These days, Mo Xing was feeling quite good. He reported the abnormal behavior he had noticed from the Bai couples to the Special Affairs Department HQ in China, and he soon had gotten a secret Certificate of Recognition from them.
"To Mo Xing, the Director of the Special Affairs Department in Qi City, who was attentive and vigilant. He managed an early detection of a demon's hiding in the ranks of the Truth Tracking Office, which has a great impact on the preservation of the organization. This certificate was given to express our sincerest gratitude, and to give Director Xing one Individual First-Class Merit, as well as an opportunity for Specialized Further Studies. We hope to see Director Mo reach further heights, and to resume his diligent work in maintaining law and order."
It was difficult for him to get this Certificate of Recognition. Mo Xing read through the document a few times, as if this were the first time he had gotten a certificate in his life. When he asked himself if he really was a hair away from death that day, he needed to be grateful that those two non-humans and their considerations. Otherwise, he'd be gone in one palm strike.
As his thought arrived there, he was unwilling to swallow it down. If the Truth Department was willing to be more open with the highly regarded cultivation mantras and allowed him to choose one to study, he would've been able to fight back and escape, even if he couldn't guarantee a victory against the man-eating demons.
He believed that after this incident, those above will finally have some considerations about the monopoly of the Truth Department, and that their own internal investigation will no longer be effective. Soon, they would definitely support the Special Affairs Departments, a department that used to have a positioning of just another support unit.
This time, he will fully utilize the chance to pursue his Specialized Further Studies. Then, he would no longer let his future opportunities slip away before his eyes.
When Mo Xing was still grumbling about the late Bai couple, the Qiao siblings were standing at the spot where the two rats committed suicide.
"D*mn it, where did they to disappear again? Even the information from Xiao Cang sounded off - it said that they stopped here for a long time after they arrived, and suddenly they just disappeared off the map. After that, the Elder Ancestor of the Bai Family hurried off to someplace too. He went to secretly study the electronic positioning map that had the location of all the Bai family members, but he could no longer find them both. We've spent so much effort locating this place, and got here after we braved mountains and rivers. And what did we get? We didn't even see a single rat!" Qiao Zijiang ranted as he stared at the empty valley.
Qiao Zishan was currently releasing his Morality to cover the sky and the Earth. After his thorough sweep, he found out that the entire valley was in fact, very empty. There was not even one giant rat in the hundreds of caves that littered the area. It was highly possible that they had escaped this place, leaving only a nest of mountain rats that were so dumb to the point of being cute, on a particularly steep cliff. These rats were probably the locally grown mountain rats that had not developed their intelligence.
"Forget it. Xiao Cang had a difficult time too, so cut him some slack. He managed to maintain his cover in Bai Family only because he caught the Elder Ancestor's liking." Qiao Zishan tried to console the other. As he spoke, he walked around the valley once again, and his heart grew heavy with each step he took.
The recovery of vitality meant that there would be a chance for these slow local mountain rats to develop their intelligence in the future. What should they do then? Were they going to be killed also? Will humans be the only species left on Earth?
Alternatively, maybe they would be integrated into humankind and be given an ordinary citizenship? Putting the resource allocation problems aside, his sister did have a point; these demons with intelligence still considered humans as their food source. Such were their instincts.
Discrimination was already rampant among the humans of different descents, and the humans were still struggling with the issue even now. How would peaceful coexistence be possible when the subjects were not even from the same species? How would they interact when their living behaviors, standards, and instincts vastly differ from each other?
"Brother, you're brooding again," Qiao Zijiang said, her heart hurting for her brother as she noticed his troubled expression. Her brother was the only young male descendant of the Qiao Family, and was also the only heir to the Morality Cultivation technique. However, the situation they were facing right now was not one that he could understand with his current age and experience, and she couldn't lend a hand to him even if she wanted to. After all, some things could never be explained with logical reasoning. Sometimes, stance was the most important factor, and only your abilities mattered in the end…
"Forget this, there's no use worrying about this now. I'll follow the principles from the people up top - kill those that cross the hard limit, and capture those who threaten the established law and order. For now, I have no way of handling anything outside of that, nor I have the capabilities to do so." Qiao Zisham scratched his head and stopped himself from worrying about the matter.
"Good. Since we couldn't find the Bai couple, and we had reported what we could have reported on this business trip, we no longer have anything else to attend to. I heard that the Qi City has a restaurant that suddenly shot into fame just recently, and quite a number of the rich and famous in Ji City will take a plane down here to have their meals every weekend. Some had even said that if you could get the boss to personally cook for you, it would be the rarest service in the world. Apparently, the only other person who could manage that was a very rich man from Qi City itself…" Qiao Zijiang commented.
Qiao Zishan replied, "Alright, I know what you're trying to say. You've had a hard time this trip, and we've at least manage to obtain the complete information of the Bai Family's background. I believe that the higher levels will soon start a sweep on them. Now, let me treat my little sister to a meal at that famous restaurant as the reward of your efforts."
The siblings shared a smile before they leaped out from the valley together.
A little while after that, that grey rat poked his head out once again from their hiding place. The mountain rats were hiding within a cliff, and the grey rat scanned its surroundings in detail, its eyes squinting in concentration. Sometimes, it even arched its ears at an angle, as if the heavy mist that cloaked the valley did not stop its vision, and the wind from afar would bring him a message.
"Okay, the male-female pair is very far away from the valley now. Children, we don't need to fake our intelligence anymore. You can go down and play."
"Great!"
"Move, quickly!"
"Don't shove me around!"
Rats of differing sizes rushed down to the valley, tugging each other's tails as they ran down the cliff. Some of them went to seek for dew to quench their thirst, some continued their search for leftovers left in the giant rats' wake, while others went to pluck wild fruits from the vines hanging off the trees. The smallest rats chased each others' tail in good spirit, and the largest few planted the rotten fruits down into the soil…
Although the morning sun was still shrouded behind the mist, the valley was already brimmed with the feeling of warmth, sunshine, and joy.
"Say, we're paying RMB 3,000,000 for one meal here and we still can't get your boss to personally cook for us?" Qiao Zijiang was feeling irritated. As the precious child in the Qiao Family, she never had problems with money. It was extremely rare for people to not submit to her whims purely for her background, and most people couldn't challenge her in her work due to her job in the Special Investigation Unit in the Truth Department.
However, she never expected to be disrespected in a tiny shop like this in a second-rate city.
Zhao Ying knew from the lady's aura that she was dealing with one of those spoiled, arrogant women. She probably came from a significant family as well. Of course, the last thing she wanted was to upset the lady, but she can't help but think to herself, 'How is RMB3,000,000 a big deal? The famous and gorgeous superhero of Qi City often comes here too, and he doesn't even make a big deal out of it even if he spends almost as much as she was offering everything he came. The hero never asked the boss to cook for him, and he was willing to eat whatever he was given. He was an easy customer, and he was never rude to the waiters either…
The contrast frustrated her, but she could never directly go against a customer. However, there's no way she would call the boss for this; the man is a complete shut-in that was so lazy to even cook for himself and always ordered food from the shop. Usually, he barely even looked human…
Just as she was stuck in a dilemma, a slightly older man who accompanied the lady spoke up in the nick of time.
"Zijiang, let's not force our way if the circumstances don't allow them to honor our requests. I've noticed the customers here all looked satisfied after their meal. Why don't we find ourselves a place and take a seat?" Qiao Zishan managed to stop his sister. He was not a bully that would use his status to get others to bow down to him.
Qiao Zijiang scoffed, "What a bunch of half-wits. They refused to earn a big profit!" Despite her grumblings, she immediately stopped arguing after her brother's words.
Zhao Ying heaved a sigh of relief and gratefully thanked the man. "Thank you for your compliments, sir. You have a keen pair of eyes, as it is correct that every single one of our customers is satisfied with our services. Here, let me arrange the perfect spot for both of you."
The dark clouds around Qiao Zijiang's face cleared up immediately after Zhao Ying's words. Her smile was bright and her brows arched in a delightful angle, Qiao Zijiang will always be pleased whenever someone else praises her brother. This rules still applied even though the woman before her only said so out of business courtesy.
Soon after they sat, their food was served to them.
"This is delicious indeed," Qiao Zijiang exclaimed after her first bite. She tasted a unique flavor that went straight to her heart, and she felt like melting from the food itself.
"This is definitely not something that can be cooked by an ordinary person. Ah, that's it! I remember there's this person called Fang Ning within the stack of information the Qi City Special Affairs Department handed to us. His cooking skills were almost divine, but apparently, he was so lazy that he would only make the seasonings for his chefs. It was incredibly rare for him to cook personally. This should be his shop. According to reports, he had become the role model for the super powered individuals that were seeking for a way to become rich. He is widely praised by his local Special Affairs Department."
Crowned as the Female Zhuge, Qiao Zijiang spent no time in relating Fang Ning's information to the dishes.
Qiao Zishan nodded as he ate. "That's true. Life would be great if most of the Awakened behaved just like the owner of this shop. The people will live a less turbulent life if they focused more on how to live a stable and good life rather than causing trouble with their powers."
Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by a small wave of commotion within the shop. It was as if a famed personality had entered the place.
A few customers that looked familiar with their surroundings started to explain to the rest of the crowd, "Look, that hero that can eat through the night is here again."
"Haha, I met that hero before. Aside from eating into the night, he spends his night capturing criminals too," chuckled someone in praise.
Qiao Zishan was not an enthusiastic onlooker. He kept his head low until he heard the last part of the sentence. It was then that he finally looked up to see the person that walked in.
It only took a glance for his expression to morph into one of shock. The chopsticks in his hands nearly fell from his grip.
The man walked with a confident gait, his steps powerful like those of dragons and tigers. He walked just like how he did in the video, like he owned wherever he walked to. He almost looked like the leader of the martial arts world.
He was also a handsome man, with a slim and lean body like a reincarnation of Chu Liuxiang and Li Xunhuan. 1 There were no questions of why the eyes of the beauty who had a conflict with his sister just minutes ago would be glued to the man the moment he stepped in.
"Brother, what is going on?" Qiao Zijiang knew that her brother was always an unflustered man, and would only be affected it the matter as indeed a serious one.
"That person… He is Vigilante A, the one we've seen in the videos. I finally understood why he could kill the Lord of Seven Emotions and the three Bai Sisters after I meet him in real life. He allowed by Morality Chassis to recover, too! Ah, no wonder he could do that - his cultivation is one of the Relentless Path, and he had long achieved the peak of his powers!"
Chu Liuxiang and Li Xunhuan are fictional characters from the books of Gu Long. They are extremely skilled martial artists, and are always recognized as two of the most powerful character under his pen.