Official business?
Kui Shan did not believe for a second that Lu Jing'an could have any proper official business.
Though Lu Jing'an had indeed taken down Lawrence a while ago, despite being outmatched in rank.
In the eyes of outsiders, that had certainly been a display of genius and brilliance.
But in Kui Shan's eyes, this young master of the Lu Family was still the same good-for-nothing playboy at heart.
Even the methods he had used struck Kui Shan as rather unimpressive.
So when he heard the words "official business," Kui Shan's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly, suspicion filling his eyes.
Lu Jing'an paid no attention to Kui Shan's reaction and went straight to the matter of the Tiger Demon.
At the words "Tiger Demon," Kui Shan's expression instantly turned grave.
Mountain spirits and ghosts, demons causing trouble—dealing with them was indeed the Peacekeeping Bureau's responsibility.
The Bureau's files also contained records of the Tiger Demon outside the city.
But the more Kui Shan heard Lu Jing'an's account, the tighter his brows knitted.
It was as if something had happened that he simply could not understand.
"You're saying Li Zhaolin brought two Martial Cultivators,
along with a full hundred fully armed men, and every one of them was wiped out?"
Lu Jing'an corrected him. "Yes. One Martial Cultivator survived, though badly wounded."
Kui Shan was even more displeased that he had gone out of his way to clarify such a minor detail.
He thought the young master was a pedantic playboy who couldn't tell what mattered.
But he suppressed his displeasure and asked instead:
"How can you be sure this isn't an act staged by the Li Family, with your two families' old feud still unresolved?"
Lu Jing'an shook his head, his voice steady.
"At first, I had the same suspicion. But my father has already sent people to carefully examine the scene."
Lu Jing'an paused, then met Kui Shan's gaze directly.
"Most of the wounds on the dead were from wild beasts tearing at them.
The claw marks were deep enough to expose bone. No human weapon could have faked them."
At that, Kui Shan's expression darkened further, his lips pressed into a stiff line.
Seeing his expression, Lu Jing'an asked at just the right moment:
"Senior, is it that the Tiger Demon shouldn't have been this powerful?"
Kui Shan was just about to answer when light footsteps came with the fragrance of tea.
Wen Ling appeared beside Lu Jing'an, carrying a steaming cup of fragrant tea and smiling warmly.
"Young Master Lu, have some. This tea is a rare treat."
She gently set the white porcelain teacup on the table beside Lu Jing'an.
She had been gone for quite a while. The tea leaves must not have been easy to come by.
"Sister Wen Ling, you really didn't have to go to all this trouble. Ordinary tea would have been fine," Lu Jing'an said politely.
Wen Ling waved a hand, not minding at all.
"He spent the money, so it's only fair to pluck a few of his leaves and have a taste."
Lu Jing'an didn't refuse again.
Instead, he took a banknote he had prepared earlier from his robes
and handed it to her.
"This is compensation from the county for the Peacekeeping Bureau. Please keep it, Sister Wen Ling."
Wen Ling took it and lowered her eyes to glance at it. A gleam immediately lit her gaze.
The number on the note made the corners of her lips lift of their own accord.
"Then I won't stand on ceremony, Young Master Lu. Thank you."
She carefully tucked the banknote into her sleeve, then remembered the few words she'd overheard.
"When I came over, I thought I heard you talking about a Tiger Demon. Has that beast outside the city caused trouble again?"
Lu Jing'an nodded and briefly recounted the matter of the Li Family.
After listening, Wen Ling's slender brows furrowed slightly.
She was clearly more easygoing than Kui Shan and went straight to answering Lu Jing'an's question:
"To do all that, the Tiger Demon must have paid a heavy price too."
"But that beast is cunning. Under normal circumstances, it shouldn't have acted like this."
Her fingers absentmindedly twirled a lock of hair.
"And from the location you described, it's at least twenty li from the mountain where it usually makes its lair.
Given how cautious and afraid of death it usually is,
there's no way it would have traveled so far to attack a group like that."
She raised her eyes, her tone sharpening.
"Unless the Li Family did something—
something that thoroughly enraged it, or made it feel that taking the risk was worth it."
Lu Jing'an hadn't given that possibility much thought.
After all, he didn't know the exact location of the Tiger Demon's territory.
Now that she had brought it up, the whole matter seemed even more tangled and mysterious.
What could the Li Family have done to enrage a Tiger Demon from twenty li away,
driving it to risk everything and come out in full force?
A scene suddenly flashed through Lu Jing'an's mind.
"Could it have been the cartload of corpses the Li Family was transporting?"
Lu Jing'an voiced the possibility that had occurred to him.
Wen Ling considered it for a moment, then slowly nodded.
"It's possible.
That beast has a keen nose. It can easily tell the scent of blood from the living apart from the dead.
So much blood from the dead,
and winter's nearly here.
Luring it out of the mountains to hunt for food would make sense."
Then she changed tack, her gaze sharpening. "But..."
Lu Jing'an picked up where she left off.
"But given how cunning it is, once it noticed the group had Martial Cultivators and was fully armed,
it should have known when to back down instead of fighting head-on."
"Exactly."
Wen Ling gave Lu Jing'an an approving look.
"So, in all likelihood, the Li Family did something else—
something that struck at the Tiger Demon's very core!"
As for what that could have been, there were no witnesses left to question, making it difficult to investigate.
Could they ask the Martial Cultivator who had survived by sheer luck?
He probably wouldn't be able to tell them anything.
And even if he did have an explanation,
could they really trust it?
When it came to this matter, the Li Family would be only too happy to see the Lu Family suffer.
Lu Jing'an decided to stop dwelling on it and asked instead:
"Sister Wen Ling, does the Peacekeeping Bureau have any more detailed records on the Tiger Demon?"
"Yes. I'll go find them for you."
Wen Ling agreed without hesitation and turned to head for the archives in the back hall.
"Wen Ling."
Kui Shan stopped her with a deep voice, his gaze sharp as a torch.
"Bureau records aren't open to people outside the Peacekeeping Bureau."
Wen Ling stopped and turned back with a smile.
"Chief, it's just the three of us here.
If you don't say anything and I don't say anything, who's going to find out?
Besides, Young Master Lu is a friend of the Peacekeeping Bureau. What's wrong with letting him see the records?"
Kui Shan's expression didn't change. His answer was firm and absolute.
"Rules are rules.
If you break them a little today, tomorrow I'll break them a little more.
Sooner or later, the Peacekeeping Bureau will rot through along with this world."
Seeing how adamant he was, Wen Ling could only give Lu Jing'an an apologetic look.
"Young Master Lu, I'm sorry... it's not that your sister here doesn't want to help."
Lu Jing'an smiled, his expression still composed.
"It's all right, Sister Wen Ling.
I'll have the Security Station issue a request to review the records tonight.
I'll send someone to deliver it first thing tomorrow morning."
Wen Ling's eyes lit up, and she nodded again and again.
"That's right, that's right.
The Peacekeeping Bureau is ultimately under the Security Station's authority, at least in name.
It just means you'll have to go through one extra step, Young Master Lu."
Lu Jing'an waved a hand.
"That's only right. Senior Kui Shan is right.
If nobody followed the rules, this world really would be beyond saving."
Lu Jing'an spoke sincerely, not to curry favor.
In these times, it was because too many people ignored the rules
that the moral order had crumbled and monsters ran rampant.
The admiration in Wen Ling's eyes grew stronger. "Young Master Lu, your breadth of mind is admirable."
She paused, then suddenly remembered something and asked:
"Are you planning to move against the demon once you've reviewed the records?"
Lu Jing'an didn't hide it. He nodded.
"My superiors intend for the Security Station to wipe out this Tiger Demon.
I thought that the more we learn about it,
the fewer of the Security Station's men might die if we really have to face it."
Wen Ling looked surprised.
"Things like this have always been handled by the Peacekeeping Bureau. How did it end up falling to the Security Station?"
Lu Jing'an replied blandly:
"There's a lot of political maneuvering involved.
Maybe that's precisely why they didn't hand it directly to the Peacekeeping Bureau."
Wen Ling understood, a trace of derision passing over her lips. "That would explain it."
Then she suddenly grew serious, leaning forward slightly as she spoke.
"Have you counted the bodies of the victims? Do they match the number the Li Family reported?"
Lu Jing'an froze, then shook his head.
"The scene was badly damaged, and the Li Family has already collected some of the bodies. It's hard to get an exact count."
Lu Jing'an keenly sensed that there was more to Wen Ling's question. He asked,
"Sister Wen Ling, is there something else going on?"
Wen Ling hesitated for a moment, then spoke.
"The Tiger Demon has a special ability. Anyone or any beast it bites to death
can be controlled by it and turned into a puppet."
"Chang Ghost?" Lu Jing'an's pupils contracted.
He hadn't expected this demon to have such a bizarre ability.
"That's right. Chang Ghosts." Wen Ling nodded, her expression grave.
"If the numbers don't match, you need to be on guard in case some puppets are lying in wait nearby."
Perhaps because she had brought up such a sinister matter, Wen Ling added another warning.
"If you do decide to move against it, make sure you finish it off cleanly. You absolutely can't let it escape.
That beast is extremely vengeful. If it gets away, it'll cause endless trouble.
The Peacekeeping Bureau suffered a grievous loss because of that once."
She didn't say what kind of grievous loss.
Lu Jing'an committed her words to memory and gave her a solemn cupped-fist salute. "Thank you for the warning, Sister Wen Ling."
Wen Ling smiled sweetly, her fingertips brushing lightly over her sleeve.
The banknote she'd just received was tucked inside it.
"Your big sister here couldn't very well take your kind gesture for nothing, could she?"
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