A Good-for-Nothing

289. Venomous-Tongued Chen Qianlin Flying into Rage

Translator: Dragon Rider

In the United Front Work Department of the Ministry of Supervision.

Creatures corrupted by demonic Qi could distinctly sense each other’s existence. When those Yōkai were attacking the domed magical barrier shielding SMB, Zhou Qi, locked up in a room of the Ministry of Supervision, opened his eyes, a fanatic glint in them. Did Master send some men here to rescue him? He had always known that Master would not give up on him.

Zhou Qi, making no effort to conceal his smirk, provocatively looked back at the man who was standing in the doorway and staring at him. “You caught me but there’s nothing you could do to me. See? Soon I’ll be out of here.”

Wei Cheng did not make any comments on Zhou Qi’s words. He did not even give Zhou Qi another glance that contained any particular emotion. He was as composed as he had always been.

Zhou Qi was clearly annoyed by such attitude. He was a powerful cultivator and preferred to hide in the shadows whenever he could. He despised those who were as weak as ants – people like Qi Ming or any of his victims that he had impersonated. As regards Wei Cheng standing in front of him, Zhou Qi held him in contempt as well, believing that Wei Cheng would never have caught him if Xiang Hailou, Han Zhuo and a couple of others had not shown up.

Zhou Qi fiercely glared at Wei Cheng. Looking at Wei Cheng’s vacant face, Zhou Qi suddenly came up with a malicious idea.

He switched to a relaxed tone of voice.

“Do you know where I met this little moron?” said Zhou Qi, lightly pressing his fingertip against his lower lip. “Oh,” he continued, “I think it happened some night. I don’t know … I seemed to have imbibed several people earlier that day and was quite full, and this little fool seemed to be on his way to buy some gift … uh … Let me think … Was it a wallet? Or a tie? I don’t remember the details.”

With an eerie smile on his face, he looked at Wei Cheng’s tightening lips. “I was under the impression that the birthday of the one he had a crush on was nearing. He had a lot of work to do and didn’t have the time to go shopping during daytime, so he had to wait until night to spare some time to go out to buy a present. For me, he was like a dessert delivered to my door. How could I deny it?

Do you know for whom he was buying the present, Wei Cheng?

The pain in Wei Cheng’s chest was unbearable, so he closed his eyes. How could he not know? He even remembered Chichi asking him in a roundabout way what kind of present he wanted.

“Alas. What a poor kid. When I was killing him, he kept resisting. So, to keep him quiet, I had to devour his soul one bite after another.

He looked like a meek bunny, but he did not let out a single cry. He just kept shedding tears. I was really impressed. My other victims, before their deaths, had all been screa–”

“SHUT UP!” With a loud crash, Wei Cheng landed a punch on the iron door of the room in which Zhou Qi was locked up, leaving a deep fist-shaped dent in it.

Zhou Qi’s lips amusedly curved in a smile. His mood inexplicably brightened appreciably as he saw Wei Cheng lose his temper.

“You find this unbearable? I haven’t got to the best part yet.”

Wei Cheng’s face was livid with rage. The veined backs of his hands indicated how much self-restraint he was exercising to keep from losing his marbles and charging inside to kill Zhou Qi.

This was what Zhou Qi wanted. If Wei Cheng was provoked and came inside or opened the door, he would be able to figure out a way to escape …

Probably because Zhou Qi was haunted by bad luck this year and could not achieve anything easily, a more maddening voice came from outside when he was about to resume provoking Wei Cheng.

“Oh, you’re that famous lordling of the Zhou family, aren’t you? Alas. I’m sorry. You’re thinking about getting out of here?” Chen Qianlin strutted inside and dismissively looked Zhou Qi over top to bottom. “Alas. You’re such a sorry sight. I wonder if you’re used to living in a small place like this.”

Chen Qianlin had a characteristic – when he wanted to provoke someone into fighting him, he could be a huge pain in the butt.

At the sight of him, Wei Cheng’s anger ebbed slightly. In a deep voice, he asked, “It’s done?”

Chen Qianlin nodded and spitefully raised his voice. “Alas. Do you think it’s possible that the Demon King is soft in the head? I mean, all six chairpersons of the Counter-demon Committee are here. Tsk, tsk. Those Yōkai died such violent deaths. They were directly reduced to air. It saved us so much trouble. We finished them once and for all.”

Blue veins were pulsing horribly in Zhou Qi’s temples. “That’s impossible! You’re lying! My master sent them here to rescue me. They’re by no means as weak as you described.”

Chen Qianlin sneered, his eyes glinting coldly. “He sent them here to rescue you? I beg you to turn on the camera and look into your phone screen at yourself when you have the chance. Your master overate and had nothing else to do, which was why he sent those things here to make trouble. Back then it was the couple of leaders of our department who overpowered the Demon King. You think your master is more powerful than the Demon King at full strength?

But none of this matters. What matters is that we beat the shit out of all those Yōkai and then killed them.” Chen Qianlin shrugged and then said to Zhou Qi coldly, “But you have nothing to worry about. You won’t have to stay in this cell for long. When the document is delivered here, you and your soul will perish for good. You think we’ll let you get away after you killed all those exorcists? Keep blustering, while you still can.”

Chen Qianlin’s lips slightly curled in a sneer. Zhou Qi nearly fainted for rage. Finally he could no longer keep up his pretense. All of a sudden, many weird faces appeared on Zhou Qi’s countenance, all of which were roaring. Only one of them was staring fixedly at Wei Cheng, and there seemed to be tears rolling down from the two dark hollows where eyes were supposed to be.

As though having just sensed something, Wei Cheng turned to look at that face, quickly took two steps closer to the iron door and gazed at that face.

Chen Qianlin let out a sigh. This was exactly what he was worried about – Wei Cheng falling prey to the trick. He hurriedly stopped Wei Cheng. “Be careful. This Zhou Qi guy is very cunning!”

“Um,” said Wei Cheng softly, coming to a halt. Zhou Qi had lost his cool after hearing those words of Chen Qianlin’s, which was why he had temporarily lost control of the souls he had imbibed. At this time, he regained part of his composure. When Wei Cheng stepped closer, Zhou Qi’s face gradually returned to normal and with that he smiled a watery smile and called, “Brother Cheng.”

“Please help me … help me … ” Zhou Qi’s voice was slightly tearful, his eyes blinking in the same way that the real Qi Ming’s eyes used to do.

Wei Cheng had a somewhat distant expression on his face, and his foot began to edge forward.

‘Crap,’ Chen Qianlin muttered inwardly. Then he cautioned, “Wei Cheng!”

“Brother Cheng, help me … It hurts so bad.”

Wei Cheng did not move any further. In a very very deep voice, he said, “I’m sorry, Chichi.”

“I don’t blame you. Come and touch me. I don’t blame you.” Qi Ming’s voice was heard again. It was so calm and gentle.

“Come and touch me, Brother Cheng.”

Wei Cheng shook his head, took a deep breath and halted before he breathed to Chen Qianlin, “I just couldn’t help giving him another glance.”

Zhou Qi’s facial expression froze for an instant. In the twinkling of an eye, Wei Cheng’s mien became steely again. “Zhou Qi, I’ll avenge Chichi’s murder. I want you dead. You hear me?”

Wei Cheng turned on his heel and left.

Seeing that his plan failed, Zhou Qi heavily landed a punch on the ground, gnashing his teeth. Chen Qianlin winked at him derisively, then swiveled around and walked off as well.

After Wei Cheng left, the light in Zhou Qi’s room gradually disappeared, and all sounds issuing from the outside became barely audible. This room was shrouded in a magical barrier created by SMB, which could block sound and light. People tend to get emotionally vulnerable in soundless, lightless environment, and Demon’s Attendants were no exception.

Time seemed to be meaningless in this place. After what felt like about half an hour, or maybe only five minutes, Zhou Qi suddenly panicked. He yelled “Let me out!” repeatedly, but there was no response.

Zhou Qi, though conceited, was just a youngster. He did not know that before he heard his death sentence, he would be left in the seemingly endless darkness, and he would not see light again until his death.

For him, this was the cruelest and most painful punishment.

But it was no less than he deserved.

Having walked out of the Ministry of Supervision, Wei Cheng thanked Chen Qianlin. He might have fallen victim to Zhou Qi’s subterfuge had Chen Qianlin not shown up.

Chen Qianlin waved his hand, indicating that it was nothing.

Wei Cheng raised his eyes and saw that the domed magical barrier above SMB was no different from how it had always been. It seemed that the Yōkai had indeed been eliminated.

Chen Qianlin, for some reason, felt faintly depressed. He walked up to a wall and leaned against it, manifest apprehension on his face.

“Supt. Li and He Zheng … Are they still unaccounted for?”

Chen Qianlin made no reply, his mouth a thin line.

But sometimes silence could be the best answer.

On the hill behind the Great Hall of the Tigers and Dragons Mountain.

Zhang Yixing, the sect leader, was not in the Hall but, surprisingly, standing in front of the door of a cave.

Finally, a long gloomy sigh emanated from inside the cave. “Yixing, just go back.”

“Sect-uncle, you can’t stake the future of the whole sect on it. We can’t afford to take a risk like that,” said Zhang Yixing, his face very grave. “I know He Zheng’s body is still in there. Li Zong and He Zheng are unaccounted for, but if they survived, I’m sure they’ll come here to see you the first chance they get.”

The old man inside lapsed into silence.

Zhang Yixing said, “Our sect is a large one, and a lot of rivals are waiting for a chance to bring us down. For the time being you and I and Li Zong are the only ones knowing about this matter, but if it comes to the knowledge of a fourth person that we helped shelter He Zheng’s body, what would people think of the Tigers and Dragons Mountain?”

His sect-uncle remained wordless.

Zhang Yixing was at his advanced age, but he still had to stand here begging his elder.

However, some things were bound to go the way they were meant to go. He had to perform his duties, which meant that sometimes he had to deal with people having different opinions. Zhang Yixing and his sect-uncle were after entirely different things. The former had not rid himself of earthly needs, and he still desired fame.

“Yixing, I told you about this a long time ago. Some day our world will be faced with a cataclysm, and He Zheng will be our chance to save the day. How could we hand He Zheng over to save our own skin at this point in time?”

“But we’ve done all we could, Sect-uncle! This will only serve to get ourselves into trouble.”

His sect-uncle sighed. When it came to a choice between the sect and his principles, he did not know what the right thing to do was.

“Let’s wait another two days.”

If Li Zong did not return in two days, he would have no alternative but to break the promise that he had made Li Zong.

Having got an affirmative reply, Zhang Yixing, with a feeling of giddy relief, trudged away from the cave. Zhang Shi was waiting right outside. At the sight of his master, he hastened to walk up to him. “Master, didn’t you go to talk with your sect-uncle? Why are you looking so worried?”

Zhang Yixing lifted his eyes and, after a long moment, exhaled deeply and instructed, “Call Zhang Jingqiu and tell him to get his ass back here as quick as he could.”

The former sect leader in the cave was so powerful that he could sense every movement on the hill. Having heard Zhang Yixing’s every word distinctly, he shook his head. Wouldn’t it be ridiculous and rebellious of him to betray his sect at such an old age?

As this thought occurred to him, his ears suddenly twitched, and with that he vanished and a split second later reappeared in a spot on the hill. A tall figure, stretching slowly, materialized in front of the former sect leader.