After Liu Dongli called Ai Qing to report the matter of Benevolent Charity, a dizzying series of operations began.
Within ten minutes, a black-plated sedan screeched to a halt before him. Two people politely invited them into the car and took them to that strange agency where he had been interrogated last time.
By the time he walked in, Benevolent Charity had already been thoroughly investigated.
In the conference room, the middle-aged man who had presided over Huai Shi's interrogation last time wore an ugly expression and said nothing.
Only Ai Qing flipped through the still-warm documents in her hands page by page. Soon, she raised her eyes. "That's quite a haul... A shell company that obviously exists for money laundering actually received donations from so many people. Quite a few of them are prominent figures in the city. No wonder the Special Affairs Department found nothing after investigating for so long... This won't leak, will it?"
The middle-aged man coughed dryly. "The Special Affairs Department is the Special Affairs Department. Other departments are other departments."
"If things had been like this from the start, why bother working yourselves to the bone for that bunch of old men?"
Ai Qing glanced at him. "How many people are implicated?"
"Quite a few..."
The middle-aged man sighed. "According to the investigation, this foundation regularly invited certain masters to give positive-energy lectures to donors, sharing their experiences in sublimation of the soul and health preservation.
Most of it was unreliable meditation and self-hypnosis, mixed in with all sorts of random traditional studies..."
"No wonder." Ai Qing sneered. "It's all the sort of thing those old leaders like. If this company really has anything to do with this case, quite a few people will be in trouble, won't they?"
"The Special Affairs Department is the Special Affairs Department—"
The middle-aged man helplessly reiterated himself. "There's no need to test us. When it comes to matters of principle, we know where to draw the line. Please rest assured, Inspector."
Behind them, Huai Shi quietly nudged Liu Dongli with his elbow. "Hey, is an Inspector really that badass?"
Liu Dongli rolled his eyes and lowered his voice. "As a UN-affiliated organization, the Astronomical Society has members all over the world. Its primary purpose is to contain Border Relic contamination and crimes involving Ascenders... You can understand it this way: as long as it has anything to do with Ascenders or Border Relics, she has the authority to intervene. Once she becomes a full member, all she needs to do is sign a Black Letter, and she can wipe out your entire family register. What do you think?"
"She's that powerful?" Huai Shi was dumbfounded. "East Xia allows that?"
"The Five Powers are the main members of the Astronomical Society's ruling body—the Directorate, okay?" Liu Dongli whispered. "It's called policing themselves."
While the two of them whispered, Ai Qing and the middle-aged man at the head of the conference table seemed to have finished negotiating certain conditions. After receiving Ai Qing's promise not to widen the scope of the crackdown, his expression visibly improved.
A voice came through the walkie-talkie on the table:
"The operation personnel are in position."
The middle-aged man looked at Ai Qing. "Put the signal through. Begin the operation."
The enormous screen on the wall lit up instantly. It was vaguely recognizable as the view from a head-mounted camera. Huai Shi saw only a mass of people armed from head to toe, carrying all manner of firearms. At the command, the vehicle doors opened, and the group swarmed out.
This anti-terrorist force from who-knew-where seemed to have drawn up their assault plan long ago. They moved without the slightest hesitation. In less than two minutes, they had secured the entire parking lot. One team rushed toward the surveillance room, while another sealed off the office building inside and out, dropping the shutters, locking the doors, setting up cordons, and completely cutting off even the signals and fiber-optic lines.
Only through the jostling helmet-camera view could Huai Shi see the scenery outside.
Holy shit, did they have to go this far?
This was clearly the busiest district in the center of Xin Hai City. Below the dozens of floors, crowds streamed through the streets. It was the liveliest time before the end of summer vacation, and no one would have imagined that a tightly coordinated raid was taking place right above their heads.
Outside the corridor door, a breaching ram had been set up without a sound.
At the command, there came a thunderous crash.
Amid the roar, before the people inside could react, several flashbangs were thrown in. After bursts of light and deafening blasts, the armed troops filed inside and, in an instant, took control of the outer offices of Benevolent Charity.
The rest forced their way further inside. First came a scream, followed by two thunderous gunshots, then cries of pain. Finally, one shrill voice remained:
"Don't shoot! I surrender, I surrender!"
Soon, in the camera's view, a bedraggled middle-aged man was dragged out. He had been shot in the leg, and his face was covered in tears and snot, yet he still shouted, "I want to turn myself in! I want to turn myself in! I'll confess, I'll confess everything! Master made me do it! I don't know anything, I really don't know anything!"
After a bout of chaos, the captain reported to the camera, "He was transferring money. All liquid funds have been transferred overseas. We found a plane ticket to France in his office..."
He had been preparing to run.
In the stunned silence of the conference room, the middle-aged man's expression darkened as well.
If there had still been a chance that this was all a misunderstanding before, there was definitely something rotten inside now.
"—Interrogate him!"
The middle-aged man nearly snapped the pen in his hand as he gave the order through gritted teeth. "Get to the bottom of it!"
Ten minutes later, the pen in his hand really did snap.
Wang Hai, nicknamed Wang Hai the Mangy—the mangy from ringworm. That was the name of "Master."
According to records in the public security system, this man had begun using superstition to amass wealth more than twenty years ago, swindling elderly people out of their pensions. He had been caught twice, then later disappeared. When he resurfaced, he had become Pastor Wang of the Savior Heavenly Father Society. His business had grown larger and larger, completely out of control.
The person arrested in the office was one of his many disciples, Tu Tai. He was specifically responsible for the public front and money laundering, cleaning the money Master had swindled and transforming it into bearer bonds and value-preserving assets.
Tu Tai, a graduate of a prestigious university, had joined solely for the money and had never thought much of his master. He had secretly skimmed quite a lot for himself. Wang Hai, meanwhile, had always kept many secrets from his disciples, trusting only his eldest disciple, who stayed by his side. The two sides had been exploiting each other, but their shared interests had kept the peace. Now that disaster had struck, Tu Tai decisively sold out his master. He answered every question and even voluntarily confessed quite a bit, including Master's illegal-drug trade and a "miracle" he had stumbled upon by chance.
"A miracle?" the chief interrogator asked.
"Yes, a miracle."
Tu Tai took a drink of water and wiped away his cold sweat. "Wang Hai always kept a box hidden away. I don't know what was inside. Every time he led people in prayer, he hid that box beneath the pulpit... Once it was opened, a very pleasant scent came out. Smelling it made you feel invigorated, like there was nothing to fear no matter how difficult things got. The people who came to my classes didn't know that. They all thought he was some great master. Pah, he's just an old fraud. I suspect the illegal drugs he brought out were connected to that thing too..."
A box.
Ai Qing could not help glancing at Huai Shi.
At last, it matched up.
Huai Shi also secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The person behind it all had finally been caught, so he no longer had to live on edge every day.
He could finally return to the normal track of life, get promoted and get rich, marry a beautiful wealthy woman, and reach the pinnacle of life...
No one in the conference room was interested in hearing the rest. Only Huai Shi eagerly waited for what came next, hoping Tu Tai would explain in detail how his master had "consecrated" female believers...
Hey—you bastard even installed a camera?
Confess honestly. Where did you put the hard drive?
But soon, they received bad news from the scene: Wang Hai was about to run.
Tu Tai, who had always had a sharp nose for trouble, knew this line of work could not last forever and constantly kept an eye on news from every direction. When he discovered unusual movements in his master's accounts, he sensed that things were about to go wrong. Wanting an extra precaution, he immediately booked a ticket to France, intending to lie low abroad for a couple of days and assess the situation. He had not expected it to already be too late.
Wang Hai was now holding one final prayer gathering in Old Pond Town outside Xin Hai. He clearly intended to flee that very night. To prevent complications, they had to act as soon as possible.
Yet Ai Qing fell silent.
As though she had thought of a question that she simply could not answer no matter what, she stared blankly into space, ignoring the people urging her beside her.
Only after a long while did she raise her head and let out a long breath, her expression grim.
"It's true that this makes a lot of things add up. None of the clues have any problems, but something still feels wrong..."
She suddenly turned her head, her narrow eyes fixed on the boy behind her. "Is there something else you haven't told us?"
Yeah, I've hidden plenty. The Crow, the Book of Destiny, awakening... How could I possibly mention things that would spell disaster if revealed?
"No!"
Huai Shi shook his head decisively. "I've told you everything I can say! I've even told you everything I can't say!"
He looked righteous and impassioned, as if he were ready to sacrifice himself at any moment, but inside he was terrified, afraid that Ai Qing would ask Liu Dongli to question him all over again.
What if the Book of Destiny gets exposed?
Judging by Crow's tone, that damned thing seemed incredibly important. Before the binding was removed, how could Huai Shi dare let anything slip?
As though she believed him, Ai Qing silently withdrew her gaze.
"Then begin the operation immediately."
She looked at the middle-aged man. "However, to avoid any unforeseen circumstances... Though time is tight, before carrying out the plan, we should first figure out what exactly this so-called Savior Heavenly Father Society is up to.
After all, this involves a Border Relic. No one knows what they may be hiding. Besides, aren't Ascenders still hidden among them?
This is all necessary intelligence—"
"Hmm?" The middle-aged man was puzzled. "What does Ms. Ai mean?"
Ai Qing glanced behind her without speaking.
The middle-aged man saw Liu Dongli and immediately understood. He rose to shake his hand, saying warmly, "On behalf of the Special Affairs Department, I thank Mr. Liu for his help and support."
"What?"
Liu Dongli looked utterly baffled. He had no idea what was happening, but instinctively felt that things were going badly. "I didn't, I'm not, don't you people just—"
Before he could finish, Ai Qing cut him off. "Perfect. Besides Liu Dongli, there's also a civilian volunteer who has dealt with them and is willing to cooperate with us..."
As she spoke, Ai Qing looked toward Huai Shi, who was gloating in the back.
"—With the two of them infiltrating first, there certainly won't be a problem."
Huai Shi's smile froze on his face. He instantly jumped to his feet and became a miserable broken record. "I didn't either! I'm not either!"
"You're just going in to scout the place. With so many people as backup, it's not like you'll definitely die."
"You said it wasn't definite yourself!" Huai Shi protested in grief and indignation. "Didn't we agree I was the bait? How did it suddenly turn into infiltrating behind enemy lines?"
"Isn't it normal for the client to change the requirements?"
Ai Qing propped her chin on her hand and leisurely examined him. "At worst, I'll add another eight hundred to your allowance."
Huai Shi immediately got angry.
"Forget eight hundred, even eight thousand—"
Before he could finish, a beep came from his waist.
Alipay has received 8,000 yuan!
Huai Shi froze, and his expression immediately stiffened. "Do you think that little money is enough to make me bow my head?"
Beep!
Another soft chime rang out, followed once more by the gentle female voice.
Alipay has received 8,000 yuan.
"This is a matter of life and death! What if I really die?"
Huai Shi stared wide-eyed. "Don't you even have compensation payments?"
Ai Qing withdrew her gaze, flicked her phone, and sent out the final transfer.
Alipay has received 700 yuan.
Seven hundred?
Why was the compensation payment only seven hundred?
They had given him sixteen thousand before that! Why did they give so little once someone was dead?
For a moment, Huai Shi did not know whether he should be aggrieved or furious, or whether he should ask her for more.
"Kid, seven hundred is already quite a lot."
Liu Dongli, his fellow sufferer beside him, leaned over and clicked his tongue in admiration. "After using a coupon, you can get the East Suburb Crematorium's eco-friendly package. It even comes with a box!
Remember to leave a five-star review and they'll throw in a wreath. Leave a message before ordering to pick the style—after all, you'll be staying in it for a long time, so choose one you like."
Ten minutes later, Huai Shi and Liu Dongli were stuffed into an armored vehicle and set off toward Old Pond Town with tragic resolve.
As they departed, Huai Shi inexplicably shuddered.
It felt as though he had fallen into an ice cellar.
Before you continue