The Ferocious God in the Celestial Master's Mansion

Zhang Yulei's figure completely disappeared into the night, but the four people in the unfinished building did not move immediately. Zhang Chulan patted the dust off his clothes, his eyes sweeping over the three men who were tightly bound in the corner, a malicious smile curling at the corner of his mouth: "They can run away, but they can't hide. Let's deal with these clowns first."

Wang Ye nodded and pointed to the scarred man he had knocked unconscious: "These three are the leaders, especially this scarred man. He showed a lot of ruthlessness when we fought just now, so he probably knows a lot."

Zhuge Qing stood aside with his arms crossed, adopting a "I'm just watching and not interfering" attitude: "It's better to leave interrogation to professionals." His implication was naturally that he was referring to Zhang Chulan and Feng Baobao, who were employees of Na Du Tong.

Feng Baobao pulled out a half-eaten compressed biscuit from her pocket and crunched on it. Hearing this, she merely raised her eyelids slightly but remained silent. To her, interrogation and fighting were not much different; both were means to make the other party "obey," just in different ways.

Zhang Chulan walked up to the scarred man, squatted down, and poked his cheek. The guy had been struck on the back of the neck by Wang Ye with a chop, and was fast asleep, with a suspicious drool hanging from the corner of his mouth.

"Tsk tsk, Lao Wang, you went too far." Zhang Chulan turned to Wang Ye and winked. "We've dragged him this far, through all that bumping and jostling, and he still hasn't woken up. Are you planning to let him sleep until dawn?"

Wang Ye was checking the other two bound men when he heard this. He turned around and glared at him, his tone laced with disdain: "Old Zhang, if it were your family being watched by these bastards day and night, you'd be even more ruthless than me. Oh, right," he said, as if suddenly remembering something, deliberately drawing out his words, "I forgot you're an orphan, you can't understand this feeling."

These words left Zhang Chulan speechless. His smile froze for a moment, then returned to normal as he scratched his head: "Fine, you win. Who told you to be my 'boss' now? Whatever you say is right."

That's the truth. In order to get Zhang Chulan and Feng Baobao to help, Wang Ye not only applied to the headquarters of Na Du Tong, but also secretly gave them a lot of "service fees"—in Zhang Chulan's words, this was called "professional team appearance fees." Since he was paid to do their bidding, he naturally had to put up with a few sarcastic remarks.

Wang was amused by Zhang Chulan's "money-grubbing" attitude. Just as he was about to say something, Zhang Chulan suddenly stretched out his right hand, and a cluster of blue and white lightning crackled from the tip of his index finger, which was particularly dazzling in the dimly lit, unfinished building.

"What are you doing?" Wang Ye was startled.

"Wake-up service, huh?" Zhang Chulan grinned like a cat that had just stolen some cream. Before Wang Ye could stop him, he pressed his electric-sparkling index finger hard against Scarface's arm.

"Sizzle—!"

An electric current surged through his body, causing Scarface to convulse violently, like a fish thrown ashore, instantly jolting him awake from his unconsciousness. He stared blankly for a few seconds, then a sharp pain in the back of his neck and numbness in his arm struck simultaneously, making him involuntarily curse, "Damn it! Which bastard dared to shock me…"

Before he could finish speaking, his gaze met Zhang Chulan's index finger, which was now raised again and still crackling with electricity. The rest of his harsh words caught in his throat, and his face instantly turned deathly pale.

"Awake?" Zhang Chulan smiled and wagged his finger, the crackling sound sending chills down one's spine. "Looks like Wang Ye went a little too easy; you can still swear. Want to give you another go, to really wake you up?"

Scarface swallowed hard, a flicker of fear crossing his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by ruthlessness. He struggled a few times, only to find his hands and feet tightly bound and unable to move. He decided to give up, glaring angrily at Zhang Chulan and Wang Ye: "Zhang Chulan, you shameless bastard, let me go right now! And you, Wang Ye, don't think you're safe hiding behind me. Get this bastard to untie me, or don't blame me for being impolite!"

His voice was loud and clear, and he seemed quite confident, as if it were these young people in front of him, not him, who were tied up.

Zhang Chulan raised an eyebrow, retracted his fingers, stood up, and dusted off his pants: "Oh, not bad. We've arrested so many people, and you're the only one who dares to be so arrogant. Do you think we won't dare touch you?"

Scarface snorted coldly, his face displaying a smug "Try and hit me if you dare" expression: "When I was in the supernatural world, you guys were still wearing open-crotch pants! Trying to scare me? You're still too green!"

"Trying to scare you?" Zhang Chulan seemed to have heard a joke, then suddenly adopted a serious tone, "Brother, look at what you're saying. We're civilized people, we believe in winning people over with virtue. How about this, I'll make a deal with you."

He crouched down, leaned close to the scarred man, and said in a low voice, "Just tell me who sent you to spy on Wang Ye, and what your real purpose is, and I'll release you and your two brothers immediately. How about that? Pretty generous, right?"

Scarface sneered as if he'd heard the biggest joke in the world: "Zhang Chulan, don't give me that crap! In our line of work, integrity is everything! If I betrayed my employer, how would I ever show my face in this industry again? You think I'm like you, betraying a friend for a little profit?"

He stiffened his neck, adopting a defiant stance: "I'm not going to talk, what can you do to me? Go ahead and bite me if you dare!"

That wasn't an exaggeration. Their job was to be information brokers and do surveillance, and they relied on their tight-lipped nature to establish themselves in the world of supernatural beings. If they could easily leak their employers' information, who would dare to hire them in the future? Rather than being scorned by the entire community, it was better to stand their ground and see if the other party would hesitate to act against them and eventually have to let them go.

Seeing Scarface's smug expression, Zhang Chulan sighed and shook his head: "Sigh, you know what, I really can't bring myself to bite someone. Besides, there are rules everywhere we go that we can't just take the law into our own hands against people with supernatural abilities, otherwise it'll have a bad reputation if word gets out."

He abruptly changed the subject, his tone suddenly becoming serious: "However, you illegally monitored others and are also suspected of wiretapping. Those two offenses alone are enough to keep you in jail for several days. Have you heard of the Public Security Administration Punishment Law?"

Scarface's expression changed slightly, but he remained defiant: "Don't fucking try to scare me with the law! The affairs of the supernatural world are none of the law's business for ordinary people!"

"Oh? Really?" Zhang Chulan suddenly grabbed Wang Ye, who had just walked over, and looked at the scarred man with a grin. "Then do you know who this is?"

He paused deliberately, looking into the scarred man's questioning eyes, and said, word by word, "This is Wang Ye, the third young master of the Wang family of Zhonghai. You must have heard of the name Wang Weiguo, right?"

Scarface's expression finally changed. Wang Weiguo's name was renowned in both business and political circles; even someone involved in the supernatural community couldn't possibly have been unaware of him.

Zhang Chulan, seemingly oblivious to the change in his expression, continued to add fuel to the fire: "You've been lurking around Wang Ye all day, even stalking his family. Do you know how much emotional distress this has caused the Wang family? Look at President Wang's face," he gestured across Wang Ye's face, "because of you, he hasn't been eating or sleeping well lately. His skin is sallow, and his dark circles are like a panda's."

Wang was taken aback by what he said, and subconsciously touched his face, cursing inwardly, "This kid's ability to lie through his teeth is getting better and better."

Zhang Chulan didn't give him a chance to expose her, and continued, "And there's Wang Ye's father, Mr. Wang Weiguo. He's someone who made outstanding contributions to the country's economic development. During the Sino-Vietnamese War, he even went to the Caucasus, shedding blood and suffering wounds for the country! And you, you dare to harass such a senior figure! This not only undermines our country's economic prosperity and development, but it's also going against the country's law enforcement agencies!"

He became increasingly agitated, spitting almost onto Scarface's face: "It's fine if you don't talk now. I, Zhang Chulan, am just an ordinary little supernatural being, I can't control that much. But once we hand you over to law enforcement, you'll know what regret is. Let me explain, your behavior constitutes illegal surveillance and disturbing the peace. If the circumstances are serious, the sentence is at least two years, and up to ten years!"

"And besides," Zhang Chulan's tone shifted again, his smile becoming particularly sinister, "Old Mr. Wang's comrades and friends from the battlefield are scattered all over the country. If they knew that someone dared to bully the old commander's family like this, do you think they wouldn't 'care' about your case? Then they might search for all the 'good deeds' you've done in the past, and you'd probably be singing 'Tears Behind Bars' in jail for the rest of your life."

After hearing this, Scarface's face turned from white to green, then from green to purple, and cold sweat beaded on his forehead. He wasn't afraid of the rules of the supernatural world, but he couldn't stop Zhang Chulan from steer the matter towards "the country," "the law," and "the old leader"—topics he couldn't afford to offend.

He survives in the world of supernatural beings by walking on the edge of the rules, but if he were to be labeled as "opposing the state," even ten lives wouldn't be enough to pay for it!

Seeing the wavering in Scarface's eyes, Zhang Chulan knew the kid's defenses were about to crumble. He patted Scarface's shoulder, his tone softening, "Brother, discretion is the better part of valor. You're just an employee; there's no need to throw yourself into trouble for your employer. It's not worth it. What do you say?"

Scarface's lips trembled, and his eyes flickered uncertainly; he was clearly going through a fierce internal struggle.

Wang Ye and Zhuge Qing, who were standing to the side, were dumbfounded. They looked at each other and saw helplessness in each other's eyes.

Wang Ye leaned close to Zhuge Qing's ear and asked in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Old Qing, when you asked me to ask him for help, did you know from the beginning that he was this... despicable?"

Zhuge Qing coughed lightly, his eyes somewhat unfocused: "I only knew he had many tricks up his sleeve, but I didn't expect... this to be an unexpected gain."

They never expected that Zhang Chulan could somehow manage to link a matter from the world of supernatural beings to national laws and his former superior. His train of thought was so unique that it was truly admirable.

Zhang Yulei, who was hiding in a big tree outside the unfinished building, heard the conversation inside clearly, and couldn't help but put up a few black lines on his face.

When they were at Longhu Mountain, he knew that Zhang Chulan was somewhat "unconventional" in his actions and often acted cheekily and cutely. He originally thought that Zhang Chulan did this deliberately to protect himself.

But seeing it with his own eyes today, he realized that he had underestimated this kid.

To be able to make threats sound so righteous, so "grand," even with a hint of roguishness that makes one's teeth ache, and to be so calm and composed—this Chu Lan truly... opened his eyes to a whole new world.

Zhang Yulei shook his head, his eyes growing deeper. This kid's "shamelessness," seemingly shameless, was actually the smartest way to protect himself. In this world teeming with extraordinary individuals and fraught with danger, sometimes, being a little thick-skinned and using "shameless" methods was the key to surviving longer.

But... will that scarred man obediently give in?