After leaving Guatai Mountain, Su Mo secretly returned home once, though no one knew about it.
He seared the images of his father, mother, and Momo deeply into his mind, unsure when they would meet again after this parting.
By then, perhaps Momo would be able to say ‘brother’… or maybe ‘sister’ – you shouldn’t mislead a child.
Wait, that’s not right either. She should probably call me ‘sister-in-law’…
Tsk, tsk. Somehow, that feels oddly thrilling.
Su Mo left home and headed towards the Beidou Division branch.
His stated business to attend to wasn’t just about visiting his family, of course. It was also about visiting those who had harmed his family.
“How is the investigation going?”
“Over the past month, we contacted all our personnel, both overt and covert, and finally compiled a list.”
Standing before Su Mo was Luo Jiang, the commander of the Tianyu City Beidou Division branch. Last time, when Luo Jiang arranged the pursuit of Li Kui and the others, something went wrong, leading to Ye Qingyu falling off a cliff. Even though Su Mo hadn’t said anything about it, Luo Jiang was still extremely apprehensive. That’s why he had been exceptionally diligent in handling matters for Su Mo this time.
Su Mo took the list. None of the names were core members of the Ye Family. In fact, more than half didn’t even share the Ye surname; they were probably external relatives or hangers-on.
In their eyes, Ye Qingyu and Su Mo had jointly raided the Ye Family, infringing upon their interests. Hurting Su Mo’s family was simply the easiest method of revenge among many.
It wasn’t as if they could send assassins after Ye Qingyu – that would be no different from sticking their own necks out to be chopped.
Why hadn’t the core members taken action?
It wasn’t hard to understand. Either their methods were more sophisticated and they were better hidden, or they were simply too afraid of the duo to make a move.
Of course, the most important reason was that most of them were still enjoying prison hospitality and couldn’t spare the attention.
Su Mo committed every name on the list to memory, silently sentencing them to death.
Not a single one would be let off!
At that moment, Luo Jiang brought over a stack of documents and a USB drive.
Su Mo was puzzled. “What’s this?”
Luo Jiang explained each item. “These are the criminal evidence against the various families, mostly from the era of the Elder Council. With these, Elder Ye will find it much easier to apprehend the criminals.”
Su Mo glanced at him, inwardly impressed by his thoroughness. He hadn’t expected Luo Jiang to even acquire these. This meant his subsequent actions would have official authorization.
But he didn’t plan to use them that way because… some of these crimes didn’t warrant the death penalty.
Yet, every one of them had, to varying degrees, sent people to assassinate Su Mo’s family. During his one-month seclusion, similar incidents had happened no less than ten times. Su Mo believed in repaying others in their own coin.
Some people just won’t give up until they’ve shed some blood.
Su Mo collected the materials and said thank you, then pulled out a large bag of spirit stones and placed it in Luo Jiang’s hand. “You’ve all worked hard during this time. Share these among the team. It’s not much, but it’s a token of my appreciation.”
Luo Jiang was taken aback. His first instinct was that Su Mo was testing him, so he firmly refused. But Su Mo’s tone was resolute, his manner brooking no argument, and Luo Jiang eventually relented.
“You work for Beidou, for Xia Country; you’re not my personal subordinates. Of course, you should receive compensation. Please accept it,” Su Mo said, then added a reminder, “Don’t let it all end up in your own pocket.”
Luo Jiang broke out in a cold sweat from fear and immediately assured him, “I, Luo Jiang, would absolutely never do such a thing! Please rest assured, Elder Ye!”
Only then did Su Mo leave, satisfied.
He knew that with this money, Luo Jiang would definitely help protect his family from the shadows.
Sometimes, rewards are far more effective than punishments.
After leaving the Beidou Division branch, Su Mo went to the beef noodle restaurant where he had previously eaten with Ye Qingyi.
Because he was in disguise, no one recognized him. They just thought this girl was quite pretty and had a nice figure.
One elderly lady even asked if he was single, offering to set him up on a date.
Uh.
…
Xijing City.
Li Mao was a somewhat notorious local boss, primarily because he frequently had people showing up at his door demanding payment for his habit of withholding employee wages.
He couldn’t take it anymore and planned to flee.
That day, as he was packing his bags at home, the doorbell suddenly rang.
Li Mao stayed silent. Peeking through the peephole, he saw it was a food delivery person. He shouted towards the door, “Just leave it outside! I’ll get it later. It’s not convenient right now.”
“Alright, remember to give a five-star review,” the delivery person said, turning and leaving immediately, seemingly in a hurry to get to the next order.
Li Mao waited for a long time, ensuring the person was far away, before finally opening the door.
But the moment the door opened, a sudden chill touched his neck. A brand-new playing card sliced across his carotid artery and embedded itself straight into the surface of the solid wood furniture behind him.
The door was closed again. The killer was the delivery person. Because the door was shut promptly, not a trace of blood was left outside.
After finishing the task, she immediately took out a small notebook and crossed off Li Mao’s name with a pen: “Number 7, Li Mao.”
Over a dozen names had already been crossed off similarly, but this was still less than half of the total list.
…
Jinling City.
In a dilapidated underground parking garage, over a dozen thugs surrounded a beautiful female student. Their leader was a man around thirty years old. Relying on his status as a super, he often led his lackeys to corner people, specifically targeting pretty high school girls.
The female student was terrified, her face pale. Her legs gave way, and she collapsed to the ground, weeping and begging, “Please… let me go…”
The man leered, “Serve me well, and I’ll naturally let you leave.”
As he spoke, he stepped closer, simultaneously taking off his outer garment to reveal his bulging, muscular arms. His underlings turned their backs, forming a tight circle around them.
Suddenly, from somewhere, the girl found strength. She sprang up and dashed towards a gap in the circle. But the man was faster, grabbing her hair and yanking her back violently.
“Damn bitch, you dare run?” The man slapped her hard across the face. The girl fell to the ground on the spot, her consciousness fading. “Spit! I’m gonna f*** you!”
Just as he moved his hand to his belt, a sudden, chilling emptiness gripped him between his legs. He looked down. There was nothing there – not just his clothes, but nothing.
“Ahhh!” The man screamed, collapsing to the ground, writhing like a maggot, veins bulging on his forehead.
By the time his lackeys realized something was wrong, their boss was already… missing some parts. The missing portion had been carried away into the distance by a playing card. A dark blue flame flared, completely reducing it to ashes.
Terror-stricken, they knew they had encountered a high-level super. It seemed escape was impossible today.
Suddenly, one of them spoke up, “Do you know who Young Master Zhang’s backer is?”
The moment the words left his mouth, all the other lackeys simultaneously clutched their throats and slowly fell to the ground.
“Tell me, who is it?” A cold, clear female voice came from the distance, growing closer. It sounded slightly youthful, but brimming with deadly intent, enough to make one’s hair stand on end.
“He’s… he’s the Deputy Commander of Jinling City! If you dare kill his… ugh!”
He thudded to the ground.
The empty underground parking garage was now filled only with the inhuman, heart-rending wails of the incomplete man.
Su Mo approached the girl. He used a cloth strip to blindfold her and comforted her softly, “Don’t be afraid. An ambulance will be here soon.”
The girl’s consciousness was hazy. She only sensed someone was near her, feeling no malice from them at all.
Almost instinctively, she grabbed the clothes of the person beside her. After a couple of shuddering sobs, she suddenly burst into tears, crying out, “Save me…”