Now he more or less understood. There was something in the water looking for him, the Changfeng Group was looking for him too; probably all because of He Changfeng.

So if he just "sent" He Changfeng out, wouldn't that settle everything?

As for the fake, how could that be a fake? It was the real deal!

The divinity in He Changfeng was destroyed at the time by Jiang Yanyan, who had manifested the Golden Body. Afterwards, it was Zhang Laoxi who set up a Dharma Altar at home, nurturing He Changfeng, so he wouldn't dissipate.

But in the middle of this, a little thief broke in, grabbed He Changfeng in a rough and simple way, and took him away, causing all the previous efforts to go to waste.

Then He Changfeng was thrown into the river. Later, because of some mishandling, He Changfeng dissipated. Isn't that all pretty normal?

After lunch, Wen Yan pretended to make a show of it, grabbed the teenager, and had him fill out a form to get him registered with the Scorching Sun Department.

From now on, if any strange thefts happened, this guy would be one of the suspects.

When the teenager saw that Wen Yan really was from the Scorching Sun Department, he finally gave up and decided to focus on his studies.

On the other side, a huge turtle in the water swam to the surface, clamped onto the drifting sealed bag, sank back into the water, and vanished.

On the top floor of a high-rise in Yu State, a woman who looked to be in her thirties or forties sat in front of a chair, brow tightly knit, video-chatting with someone.

"Boss, we just got news that on the Skeleton Black Market, someone is selling our target.

Someone put up a bounty, and some reckless little thief took the job—and actually pulled it off."

"Hm?" Liu Qiying frowned even deeper, looking somewhat skeptical.

"It's true, we didn't dare surveil that place, and all the surveillance there was turned off a few days ago by someone.

But we still managed to get some info. Last night, Qin Kun was also there. He got into a fight with someone outside. Most likely, that's the unknown powerful person from there.

As luck would have it, the little thief came right during that time slot, and succeeded.

The little thief also blackmailed the one who posted the job.

Based on our speculation, the poster is also something from the West River.

This is intel we bought from the Skeleton Black Market."

On the screen, Wen Yan's private message chat with that person popped up, along with a photo.

"We found out the little thief is a student in Virtue City. He probably just learned lock-picking, but he's bold as hell.

At noon today, he traded the thing to the other party and threw it into the river."

On the monitor, a video played—a shot from a corner caught the teenager tossing something into the river.

The object was cropped out, enlarged, and enhanced; basically, it matched what's in the photo.

"Go talk to that kid."

"Not easy. Not long after he came back from the drop, Wen Yan caught him. He's registered with the Scorching Sun Department now."

Liu Qiying massaged her temples.

She'd originally gone to see Wen Yan yesterday, but then there was that big incident in the West River. She really didn't want to make herself hated on the scene that day. Stuff like this—she didn't want to get wrapped up in it.

Who could've guessed that after just a single night, things would change so drastically.

After thinking for a while, she spoke up.

"Go talk to the Water God in the West River. Find out who took it...

Forget it, just reach out directly to that resurrected Dragon God. Tell him to hand the jade pendant back.

I'll help him build a Dragon King Temple on the riverbank, and get someone to write his legend.

There'll be a sponsorship every year, and they can start hosting some events over there."

"That one probably won't be so easy to talk to. If someone in the West River deliberately made a post targeting that jade pendant, he must have other plans."

"Whatever plans he had, they're all in the past.

After yesterday, Scorching Sun Department, Dragon Tiger Mountain, and Fuyu Mountain all have a gun pointed at the head of everything in the water system.

I don't care what plans he has. If he doesn't hand it back, I'll go cooperate with Scorching Sun Department directly.

The new minister at Nanwu County isn't like the last one.

He really dares to think, dares to act.

It's not like we have to go all the way down a single dark road to achieve our goals.

If he blocks me, that's his problem, not mine."

"Understood, Director Liu. About Wen Yan—do we still need to keep in touch?"

"Keep at it. Just don't let him get annoyed with us."

"One more thing—Wu Tingsheng's come to Yu State, and it was him who turned off the surveillance a few days ago."

"What's he here for?"

"He plans to sell off some of his shares…"

At these words, Liu Qiying frowned and closed her eyes, thinking for a moment.

"Does he know something?"

"Not sure, but judging by his mood, he seems pretty upbeat. He and his wife even went out to eat—they should be celebrating an anniversary, but for years now they haven't actually spent an anniversary together."

Liu Qiying kept her eyes closed, mulling over the current situation.

"So, part of Boss He's... is already gone, and has also been taken by that one in the West River."

The person in the video didn't dare say it out loud, but his words just now implied exactly that.

After a long silence, Liu Qiying opened her eyes.

"Arrange a meeting with Wu Tingsheng for me."

"Alright, Director Liu."

Shutting off the computer, Liu Qiying stood by the window and stared at the great river winding through the city, muttering to herself.

"You rotten long-worm, don't push me. If you force me, there's nothing I won't dare to do."

...

At the bottom of the West River, an old turtle clamped the sealed bag in its jaws, swam upstream, and after crossing a certain threshold, seemed to slip into a boundless, dark deep sea.

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.