Hu Jia had always believed his father's death was a silencing of witnesses, but he never imagined a sum of money was involved.
A hero?
Did he have the nerve to call himself a hero?
"Are you *that* hero?" Hu Jia's gaze burned, wishing it could pierce through the mask.
"Yes and no!" Sixth Master's answer was ambiguous.
"Of course you're not!" Hu Jia roared, "What is a hero? To support the weak and suppress the strong. What about you? You use violence to satisfy your selfish desires, and you call it suppressing the strong. You treat human lives like grass, and you call it ridding the people of harm. You transfer the people's wealth from the wolf's mouth to the jackal's, and you call it severing the other party's intentions."
Hu Jia roared and struggled. If he hadn't been bound by thick ropes, he would have bitten off a piece of the man's flesh. "You use the killing of policemen to cover up your own crimes. How are you different from Huang Yawen and Zhu Xuan? You all use the tears and blood of others to achieve your own wealth. They just rob in the daylight, while you snatch from behind the clouds."
Thinking of his father's death, Hu Jia could no longer suppress his emotions. "Take off that mask! Let me see your filthy face hiding in the shadows."
"Aren't you afraid of death?" Sixth Master asked.
"If I don't die, then you die! So you'd better kill me now," Hu Jia shouted.
"Heh heh, no rush." Sixth Master was still laughing, his laughter like razor blades cutting at Hu Jia's ears, stinging.
"Don't you just want to know the last two lines of those four sentences? Fine, agree to one condition, and I'll tell you." Hu Jia knew Sixth Master wouldn't kill him for now, as he still had unanswered questions.
"Speak," Sixth Master showed no excitement, his demeanor as casual as an everyday chat.
Perhaps, in his heart, he never believed Hu Jia would tell him the answer.
"Let Mou Ji Xuan go first," Hu Jia stated his condition.
He thought, since Sixth Master had told him the entire truth of the case, killing him was only a matter of time.
He was going to die anyway, so he might as well save one person if he could.
"Alright." Hu Jia hadn't expected Sixth Master to agree so readily.
As Sixth Master waved his hand, they saw Mou Ji Xuan, from afar, indeed regaining his freedom. However, the order was that "Mou Ji Xuan" only waved to Hu Jia from a distance.
Although Hu Jia didn't know if Sixth Master would truly let Mou Ji Xuan go, at least he had tried.
"Come here!" Hu Jia looked at Sixth Master.
Sixth Master walked slowly to Hu Jia's front, one sitting, the other standing.
"You're too tall, I'm afraid you won't hear what I say."
Sixth Master slowly squatted down, right in front of Hu Jia.
Suddenly, Hu Jia moved his head and rammed it fiercely towards Sixth Master. To his surprise, Sixth Master seemed to have anticipated Hu Jia's move, tilting his head back to narrowly avoid it.
"Haha, I've seen this trick of yours countless times," Sixth Master sneered.
But a flicker of disdain flashed in Hu Jia's eyes. He suddenly stood up and headbutted Sixth Master's chest, sending the man tumbling backward onto the ground.
"Then how did you not dodge this?" Hu Jia, his hands and feet bound, lost his balance the moment he stood up and fell to the ground.
Sixth Master got up from the floor. "As expected, I underestimated you. That feint was quite effective." He dusted off his clothes and then smiled, "So what? In the end, it's me who stands, and you who falls!"
Hu Jia lay on the ground, still cursing.
To ensure their conversation remained secret, Sixth Master had left no subordinates in the room.
He watched Hu Jia struggle, fully sensing the anger and hatred Hu Jia projected, but he didn't stop Hu Jia, nor did he interrupt his tirade.
After a while, Sixth Master finally spoke, "Consider this minute my apology to you. Now, can you tell me who that person is?"
"Go to hell," Hu Jia spat, the saliva landing squarely on target.
...
Sixth Master opened the door, the dust on his clothes making him look slightly disheveled. The subordinates guarding the door found it a bit strange but were disciplined enough not to ask any questions.
Only Tong Hua, perhaps driven to the brink of madness by his hatred for Hu Jia, exclaimed, "That brat dared to make a move? Sixth Master, I'll go teach him a lesson. I'll beat him until he kneels before you."
Sixth Master glanced indifferently at Tong Hua. "It seems you've thrown that cup of tea into the ninth heaven. Guards, drag him away and give him the 'Dao Gui' treatment."
Tong Hua was stunned.
He truly couldn't understand what Sixth Master saw in Hu Jia. From the initial order for someone to commit suicide to provoke Hu Jia, to repeatedly setting traps for Hu Jia, all his requests were to not harm him.
If you want to harm someone, then harm them. If you don't want to harm others, why do you keep doing things that hurt Hu Jia?
Despite his resentment, Tong Hua still didn't dare to act presumptuously, begging for mercy all the way until he was dragged away.
Only Lu Qingqing, with an unchanged expression, stepped forward to straighten Sixth Master's collar. In truth, she shared Tong Hua's confusion as to why Sixth Master wouldn't kill Hu Jia, but now she had a guess.
Hu Jia possessed something Sixth Master wanted, perhaps a person, perhaps an object, perhaps information...
In that moment, Tong Meng felt a sliver of relief.
He knew that as long as Hu Jia held something over Sixth Master, Sixth Master wouldn't deliver a fatal blow.
The two of them left, chatting and laughing. Tong Meng "inadvertently" looked back and saw Hu Jia lying on the ground, but his eyes were fixed in their direction.
It was a look of unwillingness and defiance.
Hu Jia, however, watched Sixth Master's retreating back. The man was a bit stout, around 1.76 meters tall. He was completely covered, but judging from his exposed hand, he seemed to be a middle-aged man, perhaps around fifty.
A strong signal was released in Hu Jia's mind: I must remember this man.
Remember him!
As long as I get out of here alive, I will capture you with my own hands.
With my own hands!
These words kept swirling in Hu Jia's mind like an unresolvable fog. It slowly obscured his vision, and then Hu Jia felt like he could see nothing, even experiencing a sense of dizziness.
The world spun!
Hu Jia lowered his head and passed out.
...
"This forest isn't complicated. Judging by their footprints, they must have escaped. Furthermore, the three sets of footprints are not panicked and have stayed together. I believe there was no conflict among them."
Lu Qingqing and Ouyang Wen had emerged from the dense woods. The traces on the ground indicated that Hu Jia and the Wang brothers had not engaged in any fighting from beginning to end, which somewhat reassured Lu Qingqing.
Therefore, the two decided to head home, thinking Hu Jia might have already returned.
"By the way, investigate Tong Meng thoroughly when you get back," Lu Qingqing said mid-journey, recalling the matter of the mole and voicing her suspicions.
"You mean she let the members of the Blade Man organization escape?" Ouyang Wen clearly hadn't expected Tong Meng to do such a thing. "Has she gone mad? She usually seems careless, disliking dirty work and hardship, and not keen on investigating cases, but she always completes assigned tasks. How could she be so rash this time?"
"Perhaps it wasn't rash," Lu Qingqing gave Ouyang Wen a meaningful look. "It was deliberate!"
Ouyang Wen remained silent. Deep down, he was unwilling to admit that one of his subordinates was a mole, but based on Lu Qingqing's analysis, Tong Meng's actions made no sense.
Lu Qingqing knew what Ouyang Wen was thinking. She, too, had been a leader and understood well that no leader wants to believe that someone within their team harbors ulterior motives.
"Think carefully, is it possible Tong Meng knew about the news of Feng Si's return?" Lu Qingqing wanted to help Ouyang Wen confirm her suspicion.
"Impossible, right? Only you and I know about this news, and also..." As if a sudden thought struck him, Ouyang Wen abruptly stopped speaking.
"What is it? Who else?" Lu Qingqing asked.