Relaxing, Part Two

Wang Yiyang paid and pushed open the shop door.

It was already dark outside. The cool night air washed over his face, making him feel as though the hotpot smell clinging to him had finally faded.

Beneath the night sky, neon advertisements flickered across the facades of Yingxing City's high-rises.

Colorful electronic ads shifted slowly across the buildings, accompanied by all kinds of eye-catching light effects.

An abundance of colored lights bathed the streets in brightness.

Wang Yiyang burped, then finally reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out his specially made phone.

He'd taken a day off. It was time to get back to work.

He turned on the phone and checked his messages and missed calls.

The first message he opened was from Jian, one of his subordinates.

As one of the most capable subordinates under him, Jian was in charge of directing operations in emergencies.

So unless something serious came up, he never contacted Wang Yiyang first. If he did, it meant something important might have happened.

Wang Yiyang opened the message.

'Boss, attached are the interrogation transcripts for Zhong Can and the remaining Mantis personnel. Just click to download.'

He immediately opened the attachment and selected download.

A moment later, a series of documents appeared clearly before him.

Things had indeed happened as he'd suspected.

Mantis had incited Zhong Can to consider leaving the martial arts school.

And behind Mantis was a vast organization that specifically targeted small martial arts factions.

That was bad news.

The good news, however, was that the large organization didn't consider Mantis one of its members. It had simply put out a bounty, offering a corresponding reward to anyone who completed it.

Who completed it didn't matter to them.

Mantis or any other organization—they were all just stray dogs fighting over bait.

After reading the report, Wang Yiyang was fairly sure Mantis wouldn't cause him any more trouble in the near future. He only needed to stay on guard.

He closed the attachment and slowly wandered along the sidewalk, aimlessly scrolling through the other messages.

Soon, one caught his attention.

'The Resource Control Regulations will officially take effect tomorrow. The Mien Federation will consolidate and manage all resources imported from outer space according to tier. Any amount exceeding the specified limit must be reported to the Federation's Resource Department three days in advance.'

The message came out of nowhere. If Wang Yiyang had truly been a capable head of Security, he might have been able to glean a lot of useful information from it.

Unfortunately, he was nowhere near that level.

His instincts told him the message was important, but what concerned him most right now was the biggest problem he'd have to face as head of Security. What was it?

Before long, he'd pieced together most of the information related to Mister, the director who headed Security.

Judging by the identity provided by the hidden system, he'd once held a strong position within the corporation because he'd had allies and a power base of his own.

Mister had dozens of departments, but five mattered most: Security, R&D, Monitoring, Master Control, and Public Relations.

Wang Yiyang controlled Security. The old man he'd met before, Kesatirein, controlled R&D.

Of the five departments, Public Relations and Monitoring had once been Wang Yiyang's allies.

That was what had allowed him to hold on to his position as head of Security.

Without any unexpected developments, things might have continued that way until a new chairman took office and announced a formal restructuring.

But then something unexpected happened.

When Wang Yiyang had been in charge of Security, he'd used some unsavory methods to clean house and eliminate rivals. He'd been ruthless, and people had feared him.

At the time, it had been an effective way to suppress unrest and disloyalty.

But years later, the consequences caught up with him.

Among those Wang Yiyang had ordered killed, one survivor had miraculously escaped and climbed back out of hell.

He'd come for revenge, and he hadn't come alone. He'd brought several equally powerful companions.

The moment this Avenger appeared, he dealt a devastating blow to the Red Rain Squad, Security's strongest unit.

After several failed attempts to gather forces and eliminate him, Wang Yiyang had no choice but to hide his identity and leave the Maria Islands, evading the Avenger's relentless pursuit.

As for the Avenger's abilities, Wang Yiyang had no idea what he was dealing with.

The man always wore a silver metal mask carved with a demonic pattern. No one knew what he really looked like.

And the Avenger didn't use martial arts or anything of the sort. He used firearms, along with something else.

Everyone who had faced him directly was dead. He was also cautious, carrying powerful jamming and concealment equipment wherever he went.

As a result, Security couldn't track him down or uncover any further information.

Wang Yiyang organized the data from the chip and cross-referenced it with the information on his phone and the description in his own mind.

Soon, he had pieced together the origins and details of the trouble he faced.

But after reading the Avenger's record, he still couldn't help drawing in a sharp breath.

The Avenger's greatest feat had been wiping out an entire small Security base, one staffed by more than a hundred people, all by himself.

Not a single person in the base survived. Everyone had been killed, and the base had ultimately been blown up and leveled.

"What the hell? Even movies wouldn't dare go that far!" Wang Yiyang finally understood how serious the trouble he was in really was.

There was no doubt about it: his opponent was a master of high-tech combat.

To be honest, someone of that caliber posed an even greater threat to Wang Yiyang than dozens of Grand Justice Rank martial artists.

"And when did I kill his whole family? How come I don't remember that?" Wang Yiyang was at a loss for words.

He'd known for a while that he'd have to bear the burden of everything tied to his hidden identity. But now that it was happening, it still made him feel sick.

"Good thing I still have time to prepare. I'll get another identity in four days."

Wang Yiyang carefully calculated the timeline. According to the data provided by the hidden system, the Avenger would arrive on April 11.

That meant, if the system was precise enough and didn't make any mistakes, he'd get one new identity on the 25th, another on April 2, and one more on April 9.

Three chances in total.

"Three chances... But I can't put all my hopes in the system. If my luck runs out, I'll die without a place to be buried. I need to come up with something..."

Wang Yiyang kept thinking as he walked. Before he knew it, he'd made his way back to the Green Tree Residential Complex.

The elevator had been repaired. A cleaning lady was wiping its inner walls with a mop.

As soon as Wang Yiyang stepped inside, the sharp smell of cleaning fluid hit him.

To his surprise, the pungent odor immediately stimulated his nerves, making his mind feel loose and relaxed. He suddenly felt much more clearheaded.

"Right, there's another suspicious point. From what I remember, I took care of everyone involved back then. I didn't leave a single person who knew. No one should have known I ordered the massacre.

"So... where did the Avenger get that information?"

Wang Yiyang stepped out of the elevator, took out his key, and unlocked the door.

Thud.

The sound of the security door closing behind him echoed far down the stairwell.

He suddenly recalled the system's warning.

"I remember the system emphasized the power struggle within the corporation. So could the Avenger be a pawn someone inside the corporation deliberately backed? A pawn meant to target me?"

He pondered this.

With the system giving him a leg up, a tiny hint was often enough to let him infer plenty of useful information.

At the thought, Wang Yiyang's gaze grew more and more somber.

He assessed the forces at his disposal. Since he'd been away for so long, Security was being managed entirely through remote orders from two deputy heads. As a result, other departments had quietly taken over a lot of its power.

Many forces he could have kept under control had also fallen into other people's hands while he was too busy fleeing for his life to take charge.

After doing the math, he could now command at most a fifth of Security's former strength.

"What a mess..." Wang Yiyang could feel a heavy, inescapable net closing in around him.

And this time, things were different from the martial arts school incident.

His opponent was on the same level as him, if not higher. They had even more outside forces they could call on.

And then there was the Avenger, watching him like a hawk...

"Am I really supposed to wait for a new identity and leave it to chance?" Wang Yiyang wasn't willing to accept that.

"I need power. Power I can use right away... And preferably some outside help, something beyond the chessboard..."

Wang Yiyang stood bolt upright in the living room, lost in thought.

The first thing he considered was the authorities. The Mien Federation was unquestionably the biggest power around.

But his status wasn't an advantage compared to theirs. It was hard to say whom the authorities would help when the time came.

Next were his other allies within the corporation.

Public Relations and Monitoring had once been his allies. But now that his power had waned and the Avenger had driven him into hiding, the heads of both departments had chosen to stay out of it rather than risk getting burned.

Convincing them to step in would be too difficult. And even if they did, they probably wouldn't be much help.

Third...

Wang Yiyang picked up his phone and glanced at the few new names in his contacts.

"What if I turned to martial arts experts?"

He'd seen experts at the Bright Light and Grand Justice ranks. If they weren't poisoned, fighters at those levels could unleash their strength for short bursts and dodge gunfire as easily as strolling through a forest.

Firearms numbering fewer than ten posed almost no threat to them.

At the thought, Wang Yiyang regretted not sticking with his training when he was young and practicing martial arts seriously with his grandfather, Wang Xinlong.

Martial arts might not be the deciding factor in combat, but they could still offer some protection.

Unfortunately, it was too late now.

According to his grandfather, his bones had set and his qi and blood were impure. A year of training now might not get him as far as a month of training would have gotten a child.

Besides, he didn't have the time or the inclination to study martial arts now.

"Then I'll have to try the Yanhu Sect. I'll throw some money at them and find out what they're like first." Wang Yiyang settled on a plan.

Then he picked up his phone, paused for a moment, and dialed a number.