Chapter 93 - 92: Zhang Liang: This Man is Plenty Dark and Ruthless

Chu Linhai went to rally his people. He knew Hanhai Province wouldn’t care if Xu Huo was one of his guys once they got the news.

They would just stubbornly insist that Xu Huo was a free agent—an orphan with no police ID number.

And reality proved to be exactly as he’d thought.

After Qian Hua notified Zhang Jian, Zhang Jian immediately blocked Chu Linhai on his personal number.

’Chu Linhai?’

’Who’s that?’

’A buddy of several decades?’

’Was there ever such a thing?’

It wasn’t just him. Everyone else in Hanhai Province would also do their utmost to keep the man.

The one and only advisor to the Eastern Country’s Special Fifth Bureau. The honor and prestige were off the charts, not to mention his mind-bogglingly young age of 23.

As for his actual abilities...

The Special Fifth Bureau had no back doors, and Xu Huo’s track record was plain to see.

Five cases, and not a single one was simple!

Even the simplest one, the radio station case, was a major case that would make an entire city’s police force lose sleep and rack their brains trying to solve. And the others? Their severity had escalated at a rocket-like pace!

At this thought, Li Jianye and Qian Hua, two good buddies who had been laughing together just a moment ago, now found each other’s faces increasingly disagreeable as they stood eye to eye.

"Ahem, speaking of which, you were supposed to be assigned to my brigade back in the day, weren’t you, kid?"

Li Jianye hung up the phone, looking at Xu Huo with a placid expression.

"That’s right, around the same time as Xiao Xi..." Xu Huo began subconsciously.

"Actually, I think you could come to Linlan City."

All of a sudden, Wang Hu, who had been silent the whole time, spoke up.

"If you think about it, Advisor Xu, you’ve spent more time at our city bureau than you have at the Jiangsan City bureau. You must be used to it by now. I think it would be better if..."

"Better if what? What’s better? Better he returns to Jiangsan City for his post!"

Li Jianye cut him off directly, so anxious he no longer cared if the man before him was a high-ranking official in a white shirt or anyone else.

"Spending a long time at the city bureau just proves how dangerous Linlan City is! It’s nothing but cases. It’s better to go back to Jiangsan City!"

"Heh, a detective belongs on the front lines. It’s better to be in a dangerous place!"

Qian Hua backed Wang Hu up.

"Stop arguing, both of you. This isn’t getting you anywhere..."

Xu Huo tried to mediate helplessly from the side.

After a long while, the two sides finally separated, but they still glared at each other with displeasure.

Li Jianye checked the time.

He needed to leave and get back to the case. The information from the victim’s file for the field investigation had to be handled without a second to waste.

But he glanced up at Wang Hu and Qian Hua, thought for a moment, and then suddenly spoke.

"By the way, Wang Chao was looking for you just now. Seemed like it was important."

"Don’t you want to go see him?"

’Wang Chao is here again!?’

The corner of Xu Huo’s eye twitched. Hearing the name, Wang Hu beside him momentarily forgot about their squabble, his expression darkening instead.

"That kid... what does he want this time?"

"I don’t know. He was waiting for you earlier, but a few people took him away not long after."

Li Jianye shook his head and then pointed in a certain direction.

"I think they took him to the hall near the holding cells."

’He has business with me?’

Xu Huo raised an eyebrow, pondered for a moment, then turned and walked in the direction Li Jianye had indicated.

"I’ll go take a look."

...

On the fifth floor, in an office, Zhang Liang retracted his gaze.

He took a sip of tea, the billowing steam bringing a sense of comfort.

"Boss, it’s a call from the Capital City on your personal line."

"Answer it."

Zhang Liang screwed the lid on his cup, placed it on the desk, and took the phone handed to him by a subordinate.

"How are things going?"

"Any suspicious signs?"

A resonant voice came through the phone. It sounded slightly aged but was full of vigor.

"No, it’s a normal criminal case... just with a slightly high body count."

Zhang Liang replied.

"Hmm."

The other party responded with a single word, then fell silent.

Zhang Liang didn’t speak either.

After a long pause, the person on the other end finally spoke:

"I hear..."

"The Special Fifth Bureau has a new advisor?"

Without hesitation, Zhang Liang replied directly, "That’s right. A fine young man with immense potential."

"I originally wanted to recruit him into the Special Fifth Bureau, but..."

"He seems to have some reservations about the Special Fifth Bureau, so we signed an advisor contract instead."

"I plan to investigate the reasons for his reservations later."

His perception was not something an ordinary person could match. Even though Xu Huo had remained expressionless the entire time, his sixth sense told him something was off.

As for whether he believed in such things...

His sixth sense had saved his life more than once!

Hearing this, the voice on the other end of the line sounded slightly exasperated.

"That personality of yours... How many times have I told you? Even if it’s the Special Fifth Bureau, you can’t just go investigating people’s private lives!"

"It’s perfectly normal for someone to have reservations. The Special Fifth Bureau is known to outsiders as petty and a bunch of ’Living Yamas.’ Who wouldn’t be wary after hearing that?"

"You’re the one who ruined our reputation! A fish rots from the head down!"

"He just has some reservations, it’s not a matter of his allegiance... Why are you so addicted to investigating people?"

Zhang Liang nodded. "Yes."

"I’ll be sure to change next time!"

Hearing this assurance, the voice on the other end softened slightly. After a brief pause, it continued:

"I don’t care about the advisor matter."

"No one dares to make a move against the Special Fifth Bureau, and you have the authority to do this, but..."

"You made a complete rookie an advisor, and it’s caused an uproar in the Bureau. Even with his resume to back him up, it’s not much use..."

Official circles value one thing very highly.

Seniority!

Which can also be seen as age.

A young man, even with a solid track record, will still invite doubt and mistrust. Conversely, if an old detective had achieved what Xu Huo has, he would command more respect.

Besides coordinating positions and merits, the biggest reason is to gauge the stability of one’s mentality and ability.

This isn’t some unwritten rule; it’s an open secret.

For some important positions, there are clear regulations stating that the appointee cannot be younger than a certain age. Below that age, unless an exception is made, it doesn’t matter how capable you are.

Xu Huo is only 23, yet he’s been placed above a whole bunch of people. A certain degree of rebellious sentiment is bound to emerge.

"You’ll have to bear the verbal pressure from that side yourself. I won’t defend you."

The person on the other end of the line said this while looking out the window.

Outside the window was a prosperous cityscape, a place that seemed to belong to a different era compared to Jiangsan City and Linlan City.

This was the Capital City.

This was the heart of the Eastern Country!

The heart wasn’t large, only 16,000 square kilometers, but it was crucial and anything but simple.

In a previous life, within these 16,000 square kilometers, the entire Eastern Country had concentrated 22 million people.

And among these 22 million people were... nearly 20,000 households with assets exceeding one hundred million!

That’s right, not individuals, but households!

On average, there was one such household for every thousand people.

This was an astonishing statistic, so astonishing it was hard to imagine.

But in reality, the Eastern Country had a full 130,000 households with assets exceeding one hundred million. The number of them in each first-tier city is beyond your imagination...

It wasn’t just the wealthy.

There were many officials, too!

Not counting deputies, there were 13,000 section chiefs alone. In the provinces, every single one of them was at a level where others couldn’t even get their phone number!

Here, if a brick fell from a building, there was a high probability it would hit one of them.

And now, a 23-year-old rookie had leapfrogged over all the people who wanted to join the Special Fifth Bureau just to burnish their careers.

He wasn’t even a police officer, just a contract employee!

"They’re just words. Let them come."

Zhang Liang said faintly, his rank was high, and he couldn’t care less.

"Heh, I’m starting to get curious. What exactly is it about that young man that you value so much?" The voice on the other end sounded a little surprised.

"He’s ruthless, vicious, capable, young, and sharp. Exactly my type."

A smile appeared on Zhang Liang’s face.

"Seven days ago, he caught several villagers from the ’Ghost Well’ case who had harmed the deceased, Han Shi."

"Yes, he ’caught’ them with his fists, then promptly accepted his punishment and was confined for seven days."

The other end of the line went silent for a moment.

After a good while, the voice replied, as if in understanding, "That does indeed fit the Special Fifth Bureau’s style of doing things."

After saying that, he changed the subject and added:

"That’s it for this matter. You’ll have to shut everyone else up yourself."

"Hanging up."

Hearing those last two words, Zhang Liang’s brow furrowed, and he quickly said:

"Boss, wait."

"Something else?" the voice on the other end asked, puzzled.

"Just one thing."

Zhang Liang said.

"I’d like to ask..."

"Who exactly is out there spreading rumors that the Special Fifth Bureau is petty?"

"Is there a list?"

The other end of the line: ...

BEEP BEEP BEEP...

The other party didn’t reply as the line went dead.

...

...

Meanwhile, Xu Huo had no idea that a certain petty individual was already preparing to face a verbal firing squad.

He walked in the direction Li Jianye had pointed.

CREAK...

As he pushed open the door to the holding area, a familiar figure appeared in the hall.

At the same time, several voices floated into his ears.

"Starting a business?"

"Tell us about your entrepreneurial inspirations."

"Huh? All the data readings are normal? That can’t be right."

"Mr. Wang, please think about your future. Use your brain to deeply analyze your plans."

"Why are the readings still normal?"

"Something’s not right. Do we need to go to a hospital and use professional equipment?"

As the string of voices rang out, Xu Huo paused. He looked up at the people in front of him.

Before him were several people in white lab coats. They carried a faint, almost imperceptible smell of disinfectant, but wore no hospital markings.

They had pulled out a pile of monitoring equipment from who-knows-where.

"Brother Huo! Brother Huo, you’re here!?"

Wang Chao, who had been looking utterly bored, caught sight of Xu Huo out of the corner of his eye. He paused for a second, then waved excitedly.

The man was hooked up to all sorts of physiological monitors—ECG, EEG, they even had a voltage tester out, along with some device for measuring the surrounding air.

The people in white coats were scratching their heads, completely baffled.

’These people are...’

A thought stirred in Xu Huo’s mind, and he subconsciously started to back away, but it was too late.

"Huh? Advisor Xu!?"

"We’re from the Special Seventh Bureau, the unit that researches the special functions of human organs! We’ve been waiting for you! Come on, let’s get you hooked up too!"

The man in the white coat, Zhou Zheng, brightened upon seeing Xu Huo and hurried to push him forward.

"What is this..." Xu Huo sidestepped nonchalantly.

"Oh, it’s nothing. We just got some information from the Special Fifth Bureau and felt that something wasn’t quite right with you two, so we came to give you a check-up."

Zhou Zheng explained in a considerate tone.

’Special Seventh Bureau?’

’So, these kinds of people really do exist...’

Xu Huo paused, hiding his thoughts, and asked:

"So, are there any results?"

Results...

Zhou Zheng froze, lost in thought.

"The results..."