"Quick! There's a problem in Cold Storage No. 3!"
"Block the streets! That guy ran into Wanlijin's territory!"
"The bartender is dead! Report quickly! The bartender and the guards are dead! The cold storage is fine!"
Outside the tavern, groups of men and women in green sweatshirts were running around shouting. Over ten drones armed with automatic machine guns patrolled above the buildings, their engine noise pounding in Wang Jixuan's ears. He was not far from the tavern at that moment. The most dangerous place is often the safest place.
Wang Jixuan first pretended to escape, then turned back and found a seemingly normal house nearby. He hid in a corner room of a two-story building, inside a wardrobe, and heightened his spiritual awareness to the maximum. The chaotic shouts in the street gradually faded away, and the area around the tavern became quiet.
Wang Jixuan quickly formed hand seals, his fingertips glowing faintly with golden light, leaving intricate traces in the dim space. A wrinkled talisman slowly unfolded in front of him, revealing a three-inch tall translucent figure, staring wide-eyed at everything happening.
A fresh soul often just needs simple cooking... but this felt a bit too much like dark magic. The soul was flickering constantly due to shock and tension. Wang Jixuan spoke in his mind, "I'll ask a question, and you answer."
The soul of Gu Wentang continued to flicker. It was truly scared stiff. Wang Jixuan wasn't in a hurry. This soul was controlled by the talisman and couldn't lie in front of him. Once he got it to speak, he could easily handle the interrogation, which he wasn't very good at.
He closed his eyes and patiently waited, quietly sensing the changes in the atmosphere around him. The two-story building housed five people: two elderly individuals, two children, and a young woman. They seemed to be a family, tense due to the chaos outside. Having a small building for a family of five or six was considered a very good living condition in the fortress.
Wang Jixuan guessed that someone in this family must be a leader of the Black Fire Gang or a notable member. They stood in stark contrast to those living in cramped spaces in Resurrection City, with barcodes tattooed on their necks. After not receiving a response from the soul for a while, Wang Jixuan frowned slightly, gently shaking his finger. A small flame burst forth from his fingertip, burning the soul-collecting talisman.
The talisman showed no signs of damage, but the translucent soul was filled with firelight. "Ah—" Just half a minute later, Gu Wentang's soul knelt in the center of the talisman, eyes vacant, mumbling, "Let me go, let me go, please, just let me die..."
"Where is your gang leader?" Wang Jixuan asked. "Gang leader? BOSS?" Gu Wentang stammered, "I... I don't know."
"Don't know?" Wang Jixuan let a small flame flicker from his fingertip. "I really don't know!" Gu Wentang shouted in terror. "Only the top six members and Big Mouth Hua know where the BOSS is! Because Big Mouth Hua is the BOSS's younger brother! I'm just a small role guarding the warehouse!"
"Since that's the case," Wang Jixuan thought for a moment, "then tell me what you know. Who are the core members of your gang, what are their responsibilities, and where do they usually appear?"
Gu Wentang's soul nodded eagerly. "Okay! I'll tell you! I'll say everything!" Wang Jixuan calmly pulled out a prescription pad and a pen from his jacket, quickly writing down the information he heard.
Before entering the Gathering Spirit realm, a cultivator's memory wouldn't improve significantly. As he listened, Wang Jixuan felt something was off. Once Gu Wentang finished, Wang Jixuan asked, "What business does the Black Fire Gang actually do? Why are you so closely tied to the upper city?"
"You don't know? Organ trafficking is our main business, along with blood products," Gu Wentang replied with a bitter smile. "Our gang in the lower city exists to serve the upper city and the fortress..."
Wang Jixuan didn't care much about this complicated issue since it didn't relate to him. He shifted his question, "What’s in the cold storage under the tavern? Are there any treasures related to blade beasts?"
"I only guard the door and watch over things. I only know there are a lot of biological materials provided to the Thirteen Institutes... and some controlled doctors..." Wang Jixuan pressed on, "How does your gang leader usually contact you?"
"I really can't reach him..." Gu Wentang stammered, his soul starting to sob as he held his head. Wang Jixuan frowned in thought. He just wanted to find the Black Fire Gang's BOSS to settle things and then focus on his training, but progress was a bit slow.
According to Gu Wentang, the BOSS only regularly summoned the highest-ranking members for meetings, and most of the time they were video conferences. Even if Wang Jixuan caught the third and fourth members of the Black Fire Gang, there was no guarantee that the BOSS wouldn't hide in the upper city. It was indeed a cunning rabbit with three burrows.
"Come on, don't waste your last bit of soul power. This talisman can only keep you alive for three more days; after that, your soul will vanish." Wang Jixuan took a step back and asked, "Tell me about your experts, snipers, and the locations and quantities of all kinds of powerful weapons. Don't make me torture you further; I'm not a devil, and you’re putting some pressure on my heart too."
Gu Wentang's soul opened its mouth. Was this even human talk? Was he the one being tortured? He only had three days left? A hint of despair appeared in the soul's eyes. Wang Jixuan let flames burst forth from his fingertip again, but deep down, he was already thinking about how to trick this little leader of the Black Fire Gang. It was all about using both kindness and threats.
"Don't burn me! I'll tell you! I'll say everything!" Gu Wentang's soul forced a smile. He had undergone harsh anti-interrogation training, but having his soul pulled out and burned wasn't part of their training course...
The entire Resurrection City was about the size of a small town with ten thousand people. The chaos caused by the tavern attack quickly spread to the neighboring Wanlijin gang's territory. These two gangs, which already had constant friction, began to have sporadic gunfire.
This was how gangs dealt with problems: if they didn't comply, they fought first. The lower city gangs were least afraid of losses. Using the cover of dark areas, Wang Jixuan easily slipped out of Resurrection City. He circled around the edge of the Black Fire Gang's territory, found a gap in their defenses, and snuck back into Resurrection City right under the noses of a few street guards in green sweatshirts.
Wang Jixuan's plan was simple. Since Gu Wentang couldn't find the whereabouts of the Black Fire Gang's BOSS, he would use this little leader to find higher-ranking members of the gang... and by following the clues, he would eventually take down the BOSS.
At this moment, Wang Jixuan set his sights on the third-in-command of the Black Fire Gang, an old gang leader nicknamed "Giant Bone Fish," Wen Heisen. Gu Wentang referred to "Giant Bone Fish" Wen Heisen as a short, unremarkable old man who lived in a five-story tower in the southeast of Resurrection City. This tower served as the Black Fire Gang's command center.
The tower's tip reached the ceiling of the fortress's forty-ninth floor, and beneath the tip was a huge round ball equipped with biological radar. When this radar was activated, it could scan all living beings within a certain area and lock onto the top three hundred biological entities for tracking.
Gu Wentang speculated that since the Black Fire Gang had just faced trouble, "Giant Bone Fish" Wen Heisen would likely be stationed in the command room on the third floor of the command center.
"Wen Heisen is always very responsible in his work. He is ruthless and principled, and everyone respects him. He is one of the soul figures of our Black Fire Gang. He definitely knows where the BOSS is." Gu Wentang's voice echoed in Wang Jixuan's mind.
This old soul was sealed in the soul-collecting talisman, and a small pocket could easily carry him away. Gu Wentang trembled as he said, "You promised to let me take over his body. The divine won't deceive its weak followers, right?"
"I always keep my word." Wang Jixuan smirked slightly. He would let Gu Wentang's soul find a body, fulfill his promise, and then directly eliminate this new body. Was this lying? It was called using strategy.
After experiencing the power of a sniper rifle with his Qi Cultivation body, Wang Jixuan didn't dare to be careless. Even though Gu Wentang's soul couldn't lie and had provided complete information about the tower's defense weaknesses, Wang Jixuan still observed the tower for nearly two hours before officially starting his action.
The tower's defenses weren't that strict. These gangs were just makeshift groups. In Wang Jixuan's spiritual awareness, there were about fifty to sixty gang members inside the tower. Around the tower, on the rooftops of three- to four-story buildings, there were four groups of thugs on lookout, and various places had some partially activated searchlights.
Suddenly, gunfire and explosions rang out in the distance. "They started fighting! The Wanlijin gang is in a fight!" Gu Wentang's voice echoed in Wang Jixuan's mind, sounding a bit excited. "They might send people to support! Good opportunity!"
Wang Jixuan nodded and continued to wait patiently. Two groups of thugs were called away at the same time, leaving in a heavily covered vehicle, giving him the perfect chance to infiltrate.
Using the darkness between the low buildings, Wang Jixuan moved like a hawk, successfully approaching the north side of the tower. He lay down against a low wall on the roof of a small building. The searchlight from the tower swept over his head.
He held his breath, silently counted to three, then rolled and lunged forward. The Spirit Movement Talisman shone brightly, filling his feet with energy as he leaped like a cheetah, landing precisely below the ventilation duct on the second floor of the tower. He pushed off with his left foot and used both hands to pull himself into the duct.
"This is it! This ventilation duct leads to the storage room on the second floor, which is very close to the only elevator! I was involved in the design! I know all the paths!" Gu Wentang spoke quickly. "If we're lucky, we might find some clothes, and I have the access code for this place! Can I really replace Wen Heisen?"
The old soul's voice carried a hint of anxiety. This was the only glimmer of hope he could grasp in despair. "Yes." Wang Jixuan simply replied, moving silently like a gecko through the cement duct.
Gu Wentang marveled, "You truly are a god; only a god can manipulate human souls at will! Then why can't you just find our BOSS and take him out? Isn't the divine all-knowing and all-powerful?"
Wang Jixuan chose not to respond further. The path was clear, and he was quite lucky to find two dirty green sweatshirts thrown in the storage room. After a long moment of calming his heart, he reluctantly put one on. The smell was truly unpleasant.
The only way up and down the tower was an elevator. To prevent the headquarters from being ambushed, there were no stairs, and the elevator shaft had an emergency passage. The elevator was equipped with surveillance and scanning devices. Anyone entering the elevator who wasn't on the monitoring system's whitelist had to input a passcode that constantly changed based on a fixed database; otherwise, an alarm would trigger.
Wang Jixuan calmly walked down the circular corridor on the second floor with a mop and bucket, naturally nodding to a few Black Fire Gang members playing cards in the corner as he stood in front of the elevator door. The elevator was rising from the first floor, and Wang Jixuan casually pressed the up button.
He had learned this basic knowledge thoroughly from Mu Liang's memories. Wang Jixuan knew that his operation to ambush the enemy's headquarters was now at its most dangerous moment. In the worst-case scenario, if the "bartender" wanted to take him down with him and entered the elevator without giving him the passcode, he would be surrounded by over eighty gang members inside and outside.
"Anyway, be prepared for a tough battle; there shouldn't be any snipers inside the tower."
Thump, thump, thump! His heartbeat slowed slightly, and his previously calm spiritual awareness suddenly raced! Ding! The elevator door slowly opened, revealing a tired-looking old man, barely five feet tall, with silver hair, accompanied by two muscular men in green sweatshirts carrying rifles.
Wang Jixuan's gaze met the old man's. He sensed the patchy aura swirling within the strong old man. A cultivator? A spiritual energy user? The old man's tired eyes suddenly sparkled with light! He stared hard at Wang Jixuan, as if trying to recognize his face, and the aura within him began to swell, causing his gray suit to tighten instantly!
The old man was about to shout and clench his fist to strike when Wang Jixuan took the initiative, kicking him first!
(End of Chapter)