At the mission handover counter.
The staff member handling mission handovers held out a hand.
"Give me Old Lady Black. I'll add your contribution points."
"She's dead."
"What!!? D-dead???"
"Yep, beat her to death."
Lu Ding spoke in an even tone.
The staff member looked him up and down. "Wouldn't have guessed it. You're pretty impressive, beating Old Lady Black to death as a trainee investigator. Never heard of you before, though. What's your name, young man?"
"Lu Ding."
"Lu Ding!?"
The staff member hurriedly checked the ID he hadn't looked at carefully just now.
Sure enough, the two bold characters spelling Lu Ding were written right there. These past few days, Lu Ding's name had enjoyed unrivaled prominence. Who in the base hadn't heard of him?
Doing mission handovers every day, who would pay attention to someone's name as long as scanning their ID brought up the mission handover window without a problem?
"Well, that explains it. Young Lu, just nine more missions before you can become a full investigator. Keep it up."
At that, the staff member added earnestly, "Actually, young Lu, you could go a little easier. If you can leave them alive, it counts as completing one mission plus capturing one monster. That would bring the nine down to eight."
"Think how much trouble that saves."
Lu Ding agreed, "Sure, sure, sure. I'll definitely go easier next time."
"Now that's the spirit."
The staff member's hands clattered away as he processed the handover.
"The contribution points and money have been credited to your account. Make sure to check. Come back anytime, young Lu."
Lu Ding put away his ID, muttering inwardly.
Pretty friendly service.
Yan Feifan sidled over. "Brother Lu, the young lady at that counter smiled at me just now. She never used to smile at me. She's so pretty. All thanks to basking in your reflected glory."
"Oh, come off it. Didn't the girl selling milk tea smile at you today too? Why weren't you this happy then?" Lu Ding shot back with a laugh.
"That's different, Brother Lu."
"Hey, Brother Lu, are you going to Baiyao Ancient Town?"
"Yeah, I'm planning to head over and take a look in a bit. Someone's holding a grudge against me. If I don't settle this, I won't be able to sleep tonight. I keep feeling like someone will ambush me in my sleep."
Having someone keep you in mind actually felt pretty good, but having an enemy keep you in mind was simply awful.
He was safe inside the base, but he wouldn't stay there forever. He had to go out on missions, didn't he? What would he do if someone suddenly struck him from behind then?
Lu Ding certainly didn't want the day to come when someone ambushed him.
"Brother Lu, let me come with you. You'll have a helper, right? Besides, I looked up the information on Baiyao Ancient Town and checked the satellite maps. I've got it all memorized."
That sounded good, but Lu Ding worried something might happen to him.
Besides, this was his own business. It had nothing to do with Yan Feifan.
Yan Feifan continued, "Don't worry about me, Brother Lu. I'm damn good at running. I might not be any help in a fight, but when it comes to escaping, I'm absolutely first-rate."
After some thought, Lu Ding agreed. "All right, then. We'll go together."
Mainly, he didn't have a car. Baiyao Ancient Town was a little far away, and going by himself would be inconvenient.
Just as Yan Feifan had said, he might not be any help in a fight, but he could run.
He could pass through walls and burrow underground. Wouldn't escaping be a breeze?
The two got into the car and set off again, heading straight for Baiyao Ancient Town.
In the car, Yan Feifan read Lu Ding the intelligence on Baiyao Ancient Town, helping pass the time that night.
"Baiyao Ancient Town is famous for its white porcelain. Go back several hundred or a thousand years, when the feudal dynasties were still around, and this white porcelain was tribute ware. People weren't allowed to fire it freely."
"I've seen pictures of white porcelain online before. It's incredible. They could fire porcelain that looked like paper, and on those white porcelain Guanyin statues, you could see every individual strand of hair."
"With modern development, Baiyao Ancient Town expanded into tourism alongside firing white porcelain. Its rich cultural heritage and well-preserved old town really attracted quite a few visitors from elsewhere."
"I'd wanted to visit Baiyao Ancient Town before, but I never had the time. Never thought I'd end up going under such a coincidence of circumstances."
Throughout the drive, Yan Feifan talked and Lu Ding listened. He didn't find it annoying.
He simply didn't have that much to say. Listening counted as learning something too, enriching his cultural knowledge.
As coincidence would have it, with the moon above the branches, a group of full Bureau 749 investigators bearing two stars on their shoulders slipped into Baiyao Ancient Town under cover of darkness.
Inside an inn.
A bare-chested, burly man abruptly opened his eyes and rolled out of bed.
"Since you're here, come on out."
Linggu pulled over some clothes from the bed and draped them over her shoulders.
The inn room's door exploded with a crash.
Two men stood one behind the other. The man in front held a long saber and a short saber, the long one forward and the short one behind. The other swung a meteor hammer, sparks lurking within it, carrying specks of light.
"Ma Qi, Shan Lingying, come with us."
Linggu rose from the bed and stepped lightly behind Ma Qi. "Life-Taking Blade Wen Yuquan, Wind and Fire Hammer Yin Feng. Two Bureau 749 pups. Where did you pick up our scent to find us here? Such keen noses."
"Do we even need to sniff out your stench? It's wafting all over the streets. It'd be hard not to find you."
Yin Feng's casual remark darkened Linggu's expression. Wen Yuquan followed immediately. "Enough. Stop stalling. Our colleagues are taking care of the rest of your Heavenly Principle Sect. Today, it's the two of us against the two of you. Two on two, with nobody else interfering."
"Just what I wanted. Our last fight was rushed. Today, I'll see just how much of that vaunted power your long and short Life-Taking Blades really have."
Ma Qi raised a hand and circulated his qi. A faint golden glow tinged his muscles, and his palm shot straight toward Wen Yuquan's chest with a rush of wind.
The long saber whirled in a flourish, its saber qi biting cold. The gauze around the room's antique bed fluttered.
Saber met palm, flesh clashed with iron, and both men retreated half a step. They seemed evenly matched, but a dripping sound and the smell of blood filled the room. Ma Qi's palm had been cut open and was dripping blood.
"All that hard qigong, all that Pagoda-Bearing Arhat talk. Doesn't look like much to me!"
Yin Feng swung his meteor hammer, whipping up fierce winds inside the enclosed room, and struck from a treacherous angle with Spirit Snake Flicks Its Tongue.
Black mist rose at once. Linggu formed a hand seal and circulated her qi. A round black ball trailing tail fins flew out of the mist and collided squarely with Yin Feng's swinging meteor hammer.
With all restraints thrown aside, the four stopped trading blows back and forth and unleashed killing move after killing move.
"Sweep Away a Thousand Armies!!!"
"Wen, you disgrace the name Life-Taking Blade! You're using Split Mount Hua, but shouting Sweep Away a Thousand Armies!"
The window shattered, and two figures burst through it, fleeing.
Wen Yuquan pursued closely with his sabers, his expression unchanged. "I shout, you listen. When we fight, use your eyes. You believed what I said and got hurt, and now you're blaming me for shouting the wrong move?"
"You say I disgrace my title? You, Pagoda-Bearing Arhat, and Linggu harmed ordinary people, raised Flying Centipedes, and maliciously murdered local law enforcement officers. You think you deserve the name Arhat!?"
"Take my saber first!"
Saber qi flew out. Ma Qi twisted aside to evade it and answered with a palm strike.
At the intersection ahead, a jeep drove toward them.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Lu Ding caught the familiar scent he had smelled on the vicious ghost at the Ji family's home. Looking closely, he saw that the scent came from the woman fleeing toward them.
Ruthlessness surfaced in his eyes, and killing intent gathered in his chest.
Lu Ding's voice was low and laced with excitement. "Ram them!!"
Yan Feifan didn't hesitate, only asking, "Which one, Brother Lu?!"
"Hit that woman-floor it!!!"
"You got it, Brother Lu! Just watch! I bought this thing because it's tough, durable, and powerful!!!"
Yan Feifan shouted his reply, his blood surging. He slammed the accelerator all the way down and rammed straight toward Linggu as she fled in their direction.