Raging Fire Heavy Case

In the jungle west of the Tranquil God Sect's headquarters stronghold, Li Fei was hiding on a tree branch, watching the activity in the distance.

From his position, he could just make out what was happening inside the stronghold.

When Wang Ping and the others attacked the Tranquil God Sect's leader, Zhao Yu, Li Fei had been waiting for an opportunity. Once everyone's attention had been drawn over there, he decisively chose to break out in the opposite direction.

If Wang Ping and the others managed to capture Zhao Yu and turn the situation around, he could always go back.

But if they failed, he would at least have a way out.

In the end, the result proved that Li Fei's caution had saved his life.

From the tree branch, he watched the battle that took place on the hillside to the east from beginning to end, witnessing four Registered Martial Masters of the imperial court fall one after another.

Then he saw the Tranquil God Sect's people enter the stronghold and take away all the firearms and equipment. He also saw them apparently searching for someone before ultimately driving knives into several people's chests.

After that, more than a hundred members of the Tranquil God Sect withdrew from the stronghold and came toward the area where Li Fei was hiding.

"They're coming to catch me?!"

Li Fei's heart jolted, but he quickly calmed down.

"There shouldn't be this many people coming to catch me together. They're probably trying to withdraw in this direction too. I just happened to get here ahead of them."

He swiftly climbed down from the branch and ran deeper into the jungle.

Soon, the Tranquil God Sect's leader, Zhao Yu, brought a group of fully armed believers into the patch of jungle where Li Fei had been hiding.

Zhao Yu waved over a senior believer wearing a dark-gray robe. "Someone fled in this direction earlier. Take some people and set up a Bewildering Array. Don't let the other side track our movements."

"Yes, Sect Master."

The senior believer accepted the order and left.

Before long, mist began to spread through the jungle, and the Tranquil God Sect's people gradually vanished into it.

Amid the fog, Li Fei stared at the backs of the Tranquil God Sect's people ahead and fell into hesitation.

Hao Yi had told him a great deal about the basics of arcane arts. For example, if a martial artist wanted to avoid being affected by this Bewildering Array, they could only forcibly break it like Wang Ping had earlier, using a martial artist's Qi and Blood and Innate One Qi.

But doing so would certainly alert the Tranquil God Sect's people ahead. That was why setting up the Bewildering Array before leaving was practically foolproof.

But Li Fei was an exception.

The Myriad Blood Bead bore the brunt of the disturbance on the mental level for him, so he was barely affected by the Bewildering Array.

The trees and grass before him merely had faint afterimages. As long as he concentrated and looked carefully, the afterimages vanished, allowing him to see the real path directly.

This meant he could follow silently behind the Tranquil God Sect's people, tracking them all the way and finding their new base!

"Should I track them?"

With Li Fei's usual cautious personality, he should have put preserving himself first at a time like this. There was no need to take any additional risks.

But he had witnessed the failure of this operation with his own eyes. He had seen more than a hundred fully armed Overseeing Bureau Inspectors instantly knocked unconscious, and four powerful Registered Martial Masters beaten down.

The shock had struck him hard! Even Registered Martial Masters could die just like that. In a world like this, who would dare say they would definitely live to see tomorrow?

Even if he possessed something like the Myriad Blood Bead, if he could not grow stronger quickly, would he one day suddenly end up like Wang Ping and the others? I have to seize every opportunity to become stronger. Only then can I control my own fate!

Without realizing it, Li Fei's mindset had changed, and he had developed a powerful sense of urgency.

He had personally seen the three black-robed Martial Warriors who blocked Wang Ping and the others split off from the Tranquil God Sect's people. This meant that the two sides were not working together.

Moreover, during the battle with Wang Ping and the others, only those three Martial Warriors had stood at the front from beginning to end. The Tranquil God Sect's people had merely cast arcane arts and fired guns from behind. This showed that the Tranquil God Sect had no Martial Warrior-level experts.

With those three powerful Force-Refining Martial Warriors gone, only the Tranquil God Sect believers who used arcane arts remained. Li Fei, with the Myriad Blood Bead, at least had the strength to fight.

Even if he was truly discovered, the mountainous jungle terrain gave him a good chance of escaping.

Thus, Li Fei ultimately decided to follow them!

It was a risk, but also an opportunity. If he could find the Tranquil God Sect's new base and return to report it, it would undoubtedly be a major achievement. So he wanted to give it a try.

"What happened?"

"Ah, my head hurts."

"Why did I suddenly fall asleep?"

"Where's my gun?"

"Where's my Stab Proof Vest?"

"."

Inside the stronghold, the unconscious people gradually awoke.

"Changwu!!"

Suddenly, Lu Sheng's grief-stricken cry rang out.

The people nearby turned to look and saw Lu Changwu lying in a pool of blood, already lifeless.

"Ah—"

"Ah—"

"Ah—"

Lu Sheng hugged his son's corpse and shouted three times, nearly driven mad.

This Chief Inspector of the Overseeing Bureau, whose future had once seemed boundless, had lost control in front of others like this for the first time.

Seeing this scene, the Military Academy students around them could not help feeling the grief of the fox mourning the rabbit.

If even the son of the Chief Inspector of the Overseeing Bureau could die so easily, what about them?

The death toll was soon tallied.

Besides Lu Changwu, three Rank A Students and five Overseeing Bureau Inspectors had also been killed. The Tranquil God Sect appeared to have killed at random, without any particular pattern.

As for Li Fei's disappearance, it had not yet been noticed.

"It's possible that while everyone else was unconscious, these people woke up early and were killed afterward."

Someone offered a guess.

"Bring all the bodies and withdraw."

Lu Sheng stood up while holding Lu Changwu's body and spoke with an ashen face.

That night, everyone returned safely to Xingcheng.

The operation had failed. More than a hundred firearms, over two hundred Stab Proof Vests and sabers had been lost. Five Overseeing Bureau Inspectors and four Rank A Students from the Military Academy had died. Most crucially, four Registered Martial Masters were missing.

This was a major case, a Raging Fire Heavy Case, on a scale unseen in many years. All of Xingcheng was shaken.

"What is the Overseeing Bureau even good for? So many people went into action carrying guns, and they still managed to turn it into this?!"

At Xingcheng's Administrative Office, Chief Gu Zhenhui slammed his desk in a fury.

More than two hundred years ago, after the Great Blue Dynasty changed from an imperial system to a dual monarchy constitutional monarchy, the administrative structures of the various regions also changed.

From highest to lowest, they were divided into province, prefecture, city, and town. The highest-ranking administrative official of a town was called a town head, the one in charge of a city was called a chief, and above them were the Garrison Commanders of prefectures and the Imperial Inspectors of provinces.

Chief Gu Zhenhui was Xingcheng's number one official, in charge of its administrative authority. The incident that had occurred during the day was reported to him at the earliest opportunity, provoking his fury.

"What did the Cessation of Hostilities Bureau say?"

After slamming the desk, Gu Zhenhui asked.

He had just turned fifty this year. Judging by his age, he was still considered "young" and had a chance to advance further and compete for the position of Garrison Commander.

But for such a vicious case to occur within the territory under his jurisdiction had naturally sent him into a thunderous rage.

"My lord, the Cessation of Hostilities Bureau has applied for the Bureau of Impartial Justice to send people to assist them in tracking down the Tranquil God Sect's whereabouts," the Secretary-General said.

Gu Zhenhui rubbed his temples. "Send an order to the Bureau of Impartial Justice and have them dispatch people to assist the Cessation of Hostilities Bureau with the investigation. Tell them that whoever finds the Tranquil God Sect's whereabouts first will receive a generous reward from me! Also, tell Huang Weiguang that I'm giving him only ten days. Within ten days, he either gives me a satisfactory explanation or submits his resignation!"

"Yes."

The Secretary-General nodded in acceptance.

The Administrative Office's order was quickly passed down. The three most important institutions—the Overseeing Bureau, the Cessation of Hostilities Bureau, and the Bureau of Impartial Justice—sprang into action.

The Bureau of Impartial Justice sent several mages to enter Mount Luo together with the Cessation of Hostilities Bureau's Registered Martial Masters. The Overseeing Bureau also sent more than a hundred people into the mountains again, and this time Chief Inspector Huang Weiguang personally led the team! Not only that, the Overseeing Bureau also issued a bounty: "Anyone who can provide valid clues about the Tranquil God Sect can receive a reward of up to ten thousand yuan!"

Inside Mount Luo Stronghold, Li Lei was leading people in questioning the villagers one by one.

This time, Huang Weiguang personally led the operation, and most of the Overseeing Bureau Inspectors he brought were still from the First Brigade. After all, this was the Overseeing Bureau's most elite force. They simply did not let Lu Sheng participate this time.

Li Lei had volunteered to join the operation because Li Fei had gone missing and had not returned with the others.

Elsewhere, Hao Yi also learned that Li Fei was missing. He left the Military Academy at the first opportunity and hurried toward Mount Luo.