Chapter 135: Chapter 117: Two Suspects
After gathering his thoughts, Chu Bamboo stared gravely at Zhang Hai. "Zhang Zihai, between four and five this afternoon..."
Chu Bamboo cut right to the chase, explaining the crisis that would befall the church that afternoon.
"?!" Zhang Hai’s pupils contracted as a storm of shock raged within him. Before he could even calm down, he saw Chu Bamboo get up, briefly wash up, get dressed, and head for the door. "...Where are you going? Wait!"
"Just do what you need to do." Chu Bamboo paused, giving Zhang Hai a calm look before continuing on his way.
Zhang Hai stood frozen, clenching his fists as his expression shifted several times. Finally, he gave a bitter laugh and pulled out his phone. ’I just wanted to ask if you wanted the Cultivation Technique or not...’
"Damn it, what the hell is all this?!"
...
Police Chief Bureau.
Special Warfare Brigade Office.
Chu Bamboo opened the door and walked right in. He saw Gao Changming and, his expression unchanging, opened his mouth to call in a favor as usual.
"Xiaogao, your grandmother misses you very much..."
A few moments later.
Watching Gao Changming leave, Chu Bamboo turned his gaze back to Li Kang, who had been completely bewildered from the moment Chu Bamboo spoke and Gao Changming’s attitude changed.
"The file on the Second District’s Special Operations Captain, Qi Heng, has it been compiled? Have you submitted it?"
"...Huh?" Li Kang stammered. "N-Not yet!"
"Right now. Immediately! Take an electric car, go to the First District, and meet with your commander." Chu Bamboo enunciated clearly, but his words came out in a torrent. His gaze was icy. "Qi Heng already knows you have evidence on him! That’s why he’s planning to launch a terrifying Extraordinary attack against the Third District this afternoon! It will likely be at the church in the Third District, and the scale of the Extraordinary disaster will be roughly Level 3!"
"When that happens, you’ll definitely be deployed to the scene... and then, you will most likely die..."
"After that, he’ll have the chance to destroy the filed intelligence! At the same time, since it involves the church, it can easily stir up conflict between the God Worship Society and Jinghai City’s upper echelons... Under the cover of such a major conflict, he’ll be able to conceal his own problems with relative ease!"
"...What? How do you—! Okay, I understand." Li Kang broke out in a cold sweat. His face contorted for a moment, and he glanced at Chu Bamboo, opening his mouth as if to speak but then stopping.
’He couldn’t quite understand it. He had intelligence in his hands, but in theory, none of it was a fatal blow to Qi Heng.’
’He had evidence, yes, but he’d already killed Xue the Third to prevent his escape. Under these circumstances, even if he submitted the file, there was no way the commander would take down Qi Heng based on that alone.’
’This was the real reason he’d been dragging his feet and hadn’t actually filed the report at headquarters yet! He was putting his real efforts into working with Vice Captain Hai.’
’But he truly hadn’t expected it, couldn’t comprehend it... Just for this, something that couldn’t even threaten his position, the guy found out and now wants to kill me?’
’But Chu Bamboo had laid it all out... Wait a minute!’
"What’s the point of this?" Li Kang asked, the realization dawning on him belatedly as he stared at Chu Bamboo in confusion.
’Just as he hadn’t filed the report before because it posed no threat, wouldn’t the result be the same even if he filed it now?’
"Between four and five this afternoon, an attack will happen at the church in Zone Three!" Chu Bamboo repeated, giving a detailed summary. "Qi Heng will go to the abandoned tower in the Third District, which has a view of the church. He’ll be there sometime after four o’clock!"
"He’s doing this for two reasons. First, to observe the situation from there and maintain control! Second, to pick the right moment to make his entrance... By then, once things have blown up in the Third District, he, as someone from the Second District, can swoop in to quell the disaster and naturally earn great merit! And since you’ll have had a conflict with him, any intelligence you submit afterward will naturally lose its credibility."
"More importantly, this way... later on, you might get stripped of your post! Of course, getting removed from your post would be a good thing. The real fear is that he’ll pull some strings in the middle of the incident... and get you killed."
Chu Bamboo paused briefly and sighed. "Your strength is, after all, too weak! And considering the terrifying death rate in the Captain’s Office..."
"...I understand." Li Kang’s expression turned extremely grave. He took a deep breath internally and felt a strange sense of reassurance. ’It’s back. This feeling, this flawless calculation...’
’The reason he trusted Chu Bamboo so much was that he couldn’t even imagine how badly he’d be played if he were Chu Bamboo’s enemy. That being the case, he was determined to be Chu Bamboo’s staunchest ally!’
He suppressed the turmoil in his heart and said, "Later, after I go to headquarters, I’ll also apply for a Forbidden Artifact..."
"Qi Heng has the Fallen Soul Sword!" Chu Bamboo’s voice was heavy. "You have to factor that in..."
"That makes things difficult!" Li Kang’s brow furrowed. Although his rank and status gave him the authority to apply for a Fourth-level Forbidden Artifact, the problem was that his own strength was only Level 2—
In other words, wielding a Third-level Forbidden Artifact was already his absolute limit!
Yes, authority was one thing, but ability was another!
Unless he used a Spiritual Artifact... but a Fourth-level Spiritual Artifact? He wasn’t that audacious!
Besides, even setting the Artifact aside, his raw power was still inferior to Captain Qi’s.
"Let me think!" Li Kang paced back and forth. For now, the best option seemed to be explaining the situation directly to the commander, having him dispatch experts, and then capturing the enemy based on Chu Bamboo’s information.
But the key question was, where was the proof?
Li Kang’s brow furrowed tighter. He couldn’t expose Chu Bamboo, who was clearly not someone who could be revealed as an information source. Under those circumstances, he would never be able to convince the commander!
"You don’t need to worry so much," Chu Bamboo said with a glance at Li Kang. "Zhang Hai’s group is also aware of this matter! And unlike you, he can actually rally people."
"!!!" Li Kang’s face darkened. He looked at Chu Bamboo, his lips moving a few times as if wanting to say something, but the words all got stuck in his throat.
"I know you two don’t see eye to eye! But in this situation, you’d better collaborate with him on multiple fronts!" Chu Bamboo said slowly. "See how I’m looking out for you? I only told him that there would be trouble at the church! I didn’t say the real culprit might be at the tower! You can use this to make him owe you one..."
"Cut it out. You mean make him owe us *both* a favor, right? You definitely calculated that I would tell him you’re the source. That way, you’d have both him and me in your debt... Alright, alright, I’ll stop, I’ll stop!" Li Kang quickly threw his hands up in surrender after noticing Chu Bamboo’s death glare.
Then, he ran a hand through his hair in frustration and said with a bitter smile, "I’ll... I’ll go submit the intelligence now and apply for a Third-level Forbidden Artifact as a backup! Then I’ll go find that old charlatan..."
Li Kang’s expression twisted again, and he stared suspiciously at Chu Bamboo. "You’re not trying to reconcile the conflict between him and me, are you? So... Never mind! Thanks again for this."
Watching Li Kang’s retreating back, Chu Bamboo suddenly thought of something and added, "Don’t contact Hai Yun! And don’t tell him the details."
"?" Li Kang glanced back at Chu Bamboo. Though confused, he nodded anyway.
Once again, the Special Warfare Brigade Office was empty.
’Now, there shouldn’t be any more problems!’ Chu Bamboo closed his eyes, reviewing the plan in his mind.
He had deliberately added that last part because he had suddenly realized something.
Namely, that Hai Yun was also a suspect!
According to his observations from a previous timeline, the Fallen Soul Sword had initially been in Hai Yun’s possession.
This might have been because of the Forbidden Artifact’s unspeakable side effect, which required another person to interrupt the oncoming rush of pleasure... Or perhaps Qi Heng had developed a psychological trauma from the sword and couldn’t bear to look at it normally. But regardless—
Hai Yun had the clearance to handle this sword, and it had even been in his possession for a long time... even if it was a sword that Qi Heng had likely requested.
Thinking about it from this angle, the situation became very interesting!
Reviewing the current situation, Chu Bamboo hadn’t actually seen who wielded the Forbidden Artifact before—which meant Hai Yun was just as much a suspect as Qi Heng!
No, if Hai Yun was the one who acted, the benefits he would gain afterward would be even greater than Qi Heng’s!
After all, he could easily pin the blame on Qi Heng and oust the captain, taking the position for himself... Qi Heng wasn’t clean to begin with, after all. If it was discovered that the Forbidden Artifact he had requested was used to kill Li Kang—the man suspected of having damaging intelligence on him...
Heh.
’But if that’s the case, Hai Yun must also be part of the All-Powerful Lineage! When did he join?’
Chu Bamboo’s brow furrowed, and he could only sigh in the end. ’I have no intelligence about this in my memory... Could it be a newly established branch?’
This was what made the All-Powerful so tricky!
In the four major districts of Jinghai City, the All-Powerful was not a unified whole. Each All-Powerful faction was relatively independent, developed by a host like Xue the Third! They were mutually unaware of one another.
Chu Bamboo had indeed infiltrated and familiarized himself with the larger All-Powerful factions in Jinghai City, as well as the other two major societies.
However, he had no knowledge of any newly established, smaller-scale All-Powerful groups—unless he were to once again exhaust all his efforts to investigate them now!
But unlike when he was eleven, twelve, or thirteen and could reset an unlimited number of times... now, with only seven resets per day, the cost-benefit of such a search was extremely low.
’What a pain! Never mind. I’ll just prepare for both possibilities... It never hurts to be overprepared.’
Chu Bamboo cleared the chaotic thoughts from his mind. It was a habit he had developed over countless deaths.
Chu Bamboo patiently reviewed his plan one more time. After confirming that there were no major issues, he rubbed his somewhat stiff cheeks and began to consider another problem.
