Bring Them All Back and Shoot Them, Line Them Up and Mow Them Down with a Machine Gun

Another man picked up the conversation.

"Then listen to this: the Genial Warm Immortal Official, Wen Ruchu, is warm and gracious to others, comes from a billionaire family, and even awakened two talents. Once, a Spirit Sea Realm expert from an evil cult hunted him down. In that desperate situation, he broke through to the Spirit Sea Realm and killed his pursuer instead. He could kill someone in the Spirit Sea Realm as soon as he entered it himself. Tell me that isn't impressive. And he has two talents."

Ji Yanshuang thought for a moment. "When did this Genial Warm Immortal Official join Bureau 749?"

"Around the end of last September. What I just mentioned happened this May."

The man answered truthfully.

"But Lu Ding only joined Bureau 749 this August, and he could kill someone in the Spirit Sea Realm while still at Illuminating the Jade Pivot."

The second man: ...

"Yes, Lu Ding is impressive, but Bai Hemian is even more impressive. Their battle records are on par, as are their temperaments and methods. Most importantly, Bai Hemian has cultivated for several months longer than Lu Ding. When their talents are equally terrifying, time becomes the key to victory."

Ji Yanshuang said, "I heard he was put in confinement?"

The third man: ...

"He'll be let out."

Ji Yanshuang said, "Didn't you say making the top three was enough? The other two can't beat Lu Ding."

The man: ...

That made so much sense.

That answer was just like encountering a wild beast: whether you could outrun the beast didn't matter. What mattered most was whether you could outrun the person beside you.

Seeing that the three men seemed a little out of sorts,

Ji Yanshuang realized she might have taken things too seriously. She hurriedly bowed in apology. "I'm sorry, big brothers. Investigator Lu saved me, so I think he'll be the strongest. Sorry, sorry."

The men opened their mouths, wanting to speak but stopping short. No wonder she spoke up for Lu Ding like that.

Actually, thinking it over, she wasn't wrong. Lu Ding really was impressive, powerful, and defied all reason.

He was simply a monster.

Part of the reason they didn't have high hopes for Lu Ding was that they were rather afraid of him.

Although Bai Hemian's nickname and battle record were brutal too, at least he didn't dismember people at the drop of a hat.

By the time they came back to their senses, Ji Yanshuang was already walking off into the distance, waving goodbye.

"She's so pretty, and she has a good personality too. She even apologizes for her tone."

"Sweet-talking, graceful, calling us big brother this and big brother that every time she speaks. Fuck, why don't I have a little sister like that!!!"

"Seriously? You've already said every compliment there is. What am I supposed to say? Save some words for me, you damned bastards!!"

Baofan District Public Security Administration.

After returning, Lu Ding gave Gao Zhengliang a detailed account of what had happened.

Then he took a shower and headed to the interview room where the woman who had reported the incident was staying.

The woman still hadn't rested. She had been waiting for Lu Ding to return.

Standing outside the interview room door,

Lu Ding felt apprehensive. Even when facing the military formation of ghosts and monsters in the Yin Domain, he had never felt this way.

But now, he genuinely had no idea how to say it.

Was he supposed to say, your husband, son, mother-in-law, and father-in-law are all dead, without even a scrap left...

Yet if he didn't say it, he couldn't hide it either.

In the end, with no other choice, Lu Ding steeled himself and pushed open the door.

The instant she saw him enter,

The woman stood, visibly agitated, her voice trembling. "Officer, I... where's my husband? How's my son? Monsters... were there monsters?"

The female public security officer beside her hurriedly soothed her and helped her sit down.

Lu Ding approached and took a deep breath. "Miss Cheng, your family members were all killed. But I avenged them for you. I killed the monster, and I tore the monster's son apart too. You..."

He simply couldn't go on.

The expression on the woman's face had already frozen.

There was none of the wailing he had imagined, only silence and dejection as she sat in the chair, all strength drained from her body.

Though her eyes had been exhausted and terrified before, there had still been hope in them.

But now it was gone. All gone. Everything was gone, like a pool of stagnant water.

Tears rolled down as the woman's voice rang out.

Before she could speak, her tears had begun to flow.

"I know. I know all of it. I thought of it, but I still clung to an unrealistic hope. The monsters turned into them. If I were a monster, I wouldn't have let them live either. Thank you, officer. Thank you for avenging them for me."

The woman rose. Her body no longer swayed, and her steps became steady.

"When can I leave? I want to go back and look at my home."

Lu Ding briefly explained the condition of her home.

The woman smiled. "It's all right, officer. I don't want compensation. You're a good person. May I know your name?"

"Lu Ding. My name is Lu Ding."

The woman engraved that name deep in her heart.

Facing Lu Ding, she bowed deeply.

Her movements, tone, and expression all foretold that she no longer wanted to live, or rather, that she had lost the hope of living.

But Lu Ding couldn't find any words to persuade or comfort her.

He only felt something pent up in his chest, with no way to vent it.

In the end, he could only walk out of the interview room with heavy steps.

Alone, he went to the dim stairwell and lit a cigarette, watching the tiny glow flicker in the darkness.

One after another, until dawn arrived, light split the horizon, and cigarette ash fell.

Footsteps drew closer from afar, until the newcomer turned into the stairwell and looked at Lu Ding.

Gao Zhengliang spoke. "Patrol Officer Lu, public security officers from our subordinate Ginkgo Public Security Station have been detained by people from the Five Viscera Life Society."

Since ancient times, blessings never came in pairs, and misfortunes never came alone.

Demons and monsters wanted to cause trouble, and so did people.

Lu Ding flicked his cigarette butt away. It struck the ground, scattering sparks.

He already had a bellyful of anger with nowhere to vent it, and now the Five Viscera Shrine wanted to get on his bad side!

"Shoot them. Arrest them immediately and bring them back to be shot. Line them up and mow them down with a machine gun!"

Gao Zhengliang jumped. After glancing at Lu Ding several times, he lowered his voice and slowed his speech. "Surely it hasn't reached the point of shooting them? I just meant that you're a Qi Refiner from Bureau 749. Our Public Security Administration has no jurisdiction over Qi Refiners. Could you help me speak to them and get our people back?"

Just now, Gao Zhengliang had received a call from the chief of a subordinate neighborhood public security station.

He said that while several of their public security officers were investigating fruit smuggling in Baofan District, they had accidentally stumbled upon people from the Five Viscera Life Society trading something with people from Chenla.

A small conflict had broken out in the process.

The people from the Five Viscera Life Society had then detained those public security officers.

The chief of Ginkgo Public Security Station knew that Qi Refiners existed and understood that he couldn't get his people back on his own, so he reported it to Gao Zhengliang.

But when Gao Zhengliang sent a message, they showed him no respect either, simply leaving him on read.

With no other choice, Gao Zhengliang had come to Lu Ding.

If he could have gotten them back himself, he certainly wouldn't have disturbed Lu Ding after his exhausting night.

"Get them back?"

Lu Ding glanced at him, then slowly shook his head.

"This isn't getting them back. This is a rescue."

He still remembered how Tang Hu from the Five Viscera Life Society had said last time that he was a newly appointed official lighting his three fires, that he was refusing face when it was offered, and had even told him to watch himself.

Perfect. He would settle the old scores and the new ones together!!

"Where is the Five Viscera Life Society? Take me there."

Hearing Lu Ding's utterly emotionless voice, Gao Zhengliang's heart lurched.

Oh no.

Something was going to happen.