Murder in the Bustling City

### "I'll use this custom rapid-fire gun made by 'Skillful Hands' to send you on your way... Impossible?!"

"He blocked a water-gun bullet with his palm?!" "Amazing." "As expected of the Chief Inspector!"

Chu Hengkong clasped his hands and clenched a fist. In an instant, the wanted criminal fell. "Fast Gunner" Tatar had wreaked havoc with a relic pistol, but even San Sen Wangxiang's custom-made weapon could not threaten the Chief Inspector's body.

"Everyone, split up and run! He's alone—no matter how strong he is, he can't catch all of us!"

The thieves who had turned their legs into springs leaped desperately into the air. Impossible, it couldn't be done. Fighting that tentacled man was like fighting a Doom Knight—it was asking for death. But no matter how powerful he was, he only had one arm. When it came to jumping, they had the advantage—

"How can this be?!"

The thieves in midair cried out in alarm. Look! The Chief Inspector nimbly used lampposts and billboards to climb to the rooftop in a flash, then leaped into the sky. He reached a height even greater than theirs, his silver tentacle turning into a long whip that swept across them. "Bouncing Man" Karat had used his jumping ability to rob at random, but even a modified body possessed by a demon could not match the Chief Inspector's leg strength.

"Your time is up, Chu Hengkong." The shrimp-headed man drew a long blade. "My 'Six-Line One-Sword Style' is a demonic blade that kills without spilling blood. You won't even have the chance to realize you've been cut—cough, agh!"

Shrimp Head's long blade was shattered by a single punch, and his red shrimp shell was smashed to pieces along with it! What monstrous strength. Shrimp Head, Bu Shi·67, was a bloodthirsty slashing maniac, yet his blade could not break the Chief Inspector's steel fist.

At the Corps headquarters, Jie An tore down three wanted posters in succession, his expression blank. "I need to consider devaluing the bounties."

Chu Hengkong smiled and held out a hand. "Two hundred thousand after tax. Pay up."

Cursing under his breath, Jie An entered the warehouse. Before long, he came out carrying two small cases, his face full of heartache. "Take it easy, Chief Inspector. At this rate, you'll empty out the whole budget."

"Surely the government isn't short on this little bit of money."

"Short on money, short on people, short on equipment—we're short on everything. Otherwise, why would we have hired you?" Jie An looked miserable. "No joke, the bounties really will have to go down in the future. If you find any rare medicinal herbs, though, we can buy them at a high price."

Chu Hengkong counted the Flow Pearls one by one. Hearing that, he asked, "You still need medicine when there are temples?"

"...Can't I have a personal hobby?" Jie An pulled down his hat. "What are you eating tonight, Chief Inspector?"

After being promoted to Senior Chief Inspector, Chu Hengkong's benefits improved across the board. He now commanded a five-man squad, had a "walkie-talkie" relic for instant communication within the city—it looked remarkably like a handheld console from the end of the last century—and received a special meal prepared daily by the cafeteria chef. He hooked up the cases with his tentacle. "I'm eating out tonight."

"Go ahead and eat. Don't choke to death." Jie An said sourly. Chu Hengkong merely smiled, thinking that this man had probably handled accounts for too long; even his mannerisms resembled those of a stingy little housekeeper. He left the storeroom and arrived in the headquarters hall, waving to the squad members who had just gotten off duty. "You've all worked hard."

"We just followed along and picked up the scraps, so it wasn't hard~" "We only ran a few errands." The squad members were all modest. After all, Chief Inspector Chu had earned all the major merits. The few of them had merely followed him around, giving directions, gathering intelligence, running back and forth, and doing miscellaneous work. That hardly counted for anything. One lively fellow reached out to touch the case of clinking Flow Pearls. "It's so heavy. Old Jie really gave you two hundred thousand?"

"I earned it with my own ability. What reason would he have to withhold it?" Chu Hengkong asked.

"Being Skillful Hands really is great..." The squad member rubbed his hands enviously. "One day's work is worth a whole year for me."

"Jealous?" Chu Hengkong flicked him. "Then practice harder. If you become Skillful Hands, won't you make more money too?"

The squad member gave an embarrassed laugh. "Please don't mention it. I've trained for three years and haven't even mastered one set..."

The Three Thousand Sets of Dragon Village Boxing had never been some sect's secret art, forbidden to outsiders. The Misty Lord of Fate had spread this martial art across countless Dust Islands precisely so more people could step onto the Path of Ascension. The Resurrection Corps alone regularly organized its members to practice martial arts, but the problem had never been a lack of places to learn...

It was that they simply couldn't learn it!

According to Ji Qiufeng, to meet the conditions for ascension without relying on supernatural limbs, one had to at least train one set of martial arts until the fire was pure and the blue was ripe. A person like that, if thrown onto Earth, would at minimum be a bona fide martial arts grandmaster—someone who would have ranked among the notable few even in the Republican era. Martial arts required talent. How many people spent their entire lives unable to become even a middling "expert," let alone these poor fellows from the Resurrection Corps, who barely even had time to exercise?

Thus, Chu Hengkong did not mock him, merely asking, "Aren't there other paths?"

"Those are even more hopeless!" The squad member shook his head. "One requires supreme talent, and without it you don't even qualify to begin. The other requires world-shaking wisdom, or else even succeeding would be pointless..."

"Not necessarily. If you don't have wisdom, you can still rely on a fortune worth ten thousand strings of cash!" someone else joked.

"If I had that kind of money, why the hell would I still be standing watch?"

"Dreaming never hurt anyone~"

Seeing his men grow more and more dejected, Chu Hengkong decided to end the subject quickly. He lifted the case of Flow Pearls and knocked on it, producing a crisp ring.

"Bonuses came in today. Dinner's on me," Chu Hengkong said. "Locals, recommend somewhere good!"

That scattered the gloom, and everyone immediately became eager. For brothers who ate at the cafeteria every day, dining out was a joyful occasion. Some suggested barbecue, others slyly proposed going to the rich district for beef, and one young man strongly recommended a bullfrog restaurant near his home... In the end, everyone unanimously decided on hotpot. Chu Hengkong listened quietly, smiling.

He had often done the same thing back when he was in a gang. Alone in the world with no ties or burdens, there was no use in having too much money. So whenever he made a big score, he would treat his brothers to food and drinks. Back then, he earned far more than he did now. He could go to the finest restaurants and order the most expensive dishes, opening bottle after bottle of famous liquor as though it cost nothing. Then, for the entire evening, properly dressed gentlemen and ladies would have to watch a gang of hoodlums drunkenly yelling by the window. Occasionally, the owner would come over too, telling everyone to keep their voices down and mind their image... He had never managed to save much money, but he had always lived happily...

"Brother Chu, maybe we should forget it."

The warning pulled him from his memories. Everyone turned to look at Lü Xing. He had also become a member of this new squad. Though he knew he was spoiling the mood, he still forced himself to say, "You've been drawing too much attention lately. I'm worried..."

"Worried someone will poison the food?" Chu Hengkong laughed.

The squad members' expressions darkened. They remembered that someone had tried to assassinate the Chief Inspector just a few days ago. Chu Hengkong himself, however, did not care. "You haven't killed many people, have you?"

"We can't compare with you in that regard." Cold sweat ran down Lü Xing's face.

"Once you've killed enough, you'll know that poisoning is the most troublesome method." Chu Hengkong said. "First, you need to pinpoint the destination from among every restaurant and bar in the city. If the target changes their mind midway, all the preparations go to waste. Second, many restaurants are chaotic when serving food. If the poisoned dish gets sent to another table, not only will it cause collateral damage, it will also disrupt the plan. Third, important people often have someone test their food first. Even if you successfully poison it, getting it into their mouth is difficult. Then there are common accidents like the poison being diluted and proving ineffective. If killing someone is that troublesome, why would an assassin bother with poison?"

Chu Hengkong was in high spirits. Once a professional subject came up, the man opened the floodgates and enthusiastically began explaining all manner of details. The squad members nodded in agreement, while Lü Xing could not save face and could not resist arguing. "But what if the assassin has all the intelligence, bribes the restaurant in advance, and will pay any price to make that person die..."

"Then why bother with poison?" Chu Hengkong countered. "Just gun the target down the moment they arrive."

Lü Xing held it in for a long while. "...You're right."

Chu Hengkong laughed. "Assassins only choose poison when dealing with certain high-ranking figures under airtight protection. The vast majority of the time, blades and guns are always more useful."

"Then Brother Chu, how would you do it?" a bold squad member asked.

By then, they had been walking for more than ten minutes. Across the road was the market they usually used as a shortcut, and beyond that was the hotpot restaurant the squad members had recommended. The pre-closing discount period had not yet arrived, so there were few customers in the market. The vegetable and meat vendors sat at their stalls eating rice noodles, too lazy even to call out.

Chu Hengkong lightly clenched his right fist. His gaze swept past the vendors on either side and over the pitch-black windows of the buildings behind them, and the smile on his face deepened. He led the squad across the road before calmly continuing, "Naturally, use blades and guns. You'd need at least four or five capable men. The most important thing is choosing a good place to strike. It should preferably be somewhere the target often passes through, to avoid coming up empty. There should be many people around you, so you can hide easily, and few people around the target, so it's easy to aim..."

He tossed the suitcase full of Flow Pearls to Lü Xing and strode forward. "Just like here."

Lü Xing's face went pale. He spun and dove, bringing everyone to a halt. At the same instant, a piercing shriek tore through the air. A half-open window on the fourth floor to the right flew up, and a long, horn-like muzzle protruded from it. That grotesque muzzle spat out a black iron pellet. The pellet burst apart in midair, turning into a rain of steel that came crashing down in the blink of an eye!

—"Shotgunner" San Sen Situ, bounty: one hundred and twenty thousand, a demon-possessed individual skilled in sniping.

Chu Hengkong's eyes shifted, but he looked down at his feet. The road beneath him had turned soft and rotten like mud, transforming into a dark green swamp in an instant. The bog came from a shrill flute, its player hidden behind the vendors, thorns tattooed across his face.

—"Swamp Hexer" Gore, bounty: one hundred and twenty thousand, capable of creating poisonous swamps with a flute-shaped relic.

A rain of bullets above, a swamp below—Chu Hengkong had nowhere to evade for the moment. The third ambush struck at that instant. The tall, thin men carrying shoulder poles on both sides of the market threw aside the cloth covering their goods and seized long spears disguised as carrying poles, thrusting them forward. As they stabbed, the twin spears extended to over three meters long, enough to launch a lethal assault from a safe distance. The two spear-wielders looked exactly alike, their eyes equally cold.

—"Twin Guns" Ouyang Brothers, bounty: one hundred and thirty thousand, wielders of a paired relic set whose simultaneous hits inflicted immense damage.

The abilities of the four wanted criminals intertwined into a certain-kill trap. If he did not want to die in the swamp, he could only endure the damage and force his way through. Yet booming footsteps sounded from ahead as a man with enormous hands charged toward him, ominous black light gleaming in his palms. He was "Hundred Palms," with a bounty of one hundred and seventy thousand, here to fill the final gap in the trap!

The terrain, the surroundings, intelligence on the enemies, the movements of the civilians, the trajectory and speed of the bullets... Information surged through his mind like lightning. Chu Hengkong's left-arm tentacle lashed out. His first strike did not target the enemies on either side, but the muddy ground beneath his feet. Its freely extending length became the key to seizing the initiative. At the tentacle's touch, ripples spread over the swamp's surface. Control refined to the finest hair sent force deep into the bottom layer before erupting. A violent surge rose within the swamp, and Chu Hengkong borrowed that force to break free, leaping into the air.

Above his head were the pellets sprayed out by the gunner, densely packed, more than forty in all. These were pellets created by a demon-possessed individual, not the Water Bullets of an ordinary Riptide Gun. Their impact was powerful enough to pierce walls, let alone human flesh. Therefore, Chu Hengkong had no intention of taking them head-on. With a flick of two fingers, he hurled a Water Bullet at the pellet closest to him. The Water Bullet shattered upon impact, and the struck iron pellet veered off course—only to collide, with astonishing precision, with another iron pellet.

The same scene repeated itself. The deflected iron pellets collided with one another. Such "coincidences" occurred five times in a breath, then ten, twenty, forty... Like the first domino falling, every domino behind it toppled in turn. All the pellets scattered in every direction through the collisions, and the net in the air collapsed in an instant!

Shotgunner's mind went blank. He was San Sen Wangxiang's brother and had deliberately investigated Chu Hengkong's abilities before this. The man was indeed highly skilled, but he was still afraid of guns. Otherwise, when arresting his elder brother, he would not have chosen to hide behind the Doom Knight's shield. Yet now, he had shattered the rain of bullets with a single Water Bullet. Such terrifying performance was beyond anything skill could achieve. How could a human possibly do such a thing!

Unless...

Shotgunner thought of that despairing possibility. "He's Skillful Hands—!"

He only had time to say those words. The second Water Bullet shattered the glass and struck his chest, knocking Shotgunner unconscious on the spot. Chu Hengkong spun in midair to evade the thrusts, kicking out with both feet to strike the Ouyang Brothers' wrists. The brothers recoiled in pain, barely managing to keep hold of their spears, while Chu Hengkong landed calmly. He sprang forward, clearing the swamp and arriving between the two brothers in the blink of an eye.

The Ouyang Brothers thrust their spears again. Chu Hengkong turned sideways, his right hand forming a palm that pressed down the spear shaft on the left, while his left-arm tentacle coiled around the spear shaft on the right. The paths of the twin spears shifted, and the brothers' thrusts were about to stab one another. Knowing the relics' terrible power, they hurriedly tried to let go, but Chu Hengkong seized the weapons in the process, sending both spears to the ground. He stepped forward with his right foot, raised his crossed arms, and chopped down to either side. His right fist arrived first, punching the elder Ouyang brother flying, while his left-arm tentacle struck the younger Ouyang brother across the face.

After taking a tentacle strike head-on, the younger Ouyang brother immediately foamed at the mouth. Chu Hengkong changed from a lash into a coil, lifted him up, turned, and hurled him at Hundred Palms, who was charging over. Seeing his companion flying toward him, Hundred Palms had no choice but to sweep him aside with an arm. That motion made him lose sight of his enemy. Chu Hengkong seized the chance to leap into the crowd, his tentacle lashing straight at the Swamp Hexer as he fled in panic!