to gain a boost in strength.

Chai Jue was defeated by him easily, losing in terms of force, technique, and also power.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Huge sounds of impact rang out on the road again and again.

Li Fei kicked the dozen or so Chen family cars to the side of the road one after another, forcibly clearing the path.

During this time, the Chen family martial artists tried to surround and attack Li Fei, but after paying the price of seven or eight people having their arms broken, they finally dared not strike again.

A moment later, Li Fei returned.

The Supervision Bureau's motorcade restarted and drove away.

The rest of the journey encountered no further setbacks, and the motorcade returned to the city smoothly, arriving back at the Supervision Bureau.

Li Lei had, after all, withstood the pressure and held on until Lu Sheng brought the people back.

That night, the Supervision Bureau interrogated the case overnight and simultaneously dispatched the Second Brigade to Chen Family Village to provide support and prevent any accidents there.

Li Fei went along with the Second Brigade and stood guard at Chen Family Village.

The Chen family, of course, did not sit idly by and wait for death; they had been using various methods to try to obstruct the Supervision Bureau's investigation.

Cui Ding, the secretary to Chief Lan Changqun, even stayed at the Supervision Bureau all night without leaving.

But it was useless; this time, Li Lei gave no one any face. Unless someone could directly remove him from his position as Acting Chief Inspector, no one could change his will!

As long as the Chen family did not dare to directly bring people to storm the Supervision Bureau to snatch the prisoners, the investigation of the case would not stop!

March 22nd.

The day after the people from Chen Family Village were brought back to the Supervision Bureau, the Bureau sent people to the Chen Mansion again.

This time, it was still to make arrests.

The cases involving Chen Family Village could naturally not be completely unrelated to the Chen Mansion. This time, seven more key members of the Chen family were taken away, the highest-ranking among them being Chen Yuzhi, the helmsman of the Chen family's third branch—Third Master Chen!

This Third Master Chen had once gone to the Qingyuan Fist Stronghold to speak with Li Fei in person about the exotic beast farm; he was the person primarily responsible for the Chen family's medicinal herb business, so he could not absolve himself of blame for the incident at Chen Family Village.

Changheng Street, Chen Mansion.

After Chen Yuzhi, the helmsman of the third branch, was taken away, the atmosphere in the Chen Mansion changed.

In the main hall, a group of the Chen family's high-level members gathered together.

"I have already inquired clearly; the loose ends of all the homicide cases at Chen Family Village were actually handled very cleanly. The evidence and witnesses the Supervision Bureau found this time were kept by someone in secret. This is not something an outsider could have done; there must be a mole in Chen Family Village!"

A man spoke up.

"Damn it, find them and skin them alive!"

"Such a person should be turned into a human pig!"

"Enough!"

Chen Yujing, sitting in the main seat, sternly interrupted everyone. "Now is not the time to investigate moles!"

"The Chen Family Village affair—there is no escaping guilt this time. The Supervision Bureau has made it clear they are going to play hardball, and Chief Lan cannot force them to stop. Think about how to handle the aftermath."

Chen Yujing said.

"Then Yuzhi... are we just going to give up on him?"

A woman asked with a sobbing tone; she was Chen Yuzhi's wife.

Chen Yujing rubbed his brow: "I will find a way to get the Sifa Academy to handle it leniently."

In truth, he did not even believe these words himself.

Back then, the officials the Green-Faced Ghost killed the most were from the Sifa Academy, so many people in the Sifa Academy had been replaced.

Nowadays, under the influence of Chief Justice Han Zhang, the Sifa Academy could be said to be "impervious to reason," giving no one face. All cases were judged according to the law; they would not sentence anyone excessively, but they would never let anyone off lightly either!

Therefore, it was actually very, very difficult for the Chen family to influence the Sifa Academy's verdict.

"Master, we cannot just let it go like this!"

Someone said, "Our Chen family has suffered such a huge loss this time; we must fight back and let the Supervision Bureau know pain!"

Chen Yujing's eyes also became sharp: "Of course we won't just let it go!"

Just then, someone ran in in a panic, rushed to Chen Yujing's side, and whispered a few words to him.

After listening, Chen Yujing's face turned pale, and his body swayed.

"Master?"

"What happened?"

Soon, people came in one after another to report the latest intelligence, and the people of the other two branches also received the news:

The Inspection Bureau had suddenly started making arrests as well, and they were arresting officials from the Chen family faction!

Now everyone understood: this move against the Chen family was only the first step, and the enemy's offensive had not yet ended.

If the enemy hiding in the shadows could use a mole to grasp criminal evidence of Chen Family Village, was it possible they could also grasp quite a bit of criminal evidence on officials of the Chen family faction?

This possibility made people's hearts jump with fear!

"Why would the Inspection Bureau go to such lengths to help Li Lei?!"

Many people felt they could not understand.

The Inspection Bureau had indeed been close to Li Lei before, but they had not clearly taken a side, and they also had a good relationship with the new Chief, Lan Changqun.

However, now that Lan Changqun had clearly expressed his fury, the Inspection Bureau had jumped out to help the Supervision Bureau deal with the Chen family; this was clearly taking a stand!

Chen Yujing vaguely guessed the reason, and a name flashed through his mind—Li Fei.

He already knew of Li Fei's exploits in Datong Prefecture City.

Now that the Li family had produced a peerless prodigy, as long as Li Fei did not die, he would definitely become a Dao Foundation realm expert in the future, and not just an ordinary Dao Foundation expert at that.

Such a Dao Foundation expert could already support the future of a family.

Therefore, it was very likely that the Inspection Bureau chose to fully support Li Lei because of Li Fei's potential!

"Even if the Inspection Bureau also takes action, we won't necessarily lose. Chief Lan will not watch the Chen family fall!"

"Right, with Chief Lan on our side, we won't lose!"

Everyone cheered themselves up one after another.

The Chen family had been incredibly glorious over the past half-year, with their family power rising steadily, leading many to develop the illusion that the Chen family was omnipotent in Xingcheng.

But now, facing the Supervision Bureau and the Inspection Bureau acting regardless of the cost, everyone finally felt that overwhelming pressure!

In the main hall, even the air was deathly pale.

March 23rd.

Three officials from the Chen family faction were taken away by the Inspection Bureau; all three were second-tier subordinate officials.

For a time, the officials standing on the Chen family's side were all in a state of panic.

The "Queen" Feng Sanniang had indeed used a mole to grasp some criminal evidence on officials of the Chen family faction, but the number of officials she could implicate was only a few.

This meant that it would not be so easy for the Supervision Bureau and the Inspection Bureau to implement "precision strikes" against the Chen family from here on out.

Therefore, Li Lei's next tactic was—attacking the heart!

He had people leak the news of the Chen family faction officials' arrests to those Chen family members who had been brought back to the Supervision Bureau, and then, through threats or inducements, made these Chen family members spit out more criminal facts about the Chen family.

From Chen Family Village to the Chen family faction officials, in just a few days, Li Lei and the Inspection Bureau joined forces to create an atmosphere of the Chen family's mansion being on the verge of collapse.

The arrested Chen family members were naturally terrified, and soon some could not hold out and chose to betray their own kin.

Consequently, the Supervision Bureau mobilized again to continue making arrests!

With the first, there came a second, a third...

And those who were betrayed by their own kin and dragged in were naturally filled with resentment, decisively choosing to drag others down with them!

The first branch dragged the second branch down, the second branch dragged the third branch down, and the third branch went after the first branch...

The struggle between the three branches of the Chen family had always existed, with long-standing grievances; it just lacked a catalyst to erupt.

Now, the powder keg had been lit—

It exploded!

March 25th.

The Supervision Bureau's Second Brigade, which had been stationed at Chen Family Village, received orders and began large-scale arrests.

Together with Chen family members, guards, servants, and so on, over a hundred people were arrested!

The Supervision Bureau had completed the preliminary conclusion of the case regarding Chen Family Village.

In fact, there were two ways to handle it: one was lenient, which was to only arrest the principal offenders.

The other was a comprehensive strike, which was to not let a single person involved in the case go!

Now that the Second Brigade was suddenly making large-scale arrests, it was clear that the Supervision Bureau's choice of handling was the second one.

This was because the resistance from Chief Lan Changqun had suddenly disappeared. It appeared this Chief had decided to abandon the Chen family, which left Li Lei with no more constraints, allowing him to handle the case freely and increase the intensity of the strike against the Chen family!

In the Chen family courtyard, Li Fei watched expressionlessly as the supervisors took away one Chen family member after another.

He had been guarding here for the past few days, actually waiting for that Chen family ancestor who had been in secluded cultivation.

This ancestor was of the same generation as Zhu Qingyan and was already over seventy years old this year.

According to the law of "if you don't reach the Dao Foundation by fifty, there is no hope for life," this Chen family ancestor should logically have long since lost hope of breaking through to the Dao Foundation realm.

But he had taken a different path, choosing another way to break through the realm—he had removed the implant in his body that had already entered the "aging phase," and then replaced it with a new one, starting his cultivation all over again!

The higher a martial artist's realm, the more tightly integrated the implant becomes with their own body, so the further along they are, the heavier the damage caused by removing the implant.

Under normal circumstances, if a peak Qi Transformation martial artist were to forcibly remove the implant within their body, they would lose their life!

Therefore, no one believed that the Chen family ancestor could succeed, yet he succeeded!

After removing the implant in his body and choosing to recultivate, that ancestor had been in seclusion all these years and had never made a move in front of others again.

The Chen family publicly claimed that the ancestor was recultivating smoothly and was once again attempting to break through to the Dao Foundation stage. But in reality, many people felt that this ancestor had likely already died.

The intelligence Feng Sanniang gave Li Fei was that the Chen family ancestor was still alive, only it was uncertain what his current realm was.

Li Fei had prepared for the possibility of the opponent successfully breaking through his realm, and had been waiting for him to come these past few days.

If that ancestor dared to come, then the Green-Faced Ghost would soon appear as well!

However, in the end, that ancestor did not appear.

Li Fei strode toward a courtyard within the Chen family compound.

This was the residence where Zhu Qingyan lived.

Since being angered into a faint by Li Fei that day, this old lady had been bedridden.

Li Fei walked all the way into the residence; the servants here naturally did not dare to stop him.

"Stop!"

Zhu Qingyan's personal maid blocked Li Fei outside the room door, "The Old Mistress is still inside recuperating, you are not allowed to enter!"

Slap—

Li Fei could not be bothered with nonsense; he slapped the maid across the face, sending her flying.

Then he pushed open the door and walked in.

There was a faint smell of traditional Chinese medicine in the room.

Zhu Qingyan was lying on the bed, her breath as thin as a gossamer thread.

Upon hearing the commotion, she struggled to open her eyes and saw Li Fei.

"You..."

"I came to tell you that the Chen family has fallen."

"Impossible!"

Zhu Qingyan gritted her teeth and said.

Li Fei looked at her expressionlessly and recounted in detail everything that had happened over the past few days.

"... ver a hundred people from the Chen family will be convicted, more than half will be sentenced to death, and this place will no longer bear the name Chen from now on."

Li Fei left behind this final sentence, then turned and left.

"Heh... heh..."

Zhu Qingyan watched Li Fei's back, struggling to get up.

She gasped violently, then suddenly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

"Old Mistress—"

As Li Fei walked out of the residence, a sorrowful cry came from behind him.

He looked up at the sky, recalling the human pig he had seen in the bunker and the numerous heinous crimes committed by the Chen family he had heard about these past few days, and his mood improved slightly.

Xingcheng, Government Building.

Chief's Office.

A man with white hair at his temples and an elegant temperament was browsing through the documents in his hands.

He was the newly appointed Chief of Xingcheng, Lan Changqun.

He was older than Gu Zhenhui, born into a scholarly family, and had previously served as Deputy Chief in another city.

Being transferred to Xingcheng was considered a promotion for him, a significant step forward.

It was just a pity that the 'political ecology' of Xingcheng made him feel immense pressure; as Chief, he had less say than he did as a Deputy Chief before.

This time, the Inspection Bureau and the Supervisory Bureau joined forces, clashing with him head-on for the first time.

Everyone saw the final result—he, the Chief, had been completely defeated!

Now that the Chen family had completely fallen, Xingcheng was truly dominated by one power.

The Inspection Bureau, the Supervisory Bureau, and the Stop-War Bureau were tightly knit together, and in the underworld, the Qingyuan Property Management Company stood at the top.

On the surface, there was Shangguan Xiao at the Dao Foundation stage, the Martial Arts Hall had Hao Yi at the Dao Foundation stage, and in the shadows, there was the Green-Faced Ghost, a powerhouse on the Feng Province Wind and Cloud List.

With such power, as long as they didn't rebel, who could keep them in check?

Bang, bang, bang.

A knock on the door sounded.

"Enter."

The door was pushed open, and Cui Ding walked in.

"My lord, this is the verdict from the Sifa Academy."

Cui Ding handed a document to Lan Changqun.

Lan Changqun took the document, glanced at it briefly, and tossed it aside.

"Give me a cigarette."

He said to Cui Ding.

"Right."

Cui Ding, standing to the side, hurriedly took out a cigarette and lit it for him.

"Cough, cough, cough, cough."

Lan Changqun took a puff and began to cough violently.

He had quit smoking a long time ago.

"My lord."

Cui Ding looked at him with concern.

Lan Changqun waved his hand.

After a long while, he sighed:

"From now on, the number one family in Xingcheng is no longer the Chen family."

"Mm."

"It is the Li family."

Seeking monthly votes.

(End of chapter)