Free Web NovelChapter 1686: Chapter 974: "Ghost Foot" Zhou Ran (Part 2)
Upon hearing, Wu Qingcang took out two photos from his side. The first photo showed a car, a black sedan, not exactly a luxury vehicle, and it didn’t look very conspicuous. What truly attracted Yang Xiao was the background of the car, where there were two shops that seemed very familiar to him, as if they were near his villa area, with such two shops side by side.
"Captain Yang, this is the person who has been surveilling you recently," Wu Qingcang pointed to the other photo.
Picking up the second photo, it depicted a middle-aged man with very ordinary looks, lacking any distinctive features, the kind of person who would be lost in a crowd.
This man was wearing a military-green baseball cap and a light blue work uniform, which had the name of a certain moving company printed on the back, and was standing in a pair of uncomfortable-looking heavy boots.
"This person is called Zhou Ran. His apparent identity is a small boss of a moving company, but he secretly works for the Chamber of Commerce as a senior member of their action group, codenamed ’Ghost Foot’."
"He has You Level Middle to upper-level strength, but his combat abilities are quite average. He’s particularly skilled in surveillance and is adept at concealing himself and fleeing. Even apostolic envoys with stronger spiritual power than him find it hard to capture him," Wu Qingcang calmly introduced this person’s situation to Yang Xiao.
"People from the Chamber of Commerce..." Yang Xiao frowned slightly. He had just arrived and didn’t recall offending anyone from the Chamber of Commerce.
Seeing Yang Xiao’s confusion, Hong Anguo timely offered clarification, "Captain Yang, both Captain Wu and I judge that this isn’t a personal vendetta between the Jiangbei Provincial Chamber of Commerce and you; it’s likely that someone paid a hefty price to have the Chamber of Commerce surveil you specifically."
"Generally speaking, the Chamber of Commerce people are reluctant to take orders from us, especially since you are a leadership member of our Jiangbei Province Office; if anything happens, the Chamber of Commerce will be very passive. I think the person who sought the Chamber of Commerce has both the connections and... paid a hefty price," Hong Anguo added.
"But who would spend so much money to keep an eye on me?", Yang Xiao felt a vague sense of unease, implying that there was an unseen pair of eyes constantly watching him. "I’ve only been in Qinglan City for a short time and haven’t had any conflict with anyone or any force."
"We currently do not know either, but we are investigating," Hong Anguo continued, "This matter is quite complex, and even directly arresting this person would be fruitless because he’s merely an errand runner who doesn’t know his employers."
"Moreover, even if this person is caught, the Chamber of Commerce won’t admit any association with them. These guys are very crafty; we have encountered many similar situations in the past, and rashly apprehending this person would not only be useless but would alert the adversaries," Hong Anguo analyzed the pros and cons from Yang Xiao’s perspective. frёeωebɳovel.com
"What do you think then?" Naturally, dealing with the Provincial Chamber of Commerce people, Hong Anguo is more experienced, Yang Xiao asked.
"First, don’t worry about him; do what you need to do but stay covert. We’ll give you more vehicles and also arrange our personnel near your residence, just be mindful when coming and going."
"We’ll continue to follow up on this matter, utilizing our informants within the Chamber of Commerce to gather intelligence and strive to quickly identify who’s behind the scenes."
"Once the identity of this person is confirmed, no mercy will be shown; you can be assured of that." Hong Anguo promised.
Seeing both leaders say this, Yang Xiao felt it inappropriate to say more. Additionally, if he remained vigilant enough, surveilling him would indeed be quite difficult; Yang Xiao didn’t believe an apostolic envoy with spiritual power similar to his could manage it.
"Director Hong, Captain Wu, I’m not worried about other things; my concern is... the other party might be targeting this matter." Yang Xiao revealed his true worry.
"You don’t need to worry about this matter; unless errors occur during operations, even if people come knocking afterward, we won’t admit the involvement and certainly won’t hand over those guys."
"Captain Wu and I have already devised several plans; in an emergency, we can eliminate all these evil cultivators, ensuring no evidence is left behind." Hong Anguo spoke with no hesitation.
Given his intelligence background, Yang Xiao trusted the judgment and capability of this person; this matter was indeed critical, should issues arise, none present could escape blame. Yang Xiao believed they would be prudent.
In the following time, Yang Xiao comprehensively reported the detailed process of the mission in Nanzhe Province, almost restoring it one-to-one, without falsification, except for the human skin map, everything was disclosed.
Deception was unnecessary, and also... Yang Xiao’s biggest worry was among these evil cultivators there might be informants for Hong Anguo, or Wu Qingcang, as they too could place informants. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
The behind-the-scenes person doesn’t need to appear, they can remotely command, and perhaps this informant would never know whom they serve even until their death.
Moreover, thinking from another perspective, if he were the two leaders, he would certainly embed people in, given such a complex composition, it’s essential to be controllable.
Based on Yang Xiao’s current observations, the most likely informants would be Ku Daoist and One-eyed Monk, firstly because these two have strong enough abilities, ordinarily they wouldn’t die, and additionally... these two have the most cunning minds.
The following afternoon, while correcting documents, Yang Xiao received news from the Nanzhe Province Public Office, a commendation notice for Deputy Captain Zheng Mingde personally and his entire Second Investigation Brigade.
The notice explicitly mentioned under Captain Zheng Mingde’s leadership, the Second Investigation Brigade completely exterminated a high-level base point of the Withered Bone Pavilion, severely injuring and capturing the Five Guardians Funeral Guanyin, killing at the scene the Seven Guardians Blood Flesh Immortal along with three other You Level evil cultivators, and additionally killing no fewer than 30 Fierce and Resentment Level low-level apostles without letting anyone escape.
Along with this commendation, a critical notice was issued, targeting the sub-captain Sun Long of the Second Investigation Brigade. It pointed out due to his dereliction of duty, misused battle opportunities, resulting in innocent civilian casualties, he has been dismissed, investigated, and transferred to the internal court for trial, with no leniency.
"Dereliction of duty, misused battle opportunities..." Yang Xiao gave a cold laugh, focusing on these eight words, which were indeed lighter than charges of collusion and leaking secrets.
However, Yang Xiao was somewhat satisfied with the final handling outcome; this preserved the lives, but losing rank and facing imprisonment was inevitable, he was truly concerned about lightly dealing with him like serving three cups of wine as a penalty.
The three days passed swiftly, during these three days Yang Xiao was practically running between his home and the Provincial Office, full of work enthusiasm.
After all, he was new, so even if pretending, he needed to appear somewhat industrious, avoiding giving others room for gossip.
Fortunately, his name as Yang Xiao of Rongcheng was quite renowned, at such an age assuming such a high position made everyone feel he was deserving of it.
That evening, he received a call from Captain Zheng, they exchanged pleasantries at first, then Captain Zheng immediately mentioned the main topic, in a low voice revealed that Funeral Guanyin had been executed, and the corpse had been arranged to be sent to Qinglan City; the vehicle transporting the corpse had already set off.
Moreover, the Mourning Stick was also sent along, considering the time, it would arrive tonight.
"Thank you, Brother Zheng," Yang Xiao had promised Ku Daoist to send the corpse for refining, he couldn’t break his word, and... he planned to learn a trick or two.
Seeing Yang Xiao spoke like this, Zheng Mingde shook his head, feeling a sense of sigh, "Younger Brother Yang, it’s brother me who should thank you, this time you allowed our Second Law Enforcement Team to show face, and also spared Sun Long’s life, all the brothers are extremely grateful to you."
"Great grace doesn’t need words; in future, just speak, as long as it’s within Nanzhe Province’s territory, if it can be done, it’ll be done; if not... brother will figure out a way for you!" Zheng Mingde held high regards for Yang Xiao, expressing his gratitude.
"Then I’ll thank Brother Zheng first; the world of martial arts is vast, paths are obscure, brothers should support each other." Yang Xiao also cheerfully reciprocated, making friends with Zheng Mingde.
