A Good-for-Nothing

300. A Demonic Eye

Translator: Dragon Rider

Having spent many years in the Tigers and Dragons Mountain, Zhang Jingqiu had had his youthful recklessness tempered considerably. This, coupled with the dangerous situations he had navigated recently, had forcibly improved his competency, which was why Zhang Jingqiu’s methods of handling things had become even more watertight.

During the battle the office building of the United Front Work Department had sustained extensive damage. Most of the windows and floors needed to be replaced. The workmen hired to do the reconstruction work were startled at the sight of the scene, mistakenly believing that they were some kind of illegal organization. Not until Zhang Jingqiu showed them his credentials and told them that it was a movie set, then had Zhao Fei put in an appearance in the bureau were the workers convinced – Zhao Fei’s face proved very useful.

Speaking of Zhao Fei, the jade Cong (a long hollow piece of jade with rectangular sides) has to be mentioned. Maybe because Zhao Fei had done a lot of good things over the years, providence seemed to have decided to go easy on him. First the old butler of the Zhou family, grateful for the kindness that his young master had shown him, had not destroyed the jade ware thoroughly; afterward, Tao Wujiu had accidentally found it and brought it back to the bureau. Eventually, the jade ware ended up in Zhao Fei’s hands again.

Though there was a big notch on the edge of it, and it had been terribly damaged, but its main body had survived. Zhao Fei believed that he would be able to find a way to help the jade ware develop sentience again.

Hope is the most beautiful word. The word itself contains infinite anticipation and prayer. People of the Republic of Hua were always in awe of spells and incantations, believing that repeating a word would lead to accumulation of some kind of supernatural energy. They believed that the statues of Buddha in temples were sentient, that if they prayed in front of the statues long enough, the statues would, with the help of the supernatural energy, develop “deity”. The jade Cong contained spiritual energy, which was why it was easier for the artifact to develop sentience than it was for rock, earth or metal. In addition, Zhao Fei would stay by its side, so it was only a matter of time before Zhou Yize came back, and time was the last thing Zhao Fei would find himself short of.

For some people, waiting was torturous, but in Zhao Fei’s eyes, it was like austerity. Just like wine, the longer the waiting, the more tantalizing the aroma of the wine.

He did not mind waiting. All he wanted was for Zhou Yize to come back to him.

Zhao Fei had actually resigned from his position in SMB, but as so many things were going on in the headquarters, and staff members in all the sub-bureaus were busy with their respective tasks, everybody was fully occupied. Zhao Fei, however, became the most idle one. As a result, presuming on the previous boss-employee relationship between them, Zhang Jingqiu shamelessly badgered Zhao Fei into coming to the headquarters to work as a fill-in for a couple of days.

At this time, Zu Zhichong the supervisor and Xiang Hailou were sitting in front of the fountain in the square. The bee pixies had been gingerly put away, and the Repose Spring Water in the fountain had also been collected and contained in a magical jade bottle. Zu Zhichong, feeling upset, stroked the dry fountain. The rough gravel made his palm ache.

“Lao Xiang, how long will it take to fix this? I’m beginning to feel that I’m a bit high-maintenance. I mean, I don’t have to work now, but I still feel miserable, and I miss the days when I had work to do.”

Xiang Hailou said, “I don’t know if you’re high-maintenance or not, but I’m sure I’m not.”

“Hey! Is this some kind of wordplay of yours again?!” Zu Zhichong was both annoyed and amused.

Xiang Hailou was looking at the United Front Work Department, where the workmen were removing the cracked windowpanes, cleaning the sills and sealing new panes in them.

Xiang Hailou was the last person that Zu Zhichong wanted to stay with, because Xiang Hailou was too quiet and sometimes did not utter a word for hours. Zu Zhichong, a very talkative man, found it unbearable to be in Xiang Hailou’s company.

‘I need to strike up a conversation!’ Zu Zhichong remained silent for a while and, feeling itchy to speak, found another topic. “Where are those in your group?”

“Lying in the hospital. You think everybody’s as tough as you are?”

Zu Zhichong gave a smug grin. “Well, I’m indeed as tough as people think I am.”

Xiang Hailou couldn’t be bothered to make a reply to that remark.

Zu Zhichong crossed his fingers behind his head, leaned against the fountain and looked into the sky. His eyes seemed to be veiled by a layer of grayish mist. “Do you think the Demon King has really been eliminated?”

He seemed to be talking to himself. Nobody answered his question. In fact, nobody had a definite answer to that question.

A wisp of black gas quietly flew out of the rubble. It was very light and faint. Even Xiang Hailou and his colleagues were unable to detect such a tiny amount of demonic Qi. Zhou Qi, locked up in a special cell in the Ministry of Supervision opened his eyes in the darkness at this moment.

His lips curled in a faint smile and with that he became one with the puff of black gas.

“You will never perish, Master.”

His voice was so ghostly it sounded quite creepy.

Soon the cell fell silent again as though nothing had just happened.

In Century Town.

Fengren and Li Zong had watched over Li Zong the whole night. Strangely enough, the Demonic Eye on He Zheng’s forehead was merely open, and there was nothing unusual about it. When sun slowly emerged from beneath the horizon, the Demonic Eye returned to normal, becoming a mark on He Zheng’s white-skinned brow, lifeless and stationary.

“Night is the time when Yang Qi is thin and Yin Qi is thick. I think that’s the reason why his Demonic Eye opened up.”

Li Zong naturally knew the reason as well. He slightly furrowed his brows, stroked He Zheng’s forehead and found that it was no longer burning, like a dream that had grown placid again.

“What are you going to do? You’re supposed to report this to your superior, aren’t you?” Fengren asked Li Zong, slightly turning his head sideways, his eyes watchful. If Li Zong really decided to hand He Zheng over to the bureau, Fengren would no doubt take He Zheng and leave.

Though Fengren did not know much about the situation, his instincts told him that Li Zong was on the side of the “good” guys, while He Zheng was on the side of the “bad” guys. Good and evil are mortal enemies, which meant that Li Zong and He Zheng would end up on opposing sides sooner or later.

Li Zong motioned for Fengren to go outside with him. When closing the door behind him, Li Zong said, “I need to go somewhere. Keep an eye on him.”

Fengren was somewhat surprised that Li Zong was making such a request. Li Zong’s eyes were blood-shot from lack of sleep. This great battle had almost depleted his Qi, and he had not even found the time to treat his wounds.

Fengren asked, “You’re not afraid I might take him away?”

“Even if you try to do that, he wouldn’t go with you.” Li Zong took his car key, told Fengren where the food was and then left home.

Fengren watched Li Zong’s back disappear out of the front door, his face expressionless, sitting cross-legged outside the bedroom door, quietly watching over He Zheng.

In SMB.

The lower three floors were the only part of the United Front Work Department that had sustained merely minor damage. A makeshift office had been set on the third floor.

When Li Zong returned to the bureau, Zu Zhichong and Xiang Hailou were still sitting by the fountain supervising the workmen doing their job. At the sight of him, Zu Zhichong dramatically exclaimed, “Chief?! What are you doing here? Why aren’t you at home keeping He Zheng company?!”

“Where are Director General Zong and the others?”

“They’re having a meeting in the conference room,” replied Xiang Hailou, airily pushing Zu Zhichong’s face sideways. Seeing that Li Zong looked rather comprehensive, he asked, “What’s the matter?”

Li Zong shook his head, and before he could say anything, an exclamation of alarm came from the gateway. “We got a problem!”

The three of them turned around and saw that the speaker was none other than the deputy group leader of the third action group.

Zong Xian and the others had clearly received the message sooner, for Li Zong walked into the conference room to find that everybody inside had a grave face.

“Just now the Nanhai Sea Special Action Group sent me a message saying that the demon-binding circle near the Nanlong Dragon Vein (in Chinese geomancy, a dragon vein is a mountain range or similar terrain that is extremely auspicious and brings people living nearby good fortune) has been broken.”

Zhen Daoyuan also arrived in great haste and chanced upon Li Zong in the doorway. Both of them were astonished at these words. Zhen Daoyuan, as though he had not heard it clearly, asked, “What do you mean by ‘the demon-binding circle near the Nanlong Dragon Vein has been broken’?”

A video call was ongoing in the conference room. Displayed on a large screen was the one on the other end of the call, Zheng Chungeng, the leader of the Nanhai Sea Special Action Group.

Zheng Chungeng, who also appeared rather grave, said, “Someone broke it with uncommonly powerful dark powers.”

“That’s impossible,” blurted Zhao Yidi. “Five of us joined hands and successfully Sealed the Demon King on Mount Xiangshan. There’s no way anybody still has demonic Qi powerful enough to break the circle! Mr. Zheng, you need to know there’s a difference between an accident and sabotage.”

Zheng Chungeng’s face darkened somewhat as his judgment was doubted, but he and Zhao Yidi seemed to be well acquainted with each other, so he did not contradict her and directly said, “It happened at around four o’clock this morning. I was on patrol nearby and tried to stop the demonic Qi, but I lost the fight.”

Zheng Chungeng’s voice grew deeper. “Compared with you guys, I might not count as a powerful exorcist, but I think I’m not a weak one either. No average Demon’s Attendant or common demon could do me any harm.”

Zong Xian’s mind was clearly no longer focused on this matter. He politely told Zheng Chungeng to have some rest and nurse himself back to health and said that the headquarters would look into it as soon as possible. No sooner had Zong Xian finished speaking than his cellphone rang again.

Zong Xian’s face turned cold after he heard a few words from the caller. “I see,” he said.

When he had hung up the phone, his eyes swept across the faces of the couple of people present and informed them, “Minutes ago another two demon-binding magic circles were found broken.”

There were six magic circles restraining the Demon King’s body parts in total. Two of them had been sabotaged previously. After Li Zong breached one in person, only three had remained functional. Because of the previous incidents, the remaining three had been under the heaviest security, but now, yet another two had been sabotaged, and it had happened at the same time. The very thought of it struck fear into their hearts.

What was more alarming was that now there was only one containment circle left.

“According to Zhou Yize, those magic circles are now unimportant to the Demon King. What matters is the Demonic Seed. Who is it that has been trying so hard to break the containment circles?”

Who on earth was this person that possessed such great powers? Those demon-binding magic circles were a result of the collective efforts of some top-ranking SMB officials. Nobody could have broken two at the same time so easily.

Zhao Yidi had an ugly look on her face. After a long moment’s silence, Zhao Yidi asked, “What has Master Zhou been doing lately?”

Zong Xian, knowing what she meant, shook his head and replied, “He finished a stretch of unbroken cultivation not long ago and has been raising flowers and fish at home recently.”

Zhao Yidi sneered, “That’s what he said.”

Zong Xian waved his hand, indicating that she should make no more remarks on that matter. Then he rubbed his forehead and, looking at Li Zong, asked, “Li Zong, what brings you here?”

Li Zong, after a moment’s silence, asked, “Director General, was it also last night that the second containment circle was sabotaged?”

“Yeah.” Zong Xian nodded, his eyes still on Li Zong. “You know something about it?”