“If it is inconvenient for you to tell me, that’s alright. I was just curious, that’s all. But if Director Qi is willing to tell me, I promise to watch my mouth.”
Naturally, Ding Ning had his own reasons for wanting to know about this special department.
As they say, if you know yourself and your enemy, you will never be defeated. As a wild martial artist, naturally, he had to give consideration to what kind of opposition he would face once his martial artist identity was discovered.
“This special department reports directly to the National Security Agency. They are only responsible for investigating cases involving martial artists and supernatural matters. They’re called the “Seventeenth Department”. They look like an unremarkable and idle department within the National Security Agency but in reality, they hold great power. They only go into action when a martial artist breaks the law in someplace. They are responsible for capturing and questioning them. I’ve been in the police for many years, but I only came into contact with them three years ago when there was a martial artist involved in a case in Ninghai. Only then did I learn of the Seventeenth Department’s existence but I don’t know the specifics of the department.”
Director Qi spoke with a far-off gaze. In his mind, he recalled the two members of the Seventeenth Department that he had seen. From the outside, they looked no different to normal people but after they completed the exchange, they disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye. Director Qi had thought he was hallucinating.
“Why didn’t the Seventeenth Department make an appearance during the military equipment guard case that sent Ninghai in an uproar a while ago?”
Ding Ning tried to worm something out of him casually.
“That was a case of outside mercenaries causing trouble, not worth having the Seventeenth Department make an appearance. Truthfully, if the Gu father and son case only involved Yu Qian and his senior brother, there would be no need for the Seventeenth Department to take over but since it involves the Northern River Liu family, we have to transfer this to them.”
Director Qi explained patiently.
“Why? Is the Northern River Liu family very powerful?”
Ding Ning continued his questioning like a curious child.
“The present head of the Liu family, Liu Changqing, has the potential to become a grandmaster. His personality is very explosive and he’s very protective of his people. If the Seventeenth Department came out and captured Yu Qian, no matter how angry he is, he would have to suppress it. After all, he doesn’t yet have the courage to challenge the Seventeenth Department. But if the police capture Yu Qian, I’m afraid he might assassinate the officers on the case in revenge.”
Director Qi spoke plainly of the pros and cons in this matter to have Ding Ning understand that if the case was not transferred, Liu Changqing’s first target of revenge would probably be Xiao Nuo.
Ding Ning furrowed his brows. He did not wish for the case to be transferred to the Seventeenth Department. After all, once it was transferred, it was very likely that the Seventeenth Department would bring the Ye Huan and Ye Le and himself in for questioning. It would be difficult to know what could happen.
“No transfer. I’ll be responsible for dealing with this case.”
Xiao Nuo spoke firmly. She seemed to understand Ding Ning’s concerns.
“But Liu Changqing…”
Director Qi became very anxious and was about to try and persuade her otherwise. But once he remembered Xiao Nuo’s family background, he figured it shouldn’t be a problem for them to deal with Liu Changqing.
“I’ll be responsible for Xiao Nuo’s safety. Liu Changqing’s present realm of cultivation should be at the A level, right? The transition between master and grandmaster is not one that can be accomplished within a short amount of time. If he behaves, things will be fine but if he dares to think about revenge, I will have him die tragically.”
A ferocious light flashed through Ding Ning’s eyes. The battle-lust trait in his body moved restlessly. A man at the master level? He would love the opportunity to meet him.
Until now, he still had no idea what level his cultivation had reached. Perhaps Liu Changqing would be a very good measuring rod.
At this moment, an overbearing and powerful aura emanated from his body. Director Qi and Secretary Xu both felt it. It was as if they were faced with an elder in a position much higher than them. It made it impossible to doubt his words.
Strange lights flashed through Xiao Nuo’s beautiful eyes. This man was always so mysterious, which sucked her in deeply, leaving her unable to free herself.
“You have to consider this carefully. The city leader has only given us two days to solve this case. Although the case has now been solved, the criminals have not been caught. Isn’t it better to hand it directly to the Seventeenth Department? It would save us a lot of trouble.”
Director Qi patiently tried to persuade them.
“He’s right, Brother Ding, you have other important things to do. Surely there’s no need to waste time on this case?”
Secretary Xu also persuaded them patiently.
Ding Ning smiled widely. “Director Qi, Brother Xu, I appreciate your kindness but this case is a very simple matter for me. Since I’m going to take on the post as a special consultant to the police, I’ll capture Yu Qian tonight and bring him to justice as a show of loyalty.”
“Ah? Are you sure? How many people do you need?”
Director Qi was delighted. Yu Qian had already lost to Ding Ning before. If Ding Ning was willing to help, he would certainly be able to capture him. The only problem was that they didn’t know where Yu Qian was hidden.
“Xiao Nuo and I are enough, there’s no point taking more people. However, Director Qi, you have to be mentally prepared.”
Ding Ning’s expression was serious as he spoke. “The murderer is guilty but the victim may not be fully innocent. Even if Gu Fangran is a representative of the National People’s Congress, it cannot wipe away the crimes the father and son committed while alive. I hope that after I find sufficient evidence, we can give the victims justice.”
“Well…” Director Qi looked awkwardly toward Secretary Xu.
Everyone knew that Gu Fangran started his career in the underground, so his hands were definitely not clean. The reason no one dared to touch him was that he had friends in high places.
If they dug too deep, Ninghai would certainly experience a bureaucratic shakeup. This was not something he, as a director, could decide.
Secretary Xu furrowed his brows. He thought for a moment then abruptly said, “I’ll discuss it with Mayor Du.”
“Alright, then I’ll have to trouble you.”
Ding Ning silently let out a breath in thanks. He was worried that Secretary Xu would be afraid of taking on the responsibility and would not discuss it with the mayor. If that was the case, everything he had done would have gone to waste.
Ever since Gu Fangran died, he had secretly done a great deal of work. From the messages sent to him from Xiaohuang, who was responsible for shadowing Jiang Zhongze, as well as the information acquired by Wu Xian from infiltrating Gu Fangran’s personal computer, he learned that the person behind Gu Fangran was the deputy district chief of Jingpu district, Luo Shihai.
And the person behind Luo Shihai was very likely Jiang Zhongze. Otherwise, after Gu Fangran died, Luo Shihai would not have called Jiang Zhongze immediately to report this. At that time, Jiang Zhongze’s expression was also very surprised and tense.
A real estate agent died, why are you, a deputy district chief, so nervous? It was impossible for Ding Ning not to be suspicious of this.
Unfortunately, Jiang Zhongze did things very carefully. He did not make any specific arrangements, he only ordered Luo Shihai to do it cleanly.
Thus, Ding Ning had no choice but to also send out Xiaocui to keep an eye on Luo Shihai to see what he would do.
As for Jiang Zhongze, he had not an iota of liking for this calculating deputy district chief. Even if he couldn’t pull him down this time, he would make him suffer great losses and become a man who is afraid of his own shadow.
After Luo Shihai hung up the phone, he shut himself in his study and smoked furiously. Then he made a phone call.
Ding Ning wasn’t sure who he called. He only knew that it was someone nicknamed “Lao Qiang”. He asked to go by Gu Fangran’s home and get rid of any harmful evidence.
At this time, Cheng Hu and Lu Zhan should already be ambushed in Gu Fangran’s home, waiting for Lao Qiang to come.
Secretary Xu quickly cleared the matter and said, with a serious expression, “Mayor Du has given his approval but he requests that the enemy not be alerted. Secretly gather the evidence first then we can decide the next move. After all, National Day is almost upon us, Ninghai cannot fall into chaos. Maintaining social stability is of the utmost importance at this time.”
Ding Ning nodded in agreement. Recently, a number of incidents have happened in Ninghai, one after another. Mayor Du’s days were probably not going well.
After asking Director Qi to keep an eye out for Li Xiaoman and Liu Shasha, to not allow them to be tortured into a confession, Ding Ning hurriedly led Xiao Nuo away.
It was not just Mayor Du whose days were not passing pleasantly. As the director of the National Security Bureau, Mo Fei’s life was also not easy. After working hard for so long, there was still no progress as to the evidence being held in Monkey’s hands.
Perhaps the assassinations had scared him, after Monkey regained consciousness, he refused to speak no matter how much Mo Fei reasoned with him. If he pushed too hard, he would cry out that his head hurt and cry out that he wanted to see Ding Ning and Zhao Gang, and only trusted them.
Mo Fei was very depressed. Zhao Gang just had surgery and was still in the hospital. Ding Ning was only a doctor and he was also the chief’s daughter’s savior. He did not want Ding Ning to be involved in this case.
Even though they were in the National Security Agency’s underground base, a number of assassins had still managed to infiltrate in recently and attempted to kill Monkey. They usually came every other day, with all different methods, completely unscrupulously.
If not for the fact that Mo Fei had expected this and had initiated a first-level alert and borrowed a number of masters from the Seventeenth Department to hold the fort so that the place was completely locked-down, and Monkey would probably have been killed a long time ago.
They were severely short-handed, particularly with people who could hold their own. Mo Fei, who managed everything personally, was completely overworked. He was even planning on having Liu Junwei end his vacation to come back and help.
But unexpectedly, Liu Junwei had been exposed as a homosexual and the expose had been leaked online, causing enormously negative influences.
Particularly after the National Security Agency’s computer whiz was unable to delete these videos, Mo Fei understood that someone was purposefully targeting Liu Junwei. He immediately discarded his thoughts of bringing him in again and decisively made the decision to fire him.
What a joke. Because of Liu Junwei’s scandal, his competitor had already begun to report him for reasons such as not being a good judge of people and breaking rules to promote favorites, among other such things.
Fortunately, he had immediately suspended Liu Junwei from his duties and put under inspection. The Chief had also vouched for him and with this, he was able to keep his director position.
But even so, if he still couldn’t crack open Monkey’s mouth, his days were numbered. At the very least, the crime of wasting manpower and resources for no gain was not one he would be able to escape.
Mo Fei returned to his office vexed. He absentmindedly switched on the light and dug out a box of tea leaves. He took out some leaves, put them in a cup, and picked up the hot water jug, preparing to make a strong cup of tea to raise his spirit. He mused to himself that if nothing else worked, he could only have Ding Ning come in to work on Monkey.
“Look at that, oolong tea Da Hongpao! Xiao Gangpao, your life is pretty good. But after living the good life for too long, your alertness is far worse than before!”
An excited and teasing voice rang out in the office.
Mo Fei’s entire body froze as if he had been struck by lightning. Trembling, he turned and saw a fat man covered in gold and silver, dressed like the newly rich, leaning against the couch and bouncing his leg.
His eyes immediately grew red and in a shaky voice, he said, “Money God!”
The fat man stood up and cracked his mouth open in a smile that was uglier than tears. “Xiao Gangpao, are the brothers… all doing well?”
Although his expression appeared very calm, his slightly trembling voice and quickly reddening eyes belied his present excitement.
“The brothers are all good… all very good, just, just… ah… miss you all. Are you… together? Is everyone doing alright?”
Mo Fei sniffed vigorously. His thought felt choked and his nose stung. He leaped toward the fat man and hugged him tightly. With tears in his voice, he said, “It’s been twenty years. We had no idea whether you were all alive or dead. All of the brothers miss you. No one knew if you were alive or dead. Since you’re all alive, why didn’t you contact us? Ah… why? Do you consider us brothers at all?”
