The First Order

Chapter 999: Finding those responsible

The fog around the Sacred Mountains did not disperse, and the tarantulas hidden within it still lingered.

When these 2,000-odd people arrived at the foggy region, they did not stop in their tracks like normal people would. Instead, they plunged right in.

But surprisingly, their pace did not seem to be affected by the fog at all. They continued advancing into the heart of the Sacred Mountains without any hindrance.

It had been a long time since anyone came to this abandoned land. When the tarantulas discovered there was prey, they started converging on this unit of soldiers.

But when the tarantulas appeared, these soldiers did not panic one bit. One of them took out a black box that played a strange sound. When the tarantulas heard the sound, they immediately retreated.

It seemed the soldiers did not intend to kill the tarantulas. Instead, they wanted to use them as a natural protective barrier to continue guarding the secret of this place.

It was not the same secret the Pyro Company used to protect, but a new one.

The group of more than 2,000 soldiers walked in an orderly manner. When they entered the heart of the Sacred Mountains, silvery strands appeared on the face of the person at the front. “This really is a suitable place. Although the facilities are a little old, there’s a lot of materials here that we can put to use immediately.”

After that, the 2,000-odd soldiers behind him immediately entered the various buildings and started searching for equipment left behind by the Pyro Company.

Based on his calculations, this Sacred Mountains were currently the most suitable place to establish a secret factory. Although it still lacked the support of certain technologies, his final requirements would soon be met when the Wang Consortium fully annexed the Pyro Company.

He turned around and looked around at the overgrown weeds in the heart of the Sacred Mountains and suddenly felt this place was very suitable for him. Everything here seemed like a new beginning.

…

At this moment, the Zhou Consortium’s main forces were still rushing to Stronghold 73 to assemble.

Inside Stronghold 73, in an office at the intelligence agency’s secret base, a middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses was reading a document in his hand with a frown. “Any news of Ren Xiaosu?”

“Sir, he departed from Luoyang City by himself two days ago in the morning. His whereabouts are currently unknown.”

The Zhou Consortium’s intelligence director named Zhou Shoushi was a little unhappy. “What the hell are you people doing? How could you lose track of an extremely dangerous person like him?”

In the luxurious office, a huge, taxidermied tiger head was hanging on the wall. This was the tiger Zhou Shoushi had killed 17 years ago.

There was even an exquisite-looking hunting rifle placed under the tiger’s head. Everyone who entered the office would be greeted by this sight first and feel the authority of the office’s owner within the Zhou Consortium.

In the Zhou Consortium, Zhou Shoushi, as well as Zhou Xilong, who had been killed by Ren Xiaosu, and the current highest-ranking military commander, Zhou Yifei, were also known as the Zhou Consortium’s Three Tigers. Zhou Shoushi actually quite liked this nickname.

The office windows were covered by thick curtains. It was as though the people in here had a natural dislike for sunlight.

The intelligence agent opposite of Zhou Shoushi said, “The main forces should be arriving at Stronghold 73 within two days. Sir, surely we don’t need to be this worried, right?”

“The issue is how are we going to make it through the next two days.” Zhou Shoushi placed the document in his hand aside. “How are things over at Hope Media?”

“An informant at Luoyang City sent us a message saying Hope Media is packing up their stuff. It seems like they’re moving out of their headquarters.” The intelligence agent said, “A convoy has already parked outside of Hope Media, so they should be leaving in the next few days.”

“Leaving?” Zhou Shoushi was taken aback. “Where are they going?”

“It’s rumored that they’re heading to the Northwest,” the intelligence agent said.

All of a sudden, an explosion boomed from outside. Zhou Shoushi immediately stood up. “What’s going on?!”

After a while, an intelligence agent knocked on the door and came in. “Sir, bad news! The city gate of Stronghold 73 has been blown up with explosives!”

“What?” Zhou Shoushi was stunned. “The city gate was blown up? What’re the garrison troops doing?”

“They’re pursuing the person who blew up the city gate. Apparently, the culprit was inside the city during the incident. He suddenly approached the city gate at a very fast speed, dropped the explosives, then ran away. Right now, the criminal who blew up the gate is trying to escape the stronghold, but it seems like there’s more than one of them. He has a partner,” the intelligence agent explained.

“Hurry off! It’s a disgrace to our intelligence agency that people like them have infiltrated the stronghold. Organize a field operation to arrest them. We must capture these people before it turns dark!” Zhou Shoushi flew into a rage. For such a serious crime to happen, he would probably not be able to answer to his boss, Zhou Shiji.

In an instant, most of the Zhou Consortium’s intelligence agency’s field operatives were attracted by the explosion and rushed out like a swarm of locusts.

When Zhou Shoushi picked up his teacup, he suddenly realized it had gotten cold. He picked up the phone and told the people outside, “Change my tea.”

Afterwards, he hung up and started going through the other documents. But for some reason, Zhou Shoushi felt a little uneasy.

They were already on guard against Ren Xiaosu taking revenge on the Zhou Consortium. Now that such a terrible incident had suddenly happened in Stronghold 73, he knew it was definitely related to Ren Xiaosu.

The door opened with a creak. Zhou Shoushi frowned. “Why didn’t you knock—”

Zhou Shoushi was about to lose his temper, but when he saw the young man who pushed open the door, he froze.

Ren Xiaosu was holding a tea saucer in his hand. However, there was no cup nor any piping hot tea on it. Instead, a bloodied pistol was resting there.

Zhou Shoushi forced himself to calm down. He slowly reached under the table and tried to press the red button. However, Ren Xiaosu said with a smile, “Don’t bother pressing it. It’s useless. Everyone in the building is dead. I didn’t even let off the guard hounds that y’all raised. Do you think I’m a little deranged?”

Zhou Shoushi felt a chill fall upon him. He had not even heard any commotion outside. But as soon as Ren Xiaosu said that, Zhou Shoushi believed him simply because he was Ren Xiaosu.

“What are you doing here?” Zhou Shoushi asked anxiously.

“I heard that y’all were looking for me and even offered a reward to the intelligence brokers in the mob. When I saw that the offer was so high, I decided to sneak in here and see if I could claim the money.” Ren Xiaosu plucked the cloth Zhou Shoushi used to clean his glasses with off the table and started wiping the bloodstained pistol on the saucer.

Zhou Shoushi said, “It wasn’t my idea to kill Jiang Xu.”

“See, it’s much easier if we chat like this, isn’t it?” Ren Xiaosu said calmly, “Who else could it be but you? You’re Luo Zongren’s immediate superior.”

“Although he’s half a rank lower than me, he doesn’t report to me most of the time. I also know the deeds he carries out are those that can’t be seen out in the open, so I deliberately avoided them. I was afraid the boss would silence me to keep a secret,” Zhou Shoushi explained.

“Mhm, that’s a very good reason.” Ren Xiaosu nodded. “So you’re telling me that the person who wanted Jiang Xu killed and gave the order to do so was the Zhou Consortium’s boss, Zhou Shiji? But even if you can wash your hands of this matter, you still have to die.”