Chapter 147 A Strange Address

"That was... a little over a month ago, I went to that 'warehouse' once." Xiao Tan's narration began. Judging from his speed and expression, that experience was still fresh in his memory. However, when describing the date, he used a rather vague phrase like "a little over a month ago," indicating that he was unable to reveal the exact time for some reason.

"So... before Gui Xiao's kidnapping?" Feng Bujue asked.

"Yes." Xiao Tan nodded. "At that time, I didn't know Dongfeng existed, and what I'm going to say... has nothing to do with him."

"Do you know about this?" Feng Bujue immediately turned to Bao Qing and asked.

"I've seen the report," Bao Qing replied. "As for the specific situation..." He shrugged and turned his gaze to Xiao Tan. "Since you brought it up, I'll listen."

While the two of them were talking, Wang Tanzhi picked up a drink from the coffee table, cleared his throat, and continued, "That day, I happened to be off work, and Xiao Ling had to go to work..."

"When you say 'go to work,' what you really mean is—she goes to her family's company to slack off, right?" Before Xiao Tan could finish his first sentence, Brother Jue interrupted and quipped.

"Not really..." Xiao Tan replied. "Recently, my future father-in-law has been personally teaching Xiao Ling about management. After Xiao Ling gets home, she still has to cram for a few hours with materials. I feel like her job is harder than mine."

"Hey, can you stop interrupting..." Bao Qing said to Brother Jue. "He's only said half a sentence, and you're already taking the topic far away. And... I've noticed that you have a bit of a stereotypical prejudice against the rich and powerful. Just because a rich second generation goes to work at their own company, it doesn't mean they're just slacking off, right? And just because we're civil servants, it doesn't mean we're all murderers, arsonists, and above the law all day long, right?"

"Then have you ever killed anyone, set anything on fire, or broken the law?" Feng Bujue retorted.

"Uh..." Bao Qing hesitated for two seconds, then, as if he had suddenly lost his memory, turned his face and looked at Xiao Tan. "Where were we? You were off that day, right?"

"Hey, hey... looks like the answer is yes, yes, and yes..." Feng Bujue narrowed his eyes and secretly muttered to himself again, but he didn't say it out loud, lest the topic be dragged into a bickering match again.

"Yes." On the other side, Xiao Tan followed up, "That day, I was just about to eat lunch when I suddenly received a call... The caller ID showed 'Unknown Number.' I had never encountered this before. Although I suspected it might be a sales call or a scam, based on Brother Jue's principle of 'considering all possibilities,' I still answered it."

"What does his principle have to do with whether or not you answer the phone?" Hearing this, Bao Qing couldn't help but wonder, "In the end... isn't that just establishing a psychological defense line called 'Given my luck, it's hard to say how unlucky I'll be, so let's assume the worst-case scenario' when encountering an unknown situation..."

"Yeah." Xiao Tan replied in a very normal tone, "The assumption I made at the time was... maybe my parents were lost abroad, or had encountered a shipwreck or a mountain disaster, or had been put in a coffin and buried alive underground... And all they had was a phone with an unknown number and only one bar of battery. In that situation, they would probably call me."

"Sigh..." Bao Qing sighed, picked up his cup of tea from the coffee table, and took a sip. "I can't help it. After all, he grew up with Feng Bujue, so mental pollution is inevitable..."

"Hey, aren't you growing up with us too?" Feng Bujue immediately retorted.

"That's why..." Bao Qing continued, "Since I was ten years old, I've applied to the organization for regular professional psychological counseling and mental assessments."

"Wow~ Not bad," Feng Bujue said, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course~ 'Not bad'~" Bao Qing emphasized. "No matter what, I'm still a genius young agent. If an ordinary person were to infiltrate your side... even if their identity wasn't exposed, their spirit would have collapsed long ago."

"What 'genius young agent'?" Feng Bujue curled his lip. "I haven't seen you use a tranquilizer needle to knock down adults and pull out a voice changer to solve cases when you were in elementary school, have I?"

"Nonsense, which elementary school student in the real world has murder cases happening around them all year round?" Bao Qing said, then, as if he had remembered something, paused for two seconds and added, "Uh... even if there were some murder cases around me, they were basically all related to you, okay? I knew from the beginning that it was you, the target of surveillance, who did it. Who would I *biu* at?"

"Hmm..." At this moment, Feng Bujue also pondered for two seconds, then, as if he had lost his memory, turned his face to look at Xiao Tan again. "Where were we? Answered the phone?"

Bao Qing rolled his eyes and didn't respond.

This kind of situation often happened when the three of them got together to chat. They could talk about something that could be explained in ten minutes for an hour, because of their habit of intermittent digressions and mutual quips...

Xiao Tan was used to it anyway. If Bao Qing were the one telling the story today, it would be his and Brother Jue's turn to bicker... The result would be the same.

"Anyway... I answered the phone." Xiao Tan picked up the topic again and continued, "And on the other end of the phone... was Xiao Ling's grandfather."

"Gu Chen?"

"Section Chief Gu?"

Feng Bujue and Bao Qing blurted out two different titles at the same moment, and they were obviously referring to the same person.

"Yeah." Xiao Tan nodded. "I've met the old man a few times before, and he told me a lot—such as the affairs of the Ninth Division, the affairs of spiritual power, as well as Ghost Hunters, Borderliners, and so on..."

"Oh..." Feng Bujue's expression changed slightly when he heard this, and he asked, "Then did he also pass on a set of cultivation techniques to you by the way?"

"No, he didn't," Xiao Tan replied.

"I see..." Brother Jue muttered, stroking his chin, while also thinking in his heart, "Could it be that the *Dunjia Tianshu* (Mystic Armor Heavenly Book) has a rule that it can only be passed down to one person? If I give it to you, I can't give it to anyone else? Or... does Section Chief Gu think Xiao Tan's qualifications aren't good enough? Or is it... he doesn't like this grandson-in-law very much?"

"Besides... I feel like he doesn't like me very much." Two seconds later, Xiao Tan answered Brother Jue's doubts without being asked, "So it's not surprising that he didn't pass on any cultivation techniques to me, right?"

"Oh?" Brother Jue asked curiously, "You're a popular, handsome, rich guy loved by everyone, young and old, and he actually doesn't like you?"

"Uh... he didn't explicitly say that he didn't like me." Xiao Tan said with a pensive look.

"Heh... I understand." Bao Qing immediately said with a knowing expression, "Section Chief Gu is using actions to express his feelings to you, right?"

"Yeah." Xiao Tan replied, "The first time we met, he dragged me into an interrogation room and beat me up. Just when I felt like I was going to die, he used his spiritual power to heal me."

"This is to let you intuitively experience the existence of spiritual power, so that you can understand the explanation later, right?" Feng Bujue continued.

"There's no need. I already knew about the setting of spiritual power at that time." Xiao Tan replied, "Xiao Ling had told me a lot."

"Then did you ask him why he did that?" Feng Bujue asked.

"I asked," Xiao Tan said. "He threw me a baffling answer, saying something like—'Beautiful women and virgins are as obvious as lipstick on a shirt collar.'"

"What does that mean?" Bao Qing also asked curiously.

"Ah... I asked the same question after hearing that sentence." Xiao Tan replied, "As a result, after I asked... he beat me up again."

"No way..." Bao Qing also looked puzzled, muttering, "Although Section Chief Gu often does malicious things, they are all very purposeful... He is definitely not the kind of person whose emotions change randomly... This doesn't make sense."

"I still don't understand what those two beatings were all about," Xiao Tan said, spreading his hands.

At this moment, among the three people present, only Feng Bujue... after thinking about it for a while, thought of the reason.

A few seconds later, Brother Jue chuckled and leaned over to Bao Qing's ear, quietly saying a few words in a low voice.

"Oh—" Bao Qing immediately acted as if he had suddenly understood. "I see... well... understandable, understandable."

"Right?" Feng Bujue said to Bao Qing, "You're a father, and your reaction isn't even as fast as mine."

"Eh?" Xiao Tan was stunned. "Eh? Eh? Eh?" He shouted several times, looking at Feng Bujue. "What's going on? You actually understood this as soon as you heard it?"

"Yes, I understand," Feng Bujue nodded.

"Then why?" Xiao Tan quickly asked.

"Hehe..." Feng Bujue smiled, not answering his question, but suddenly talking about his own affairs, "Do you know... the progress between me and Sister Yu has been stagnant for a long time?"

"Uh..." Xiao Tan was stunned again. "I know, but does this have anything to do with my question?"

"The relationship is..." Feng Bujue's expression suddenly changed, and his eyes widened like copper bells, staring at Xiao Tan. "If you ask such a stupid question again, I will immediately use the martial arts personally taught by Section Chief Gu to beat you up."

"After you beat him, I'll be responsible for calling the ambulance and help you testify that it was self-defense." Bao Qing also followed up.

"Huh?" Xiao Tan was completely dumbfounded at this moment, and didn't react for a long time.

Fortunately... he was never the kind of person who had to get to the bottom of everything. In many things, even if he suffered a loss, he would just laugh it off. As long as it didn't involve any principles, he wouldn't take it to heart. Therefore, the topic stopped here, and Xiao Tan didn't ask any further questions.

At this time, no one thought... that it was not until decades later that Wang Tanzhi unraveled the truth of this matter. And at that time... he was using his family's martial arts to beat up Feng Bujue's son.

Of course, those things may not appear in this book, so we'll just mention them briefly.

"Okay... then I'll continue talking about the matter." Xiao Tan continued, "That day, when I received the call, it was noon. I hadn't even eaten yet, and I was called to a strange address by Section Chief Gu."

"The saying 'a strange address' means you can't let me know, right?" Feng Bujue asked.

"Yes, the date and location must be kept secret." Xiao Tan continued, "Anyway... I was called to the 'warehouse' just like that." He paused for half a second and added, "After I got there, I didn't see anything strange, because from the outside, it was just a very ordinary building. There was a kind old man sitting in the gatehouse. I didn't even roll down the car window, and he opened the gate and waved me in. So, I drove into the warehouse and parked the car in a parking space. After getting out of the car, an uncle named Zhang Zhi'ang came over and led me into the warehouse."

"Wait..." Feng Bujue said, "You're not allowed to say the time and location, but you're giving out the full name of the agent like that?"

"Hehe..." Xiao Tan chuckled and narrowed his eyes, replying, "Brother Jue, of course you wouldn't realize it just by hearing 'Zhang Zhi'ang.' I'll tell you a few more names of the warehouse staff and you'll understand." He paused for a second and continued, "The other employees in this warehouse are—Li Leyi, Zhou Zhiou, Su Siwu..."

"What the heck?" Feng Bujue heard three more names and discovered the pattern. "These names are all the pinyin pronunciations of the surnames?"

"Actually..." At this time, Bao Qing continued, "The aliases in our place are not all this routine." He explained, "Because some surnames combined with the pinyin pronunciation of the name would be very strange, such as 'Yu Yuyu'..."

"What? Still 'Yu Yuyu'?" Brother Jue couldn't wait for the other party to finish speaking before quipping, "So the person named Yu Yuyu is actually an agent? Eh? That's not right... In that case, are people with such names all agents using aliases? Then what about Diao Deyi (a character in *Shajia Pond*)? A counter-spy?"

"Let me finish first..." Bao Qing also knew that Brother Jue was joking, so he didn't correct the fact that Diao Deyi was a fictional character in a model opera. He just continued, "Because some characters are not easy to split into pinyin, or they sound too strange, so we also have another type of alias, which is based on radicals; for example, Feng Er Ma, Liu Wen Dao, Xu Yan Wu, and so on."

"Ho..." Feng Bujue widened his eyes and thought for a few seconds. "Then, what about the surname Man (满)? Should he be called 'Man Mo An (满摸俺)'? Or should he just change his name to 'Cao Liang San (草两三)'?"

"Why do you care about that?" Bao Qing squinted at Brother Jue. "Don't worry, a devil like you will never be specially recruited by us, so you don't need to consider this aspect."

Unexpectedly, at this time, Xiao Tan looked at Bao Qing and said, "Bao Daren..." His expression was particularly serious, "In case I'm recruited by you in the future, I don't want to be called Wang Gan Yi (王干一)."

"What's the use of telling me that!" Bao Qing was shocked. "Continue to talk about your warehouse stuff! The warehouse!"