Knock, knock, knock!
The urgent knocking woke Wang Jixuan from his meditation.
He quickly jumped up, and the tiny, newly formed energy inside him immediately retreated back to his dantian in his abdomen.
Wang Jixuan glanced at the clock on the wall. He had only been practicing for less than two hours, which here is called three and a half hours. He thought he would regain some strength, but now he found out…
The spiritual energy here is too thin;
He had plenty of insights but hadn’t even crossed the threshold of the Qi Refining stage. He had only slightly improved his senses and gained a bit of basic inner energy.
‘I need to find some spirit stones later to set up a gathering formation.’
Knock, knock!
The knocking outside grew louder.
Wang Jixuan sensed that there were three people outside.
Gang retaliation?
He quickly moved behind the door and pretended to be groggy, asking, “Is someone knocking on my door?”
“Thirteenth Floor Security Team! Open the door! We need your cooperation for an investigation!”
Wang Jixuan was skeptical, but he was also bold. With the little energy he had just gained and the four-foot-long metal pipe he kept as a collectible behind the door, he felt confident he could fend off any intruders.
So, he pressed the electronic lock and held his breath, standing still against the wall.
A sturdy leg in half-length boots kicked the door open.
Two men and one woman, all dressed in light blue uniforms, rushed into the standard room for level-three citizens.
‘They really are officials.’
Wang Jixuan discreetly put the metal pipe back in the corner and took the initiative to speak:
“Is there something you need from me?”
The three were clearly startled, and the slightly frail girl instinctively took two steps back.
The leader among them was a middle-aged man with shiny, slicked-back hair. His clean and crisp light blue uniform stood out against the dim atmosphere.
He had a decent appearance; while not particularly striking, his high nose and deep-set eyes gave him a sense of being ‘upright.’
Wang Jixuan noticed a small bauhinia flower badge pinned to the man’s chest.
This seemed to be a sign of his official rank.
Behind this middle-aged man, a muscular security team member glared and shouted, “What are you hiding there for? Come out and cooperate with our investigation!”
“Don’t be so rough,” the middle-aged man frowned and said, “You two go wait outside for me.”
“Yes, Captain!”
The two team members saluted and left, with the strong young man giving Wang Jixuan a warning glare as he left, while the girl holding a folder smartly closed the alloy door.
The room was dim, and the middle-aged man walked over to find the light switch and turned it up to the maximum.
Suddenly, the room was filled with light.
“My name is Zhou Zhengde,” he introduced himself, his eagle-like eyes assessing Wang Jixuan, “I’m Wei Na’s ex-boyfriend. She asked me to find you.”
Wang Jixuan leaned against the wall and didn’t move, shoving his hands into his pockets.
Although he wanted to appear a bit more nervous to fit Mu Liang’s character, he…
Just couldn’t feel nervous.
“Do you need me to prove it was self-defense?”
“You’ll help, right?”
Zhou Zhengde’s gaze softened a bit as he sighed:
“She’s a good person. I mean, she’s a good person, though not exactly a good woman. But while we were in a relationship, she didn’t betray me as an open-minded person, which gave me a pretty good dating experience.
“You know, the pressure of the environment is too much, and being open about relationships has become a lifestyle for half the population, though we don’t officially promote it.
“Back to the point.
“I’ll need you to sign a few documents later, and I’ll record the whole process as evidence for the enforcement officer’s judgment.
“Now, can you tell me what really happened back then? The true situation; this trouble is quite tricky.”
Quite tricky?
The strength of that gang makes even the officials wary?
Wang Jixuan nodded and spoke slowly:
“At that time, Doctor Wei Na checked my mental state and determined that I had no self-destructive tendencies. I just accidentally got caught by a piece of cloth around my neck, and she gave me that proof.
“The three who claimed to be from the Black Fire Gang were very vicious. The leader, called Brother Hua, grabbed Wei Na by her hair and pulled her to the ground. He was wearing hard-soled shoes and kicked Doctor Wei Na in the stomach. I was… stunned with fear.
“They said I was Wei Na’s boyfriend…”
“Uh, cough! Let me interrupt.”
Zhou Zhengde pondered for a moment:
“Are you? Young man? Are you Wei Na’s boyfriend?”
“I’m not,” Wang Jixuan replied, “We just met in the medical room.”
“Then have you been intimate with her?”
Wang Jixuan smiled a little: “Not really, I’m a conservative.”
Zhou Zhengde’s eyes brightened: “That’s great! You’ll definitely get a wonderful female partner as a genetic match recommendation on your twenty-fifth birthday… By the way, did she tell you she had an early menopause?”
“Hmm?” Wang Jixuan’s head filled with question marks.
“Got off track,” Zhou Zhengde cleared his throat, raising his tone a bit and sitting more casually, “Continue.”
Wang Jixuan pointed at his arm, which he had bandaged clumsily: “I was really scared at that moment. That guy held a gun to me and forced me to persuade Doctor Wei Na to accept their invitation for an organ removal surgery. I don’t know where I got the courage, but I turned around and snatched the gun from him. He was clearly stunned by my sudden resistance, and then I used all my strength to punch him… When people are angry, they can unleash their potential; my mind was blank at that time.”
“Just like that, I’ve had a similar experience.
“This Black Fire Gang controls one-third of the organ trade market in the Lower City. They survive by these kinds of dealings.”
Zhou Zhengde’s eyes showed an unmistakable anger:
“These scum! Bastards! If it weren’t for… never mind, I don’t need to complain to you about this!
“I know Wei Na’s character very well. Although her views on gender can easily be criticized, she has always aspired to be a doctor since childhood. I grew up with her; we were once the best of friends, but once we crossed the line, the nature of our relationship changed.
“You understand, she’s a very feminine woman, and I had a bit to drink.
“It’s just a pity that she doesn’t want to be my wife and remain faithful to our marriage… She can only accept an open marriage.”
Wang Jixuan rubbed his forehead: “Captain Zhou, why don’t we gather evidence now?”
“Ha, of course! But you don’t have to say you punched them.”
Zhou Zhengde narrowed his eyes slightly:
“You just need to say… the situation was chaotic, and those three wanted to kill you. Doctor Wei Na jumped up to grab his gun, and during the intense struggle, you heard seven or eight gunshots, and then you saw Wei Na holding the gun, trembling, kneeling down.
“This way, you won’t have any legal troubles, and Wei Na will have more leverage.
“Is that okay?”
Wang Jixuan nodded: “Okay.”
“Quick and decisive! What a smart young man!”
Zhou Zhengde stood up to call his subordinates.
“I want to ask,” Wang Jixuan spoke up, “the implication of saying there will be no legal troubles is that I might have other troubles?”
“The one who died was the thirteenth-ranked minor leader of the Black Fire Gang, a scoundrel, a piece of trash, but he is the younger brother of the Black Fire Gang’s boss.”
Zhou Zhengde clicked his tongue lightly:
“The two guys who escaped have already told the Black Fire Gang’s leader what they saw. Their boss sent me a letter, asking me not to get involved in this matter.
“The Black Fire Gang needs to establish their position and deterrence, so they will definitely retaliate against Wei Na and you.
“I will do my best to protect Wei Na; she is one of my best friends. Although the Black Fire Gang has some background, they don’t dare to attack the security station directly.
“So, they are likely to vent their anger on a powerless, background-less level-three citizen first.
“As a return for you recording this evidence, I’ll arrange another place for you to stay immediately, but this can only hide you from the Black Fire Gang for a while… Or I could frame you with a crime and put you in the security station’s prison, but that would downgrade you to a level-one citizen, losing your currently relatively easy job.”
Wang Jixuan quickly said, “The former is enough, thank you.”
“Just a mutual benefit. Our Mid-City people value order and principles.”
Zhou Zhengde patted Wang Jixuan’s shoulder and smiled:
“Your mental quality is quite good.
“No wonder Wei Na’s eyes light up when she mentions you; I rarely see her with that expression.
“You two really didn’t sleep together? I’m just curious; she’s a sexy goddess, and I’m done with her.”
Wang Jixuan frowned.
This captain had a calm demeanor and wise eyes, not like a villain, but… he was a bit of a chatterbox and overly focused on Doctor Wei Na’s personal life.
‘Tsk, strange emotions of mortals.’
…
[Room 72, Passage 17, District D, 13th Floor].
Having just packed his simple luggage, Wang Jixuan toyed with the blue card left by Captain Zhou, pondering how likely it was that this was a trap.
He didn’t dare to easily trust a stranger, even if he felt somewhat comfortable with this captain overall.
Through Mu Liang’s memories, Wang Jixuan had a moderate understanding of the fortress.
The fortress is divided into upper, middle, and lower parts. The Upper City is from the first to the sixth floor, where combat personnel and various military factories reside.
The Middle City refers to the seventh to the forty-fifth floors.
About 430,000 people live here, with several factories and numerous indoor farms on each floor. Every citizen must work in factories or farms until they lose their ability to work.
If the Upper City and Middle City are the foundation and pillars of Fortress 76, then the Lower City is synonymous with chaos.
The Lower City is home to about 200,000 to 300,000 people. Originally, it only had six floors, but due to various ‘historical’ issues, it gradually evolved into another world.
The decrees set by the fortress governor can only be effectively promoted in the Upper and Middle Cities, isolated from the Lower City.
The Lower City is filled with violence and depravity, often using freedom as a slogan to cover up the bloodshed and chaos.
The underground fortresses in the Central Basin have reached number ‘136,’ but only eighteen fortresses currently exist in this area, and most of their collapses were not due to external attacks by blade beasts but were buried in so-called freedom uprisings.
Most critically, after seventy or eighty years of downward expansion, the Lower City has already damaged the bottom defense layer of Fortress 76.
—All of this was once written on the information board in the streets of the Middle City.
Under these conditions, members of the Black Fire Gang running rampant in certain areas of the Lower City, openly carrying firearms, appeared on the thirteenth floor of the upper part of the fortress…
If there wasn’t some collusion from the Mid-City Security Team, Wang Jixuan wouldn’t believe that Brother Hua hadn’t been killed a few more times.
From this perspective, Wang Jixuan didn’t dare to fully trust Zhou Zhengde unless he could pinpoint which ‘officials’ were colluding with the Black Fire Gang.
Wang Daolong thought to himself:
‘I need to find a place to hide for a few months. I just need to let this body step into the Qi Refining stage, and I should be able to confront these mortal gangs head-on.’
‘Those hidden weapons that are powerful against mortals are now a big problem for me too.’
‘The mechanisms in this world shouldn’t be underestimated. According to the original body’s memories, there are even those that can shatter rocks and blow up mountains.’
Knock, knock, knock!
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Wang Jixuan jumped to the door like a nimble cat, grabbing the metal pipe wrapped with screws.
“Who is it?”
(End of Chapter)