When Xu Ke awoke, he found he could already get out of bed.

Even though he knew he had developed a powerful physique through his training in the mountains, he was still astonished. This recovery speed is simply too fast.

Xu Ke clenched his fist and estimated that, while not fully healed, he had recovered at least sixty percent of his strength.

"A miracle…" Xu Ke murmured to himself. Bone fractures, gunshot wounds, internal injuries, and the after-effects of forcibly absorbing Dragon Essence had all healed just like that. He even wondered if he was a robot.

He guessed his rapid recovery was inextricably linked to the Dragon Essence. Enduring its torment several times had its benefits, after all. Besides increasing his strength, his healing ability had reached a superhuman level. Xu Ke even imagined that if he truly advanced to the Innate Great Perfection realm with the Dragon Essence's help, injuries like the ones from yesterday would probably heal in less than two hours.

「Eight-thirty in the morning.」

As Xu Ke, bandages removed, stepped out of his room, he ran into Duan Chongfeng, who was returning from his morning exercise drenched in sweat.

Even Duan Chongfeng couldn't help but curse. "What the fuck? You're already on your feet?"

"Mister Xu, are you okay?" Wang Wu was also startled. He had started his training an hour before Duan Chongfeng, so he had just finished his shower and walked out to find Xu Ke already strolling around the living room.

"I'm fine, more or less." Xu Ke took stock of his condition. Aside from a dull ache in his thigh and his still-healing internal injuries, he was basically back to normal.

"Just… sit down," Duan Chongfeng muttered. What kind of monster is this Xu Ke?

Wang Wu also hurried over to guide Xu Ke back down to the sofa.

Seeing their worried expressions, Xu Ke said, "Alright, don't worry."

Duan Chongfeng rubbed his hands together, about to speak, when a call suddenly came in from Yuan Shang.

Duan Chongfeng answered, "What's up?"

Yuan Shang got straight to the point, his tone harsh. "Can you come to the Martial Alliance right now?"

Hearing that tone first thing in the morning, Duan Chongfeng immediately sensed something was wrong. "Yes, I'll be right over."

"I'll be waiting."

Yuan Shang hung up.

Duan Chongfeng looked at Wang Wu and Xu Ke. "Yuan Shang has summoned me to the Martial Alliance…"

"Let's go together," Xu Ke said immediately.

Duan Chongfeng hesitated. "But your condition…"

WHOOSH.

With a casual flick of his wrist, Xu Ke sent a dart flying, embedding it in the wall with lightning speed.

Duan Chongfeng was silent for a moment. "...Let's go."

「The Martial Alliance.」

「Yuan Shang's Office.」

Xu Ke and Duan Chongfeng sat down, while Wang Wu stood to the side.

Yuan Shang's expression was grim as he stared at his computer. "Sit down."

Xu Ke glanced over, his eyes narrowing slightly. There's an unopened paper bag next to him containing breakfast. He hasn't even had time to eat…

Duan Chongfeng plopped into a chair. "What's so urgent you had to call us over this early?"

"The ballistics report is out. The bullets match the firearms used by the six major families, so we can't pin it on the Huang Family." Yuan Shang tossed an expert's report onto the desk.

The expressions of Duan Chongfeng and Xu Ke darkened.

"And then there's this injury report from the Zhou Family…" Yuan Shang rubbed his temples. "On this… I have nothing to say."

"What do you mean?" Duan Chongfeng asked, confused.

Yuan Shang hesitated. "It's about Xu Ke…"

"What about me?" Xu Ke asked, puzzled.

Realizing Xu Ke was speaking, Yuan Shang looked up, his eyes wide with shock. "How are you out of bed?" He had been so focused he hadn't even noticed Xu Ke walk in. I haven't seen him for one night, and Xu Ke, who was wrapped up like a mummy yesterday, is now up and about? What kind of bullshit is this?

Duan Chongfeng said, "It's normal. You'll get used to it."

Yuan Shang was speechless. Gravely injured yesterday, completely recovered today. You call that normal?

"Vice Alliance Leader Yuan, what's wrong with my injury report?" Xu Ke steered the conversation back on topic.

Yuan Shang gave Xu Ke a complicated look. "The injury report I got from the Zhou Family came to a very strange conclusion."

Hearing this, everyone was perplexed. A strange conclusion?

Yuan Shang explained, "The Martial Alliance works with the Zhou Family to identify the source of True Qi. We typically have records of the True Qi signatures from the martial artists of the six major families. But your body is strange. Their True Qi left no traces. That's what I found so odd. I didn't get it at first, but now that I see you've already recovered, I think I understand why."

"Your recovery rate is so fast that it completely expelled their True Qi… Damn it. In all my years on the job, this is the first time I've seen a case where all traces vanish overnight," Yuan Shang cursed under his breath. The sheer incredulity of Xu Ke's recovery speed was far beyond what he could comprehend.

Everyone was silent.

Hearing this, Xu Ke didn't know whether to laugh or cry. My rapid recovery actually erased the evidence… This is just too damn frustrating.

Setting aside the injury report, Yuan Shang's expression turned solemn again. "There's one more thing. After I got back yesterday, I had my own team go over the surveillance footage from Longcha Subway Station for the time period you mentioned."

Hearing the gravity in his voice, Xu Ke's heart sank. "And?"

"Nearly all the cameras we could find had thirty to sixty seconds of glitches during that time frame, leaving a gap in the recording." Yuan Shang's voice was filled with rage, and he ground his teeth. "Those bastards. They're blatantly tampering with everything. The Ye and Huang families made sure to cut out all the footage of you and Sun Luo's group passing by. And to top it off, the technicians had the gall to tell me their recordings are like that all the time. Those sons of bitches."

Yuan Shang seethed at the memory. Duan Chongfeng's face turned ugly, and Xu Ke's was ashen.

So, Peng Hetong manipulated the Martial Alliance's procedures, while the Ye and Huang families tampered with the evidence… There was absolutely no way to hold them accountable!

After a long silence, Duan Chongfeng's brow furrowed. "What do we do now?"

Yuan Shang's face was hard. "Think. Were there any eyewitnesses? Did anyone hear gunshots or anything? Longcha is right next to Global Square, a busy part of the city. Someone must have heard something, right?"

Duan Chongfeng clenched his teeth. "Dammit, if only we could have caught that Zhao Chengyang."

"Who is Zhao Chengyang?" Yuan Shang asked, momentarily confused.

Xu Ke briefly explained Zhao Chengyang's background.

Yuan Shang's eyes lit up for a second before his expression sank again. "It's been almost a full day. Who knows where he's run off to by now." If he was smuggled out from the port, finding him now would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Xu Ke remained silent, his expression worsening. If only my recording pen hadn't been smashed. It would have been useful, but it was destroyed in the fight. Am I supposed to just let this go? Ye Fan is definitely planning to leave the country. If I can't stop him in time, I'll have to wait until he comes back to get my revenge.

Yuan Shang rubbed his forehead, muttering, "If only there were security cameras in that alley…"

"Yeah…" Duan Chongfeng agreed.

Just then, Duan Chongfeng's phone suddenly rang.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.