A Good-for-Nothing

288. Unaccounted For

Translator: Dragon Rider

After the fire, the surface of the hill had been reduced to a layer of blackened crust made of sand-like substance. The jet-black hill now looked even blacker and very ugly, showing a sharp contrast with the ground in the vicinity which was carpeted with exuberant, green grass.

Also because of the karma flame, all the black gas had been burnt. The air in this area was flowing again, and the sheets of lightning had died down.

Two group leaders, Chen Qianlin, Qiu Luo and Chen Weiguo were waiting at the foot of the hill. After quite a while, Zhen Daoyuan and Zhao Yidi walked down from the hilltop, their faces etched with tiredness. Chen Qianlin subconsciously twisted his head around to look at Qiu Luo, who impassively shook his head.

Zhen Daoyuan’s voice sounded very weak. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, “Call the headquarters and tell them Li Zong and He Zheng jumped into the Seal and are unaccounted for.”

“Director Zhen, do you think Supt. Li has–”

Zhao Yidi’s piercing eyes flashed at him and with that she sneered, “Supt. Li? You think he’s still deserving of that form of address?”

Zhao Yidi was trembling with anger. Li Zong, the one who was the most likely to be the next leader of SMB and even the Counter-demon Committee, had actually ignored his career prospects and done such outrageous things for He Zheng! Zhao Yidi was furious, disappointed but also inexplicably feeling sorry for him.

Chen Qianlin took a grip on himself. Not inclined to waste any more time lingering in this place, he asked impatiently, “Is Li Zong really … dead?”

Chen Qianlin had no idea what it meant to enter a Seal like this. It had not been long since he had joined SMB, and he did not know much about it. This time, in order to avert suspicion and prevent things from going awry, they had not brought a single member of the first action group. As even Qiu Luo did not know the answer, Chen Qianlin had no choice but to ask Zhen Daoyuan.

Zhen Daoyuan shook his head and did not expound.

Chen Qianlin’s eyes gradually turned glum, but no matter what, he refused to believe that Li Zong and He Zheng had died in this place.

To save time, they had traveled here by a chartered jet. All of them had been concerned during the journey to this place, and now they were leaving with even heavier hearts.

What Li Zong and He Zheng had done caused quite a stir. Naturally, the news reached Xiangshan’s and Zhou Congzhi’s ears.

In a villa.

The corners of Xiangshan’s lips curved slightly after he heard Zhou Congzhi’s report, but his eyes, which were usually tinged with amusement, were now glinting coldly.

“It turns out the Seed which we’ve been trying to locate for such a long time was right under our noses, and Zhou Qi almost killed that guy.”

Xiangshan, with a shadow of a smile, glanced at Zhou Congzhi and continued, “You and your family are very ‘competent’.”

Zhou Congzhi’s face hardened. It was a long moment before he said, “We have a target now. We’ll find He Zheng.”

With that Zhou Congzhi asked in a faintly incredulous tone, “Master, do you think Li Zong and He Zheng have really died, by any chance?”

“Died?” Xiangshan chuckled. “That’s just a magic circle. It’ll take more than that to kill Li Zong.”

There was some kind of otherworldly gleam in his eerie eyes, which seemed to have the power to suck people right into them. “Where’s Zhou Qi?”

“He has not called me yet,” said Zhou Congzhi.

“Then he never will,” chuckled Xiangshan.

Zhou Congzhi’s eyelids twitched.

“There are still a couple of pawns that could be useful to us in the SMB, I suppose?”

Zhou Congzhi, as though having come to understand what Xiangshan meant, slightly bowed his head and said, “I’ll start getting ready right away.”

Soon Xiangshan was the only one left in the large villa. He was fingering a sphere of black gas suspended above his hand, which contained some howling souls that were trying to get out. Xiangshan had lived so many years and devoured countless Yōkai and beasts.

His eyes blinked. Maybe it was time to release some of them to have some fun.

As this thought occurred to him, Xiangshan’s fingers twitched and with that three black shapes flew out of that sphere of black gas, roaring deafeningly. “Go,” he said.

He let out a chuckle and watched the black shapes disappear from view in the twinkling of an eye.

Meanwhile. SMB.

A message was immediately sent back to SMB, which said that Li Zong had fled with a major suspect, that currently both of them were unaccounted for. All members of SMB were shocked, especially the first action group.

At this time, Zu Zhichong, Tun Shanhai, Zhen Ni and Han Zhuo were in Zu Zhichong’s dorm room, all their faces grave.

Zhen Ni’s eyes were red and swollen, presumably from crying.

There were sniffles coming from Tun Shanhai’s nose, and he seemed to be sobbing. Zu Zhichong, however, appeared furious, Han Zhuo flinty-faced.

The only similarity between them was the dejection and undisguised grief etched on their foreheads.

“I don’t believe Chief’s dead. Nobody can make me believe that. But one of the things we know is that Chief outranks the Holy Grail now. Both the department and the Demon King will stop at nothing to find him.”

“That’s not the only thing I’m worried about,” said Han Zhuo, shaking his head, his clenched fists showing what he was feeling. “If the superior departments intervene, many forces will be trying to track him down at the same time. What should we do?”

Tun Shanhai said without a second thought, “The only thing we could do! If Chief has left this department, I’ll leave as well. I want to stay with Chief.”

“Leave, leave, leave – what else can you think of apart from leaving?!” This was the first time that Zu Zhichong had yelled impatiently at Tun Shanhai. His eyes were also bloodshot, which made him look a little scary. “Everybody’s trying to hunt Chief down. Neither Elder Zhou nor Elder Chen has intervened. If they make their move, where could Chief possibly flee to?!”

“Then what do you suggest we do?! Zhang Jingqiu and those bastards will sure as hell abuse their positions to retaliate against Chief! He’s been meaning to do that for quite some time!” bellowed Tun Shanhai in a tearful voice.

In fact, this time Tun Shanhai was really wrong about Zhang Jingqiu.

Though the department had told the public that Li Zong had left with a major suspect, but in fact Li Zong’s action constituted treason! It meant that he had made enemies of SMB, the Counter-demon Committee and even the Department of Homeland Security.

Zhang Jingqiu was indeed ill-disposed towards Li Zong, but there was no bitter hatred between them. They merely had some minor disagreements, and they were in different factions. Zhang Jingqiu had never wanted to see Li Zong end up like this.

The second and third action groups, maybe even the whole SMB, were now just as concerned as Tun Shanhai and the others. They did not want to make an enemy of Li Zong, but they could not just ignore orders from superior departments. What they should do if some day they really encountered Li Zong was giving them headaches.

Zhen Daoyuan was walking in a deserted corridor. It was very late, but there were lights still ablaze in the United Front Work Department. All action groups were in the conference room, discussing something.

Zhen Daoyuan glanced inside, let out a sigh, walked up to the door of the conference room, pushed it open and entered.

The room was particularly crowded on this day. All the seven chairpersons of the Counter-demon Committee, except for Zhang Yixing in the Tigers and Dragons Mountain, were present.

Elder Chen was sitting in one of the high seats, flanked by an old man and an unoccupied seat meant for Zhang Yixing. Further to his left were Zong Xian and the Buddhist abbot of Jinguang Temple, Abbot Huiming. Further to his right were Zhao Yidi and Tan Lubai.

Apart from the Buddhist monk, the only stranger was the old man sitting beside Elder Chen. He was wearing a mandarin jacket, a skullcap and a pair of round dark sunglasses, his hands folded on top of a walking stick.

After Zhen Daoyuan walked in, the old man’s eyes moved behind his sunglasses and with that he said, “Daoyuan and Yidi know what really happened that day, and you’re the only ones aware of whether Li Zong is dead or alive.”

The lines around Zhao Yidi’s nose tensed slightly. A faintly cold look on her face, she said, “Do you not trust us, Master Zhou?”

Zhou Yang let out a laugh. “Of course I trust you two, but considering Li Zong’s capabilities … For years you guys have been boasting that he’s the most powerful SMB exorcist in centuries. After so many years, the Seals created by me and a couple of geriatric buddies of mine have weakened considerably some time ago. Besides, Li Zong only entered one of them. There’s no telling whether he’s dead or not.”

Abbot Huiming had been silent all along.

Tan Lubai said, “Master Zhou, we both know what is in that Seal. Li Zong jumped right into it. His chance of survival is next to zero.”

Zhen Daoyuan said, “Indeed, we can’t say for sure that Li Zong has died, but we saw him jump into it with our own eyes. If we are to go in there to check, we’ll have to undo the magic circle.”

“Didn’t you say that the magic circle is now only a smokescreen? We haven’t found the Demonic Seed yet, and we don’t know for sure that the Seed has perished. If the Demon King beats us to it, who will be responsible for that?” said Master Zhou, turning his walking stick, the end of which rubbed against the ground with a scraping sound. “Young people should learn how to adjust to new situations. Right now finding the Seed is of supreme importance.”

Zhen Daoyuan made no reply, but in fact, Chen Sanquan better than anybody knew what Zhou Yang was up to.

Chen Sanquan said slowly, “Lao Zhou, if we undo the enchantments, whom do you suggest we send down there?”

Zhou Yang’s eyelids twitched and he looked somewhat annoyed, but he was just about to shout curses when a commotion came from outside, and with that the whole building started quaking violently, as though someone was trying to break the barrier of enchantments around the bureau with a battering ram.

Abbot Huiming of Jinguang Temple finally opened his eyes. “Demons?”

At this time. In Rosefinch Lane outside the domed barrier of protective enchantments shielding SMB.

It was late at night. Some gigantic Yōkai with hideous blue-black faces, taking advantage of the cover of night, were attacking the magical shield, saliva dribbling from their long fangs, big holes in their mangled wings corroded by demonic Qi, their crimson eyes bearing criss-cross black markings, which made them look more terrifying.

Though it was late at night, in the streets there were still some office workers who had just knocked off and some citizens coming out to have fun, and they all saw the couple of colossal black shapes in the sky. Everybody was filming the flying shadowy figures with their cellphone.

News and videos about this scene quickly went viral on social media.

At the same time. Inside SMB.

Zhou Yang and the others were all very powerful cultivators. In addition, there were connections between the magical barrier and their internal energy, so they all sensed distinctly what was happening to it. Zhou Yang raised his head and looked out of the window just in time to see a crack, with a loud bang, appear in the domed magical barrier, and within seconds the whole bubble-like protective shield was full of crevices as though covered with cobwebs.

Zhao Yidi snorted, “These demons are going way too far.”

With a single motion of his hand, Zhou Yang restored the barrier to perfect working order. Meanwhile, all action groups, except for the first group staying to stand guard, went out to fight.

Xiangshan, who had not bargained on the chairpersons of the Counter-demon Committee coming to SMB to have a meeting about the matter of Li Zong, made the wrong decision. He had planned to throw SMB into panic, but he failed to cover all the bases and nearly got himself into deep trouble.