Chapter 134: Chapter 116: The Real Culprit
3:00 PM.
Chu Bamboo returned to the Third District Police Chief Bureau to find that Li Kang and the others weren’t in the Special Warfare Brigade Office. This didn’t surprise him, so he decided to head to the Underground Temple Base.
"Nuwa No. 17," Chu Bamboo ordered with a solemn expression, "from this moment on, take over the surveillance systems of the tallest building in the Third District! Run a data retrieval on everyone who entered or exited the building up until midnight this morning! Find out their real identities and trace their movements."
Everyone entering or exiting the tallest building in the Third District required identification, so the identities of all who went in could be traced. It wasn’t that a disguise was impossible, but any such disguise had to be an officially plausible identity. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have even gotten inside!
Afterward, if these identities were run through the system, even if the suspect had already discarded them, a lot of useful information could still be uncovered.
"Message received! Commencing identity information retrieval... Permission level adequate." Nuwa No. 17’s voice was as mechanical as ever. The silvery-white walls instantly distorted, revealing countless small, square surveillance screens.
On them, scenes captured by the various cameras in the tallest building were displayed.
’Good. That’s enough.’ After watching for a while, Chu Bamboo had Nuwa retract the screens and continue monitoring in the background. Then, he went back up to the second floor of the Police Chief Bureau, gave his customary greeting to the guard, entered a phone booth, and made a call.
"Can you spare some time at 4:00 PM—no, 3:50 PM?" Chu Bamboo got straight to the point.
"What’s happened?" Li Kang’s previously weary voice grew serious.
After a moment of thought, he answered carefully, "It’ll be hard to free up everyone. You must have already been to the office and the Temple, right? If there’s no one left on standby, that means we’re swamped! That’s just how this job is... But..."
Pausing briefly, Li Kang continued, "If it’s just me, I can probably squeeze out some time... The rest of the team will just have to suffer a bit!"
"Good, then you come over." Chu Bamboo made the decision and immediately began to explain the situation.
"Third District, over at the abandoned crane tower! Around 4:30, there might be... an incident. Of course, considering prep time, the suspects—or enemies—might start arriving to set things up around 4:10? But it couldn’t be too much earlier!"
’As for why it couldn’t be too much earlier... because I’m about to head over there myself! If they showed up too early, wouldn’t they run right into me?’
’If that happens, there’s nothing for it. I’ll just have to reset again, then skip ahead, skip ahead, and blast the enemy to hell!’
Chu Bamboo’s mind integrated the available information as he said carefully, "I haven’t been able to confirm the specifics yet, so I won’t say anything for now and risk misleading you."
"What I can tell you is this: based on the information I’ve received... it’s most likely a vicious homicide incident! A large-scale one. It’s suspected to be connected to the Extraordinary!"
After a short pause, Chu Bamboo emphasized, "I’m afraid it will be very serious! If things go wrong... it could trigger a Level 3 alert."
’Level 3? And the abandoned crane tower is in the Third District. Does that mean a Level 3 incident is about to happen in our jurisdiction?!’
"I understand!" Li Kang was startled but no longer hesitated.
After hanging up, Li Kang’s brows furrowed deeper.
"Captain, that... that doesn’t sound right, does it?" Sitting in the driver’s seat, Wall Announcements blinked in confusion. He had seen Li Kang take the call in the passenger seat, and when he heard Chu Bamboo’s voice, his heart had leaped into his throat. He’d eavesdropped intently on the entire conversation, terrified the man would sell him out.
Though he was relieved now, he couldn’t suppress the urge to complain. "The abandoned crane tower... it’s abandoned, right? There’s no one there, so how could there be a vicious homicide? Are they going to specifically kidnap people and kill them there? Isn’t that insane... And Uncle Zhu just had to use the word ’suspected’..."
"Anything you can think of, Ah Zhu can think of too!" Li Kang retorted with a single sentence. "Don’t question him... I’ve questioned him many times before! But in the end, I always found out that I was the one being stupid."
Li Kang leaned back in his seat, his gaze deep as if recalling something. That’s why, at least until the day Chu Bamboo proved to be unreliable, Li Kang would continue to trust him without hesitation.
"I want to go too!" Guan Fei stretched his limbs, his voice filled with a bit of excitement and soaring battle intent.
"No. Like I said before, we still have to keep hunting Transcendents!" Li Kang shook his head.
"But isn’t this a Level 3 incident?" Guan Fei grew anxious. Leaks about Transcendents were serious, but what did that count for compared to a Level 3?
"It’s only ’suspected’!" Li Kang stressed. "If it were confirmed as Level 3, it wouldn’t just be us; we’d even have to call in support from other districts! Although I trust Chu Bamboo, I’m personally inclined to believe this is a worst-case scenario. The kind with a very low probability."
"However!" Li Kang’s brow tightened. "At 5:00, wait for my call! If I don’t call you by then... it probably means something has happened!"
Though his tone was calm, the expressions of everyone present changed completely.
The atmosphere inside the electric car grew heavy and solemn!
Realizing this, Li Kang quickly changed the subject. He stared at the warning notifications on his phone. "Speaking of which, compared to the last two days, hasn’t the frequency of these warnings increased a lot?"
"It’s probably... doubled?" Ning Linglong calculated mentally for a moment, unable to say for sure.
"Could it be... that someone is deliberately plotting something?" Wall Announcements’ body jolted. "And Uncle Zhu’s situation... Could it be that the two are connected?"
"Where is your mind going!" Li Kang shot Wall Announcements a speechless look. "It’s just normal fluctuation—when it’s quiet, there’s nothing, and when it’s busy, you feel like even a Clone wouldn’t be enough! That’s how the job is... What’s this about an ’average’?"
"As for a connection, you’re really letting your imagination run wild! Everything is connected? Are you saying that all criminal activities in our Third District are actually related to one person... that there’s a single mastermind behind it all? Isn’t that just bullshit?!"
Wall Announcements shrank back. He thought about it and realized it did make sense, an embarrassed smile appearing on his face.
Li Kang made the final decision. "Alright, that’s settled. We still have some time! Let’s get back to work... When the time comes, just drop me off somewhere close. I’ll go alone."
"Captain... I honestly don’t think my skills are that much worse than yours!" Ning Linglong pouted, quite displeased. "Why didn’t Uncle Zhu call me? Couldn’t he have just invited me to go alone? Besides, I’m way easier on the eyes than you are!"
Li Kang forcefully suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. ’Do you think Ah Zhu can’t see what you’re trying to do? The fact that he didn’t call you is the answer itself!’
’Do you even need to ask?’
...
「3:54 PM.」
「The Abandoned Crane Tower.」
Chu Bamboo’s brow furrowed. He turned to see Li Kang rushing over. Li Kang pressed his palms together apologetically. "Sorry, something unexpected came up! I’m a little late..."
"Mm, follow me!" Chu Bamboo didn’t say much more, simply walking straight into the tower.
Inside the dilapidated crane tower, the walls were all concrete, with no windows. The stairs had no handrails... there was even some rebar exposed from the concrete steps! It had the appearance of a decrepit, unfinished building.
Reaching the top floor, Chu Bamboo looked out into the distance, took the binoculars from around his neck, and focused them. He had a perfect view of the Third District’s church. Of course, even though the church doors were tall and wide open, the angle only allowed a partial view of the interior.
However, this was the spot with the best possible view of the church’s interior that carried the least risk.
"You can tell me a bit more now, can’t you?" Li Kang clapped the dust off his hands and asked directly.
"I said, ’suspected’! That word means... it’s also possible nothing will happen here!" Chu Bamboo tossed the binoculars to Li Kang, his tone turning serious. "Hide! If you have doubts, you can use these to keep an eye on the church... The incident might happen over there! But, it’s highly likely someone will enter this tower soon!"
"You mean, a Transcendent is coming to this crane tower to do something illegal?" Li Kang interrupted Chu Bamboo, a look of bewilderment on his face. "And it involves the church?"
"Did you—this—did you not consider that the person coming might be a Cultivator?! That they could just scan the area with Divine Thought?" Li Kang didn’t know what kind of expression to make. "Maybe in the city, they wouldn’t dare use Divine Thought in a way that’s externally visible because of the Extraordinary Isolation Act! But out here in this deserted area..."
"Oh! Always look on the bright side. Maybe it’s a Body Cultivator," Chu Bamboo said expressionlessly. How could he not have thought of that? But he didn’t care. As long as he could see who the enemy was, that was enough! ’Worst case, I die, right?’
’As for why he absolutely had to bring Li Kang along... who else was to blame for him being so weak right now? What if he got insta-killed? If Li Kang could take a hit for him, it would buy him a lot of leeway... at least enough to see the enemy’s face!’
"You... that’s not...!" Li Kang almost laughed out of sheer exasperation, but he quickly caught himself, his words becoming deep and cautious. "Do you... have some other plan?"
"Who knows," Chu Bamboo said ambiguously.
"I’m actually very curious why you’re so sure that what happens here will be connected to the church..." Li Kang raised the binoculars and looked in the direction Chu Bamboo had been watching.
The next moment.
Chu Bamboo’s expression froze. He saw a faint black light envelop the empty, windowless opening of the crane tower in front of him.
Then, he felt a joy and delight that was impossible to describe with words—
"This..." Li Kang’s expression changed abruptly, but he couldn’t say any more. The light in his pupils gradually faded.
And then...
Chu Bamboo lost consciousness.
...
He opened his eyes again.
Everything was familiar.
Chu Bamboo shot to his feet, his face ice-cold. He practically spat two words through clenched teeth, "...Qi Heng!"
Wasn’t the situation he just encountered the effect of Captain Qi’s Fallen Soul Sword?
Zhang Hai: "???"
’What the hell! Why are you staring at him and saying another name? Are you still half-asleep?!’
Chu Bamboo ignored Zhang Hai’s confusion, frowning in thought. He had always known something was wrong with Qi Heng. However, the information he had confirmed before was that Captain Qi was All-Powerful’s contact within the Police Chief Bureau, or more accurately, the Captain’s Office.
Captain Qi definitely knew what was going on with All-Powerful, but he hadn’t joined them—at least, not as far as Chu Bamboo knew.
But now, the situation had become complicated!
Chu Bamboo forced himself to calm down and think rationally.
’Was Qi Heng observing the situation for All-Powerful’s attack on the church? And he even dared to move against us? Has he really crossed the point of no return? Or does he genuinely believe he can kill us and cover it up?’
One possibility after another flashed through Chu Bamboo’s mind. ’Did Qi Heng join All-Powerful in the last two days? So if he can’t cover this up, he’ll just defect and join the Demon Dao Sect? Or did something else unexpected happen?’
Chu Bamboo took a deep breath. ’But no matter what, the situation is gradually becoming clearer!’
