Chapter 75: The Case of Burning Rage

In the jungle on the west side of the Peace Sect's mountain stronghold, Li Fei was hiding on the branch of a large tree, peering at the movement in the distance.

His position was just right for seeing the situation inside the stronghold clearly.

When Wang Ping and the others charged toward the Peace Sect leader Zhao Yu, he had been waiting for an opportunity; once all attention was drawn over there, he decisively chose to break out in the opposite direction.

If Wang Ping and the others could successfully capture Zhao Yu and turn the situation around, he could simply go back.

But if Wang Ping and the others failed, he would at least not be left without a way out.

The final result proved that Li Fei's caution had saved his life.

From the branch, he watched the battle on the eastern hillside from beginning to end, seeing the four official martial artists of the imperial court fall one after another.

Then he saw the people from the Peace Sect enter the stronghold to seize all the firearms and equipment, and saw them appearing to search for someone, finally driving blades into the chests of several people.

Subsequently, over a hundred Peace Sect members withdrew from the stronghold and headed in the direction where Li Fei was hiding.

"Coming to catch me?!"

Li Fei felt a shock in his heart, then quickly calmed down:

"There shouldn't be so many people coming to catch me; they are probably just wanting to withdraw in this direction, and I just happened to be ahead of them."

He quickly climbed down from the branch and ran into the depths of the jungle.

Soon, Peace Sect leader Zhao Yu arrived at the patch of jungle where Li Fei was hiding, accompanied by a group of fully armed followers.

Zhao Yu beckoned over a senior follower wearing a dark gray robe: "Someone fled in this direction earlier; take some people and set up a maze array so they cannot track our trail."

"Yes, Sect Leader."

The senior follower took the order and left.

Soon, mist began to permeate the jungle, and the Peace Sect members gradually disappeared into the fog.

In the mist, Li Fei looked at the backs of the Peace Sect members ahead and hesitated.

Hao Yi had told him much common knowledge about sorcery, such as how a martial artist who did not want to be affected by this maze array could only do as Wang Ping had done before: use martial artist blood-Qi and innate Qi to forcibly break the array.

And if he did that, it would certainly alert the Peace Sect members ahead. Therefore, the maze array the others set up before leaving was almost foolproof.

But Li Fei was an exception.

He had the Myriad Blood Bead to shoulder the vast majority of the mental interference for him, so he was almost entirely unaffected by the maze array.

The trees and bushes before his eyes had slight double images, but as long as he focused and looked carefully, the double images would vanish, and he could see the true path directly.

This meant he could silently follow behind the Peace Sect members, track them all the way, and thereby find the Peace Sect's new location!

"Should I track them?"

With Li Fei's consistently cautious personality, at a time like this, he should prioritize his own safety and not take unnecessary risks.

But having witnessed the failure of this operation with his own eyes, seeing over a hundred fully armed inspectors instantly knocked unconscious, and seeing four powerful official martial artists taken down—

He had been struck by a powerful impact!

If even official martial artists could die just like that, who in this world could say they were certain to live past tomorrow?

Even if he had something like the Myriad Blood Bead, if he could not become strong quickly, would he not one day suddenly end up like Wang Ping and the others?

"I must seize every opportunity to become strong; only then can I master my own destiny!"

Unknowingly, Li Fei's mindset had changed, giving rise to a strong sense of urgency.

He had seen with his own eyes those three black-robed martial artists who blocked Wang Ping and the others part ways with the Peace Sect members, which indicated the two sides were not together.

Moreover, in the battle against Wang Ping and the others, only those three martial artists had been at the front from start to finish, while the Peace Sect people only cast sorcery and fired guns from the back, which meant the Peace Sect had no martial artist-level powerhouses.

And without those three powerful Force-Refining martial artists, leaving only Peace Sect followers who used sorcery, Li Fei, with the Myriad Blood Bead, at least had the strength to fight.

Even if he were truly discovered, in terrain like this mountain jungle, he had a high chance of escaping.

So, in the end, Li Fei decided to follow!

This was a risk, but also an opportunity; if he could find the Peace Sect's new location and return to report it, it would surely be a great merit, so he wanted to try.

"What's going on?"

"Ah, my head hurts so much."

"How did I suddenly fall asleep?"

"Where is my gun?"

"Where is my stab-proof vest?"

"..."

In the stronghold, the unconscious people woke up one after another.

"Changwu!!"

Suddenly, Lu Sheng's grief-stricken voice rang out.

The people around looked over one after another, only to see Lu Zhangwu lying in a pool of blood, having already lost his breath.

"Ah—"

"Ah—"

"Ah—"

Lu Sheng held his son's corpse and screamed three times, nearly insane.

This captain of the Inspectorate, with such a promising future, had lost his composure in front of others for the first time.

The surrounding Martial Arts Hall students saw this scene and could not help but feel a sense of shared sorrow.

If even the son of an Inspectorate captain could die so easily, what more of them?

Soon, the death toll was tallied.

Besides Lu Zhangwu, three Grade-A students and five inspectors had been killed; the Peace Sect seemed to be killing randomly, without any pattern.

As for Li Fei's disappearance, it had not yet been discovered for the time being.

"It's possible that while the others were unconscious, these few woke up early and were killed as a result."

Someone offered a guess.

"Take all the bodies and withdraw the team."

Lu Sheng stood up holding Lu Zhangwu's corpse and said with a deathly pale face.

That night, the group returned safely to Xingcheng.

The operation had failed, losing over a hundred firearms, more than two hundred stab-proof vests and sidearms, five inspectors were dead, four Grade-A Martial Arts Hall students were dead, and most crucially, four official martial artists were missing.

This was a major case that had not occurred in many years—a serious crime!

The entire Xingcheng was shaken.

"What is the Inspectorate good for? So many people acting together with guns, and it still turned out like this?!"

In the Xingcheng Government Hall, Chief Gu Zhenhui slammed the table in his office in a rage.

After the Great Lan Dynasty changed from an imperial system to a dual constitutional monarchy over two hundred years ago, the administrative structure in various places had also changed.

Divided from high to low as 'Province, Prefecture, City, Town,' the highest administrative official of a town was called a Town Mayor, that of a city was a Chief, and above that were the Prefecture Guardian and the Provincial Inspector.

Chief Gu Zhenhui was the number one in Xingcheng, holding supreme administrative power; the incident that occurred today was reported to him immediately, thereby triggering his rage.

"What does the Stop-Conflict Court say?"

Gu Zhenhui asked after slamming the table.

He had just turned fifty this year; in terms of age, he was actually still 'young' and had a chance to advance further and strive for the position of Prefecture Guardian.

But such a heinous case occurring within his jurisdiction naturally made him furious.

"My lord, the Stop-Conflict Court has requested that the Justice Court send people to assist them in tracking the whereabouts of the Peace Sect."

The Secretary-General said.

Gu Zhenhui rubbed his temples: "Issue an order to the Justice Court, telling them to send people to assist the Stop-Conflict Court in the investigation. Tell them, whoever can be the first to find the whereabouts of the Peace Sect, I will surely have a heavy reward!

Also, tell Huang Weiguang that I only give him ten days; within ten days, he either gives me a satisfactory explanation or submits his resignation!"

"Yes."

The Secretary-General nodded in agreement.

The orders from the Government Hall were quickly disseminated, and the three most important institutions—the Inspectorate, the Stop-Conflict Court, and the Justice Court—all sprang into action.

The Justice Court sent several mages to follow the official martial artists of the Stop-Conflict Court into Luoshan, and the Inspectorate again sent over a hundred people into the mountains, and this time, Inspector-General Huang Weiguang led the team himself!

Not only that, the Inspectorate also issued a bounty:

"Anyone who can provide effective clues about the Peace Sect can receive a reward of up to ten thousand yuan!"

Inside the Luoshan stronghold, Li Lei was leading people to interrogate the villagers here one by one.

This time, Huang Weiguang led the team personally, and most of the inspectors he brought were still from the First Brigade, as this was the most elite force of the Inspectorate, only Lu Sheng was no longer allowed to participate.

And Li Lei had actively requested to participate in this operation because Li Fei had gone missing and had not been able to return with the others.

On the other side, Hao Yi also learned the news of Li Fei's disappearance; he left the Martial Arts Hall at once and rushed toward Luoshan.

(End of chapter)