Using the Same Old Trick

After Chen Jue finished the paperwork and went downstairs, it was nearly time for roll call.

The large office of Team Three was abuzz with voices.

Most of them sat around the white conference table at the very back, chatting among themselves.

Chen Jue greeted each senior in turn, then quietly took a seat at the very end of the conference table.

"Damn it, the Rat Gang has truly gone insane. Yesterday, when Old Zhao and the others were patrolling Wutong Street, they were ambushed and disarmed. Each of them took dozens of blows from clubs, and they're still lying in intensive care with IV drips..."

"That really happened? Didn't Old Zeng report it?"

"How could he report it? They got sacks thrown over their heads and couldn't see a single face clearly. There's no evidence at all. They've been humiliated rotten."

"This is thorny. I heard that the Rat Gang warehouse Director Wu led us to raid last week was storing experimental medicine from the Qi family worth over a hundred million."

"That collateral branch of the Qi family that handles distribution has gone ruthless. They ordered the Rat Gang to recover the medicine within a month, or they'll all come bearing their heads..."

"Oh dear, then yesterday's attack on Old Zhao and the others was only a warning. If Director Wu doesn't make some kind of move in the coming weeks, the streets probably won't know peace..."

"What's there to fear? As long as everyone stays alert and doesn't get caught in some dirty trick, anyone stupid enough to come at us can just be hacked to death."

"..."

Just as Chen Jue was listening with keen interest, the seniors of Team Three began rambling from east to west, talking nonsense about heaven and earth.

One moment, they spoke of an angler surnamed Cai from Donglai City, who had spent two and a half years in the coastal air force before comprehending the supreme rod technique, One Cast Opens Heaven's Gate, catching a giant kun fish a hundred zhang long and shaking Lu Mountain.

The next, they spoke of the Medicine King Sect causing chaos in Henan Province, with an undead army of tens of millions storming cities, seizing strongholds, and plundering a thousand li of land.

The most outrageous story was about the Gao family in the inner city, who had mistakenly taken a third-realm pig demon as a live-in son-in-law. The wedding had erupted into a tremendous uproar before a thousand-household commander from the Jiangnan Myriad-House Office, who had been drinking at the feast, saw through it and killed it on the spot.

Chen Jue treated it all as entertainment. While loosening his muscles and bones, he pondered the five internal arts of the Little Five-Element Art.

They said practice made perfect. Once he cultivated those five internal arts a few more times and gained enough perfect experience, the places where his circulation of energy felt sluggish would naturally unravel like a blade cutting through bamboo.

He also thought that, since the Zong family was willing to spread its family's internal art to the public, there had to be discussions about it online.

He tried entering some keywords, but the posts that popped up on his phone were shocking to behold. Every single one was cursing the Linjiang Clan.

Some claimed the art had ruined them completely, yet they could not even touch the threshold of the late True Qi Realm.

Others said they had possessed above-average talent but had wandered onto the wrong path, remaining stuck at the middle stage of the second realm, Spirit Planting, for ten years without advancing an inch. Meanwhile, martial artists with the same aptitude had long crossed the third realm, Feathered Ascension, and entered the fourth realm, Inner Vista. Their circumstances had become as far apart as heaven and abyss.

Everyone cursed the Zong family, saying their inability to bear sons was retribution.

Chen Jue grew irritated as he read. These posts contained nothing but emotional venting, without a shred of rational discussion. They offered him no help whatsoever.

But Chen Jue soon let it go.

Putting himself in their shoes, if he had succeeded in cultivating the Little Five-Element Art, he would not share his experience online either.

Not only because martial artists were competitors by nature, but also because the Zong family had cast its nets everywhere. They surely had some scheme in mind.

A tree rising above the forest would be broken by the wind.

Better to let the bullets fly a while longer.

"Roll call. Put away all your phones."

Team Leader Zeng You walked in from outside the office.

He wore a level-five inspector's uniform embroidered with a winged wenyao fish with a dragon's head. Though advanced in years, his martial artist's tall, sturdy frame still filled out the official uniform, making him look imposing, upright, and dignified.

Yet Chen Jue faintly sensed an almost imperceptible cold hostility from this team leader.

It seemed Zhang Wei's attempt to sow discord the day before yesterday had affected the old man's state of mind to some extent.

"Other than Old He and the rest who were on night duty yesterday, everyone should be here, right?"

Zeng You took the seat of honor and called roll one by one according to the usual procedure.

When he finally called Chen Jue's name, he paused slightly before saying, "Little Chen has been in Team Three for nearly half a month, yet he hasn't patrolled the streets even once..."

"How about this? Have Uncle Lin take you around the area near Wutong Street to familiarize yourself with it."

"There are quite a few small workshops there. Focus on checking their business licenses and fire safety."

Uncle Lin, Lin Shoucheng, was a friend of Chen Jue's uncle, He Yuanshan.

When Lin Shoucheng heard Zeng You assigning him to take Chen Jue to Wutong Street, he said unwillingly, "Old Zhao and the others just had an incident on Wutong Street. Is it really appropriate to take a kid to a place like that now?"

"Everyone has to rotate shifts. What difference does it make whether he goes sooner or later?"

"Are you saying Little Chen shouldn't grow?"

Zeng You used the older generation's habitual tactic of slapping labels on people, effortlessly blocking Lin Shoucheng's words.

Chen Jue was also helpless. The man's reasoning sounded perfectly justified, and patrol duty was part of his job. He could only comply.

After giving Lin Shoucheng his orders, Zeng You began assigning tasks one by one. Only after everyone present had received work did he dismiss them to their duties and return to his separate office cubicle.

"Little Chen, don't do anything out of line lately. Once you become permanent, you naturally won't have to watch your step everywhere."

"That's right. Old Zeng was driven half-mad by anger that day. He's always looking for someone to establish his authority with, making a mountain out of any molehill."

The veterans of Team Three came over one after another to console Chen Jue, telling him to yield a little in all things.

Chen Jue thanked the seniors for their concern and followed Lin Shoucheng out.

Two inspectors from Team Four stood in the corridor, looking at the departing Chen Jue with ill intent.

"Don't mind them. Let's go."

Lin Shoucheng gave Chen Jue a look and led him quickly downstairs.

However, the people from Team Four seemed determined to cause Chen Jue trouble.

The moment the two reached the second floor, a figure shot out with a whoosh.

Lin Shoucheng reacted swiftly, grabbing Chen Jue and trying to dodge aside.

But Chen Jue suddenly tensed his arm and broke free of his pull, allowing the figure that had deliberately rushed out to slam directly into him.

Bang!

He still stood like a wall. He was still utterly unshakable. The other party still staggered, nearly falling flat on his face.

"You fucking blind?! Don't you watch where you're going?!"

The brawny man was still instantly enraged, reaching for Chen Jue to make trouble.

Only, unlike last time, the brawny man had bounced back rather far after hitting him and had somehow ended up behind Chen Jue.

It was an excellent position—he only had to reach out to use the grappling move Wrist Seize, Elbow Press on Chen Jue.

"Zhang Qi! Don't you people from Team Four go too far! This is the guard station, not a place for you to use such underhanded tricks!"

Lin Shoucheng was alarmed and rushed at Zhang Qi, intending to shove him away.

His friend He Yuanshan had asked him to look after Chen Jue. He could not let anything happen to Chen Jue right under his nose.

Yet before Lin Shoucheng could reach Zhang Qi, an inspector suddenly appeared around the corner. His five fingers clamped around Lin Shoucheng's wrist like iron pincers, preventing him from rushing to Chen Jue's aid at once.

Meanwhile, Zhang Qi had already seized Chen Jue's wrist and shoulder with both hands, preparing to give him a vicious lesson.

But as Zhang Qi exerted force and violently pressed his arm downward—

Chen Jue remained rooted in place, utterly motionless. He was not moved in the slightest.

Zhang Qi could not help but freeze at the sight!

Was this guy really that strong?

With his first-layer True Qi cultivation and mastery-level Little Grappling Hand, he could not even move him?

A faintly mocking, not-quite-smile curled at Chen Jue's lips at just the right moment. The intense humiliation made Zhang Qi's face flush crimson.

Furiously, he pulled back the right hand pressing Chen Jue's shoulder and gathered several precious strands of true qi along the edge of his palm, smashing viciously toward Chen Jue's twisted-back elbow.

He wanted to see whether this brat would collapse screaming and beg for mercy after his arm was broken, or remain this arrogant!

"Other than the Little Grappling Hand, do you have nothing else?! Team Four really is a pack of trash."

Chen Jue gave a contemptuous smile, dropped his shoulder, shook his wrist, and suddenly drove forward.

Zhang Qi felt as if he had grabbed a cable speeding alongside a vehicle. A savage force instantly dragged him flying forward, his body skimming past Chen Jue's shoulder.

But how could Chen Jue possibly let him off so easily?

The instant Zhang Qi was dragged forward, Chen Jue had already pulled out his scabbard and slashed backward with it.

Smack!

The scabbard whistled faintly through the air as it lashed brutally across Zhang Qi's waist, knocking him straight to the ground. Pain left him weeping and snotting uncontrollably.

After delivering that strike, Chen Jue took two steps back and did not attack again.

Before long, blood seeped from Zhang Qi's waist and back, staining a large patch of red across the black inspector's uniform bearing the two dark-gold characters, "Protect the People," on its back.