Chapter 333 - 332: 3 Passerby, Confidence

"To explain things in detail, we need to start from a month ago,"

Ye Liuli began.

"As I mentioned earlier, since the incident of the Demon Beast Union in the capital a few months ago, we of the Charming Night have not left the Dark Street to avoid unnecessary trouble. So far, we have been cautious and closely watching the movements of various powers on Dark Street as well as the flow of outsiders."

She sighs slightly as she speaks.

"We don’t have a choice in doing these things. The demons in our Charming Night may not be all kind, but they are trying to survive in the crevices of human society. The Demon Beast Union incident has made the whole situation in Longyu extremely sensitive. Voices calling for the cleaning up and killing all the demons have emerged among ordinary people who hold a great deal of prejudice against demons. We need to protect ourselves."

Li Jing was listening to Ye Liuli’s words without making a sound.

The details he wanted, Ye Liuli did not mention.

She was only trying to evoke pity.

Of course.

In recent times, demons have indeed suffered terribly.

Not to mention in the capital region.

Even the demons in some remote cities had to keep their tails between their legs.

The so-called "cleanliness campaigns," as Ye Liuli mentioned, have always existed.

It was only amplified during certain periods.

There is nothing worth mentioning.

In this day and age.

No matter what happened, there are always people trying to attract attention and court popularity.

They like to make their voices heard from a moral high ground, but they are rotten to the bone, simply hoping to gain public empathy and attention, thereby profiting.

Nevertheless, based on the facts.

Li Jing felt that Ye Liuli’s attempt to evoke pity was understandable.

After all, she had indeed experienced such a period of suffering.

Right now, he was maintaining a considerable amount of patience out of consideration.

Ye Liuli indeed had the intention to garner some sympathy.

However, her main purpose was to clarify that she was eyeing the Rakshasa crowd for survival, not for power and profit.

So far.

She still believed that Li Jing was a big shot in the capital’s Taoist community.

She didn’t want to be seen as a threat.

Seeing that Li Jing was holding her gaze and remaining silent, Ye Liuli, who had played her pity card, stopped playing her little games and continued her story.

"It was around the beginning of the month that the demons under me noticed a group of suspicious outsiders appearing in the Dark Street, accompanied by the Rakshasa crowd throughout. The Rakshasa crowd being the biggest power in the Dark Street, we at Charming Night naturally pay extra attention. This concerns not only the division of benefits on the Dark Street but also the safety of all the members of Charming Night during this sensitive period."

"I quietly investigated this group of outsiders but couldn’t get any clear information related to them through any channel. I couldn’t even find out their names. It was as if these people had appeared out of thin air, leaving no trace in the social face of Longyu. I felt something was amiss at the time, but I didn’t advocate digging deeper."

Having said two sentences in a row, Ye Liuli shrugged.

"In the underworld, the most important thing is to be flashy. I’ve been mixing on the Dark Street for so many years that the connections I have in Dong Ye City and the capital alone can cover the two cities, including connections within various systems. Among them, the connection network in the capital can to a large extent radiate around Longyu. Such a network couldn’t even trace the origins of several people, which proves that things are not so simple."

Li Jing nodded at these words.

"And then?"

Ye Liuli’s words were very straightforward.

It would be hard for a demon power that has been developing on the Dark Street for many years not to have a strong network of connections.

Nothing can be found out, which is right.

It proves that he was not wrong to come here.

"There’s no ’then’."

Ye Liuli shook her head and said.

"Soon after I advised against delving any deeper, that group of people mysteriously disappeared from the Dark Street. Nearly half a month later, another group of outsiders appeared on the Dark Street and established contact with Rakshasa crowd. The two groups are not from the same place, you can tell by their demeanor."

"Demeanor?"

Li Jing frowned.

"Yes."

Ye Liuli replied.

"The first group of people belonged to a more fierce type, they have an aura of hostility and seem like underworld people but not exactly, that kind of feeling. The second group, however, made us who swing on the Dark Street feel uncomfortable. Specifically, I don’t know how to describe it, if I had to say, it might be their righteous aura?"

"Continue."

Li Jing nodded.

"Like the first group of people, the second one also couldn’t be traced back. The difference is that they only stayed on the Dark Street for a day before disappearing."

She continued.

"Then, a few days ago, another group of people arrived. This group of people had a distinct characteristic, they were three bald men who looked friendly but gave off a monstrous vibe. The main one among them had something that resembled a monk’s scar on his head, but he obviously wasn’t an ordinary monk. I had personally observed him from afar, and he emanates a fierceness that ordinary people do not have. During his contact with the Rakshasa crowd, he once got angry and unintentionally revealed an aura that made my scalp numb, which was of at least the Late Six Realm cultivation level. That’s basically it, I don’t know anything more."

After finishing her story, Ye Liuli looked at Li Jing mysteriously.

"Without counting you two, there have been four groups of mysterious outsiders appearing on the Dark Street in a short span of a month. Each group seems more dangerous than the last. The only difference is that you two approached me, while the previous three groups had contact with the Rakshasa crowd."

Facing the faintly aggrieved tone, Li Jing smiled and said,

"Sorry for causing you trouble."

As he spoke, he patted the slender waist of the young face in his arms.

The young face, who had been sitting on Li Jing’s lap quietly like a vase, stood up understandingly.

Li Jing stood up after her, checked the time on his phone, and then looked at Ye Liuli.

"It’s just after four in the afternoon. You get your people ready. At midnight, you’ll be ready to take over the territory of the Rakshasa crowd."

?

Ye Liuli slowly typed out a question mark.

Tongyan was also suddenly taken aback, almost failing to keep up her tough lady boss persona.

What did Li Jing mean by that...

What was he implying?

Was he planning to confront the Rakshasa gang?

There were big problems with the Rakshasa gang, as could already be seen from the information investigated by Black Butterfly.

Then there was Ye Liuli’s recounting.

In short, it could be confirmed that within a month, the Rakshasa gang had interactions with disciples from at least three sects.

But that alone couldn’t be a reason to confront the Rakshasa gang, could it?

The groups of people mentioned by Ye Liuli, they didn’t encounter a single one of them so far.

If they didn’t encounter them, then there was no evidence.

Without evidence, how could they move against the Rakshasa Gang?

What was Li Jing up to?

Tongyan was confused.

Ye Liuli simply looked baffled.

Li Jing had said beforehand that he wouldn’t owe her for providing information, but this was too much, wasn’t it?

She was just thinking...

She didn’t say anything specific herself, so why was Li Jing suddenly showing the momentum of wanting to obliterate the Rakshasa gang?

The key point was, he sounded so confident.

The Rakshasa gang was the strongest force in the Dark Street. How formidable were they?

If they were to be eradicated, it could only possibly happen if the Patrol Headquarters of the capital or the Dong Ye Patrol Branch put in a lot of effort to rectify it.

Did Li Jing have the ability to influence either of the patrol bureaus to take action?

Obviously not.

Li Jing was a patroller, which Ye Liuli didn’t know about.

Even if she knew, she was skeptical about this.

A critical issue was, patrollers needed evidence to take action.

If there was a conflict between factions, how strong would the faction behind Li Jing have to be to take down the Rakshasa gang in one fell swoop?

As the saying goes,

A dragon cannot suppress a snake in its own haunting.

Li Jing was a dragon, that’s for sure.

But the Rakshasas were also the top dogs of the Dark Street.

Being a genuine local snake, they wouldn’t be so easily subdued.

Furthermore, if one truly wanted to subdue the Rakshasa gang, a massive conflict would inevitably break out.

This was not a joke that could be made.

Why were the people of Dark Street afraid to even engage in squabbles on a regular day?

The patrol forces from both the capital and Dong Ye were strictly guarding here.

The slightest dispute, they would be there in an instant.

Conflicts, absolutely not.

Not to mention a large-scale conflict...

Struggling to keep a straight face, Ye Liuli quietly said,

"Mr. Lu, your joke isn’t funny at all."

"Do I look like I’m joking with you?"

Li Jing smiled.

"..."

Ye Liuli fell silent.

Hearing the wild ideas of a certain person and seeing his harmless smile, she just wanted to scoff.

But her biological instinct, for some reason, started to kick in again.

Her heartbeat was accelerating.

Her calf muscles started trembling.

Li Jing didn’t intend to linger.

Embracing the principle of being thorough when putting on a show, he naturally wrapped his arm around Tongyan’s slender waist and lightly said,

"I’ve said what I had to say. Whether to prepare or not is up to you. After midnight tonight, the Rakshasa gang will be no more on Dark Street."

Having said that, he turned to leave with Tongyan in his arms, then suddenly paused and looked back.

"Remember, we have never met."

Leaving those words behind, the two left.

Ye Liuli sat there in the Sad Tea seat, wearing an expression of disbelief.

Truthfully,

She couldn’t understand Li Jing at all.

What was the background of this young man?

The confidence displayed by his every move and word was something even the real big shots with clear identities in the capital didn’t dare to have.

Even though they, the ones who mixed in Dark Street, were somewhat inferior to those with clear identities in the capital, the gap wasn’t that big either.

It was just...

They had no apparent identity to shield themselves, so they could only linger and grow in the Dark Street, subtly extending their influence to the capital.

Watching Li Jing and Tong Yan go off into the distance, Ye Liuli sat in her seat in a trance.

The female demon from the Three Realm who had previously played the role of the night monster boss along with other male monsters stood in the distance from the Sad Tea, and as Li Jing and Tong Yan left, they gradually closed the distance.

Seeing their boss sitting in the Sad Tea shop in a daze, the other monsters looked at each other without interrupting her.

After a while.

It seemed as if Ye Liuli had made a decision, and she suddenly stood up.

"Xiaoli."

"Yes."

The Three Realm female demon responded subconsciously and quickly walked into the Sad Tea Shop.

"Pass the word around, the mall will be closed today, gather everyone, even those who are outside should be summoned back."

Ye Liuli whispered her instructions, saying.

"Everyone get ready, we are going to do something big tonight."

"Understood."

The female demon known as Xiaoli nodded quickly.

While her cultivation level was meager, she was greatly trusted and highly used by Ye Liuli.

Even though Ye Liuli didn’t clearly say what big event she wanted to do, as long as her boss gave the order, she could never defy them.

...

Meanwhile.

Li Jing and Tong Yan strolled out of Charming Night.

As they leave the marketplace and reach the street, Tong Yan looks back at the entrance to the store and finally can’t help but ask.

"So, Li Jing, are you really going to make a move against the Rakshasa gang?"

"Or what? Do you think it’s a lie?"

Li Jing tilted his head in response, secretly giving a thumbs-up to Tong Yan’s surprisingly good hand feel on the waist, and no longer held her, saying.

"So far, we have only a vague lead. It’s getting really difficult to dive deeper. The last batch from the Rakshasa gang had left a few days ago, it’s unclear where they are now, and they’re hard to track."

Having said that, he continued.

"Our only viable approach at the moment is to start with the Rakshasa gang. Those guys aren’t easy to deal with. Monsters like Ye Liuli who are mixed up in society are relatively weak once found out. It’s necessary to be a bit brutal to gain any progress from the Rakshasa gang."

Tong Yan didn’t mind the control of her body, but she was not so careless as to continue to cozy up to him even after the play was over.

Even though "testing" someone did feel pretty good.

But as a girl, Tong Yan still knew how to self-respect.

Upon hearing Li Jing’s words, Tong Yan pursed her red lips and said.

"What you said does make sense. But the Rakshasa gang is the biggest power in the Dark Street after all, it’s not that easy to shake them up. Even if you have the support of the Patrol headquarters, they won’t be able to just take action."

"This isn’t that complicated, some arrangements will do, I have my solutions."

Li Jing dismissively responded.

"Before we get to that, Ye Liuli just mentioned that the three people’s characters are pretty distinctive, do you have any thoughts?"

"On this aspect, I do have some views."

Tong Yan replied.

"According to Ye Liuli’s description, the three people who had contact with the Rakshasa gang should be from the Demon Gate, Confucian, and Buddha, their temperaments perfectly match these three factions."

Speaking of which, she continued.

"However, this is no good at all, Demon, Confucian, and Buddha are among the major systems in the Hidden World Sect, and they are on par with the Taoists. The sects involved are too numerous to pinpoint exactly which three sects they are from."

Before Li Jing could speak, Tong Yan added.

"The only clarity among the three people is the Buddha person who appeared in Dark Street a few days ago. The peaceful and kind-hearted demeanor is a common feature of the Buddhist monks, the only ones that can appear fierce and terrifying are from the Angry King Kong branch. On this matter we may be able to make a follow up, the Angry King Kong branch is quite uncommon in the Buddhist system. Of those who are currently engaged in the mundane cultivation, there may only be a few, which might make it easier to locate the target."

Li Jing was very interested in the three systems of Demon, Confucian, and Buddha that Tong Yan had mentioned.

These three systems were highly representative.

Undoubtedly, they were branches within the Orthodox Immortal Path.

But essentially, there were no related cultivation methods within Longyu’s society.

The entire Orthodox Immortal Path of Longyu basically follows the Taoist path.

There are heresies, but without any Demon, Confucian, and Buddhism-related heresies.

Hearing Tong Yan’s subsequent comments, Li Jing nodded.

"Go around the shops by yourself, I need to communicate with someone."

Having said that, he took out his phone and dialed the number of Jin Rui-Xin.

Seeing this, Tong Yan obediently shut her mouth, and spotted a cosmetics store across the street, she giggled and dragged him over there.

After a few steps, Li Jing got Jin Rui-Xin on the line.

"Li Jing?"

"Yes, it’s me."

Li Jing replied, he raised his hand and gestured at Tong Yan to go and pick something from the cosmetics shop and he’ll wait outside.

Understanding his meaning, Tong Yan released him and briskly walked into the cosmetics store.

Li Jing followed behind her until he reached the front of the store, where he stopped, and said to Jin Rui-Xin on the phone.

"Leader Jin, I think I have some leads here and I need your assistance."

Hearing that he had some leads, the previously fatigued Jin Rui-Xin suddenly perked up.

"How so?"

"According to my current investigations, the Rakshasa gang on Dark Street has a major problem. In the past month, they have gradually had contact with the disciples of the sects related to the Demon Gate, Confucian, and Buddhism."

Li Jing started to talk and glanced at the childlike face incessantly staring at the counter in the shop. He calmly activated the Silent Shadow and connected himself with Black Butterfly through her. He then narrated the entire course of his two-pronged investigation.

Then, he went detailedly through his encounter with Ye Liuli in Dark Street.

Throughout the story, he mentioned everything, except for the fact that all members of Night Charm were demons.

His sincerity was overwhelming.

Jin Rui Xin was an intelligent person.

Li Jing was so meticulous in his narratives, it was clear to her that he was about to make a "special request". She had once "cooperated" with such a person before.

Jin Rui Xin knew it very well.

Li Jing would not have been so detailed without a reason, and would not have been so thorough in many details.

Catching the critical point, Jin Rui Xin was quick to respond.

"What do you need me to do?"

"The General Bureau should have complete records on the identities of the high-ranking figures in the group of Rakshasas, right?"

Li Jing asked calmly.

"We certainly do,"

Jin Rui Xin replied.

"These people in the Dark Street are rather unique, all of them taking the path of legal citizens. Hence, their records are all up-to-date."

"Right."

Li Jing responded.

"I would appreciate it if you could sort out files about the higher-ranking figures in the group of Rakshasas. I will look into the database using my tablet later, dig deeper, and contact you when I find something substantial on them."

Facing his request, Jin Rui Xin replied briskly.

"You got it. I’ll instruct someone to do it right now. The result will be ready within five minutes."

The Rakshasa’s high-ranking figures’ details are clearly recorded in the Patrol System.

There surely are problems.

However, the issues recorded in the system are not adequate as grounds to shake them.

The Patrol Headquarter had tried to dig deeper but the results were very limited.

It’s such a big nation with complex power structures. The General Bureau does not have enough power to focus on a small local force.

In Dark Street, the Rakshasas are indeed formidable.

However, if we were to look at the national scale, the Rakshasas amount to no more than a small fish.

At this critical moment, Jin Rui Xin doesn’t have much spare power to dig into any vulnerabilities of the Rakshasas’ high hierarchy.

To sum up.

It’s difficult to yield any results by conducting a formal investigation into such a thing.

If they really want results, they would have to invest a lot of manpower and resources.

Li Jing’s willingness to take on this responsibility is something Jin Rui Xin is happy to see.

At the same time, she also believes in Li Jing’s abilities.

...

After communicating with Jin Rui Xin and hanging up, Li Jing stood by the street for five minutes before checking the Patrol System on his tablet. He swiftly obtained the sorted records.

Once he got the records, Li Jing quickly scanned them and transferred all the files to his phone through point-to-point transmission. Then he put on his earphones and called Xiaoli.

Xiaoli was online twenty-four-seven, ready at all times.

She immediately answered the call.

"Master?"

"Hmm."

Li Jing responded.

"Have the two tasks I assigned you earlier yielded any results?"

"Not yet."

Xiaoli replied.

"I have so far verified over 300 people from the list of over a thousand names and found no issues. However, the three patrol officers did have one thing in common — they all appeared near your current location before disappearing, but didn’t stay long. The rest are still under verification."

Li Jing raised his eyebrows upon hearing this.

His current location was Dark Street, right?

All three missing patrol officers had been there?

It seemed that they indeed found something.

Xiaoli mentioned that they didn’t stay for long, which might mean the officers each encountered certain situations that prevented them from continuing to dive deeper.

They were unlikely to have run into danger.

If any of the three of them had encountered risks in Dark Street, they should have sought assistance from the Patrol Headquarter before going missing.

The situations they probably ran into were likely problems that affected their investigation but were not distressing, so they hadn’t considered reporting.

Li Jing did not believe that the three would be neglectful enough to disregard their personal safety.

After a moment of silence, Li Jing glanced at the surveillance camera on the street corner and instructed.

"Send me the CCTV footage of the three patrol officers appearing in Dark Street. I’ll take a look later."

As he said this, Li Jing sent the already packaged files about the high-ranking figures in the Rakshasa group to Xiaoli’s system from his phone.

"We’ll hold off on the list and anything related to the three missing patrol officers. I’ve sent you a document - the people recorded in it all have some issues. You should focus on investigating these people and sort out industries related to their names. Then start from their account books and tax records to dig out some problems."

"Understood."

Xiaoli answered, and sent him the surveillance footage.