Chapter 10 The fish’s vision gradually becomes clear

Zhou Zhengde’s head was about to explode!

He quickly moved through the bustling hall of the Thirteenth Floor Security Squad, his face terrifyingly dark. The clerical staff, who had been whispering about the shooting, immediately lowered their voices upon seeing him.

Fortunately, the Team Leader of the Thirteenth Floor Security Squad was very mindful of his image. He didn’t vent his anger on just anyone, but instead, suppressing his fury, he turned a few corners and arrived in front of the witness protection room, kicking open its alloy door.

Wei Na, who was bathing in a swimsuit, was startled.

The two Security Squad members at the door immediately lowered their heads… then stole glances out of the corner of their eyes.

“Hmmph,” Wei Na smiled, “What’s wrong with my ex-boyfriend? Do you have to hand me over? Can you at least wait until I pick out a nice outfit?”

“Those bastards from the Black Fire Gang still wouldn’t dare touch me!”

Zhou Zhengde’s voice was filled with gunpowder. He turned his head and glared at the team members at the door, who quickly closed the alloy door.

Zhou Zhengde took off his hat, loosened the top button of his inner shirt, walked to the corner table to adjust the room’s lighting to the brightest setting, then gulped down several mouthfuls of cold water. He paced for a good while before finally calming himself down.

“Who exactly is that Mu Liang?”

Zhou Zhengde’s voice carried unconcealed anger:

“Wei Na, I know you were in the military and got kicked out! I also know you have a few Spiritual Energy User friends from the Thirteenth Institute!

“Wei Na!

“You must tell me the truth now! Who exactly is he!”

“Who? A very interesting handsome young man?”

Wei Na climbed out of the oil drum that had been repurposed as a bathtub, grabbed a towel nearby to wrap herself, her long, pinned-up hair exuding the unique charm of a mature woman.

She asked, puzzled, “Did something happen? I don’t have much interaction with him. You know, I received information about a self-harmer in the area and went to provide medical support for him, and then I ran into those scumbags from the Black Fire Gang… You have to tell me what happened before I can help you make a judgment.”

“He counter-killed two Black Fire Gang gunmen, unarmed and with only a folding knife, he counter-killed! Two! Armed and well-trained! Black Fire Gang gunmen!”

Zhou Zhengde’s voice was strong and punctuated.

He paced for quite a while.

Wei Na was clearly stunned, then her eyes began to light up, and exclamations of “Wow” and “He’s so cool” escaped her sexy red lips.

Zhou Zhengde then became even more irritable.

He angrily said, “Just now, Mu Liang’s alarm went off. I sent people over and they brought back a dozen injured thugs! That bastard Rotten Fish was captured! I checked the surveillance and saw that Rotten Fish was being held hostage by Mu Liang! Only one camera captured a blurry shadow! Now they’ve vanished into thin air! It’s highly likely they’ve gone to the Lower City!”

Wei Na crossed her arms, smiling easily, “Is that so? Are you sure? Mu Liang, a handsome but scrawny young man, killed two gunmen and knocked down a group of thugs? Is he really that cool?”

Zhou Zhengde:…

He needed to calm down.

“I know you’re very interested in this young man right now, but you need to understand, I, Zhou Zhengde, am protecting you!”

Zhou Zhengde cursed:

“Mu Liang is very likely a Spiritual Energy User! Those disgusting, filthy, despicable Spiritual Energy User!

“Now, just thinking that I might have helped a killing machine trained by the Thirteenth Institute, it makes me sick! Sick!

“You know why I was transferred from the enforcement team! You know how much I hate those bastards!”

“Well, alright, I suggest you calm down first, your voice is really too grating,” Wei Na’s voice softened considerably, “I thought you were jealous of him.”

Zhou Zhengde’s face was full of exasperation.

Wei Na winked her left eye, sitting in the single chair with her legs crossed, her fair calves glowing.

She smiled, “Tell me about the injuries of those two gunmen, and the injuries of those thugs, as well as the survivors’ testimonies. Although I’ve been out of the military hospital for a few years, I should be able to tell if these injuries were caused by a Spiritual Energy User.”

“There’s surveillance where the shooting happened, which shows the whole process…”

Zhou Zhengde quickly described the intense battle from the surveillance footage’s perspective, then changed the subject:

“Rotten Fish’s territory doesn’t have normal surveillance.

Moreover, those thugs basically didn’t see anything, they just heard whooshing sounds, and then their necks hurt intensely, and they had difficulty breathing. Several are still unconscious, and brain hypoxia might leave some sequelae.”

Zhou Zhengde pondered for a few moments, then continued:

“Some… nuts were found at the scene. They’re standard repair parts that can be exchanged for a pack with 1 general quota.

The locations where these thugs were hit are very similar, all in this area of the neck.

My marksmanship is very good, you know, if I were to use a standard caliber sniper rifle and get into position, within fifty meters, it would be very difficult for me to achieve this, to hit almost the same spot, it’s extremely difficult to do.

The only possibility I can think of is a Spiritual Energy User, the kind of Spiritual Energy User who can use telekinesis to move objects.

But this isn’t logical either. Even the lowest-grade E-class Spiritual Energy User are extremely valuable resources… Mu Liang has lived in this area for several years, he’s timid, a target for thugs, even bullied to the point of attempting suicide. His life trajectory is traceable.”

Wei Na asked, “Then could he be a Spiritual Energy User who hasn’t been discovered by the Thirteenth Institute yet? Did he awaken some ability himself?”

Zhou Zhengde immediately said, “Impossible, I can be 100% sure that Spiritual Energy User are cultivated! Spiritual Energy User are not mutations of human individuals, nor are they human evolution! Furthermore, he also held that thug leader, Rotten Fish, hostage. His goal might be to use Rotten Fish to go to the Lower City to retaliate against the Black Fire Gang, as the Black Fire Gang is now directly threatening his life.”

Wei Na retorted, “If he’s a Spiritual Energy User, would the Black Fire Gang threaten him? Is the Black Fire Gang looking to die by offending the Thirteenth Institute? Did he use a slingshot, or a self-made kinetic weapon?”

“No, I have to find his whereabouts! I can’t let him run around with a gun!”

Zhou Zhengde’s expression was somewhat fierce:

“The Black Fire Gang opening fire in my territory is already a serious overstepping of boundaries. I’ve already arranged to talk with the Black Fire Gang’s BOSS three days later at the 46th Floor’s Happy Capital.

For these three days, the Black Fire Gang should behave a little.

If the situation becomes serious, higher levels will pay attention, and then it might be out of my control!

You don’t need to worry, I’ll deal with this matter as soon as possible.”

Wei Na frowned, “Don’t put yourself in danger for me, my ex-boyfriend.”

“It’s not just for our lifelong friendship.”

Zhou Zhengde picked up his military cap, put it on, adjusted his attire in the mirror, and his lips curved slightly downwards:

“There’s also what you said, my damned hypocrisy and false justice!”

Zhou Zhengde turned to leave, but Wei Na suddenly called out to him.

“Um, do you want to stay a few more minutes?”

“Hmm?” Zhou Zhengde frowned and asked, “What’s wrong? Do you need me to chat with you more? The Wei Na I remember isn’t that fragile.”

“It’s not that,” Wei Na pointed to the door, then to the clock on the wall, and lightly tutted, “I heard your team members discussing earlier that you stayed with me for five minutes last time. Excluding taking off clothes, putting on clothes, and tidying up, the main task might have lasted less than fifty-five seconds…”

Zhou Zhengde’s forehead was covered in black lines. He stormed out, cursing loudly:

“The gangs from the Lower City are bullying us now! You may not care about your reputation, but I do!”

“Everyone get moving! Let me know who took benefits from the Black Fire Gang, and I’ll execute them!”

Then, he turned and walked back inside, locked the door, calmly walked to the corner to sit down, picked up a paper book to read, and sent a message to Lin Tao, his assistant from the Upper City, using a simple communicator.

【Don’t contact me for at least half an hour.】

Wei Na smiled and reminded him, “Won’t your current girlfriend mind?”

“I secretly broke up before I came down. She just doesn’t want it announced. She has her own noble political ideals,” Zhou Zhengde scoffed with a slight curl of his lip, “Women are just stumbling blocks preventing me from achieving my ideals… Stay away from me! Stumbling block! We’re long over!”

Wei Na gave a forced smile, rolled her eyes, and walked back to the oil drum to continue her beauty bath.

…

There were surprisingly many paths to the Lower City.

The current location of Wang Jixuan was a long-abandoned fire escape, a commonly used path to enter the Lower City, leading directly to the 46th Floor.

These zigzagging stairs made of reinforced concrete already showed significant collapse, requiring careful navigation. Since the power supply here had been cut off, sufficient lighting equipment became a prerequisite for entering this path.

Although Wang Jixuan had once again become a Qi Refining Realm Cultivator, he didn’t yet have night vision. He could only spend ‘a lot’ of Rotten Fish’s general quota to buy a few flashlights.

Team Leader Zhou didn’t notice one thing.

Wang Jixuan not only held Rotten Fish hostage but also directly raided Rotten Fish’s lair, moving out all the emergency food the thugs had collected over the past few days.

At this moment, that food and various valuable sundries were packed into two large bags, hanging on Rotten Fish’s shoulders.

Wang Jixuan’s right hand was in his pocket, aiming a pistol at Rotten Fish, while his left hand held a flashlight to illuminate the path.

The fire escape wound downwards, with a steel structure platform every thirty meters of vertical height.

Wang Jixuan looked down. Faint lights were visible on a steel structure platform far below, with people resting there.

The height of each floor in the Fortress was greater than thirty meters. From the Thirteenth Floor in the upper-middle part of the Fortress to the very bottom, the vertical height was nearly 1,400 meters.

The two of them descended almost twenty floors along the fire escape in one go, reaching the floor area of the Fortress’s thirties.

Rotten Fish’s legs were trembling constantly.

He pointed to an empty platform on one side and quietly asked, “Boss, c-can we go up and rest? I really can’t walk anymore.”

“Yes, you go first.”

“It’s fine, it won’t collapse… Alright, alright, I’ll go first.”

Rotten Fish walked up with his head down, relieved, and put down the two large bags hanging on his shoulders.

On the steel structure platform were a few simple folding chairs, two dimly lit oil-electric lamps, and a few barrels of water that probably hadn’t been changed in years.

“The water here is undrinkable, it stinks, and some has even been urinated in.”

Rotten Fish skillfully unfolded a chair, lit the oil-electric lamp, and after sitting down, began to massage his legs.

Wang Jixuan pulled a folding chair to the corner and closed his eyes to rest.

The previous ‘intense battle’ had consumed more than half of the Qi in his body. Now was a good time to absorb some Spiritual Qi to prepare for any potential fierce battles ahead.

Although Wang Jixuan was resting with his eyes closed, every move of the thug leader three meters away was constantly within his perception.

Rotten Fish watched Wang Jixuan, his expression unreadable, his gaze gradually clearing.

A scene kept replaying in his mind—the nuts flying through the air, his subordinates collapsing immediately after being hit, and this boss, right in front of him, flicking his finger to directly shatter a camera dozens of meters away.

How did he do that?

Rotten Fish touched the new bruises on his face, finding it more and more unbelievable the more he thought about it.

After a while, Rotten Fish tried to mimic the flicking motion, making a few “whoosh whoosh whoosh” sounds, then began to ponder with his head down.

Was his posture wrong?

After quite a while.

Wang Jixuan said without opening his eyes, “If you’re rested, let’s continue.”

“Alright, alright… Boss, can I ask a question?”

“Ask.”

“How did you do that, being so awesome! Were those nuts really flicked by you? How did they have so much force! Are you a legendary Spiritual Energy User? Holy crap… Can you teach me, boss? I can pay tuition!”

Wang Jixuan suddenly raised his hand, signaling Rotten Fish to be quiet.

Rotten Fish immediately shut up.

He looked down and saw several light sources about ten meters below them. Four or five people had left the fire door and entered this abandoned fire escape.

Through the flashing light sources, he could see a man and a woman with their hands tied, wearing headlamps, and three young men who looked like thugs following behind them with flashlights, muttering obscenities.

Just then, a beam of light shone up, directly hitting Rotten Fish’s face.