Besides, he was still a probationary investigator for Bureau 749. As the saying went, a monk should ring the bell for every day he served, so he would follow one of Bureau 749's investigator protocols: eradicate evil to the last.
There was nothing wrong with that, was there?
Lu Ding could not be bothered to question the Thousand-Gold Elder about why exactly he was here.
He was here, after all, mingling with those Heavenly Principle Sect members.
He might as well wipe out the whole nest. Better to kill the wrong man than let one escape. It was barely any extra effort; not making the Thousand-Gold Elder thank him was already generous enough.
Looking toward the distant mountain hollow, Lu Ding leaped up and bounded through the woods.
He had only just left.
When Wen Yuquan and the others arrived on his heels.
It was not that Lu Ding moved so fast; he simply finished his fights too quickly.
Despite hurrying as fast as they could, the three still arrived a step too late.
"Well, damn. Isn't that everything wrapped up? They're all dead, and there's even a buy-one-get-one-free old man."
Yin Feng clapped his hands. Just two words: well, damn.
Black lines creased Wen Yuquan's face.
Yin Feng stepped forward to examine the two horribly mangled corpses. "That's Linggu, all right, with a Thousand-Gold Elder thrown in. Both the targets we were supposed to capture or hunt down died at his hands. How are we supposed to report this?"
"Say we went on a picnic?"
"Did nothing but wander around all night? Fuck, I don't even feel right taking these contribution points. What the hell is this?"
"Hey, Yan Feifan, has Lu Ding always been this bloodthirsty? Linggu just made a few threats, and he traveled all this way under the stars and moon just to kill her?"
While they were following behind, Yan Feifan had briefly explained to Wen Yuquan and Yin Feng what had brought them here.
The two genuinely thought it sounded ridiculous.
They were all qi refiners. Who among them did not have a temper?
Someone suffered a minor loss and made a few threats, and he actually came knocking and beat them to death on the spot.
He really...
"That should be about right. Brother Lu's just cautious by nature. He didn't know Linggu was only making threats. He was worried she'd trip him up later, so he simply came over to take a look. He wasn't even sure she was really here. Who knew she'd actually be here when he arrived?"
"And she couldn't beat Brother Lu, either. That was just her bad luck."
Wen Yuquan laughed beside him.
It was his first time learning that people could actually laugh when they were utterly speechless.
"All right, she's dead, so she's dead. Baiyao Ancient Town has nice scenery anyway. Let's call it a picnic."
Yin Feng had no objection to Wen Yuquan's words.
"I'm fine with a picnic, honestly, but I want to have a drink with Lu Ding and get to know him. He's my kind of guy. Since we've run into each other, I've got to make friends with him."
He looked around as he spoke. "Where'd he run off to?"
Yan Feifan pulled out his phone. "I'll message Brother Lu."
Not long after Yan Feifan sent his message, Wen Yuquan's phone rang.
He picked it up and looked.
His colleague, who should still have been fighting, had actually sent him a voice message.
Wen Yuquan played it.
A woman's voice came from the phone.
"Wasn't this mission just the six of us? Where did this extra probationary investigator come from? He's outrageously fierce. Who called in reinforcements?"
"Holy shit, Lu Ding's fought his way into the mountain hollow?!"
Yin Feng cried out, then turned and ran toward the hollow.
Just moments earlier, when Lu Ding had been heading toward the hollow in search of the Flying Centipede.
He had happened to encounter Shi Yinghe fighting a fiend from the Heavenly Principle Sect right at its entrance.
By then, the pair had exchanged over a hundred rounds without a clear winner. Each had their strengths, and both had been wounded.
Overall, however, Shi Yinghe's injuries were worse.
"Shi Yinghe, a full investigator of Bureau 749, known as Looking Back with a Smile. Legend has it that your killing move is hidden in the hair at the back of your head, and not a single person who's seen it has survived. But what if you can't use that killing move on me?"
In the darkness, black shadows darted and flickered at incredible speed.
Suddenly, an attack came.
Shi Yinghe slashed upward with her sword, producing the clang of metal striking stone.
The black shadow flew backward. It was a wooden puppet the size of a kettle, holding a bloodstained steel fork. Hanging upside down from a tree, it assumed an attacking stance.
Shi Yinghe's gaze swiftly searched her surroundings.
She cursed inwardly.
She had been unlucky, running into a puppeteer of all people. Just as he had said, she did have a killing move, and an extremely powerful one at that. But she could not even see him now. What use was a killing move?
Since the fight began, she had already hacked several of the puppeteer's puppets to pieces, yet new ones appeared every time.
It was as though he could never run out.
Break an old one, and a new one appeared, endlessly.
Every time she finally located the puppeteer's hiding place, he escaped using his puppets after only a few exchanges.
If this went on, only one outcome awaited Shi Yinghe tonight: death in the line of duty.
"Shi Yinghe, oh, Shi Yinghe. How about this? Beg me, and perhaps I'll show mercy and spare your life. After all, I don't want to shoulder the crime of killing a Bureau 749 investigator either, wouldn't you agree?"
"Sure, sure! Please, I'm begging you, let me go. Don't kill me. I've had it pretty hard, too. I'm still a maiden. I'm so pretty, but I don't even have a man, and I haven't made much money either. It's still too early for me to die. How about showing some mercy and sparing me?"
Shi Yinghe simply tossed away the longsword in her hand as she spoke.
Hidden in the shadows, the puppeteer's expression instantly became incredibly peculiar.
He had been the one to make the demand, yet now that she had complied, he genuinely found himself unable to climb down from the stage.
Mostly, he had never expected Shi Yinghe to have so little backbone. She had surrendered just like that, even throwing away her sword.
Although most of that surrender was hardly genuine.
What the fuck...
For a moment, the puppeteer was caught in a dilemma.
Just then, a voice suddenly came from behind him.
"See? She did what you said, and now you're not willing."
"Who?!"
The puppeteer's heart jolted. He raised a short fork and thrust it behind him.
A piercing scream rang out, and the arm holding the short fork flew high into the air.
The undergrowth shook as the puppeteer scrambled out in disarray, his eyes terrified.
He could not summon the will to resist. That single move had told him this was someone he could not afford to provoke.
Lu Ding followed slowly behind him, then stepped on the puppeteer's heel. A crack rang out.
"Aaaah!!! You... who are you?!"
Shi Yinghe studied the newcomer too. When she saw the single star on Lu Ding's shoulder, her expression was identical to those of Wen Yuquan and Yin Feng earlier.
Astonishment, confusion.
Where had this probationary investigator come from?
"That question again. Is that all you people know how to ask?"
Grabbing the puppeteer off the ground, Lu Ding spoke calmly. "I'll ask you something different. Where's the Flying Centipede?"
At that moment, the expression on Lu Ding's face magnified endlessly in the puppeteer's eyes.
It had seemed perfectly ordinary at first, yet the longer he looked, the more eerie and terrifying it became.
Trembling, he pointed toward the mountain hollow with his only remaining arm. "O-over there."
"Then sorry for the trouble, but take me to find it."
The moment Lu Ding said this, the puppeteer wailed miserably. He knew he might not survive if he went.
"I don't want to!!! I'm not going!!! Shi Yinghe!!! Shi Yinghe!!! Aren't you a Bureau 749 investigator? I'll confess!!! I'll confess everything!!! Don't make me go with him!!!!! I'll tell you everything!!!!!"
"We came here to raise the Flying Centipede so we could work with treasure seekers! We provide the Wind-Calming Pearl, they provide the people, and we go to Headwind Mountain together to catch the Zhi People and Zhi Horses! I've told you! I've told you everything! Save me, please save me!!!"