Chapter 901: Chapter 649: A Guest Arrives
Following Lu Youdao, they arrived at a door at the end of the hallway—an old iron door, with lingering rust at its corners. Yang Xiao held his breath, not daring to slacken for a moment, with a sense that behind this door lay the Director’s secrets.
Lu Youdao stretched out his hand and with just a light push, "creak—", the door opened to reveal a dim room.
Yang Xiao couldn’t help but be stunned; he didn’t expect such an important door... to actually be unlocked. He knew that nearly every door here was locked, as each hid secrets not meant for outsiders.
Lu Youdao stepped inside and felt around the wall behind the door. Accompanied by a "click," a dim light lit up the small room where a solitary old light bulb dangled from the ceiling on a black wire, the only source of illumination.
The room wasn’t large, roughly only twenty square meters, void of a desk or a bed. Around the walls stood wooden shelves laden with various items—assorted odd and curious decorations and bottles, but mostly various sized boxes and cases.
Under the dull light, these items were shrouded in a mysterious veil, clearly untouched for a long time, and covered in a layer of dust.
The most conspicuous items were two old leather chairs opposite each other, with a low wooden table between them. Due to age, the armrests of the chairs were damaged, exposing the light yellow sponge inside.
Yang Xiao could imagine that over the many past years, two people sat facing each other in this inconspicuous room—one naturally being Lu Youdao, and the other, Director Nalan.
The connection between the two men was deeper than he had thought.
There was also a standing clothing rack behind the door with several garments hanging on it, including an old-style leather jacket with a fur collar and a black uniform, very old-fashioned, identical to the one he had seen worn by a ghost.
Lu Youdao naturally walked further in, picked up an old case from the shelf, and as he did, Yang Xiao’s heart rose to his throat.
He stared at the case which appeared to be made of wood, but there was no telling whether it was made from the rare silver material used to store Resentful Eye; it was highly likely that this case contained a Resentful Eye, and a very special one at that.
At this moment, Yang Xiao knew the burden on his shoulders was heavy. It seems that the Resentful Eye was probably a treasured item kept by the Director or Lu Youdao for emergencies, and now it was being given to him after passing the test—a great honor and a sign of their trust.
As Lu Youdao walked toward him, Yang Xiao stepped forward, solemnly extending both hands, palms up, to receive the case, his expression dead serious.
"What are you doing?" Lu Youdao frowned.
Hearing this, Yang Xiao was also taken aback and his hands hung mid-air, "Isn’t this for me?"
"Do you smoke as well?"
Lu Youdao sat down on the chair facing the door, opened the case, took out the wrapped tobacco, rolled a cigarette with practiced ease, struck a long match, and lit up the cigarette.
Taking a deep drag, Lu Youdao exhaled slowly, watching the grey-white smoke drifting away. Ignored, Yang Xiao’s mind blanked out for three seconds, then he sulkily walked over and sat down on the chair opposite Lu Youdao, staring at him with frustration.
"You’ve seen it, haven’t you?" Lu Youdao’s voice was heavy and slow.
"I saw that Director Nalan took part in a mission, but it failed. A man and a woman, both team members, were beheaded," Yang Xiao described as concisely as possible what he had seen and heard. In front of Lu Youdao, he had no need to hide anything—this man’s relationship with Nalan Shuo was as close as brothers.
"Cough... Hai Hai..."
It seemed like a coughing fit took Lu Youdao, who began coughing violently, and he had no choice but to snuff out the cigarette end in his hand, looking at Yang Xiao with complex eyes, "Their target was the Evil Mage Xiang Fengchen, the man and woman who died were Nalan Shuo’s subordinates. The man, like you, was a captain of the investigative team, named Yu Xingye; the female, Mingxi, was the deputy captain."
"They were ambushed; including Yu Xingye and Mingxi, the whole investigative team was wiped out, with only Nalan Shuo surviving."
"That Old Ghost Xiang Fengchen brought a lot of help, and in the end, aside from Xiang Fengchen, who narrowly escaped, the rest were all killed off."
"Our side captured quite a number of captives, including several of Xiang Fengchen’s apprentices; but after seeing that scene, Nalan Shuo completely lost control and killed them all. There were even some brothers from the Patrol Defense Office who tried to stop him, and they too got injured by Nalan Shuo. Because of this incident, Nalan Shuo was demoted to Rongcheng. It’s been 10 years, and this matter has always been an indelible wound in his heart."
"10 years..."
"Yes, 10 years. Nalan Shuo was already a Director, the youngest Chief Level Chief in the province, 10 years ago. What you saw in Ghost was Nalan Shuo’s Heart Demon; he’s fallen too deep, unable to extricate himself," Lu Youdao’s voice was hoarse.
"Where is the Director now?" Yang Xiao suddenly remembered.
"Don’t worry, he’s fine; he’s gone to the Provincial Office, for you," Lu Youdao lifted his heavy eyelids, looking at Yang Xiao.
"For me?"
"Xiang Fengchen is a felon on the wanted list. The Patrol Defense Office has lost many good men to him over the years. This time, you killed him, a great merit indeed. Your Director Nalan has gone to claim credit for you; if things go as expected, the position of Deputy Director Level Captain is yours."
