Have Tang Long and Tang Bao Come See Me. If They Behave Badly, They Can Die Together

Having recovered some strength, Yan Biexi forced down her nausea and spoke. "Lu..."

After listening to her struggle to get anything beyond "Lu" out for ages,

Lu Ding prompted her, "Call me Patrol Officer Lu, Investigator Lu, or Lu Ding. Any of those works."

"Patrol Officer Lu, isn't doing this against procedure? Shouldn't they be handed over to a court for trial?"

That successfully made Lu Ding laugh.

He had seen stupid people before.

But he had genuinely never seen anyone this spectacularly stupid.

"You deal with ordinary people. I deal with people like them. Ordinary people have their laws, and people like them have laws governing them too. What I'm doing is legal and reasonable."

"But you didn't say it followed procedure."

Yan Biexi had spotted the loophole.

Lu Ding rolled his eyes at her. "None of your damn business. Don't fail to appreciate what's good for you. If you can't hold back the urge to talk, take a nap first. Listening to you is annoying."

"No, no, I didn't mean anything else. I just don't quite understand, that's all. Sorry, but I can't fall asleep either."

She really hadn't meant anything else. She simply couldn't understand it, couldn't make sense of it. Her normal person's worldview and the education she had received since childhood couldn't accept the situation before her at all.

Lu Ding flicked a ball of qi at one of Yan Biexi's acupoints, and she toppled straight over.

"Now you can sleep. Director Gao, you should have Tang Long and Tang Bao's contact information, right? Tell them to come back and see me here immediately."

Lu Ding wanted the other two to come see him because he intended to see how they reacted.

If they reacted well, he would observe them a while longer. Although he very much wanted to cut out the weeds by the roots, Bureau 749 had no policy of implicating people without cause. He couldn't just kill the two of them for no reason.

But if they reacted badly, that would suit him perfectly.

Cut out the weeds by the roots.

Send all three brothers down to travel the road to the Yellow Springs together.

As for whether the bureau would punish him for the deaths of Tang Hu and these other Qi Refiners?

It was just as Lu Ding himself had said, with Yan Biexi's addition.

Reasonable, legal, and against procedure.

He would probably be questioned and investigated like last time, but he probably wouldn't be punished.

After all, Lu Ding had only just resolved the Yin Domain Overlap at Dinghao Residential Complex. He had rendered meritorious service; he simply hadn't received his reward yet because the aftermath hadn't been dealt with.

How could the higher-ups punish someone who had rendered meritorious service over something that had a reason behind it and was both reasonable and legal?

Seizing public security officers was a serious crime in itself.

Let alone torturing them.

Public security officers didn't police Qi Refiners, but Qi Refiners couldn't touch public security officers either. That was the rule.

Otherwise, if becoming a Qi Refiner meant you could freely defy the law, harm ordinary people, and harm the public security officers who maintained order for them, wouldn't the world descend into chaos?!

Hearing Lu Ding's words, Gao Zhengliang gave up too. He had figured it out: this man was a lawless sort. As long as you so much as brushed against Bureau 749's regulations governing Qi Refiners, if you offended him, he would kill you.

He wouldn't mess around in the slightest.

And Gao Zhengliang himself was just an ordinary person.

Forget it, forget it.

"Fine, fine, whatever Your Excellency says goes, right?"

Gao Zhengliang took the opportunity to slip in a little complaint.

Over the time they had spent together, Lu Ding, like Gao Zhengliang, had figured out the other man's temperament.

He spread his hands, looking helpless. "Weren't you the one who asked me to help rescue them, Director Gao? I'm an investigator with Bureau 749, and Baofan District's patrol officer besides. When I run into something like this, I'm supposed to intervene. What, you're unhappy?"

"Even if I am, what can I do? It's not like I can piece them back together and say, 'Hey, hang in there a little longer. You'll be fine once we reach the hospital.' These have to go to the crematorium, and they'll have to burn them with the doors shut."

Lu Ding was a little surprised. He genuinely hadn't realized Gao Zhengliang could come out with dark humor and hellish jokes.

Soon,

Tang Long and Tang Bao met downstairs at the Five Viscera Life Society.

Looking at their headquarters before them,

the brothers raised their heads together.

Tang Bao spoke first. "Big Brother, Second Brother might be gone. When we go up, don't act rashly. Let me do all the talking, and follow my cues. Having lost Second Brother, I don't want to lose you too."

Compared to the hot-tempered Tang Hu and the taciturn Tang Long, Tang Bao was undoubtedly the cleverest and most quick-witted of the three brothers.

He oversaw all the Five Viscera Life Society's affairs, great and small.

Tang Hu mainly served to display their fighting strength to outsiders, and they only called him in when something required force to control.

Tang Long, meanwhile, was the strongest fighter and focused on cultivation. He was the foundation of the Five Viscera Life Society's confidence.

Originally, Tang Bao should have been the one purchasing ritual supplies in the early hours.

But Cao Ying of Cao Family Alley had called him over along the way to discuss helping him establish a foothold in the Cao family.

As a result, through an odd twist of circumstances, Tang Hu had gone to make contact and collect the goods.

His carelessness had led to Yan Biexi and the other public security officers discovering the transaction, which had led to everything afterward.

It was also at Cao Ying's place that Tang Bao had heard someone talking about what had happened at Dinghao Residential Complex that night.

A Yin Domain Overlap, swarms of monsters, flesh and bone carpeting the ground, blood flowing in rivers.

Every single detail battered Tang Bao's heart.

After hearing all that, he had immediately decided that once he got back that day, he would prepare gifts and personally take his second brother, Tang Hu, to Lu Ding to bear thorn branches and beg forgiveness.

Although he had told Gao Zhengliang to pretend he had never seen that message,

it wasn't the ten thousand likely outcomes he feared, but the one unlikely exception.

What if Gao Zhengliang refused to do him that favor? What if Lu Ding saw it? Once he had time to spare and remembered the matter, wouldn't the Five Viscera Life Society be finished? Having offended such a killing star, the three brothers might not have anywhere to stand in Baofan District in the future, or even in all of Yunhai.

But he had never, ever expected this.

Before he could go find Lu Ding, the man had attacked their headquarters himself.

And once again, it was because of Second Brother.

When Tang Bao learned the news, his vision instantly went black.

At the same time, he mentally prepared himself for his second brother's gruesome death.

Although he had never dealt with Lu Ding, he had heard about him. And the man had only just resolved the incident at Dinghao Residential Complex. Tang Bao didn't know whether he was exhausted in body and mind, but he certainly wanted to rest. Yet even at such a moment, he had still attacked the Five Viscera Life Society.

With someone of that temperament, someone with such outrageous combat strength, coming at a time like this, could Tang Hu, who had caused the trouble, possibly survive?

Tang Long remained silent for a long time. "If Second Brother really is dead, this grudge..."

Tang Bao called out, "Brother. I'm grieving too, but we can't afford to avenge this grudge, we aren't capable of it, and we absolutely mustn't try. Our Five Viscera Life Society has been too arrogant all these years, so arrogant we've forgotten how much we actually weigh. Second Brother hasn't just started stirring up trouble recently. I provided the face, you provided the substance, and we've wiped his ass countless times."

"All because he's my second brother!!"

"What did we come to Yunhai for? To give ourselves better lives, to make our parents proud, to prove ourselves. Over the years, we've traded dignity for money and money for dignity. But Second Brother only remembers trading money for dignity and the freedom to do whatever he pleased once he had power."

"But he's forgotten how wretched we were when we traded dignity for money. The Five Viscera Life Society is our blood, sweat, and tears, but what's Second Brother doing? He's pushing the Five Viscera Life Society toward destruction, step by step!!!"

"The world has rules. Lawlessness only leads to destruction. Brother, do you understand!!?"

Tang Long was finally moved.

"I understand. Let's go up."

"Wait."

Tang Bao called out, then turned and took some thorn branches from the car. He had originally prepared them for his second brother, Tang Hu, to bear while begging forgiveness. Now he could only use them himself.

He stripped off his shirt and lashed his back several times with the thorn branches. The sharp thorns tore his flesh, and blood streamed down.

Tang Bao's expression didn't change. "Come on. Let's go up."