A chill shot down Big Beard's spine. His hairs stood on end, and the back of his neck went numb!
GULP!
He swallowed hard.
Director Ji, however, paid him no mind. He hurried forward and unlocked Lu Xuan's handcuffs.
"Mr. Lu, this is a classic case of the flood washing away the Dragon King Temple! My subordinates were blind and failed to recognize you. Please, you mustn't take offense..."
Lu Xuan sat calmly in his chair and tilted his head.
"So, am I free to go now?"
"Of course!"
"And my friend?"
"Well..." Ji Bochang paused, hesitating. Letting Lu Xuan go was one thing; the matter didn't really involve him in the first place. But Wu Xiaoxu...
He flinched, a bitter taste filling his mouth. 'Sakata Heavy Industries, Longque Technology... either one of them could crush me with ease!'
Lu Xuan seemed to read the Director's mind and shrugged.
"Fine, then. I won't leave either. I'd rather like to see just what crime Uncle Wu has committed."
"No, no, no!"
Director Ji steeled himself. He knew that trying to play both sides would please neither. He decisively unlocked Wu Xiaoxu's handcuffs as well.
"A friend of Mr. Lu is a friend of mine, naturally."
Chen Tianhua, Bald, and the others exchanged glances. 'Just what is the background of this kid from the slums?'
'Isn't the Director afraid of Sakata Heavy Industries holding him accountable?'
Wu Xiaoxu, meanwhile, was completely dumbfounded. His eyes darted back and forth between Brother Xuan and the Director of the Inspectorate.
He felt as if he were back at the cemetery that night, getting to know Brother Xuan for the first time all over again.
'Brother Xuan... who is he, really?'
At this moment, confusion appeared in Lu Xuan's eyes. 'I can sense the terrifying vital energy within Director Ji's body, a force as vast as a great river. His strength is far beyond my own.'
'So why is he treating me this way?'
'He didn't understand.'
At that moment, Director Ji spoke again, his tone deferential.
"Mr. Lu, your appointment papers should arrive within a week at most. I will deliver them to you personally."
'Appointment?'
'What appointment?'
Chen Tianhua froze. Beside him, Big Beard, the young inspector, and Bald also looked surprised.
But soon, the other three—everyone except Big Beard—realized what it meant, and their hearts trembled.
'Connecting this to the recent rumors, could this appointment be...?'
Lu Xuan, however, simply looked up and asked calmly,
"If I take this post, will I have the authority to reform the Inspectorate?"
'So it's true!'
A look of understanding dawned in the eyes of Chen Tianhua and the others. They were all shaken. 'This young man is the new deputy director?'
'The mysterious figure who killed the White Elephant Hall Master in two blows?'
At this thought, the Bald inspector couldn't help but swallow. Recalling his earlier attitude toward this man, he was struck with a wave of delayed fear.
Ji Bochang replied readily,
"If your reforms are reasonable and compliant with regulations, then there's no problem at all. It's entirely up to your preference, Mr. Lu."
'He'd made his decision. Since he was going to side with Longque Technology, he had to go all in. It was the only way to avoid being cast aside as a sacrificial pawn for Sakata Heavy Industries to devour!'
'When you pick a side, you see it through to the end.'
A smile touched Lu Xuan's lips. He suddenly turned to the cowering Big Beard and said,
"See? You did put out your cigarette earlier, didn't you? That proves the rules aren't useless. It's just that there was no one superior to you to enforce them. That's all."
Big Beard's eyes flickered, but he didn't dare to speak. Even he, dense as he was, could understand the situation now.
But just as Lu Xuan was about to say more, something happened.
HUM!
It was accompanied by a deep rumble from an unknown source.
The entire interrogation room began to tremble. Dust fell in clumps from the ceiling as the table and chairs rattled and slid across the floor.
"What's happening? An earthquake?" Wu Xiaoxu looked around in a daze, instinctively pressing himself into a corner.
Ji Bochang's expression changed instantly. The hairs on his arms stood up, and his eye began to twitch.
"No, this isn't an earthquake!"
Lu Xuan also felt a heavy pressure on his spirit. His heart sank, and a chill ran down his spine. He had a bad feeling about this.
He subconsciously dropped into a defensive stance. His muscles tensed, and a faint, jade-like luster flowed over his body, accompanied by the rumble of the Tiger and Leopard Thunder Sound!
"That is..." Amid the chaos, Chen Tianhua saw the jade-like luster on the young man's body. He froze, muttering to himself in astonishment,
"Is that the sign of Great Success in Marrow Refining? Jade Marrow Reflecting Outer Form?"
But he quickly accepted it. 'This man is almost certainly the new deputy director. It would be more surprising if he *hadn't* broken through to the third stage and achieved Great Success in Marrow Refining!'
What Chen Tianhua didn't know was that just a few days ago, when Lu Xuan had killed the White Elephant Hall Master, he was still only a Great Martial Artist at the second stage, the Bone Forging Realm...
The shaking in the interrogation room grew more and more violent. Ji Bochang decisively threw open the door. As they stepped out, they realized it wasn't just the interrogation room—the entire Inspectorate Building was trembling!
"Brother Xuan!" Wu Xiaoxu cried out as if remembering something. "An earthquake this strong... the slums..."
"It's not an earthquake," Lu Xuan said, his expression grave. "This is man-made."
"Huh?" Wu Xiaoxu stared blankly. Chen Tianhua and the others beside him were also stunned. Only Ji Bochang nodded in agreement.
"It is man-made. I can feel a vast aura surging, boundless as the Celestial Vault... It's at least a Grandmaster, perhaps even stronger!"
'Stronger than a Grandmaster?'
Chen Tianhua's face drained of color. 'Wouldn't that be a legendary Celestial Human?!'
'How could there be a Celestial Human in East Sea City?'
Without hesitating, the group hurried down the corridor and into the main lobby. It was empty; the staff had already fled outside.
"Let's get outside and see!" Ji Bochang led Lu Xuan and the others out. The moment they stepped out of the Inspectorate Building, Wu Xiaoxu gasped.
"What is that?"
Lu Xuan looked up toward the horizon, his pupils contracting slightly.
On the far distant horizon, purple-black lightning roiled like a thousand-mile tide, clashing with a blinding golden light amid the clang of blades.
With Lu Xuan's current eyesight, he could just make out an Ancient War Chariot, thousands of meters long, charging through the sky and repeatedly crashing against a beam of sword light.
Amidst the violent collisions, Lu Xuan could even see the Celestial Vault itself shattering into fragments!
One or two of these fragments fell, kicking up black dust tens of thousands of meters high. A terrifying shockwave swept for hundreds of miles, causing East Sea City and its tens of millions of inhabitants to tremble on the verge of collapse.
"Some great powers are at war?" Ji Bochang swallowed hard. "Are those two passing Celestial Humans? No, even Celestial Humans don't possess such might... It's an Immortal!"
No one answered him. Lu Xuan simply stared, transfixed, at the horizon, watching the tide of lightning crash against the blinding golden light, his heart pounding.
'So this is what a truly powerful Cultivator is like?'
'The battlefield is who knows how far from here, yet a mere ripple of the aftershock is enough to plunge all of East Sea City into an earthquake!'
Suddenly, a vast voice boomed from the horizon.
"You just don't quit, do you? Fine, fine, fine! In that case, I'll stop holding back. I'll cut you down, and then I'll wait right here for ten days. I'll wait for the rest of you to show up. Old Master will slaughter every last one who comes!"
As the voice faded, a vast beam of sword light, brilliant as the Great Sun, flashed across the sky. Accompanied by a heaven-shaking, agonized howl, the massive Ancient War Chariot, thousands of meters long, could be seen tumbling from the sky as blood stained the horizon!
Staring at the shattered Celestial Vault in the far distance, now stained crimson with blood, Lu Xuan was shaken, but also a little confused.
'That voice just now... Why did it sound so familiar?'
He subconsciously turned his head, just in time to see Wu Xiaoxu looking back at him with the exact same shocked and uncertain expression.