Chapter 479: Chapter 415: Xi Menxiu is a Good Comrade
Having said that, Nalan Shuo didn’t say anything more, waved his hand to let Yang Xiao and Beibei go back, and told them to reassure the rest of the team, explaining the reasoning and the stakes involved to everyone.
Beibei wanted to say more, but Yang Xiao stopped her, "The Director is right, the impact of this matter is too great, we must prioritize the bigger picture."
"Sacrifice our brother for the sake of the bigger picture?" Beibei immediately bristled, unable to believe Yang Xiao could be so spineless.
"Nightmares are nightmares, who lives and who dies is a matter of capability." Yang Xiao repeated Nalan Shuo’s words once more, sighing deeply, "More words are of no use, at the end of the day, it’s because Zhi Jie wasn’t as skilled."
Beibei was so angry she almost passed out, she couldn’t stand to stay there for a moment longer, slamming the door as she left. Yang Xiao and Director Nalan apologized and then also left.
On the way back, at the corner of the hallway, Yang Xiao ran into Beibei. She grabbed him and pulled him over.
After calming Beibei down, Yang Xiao was somewhat surprised, "You’re not angry anymore?"
"I know you’re putting on an act, you’re not the type to disregard the life and death of brothers," Beibei lifted her chin, "Tell me, what’s your plan?"
"Murder for murder. Zhi Jie sent word to me through someone, telling me to avenge him, and I will make sure this beast meets Zhi Jie in the underworld." Yang Xiao was no saint or maiden; he intended to use all he had learned to make Pang Cai repent for his actions.
Hearing this, Beibei also became excited, "I’ll go with you!"
"No, you stay, and keep Director Nalan steady for me. Leave the rest to me, and remember, you can’t tell anyone about this, not Da Xiong, not Xi Menxiu, none of them." Yang Xiao didn’t mistrust his teammates, but he was worried that they might inadvertently give something away, alerting Nalan Shuo. As he had said before, this matter could either be made a big deal or a small one, and he didn’t want to stir up trouble.
Knowing Beibei’s burning desire for revenge, Yang Xiao asked for her dagger. Unsheatheing the blade, the light from the knife shone clear as water, "I will use your dagger to finish him; rest assured."
With things as they were, Beibei understood the gravity of the situation. She promised Yang Xiao that she would stay behind to calm the teammates and stabilize Director Nalan Shuo.
In the afternoon, Yang Xiao went about his usual training, had dinner, and only afterwards did he return to the apartment. He took out his phone, contacted Fu Qingzhu, and asked him for help in finding Pang Cai, needing recent information on his whereabouts. He didn’t explain why, and Fu Qingzhu didn’t ask, in tacit understanding.
Having decided to make his move in secret, naturally, he wouldn’t be foolish enough to use the Patrol Defense Office’s resources to look for Pang Cai; that would definitely not escape Nalan Shuo’s notice.
Leaning back in the chair and closing his eyes, Yang Xiao’s mind replayed the tragic scene of Zhuge Zhi Jie calling for help. The man was already dead, and the dead cannot be brought back to life. The only thing he could do now was send Pang Cai to meet Zhi Jie.
At this moment, the advantage of the Soul-Capturing Mirror once again became apparent. Once he found Pang Cai, he planned to throw him into the Mirror World. He intended to clarify every detail about how Zhi Jie died, and then decide how to deal with the man.
This time, he would visit Yun Qi City, and coincidentally, Yang Cha whom he met on the last mission, also lived there. According to Tong Han, the Yang Family of Yun Qi City was very well-known, and the Confucian Academy they founded was full of talents.
But this wasn’t a visit between friends. He had to conduct all his actions secretly, figure things out, and deal with the person without anyone’s knowledge—that was the utmost priority.
He had a restless night’s sleep. Yang Xiao tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep, too many difficult situations had arisen recently. After some time spent training, his spiritual power had also greatly increased, and his control over various magic artifacts had become increasingly natural.
Upon reflection, Yang Xiao realized that his growth in spiritual power was mainly related to two factors: first was his participation in nightmare tasks, after which he always woke up with a stronger spiritual power than before. Second was the use of the Resentful Eye, which also aided in the growth of his spiritual power. However, the downside was that frequent use of the Resentful Eye could lead to backlash and make the ghost within more unstable.
However, this second point wasn’t so terrifying for Yang Xiao after all; he had the Nether Garment and the Drama Robe, to be precise, the Resentful Eyes all belonged to the original owner of the Drama Robe, and could only be temporarily lent to him for use, that is, of course, if his sister was in a good mood.
The next morning, after breakfast, Yang Xiao rushed to the Patrol Defense Office, but as soon as he entered the office, he noticed that the atmosphere was off, Beibei’s and Xi Menxiu’s seats were empty, with only Da Xiong and Yu Shu on duty.
As soon as Da Xiong saw Yang Xiao, he immediately informed him that after Xi Menxiu learned that Director Nalan wouldn’t let them seek revenge, he went to argue with the director in his office and they ended up quarreling. In a fit of anger, the director threw Xi Menxiu into solitary confinement, and Beibei was in the midst of pleading on his behalf.
Yu Shu was fervently writing in his notebook and then he held it up for Yang Xiao to see: "Xi Menxiu is a good comrade."
Seeing this, Da Xiong also sighed. He said that although Xi Menxiu didn’t seem serious all the time and often quarreled with Zhijie, in fact, they had the best relationship. The web addresses in Zhijie’s cell phone were all given by Xi Menxiu, and during inspections, Xi Menxiu’s exam papers were sneakily completed by Zhijie.
Soon enough, a furious Beibei returned, apparently the negotiation had failed. Beibei also brought back some bad news: Director Nalan had issued an order that their clearance had recently been restricted. The technical department would no longer help them search for any information regarding Pang Cai or several other team members involved in the mission, and all the data previously gathered had been deleted and cleared. This matter was to be ended there and then.
"If he wasn’t our director, I’d really suspect he took a bribe from Pang Cai," Da Xiong grumbled under his breath.
Yang Xiao immediately corrected him, "Don’t talk like that, the director must have his plans, he has his difficulties."
Scribble, scribble, scribble, Yu Shu, head down writing again, lifted the notebook which had a new line added: "The director handled this matter poorly."
Yang Xiao sighed helplessly; he knew this all too well, but what Nalan Shuo said also made sense, it just couldn’t convince any of them.
The morning passed in a gloomy atmosphere, and by the time it was close to noon, after asking Beibei for the exact location where Xi Menxiu was being held, Yang Xiao went there alone, to the detention room one level underground, guarded by two police officers at the door.
The two officers were half-heartedly chatting while sitting on chairs, but they stood up and saluted as soon as they saw Yang Xiao appear, "Captain Yang."
Although Yang Xiao didn’t know these two men, having frequently entered and exited the office, he was somewhat familiar with them. Smiling, he greeted them, "You two have been working hard, could you let me go in to see him?"
Hearing this, the older officer’s face showed a struggle and he gave a wry smile: "Captain Yang, we’re just following orders too, Director Nalan personally issued a strict order not to allow anyone near, but... but rest assured, we’re all brothers here, we won’t mistreat him."
The door to the detention room wasn’t soundproof, so Xi Menxiu also heard Yang Xiao’s voice and came to the gap in the door to call out loudly, "Captain, Captain is that you?"
"Xi Menxiu, stop making trouble, just stay put. Once Director Nalan cools off, he will let you out. The director has his own troubles, we as subordinates need to learn to alleviate our leader’s concerns," Yang Xiao said as he took out his phone and opened the food delivery app, "I know the food here is mediocre, anything in particular you want to eat?"
"Spicy crab, cheese-baked lobster, and I also want a durian pizza, thin crust, no edge, with double portion of durian flesh, the large size," Xi Menxiu bawled out, "I want to eat my fill to hold out in this battle of attrition against the Director! I did nothing wrong!"
Yang Xiao dialed the restaurant’s number and ordered three portions of everything Xi Menxiu had mentioned, all to be packed separately.
After hanging up, Yang Xiao turned to the older officer, "The food can’t come in, so I’ll have them leave it at the guardhouse. When it arrives, could you please bring it over? There’s one portion for each of you."
The officer was flabbergasted and hastily declined, "Captain Yang, this... how could we?"
"What’s wrong with that? Am I bribing you?" Yang Xiao laughed as well, and turned back to address the door holding Xi Menxiu, "I’m leaving now, eat well and rest up. Don’t talk back to the director anymore; I’m still here, you don’t need to take the lead in this."
