A Good-for-Nothing

253. Gossip About Li Zong?

 

Translator: Dragon Rider

 

He Zheng and Li Zong had just returned to their room and sat down when there was a sudden knock at the door.

“Is it Chen Qianlin, by any chance?”

Inwardly muttering, He Zheng walked up to the door and looked through the peephole but couldn’t see the visitor’s face. In his sight was only a patch of a skintight coat.

After a while, the visitor backed away several paces, and He Zheng saw that it was the big man named Jon who had provoked him and been taught a lesson by him. Beside him stood a man with a sulky face, who was presumably the instructor of the Northern European team, given his age.

“Why are they here? To apologize?” He Zheng asked Li Zong, twisting his head around.

Li Zong paused in the act of taking off his coat and said, “Let them in first.”

He Zheng was right. Jon and his instructor came to apologize.

The instructor of the Northern European team, unlike Jon, was a sensible man. At the sight of He Zheng, he immediately put on a genial face and made an apology in a humble tone. “Mr. He, I’m here to sincerely apologize to you for my student’s provocative actions. I heard that my student accidentally ingested a pill of yours … I hope you’ll forgive my stupid student and be so kind as to give him the antidote.”

Oh, so they were really here to admit their mistakes and apologize.

When speaking, the instructor didn’t even dare raise his eyes to look at Li Zong. It seemed that he was very scared of Li Zong.

With a shadow of a smile, He Zheng pointed at Jon and said, “It was not you but him who provoked us. If someone needs to apologize, it’s him.”

The instructor hurriedly bent his arm, gave Jon a heavy nudge in the ribs and ordered in a stern voice, “Jon, apologize to these two gentlemen. Now.”

Jon, knowing that he would “die in a couple of days” if he couldn’t find the antidote, didn’t look very well. Eyes full of regret, he said in a hoarse voice, “I’m sorry. Please … forgive me.”

He Zheng had done that only to send a message, not to make trouble, because it was unnecessary for them to make trouble for their rivals. Therefore, now that Jon had apologized to him, He Zheng willingly gave him the antidote. After that, he lectured Jon about his behavior. “Next time, before you mess with someone, you should do a background check and see who that person is and whether you could afford to mess with them.”

He was uncommonly cocky when saying those words.

But nobody cared whether or not he was cocky. It was said that after Jon got the antidote, the instructor of the Northern European team immediately had the team quit the competition and then led the team back home.

In fact He Zheng had wanted to tell them that that pill was not poisonous at all, that it was just a common tonic pill helpful in developing strength, but he had not found the opportunity to do that. Maybe it was better to let this harmless misunderstanding continue to serve its purpose. Given what kind of person Jon was, he would never have given in so soon if he had not been misled into believing that his life was in danger.

He Zheng had just dismissed Jon and his instructor and had not closed the door yet when Chen Qianlin swept inside.

“What do people keep showing up in my room these days? Are you addicted to visiting your teammates?” He Zheng was both annoyed and amused. Why was it so difficult to spend some time alone with his marriage partner?

Chen Qianlin rolled his eyes upwards and sniffed without even glancing at He Zheng, “Who told you I’m here to visit you?”

As his eyes rested on Li Zong, Chen Qianlin’s face became serious. “Supt. Li, it strikes me that something’s not quite right.”

Li Zong, changing out of his coat, said with an inclination of the head, “I feel the same way.”

Astonished, He Zheng conveniently closed the door and asked, “What? You mean those guys who just provoked us?”

Chen Qianlin replied with a bob of the head, “A few moments ago, after they came to know about Supt. Li’s identity, most teams seemed to look at us with increased respect, but those from the Lion Kingdom and the Tiger Kingdom had manifest contempt on their faces. I did some research before our departure and I remember that Supt. Li steamrollered his way to victory in every previous exorcism championship he attended, and all national teams of other countries are scared at the mere mention of Supt. Li’s name.

Neither the Lion Kingdom nor the Tiger Kingdom attended the three events that Supt. Li entered. They didn’t even show their faces at the venues. In fact, exorcists of the two countries are pretty powerful. According to the various records about the exorcism championship, the two national teams were both one-time hopefuls.

In those three years they didn’t even show their faces, but after Supt. Li stopped entering the competition, they began to make their presence felt.”

There was a hint of peculiarity in Chen Qianlin’s tone. “It seems that they were avoiding Supt. Li, but this morning, when they met Supt. Li, their attitudes were quite weird. I mean, they didn’t look wary of Supt. Li.”

He Zheng gave a smile and joked, “You know a lot of this kind of stuff.”

Chen Qianlin snorted, appearing quite proud. “You bet!”

With that, he cocked an inquisitive eyebrow at Li Zong, as though expecting Li Zong to explain the situation to him.

Li Zong said, “I don’t have many dealings with them, so their intentions are a mystery to me as well, but I have a shrewd idea of their strength. Of all twenty competing teams of this year’s event, they are among the top six.”

Being ranked among the top six meant that they were not to be taken lightly.

After a sudden pause, Li Zong continued, “There is, in addition, one further point to make – because of the geographical location of the Tiger Kingdom, its national team are pretty close to the Northern European team, and they might have played a part in Jon’s provocation this morning. You don’t have to be a genius to tell that Jon is all brawn and no brain.”

The look in He Zheng’s eyes flickered and with that he licked his lips and said, “Finally you’re getting to the point.”

While they were talking, Qiu Luo, Lao Ka and Tao Wujiu came.

He Zheng briskly sat cross-legged on the bed and dropped the idea of spending some time alone with Li Zong.

He Zheng said, “Now that you’ve all come, let’s have a brief meeting.”

The expression in Chen Qianlin’s eyes flickered as he saw Qiu Luo.

There were two chairs in the room. He Zheng was sitting on the bed, Chen Qianlin perching on a chair at the bedside, Li Zong standing. Qiu Luo, after entering, glanced around. His eyes casually swept across Chen Qianlin’s face and then he impassively went behind Chen Qianlin’s chair and halted, standing there.

All Chen Qianlin’s muscles instantly tensed up and he did not speak for quite a while.

Then Qiu Luo’s voice came from behind him. “Just now Lao Ka and I tailed a guy from the Tiger Kingdom and we overheard some messages.

The Lion Kingdom and the Tiger Kingdom have secretly reached an agreement. Before the grand final, they’ll join hands and try to eliminate the rivals that they feel might be a threat to them.”

He Zheng’s eyes turned cold. “These scheming bastards. Are they not afraid of being double-crossed?”

Li Zong said, “They’ve developed a mature partnership and benefit distribution mechanism, so their cooperation is naturally very firm.”

“How do you know that?”

Li Zong replied with a bland face, “They’ve been cooperating with each other for some time, I suppose?”

Qiu Luo said, “Yes. In the last three events, Group Leader Xiang and Group Leader Zhang once finished first place and second place respectively. The Lion Kingdom and the Tiger Kingdom won the other two championships. The Northern European team finished third in all the three events. It’s safe to say the Northern European team has struck some kind of deal with the two teams as well.”

He Zheng smiled, “Well, that’s new. I’ve heard of people who’re content to finish runners-up, but there are also some willing to finish third?”

“Although the Northern European team are pretty strong, they don’t really stand out in these twenty teams. The Neon Kingdom attended all the last three events. The Northern European team wouldn’t have managed to finish third if they hadn’t cooperated with the other two teams.”

Lao Ka, Tao Wujiu and He Zheng actually didn’t know much about it. After hearing their words, they had a general idea of what was going on. The twenty teams could be divided into three groups according to their strength. The Republic of Hua, the Lion Kingdom, the Tiger Kingdom and the Neon Kingdom were the strongest; those like the Northern European team were second-rate; the other teams, such as the Australian team, were underdogs.

The Lion Kingdom and the Tiger Kingdom were now faced with a formidable rival that they did not stand a chance of defeating, so in order to win the championship, they naturally had to resort to underhand methods.

“The Northern European team did that to get our measure. After being told who I am, they didn’t dare do anything else, which was why they quit. The Lion Kingdom and the Tiger Kingdom have come a long way, and they show no inclination to withdraw, which means they are determined to get the trophy.

The Lion Kingdom, the Tiger Kingdom and the Neon Kingdom are the rivals we should keep a weather eye on.”

“The Neon Kingdom?”

Chen Qianlin’s lips were pressed tightly together, the back side of his head tense. The smell Qiu Luo was giving off was so distinct. That faint fragrance was making his heart flutter madly. Chen Qianlin exercised all his self-restraint and managed to calm down. “Yes. This year the Neon Kingdom sent Nakayi Hakute here, who is said to be their best, most talented Yin Yang Master. He learned his skills from Honya Nali.”

“Honya Nali?” Qiu Luo’s tone was tinged with astonishment. He said to Li Zong, “If my memory serves me correctly, you and that guy have history, Supt. Li.”

The two of them did go way back.

On hearing the word “history”, He Zheng hurriedly looked at Li Zong. “History? What kind of history?”

Tao Wujiu said, “Wow, I seem to have heard of something about it as well.”

Li Zong was resigned. “Since when did rumor like that begin to spread so quick?”

He Zheng became even more curious, and his intuition told him that it was not something pleasant.

Because, ‘Honour goes on crutches while discredit flies apace,’ as the saying goes.

Tao Wujiu replied, “Ha-ha. It’s actually a juicy bit of gossip. The version I heard is that Honya Nali saw a picture of Supt. Li by chance, got fascinated by Supt. Li’s charming appearance and then started chasing Supt. Li like a lovesick puppy, but Supt. Li turned her down. Eventually, her unrequited love became so intense it caused her cardiac function to decline and she died. What a tragic moving story.”

“Um?” He Zheng ground his teeth, twisted his head around to look at Li Zong and said in a soft, dangerous voice, “Yeah, very touching. And Honya Nali is a woman?”

Li Zong massaged his forehead. “That’s one of the many versions of the story, but it’s not what actually happened.”

Tao Wujiu’s curiosity was clearly piqued. “So what did happen, Supt. Li?”

He Zheng sat bolt upright, fixing Li Zong with an unblinking stare. “You and Honya Nali were never really together, were you?”

“What are you thinking? I only have eyes for you.”

The others were rendered speechless.

‘Yeah. We’re not here. We are not seeing this public display of affection. We are not feeling sorry for ourselves,’ they thought.

“The Honya family has a long history. They are not only an aristocratic family in the Neon Kingdom, but also one of the most influential families of Yin Yang Masters, and Honya Nali was the most powerful Yin Yang Master of this generation of the family.

I made the acquaintance of Honya Nali at an international conference. At that time, she might really have a thing for me, but I expressly turned her down. What happened after that was not what Tao Wujiu just said. She returned to the Neon Kingdom but refused to take no for an answer. She attempted to use a forbidden spell to turn me into her puppet lover. I found out and broke her enchantment. Eventually the forbidden spell backfired on her, causing her to die of heart failure.”

This was their first time hearing this version of the story, and it was told by Li Zong himself. They all found it astounding that Honya Nali, who had been so besotted with Li Zong, had suddenly turned into a psychopath who had gone that far to get what she wanted.

‘It’s true what they say – rumor can be more dangerous than a tiger and must not be taken seriously,’ they thought.