Luring

As they waited for the dishes they had just ordered, Xiao Jiangnan recounted, still shaken, how another martial arts school had come to challenge his gym before he and his sister arrived. His childhood friend, Officer Wang Xuan, was stunned.

What was even more surprising was that Doctor Li, who had organized the dinner, had quietly resolved Yongling Martial Arts Fitness Center's crisis in his own way—and made an example of the troublemakers in the process.

From now on, whether it was Tianlan Jidao Hall or any other gym offering martial arts classes, they would think twice before coming to pick a fight. They would have to ask themselves whether they had the guts to check into a mental hospital.

When everyone heard what had happened to those troublemakers from Tianlan Jidao Hall, they burst into laughter. Just then, the dishes began arriving, and they raised their drinks and went around the table in a toast.

The members of the task force had government jobs and couldn't risk drinking. Xiao Jiangnan and Officer Xiao Wang had to drive, so they couldn't touch a drop either. Xiao Wei was a young woman who didn't like alcohol, and Li Bai had no fun drinking alone. So the table had only Wanglaoji and orange juice—not a drop of red, white, or yellow wine, or even beer.

Old Zhang and the others weren't surprised at all by Li Bai's extraordinary abilities.

That day, he had even pried open the lips of Yao Donghu, the suspect in the Major Smuggling Case—a tight-lipped man who had refused to say a word. Teaching a few shortsighted martial arts instructors a lesson, legally and within reason, was nothing by comparison.

With both new and old friends around the table, the atmosphere grew livelier as the dishes kept coming.

"Doctor Li, have we met somewhere before?"

As everyone was getting acquainted, Guo Wenkai finally voiced the question that had been nagging at him. From the moment he'd arrived at his maternal grandmother's restaurant and seen Li Bai, he hadn't been able to take his eyes off him.

Though it was rather impolite, Li Bai wasn't surprised.

Hypnosis wasn't the Demoness's innate ability, Spiritual Eye Illusion, and it still had plenty of flaws. As time passed and the human mind's self-correcting ability came into play, memories buried in the subconscious could gradually resurface. It depended on how often and how strongly key information was triggered.

For Guo Wenkai, that key information was Li Bai himself.

The first time he'd unexpectedly spotted Li Bai's silhouette inside the Santana, a crack had appeared in the memories sealed away by hypnosis. Combined with his professional instinct to be suspicious and his talent for deduction, that crack had inevitably grown wider.

If he hadn't run into Li Bai, Guo Wenkai might have forgotten what he looked like before he ever remembered him. After all, memories grew hazy with time.

"No. I'm sure of it!"

Li Bai shook his head firmly.

When it came to shamelessly lying through his teeth, he was every bit as good as the Azure Flood Dragon Demoness. It was no coincidence that the human and the demon had ended up together.

Birds of a feather flocked together. Neither of them had an ounce of decency.

"You're not lying to me? I really do think you look familiar!"

Guo Wenkai still wouldn't let Li Bai off the hook. With his professional instincts, he wasn't likely to dismiss his suspicions so easily.

"Maybe I just have a handsome, celebrity face."

Li Bai shamelessly praised himself.

A burst of laughter came from beside him as Heroine Xiao failed to hold it in.

The Great Demon spread his hands helplessly. "See? I told you I wasn't wrong!"

With a beautiful woman's laughter to back him up, his boast seemed to be confirmed.

"..."

Did anyone really flaunt his looks so brazenly? Guo Wenkai felt inexplicably disheartened. He had a square, dark face, which certainly couldn't compete with a pretty boy's when it came to catching the ladies' attention.

As a veteran police officer, Guo Wenkai had seen countless criminals fail to pull the wool over his eyes. Yet when faced with Li Bai, a psychologist equally skilled at reading people, his probing questions had gotten him nowhere.

But there was no keeping the truth under wraps forever. As long as Guo Wenkai kept spending time with Li Bai, the hypnosis he'd once undergone would eventually wear off on its own. However, after learning that a powerful figure lurking behind the Yao Family's smuggling operation could influence senior officials in the Provincial Department, Li Bai had become more cautious. He wasn't about to let Guo Wenkai gradually recognize him without doing anything.

He was just an ordinary citizen. He couldn't afford to be caught in the fallout of a power struggle at the top, so he couldn't leave even the slightest hidden risk behind.

But Guo Wenkai was already on his guard, and hypnosis was no longer effective. Li Bai couldn't simply reinforce it with another snap of his fingers. All he could do was quietly use a few suggestive techniques to shore up the crack that had already begun to widen, though they weren't nearly as effective as a snap.

A few minutes later, the two of them had wandered so far off topic that they were practically beyond the Himalayas.

When dinner ended, everyone went their separate ways.

Old Zhang and the other members of the task force returned to the Nanhu District Public Security Bureau to keep working late into the night. They aimed to dig up the entire smuggling network, including its protectors and all the other people benefiting from it, and take them down in one fell swoop, leaving no chance for future trouble.

Driving his BMW 745, Xiao Jiangnan glanced at Li Bai in the passenger seat. "Director Guo from the Provincial Department seemed pretty interested in you. Government jobs are hard to get these days. Don't you want to take a ready-made position with a high starting point?"

At dinner, he'd noticed Guo Wenkai paying particular attention to Li Bai. The two had talked for quite a while, and Xiao Jiangnan had picked up on Director Guo's intention to recruit him from a few things he'd said. Those special recruitment slots for talented people weren't easy to come by.

Being a doctor was certainly a good career, but getting into government service and securing a stable job—especially with the Provincial Public Security Department—could lead to a future far beyond simply becoming a hospital director.

To his surprise, Li Bai refused without the slightest hesitation.

Xiao Jiangnan had meant well, but Li Bai only smiled and said, "I'm a simple-minded person. I don't like mixing with people who scheme against each other. There's too much trouble in government offices, so I'd rather keep my distance."

The people the Great Demon had conned to death would never admit he was really simple-minded. Anyone who believed that had already lost.

"Everyone has their own ambitions. What a shame." Xiao Jiangnan shook his head. After a brief silence, he suddenly added, "How about coming to work for me? I'll pay you eight thousand a month."

Before Li Bai could answer, Xiao Wei, sitting in the back seat, cried out excitedly.

"That'd be great! Doctor Li, you're so skilled. If you were stationed at Yongling, nobody would dare come and challenge us."

It was obvious that the afternoon's failed challenge by Tianlan Jidao Hall—and the loss of three of its top fighters—had made a deep impression on her.

"Just give me a call if you need anything. Besides, Boss Xiao only charges me eight hundred a month in rent."

Li Bai could easily read between the lines. He'd turned down Guo Wenkai, and now Xiao Jiangnan wanted to see if he could bring him over to Yongling Martial Arts Fitness Center. He wanted Li Bai to be the gym's lucky mascot.

"Doctor Li, if you came to work for me, you'd get Five Insurances and One Fund, annual raises, and an overseas trip every year. If you stayed for a full year, I'd give you shares. It'd be far better than working at a hospital."

Xiao Jiangnan genuinely wanted to recruit Li Bai. He'd effortlessly subdued two advanced students and stopped their leader with a casual point of his finger. With someone like that on hand, Yongling Martial Arts Fitness Center would become famous.

With its current capacity, Yongling could at least triple the number of people it served, making it the leading gym in Huxi City.

"What would I do there? Teach people to snap their fingers? It's not exactly in my field."

Li Bai kept shaking his head with a smile. Money was easy to earn, but favors piled up, and they weren't so easy to repay.

Why were cultivators reluctant to form karmic ties? Favors were hard to repay, and unresolved thoughts could give rise to inner demons and hinder one's path.

Knowing her brother wanted to recruit Doctor Li, an extraordinary man, Heroine Xiao still couldn't help laughing at his casually brilliant remarks.

"No problem. If you ever get tired of what you're doing and want a change of scene, there'll always be a place for you here."

Though Xiao Jiangnan had also been politely turned down, he didn't give up. Li Bai was renting his place, and living nearby gave him an advantage. There was plenty of time; with patience, an opportunity would come.

Even if he couldn't bring Li Bai onto his team now, the doctor might not stand by if someone came to challenge Yongling Martial Arts Fitness Center again.

That was how relationships were built, often without anyone noticing. If you only cared about the small gains right in front of you, you'd never amount to much.

Though Xiao Jiangnan had benefited from his parents' support, he had founded Yongling Martial Arts Fitness Center on his own and established himself in the industry. His success came not only from his martial arts skills, passed down by a renowned master, but also from his own way of dealing with people.