Chapter 1071: We're Going to the Union Government? Aren't We Walking Right Into the Trap?
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"What? Where did you say you're going?"
Huang Tianfu thought he was experiencing a hallucination when he saw Lin Huang greet him early in the morning and say he would drop by the Union Government headquarters.
"I'm going to the Union Government headquarters." Lin Huang thought it was odd. Was he not being clear earlier?
"Why are you going to the Union Government headquarters?" Huang Tianfu was rather irritated as he glared at Lin Huang's face as if it was not odd that he was going to the Union Government headquarters. He remained calm on the outside, but he thought to himself secretly, 'Why do you put it like you're buying groceries? Do you think the Union Government headquarters is a supermarket? Since when does our Dynasty have such a great relationship with the Union Government?!'
In reality, Huang Tianfu could not be blamed for having such a stirred reaction at the moment. Dynasty was a top underground organization, and the two parties were completely against each other. Especially in Division 3, the opposition was gravely severe.
Furthermore, almost all of Dynasty's core members were on the Union Government's blacklist. One would win a handsome reward for capturing them.
If the relationship was put in an Earthly context, the Union Government was the equivalent of a country's government while Dynasty would be a massive terrorist group. Lin Huang going to the Union Government headquarters as the Emperor of Dynasty was almost the same as a terrorist group visiting the White House.
However, Lin Huang sounded like he was going shopping. "Something happened at Agency EA and they asked me to help"
"Agency EA?!" Naturally, Huang Tianfu knew what that agency was. A thought flashed through his mind when he heard the name. 'Could Lin Huang be a part of the Union Government's Agency EA?'
He got rid off the ridiculous thought a second later and asked Lin Huang, "Master Emperor, how did you come to know people from Agency EA?"
"I just got to know one yesterday." Lin Huang waved. "I'll tell you the details when I get back. I'll have breakfast and I'll go straight to First City."
Huang Tianfu wanted to say he would follow out of habit, but he jolted when he realized they would be going to the Union Government. He changed what he was going to say instantly. "Master Emperor, it's not safe for you to go alone. Why not… I get Tufu to go with you?"
"Alright then, ask him to come to me at the breakfast place, the one with the soup dumplings. He knows where it is."
…
There was a food street called Huangfan'er less than a kilometer from Dynasty's headquarters in Emperor City.
This food street was crowded from morning until night because there were night markets and many breakfast stalls.
The one that Lin Huang most frequented on the street was the plump aunty's soup dumpling place.
The owners of the stall were a plump couple. The husband was a fatty who was at least 200 pounds in his early 40's. His wife, on the other hand, was at least 160 pounds and looked 35 or 36 years of age. One could tell that she was a beauty when she had been slimmer.
The couple was just ordinary and they were always beaming no matter who they met. Not only were they friendly, but they also had amazing cooking skills too.
Lin Huang's favorite was their crab meat soup dumpling.
The main ingredient of the soup dumpling was a type of exclusive soft shell crab which was only the size of an adult thumb.
The soup and crab roe would spill at the same time as soon as one took a bite after dipping the dumpling with soft shell crab with a little vinegar. Every bite of the chewy texture of the pork and crab meat within as well as the tantalizing taste from the vinegar was heaven on earth for Lin Huang.
Soon, he inhaled the serving of dumplings. Lin Huang could not help but order another serving.
Huang Tufu arrived when the second serving of dumplings came.
"Boss, give me ten servings of crab meat dumplings," Huang Tufu called out to the owner as he sat across Lin Huang.
The plump owner ran over, feeling rather bad. "Sir, we only have five servings that are ready for now. You'll need to wait for ten minutes if you want ten servings."
"I'll have five servings then." Huang Tufu thought about it and figured he should not let Lin Huang, the Emperor, wait since he had something to do. If not, he did not mind waiting for ten minutes at all.
"Do you usually eat that much?" Lin Huang could not help but ask.
"In reality, demigods basically don't have to eat, especially perfect-stage demigod-level powerhouses. We can live even if we don't eat or drink for a year. We only need to replenish ourselves with Divine Power," Huang Tufu explained while grinning, "So, I only eat something that I want and I'll only stop when I'm satisfied."
The plump owner served the dumplings as they chatted for a short while.
Huang Tufu could not resist shoving a dumpling into his mouth immediately. He asked inaudibly while chewing, "Where are we going later?"
"To the Union Government headquarters."
"Pu!" Huang Tufu spat a mouthful of dumplings out just when Lin Huang was done speaking.
Fortunately, Lin Huang reacted in time and held up the Dark Mirror as he moved his finger slightly. The dumpling Huang Tufu spat out bounced back onto his face.
Huang Tufu wiped his face with a paper towel, looking speechless. He then looked at Lin Huang in confusion.
"Why are we going there? Aren't we walking right into the trap?" Huang Tufu expressed what Huang Tianfu thought honestly.
"Remember I told you guys about God Bless before?" Lin Huang swallowed the dumpling in his mouth and said calmly, "The Union Government found out that the founder of Agency EA is God Bless's spy last night. He's missing now, so they've asked me to help them find him."
"Why are you helping them? Is it related to you?" Huang Tufu was even more confused now.
"It was me who told them that the guy is a spy." Lin Huang picked up a dumpling and dipped it in the vinegar sauce. "I'm a little worried that he might seek revenge, so it's better that I find him as soon as I can and kill him."
'Couldn't you have just not exposed him from the beginning?' Huang Tufu thought to himself, 'That guy wouldn't have gone looking for trouble if you didn't expose him.'
He had no idea that Lin Huang had destroyed God Bless's headquarters. Even if he did not expose that guy, it was only a matter of time the guy would seek revenge.
"Must we go?" Huang Tufu looked petrified. He was really reluctant to go to the Union Government.
"I can go by myself if you don't want to.," Lin Huang did not mind if Huang Tufu decided not to follow him.
"Will the people from the Union Government attack us, seizing the opportunity since we are going to them?"
"I'm not sure if they'll attack you but I didn't do anything to them, so why would they attack me?" Lin Huang thought he was a moral citizen who obeyed the law.
"You're the Emperor of Dynasty. If they manage to capture you, it's enough for the people from the Union Government to boast about it for centuries," Huang Tufu said with a pout.
"You're overthinking. They don't have the time to bother whether I'm the Emperor or not." Lin Huang shoved the last dumpling into his mouth. He then asked Huang Tufu after swallowing the dumpling and putting the chopsticks down. "So, you aren't going? I'll go by myself if you're not."
Huang Tufu thought about it and agreed while clenching his teeth. "I've never been to the Union Government headquarters in my life. I'll visit them today with Master Emperor then!"
"Wait, I haven't finished my dumplings…"
Chapter 1072: The Neo Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Cannon
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The No. 1A1 foothold in Division 1 was the very first city the humans built outside the Land of Origin since the new era. Therefore, the Union Government named this foothold the First City.
The First City was the oldest city among the 12 safety zones in the human world. It had expanded and developed throughout 800 years, it was the city with the biggest surface now. Its population exceeded 1.8 billion people and it occupied 80 million square kilometers of land. This massive city even surpassed half of the surface area of Earth.
The Union Government's headquarters in Division 1 was located in the middle of this foothold.
Before 8 in the morning, Lin Huang and Huang Tufu passed through the dimensional portal and arrived in First City.
Lin Huang did not stop looking around as soon as they walked out of the dimensional portal.
"I heard there's a stall that sells pretty good pancakes near First City's dimensional portal, but I don't know the exact location."
"Shouldn't we get to the Union Government now?" Huang Tufu asked.
"I think the government organization here isn't opened yet." Just when Lin Huang was done speaking, two men walked towards him. Both of them had demigod-level combat strength.
Huang Tufu, who was standing next to Lin Huang, had his guard up as soon as he saw the duo.
"We're Silver Fox and Viper from EA.4. It's our pleasure to meet Master Emperor and Mr. Tufu." The duo introduced themselves as they approached.
Huang Tufu let his guard down when he heard that. He looked puzzledly at Lin Huang, clearly in disbelief that people from the Union Government had come to escort him. The duo who came were two demigod-level powerhouses.
"So early? What time did you guys get here?" Lin Huang knew Guan Zhong must have sent the duo to pick him up.
"We've just arrived too," responded the gray-haired young man, who called himself the Silver Fox, while smiling when he saw the Viper attempt to speak.
Naturally, Lin Huang noticed that but he did not dwell on it. "Do we go there now? It's not even 8 a.m. I suppose your office building isn't opened yet, is it?"
"I think you're talking about the office building that's opened to the public. Our real office building runs almost 24 hours every day. We'll have people in each department at night handle unforeseen circumstances," the Silver Fox explained while smiling.
"24 hours every day? That's dedication right there!" Lin Huang raised a brow. "Bring us there then."
Seeing the Viper bring out the dimensional portal, Lin Huang could not help but say, "Since you guys are here, I want to ask something. I heard there's a pancake place that everyone talks about. Where's the exact location?"
"You must be talking about the pancake place runs by an uncle, Master Emperor. His pancake is amazing indeed." The Silver Fox pointed at an alley not far away. "Walk into that alley. You'll see it when you walk about 200 meters to the left."
"Thanks, I'll go when I have the time." Lin Huang nodded in satisfaction after getting the exact location.
"You can buy some now if you'd like. We'll just wait here. It's a stall by the street and it's only available in the morning. The owner is pretty capricious. He runs his business according to his mood. He sometimes closes his stall for a few days when he's having a bad mood. He would close after 10.30 a.m. even if he's supposed to be open. You might not see him when you come the next time."
"Alright then. Please wait for us here. We'll go over to buy some pancakes. We should try the pancakes since we're here," said Lin Huang and he ran towards the alley with Huang Tufu.
A moment later, Lin Huang saw the stall the Silver Fox had mentioned after passing the alley.
The stall owner was an uncle who had a beard and looked rather messy. He did not look in the best of health as though he did not get enough sleep.
For some reason, Lin Huang thought of the plump uncle and aunty at the dumpling stall earlier. He figured the uncle before him must be single.
"Boss, give me a pancake. I'd like to add an egg, pork tenderloin, sliced cucumber, lettuce, pickles. No parsley, no sweet sauce. Make it a little spicy." Lin Huang was actually full, but he just wanted to try how the pancake tasted like.
"Give me five. I want to go all out since I'm eating." The gluttony Huang Tufu, who was standing next to Lin Huang, was obviously not full from eating five servings of dumplings earlier. "I want two servings of eggs, two servings of pork tenderloin with sliced potatoes, pickles, bean curd skin, and green onions. Oh, more parsley. Put as much as you can. I want garlic sauce and make it super spicy. Put all of that on all five pancakes."
Lin Huang thought to himself after hearing Huang Tufu's order, 'I'll stay away from him later.'
Since Huang Tufu ordered five pancakes, it took some time for the order to be done.
The Silver Fox and the Viper came to them since they did not see them return after waiting for a while.
Huang Tufu's order happened to be ready just when the duo passed through the alley. The duo thought that Huang Tufu had packed the pancakes for them. They were slightly touched.
However, Huang Tufu did not give them the pancakes when he walked up to them. They then realized they were overthinking.
"We can go now." Lin Huang did not plan to waste any more time since they were done buying the pancakes. After all, they had made the two people who were picking him up wait for quite some time.
The Viper summoned the dimensional portal again.
The four of them walked into the dimensional portal one after another. They arrived at the Union Government headquarters building when they appeared again.
Lin Huang did not even bother with mocking when he saw the building that looked similar to a toilet bowl.
"Master Emperor, do you think the shape of the building looks a little like a toilet bowl in the late era?" Huang Tufu honestly said what Lin Huang had in mind.
The Silver Fox and the Viper, who was standing aside, looked horrified when they heard that.
"This is our office building that is open to the public. The office for internal staff is the block at the back."
The duo brought Lin Huang and Huang Tufu around the toilet bowl building and walked towards the real office building.
However, Lin Huang was even more speechless when he saw the building.
Meanwhile, Huang Tufu spat the pancake from his mouth as laughter consumed him. He cackled to the point that he almost could not stand straight.
"Doesn't this office building's shape look like a male…?"
"Eat your pancake," Lin Huang interrupted Huang Tufu directly.
Huang Tufu recalled that this was the Union Government's territory as he was interrupted by Lin Huang. He finally shut his mouth. However, he was still stifling his laughter while eating the pancakes.
The Silver Fox and the Viper looked extremely embarrassed now.
The office building not far away was divided into three parts. The section in the middle was tall while the two buildings next to it were spherical.
Looking at the building, Lin Huang could not help but recall a joke he had heard on Earth back then. 'Isn't this the legendary Neo Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Cannon? The resemblance is astonishing!' Lin Huang only thought to himself and did not say that out loud.
"Follow me. Our Agency EA office is the short building on the left." The Silver Fox ignored Huang Tufu, who was trying his hardest to hold back his laughter and changed the subject.
Chapter 1073: Oh My God, That Smell!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang and Huang Tufu were greeted by eye salutation when they followed the Silver Fox and the Viper into Agency EA's building.
People did not recognize Lin Huang and Huang Tufu, but because the Silver Fox and the Viper were the bosses of EA.4, almost everyone in the agency knew them. The people could not help but peep at Lin Huang and Huang Tufu twice as they were brought in. They wanted to know who were the duo both the bosses had escorted in themselves.
Even Huang Tufu who had been there done that, felt a little uneasy as he walked into Union Government office building. One must know that he was the Third Grand Duke of Dynasty. Furthermore, since Dynasty was against Division 3's Union Government, his name was on top of the Union Government's blacklist.
He had never thought that he would walk into the Union Government headquarters leisurely during this lifetime. He was glancing around as he walked to the point that he even forgot to eat the pancakes in his hands.
Lin Huang, on the other hand, was not nervous at all. He strolled while eating the pancake, seeming so relaxed like he was walking in a night market.
Nobody knew that the current thought he had on his mind was, 'This pancake's really great!'
The people in Agency EA began discussing among themselves after the four of them walked away.
"The two men are EA.4's Silver Fox and Viper, am I right? Why do the two people who were walking with them look so familiar?"
"If I'm not mistaken, the young man is the newly appointed the Emperor of Dynasty. His face was all over the headlines two days back."
"You got it right! The young man is the current the Emperor of Dynasty, Lin Huang. Meanwhile, the muscular man next to him is the Third Grand Duke of Dynasty, Huang Tufu."
"Am I dreaming? I think I saw the Emperor of Dynasty and Third Grand Duke walked into our Union Government office building leisurely!"
Apart from the Agency EA's upper echelon, nobody else knew that Zhuge Feifan had escaped. They were working on their own stuff as usual. In reality, the upper echelon above EA.4 was in a messy situation.
Soon, the news of the Emperor of Dynasty visiting the Union Government spread through the entire Agency EA.
Lin Huang, who was the newly appointed underground boss, had been the most talked about person in the cultivation world. Almost all the media headlines were about him these few days and almost every cultivator had heard of his name.
Many Agency EA members let their imaginations run wild since this the Emperor of Dynasty visited the Union Government all of a sudden after merely a few days since his coronation.
Many girls tried to approach him, dying to see if this legendary Emperor was as good-looking as they had seen on the news.
One of them even took a sneaky photo of him.
In the photo, Lin Huang was eating a pancake with his mouth wide open. The photo was taken at the perfect moment when he had just shoved the nicely folded pancake into his mouth and was just going to bite into it.
The girl sent the photo to Agency EA's group chat. It was then forwarded and shared by up to 1,000 people.
Lin Huang had no idea that a picture of him eating a pancake had created a stir on the Internet.
Soon, they arrived at the top floor, which was the 99th floor with the guidance of the Silver Fox and the Viper via the elevator.
The duo was brought into an office as they walked out of the elevator.
Then, the Silver Fox and the Viper walked away as soon as they were done with their duty.
In the office, Guan Zhong was chatting to a middle-aged man on the couch. He stood up as soon as he saw Lin Huang and Huang Tufu walk in.
"Master Emperor, you're finally here!" Guan Zhong smiled while greeting them. "This is Qian Rui, our Vice President. His code name is Fortune God."
"Hi, Fortune God," Lin Huang responded, "I suppose everyone knows this person next to me, the Third Grand Duke, Huang Tufu."
Huang Tufu clearly sensed that the duo were virtual god-level powerhouses. He walked up and greeted them immediately.
"Take a seat." The four of them took their seats after some small talk.
Lin Huang threw the packaging of the pancake into the trash can casually. He had finished it before getting out of the elevator.
Huang Tufu ate faster than he did, having already wolfed two and a half pancakes down. He finished the other half pancake when he walked into the room and put the remaining two away.
"How's the investigation going?" Lin Huang asked directly as Guan Zhong poured him some tea.
"The same as last night. Nothing much." Guan Zhong shook his head and served the tea to Lin Huang.
Qian Rui, who was sitting next to him, could not help but pipe up, "Zhuge Feifan is thorough in destroying all of his traces. We hit a dead end after investigating through a few sources."
"Aren't you guys Diviners? Can't you tell where he is?" In reality, Lin Huang had been curious about that when he heard the news last night.
"The most powerful Diviner in our Union Government is Mr. Ke Lai who only has a combat strength of demigod-level. It's extremely difficult for him to tell the fortune of a Virtual God. He tried three times last night, and he's still unconscious until now. He didn't get Zhuge Feifan's exact location, but he told us that he's in a safe place."
"How is that different from not fortune telling at all?" The straightforward Huang Tufu pointed out with a wry smile. The garlic and onion smell in his mouth wafted towards the duo's faces, making the two vice presidents nauseous from the smell.
Oh my god, that smell!
On the other hand, Lin Huang was much smarter. He shut his breathing system directly when he heard Huang Tufu speaking next to him. He breathed internally instead.
The duo, who were sitting across them, had not gotten any sleep all night. Piling up with anxiety, they did not feel great. It took them some time to snap out of their nausea as they stopped breathing immediately while looking pale.
"He has erased the surveillance. Is there any other way to track him?" Lin Huang asked again.
"We've tried every tracking method that we have but it's useless." Guan Zhong shook his head helplessly. "Don't laugh at us but 70% of the materials we've been using for hundreds of years came from him. He knew each and every method we have very well."
"Zhuge Feifan aside, it's as difficult as reaching the sky for us to capture anyone in EA.4 who has escaped. We know our tracking methods like the back of our hands. We can perform all sorts of anti-tracking methods like a piece of cake," added Qian Rui who was sitting next to him.
"Since he knows all of our methods, we'll need help from people outside of Agency EA or even outside of the Union Government to be able to do it because he won't be taking precautions on tracking methods that he doesn't expect."
"I thought of that all of a sudden last night. That's the reason why I've decided to ask for your help." Guan Zhong lifted his head and looked at Lin Huang and asked in all seriousness, "Master Emperor, that ability of yours… Does it have any restriction on the target's combat strength?"
"No restriction. The ability is just a reflection of the playback of a specific space on what exactly happened. It has nothing to do with people," Lin Huang added after he was done speaking, "Of course, what we see might be disrupted if there's a True God, who has mastered the Time God Rule or Space God Rule, interferes with the image playback with the rule power."
'What are you guys talking about? How come I understand nothing suddenly? What ability are you guys talking about? Can anyone tell me?' Huang Tufu looked lost.
Chapter 1074: Image Playback
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"This is Zhuge Feifan's office." After chatting in Guan Zhong's office for a while, Guan Zhong and Qian Rui brought Lin Huang and Huang Tufu to Zhuge Feifan's office.
The entire office was empty. There was no desk, couch, or coffee table. There was not even a bookcase that was usually used as decoration.
"It was already like this when we came last night. To avoid missing out any pieces of evidence, Zhuge Feifan moved the entire office," Guan Zhong explained upon seeing Lin Huang and Huang Tufu appearing so shocked.
"It looks like he just moved house. The floor tiles are the only thing that he didn't bring with him," Huang Tufu could not resist throwing a joke in.
Lin Huang glimpsed at Huang Tufu. This guy used to be a quiet man. After they had gotten more familiar with each other, Huang Tufu had become a different person.
However, his description was on-point.
Apart from the hanging lamp and the floor tiles, there were only four walls and the windows in the barren room. Basically, everything that could be moved had been moved.
"Do you guys know roughly at what time did he go missing?" Lin Huang summoned the Book of Sorcerer Dao while asking Guan Zhong and Qian Rui.
"Someone saw him coming in yesterday morning. He came to the office around 8 a.m. but nobody saw him leave. He must have summoned a dimensional portal and left right as soon as he moved his office," Qian Rui told him.
"Who was the first to find out that this happened to his office? And at roughly what time?"
"It was I who found out about that. I came back to the office when I got the list from you last night, then I realized that his office was locked when I got here. I thought I would look for evidence, seizing the opportunity since he wasn't here, but I saw this when I opened the door. The exact time was approximately 9 p.m.," Guan Zhong replied.
Lin Huang was speechless to hear what the duo said. He had posted the two questions to confirm the time Zhuge Feifan had gone missing. The duo turned out to give two different timings ranging from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. which was such a wide gap.
"Never mind. I'll just set the time at 8 a.m," Lin Huang said and soon activated a couple of runes on the Book of Sorcerer Dao.
As soon as the runes were activated, they shot out of the Book of Sorcerer Dao while golden beams of light radiated midair. These sparkly, golden glows soon integrated and broke away all of a sudden, filling the entire room.
A moment later, the golden glows disappeared. 3D videos began to manifest in the room like a projection.
An office desk, a couch, a teacup, a bookcase… Everything that was gone in the office reappeared.
Huang Tufu reached out to touch the bookcase, but his finger penetrated it directly.
Even Guan Zhong, who was standing aside, could not help but exclaim, "These videos are exactly the same as the real thing!"
However, Lin Huang said nothing. Although the videos in the room replayed what the office looked like, there was no one in the office.
Lin Huang adjusted the time flow to fast-forward the videos.
When it was approximately 8.15 a.m., a young man, who looked like he was in his early 20s at the most, walked in.
Was this Zhuge Feifan?
Lin Huang glanced at Guan Zhong in a questioning manner. Understanding what he meant directly, Guan Zhong nodded at him.
Zhuge Feifan looked really young at 22 or 23 at the most. He had a ponytail and wore a white robe that made him looked like a saint. In his hand was a paper fan.
To label him quite negatively, he was extremely pretentious.
"Does he usually dress like this?" Huang Tufu turned his head and asked Guan Zhong and Qian Rui.
Guan Zhong nodded to him, feeling helpless.
"No matter whether men or women, if anyone were to dress like this in Emperor City at night, he or she would definitely wake up naked in some alley. Besides that, he or she would likely have a painful butthole," Huang Tufu said in all seriousness.
Were the customs in Emperor City so rough?!
Apart from Guan Zhong and Qian Rui, even Lin Huang exclaimed that secretly.
Zhuge Feifan sat on the couch in the video projection and began performing a tea ceremony on his own.
The four watched it for a while and felt really bored, so Lin Huang began to fast-forward the video again.
Until he fast-forwarded it to past 4 in the afternoon, Zhuge Feifan did nothing serious in the office at all. He drank some tea, took a nap, watched videos, and played games.
A message popped up on his Emperor's Heart Ring 4 p.m. He fell into deep thought while sitting on the couch after checking the message. Then, he began packing his stuff.
"I finally found the time he escaped!"
"What was the message he received?" Qian Rui asked immediately.
Standing next to him, Guan Zhong looked puzzled. "If I'm not mistaken, it was I who sent the message. I sent a brief to the headquarters when the Wei Clan was destroyed, and he must've read it."
"The Wei Clan is destroyed? The Wei Clan in Division 2?" Huang Tufu repeated, seeming surprised. "Do you know who did it?"
"Didn't your Master Emperor tell you that?" Guan Zhong asked him back.
Huang Tufu looked at Lin Huang in confusion.
"I destroyed the Wei Clan," Lin Huang admitted casually as if he had done something insignificant.
"Oh…" Huang Tufu did not expect Lin Huang to give such a simple answer. He flashed Lin Huang a thumbs-up. "You bada*s!"
He knew how powerful Lin Huang was since the beginning.
"Can you pause the projection and enlarge the message he received?" Qian Rui insisted on finding a new clue.
"I can pause it, but I can't change the size of the projected video. This skill of mine can only view what was recorded. If you'd like to read what the message was, you can walk closer after I've paused it," Lin Huang said and played the video back to the moment when Zhuge Feifan received the message.
The projection paused in the next second the message popped up. Zhuge Feifan, who was sitting on the couch, froze.
Qian Rui walked up to read the projected message while Lin Huang and Guan Zhong followed behind him.
Huang Tufu, on the other hand, took out the half pancake he had kept earlier and munched on it. The entire room soon stank of onion and garlic.
The three of them soon confirmed that the message Zhuge Feifan had received did indeed come from Guan Zhong.
"As expected, I exposed the whole thing." Guan Zhong speculated that Zhuge Feifan had seen the message he sent and escaped because he was worried that his identity might have been exposed. Guan Zhong felt immensely guilty to find out that it was him who had caused that.
After confirming that, Lin Huang continued the projection which began playing again.
In the room, Zhuge Feifan first opened the drawer of the desk and took a few documents out to put into his storage space. He froze suddenly.
He seemed to have figured something out in the next second as he pressed his hand against the desk and put the entire desk away into his storage space.
As the first big item was tossed into the storage space, Zhuge Feifan then put away the couch, the teacup, the bookcase, and so on. Everything went into his storage space as he put everything that could be moved away.
After putting everything in the room into his storage space, Zhuge Feifan then checked the room. He made sure that did not miss anything out, then he summoned a dimensional portal and stepped into it.
Chapter 1075: I Must Eat A Pancake to Get Over the Shock!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The empty room fell into dead silence as soon as the projection ended.
Apart from watching everything Zhuge Feifan did from moving his possessions to leaving via the dimensional portal eventually as well as finding out his reason to escape and the exact time of escaping, they seemed to have learned nothing more.
"Are there any clues?" Lin Huang turned his head to look at Guan Zhong and Qian Rui.
Guan Zhong shook his head helplessly. "Not really, but he didn't set the coordinates when he took the dimensional portal out in the end. Instead, he just stepped into it right away. It shows that those are the default coordinates, so it should be coordinates that he frequents. We can go back to the places that he usually goes and perform the video playback one after another to see if we can find more clues."
"Can't the Union Government get the usage data from the dimensional portal? Can't you just get his last teleportation coordinates?" Huang Tufu interrupted unclearly while munching on the pancake.
"The dimensional portal data system was only set up 36 years ago. We only have data backup for dimensional portals that were produced since the data system was set up. We've no data backup for those that were produced prior to that, so we can't find out anything about it," Qian Rui shook his head as he explained, "Zhuge Feifan has been using this dimensional portal for over 100 years. We can't find any related data in most of our databases."
"But don't all dimensional portal companies have a data storage record before the database was set up? Can't we retrieve anything from them?" Lin Huang remembered seeing some related information at the library back them. He had been slightly interested since it was related to dimensional portals, so he had taken a peek.
Guan Zhong glanced at Lin Huang, not expecting Lin Huang to know such a thing so well. He added on to what Qian Rui said earlier, "Indeed, we can retrieve dimensional portal data from the dimensional portal company that produced it. However, the one he's using is a model that was produced over 100 years ago. Plus, we're not sure which company produced it. There are up to 100 companies that produced dimensional portals 100 years ago. Today, only three companies with the biggest model in the entire continent are left while most of the rest went bankrupt. Those that were fortunate would've been bought over and there might've been data that was left behind while those that were unfortunate would've lost their data long ago."
"Even if we're lucky enough to get the dimensional portal data and find the coordinates, it can't be Zhuge Feifan's final hiding place. With his stealthy character, he definitely won't use the particular dimensional portal again," Qian Rui continued.
"But no matter how many dimensional portals he has, we can only search following this clue since we've no other hint at the moment."
"Do you guys want to look at the playback again? Or do we go to the next location?" Lin Huang asked both of them without giving any other opinion.
After all, anyone from Agency EA would be more professional than him in tracking. He had no other option on his side.
"Let's take a look again then," Qian Rui said without thinking twice, "We can skip the front part. Start from the time when he saw Guan Zhong's message until he left."
Lin Huang nodded and performed the video playback again. He set the playback time to past four in the afternoon when Zhuge Feifan got the message until he stepped into the dimensional portal a few minutes later.
"Pause here. Let me take pictures of this dimensional portal," Qian Rui shouted immediately.
Lin Huang paused the video. Qian Rui walked up to it and took pictures of every side and every detail of the dimensional portal. He did not want to miss a thing.
He only nodded at Lin Huang after he took a few minutes to finish. "I'm all done. Sorry for the trouble."
"Don't worry about it." Lin Huang waved and put the Book of Sorcerer Dao away into his body.
Qian Rui, on the other hand, sent out the photos and called a number. He got his underling to check the details about the dimensional portal.
As everyone was done working on their own thing, Huang Tufu happened to finish the last pancake.
"Do we go to the next location now?" Lin Huang asked Guan Zhong and Qian Rui.
Guan Zhong then summoned a dimensional portal in which they stepped in one after another.
Lin Huang had no idea that within less than two hours, all the social media applications were having fun with the picture in which he was guzzling the pancakes.
The topic of 'Dynasty's Newly Appointed Emperor' which had just cooled off was now a hit again. The topic now became 'Stickers of the Emperor Eating Pancakes'.
It was more popular than the topic 'Everyone in the Wei Clan Has Gone Missing' which ranked No. 1 and 'The Blessing Trading Company Explosion' ranking No. 2 that morning.
Even the comments of the next two top topics were related to pancakes.
"Supernatural stuff happened to the Wei Clan? It's so scary! I must eat a pancake to get over the shock!"
"I heard THE Blessing Trading Company exploded! It's so scary. I must eat a pancake to get over the shock!"
"The commenter above, stand there and don't move. I'll go get you a pancake."
"The commenter above, buy fish head biscuits from me. 18 servings with massive fish heads. That will be a big portion to fill your tummy. It only costs 998 life crystals! You'll be losing out if you don't get it at 998 life crystals. You'll regret if you don't get it at 998 life crystals. You deserve it!"
Even Lin Xin, who was far away in Emperor City, saw the picture of Lin Huang eating pancakes. She shrieked so hard in laughter when she saw the stickers, and she downloaded them immediately.
Naturally, everyone in Dynasty saw that too. They downloaded the sticker pack without hesitation.
Even people in some group chats began making the Emperor's stickers into emoticons. They were having so much fun.
Just when Lin Huang passed through Guan Zhong's dimensional portal, his Emperor's Heart Ring began vibrating.
He opened his communication page. Then, he clicked it immediately after seeing that it was a message from Lin Xin. He thought something had happened to her.
He realized she had sent him a comic. It was him eating pancakes in the comic with a sentence, 'I must eat a pancake to get over the shock!'
Lin Huang had a bad feeling when he saw the comic. He figured out roughly what had happened.
He opened the Heart Network and saw the 'Emperor's Sticker Pack' on the No. 1 daily topic. There were over 300 million clicks on it.
Lin Huang clicked the topic, feeling speechless. Soon, he saw over 30 versions of his pancake-eating stickers. One of the versions had more than 100 million downloads while another had over 80 million downloads.
Seeing that Lin Huang was checking his communication page, Guan Zhong and Qian Rui looked away. They did not want to stick their nose in his business.
On the other hand, Huang Tufu peeped over Lin Huang's shoulder and saw the projected content. He could not help but chuckle out loud when he saw Lin Huang's stickers.
Lin Huang turned his head and looked at him without an expression on his face. "What are you laughing about? You're a part of it too."
He then showed Huang Tufu his stickers. His stickers were even more interesting than Lin Huang's since he ate more pancakes than Lin Huang did. He was simply not as popular as Lin Huang, so there were much fewer downloads. However, there were over ten million downloads for his most-downloaded sticker pack.
Huang Tufu looked horrified when he saw his stickers. "I was just eating pancakes. Why are these people so mean?!"
Lin Huang did not dwell on it and closed the Heart Network. He had seen many such cases back on Earth. No matter how popular the sticker packs were, it would only be a hit for a few days. People would forget about it after the heat was over, thus it was unnecessary for him to think too much about it.
Seeing that Lin Huang closed the Heart Network page, Guan Zhong then pointed at a small villa that was completely burned over ten meters away. "This is a property Zhuge Feifan owns in the First City. It's also one of the accommodations he most frequented."
"Let's take a look." Lin Huang nodded and walked straight into the charred house.
Chapter 1076: He Has Properties Everywhere
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In the villa that was completely incinerated, almost everything in it had turned into piles of ashes, so nobody could tell what they were initially. Even the walls were distorted as a result of the high heat.
The temperature when the house was burned was clearly higher than a normal fire.
"The fire was obviously done by humans. The speed of the burning was extremely fast. It almost burned the entire house down within merely a couple of minutes. It became this when the firefighters arrived," Guan Zhong explained to Lin Huang.
After observing the inside of the house for a while, Lin Huang summoned the Book of Sorcerer Dao again.
Guan Zhong and the rest quieted down and retreated behind Lin Huang while watching him performing witchcraft runes.
They had no idea that those were witchcraft methods that came from the middle era. They thought it was some secret skills that Lin Huang had obtained. Meanwhile, they thought the Book of Sorcerer Dao in his hand was some mysterious god item.
The Union Government knew that Dynasty had an organization from the great world behind them and the Emperor of Dynasty was capable of performing any methods. That was the reason why Guan Zhong and Qian Rui did not find it surprising.
Meanwhile, Huang Tufu had seen Lin Huang fought, hence he knew Lin Huang's ability and was no longer surprised by his methods.
The runes of the video playback projected into the air and soon the video appeared just like it had before.
The villa that had turned into ruins seemed like it was restored entirely at that moment.
The ceilings, walls, and floors were so clean like they were brand new. The furniture was also perfectly restored.
"I've set the time to 4.12 p.m. yesterday." Lin Huang set the time when Zhuge Feifan stepped into the dimensional portal.
However, Zhuge Feifan did not appear after they waited for two minutes.
"It seems like this wasn't the first place he dropped by." Lin Huang looked at Guan Zhong.
As Zhuge Feifan's disciple, Guan Zhong should know best where Zhuge Feifan frequented.
Guan Zhong frowned slightly. "He has three other properties in First City, but from what I know, he usually stays here and hardly goes to the rest."
"The first place he teleported to shouldn't be anywhere else but First City," Qian Rui could not help but speak up, "If I were escaping, I'd clear my office and get home to clear the most important evidence. Since he didn't come here right away, it proves that the most important evidence isn't here.
"Moreover, the sequence of clearing should be from the most important to the less important and closer to further. Therefore, the first place he teleported to should be in First City. He wouldn't have gone to other cities and come back here."
"So, it means there's a high possibility that he went to the other property right away," Lin Huang concluded.
"Not necessarily. Maybe he has other properties that you don't know about. You guys wouldn't be able to find out as long as he didn't register in his own name," Huang Tufu voiced a different opinion.
"What you said is possible too, but we can only search using the available clue now." Guan Zhong did not deny the possibility Huang Tufu expressed.
Lin Huang fast-forwarded the video 10 times faster. A black dimensional portal appeared when it was almost 5 p.m.
A person walked out of it when the portal opened. It was Zhuge Feifan.
"Pause right here!" Qian Rui shouted all of a sudden.
The dimensional portal was clearly different from the one before.
Lin Huang paused the video while Qian Rui walked up and took pictures of the details of the portal. He nodded to Lin Huang after he was done taking the pictures.
The paused projected video proceeded. Zhuge Feifan put the dimensional portal away after walking out of it. He then walked to the study room, opened the drawer of the desk and began putting things away.
"You guys take a look and see if there are any clues in the drawer." Lin Huang slowed down the speed of the playback and got Guan Zhong and the rest to take a look.
Zhuge Feifan took the items out quickly and put them away into his storage space. However, Guan Zhong and Qian Rui saw everything crystal clear since Lin Huang slowed it down.
After putting the few items from the drawer away, Zhuge Feifan then turned around to clear the bookcase. He put all the books and decor into his storage space.
When he was done with the study room, Zhuge Feifan got up and walked to his bedroom. He put some sex toys on his bedhead away into his storage space. Subsequently, he walked to his wardrobe and put away all his clothes and shoes.
He looked around to confirm he had missed nothing. A flicker of blue flames appeared on his palm. He moved his finger slightly, and gushes of blue flames shot all over the place.
At that very moment, the curtains, the bed, the bookcase, the table, the chairs, the couch, the coffee table… Almost everything that could be ignited was kindled. They began to burn rapidly.
Zhuge Feifan did not leave right away. He only summoned a dimensional portal and stepped into it after waiting for the fire to spread.
It was another dimensional portal that he summoned this time.
Qian Rui walked up and took pictures of the third dimensional portal immediately.
Lin Huang played the video after Qian Rui was done with the pictures.
The dimensional portal closed slowly, disappearing from where it was.
As Lin Huang fast-forwarded the remaining video ten times faster, the entire villa soon turned into a burned structure. The fire in the house was extinguished entirely when the firefighters arrived.
It was unnecessary to keep watching from then on. Lin Huang removed the projection and turned to Guan Zhong and Qian Rui.
"Did you find any clues?"
"There's nothing important in his drawer actually. I guess he cleared that just in case he missed something out. The books and decor on the bookcase were nothing special, let alone the clothes and the shoes." Clearly, Guan Zhong was dissatisfied with what they had gotten out of this trip.
"He used two different dimensional portals when he came and left. I've sent the detailed photos to my underlings to check thoroughly to see if there are any clues to that." Qian Rui had sent the pictures over when Guan Zhong had been speaking. He was clearly a person who did things quickly and decisively.
"Do you guys want to look at it again?"
"No need. Let's go to the next one." Qian Rui shook his head.
Guan Zhong said nothing and summoned the dimensional portal. They walked into it and disappeared after he set the coordinates.
Zhuge Feifan's second and third property were both villas. The locations were getting more and more luxurious.
However, in the two villas, Zhuge Feifan lit up the houses after merely putting away his clothes and stuff just like before. The only thing they got out of the footages was Qian Rui being able to take pictures of the two different dimensional portals again.
"We're left with the last property. If we can't find anything there, we can only wait for the dimensional portal user data." Lin Huang felt incompetent. After all, the only help he could provide was a replay of the video. Agency EA would have to depend on their own apart from that.
Chapter 1077: Sister Jing
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
At a small area by the lake in the new eastern district of First City.
"This is his fourth property. It's just a residential building where ordinary people live. Everyone living in this building is a common civilian. I've no idea why he bought this place back then," Guan Zhong said while leading the few of them into the elevator.
The four of them arrived on the 33rd floor via the elevator. They saw the distorted door of Room 3301 as soon as they walked out of the elevator. The door was scorched black.
Without even thinking, Lin Huang knew that was Zhuge Feifan's unit.
He stretched his Divine Telekinesis to open the door before the four of them then walked in.
The unit was considered spacious with almost 140 square meters. To ordinary people, it was considered a rather neat place. However, it was nothing to cultivators.
Just like the three villas before, everything in this house had been moved out as well. No clothes or shoes were left behind. Everything else including the furniture had been reduced to ashes.
Guan Zhong and Qian Rui found nothing after rifling through the house. They then nodded at Lin Huang who summoned the Book of Sorcerer Dao, projecting what had happened to this house yesterday.
He set the time to 4.12 p.m. again.
Soon, the room seemed to be restored to how it was like through the runes.
What surprised Lin Huang and the rest was that this time, not only were the furniture and the rest projected, but there was also a woman sitting on the couch.
It was a woman who looked around 30 years old. She did not look outstanding but she had a quiet charisma. She was folding clothes languidly on the couch.
Just when Lin Huang wanted to ask Guan Zhong who the woman was, the dimensional portal appeared out of nowhere and Zhuge Feifan walked out of it.
At that moment, Lin Huang and the rest were secretly relieved. They finally confirmed the first location Zhuge Feifan had escaped to. They were surprised to find that he had escaped to this inconspicuous apartment.
Guan Zhong looked puzzled. Given his understanding of his master, it was hard for him to imagine how important this place was.
"Feifan, you're home!" The woman sitting on the couch greeted him while smiling as if she was welcoming him out of habit. "Why did you come back so early today?"
Zhuge Feifan did not seem to be surprised that she was at his place. He walked to the woman with a complicated expression on his face after putting the dimensional portal away.
"Sister Jing…"
"What's wrong? Why do you look so troubled?" The woman whom he addressed Sister Jing smiled and stopped what she was doing. She lifted her head coyly and looked at Zhuge Feifan.
"What's wrong? Did somebody bully you?" Sister Jing stretched her arm out to him and asked softly while holding his hand after Zhuge Feifan did not respond. "Tell me if you were wronged. You'll feel better."
"Sister Jing, will you hate me if I'm a bad person?" Zhuge Feifan asked all of a sudden after falling into silence for a while.
She kept quiet for a few heartbeats as she bit her lip before speaking again, "I don't know if you're a good person or a bad person, but I know you're good to me. That's enough. Even if you're a bad person to everyone in the world, to me, you'll forever be the best man in the world."
Seeing that Zhuge Feifan had fallen into silence again, Sister Jing put the clothes that she was folding halfway aside and got him to sit down.
"Stop overthinking. Let's eat your favorite boiled sliced pork later." She stretched her arms out to pinch Zhuge Feifan's cheeks like she was talking to a child.
Lin Huang and the rest could tell that they clearly had an extraordinary relationship.
Sister Jing was obviously a commoner. Her real age might not even be 1/20 to Zhuge Feifan's.
However, they looked like a couple since Zhuge Feifan called her 'sister' and did not resist her pinching his cheeks.
Nonetheless, Lin Huang and the rest were curious. This woman called Sister Jing appeared very normal. Even to ordinary people, she only looked mediocre and was not pretty in the least. To Zhuge Feifan, with his appearance, wealth and power, he could easily find a woman who was hundreds of times more beautiful than Sister Jing. So, why did he go for such an ordinary woman?
Zhuge Feifan who sat on the couch in silence for a long time finally spoke again, "Sister Jing, I got into some trouble."
"What kind of trouble? Do you need my help?"Sister Jing asked immediately, "If you need money, I've some savings here. You can use it first. Settle your thing and return the money to me whenever you can in the future."
"Sister, listen to me," Zhuge Feifan interrupted Sister Jing, "I got into some trouble involving cultivators. Nobody knows about our relationship at the moment, but they'll find this house sooner or later. They might talk to you then."
"Don't worry. I won't tell them a thing," she assured immediately and added in all seriousness, "I won't say a thing even if it means death for me!"
"It's not as simple as you think. They have methods that are beyond your imagination. Some people can even read your mind directly."
"Read my mind?" Sister Jing realized that Zhuge Feifan had offended people who were out of the ordinary as she heard this. "We can hire an assassin or we can get the Union Government…"
"Those people who are coming after me are from the Union Government," Zhuge Feifan interrupted Sister Jing again and placed both hands on her shoulders. "I'm not a good person. They're right to come after me.
"To avoid dragging you into this, the only way now is to erase everything about me in your head. That's the only way to get you off their list."
"Erase my memory?" Sister Jing seemed a little lost at that second, but she snapped back to her senses a while later. "Does that mean that… I'll forget you forever?"
Zhuge Feifan fell into silence for a while before nodding slowly.
Sister Jing held her head down and only lifted it up again after staying quiet for a long time. She looked at him earnestly. "Feifan, will you truly be safe if my memory's erased? They'll no longer come after you?"
Zhuge Feifan remained silent. His heart was breaking apart as he looked at the anticipation in her eyes, but he nodded eventually.
"Alright then, go ahead and erase my memory." Sister Jing forced a smile, but tears did not stop rolling from the corner of her eyes. "Erase it and don't worry about me. I won't remember you in my head, but I'll never forget you in my heart."
"Sister…" Zhuge Feifan pulled the woman into his arms and placed his chin on her shoulder. The tears he had been holding back finally burst out as he smelled the familiar fragrance of her shampoo.
The duo was locked in an embrace tightly just like that. Approximately five to six minutes later, Zhuge Feifan let go of his arms. He had dried off his tears with Divine Power by then.
He wiped the tears off Sister Jing's face and looked at her with a bright smile. "Sister, meeting you is the happiest thing that has ever happened to me."
"Me too." Sister Jing stretched her arms and touched Zhuge Feifan's cheeks gently.
Zhuge Feifan took a deep breath in and pointed a finger between her brows as she then closed her eyes slowly.
Tears were still pouring from the corner of her eyes, but she beamed with happiness.
"I'm sorry…" As a white glow lit up at his fingertip, Sister Jing's body soon went limp and she fell onto the couch.
Chapter 1078: It's Getting Cold, Put on Some Clothes
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
A moment later, the white glow faded away.
Zhuge Feifan put Sister Jing down onto the couch slowly.
He opened her Emperor Heart Ring communication page and soon found all of the conversation records he had had with her.
This foolish woman had given him her Emperor Heart Ring's access when she could not even find information about a TV series that she was binging on.
Instead of deleting the messages, Zhuge Feifan read them one by one.
"My name's An Jing, what's your name?"
"You're only 23. You're not that young compared to me. I bet you're only five or six years younger than me."
"Xiao Feifan, someone broke up with me again. Come drink with me, your sister!"
"Are you sure you want to date me? I'm already 30!"
"Of course, I'll promise you that, but you'll have to call me Sister Jing for the rest of your life!"
"It's raining now, so it's a little cold. Remember to put on a jacket when you come back."
"I've made your favorite boiled sliced pork today. Come back soon!"
"Feifan, I got you a trench coat. You'll look good in it. Try it on when you come back from work."
…
Without realizing it, tears streaked all over his face as he finished reading the last message.
After erasing all of the records, he turned off the Emperor's Heart Ring communication page and turned his head to stare at An Jing for a long time. He then stood up and began clearing the house.
Some ten minutes later, Zhuge Feifan carried An Jing out of the house after he cleared the place.
Lin Huang expanded the projection range immediately, wanting to see where he was going.
In the end, Zhuge Feifan carried An Jing to Room 3302 next door. Immediately, he opened the door with a key.
So, they were neighbors!
Lin Huang and the rest were astounded.
Lin Huang paused the video as Qian Rui used his telekinetic power to get into Room 3302 to open the door.
They sensed that there was nobody in the house at that moment.
After walking into Room 3302, Lin Huang expanded the projection range again so that he included the entire unit. After that, he played the paused video again.
They saw Zhuge Feifan carry An Jing into the bedroom and put her down on the bed gently. Then, he tucked her into the blanket.
He then began to clear everything that was related to him in An Jing's room.
Their photo on the bedhead, the photo hanging in the living room, the photo pasted on the refrigerator… His clothes and shoes in the cabinets, his toothbrush and the towel in the bathroom…
He spent merely ten minutes to wipe away each and every trace of him in An Jing's life.
After confirming that he had missed out nothing, he returned to the bedroom and stared at An Jing who was sleeping for a while. He walked up and kissed her forehead.
"You'll find your love since you're such a good woman," he mumbled softly before standing up. Then, he left without even turning his head.
Zhuge Feifan returned to his house after closing the door to Room 3302.
After some thorough investigation later, he lit up the entire house after making sure he had not missed out on anything.
Lin Huang only removed the projected video after Zhuge Feifan summoned a dimensional portal and left.
"I thought he's a cold-blooded person who has no feeling at all." Guan Zhong shook his head and forced a smile after watching the video replay that was over half an hour long. "In reality, he didn't trust me since the beginning."
"Don't overthink it. This woman must've walked into his life by accident." Qian Rui patted his shoulder, knowing that Guan Zhong must be feeling terrible now.
Guan Zhong might not have too many emotions if Zhuge Feifan had been cold to everyone. However, Zhuge Feifan had shared an extraordinary relationship with this woman called An Jing. Guan Zhong felt horrible about it.
"If Zhuge Feifan trusted you, would you have betrayed the Union Government with him?" Huang Tufu asked all of a sudden.
"No!" Guan Zhong answered without hesitation, "Although he's my master, it doesn't mean that I'll support everything that he does unconditionally."
"So, what difference does it make whether he trusted you or not?" Huang Tufu challenged while smiling.
Guan Zhong was stunned and subsequently forced a smile while nodding. "That makes sense. I've been standing on the other side since the beginning, so he didn't dare give me too much of his trust. I can't blame him for using me as his chess piece."
"Can we find out anything from An Jing?" Lin Huang changed the subject directly to get Guan Zhong to work. It was more useful than any consolation.
"Although her memory of him is erased, we can use her since we know about their relationship." Qian Rui looked like he already had a plan. "I suspect that Zhuge Feifan didn't go very far. He might be secretly watching An Jing."
"If I were Zhuge Feifan, I definitely wouldn't leave before I make sure the woman I love is safe. I wouldn't even let her leave my field of vision." Huang Tufu agreed.
"So, are you guys planning to use An Jing as a bait?" Guan Zhong frowned slightly. "She's just an ordinary person. It's inappropriate to do that."
"What's inappropriate about that? It's not dangerous to use her as bait, more so since Zhuge Feifan won't kill her." Huang Tufu begged to differ.
"What I'm saying is that this is a matter between cultivators. We shouldn't drag an ordinary person into this." Guan Zhong thought the idea was out of line.
There were some regulations in the Union Government whereby it was prohibited to involve ordinary people into cultivators' matters. The most that they could do to ordinary people was to interrogate them, but they could not carry out other measures on them. However, it was a gray line whereby it mainly depended on how the individual handled the case.
"An Jing might be the biggest key to find Zhuge Feifan. We can't give up just like that. We might be able to find useful information if we can retrieve the part of memory that was erased. We don't necessarily need to use her as bait." Qian Rui could only take a step back for now.
"We've gotten a lot more information this time. I've taken pictures of the interaction Zhuge Feifan shared with An Jing. I even took pictures of their photos that Zhuge Feifan put away. I'll see if we can find anything useful when we get back later."
"Should we take a look at the properties he owns in other footholds?" Lin Huang asked.
"Theoretically, it's pretty impossible for him to have left First City since An Jing is here." Qian Rui thought it was unnecessary.
"So, is our job here done?" Huang Tufu asked immediately. He could not wait to head back to Emperor City.
"I think we should take a look at his properties in the other footholds. What if there are clues over there?" Guan Zhong still hoped to find more evidence. "I'll go with the Emperor. You'll stay back to look around here."
"Alright then, remember to take pictures." Qian Rui patted Guan Zhong's shoulder.
Guan Zhong spoke again after they sent Qian Rui off, "Apart from First City, I know Zhuge Feifan has five properties in other footholds at the moment. Apart from two properties in Heaven City, he has one in Ice River City, one in White Castle City, and one in Thousand Lake City. The property in Thousand Lake City is the getaway that he frequents most. I've been there thrice with him."
"Let's go then." Lin Huang did not mind going to the rest of the properties since he would treat it as a sight-seeing trip. Moreover, he was eager to get rid of Zhuge Feifan, who was trouble, as soon as possible.
Chapter 1079: Emperor's Heart
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Emperor's Heart
After spending over an hour, they were finally done checking Zhuge Feifan's remaining five properties.
It was almost 11 p.m. when they returned to the Union Government headquarters in First City.
"Are there any new clues?" Qian Rui asked immediately upon seeing them coming back.
"No, we only saw him packing his stuff and burning the houses down." Guan Zhong shook his head helplessly. "But he changed a couple more dimensional portals, of which I've taken pictures."
"This guy has so many dimensional portals," Huang Tufu could not help but ridicule. They had seen nine dimensional portals so far and Zhuge Feifan would change one everywhere he went.
"I've sent the pictures. Did you get anything on your side?" Guan Zhong queried Qian Rui immediately.
"We've gotten An Jing's details. Indeed, she's just an ordinary person. She's 32 this year and is teaching literature at the Hunter Reserve College in the new eastern district. She has no criminal records and is immensely popular at school. She has excellent relationships with her colleagues and the students.
"There's nothing wrong with her identity. We still haven't figured how exactly Zhuge Feifan got to know her for now. Zhuge Feifan must've bought the unit in the small area after knowing her."
"The timeline you mentioned fits. I still remember that it was two years ago when he bought the unit. I was confused about why he would buy a property in such a small area back then. Now that I thought about it, he must've done that to woo An Jing." Guan Zhong recalled when Zhuge Feifan bought the place and he confirmed Qian Rui's speculation.
"We've also found out where Zhuge Feifan and An Jing took the pictures. Three of them were taken in First City, two at Lakeside Park in the new eastern district, and one at Heart Ocean in the central district. The remaining four were taken in different footholds."
"Where's An Jing now?" Lin Huang asked.
"It's the summer break, so she's been giving extra classes to her students. It seems like her memory is indeed erased. I haven't sent anyone to monitor her at the moment because I figure that Zhuge Feifan might be around and he'll be warned easily." Qian Rui was afraid to alert Zhuge Feifan.
At that moment, Zhuge Feifan had no idea that his relationship with An Jing had been exposed. He thought that to the Union Government, An Jing was just a regular neighbor, so they would not take note of her. Zhuge Feifan would definitely find out if they were following her.
"I guess we're off the mission now, eh?" Huang Tufu asked.
"Thank you so much, Master Emperor. You've helped us a lot this time. If not for you, we wouldn't have found out about his relationship with An Jing." Qian Rui thanked him while smiling graciously.
"Thanks for all the trouble, Master Emperor." Guan Zhong was also being grateful.
"Hey, what about me?" Huang Tufu looked annoyed from being completely ignored.
"Mr. Tufu, too! Thanks for your hard work," said both of them while smiling.
"Master Emperor, do we head back to Emperor City?" Huang Tufu glared at both of them and asked Lin Huang.
"There's no rush. We'll head back in two days. It's not every day that we get to come to First City. Shouldn't we do some sight-seeing since we're here?" Lin Huang, on the other hand, was not in a rush to head back. "Moreover, Mr. Guan has yet to fulfill the condition that he promised me earlier."
"What condition?" Guan Zhong was stunned to hear that.
Qian Rui peeped at him, worried that Guan Zhong might have promised to do something that he should not have.
"The complimentary Emperor's Heart Ring's unlocking service. Did you forget?" Lin Huang glanced at Guan Zhong with his brow raised.
"Oh, I've almost forgotten about that!"
Qian Rui was relieved to hear that that was the condition Lin Huang meant.
"Complimentary unlocking service? Can you count me in? I also have some Emperor's Heart Rings that need to be unlocked," Huang Tufu requested immediately when he heard that the service was complimentary.
"Sure," Guan Zhong agreed right away. There was no difference for him to provide service for an extra person.
"I'll bring you guys over now," declared Guan Zhong and he summoned a dimensional portal.
The three of them stepped in one after another and soon disappeared from where they were.
Lin Huang realized they were in an underground cave when they walked out of the dimensional portal.
"Just put the Emperor's Heart Rings that you guys want to unlock into the tree hollow over there." Guan Zhong pointed at the giant sphere that appeared like it was made of layers of roots not far away. There were tiny, round holes on the surface.
"So, is this the Emperor's Heart?" Lin Huang walked up skeptically. He then placed more than 3,000 Emperor's Heart Rings into one of the holes.
Huang Tufu followed behind and took out a handful of Emperor's Heart Rings and put them into the other hole next to it. He could not help but steal a peep at Lin Huang. To his shock, he saw a sheer amount of rings that almost filled the entire hole.
"So many Emperor's Heart Rings! How long have you been saving those, Master Emperor?"
"I basically got them yesterday."
Huang Tufu was even more shocked when he heard that revelation. He recalled that Lin Huang had not been in Emperor City yesterday.
Did he rob the entire organization?!
Meanwhile, Guan Zhong, who stood tens of meters away, did not find it strange. He had witnessed almost Lin Huang's entire battle yesterday. Naturally, he knew very well where those rings came from.
As both of them placed the Emperor's Heart Rings into the holes, roots stretched out of the tree hollow slowly and grabbed all of the rings.
Lin Huang took a few steps back and turned his head to ask Guan Zhong softly, "Approximately how long does the unlocking take?"
"It'll be done in no time." Just when Guan Zhong was done speaking, the roots brought the 30-odd rings back to where Huang Tufu had placed them earlier.
Huang Tufu was stunned when he saw that. "That's it?"
"When they're sent back, It means the unlocking is done," Guan Zhong confirmed.
Huang Tufu then extended his arm to pick all of the Emperor's Heart Rings up. He checked them one after another with his Divine Telekinesis.
A moment later, he put away all of the rings into his storage space happily.
Perhaps because there were too many, the rings that Lin Huang wanted to get unlocked took slightly longer. However, the roots sent all the Emperor's Heart Rings back in less than a minute.
Lin Huang picked up all of the Emperor's Heart Rings immediately, but he only checked one. After making sure that it was unlocked, he did not even look at the rest.
Just when he was ready to leave after putting the Emperor's Heart Rings away, Xiao Hei's voice came into his ears. "I sense a Goldfinger in him. It's very powerful!"
"You mean the Emperor's Heart?" Lin Huang peeped at the sphere in surprise.
"That's right. You're not looking at his real form. This is just a part of him."
"Are you sure it's not a mistake?" Lin Huang secretly panicked. If the Emperor's Heart were a Goldfinger, it would mean there were other travelers behind it.
Lin Huang could not help but put his guard up towards other travelers after learning about the existence of Raiders from Yang Ling.
"It can't be a mistake. If I'm not mistaken, he must've found out about me and the stone tablet by now."
Lin Huang thought it was too risky to stay all of a sudden. He got Guan Zhong to summon the dimensional portal immediately and stepped into it.
He was finally relieved when the dimensional portal closed.
He had no idea that the sphere made of roots had transformed into a human face after he left via the dimensional portal. The face had complete features and looked like a bearded man.
The bearded man stared at the spot where Lin Huang had just disappeared and mumbled to himself softly, "Why does that kid have two Goldfingers in his body?"
Chapter 1080: Traceless
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In a luxurious suite on the 181st floor of the Star Dome Hotel, Lin Huang was watching the news while sitting on the couch in the living room. On the other hand, Bloody was calculating the loot in the Emperor's Heart Rings.
Huang Tufu, who was in the next room, was reading a novel, sprawled on the couch.
This Star Dome Hotel was one of the properties under the Hunter Association. The Union Government was a part of it too.
The hotel was merely three kilometers away from the Union Government office. The largest business district in the central zone of First City was just below the building, and it was extremely crowded.
Naturally, the hotel was expensive. Since it was Guan Zhong who had made the arrangements, Lin Huang and Huang Tufu did not have to spend any credit points on it.
Ignoring the 'Emperor's Stickers' topic that ranked No. 1 on Heart Network, Lin Huang looked at the topics that ranked No. 2 and No. 3.
"The incidents of the Wei Clan going missing and the Blessing Trading Company's explosion had spread through the entire cultivation world since this morning." Lin Huang noticed that the two topics already had over 100 million views.
Everyone knew the Wei Clan in Division 2 was a clan that had been passed down for centuries. They were also the wealthiest family in Division 2, and they even had two demigods that were known to the public.
Many cultivators were concerned about the ancient castle of the Wei Clan vanishing together with the people of the Wei Clan out of nowhere.
The other clans in Division 2 were worried that they might be the next target.
One must know that the incident happened in Division 2's No. 1 foothold. Theoretically, the foothold should be the safest foothold in the No. 2 safety zone. However, such a thing had happened.
Many people pointed fingers at the few top underground organizations. They verbally attacked the top underground organizations including Dynasty because they figured that only these organizations were capable enough of destroying a clan that had demigods, hence leaving no traces behind.
However, none of the top underground organizations including Dynasty responded to the incident.
Even the Union Government had been quiet. They did not even say anything officially, merely confirming that the destruction of the Wei Clan was the truth.
Naturally, Lin Huang knew that the Union Government did not say anything because they wanted to expose what the Wei Clan did after they got rid off God Bless completely.
However, all the clans in Division 2 had no idea about that. They pressured the Union Government for the sake of their personal safety. 'It's still under investigation' was the only response they got from the Union Government.
As for the Blessing Trading Company in Golden City being destroyed, it would not usually attract any attention from cultivators.
The main thing was that the entire land around the Blessing Trading Company collapsed, causing the terrain to change on a certain level. Clearly, a battle had broken out between powerhouses who were on at least demigod-level.
Many people knew that the Golden City was filled with shady companies, but never had they thought that there would be a battle between demigod-level powerhouses.
The two incidents happened on the same day, which made many people's imaginations run wild.
Some of them said the two incidents might be related, but the speculation was soon refuted because it was a piece of cake for them to find out that the Blessing Trading Company had nothing to do with the Wei Clan at all. They did not even have any business collaboration.
Lin Huang went through some forums and scrolled through social media sites for a while. By then, Bloody finally calculated everything in the Emperor's Heart Rings.
"There are a total of 3,022 Emperor's Heart Rings. We've obtained 2.12 million Divine Stones, 11 god relics, 56 demigod relics, three God Figurines, eight Godheads, 17 broken Godheads, and 123 ancient-level relics. There are also up to 10,000 relics of other grades, hundreds of billions of Life Crystals, all kinds of minerals, materials, and miscellaneous items.
"There are over ten types of rare minerals in them. There are six rare metals that are very valuable in the metallic materials."
"Is there any weapon that I can use?" Lin Huang asked
"There's one battle armor among the god relics. There are two sets of telekinetic weapons, five battle swords, and nine battle armors among the demigod relics. There are three sets of telekinetic weapons, 16 battle swords, and 21 battle armors among the ancient relics."
After confirming the exact number of loots, Lin Huang put whatever he had gotten Bloody to sort out back into his Emperor's Heart Ring.
"There's something that I need to tell you. I think it's best that we can find Zhuge Feifan before the Union Government does," Bloody could not help but tell Lin Huang through voice transmission. "Zhuge Feifan is the founder of Agency EA and he's been the president of the agency for hundreds of years. We can say that he's the person who knows most of the secrets in this gravel world. If we can read his mind, not only can we obtain more information about God Bless's Master God, but we can also even obtain all the secrets of the Union Government throughout more than 700 years directly."
"That's the reason why I stayed," Lin Huang revealed. In reality, he initiated help to Guan Zhong with this intention since the beginning.
The reason why Agency EA had agreed to get Lin Huang's help was that they were eager to find Zhuge Feifan. The longer Zhuge Feifan stayed missing, the higher the chances of some of the Union Government's secrets leaking.
Moreover, Guan Zhong and the rest hoped that Lin Huang would return to Emperor City soon. They made the hotel arrangements for Lin Huang when they heard he was staying in First City mainly because they wanted to monitor Lin Huang, preventing him from stealing Zhuge Feifan away from them.
Lin Huang knew very well that although Guan Zhong seemed honest, he was buttering him up. However, this guy was definitely not capable enough to be able to be the Vice President of Agency EA.
Although the Vice President of Agency EA held a lower position than the Vice President of the Union Government, his authority might even be higher than the latter.
"Do you have any way to find Zhuge Feifan?" Lin Huang asked.
"It's not difficult to find him if we expand the search territory," Bloody replied, "He's definitely not far away from An Jing."
"Looking at his behavior in the projection, he has a special bond with An Jing. He definitely won't leave First City until he's ascertained her safety."
"But there's no way of finding his exact location. He's at least on Virtual God rank-3, so he can monitor An Jing from thousands of kilometers away using Divine Telekinesis. He might be in a cafe thousands of kilometers away drinking coffee while monitoring her with Divine Telekinesis. The range is just too wide." Lin Huang shook his head, feeling helpless.
"If we don't mind crossing the line, it's not difficult to find him. The easiest way is to kidnap An Jing. As soon as something happens to An Jing, Zhuge Feifan will definitely reveal himself." In reality, everyone had the same idea as Bloody.
Besides Lin Huang, even the Union Government shared the same idea.
They were not using because there was an unspoken line among cultivators whereby they would not drag an ordinary person into their battle. Every cultivator knew that.
The line was even written in the Union Government's regulation, and it had become their law.
"We can't do anything to An Jing unless it's the last resort." Lin Huang shook his head after a moment of silence. "Do you have any other idea?"
"I haven't thought of anything at the moment." Bloody shook its head feebly. "There are too many powerhouses in First City, I can't use my Leech Pods. They'll find my Leech Pods as soon as I use them. Moreover, even if I could use them, the possibility of finding him is slim. As the leader of the spies, Zhuge Feifan has all sorts of stunning disguise methods. A simple disguise can get him to look like anything he desires if he wants to hide. In a big city such as First City, he's totally traceless like a drop of water falling into the ocean."