Chapter 90 - 86: The Death of Kong Wan

"Chief Constable Zhang, do you have a moment?"

The next day at dawn, after the morning roll call, Zhao Lin approached Zhang Rang and greeted him.

Zhang Rang was the Chief Constable of the North City. If Zhao Lin wanted to learn about the gangs in the area, he was the best person to ask.

"Ah, Chief Constable Zhao. What can I do for you?"

Zhang Rang’s words were polite, but his expression was cold.

Zhao Lin had just arrived and already pushed out the former Chief Constable, Sun Zhang. Although Zhang Rang wasn’t particularly close to Sun Zhang, they had been colleagues for years, and he instinctively felt defensive.

Zhao Lin understood his mindset perfectly and didn’t take it to heart. He smiled. "I have a personal matter I’d like to ask you about, Chief Constable Zhang."

Zhang Rang hesitated. ’Zhao Lin is on a roll right now. Even if I don’t get friendly with him, there’s no need to make an enemy of him,’ he thought. He nodded. "Alright, go ahead and ask."

"It’s not convenient to talk here. The Rice Fragrance Studio on the next street has a good breakfast. We can eat and talk."

Zhao Lin led the way, and Zhang Rang had no choice but to follow.

The two arrived at the Rice Fragrance Studio and ordered two bowls of soy milk, a steamer of buns, and a stack of flatbreads.

Holding his bowl of soy milk, Zhang Rang felt the situation was rather strange.

When he discussed business with people in the past, it was usually over alcohol or, at the very least, tea. This was the first time he’d ever done it over soy milk.

"Chief Constable Zhang, the Water Dragon Gang is in your North City, correct?" Zhao Lin got straight to the point.

"What’s this? Is Chief Constable Zhao interested in the gangs of our North City?" Zhang Rang retorted instead of answering.

’Looks like he’s worried I’m overstepping my bounds.’ Zhao Lin decided to be blunt. "Surely Chief Constable Zhang doesn’t think I have my eyes on the North City?"

"The East is poor and the North is chaotic. Even if I had ambitions, they would be for the South or West Cities. Why would you worry, Chief Constable Zhang?"

His words were frank—perhaps too frank.

Zhang Rang gave a dry laugh. "I didn’t mean that. Please, Chief Constable Zhao, continue."

"To be honest, I have a grudge against the Water Dragon Gang and want to find an opportunity to knock them down a peg. But I don’t know the details of their operation, which is why I’ve come to consult you."

As Zhao Lin spoke, he passed over an ingot of Official Silver worth twenty taels.

There was no friendship between them, and Zhao Lin had no intention of forging one. It was better to just pay him. That way, they would owe each other nothing afterward.

Zhang Rang accepted the money without ceremony. After a moment of thought, he said, "The Water Dragon Gang is quite powerful. Even though we have the imperial court behind us, it’s best to be careful when dealing with them."

He knew that with Zhao Lin’s status, it wouldn’t be difficult to find information on the Water Dragon Gang if he was willing to spend the time.

’Since he’s willing to pay me for it, I guess you could call this a professional courtesy.’ So he told Zhao Lin everything he knew.

The Water Dragon Gang had over two hundred members, making it one of the top three gangs in the North City.

The Gang Leader was Kong Wan, a cultivator at the First Layer of the Qi Realm. He was skilled in the Tiger-Crane Dual Form Fist Skill. At thirty-nine years old, he was in his prime.

Under Kong Wan were six experts at the Third Layer of the Power Realm, all of them brothers who had fought alongside him for years...

"Thank you, Chief Constable Zhang."

Zhao Lin expressed his thanks. ’They’re much stronger than the Tiger Head Gang,’ he thought. ’It’s a good thing I didn’t rush in head-on.’

"The Water Dragon Gang has been relatively well-behaved. They haven’t caused me any trouble in recent years," Zhang Rang added as a final note.

’But they’ve caused *me* trouble,’ Zhao Lin scoffed internally.

...

After breakfast, while patrolling the East City, Zhao Lin made a special trip to the Tiger Head Gang’s headquarters. He could hear constant arguing from within.

The arguments were all about who to choose as the new Gang Leader, how to divide up the gang’s assets, and so on.

After listening for a while, Zhao Lin lost interest. He changed into plain clothes and went to wander around the Water Dragon Gang’s territory in the North City.

"Did you guys hear? The Tiger Head Gang’s den in the East City got wiped out."

"Who did it?"

"No idea. Too bad it wasn’t in our North City, or we could’ve just taken their territory. Their turf may not be big, but it’s very profitable."

"Stop daydreaming. Everyone needs to be on their guard. Don’t just watch the show, or you might end up becoming the show."

...

「Three days later.」

The Water Dragon Gang’s Leader, Kong Wan, was dead. He died on a dark and windy night, along with his two personal bodyguards and several other gang members.

The event sent ripples through the North City’s underworld. The leaders of several other gangs, fearing for their own safety, all ramped up their security.

"Kong Wan is dead. Did you know?"

Zhao Lin had just finished lunch and was resting in the constables’ office when Zhang Rang rushed in, asking the question with his eyes fixed on him.

"Who’s Kong Wan?" Zhao Lin asked with a yawn.

Of course he knew who Kong Wan was. He was the one who had done it.

Over the past few days, he had investigated everyone involved and eliminated them all in a single night.

He had specifically chosen a pitch-black night to make his move.

Martial artists could all discern shapes by listening to the wind, and the higher their cultivation, the better they were at it. But compared to echolocation, it wasn’t even in the same league.

Zhao Lin had killed Kong Wan and his men with almost no effort.

Zhang Rang narrowed his eyes and said slowly, "Kong Wan was the Gang Leader of the Water Dragon Gang. You asked me about him a few days ago."

Zhao Lin feigned realization. "Ah, look at my memory. How did he die?"

"He was killed by a blow to the head with a heavy object. You really don’t know?"

"Really. You don’t suspect me, do you?"

Zhang Rang suddenly smiled. "It’s no big deal, really. He was just a gang boss. Maybe a new one will be more obedient."

"That’s good to hear..."

The two of them smiled at each other for a long moment, their expressions changing only when they turned away.

...

Even after eliminating two of the Drilling Mountain Leopard’s spies in the city, Zhao Lin didn’t dare to relax. There might be others.

’If only I could hear the voices of everyone in the entire city.’

The moment the thought occurred, Zhao Lin realized how ridiculous it was.

Leaving aside the question of whether he could even hear over such a vast range, just trying to distinguish the conversations of over a hundred thousand people would probably make his brain short-circuit.

The root of this problem was still "the Beard."

To solve the problem once and for all, he had to eliminate the Beard.

Zhao Lin had originally planned to wait until he reached the First Layer of the Qi Realm before making a move. After all, the Drilling Mountain Leopard was at the Third Layer of the Qi Realm, and even his key subordinates included experts at the First and Second Layers of the Qi Realm. The gap in their cultivation levels was just too wide.

If they had trained in martial arts focusing on leg techniques or a Light Body Skill, his own speed advantage would be nullified in a small, short-range environment.

’Practicing martial arts can increase my strength, but so can absorbing or upgrading an Essence Soul.’

Zhao Lin mulled it over, trying to figure out how to use the Spirit Beast Scroll to accelerate his growth.

For offense, he had considered absorbing the Essence Soul of an electric eel or an electric ray.

The principle behind an electric eel’s discharge lies in its special electrocytes; it wasn’t like abilities that required growing extra organs like wings, mouthparts, or poison sacs.

If he absorbed the Essence Soul of an electric eel, his modified body should be able to gain the same ability.

However, Zhao Lin didn’t know if fish that could generate electricity even existed in this world. Besides, Ying Province was landlocked, making the idea temporarily unfeasible.

Since that was the case, he had to change his approach and focus on enhancing his existing abilities.

Zhao Lin could clearly feel that among his three abilities, his strength was still increasing steadily and his hearing was progressing gradually, but his speed had started to slow down.

This was evident from the amount of white mist that appeared in the grids of the Spirit Beast Scroll each time he ate.

The reason for this was that Essence Souls also had different tiers.

The bear was a special beast with an extremely high upper limit for strength. If Zhao Lin hadn’t used it to replace the old yellow ox, his strength growth would have probably slowed down as well.

As for the Horseshoe Bat, first, he had only recently absorbed it, so there was still room for growth. Second, its ability was already outstanding among animals, so he didn’t have to worry about hitting a bottleneck for now.

Only the Black-horned Antelope, despite its great speed and agility, was ultimately not the best. In the animal kingdom, there were always stronger contenders...

’If only I could absorb the Essence Soul of a leopard.’