Wang Jixuan sat in the now silent car, holding a freshly made soul-capturing talisman. He didn’t like using such dark methods, but he needed to find out something important from Ban Wenying—specifically, what role Zhou Zhengde played in all this. So, he decided to use the talisman again.
The driver, an old hand at the wheel, was slumped over the steering wheel, missing part of his head, quietly asleep. Ban Wenying sat there, her eyes filled with fear, her vital signs stable for now. However, if Wang Jixuan took the talisman away, her body would quickly perish.
Wang Jixuan glanced at the wooden house nearby, where the danger had temporarily passed. He had taken a shortcut to get back quickly—the passage that Old Lady Kong had been guarding. This passage had only one exit at the wooden house but several entrances in the territory of the Black Fire Gang.
There were security measures in the passage that only Old Lady Kong could control, but they weren’t too difficult to deal with. Two talismans could blast them open, and the passage had been around for many years, so many of its devices were outdated and in disrepair.
Wang Jixuan arrived under the wooden house smoothly and immediately sensed the presence of Thomas inside. At first, he even thought Thomas was there to protect the old lady. He had considered what to do if those guys used the passage to come over and if he should eliminate Thomas, who had helped him find a place to cultivate.
But then… Wang Jixuan felt a mix of emotions.
“Are all officials so corrupt?”
“I’ve been a bit naive. At least I was thinking of protecting Yezi and the others; those innocent kids haven’t been tainted yet, and the Black Fire Gang can’t escape the fortress.”
“Is this an alternative way for good people to get their rewards?”
Wang Jixuan was even more surprised to learn that Zhou Zhengde was being closely monitored by his mother, the Minister of Internal Affairs. And the woman in the car, he had confirmed her identity before using the soul-capturing talisman.
Ban Wenying, the Minister's first secretary.
It made sense; the Minister wouldn’t come here to do such dirty work herself. She would send a subordinate instead.
Wang Jixuan skillfully activated the talisman and summoned Ban Wenying’s spirit. He waited for her to adapt and didn’t ask anything yet. Instead, he ignited a wisp of true fire, powerful enough to rival a lighter.
The spirit screamed; only Wang Jixuan could hear it in his heart.
After burning for half a minute, Wang Jixuan spoke calmly, “I ask, you answer. Your body isn’t cold yet. If I decide to spare your life, I will let you live.”
He emphasized the word “if.”
Ban Wenying’s spirit sat on the floating talisman, hurriedly nodding.
Wang Jixuan asked, “Do you have any monitoring or listening devices on you?”
Ban Wenying immediately shook her head.
Wang Jixuan could tell she wasn’t lying.
With a sobbing tone, she said, “How could anyone know I was here?”
“Hmm,” Wang Jixuan continued, “How much does Captain Zhou know about your plan with Thomas?”
“He should be able to guess some,” Ban Wenying’s expression was hard to read, a mix of crying and smiling. “How did you come to be? How did you do this? My soul… my soul is trapped by you!”
Wang Jixuan ignored her and asked, “What about Captain Zhou’s mother? Is she the one giving all the orders?”
“Yes, I am her subordinate.”
Her spirit trembled slightly, clearly lying.
Wang Jixuan raised an eyebrow and turned a wisp of spirit power into a needle-sized point, pressing it against Ban Wenying’s forehead.
“Ah! Ah— I’ll talk!”
“Don’t waste my time. I still have to go back and fight the Black Fire Gang.”
Ban Wenying’s spirit nodded quickly.
She spoke rapidly, and Wang Jixuan fell into a long silence.
Ban Wenying was born in the upper city, benefiting from her heroic parents who died in battle. She became a clerk in the army and later joined the Internal Affairs Department of Fortress 76, working for Zhou Zhengde’s mother for about seventeen or eighteen years.
She was Zhou Zhengde’s trusted aide but wasn’t satisfied with just that. As the Minister’s first secretary, she was quite the socialite in the upper city.
The killings of Da Zuihua and Mu Liang’s counterattack had allowed Ban Wenying to catch a glimpse of a political opportunity.
What truly confirmed for her that this was her chance was when Zhou Zhengde was attacked on the forty-sixth floor. That was the only time the Black Fire Gang’s boss, who had lost his “younger brother,” went mad.
This made Ban Wenying almost jump for joy.
She knew that Zhou Zhengde had a strong background, so much so that even the governor wouldn’t dare offend him. His mother wouldn’t let anyone who dared to harm her son go unpunished; this was the opportunity Ban Wenying had been waiting for.
She quickly pulled out her plan to “replace the Black Fire Gang using this incident.”
The seven major gangs in the lower city were like seven slices of cake, controlled by three political factions in the upper city.
In this area, the military faction represented by the Minister had always been relatively passive.
Especially the Black Fire Gang, which provided blood products for the frontline war fortresses, was the most crucial area among the seven gangs. It had been firmly controlled by the thirteen factions represented by the biological minister of Fortress 76, and the military had never been able to intervene.
Ban Wenying knew the Minister wouldn’t refuse this plan, and she could finally use the backup she had prepared for years.
What surprised Wang Jixuan was that Thomas had once told him he had a secret girlfriend.
To his shock, that secret girlfriend was none other than Ban Wenying, who would regularly come to the forty-sixth floor for fun!
Thomas even dressed up in seductive makeup to play various twisted games with her.
This…
This was simply…
A disgrace, against ancient customs, utterly immoral!
Wang Jixuan couldn’t stand hearing these details.
Though he had heard plenty before.
Under Ban Wenying’s coordination, a swift attack on the Black Fire Gang unfolded, with alliances forming, purging forces, and factions competing against each other.
Zhou Zhengde thought he was playing a huge role in this, but in reality, it was all thanks to Ban Wenying, using the powers given to her by the Minister to manipulate everything.
The only uncontrollable variable for Ban Wenying was Wang Jixuan, this “new psychic.”
Because Zhou Zhengde had always been protecting him from behind.
Ban Wenying wasn’t doing all this for the military faction’s sake.
She wanted to use this opportunity to establish her own base, hoping to have Thomas form the “Wooden House Brotherhood.” If she and Thomas could take it a step further and get the list from the Black Fire Gang’s boss…
Then she would have leverage over a group of retired officials from the upper city.
The military, the thirteen factions, and the governor would all be at her mercy.
She knew this was very dangerous, but she was willing to take the risk.
“I can’t control my desires,” Ban Wenying’s spirit trembled as she spoke. “But I haven’t done anything against you or Zhou Zhengde. I’ve known him since he was young, and I’ve always taken care of him. Please, let my soul go back!”
Wang Jixuan said solemnly, “One last question.”
“I can answer anything! I can help you get a lot of resources!”
“Do you think it’s the officials who should die or the gangsters who collude with them, oppressing the common people and persecuting the good?”
Ban Wenying’s spirit shouted, “The gangsters should die! The gangsters deserve to die! I was just using them!”
Wang Jixuan smiled, “Although I don’t really want to get involved in this dirty business, I think they all should die.”
He raised the shotgun and aimed it at Ban Wenying’s head.
Ban Wenying realized what was about to happen and shouted in panic, “No! Please don’t! I don’t want to die! I haven’t offended you! I’ve been helping you take down the Black Fire Gang! If it weren’t for me, you two wouldn’t have been able to eliminate the Black Fire Gang so smoothly!”
“There’s something that must be made clear.”
Wang Jixuan casually tossed the soul-capturing talisman, which quickly burned away. Ban Wenying’s spirit dove into her forehead.
Before she could adapt to her surroundings and her body couldn’t move, she heard the guy next to her, wearing a helmet, softly say:
“It’s me who needs to take down the Black Fire Gang, not you using my and Zhou Zhengde’s sense of justice to eliminate them.
“This is important because…”
Bang!
A bit of blood splattered on Wang Jixuan’s helmet.
He disdainfully picked up a handkerchief nearby to wipe it off and tossed it onto Ban Wenying’s body.
“A weak heart leads to chaos.”
Wang Jixuan closed the car door, then opened it again, saying to Ban Wenying’s rapidly fading spirit: “Also, Xiao Zhou is indeed a bit foolishly loyal, but he’s not an idiot. He reminded me to leave in time, saying you were making some small moves.”
He slammed the car door shut and carefully observed his surroundings, then hurried back to the wooden house. He took a few glances at the old lady’s corpse.
The list that was priceless in Ban Wenying and Thomas’s eyes didn’t concern Wang Jixuan at all. He was only thinking about where this person’s evil stemmed from, or rather, the evil in their nature.
Yezi and the others were on the second floor.
Wang Jixuan couldn’t pay attention to them right now; he just shouted, “Yezi! Don’t be afraid! I’ll come to get you soon!”
Yezi didn’t respond.
Wang Jixuan sighed inwardly.
There was nothing he could do; this was too shocking for those kids. He would later ask Zhou Zhengde and Weina to help take care of these little ones and provide some psychological support.
Zhou Yanei should be able to handle it easily.
By the way, the gun Wang Jixuan used to take down Ban Wenying only had Thomas’s fingerprints on it, and he had already returned the shotgun to Thomas.
Wang Jixuan slipped into the secret room, fumbled around, and pressed a few buttons. The wooden chair and the circular platform beneath it descended together.
He retrieved the sniper rifle he had left here earlier, aimed it at his forehead, his eyes glowing with determination. He quickly changed the talismans and approached the Black Fire Gang’s territory again through the passage.
The killing had begun, and it couldn’t be casually stopped.
Zhou Zhengde had said he would choose a time to send the purging forces from the fortress, and they were likely about to act.
So, before the purging forces moved, he needed to eliminate more high-ranking members of the Black Fire Gang to prevent anyone from shedding their skin to survive!
On the second floor of the wooden house.
Above the study and staircase.
A small face peeked through the gap in the wooden planks, watching the three corpses and the old lady’s wide-open eyes, silently staring back.
The girl’s calm gaze showed a slight ripple, as if she was waking from a dream.
“Mom.”
…
At the same time.
In the captain's office of the thirteenth precinct.
Zhou Zhengde looked at the three-dimensional projection in front of him, where a pixelated, low-quality photo gradually appeared, his breathing quickening.
An Qian’s corpse was in the center of the photo; faintly visible nearby were a group of Black Fire Gang thugs looking for cover.
The photo was taken by the “scouts” Zhou Zhengde had sent to the lower city. All factions were watching the Black Fire Gang, paying attention to “his mysterious psychic” clashing with the psychics from the thirteen factions.
Now it seemed…
Zhou Zhengde clenched his fist and excitedly shouted, “Nice!”
Then he realized that An Qian’s death wouldn’t be hidden from the thirteen factions; they would definitely take action.
Buzz, buzz!
The communicator next to him suddenly vibrated.
Zhou Zhengde grabbed the communicator, and messages popped up frantically on the screen.
(End of this chapter)