"I'll give him a call."

Yuan Shang was on the verge of cursing out loud. He pulled out his phone and dialed. "What have you done?"

Peng Hetong's voice was laced with confusion. "What's wrong, Vice Alliance Leader Yuan?"

He's playing dumb! everyone thought.

"You know what I'm asking about," Yuan Shang said, his tone grim.

Only then did Peng Hetong feign a sudden realization. "Ah, are you talking about the incident with Xu Ke?

"When I heard from Ye Fan that he saw Xu Ke injured near the Longcha Subway Station and came straight to the Alliance, I immediately launched an investigation.

"Now, Ye Fan was very enthusiastic and helpful, even reporting on Xu Ke's behalf out of consideration for his injuries.

"But just because Ye Fan seems like a good man doesn't mean I'll cover for his associates. I suspected they were the most likely culprits, so I brought them to the Alliance for questioning first.

"In the end, I found nothing wrong.

"Vice Alliance Leader Yuan, don't you think I did the right thing?"

Peng Hetong's voice carried a deeply serious tone, as if he had performed some great, noble deed.

But who in the room was an idiot? Everyone could hear the thick mockery and disdain dripping from his words.

Only Xu Ke kept his eyes lowered, his expression unreadable.

Yuan Shang sneered. "You did the right thing? Then why didn't you arrest Ye Fan, too?"

"Vice Alliance Leader Yuan, isn't that a bit much?" Peng Hetong said with theatrical exaggeration. "If Ye Fan were actually involved, why would he proactively come and report that Xu Ke was injured?"

Yuan Shang's eyes narrowed. "Fine, so you didn't arrest Ye Fan. But you can at least tell me this: when Ye Fan made the report, why did you summon four people at once?

"What, were you at the scene? How did you instantly know those four were the most suspicious? Why didn't you summon me over, too? And another thing, you only investigated for an hour. How did you manage to clear all four of them of suspicion?"

Peng Hetong remained perfectly calm. "I have everything recorded. I'll send it over for your review shortly. If you still find an issue then, it won't be too late to reprimand me."

Yuan Shang's fists were clenched tight.

「...」

After hanging up on Yuan Shang, Peng Hetong roared with laughter. "You should have heard how frustrated he was..."

He turned from the balcony and walked back into the living room of Huang Sheng's house. Seated there were the others who had just returned from the Alliance.

Huang Sheng and Huang Zhenyang sat on the sofa with Chang Yi standing behind them. Ye Fan was seated opposite Huang Sheng; Uncle Qiu hadn't come with them from the Alliance, having left to attend to other matters. As for Sun Luo, he had changed his clothes. His thigh was bandaged, and he sat in the main seat with a foul expression.

Hearing Peng Hetong's words, Ye Fan smiled smugly. "My apologies for the trouble, Chief Peng."

After yesterday's setback and the scolding from Ye Yunfeng, Ye Fan was finally less arrogant.

"It was nothing!" Peng Hetong's face beamed with pride.

The rare opportunity to put Yuan Shang in his place had left Peng Hetong feeling utterly refreshed. He already knew Yuan Shang despised him, so he couldn't be bothered with flattery anymore.

"The failure of this operation was certainly a bit of a hassle, but thankfully, our preliminary preparations were thorough," Huang Sheng said lightly.

They hadn't spent the previous night discussing only the attack; they had naturally considered the possibility of failure as well.

"Young Master Sheng is indeed farsighted," Chang Yi said with a small smile, flattering his young master.

Ye Fan's eyes narrowed slightly.

Before today, Huang Sheng had been planning to hide in the background again, just as he had when Huang Qi kidnapped Xu Ke. Ye Fan had thoroughly despised him for it. But he had to admit, Huang Sheng had made the right call.

If Ye Fan hadn't made that phone call, things might have been fine. If something had happened to Chang Yi, the Huang Family could have easily denied all involvement. Now, because of his overwhelming desire to humiliate Xu Ke, he had left them with an opening.

If there were no evidence, he would have nothing to fear. But if Xu Ke managed to find even the slightest slip-up, Ye Fan would be in real danger. After all, he already had a prior record. If he got into trouble again, the Martial Alliance would have every legitimate reason to punish him. At that point, never mind going abroad; it would be a question of whether he could even move about freely.

"However..."

At that moment, Sun Luo, who had been glowering this whole time, spoke up. "This mysterious person... does anyone have any idea who he is?"

He was still seething with humiliation and resentment. He had been beaten the most viciously by Xu Ke and had even taken a blow from the mysterious man's Vitality Essence Release, making him the most wretched of the four.

"The mysterious man..." The memory still brought a deep sense of dread to Chang Yi's face. "His True Qi was incredibly fierce and potent. He must be an expert skilled in combat..."

"What's this nonsense? You think I couldn't tell?" Sun Luo shot Chang Yi a cold glance.

Chang Yi's face darkened. "Sun Luo, we are both Innate Maestros. Do you think you're a cut above me?"

Chang Yi was no coward like Huang Zhenyang. He would explode with rage if Sun Luo dared to disrespect him.

Sun Luo sneered. "I haven't even called you out for slacking off during the operation, and you've got quite a temper."

"What did you say?" Chang Yi was furious.

"You know damn well what I said," Sun Luo snorted.

"You're right," Chang Yi jeered. "If we're measuring contributions by how badly beaten and humiliated someone got, then I certainly didn't contribute as much as you. Then again, getting beaten into a sewer by a good-for-nothing... that's something only you could pull off."

"Chang Yi, what the hell did you just say?" Sun Luo slammed his hand on the table.

Ye Fan and Peng Hetong watched with schadenfreude. Strictly speaking, Sun Luo and Chang Yi belonged to the same faction, so they were naturally pleased to see internal strife.

"That's enough." Huang Sheng frowned, shooting a meaningful glance at Ye Fan. "Arguing about this now is a waste of time. Do you want to make us a laughingstock? Wouldn't it be more productive to figure out who this mysterious person is?"

At this, Sun Luo and Chang Yi sneered but dropped the argument.

"This mysterious person..." Huang Zhenyang, who had been quiet for a long time, suddenly spoke up. "Could he be connected to Dapeng Trading?"

Everyone froze and turned to look at him.

Huang Zhenyang continued, "Think about it. Dapeng Trading gave Xu Ke a shop not long ago. Could there really be a connection between them?"

Although they didn't know Xu Ke planned to open a clinic, they had managed to discover that a shop under Dapeng Trading's name had been transferred to him. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to bribe Zhao Chengyang.

Hearing this, Ye Fan tapped the table. "That seems unlikely. What makes Xu Ke worthy of Dapeng Trading's serious attention? Global Square is the commercial plaza closest to the Wang Family Corporation. That shop was probably something Wong Qifu bought from Dapeng to set Xu Ke up with a location."

"Moreover," Chang Yi added, "the True Qi of an Innate Great Perfection Expert always has very distinct characteristics. I've encountered members of the Duan Family, and none of them had an aura like today's mysterious man."

Hearing this, Huang Zhenyang looked dejected. "All right, then."

"We need to keep investigating," Huang Sheng said. "This mysterious person is too dangerous. If Wang Wu is protecting Xu Ke in the open while this man lurks in the shadows... add Xu Ke's own strength to the mix, and we'll have no opening to make a move on him."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

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