"Director Wang!" Wang Lan approached Wang Qianfeng, whose face looked awful.

"Yes, you did well! Unfortunately, we're not good enough..."

"Director Wang, I think we can ask Wan Guhao to come to the bureau and cooperate."

"Wan Guhao? Who's that?"

"The chairman of Tongling Jewelry? The one who has been attacked repeatedly in the past two days?"

"That's him, the same person these two foreigners have been targeting. Actually, there's something I've always been puzzled about. There are a hundred wealthy individuals with a bounty on their heads in Suzhou City, but only two have actually been killed. One is Mu Liancheng, and the other is Wan Guhao, who narrowly escaped death. Moreover, both were personally targeted by a Hellfire expert. Isn't it possible that the bounty on these hundred rich individuals was just a smokescreen?"

"Wang Lan, didn't you say this was to disrupt Suzhou's public order and cause the city to miss out on hosting the provincial martial arts competition?"

"What if that was just one of the purposes? A bounty of thirty billion, and only Hellfire took it? No other assassin organizations even attempted to take the contract? Moreover, Mu Liancheng was killed before the bounty was even issued. Even if Hellfire committed murder for the bounty, why did they choose Wan Guhao out of a hundred people? And I suspect that Hellfire itself might have issued this bounty. There's a distinct feeling... of it being a self-scripted, self-directed play."

"It's indeed suspicious. Li, have Lige bring him in."

"Alright!"

They regrouped and headed back to the Tianjian Bureau. After a while, Lige arrived with Wan Guhao at the bureau.

"Didn't you say you needed to record a statement? The way you're setting this up doesn't look right. Why do I feel like I'm being interrogated?" Wan Guhao asked with a frown, looking at the two civilian staff members in front of him.

"Not too slow on the uptake, figuring it out by the third sentence. Do you know Mu Liancheng?"

"The South Ship King, Mu Liancheng? Who in all of Suzhou City doesn't know him? What about it?"

"What is your relationship with Mu Liancheng?"

"What kind of relationship? Which specific kind are you asking about?"

"Any kind of relationship."

"Privately, we've shared a few meals and played a few games. In business, I had a transportation partnership with Boss Mu," Wan Guhao replied coldly.

"Why does Hellfire want to kill you? And why, to kill you two, would they offer thirty billion and use the lives of a hundred wealthy people as a smokescreen?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"This assassination bounty was issued by Hellfire. Before it was made public, they had already assassinated Mu Liancheng. The second target was you. Actually, you were already on alert by then. I've investigated. After Mu Liancheng was assassinated, you significantly upgraded your security. You hired more than a dozen Star Martial Warriors as bodyguards, but even then, you didn't feel safe. You went so far as to issue a request to the Tianjian Bureau, hoping we could protect you."

"Seeing Mu Liancheng killed, shouldn't I have been vigilant? Mu Liancheng had assets of seventy billion, built up over twenty years of hard work. In the end, though, he was killed by an assassin. To die with ambitions unfulfilled... it's a heroic tragedy. The man is dead, his money unspent—it's just too damn frustrating. My life is just beginning. With Mu Liancheng's fate as a lesson, shouldn't I be responsible for my own life?"

"But your vigilance was a little too quick. While others were still in shock and discussing it, you had already begun to enhance your security. That made it seem to us like you knew what was going to happen, that their next target was you."

"If my reactions weren't swift and sharp, could I have founded Tongling Jewelry?"

"No! Your explanation is too far-fetched. And this time, my interrogation isn't about us asking for your cooperation. Rather, if you want to live, you *must* cooperate with us. Cooperating with us won't just save your life; it will save your entire family."

"Haven't Hellfire's assassins already been caught by you?" Wan Guhao suddenly asked in surprise.

"Heh? You know about that too? Your information network is quite something, isn't it?"

"It's already been broadcast on the news."

"We only eliminated Nick and Frand. Hellfire can only truly be considered wiped out once Wang Mingling is eliminated. Don't you think?"

"Wang Mingling came to Suzhou City?" Wan Guhao suddenly stood up in shock. Instantly, as if realizing something, his expression changed drastically.

"It seems you know Wang Mingling. Do you still need to feign ignorance? Come on, since you've already betrayed Wang Mingling, why bother keeping his secrets?"

Wan Guhao's face instantly darkened.

"What are you still hesitating about? Do you really have a choice? Either you cooperate with us, or you wait for Wang Mingling to kill you."

"Mu Liancheng and I are both members of Hellfire," Wan Guhao suddenly spoke.

"I joined Hellfire twenty years ago; Mu Liancheng had joined three years before me. We were both among the first members of Hellfire. Initially, we trusted and protected each other. In less than three years, we earned a vast amount of money in the Middle East.

"Wang Mingling possesses a strong personal charisma; he's very adept at understanding people. Many willingly risked their lives for him—people from Jade Country, White Eagle Country, Bear Country... many, many more. Regardless of whether they were Star Martial Warriors or not, Wang Mingling treated everyone equally.

"Later on, Wang Mingling told us that while we were selling our lives, we couldn't let others sell *our* lives. Our lives were ours alone to sell. That's why Hellfire was established.

"Mu Liancheng and I then took a large sum of Hellfire's funds back to Jade Country to develop our businesses. Seventeen years ago, Jade Country was truly brimming with opportunities and business prospects. Against the backdrop of a booming economy, entering Jade Country wasn't as difficult as one might imagine.

"Leveraging resources from the international market and with the financial backing of Hellfire, we quickly became profitable. Over more than a decade, the dividends from our two companies alone were enough for Hellfire to sustain itself. We were content with this situation.

"We are all Jade Country people; as long as we didn't cause trouble in Jade Country, we could do whatever we wanted in the war-torn Middle East. However, Mu Liancheng and I never imagined Wang Mingling would take on *that* particular job: the assassination of Eld Di!"

Hearing Wan Guhao reach this point, Wang Qianfeng, in the monitoring room, murmured softly, "As expected…" Beside him, the tapping of Lu Zhao's fingers on the table abruptly ceased.

"Eld Di is one of Jade Country's Five Elders, possessing immeasurable strength and immense power," Wan Guhao continued. "Assassinating Eld Di... let's not even ask if it could succeed. Even if it did, Hellfire would undoubtedly suffer a devastating blow. Unless Wang Mingling had gone mad, he would never have accepted such a task.

"But Wang Mingling did accept it. So, he has indeed gone mad.

"We could follow an excellent leader into the jaws of death, but we cannot follow a madman to our graves. Later, Mu Liancheng suddenly contacted me, telling me a secret he had discovered: Wang Mingling had joined Paradise Bird."

"Paradise Bird!" Lu Zhao's expression suddenly changed, his eyes reflecting a distant, profound memory.

"Mu Liancheng and I decided to sever all ties with Hellfire and ceased providing any assistance for their entry into Jade Country. During that period, we divested almost all of our overseas assets. Yet, unexpectedly, Wang Mingling still managed to smuggle himself into Jade Country and came looking for us."

"Do you have any way to find Wang Mingling's whereabouts?"

Wan Guhao shook his head. "No. When we separated from Hellfire, we essentially cut all ties with Wang Mingling. Even within Hellfire, very few knew about Mu Liancheng and me. Likewise, we knew nothing of Hellfire's current affairs. In recent years, our interactions have been purely financial."

"Your financial transactions are quite covert; even we can't trace them."

"If the World Security Council can't trace our financial dealings, what chance does the Tianjian Bureau have?" Wan Guhao chuckled. "Wang Mingling's return to Jade Country isn't merely to eliminate two traitors like us. He's undoubtedly here to assassinate Eld Di."

"Juan, ask about Wang Mingling's strength," Wang Qianfeng instructed into the microphone.

"Mr. Wan, how strong is Wang Mingling?"

"Twenty years ago, he was already a master of the Star Sea Stage," Wan Guhao said. "And his soul secret technique is incredibly bizarre and versatile. Globally, all active Star Sea Stage masters are considered S-rank dangerous individuals. And Wang Mingling, he's among the top ten most dangerous of them.

"As for now, nobody knows how truly powerful Wang Mingling has become. If someone claimed he had surpassed the Star Sea Stage, I would believe them."

Hearing this, the expressions of Wang Qianfeng and the others once again turned exceedingly grim.

"Wang Mingling has perfected his soul secret technique," Wan Guhao elaborated. "He can connect his consciousness to a puppet he controls. Essentially, his soul directly enters the target's body, seizing control.

"This is no longer mere corpse control; it's truly achieving limitless avatars. A person possessed by Wang Mingling retains all their original abilities, including their Inborn Talent of the Bloodline, and can also harness the body owner's Inborn Talent of the Bloodline. This ability grants Wang Mingling even more bizarre and varied capabilities.

"Furthermore, such avatars are not restricted by region or territory. Even if Wang Mingling's true body is in the Antarctic, he can control an avatar in the Arctic. It's possible Wang Mingling hasn't even infiltrated Jade Country; what's here might just be one of his avatars."

What a troublesome ability, Wang Qianfeng thought. As long as his main body hides somewhere and doesn't move, he can just capture prey to create avatars and remain undefeated. No, that can't be right. The avatars' strength definitely can't match the true body's. "Ask him, what's the strength difference between an avatar and the main body?"

"Mr. Wan, how significant is the difference in strength between Wang Mingling's avatars and his true body?"

"How big is the difference? I'm not entirely sure. It seems to be less than a full stage. But even if there is a one-stage difference, Wang Mingling's true body is already at the peak of the Star Sea Stage. An avatar would, at the very least, possess a Cultivation Level at the peak of the Galaxy Stage or higher.

"The problem is, who is Wang Mingling's avatar? Nobody knows. Apart from a lower Star Martial Stage, the avatar inherits all skills, including Innate Abilities. Although I sincerely wish I could help you capture him, preferably his true body, unfortunately, I really can't be of much assistance."

The interrogation of Wan Guhao concluded. Lu Zhao and the others convened a meeting with Wang Qianfeng and various department heads, including Wang Lan, who had been, from start to finish, the agent provocateur in this whole affair.

In Lu Zhao's mind, Wang Lan had successfully shed the nickname of "mascot" and had become a bona fide troublemaker. If Wang Lan hadn't, out of sheer boredom, taken an interest in the assassination case of a mafia boss, he would never have discovered Wang Mingling lurking behind it all.

As they unraveled the layers, a vast and terrifying conspiracy gradually emerged before Lu Zhao.

If the Wang Mingling in question were merely the Wang Mingling from the Wang Family of Xiangxi thirty years ago, Lu Zhao wouldn't be worried. Not even if he was the head of the international terrorist organization Hellfire. But he had never expected Wang Mingling to have joined Paradise Bird.

Damn!

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