Chapter 73: Chapter 73: Dancing in the Palm of His Hand
"Huh? Oh," Zhang Hai snapped back to reality, instantly stopping his hands. He looked at Chu Bamboo. "All right, you can ask now!"
Chu Bamboo was speechless.
’I didn’t realize you were into S&M.’
Chu Bamboo’s mood was complicated. To be honest, this was the first time he was learning this piece of intel.
"I know you are extremely loyal to the Lord! The Eleventh Apostle also trusts your loyalty to the Lord." After composing himself, Chu Bamboo spoke, starting by putting pressure on Xue the Third. "However, that great personage does not trust your brain!"
Xue the Third: "???"
Originally, Xue the Third had prepared himself to endure a period of torture. Only then would he reluctantly reveal the fake intelligence he had prepared...
But why did things feel so off right now?
"...You!"
"Hmph! Don’t you know? The higher-ups in Jinghai City have already learned that Captain Qi of the Second District is a believer of the All-Powerful Association!" Chu Bamboo said through gritted teeth. "The Captain’s Office is just waiting for Captain Qi’s next Mass before they mobilize everyone to wipe out all the believers and core members of our All-Powerful Association in the Second District!"
"N-No way! You... I...!" Xue the Third’s mind went blank. He vaguely sensed something was wrong, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
Was this person trying to intimidate him? That made no sense. If he was really an official, why would he reveal that Captain Qi had been exposed?
If Captain Qi was exposed, and this person had found his way here... then shouldn’t they just bring in the army?
’Could it be... he’s really one of us?’
Xue the Third began to have an existential crisis.
"Moreover," Chu Bamboo narrowed his eyes, "Lord Eleven is extremely displeased with you for the shantytown redevelopment incident!"
"That’s impossible!" Xue the Third grew frantic, his eyes turning red. "What does that have to do with me? The shantytown redevelopment was clearly handled by Lord Eleven’s messenger, and Lord Eleven has already gone to heav— wait!"
The realization hit him a moment too late, and Xue the Third broke out in a cold sweat. He stared at Chu Bamboo in disbelief. "No, that’s not right. You aren’t Lord Eleven’s... No, then why are you! This..."
If this man were truly a second messenger from Lord Eleven, how could he not know about this? But if he wasn’t, then what was all that from before... Xue the Third couldn’t comprehend it. He was completely thrown into disarray.
Zhang Hai was speechless.
He felt like he had a retort stuck in his throat but didn’t know how to spit it out.
This confirmed core member of the All-Powerful Association in the Second District, quite possibly a key figure... was being played like a fiddle by Chu Bamboo?
This whole situation... it wasn’t just outrageous, it was absurd!
But very quickly, Zhang Hai began to ponder another, very serious question.
Considering everything he had been through with Chu Bamboo since they met—was it possible that, in the eyes of others, he was also being wrapped around Chu Bamboo’s little finger?
"Knock him out." A flash of understanding passed through Chu Bamboo’s eyes as he turned to look calmly at Zhang Hai. He said it so matter-of-factly that Zhang Hai struck out of sheer reflex before he even realized what he was doing.
’Wait a minute. Wasn’t the original plan for me to protect Chu Bamboo from the All-Powerful Association’s assassins?’
’Why did I inexplicably end up on Joy Street, at a masquerade ball, at the site of an All-Powerful Association Mass, and now I’m inexplicably following Chu Bamboo’s orders?!’
He wasn’t Chu Bamboo’s subordinate!
"Take him. We’re leaving now," Chu Bamboo said, turning around.
He didn’t walk toward the main door that had been kicked in. Instead, he headed toward the inner hall and, after a bit of fumbling, found another hidden door.
Zhang Hai’s face twisted. His lips moved for a moment, but in the end, he could only follow closely behind Chu Bamboo.
...
「A moment later.」
Outside the Third District Police Chief Bureau.
"My thanks to Steward Zhang Hai for cracking the big Shoe Sect case and making a huge contribution to the peace and security of our city!" Li Kang said with a smile, gripping Zhang Hai’s hand and shaking it vigorously.
To the side, Ning Linglong raised a public service phone and captured the moment.
"All right." The instant the picture was taken, Li Kang pulled his hand back. The smile vanished from his face, replaced by a blank expression in a feat worthy of a Sichuan opera face-changer. He took out a wet wipe and scrubbed his hand forcefully, as if he had touched something filthy.
"..." Zhang Hai was equally expressionless. He fumbled in his pocket but found no tissues. After glancing around, he walked over to a tree and vigorously rubbed the hand that had been shaken against the bark, then shot a sideways glance at Li Kang.
The scene fell silent for a moment.
Chu Bamboo was very calm. ’These two are still rather tame. The meeting between the Cardinal of the First District and the old Governor is what you’d call truly explosive.’
"I really don’t get it, Ah Zhu!" Li Kang forcibly calmed himself and looked at Chu Bamboo. "According to your earlier account, the credit for capturing the core operative of the All-Powerful Association clearly belongs to you... Why did you push it onto Steward Zhang Hai?"
Chu Bamboo complained inwardly, ’Of course, it’s to prevent attracting the Eleventh Apostle’s attention to myself! After all, from what I’ve seen, the All-Powerful Association’s assassins have made a move on me, but they only want to kill me, not capture me—’
’Besides, Zhang Hai is with the God Worship Society. Given the hopelessly tangled relationship between the God Worship Society and the All-Powerful Association... Zhang Hai can definitely take more heat from them than I can!’
Chu Bamboo wasn’t afraid of the Eleventh Apostle killing him; he was afraid the Apostle would get curious, decide not to kill him, and capture him instead!
If Zhang Hai was actually killed, Chu Bamboo could just commit suicide and reset. But if the Eleventh Apostle knocked Chu Bamboo unconscious... and he slept for a day, he’d reset to a dead save file. Then he’d really be screwed.
"Forget it!" Seeing that Chu Bamboo didn’t answer right away, Li Kang seemed to realize something. He glanced at Zhang Hai again and said, "You always have your reasons!"
"One more thing," Li Kang paused briefly, organizing his thoughts. "Regarding what you said before, about Captain Qi in the Second District. Do you have any proof?"
"I do... but is it useful?" Chu Bamboo said in a level tone. "You don’t really think a mere Captain Qi could pull all this off, do you? Though, judging by the situation on your end, I’m guessing Captain Qi is also a member of the Captain’s Office?"
Li Kang didn’t answer, but from the way his face darkened, Chu Bamboo knew he was right.
Li Kang took a deep breath and asked, "Who else?"
"Too many to count!" Chu Bamboo said, ticking them off on his fingers. "The Dali Bureau, as a judicial department, has been infiltrated! Even those attendees at the Jinghai City Grand Conference... tsk tsk, the number of problematic ones isn’t just one or two."
"The most troublesome part is you still have the Five Poisonous Creatures and Hehuan to worry about. These three sects are united in their stance against the Official cleanup efforts!"
The most dangerous illnesses aren’t the ones that cause a huge reaction. They’re the ones that show no early symptoms but slowly and deeply embed themselves into the host’s life cycle!
Once successfully embedded, there’s no easy way to treat such a disease.
Or rather, if you were to force a treatment, the best-case scenario would be a devastating blow to your own vitality!
If Chu Bamboo were one of Jinghai City’s higher-ups right now, he might have the guts to deal with it... but based on his understanding, the current old Governor absolutely lacked that kind of nerve!
After all, he was old and about to retire. He didn’t like to stir up trouble!
If Governor Lu were to take office, there was a small possibility... but not a high one!
Chu Bamboo speculated internally. Based on his understanding of Governor Lu, he would likely make a move at first, but then back off once he realized the scale of the problem and the severity of the consequences.
Li Kang opened his mouth several times, but in the end, nothing came out.
"I suggest you sentence Xue the Third quickly, and then kill him!" Chu Bamboo said noncommittally, looking Li Kang straight in the eye. "Don’t tell me the people from the Captain’s Office don’t have the authority to sentence him?"
"I can only say that if you keep him here for more than three hours, someone will soon transfer him to another location for judgment... and then!"
Although Chu Bamboo didn’t continue, his meaning was perfectly clear—
Of course, Chu Bamboo wasn’t suggesting the Officials would just let Xue the Third go. However, a little "accident" in the middle of things that allows Xue the Third to "flee in fear of his crimes" wouldn’t be a problem.
"I understand... Since time is limited." Li Kang nodded, then looked at Guan Fei and said, word by word, "In that case, hurry up and introduce our new friend to some high-intensity little toys!"
"Don’t worry." Guan Fei revealed a smile. But buried under his layers of fat, the smile looked somewhat sinister. "I love interrogating these Transcendents. After all, their physiques are astonishingly tough. It’s not so easy to play them to death!"
"And please rest assured, sir." Guan Fei then turned to Chu Bamboo. His attitude changed completely; he stood up straight, his voice firm and respectful.
Li Kang was speechless.
"Once you’ve tortured the intel out of him, give me a copy too," Chu Bamboo said casually.
Watching Chu Bamboo walk away, Li Kang stood in silence for a long time before saying, word by word, "Ning Linglong, record this!"
Ning Linglong still looked lazy, but she pulled a small notebook from her pocket.
"After the execution of the All-Powerful Association operative Xue Laqiang, file the intelligence from the judgment... and finally, report it to the higher-ups! Get them to issue a search warrant... I’m going to conduct a full-scale, cross-district search of Joy Street!"
"Yes, sir." Ning Linglong realized that Li Kang had been, to some extent, provoked by Chu Bamboo’s words and attitude. However, she had no objections.
In fact, Ning Linglong was now somewhat thankful she had joined the Third District—
’If I had joined the Second District next door... looking at the situation that’s been uncovered, tsk tsk! It’s unimaginable.’
...
"So, where are you planning to raid next?" Zhang Hai asked wearily. "We’re not going back to Joy Street again, are we?"
"We’re going to my place!" Chu Bamboo glanced at Zhang Hai. "Weren’t you just there two days ago? I think you should be quite familiar with it!"
Zhang Hai was taken aback. He gave Chu Bamboo a deep look, pursed his lips, and hesitated several times before speaking again. "Mr. Zhu, have you really not considered... joining the God Worship Sect?"
