The car stopped. Lei Wei and Bodyguard No. 2 got out first. Lei Wei's curvaceous, sexy figure drew several warriors' heated gazes.
But they quickly looked away and turned their eyes to the ground. Someone had clearly warned them in advance.
Bang.
Wang Yiyang closed the car door and got out. He glanced around, then looked toward the elevator.
Though he looked young, the suit-like jacket he wore still lent him a solemn, composed air.
Whether it was the authority and wealth that came with being a Mister director and Security Department head, or the steady hands of Doctor Twist, who had dissected hundreds of lives, both had made his originally simple bearing seem more calm and collected.
"Let's go." He walked into the elevator without a change in expression.
Lei Wei and Bodyguard No. 2 tried to follow, but the other side's warriors stopped them.
"Sorry, this elevator goes straight to our sect master's office. This is a one-on-one meeting. Please understand." A warrior with a white headscarf tied around his head spoke politely.
Lei Wei's expression changed, and she was about to speak, but Wang Yiyang raised a hand to stop her.
"It's fine. We're in the heart of the Yanhu Sect, so this is as safe as it gets. Wait here for me."
Wang Yiyang was certain the Yanhu Sect wouldn't make a move against him.
After all, plenty of people knew he'd come here. Though the Yanhu Sect was a behemoth in its own right, it wouldn't be worth ruining its reputation over one person.
If they attacked him without cause, who would dare hire their people in the future?
Lei Wei and Bodyguard No. 2 understood that too. They nodded and stayed where they were.
The elevator doors slowly slid shut. Wang Yiyang was the only one inside. No one else entered to guide him—not even the Yanhu Sect's own warriors.
The elevator slowly descended. It took about a minute before it finally came to a stop.
Wang Yiyang straightened his jacket and watched the doors slide open. Beyond them was a silvery-white metal passage, just wide enough for one person.
At the end of the passage stood a tall black wooden door.
He stepped out of the elevator and walked straight ahead.
As he crossed the passage, which stretched more than ten meters, the faint sounds of instruments scanning him came from all around.
He soon reached the wooden door.
Creak.
As if sensing his arrival, the door opened inward by itself.
A spacious black hall appeared before Wang Yiyang.
Black metal pillars supported the ceiling. Each one was wrapped in a black python.
Every scale on the giant snakes looked lifelike. Their tongues flicked, and their eyes were open, making them seem utterly real.
The floor was engraved with countless scenes of monsters and humans battling. In a few corners, faint traces of dried blood could still be seen.
There were no obvious light fixtures in the hall. Soft white light shone naturally from all four walls, illuminating several enormous portraits.
Every portrait showed the same thing—a gigantic, kindly-faced fat man.
Every one depicted this same fat man, captured in all sorts of smiling poses.
Smoke drifted through the hall. Wang Yiyang turned his gaze away and looked toward the far end, squinting into the depths.
His eyes soon adjusted.
At the very back of the hall, a gigantic fat man, nearly three meters tall, sat slouched on a broad, heavy metal chair.
Layers upon layers of fat covered his body. His pale, glistening rolls folded over one another, forming ridges like white grubs across his belly and waist.
He wore nothing on his upper body. A huge black character for "Buddha" was tattooed across his pale chest.
His smile, like the black character on his chest, kept twisting with every tiny movement of his body.
"Welcome, honored guest. You're the head of security at Mister Pharmaceutical. I'm the sect master here in Yingxing City. You may call me Meat Arhat Peijia."
The voice of the three-meter-tall giant boomed from his throat, rumbling through the hall like thunder and echoing again and again.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sect Master Peijia. I represent the Mister Group. I've come to hire enough Limit Martial Artists from you to handle my personal affairs," Wang Yiyang said frankly.
His counterpart had deliberately pointed out his identity, which made it clear he'd already investigated him thoroughly. So Wang Yiyang didn't beat around the bush and stated his purpose outright.
Peijia shifted his enormous body. His layers of fat jiggled, seeming ready to slide right off him and tumble to the floor.
The chair behind him creaked under the strain.
"Hiring Limit Martial Artists is no problem. We've already agreed on the price. But I'd like to know what compensation Mister will offer if any of our people are injured.
"Also, we need detailed information about the enemy. Knowing ourselves and our enemy gives us the best chance of avoiding failure, doesn't it?"
"Of course." Wang Yiyang nodded, doing his best to steady his emotions and keep from showing weakness under the pressure radiating from the other man.
Ever since entering the hall, he'd felt Peijia's presence spreading outward without end, like the eye of a storm.
The hall was rectangular, no more than fifteen meters long and seven or eight meters wide.
In such a small space, Meat Arhat Peijia sat in the middle, radiating enough pressure to make an ordinary person freeze in terror.
His massive body could easily crush Wang Yiyang if he simply leaned forward.
It was obvious that Peijia had deliberately arranged things this way to put pressure on him.
But Wang Yiyang was no ordinary man now. His time in a high position had gradually cultivated an air of authority in him. At the same time, the memories of Doctor Twist dissecting living creatures had given him formidable mental fortitude.
Together, the two kept him from showing weakness in front of Meat Arhat Peijia.
They briefly discussed the details of their partnership. Seeing that his imposing presence had little effect, Meat Arhat Peijia stopped wasting time and began asking directly about their enemies.
Half an hour later, they had settled all the details of their cooperation.
Wang Yiyang took the elevator back up, then left the underground Yanhu Sect base by car.
He also instructed Lei Wei to transfer part of the deposit to the account Peijia had provided.
The Yanhu Sect had agreed to send six Limit Martial Artists into battle. With the three Limit Martial Artists from the mercenary group, the people the Martial Alliance might send, and the five armed units Wang Yiyang had already dispatched—fifty elite men in total—the initial expenses alone had topped twenty million.
This time, he planned to eliminate the threat from Yuekong Martial Arts Hall once and for all, then focus all his attention on the impending Mister crisis.
He didn't want to wait any longer.
Since his new identity had failed to offer a new solution, he planned to face Zhong Can directly this time and ask him what was going on.
Wang Yiyang returned to the city and remotely ordered all the units near Guixi Town to gather and await instructions.
He still didn't feel secure with just the forces in Yingxing City, so he also dispatched three additional units to accompany him to Guixi Town.
The Mantis organization had been publicly listed as wanted, but no word had come from them in days. They had likely gone into hiding deep underground.
So this time, he planned to make the operation as safe as possible.
As Wang Yiyang's orders spread, Mister's forces around Yingxing City gathered one after another, forming a heavy net that slowly closed around Guixi Town.
Wang Yiyang returned to the city and waited quietly for all the preparations to be completed.
Once all the forces had arrived and taken their positions, he would return to Guixi Town and resolve the martial arts hall's security problem for good.
Beep...
Wang Yiyang turned off the science fiction movie. The screen froze on an image of a mechanical giant firing a massive beam of light from its chest.
He set down his mango-apple juice and picked up his phone from the low table.
"Hello?"
"Yiyang, you haven't forgotten the parents' meeting you promised to attend for your cousin, have you?" His father, Wang Songhai, sounded exasperated on the other end of the phone.
"Uh..." Wang Yiyang was speechless. He really had forgotten.
"Get going today. You promised your cousin, so you need to follow through. I called to remind you because I was afraid you'd forget, and it turns out you really did..." Wang Songhai didn't know what to do with his son.
"Got it. I'll head over in a bit. It doesn't start until three this afternoon, so I've still got time." Wang Yiyang glanced at the clock. It was only a little after one.
"Just handle it yourself. How's work been lately? Everything all right? Do you need your dad to help you out?"
"Don't worry, things are going great for me. You and Mom are the ones who should ask if you need help. I'm doing much better financially now. I recently changed jobs, and the salary's pretty good," Wang Yiyang replied with a laugh.
"Oh? You changed jobs? Weren't you at that Xinda Network place before? Where'd you go?" Wang Songhai asked in surprise.
"I'm at Mister Pharmaceutical now, handling network security. I'm earning quite a bit more than before. Don't worry."
Wang Yiyang had long since decided on the title he'd use when talking about his work.
To reassure his family and relatives and keep his real circumstances under wraps, he naturally needed a proper, official-sounding job to serve as his public identity.
As the head of the Security Department, it was easy enough for him to give himself a fictitious position.
"Mister... Not bad! It's one of the Federation's top hundred companies! A big company—much better than that Xinda Network place you used to work for." Wang Songhai sounded surprised. He'd heard of the group. It was a genuine giant.
"That's why I changed jobs. The salary and the work are both better than before, right?" Wang Yiyang said with a smile.
"By the way, you mentioned before that you had a girlfriend. When are you going to show us a picture? Your mom and I can help you decide if she's right for you." Wang Songhai abruptly changed the subject.
"Huh? When did I say I had a girlfriend?" Wang Yiyang was stunned.
"You didn't? That's even better. One of my coworkers has a daughter who's generous, highly educated, and kind. She's pretty, too, and she's preparing to take the civil service exam for customs.
"I was worried she wouldn't be interested in you, but now that you're at a big company and earning more, that's changed. By the way, how much are you making a month now? Give me a rough number so I can tell her family."
"...Seven thousand." Wang Yiyang had no desire to go on a blind date arranged by his parents. He gave a figure just a little higher than his previous salary.
"Seven thousand's not bad. If she passes the customs civil service exam, she should make a little over five thousand a month. You'll earn slightly more, which is just right. Then you'll be able to keep her in line, and you'll have more say at home..."
Wang Songhai kept going on the phone, fussing over everything.
Wang Yiyang couldn't get a word in. He could only sit and listen.
Today's Mengzhu is one of the guys who's been following my books for a very, very long time. Thank you, Pingchuwu, and all the old friends for sticking with me and supporting me along the way. I also wish everyone a safe and happy New Year, with happiness by your side and success in your careers!
Before you continue