Chapter 1035: The Bounty Hunters
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Tang Xiu’s face s.h.i.+fted and he asked, “What happened?”
“You’re also a member of my agency, so it’s fine telling you.” Duanmu Lin forced a smile and said, “But it’s a confidential case, so you can’t disclose it. Two core members of the Fans have shown inhuman power and killed more than a dozen intelligence personnel who were keeping an eye on them before escaping. We investigated the scene of the ma.s.sacre and discovered that the killing method was very bizarre.”
With a slightly changed expression, Tang Xiu asked, “You should have the photos of the murder scene, right? Please show them to me.”
Duanmu Lin pushed the paper bag on the table in front of him to Tang Xiu. As Tang Xiu grabbed it, he spoke, “Shouldn’t you give me an explanation for yesterday’s incident?”
After opening the paper bag, Tang Xiu looked at the photos while speaking, “I just arrived at the capital yesterday and happened to encounter this incident, so I took action. However, it wasn’t me who discarded the criminals, but some of my men. You also know that it’d be very troublesome if I took action personally and exposed my ident.i.ty in that situation.”
A smile finally appeared on Duanmu Lin’s face. He nodded and said, “I know that it was your men’s doing, else it’d be absolutely impossible to neutralize those people so silently. Those criminals under the Fan Family all have been secretly detained in the prison of the Special Abilities Bureau’s HQ. It’s just a pity that we have no means to pry anything from them.”
“They’ve lost their minds, haven’t they?” asked Tang Xiu.
“Huh? How do you know?” Duanmu Lin stared blankly and asked with a confused face, “Did your men do something that made them lose their minds?”
“No, it wasn’t because of my men. They’ve lost their sanity even before they committed crimes.” Tang Xiu shook his head and explained, “Although I met them by chance yesterday, I sensed Cadaveric Qi from them. They were under the influence of cadaveric energy and thus led to this b.l.o.o.d.y incident. I’m now even more certain of it after seeing these photos.”
The dozens of photos showed the scene of the two core members of the Fan Family killing the intelligence personnel last night. The dead in the photos had wounds left by the claws and teeth. If those weren’t caused by beasts’ teeth, it was very likely caused by humans who got affected by cadaveric energy—these kinds of people were called half-ghouls.
Eyes lit up, Duanmu shot a deep gaze at Tang Xiu and asked, “Do you have any way to find those two running Fan House’s members?”
“I’ll need the blood of the Fan Family’s member. It’s better if it’s fresh blood,” said Tang Xiu.
“Then come with me to the prison of the Special Abilities Bureau,” said Duanmu Lin.
“Let’s eat and head there afterward.” Tang Xiu nodded. “It’s rather improper for me for not having been to the Special Abilities Bureau’s HQ in the capital as its member, no? That’s right. I also need to borrow something from you.”
“What is it you want to borrow?” asked Duanmu Lin.
“The Subaquatic Corvette,” said Tang Xiu.
“Huh? What do you wanna do with that submarine?” asked Duanmu Lin, frowning.
“I have conflicts with some foreign forces and kinda got struck from the dark,” said Tang Xiu helplessly. “My men are currently fighting these foreign cultivators in the Pacific Ocean, so the Subaquatic Corvette can help me deploy manpower as well as eliminate the enemy.”
“Foreign cultivator forces? What do you mean by that and who are they?” asked Duanmu Lin with knitted brows.
“There are a lot of them. My side is likely fighting the world’s top three powers, and there are also other powers. In brief, the enemies are very strong. Additionally, the culprit is the Celestial Wizard Clan—a clan you must have heard of, Senior Duanmu,” explained Tang Xiu with a forced smile.
Duanmu Lin shook and nodded with a solemn face. “Not only have I heard of them, but I also clashed with them. Unfortunately, it has been our Special Abilities Bureau who lost some manpower and some more fell. Those Celestial Wizard clansmen got some mysterious wizardry arts and they are very powerful, Tang Xiu. And you… you’re fighting them?”
“I have the confidence to destroy this clan completely if it’s only them,” said Tang Xiu. “But victory is a very tall order with a lot of cultivator forces intervening now, especially with the Big Three around. That’s why I want to borrow the Subaquatic Corvette from you.”
Duanmu Lin pondered for a moment and asked, “Can you guarantee its safety? You also know this submarine is from a more technologically advanced civilization. Once it falls into the hands of other countries, we can expect huge threats to our country in the future.”
“I can guarantee that.” Tang Xiu nodded.
“Then I’ll file the request to the top authority.” Duanmu Lin nodded and said, “But I don’t have a 100% guarantee of approbation.”
“Then pa.s.s my message to the top authority. I’ll make a deal with the military if they lend me the Subaquatic Corvette,” said Tang Xiu. “I have a brand-new tech product which functions will greatly help the military.”
Duanmu Lin’s mind shook and he hurriedly asked, “Can you disclose what product is it?”
“I can only say that it’s a kind of aviation product,” said Tang Xiu with a mystifying smile.
Aviation?
A solemn look appeared on Duanmu Lin’s face. Then, he got up and said, “Let’s arrange the meal in the Bureau and not waste time here, shall we? Let’s hurry up and find the Fan Family clansmen and resolve the matter of borrowing the Subaquatic Corvette.”
Tang Xiu had no choice but to leave with Duanmu Lin after hearing this. Just as the two of them left the restaurant’s entrance, however, Aquababe hurriedly got off from a car nearby and ran toward Duanmu Lin and Tang Xiu. After nodding to the latter, she quickly said, “We have a situation, Chief.”
“What situation?” asked Duanmu Lin.
Aquababe glanced at Tang Xiu and hesitated.
“You don’t need to hide anything from Tang Xiu. He’s also a member of our Special Abilities Bureau. Speak, what is the situation?” ordered Duanmu Lin.
“We just received news that the two fleeing members of the Fan Family appeared in Lianggang City. They took a cab and then killed its driver, whose body was then found in the remote seaside with his taxi. However, we got news from our men who are tracking them that there’s also another group of people chasing them.”
“How is this possible?” Duanmu Lin’s face changed and he quickly said, “Chasing them is the jurisdiction the state has given us, there’s no way other forces can get involved! Is this new group the enemy of Fan Family?”
“The footage showed three people; one old man, and two other–middle-aged men, and a woman. I’ve a.s.signed our bureau’s intel operatives to search the databank for them and they inferred that those people are not Chinese nationals.” Aquababe shook his head.
“Can you find their traces?” asked Duanmu Lin.
“We have yet to find the two members of the Fans. They just disappeared,” said Aquababe. “But we have those three people under surveillance. We may be able to see them if we rush to Lianggang City as fast as possible.”
Duanmu Lin turned to Tang Xiu and asked, “What do you think?”
“Let’s just head there. Also, send some men to bring one Fan family member to Lianggang City,” said Tang Xiu. “It’d be best if we can find those people right away. But if we can’t find them, we still need the Fan family’s blood.”
“We’ll move as such then.” Duanmu Lin nodded and said, “Aquababe, go fetch a member of the Fans and bring him to Lianggang City.”
****
Lianggang City. It was a coastal city, the southernmost city in the three northern provinces. The rapid development of this place made the city the most prosperous metropolis in the three northern provinces.
North Hamlet Fishery. The establishment was surrounded by hills and beautiful scenery with lakeside stretched far and vast with the sparkling surface under the sunlight. On a certain fis.h.i.+ng boat, a conversation using fluent English was heard.
“Master, the tracking disc has shown the direction of those two half-ghouls. They are running toward the Lushunkou region. Are we going after them?” asked the blonde middle-aged man with black sungla.s.ses as he looked at the old man sitting at the opposite side.
The old man shook his head and slowly said, “No. They’ll be back secretly since they’re hiding their corpse container here. They will need the cadaveric qi in that corpse container to be powerful half-ghouls. They will definitely come back here within three days.”
The blonde middle-aged man furrowed his brows and said, “But what if they have more corpse containers and deliberately hide one of it here to confuse us?”
A chilling light flashed across the old man’s eyes before he nodded and said, “It’s possible. But we don’t know much about the cities in China and it will be much worse for us compared to those two half-ghouls. If you follow their tracks with the tracking disc, it’s very easy for us to get rid of them by taking a detour to confuse and appear behind them. We’ve locked them with the tracking device, so, as long as they are not more than 300km away from us in these three days, we can judge their orientation.”
The blonde middle-aged man said, “But we’ll lose their tracks if they go more than 300km away, Master. It won’t be easy to find them again by then.”
“Not really. We’ve determined the direction of their escape. We can immediately track them toward Lushunkou once the tracking devices stop. It’s easy to keep them within the range of 300km with our speed.” The old man sneered.
Whoos.h.!.+
A figure flickered lightning-fast from the sh.o.r.e into the fis.h.i.+ng boat. A middle-aged female in black leather attire and killing intent on her face reported in a deep voice. “We got company around keeping an eye on us. They should be officials of Chinese authority.”
The old man’s face s.h.i.+fted, but then he sneered. “Heh, we found those two half-ghouls. No need to act reserved if they want to compete with us for the spoils. Those two half-ghouls will fetch a fortune in the black market. There’s no way bounty hunters like us would miss this chance.”