A Good-for-Nothing

172. A Refusal (2)

Translator: Dragon Rider

With unflagging patience, He Zheng kept practicing various maneuvers: whipping out the sword, thrusting, hacking, stabbing, sheathing the sword, etc. His arm felt as sore and numb as though a group of ants were gnawing at it.

In the knowledge that he was unable to continue, He Zheng withdrew his sword and sheathed it, his arm drooping as if completely drained of energy. If the Shadow Sword were a common weapon, it would probably have dropped to ground already.

Someone held his wrist which was covered in sweat and must be very uncomfortable to hold. Li Zong somewhat resignedly looked at the person in his embrace. “You must be tired. Let’s go have dinner.”

He Zheng didn’t ask Li Zong why he was here. Leaning against Li Zong’s chest, eyes closed, he took two deep breaths, feeling Li Zong’s muscular body beneath the thin shirt. He Zheng’s right arm was unbearably sore. Li Zong, as if knowing he was feeling miserable, started to massage his sore muscles.

“Haven’t you been learning how to look for the spirit in your weapon? Why are you practicing so hard?”

“I have no clue whatsoever how to communicate with the spirit in my sword, so I think maybe I should spend some time bettering my sword strikes.” He Zheng sounded rather dispirited.

“You’ve trained long enough for one day. It takes time to make progress in cultivation. Go back to have some rest,” said Li Zong matter-of-factly, but those still in the training ground heard this and soon left of their own accord with the intention to give the two of them some privacy.

He Zheng rested for a while and regained part of his strength. He raised his head from Li Zong’s chest, his gleaming eyes staring unblinkingly at the man in front of him whose shirt had been wetted by the sweat from his head.

“Xiang Hailou told us that he ranks second among the three group leaders in terms of powers. I think it’s safe to say that you’re number one. Am I right?”

“Um.”

“He also said that back at the time when he’d just joined SMB, your daily amount of training was triple his?”

“Well, that was a slight exaggeration.” Li Zong’s eyes took on a somewhat resigned expression. “Xiang Hailou is also a very powerful exorcist.”

He Zheng shook his head. Though Li Zong had put it this way, he still believed that this man, who always tried to make everything perfect, must have been working very hard.

It was indeed getting late. Li Zong directly drew He Zheng out to have dinner, interrupting his inward, sentimental sigh. But He Zheng had really worked too hard on this day. When he’d been practicing, he hadn’t realized this. It was only when he fully relaxed that he found he was utterly unable to raise his arm.

Li Zong was okay with feeding He Zheng with chopsticks, but as luck would have it, he happened to have a short meeting on this night, so the two of them were having dinner in his office, and Zu Zhichong saw this when he came inside to give Li Zong a routine report. Jealous, he accused them of deliberately trying to upsetting singles, and called on all single SMB staff members to unite and establish a Singles Association and burn all those who dared openly flaunt their romantic relationships.

After dinner, He Zheng rested for a while. Li Zong said that he had a meeting to attend to. He Zheng told Li Zong that he wanted to go to the training ground, promising he would just be gathering Qi and meditating and wouldn’t use the Shadow Sword. Li Zong raised no objections.

In the office.

After He Zheng left, Zu Zhichong sat down onto the sofa, looked at his Chief with a brooding face and said in a very disgruntled tone, “Chief, I think spring has come, which is the mating season for all species.”

“So?” said Li Zong unconcernedly, preparing the materials for the upcoming meeting.

“So I think married men like you should show some self-restraint and stop upsetting bachelors like me! That was just brutal!”

While Zu Zhichong was talking, Zhen Ni, the last member of the first action group, walked inside. Back then when He Jin had exploded, Zhen Ni had exerted all her Force of Rejuvenation to save his life and sustained an internal injury, which was why she’d been in the office hall helping deal with some paperwork over the past few weeks.

“Chief.” Zhen Ni walked inside and greeted Li Zong.

“Um.”

After a while, Xiang Hailou, the group leader of the third action group, took his subordinates to Li Zong’s office.

With six people inside, the small office became rather crowded. Li Zong tapped at the desk and motioned Zhen Ni to turn on the projector. “I think we can dispense with the formalities. As you know, currently SMB are faced with two important tasks. The first one is to find the Demonic Seed, which is being dealt with by the second action group led by Zhang Jingqiu. The other one is to hunt the wisp of the Demon King’s remaining soul that escaped from a sabotaged demon seal. Given that the Demon King waited almost twenty years to take action, he probably has gathered enough strength to stay in human form, which is why Demon’s Attendants have been trying so hard to look for the other seals.

And what with this, Director General Zong has also sent a lot of men to search for the Demon King.”

Li Zong showed them the latest news. Though his voice was still very calm, all others found themselves unable to stay composed after hearing his words.

“But after the shadow-demon that infiltrated into SMB was disposed of, the Demon King went underground and has been laying low ever since. I think the Demon King must have perceived that we’re trying to track him down, and he hasn’t regained enough strength, so he hid himself.”

Zu Zhichong’s lips clamped tightly together. This should be good news. With the Demon King making trouble, they would have more time to look for the Demonic Seed. However, Li Zong had a very serious look on his face.

In a bland voice, Li Zong said, “A few days ago, the Fanghuali Office in Hang City submitted a work summary. One of the cases mentioned in it has many questionable points.

Four college students went to Hang City to travel and checked into a branch of a budget hotel chain near the Nine Castles Bus Station. The day they arrived in Hang City, they went to the Wulin Square and later returned to the hotel safely.”

“And then?” Xiang Hailou knitted his eyebrows.

“On the day the couple of students set off to return to their college, one of them, whose name is Wang Dong, went unconscious, and all the other three died.”

Li Zong paused for a brief moment and added, “The time of their deaths was the day they arrived in Hang City.”