Under One Person: The End of Technique, Company Building

A few days later, Ren Fei arrived in Tianjin.

In the corridor on the third floor of the North China branch office building, the evening light slanted in through the glass window at the end, casting a long golden ribbon on the floor tiles.

The air was filled with the mixed smell of old documents and office equipment. Occasionally, employees would hurry by with folders in their hands, the sound of their leather shoes hitting the ground echoing in the corridor.

At the end of the corridor, the door to the director's office was ajar, with warm yellow light and faint voices shining through the crack.

The door was suddenly pushed open from the outside.

The force was great; the door slammed against the rubber cushioning pad on the wall with a dull thud.

Xu San was sitting behind his desk reading documents when he was startled by the noise, and the pen in his hand drew a crooked mark on the paper.

He looked up, about to reprimand them, but then he saw the person standing at the door, and swallowed his words.

Feng Baobao stood there, her hair a little messy, with a few strands sticking to her forehead, as if it had been blown by the wind and she hadn't had time to fix it.

She looked unwell, it was hard to tell whether it was from exhaustion or something else. Her eyes, which usually carried an inexplicable indifference, were now unusually unfocused.

Her clothes were covered in dust, and there were mud spots on the edges of her trousers, as if she had just run back from some desolate wilderness.

Xu San's brows immediately furrowed.

"Baby? Why are you back?" He put down his pen, stood up, and walked around the desk. "Zhang Chulan's over there..."

Before he could finish speaking, Feng Baobao's voice interrupted him.

Her voice was soft, carrying a low and hesitant quality rarely seen in her.

"Xu San, I messed up."

Xu San stopped in his tracks.

Looking at Feng Baobao's face, which rarely showed such an expression, he felt a sudden unease and a very ominous premonition rose in his heart.

He took a deep breath, trying to keep his tone calm: "What happened? Tell me slowly, what's wrong with Zhang Chulan?"

Feng Baobao lowered her eyes, as if organizing her thoughts, and remained silent for several seconds before speaking.

"I saw him. He ran away."

"It ran away?" Xu San's voice unconsciously rose a little. "Where did it go?"

After listening to Feng Baobao's explanation, he finally understood what had happened and felt a headache coming on.

It turns out that Zhang Chulan ran away because Feng Baobao's pressure was too intense, and because he encountered the Tianxia Hui people's contact and recruitment, he rebelled.

Xu San stood in front of the desk, his hands resting on the edge, staring blankly at Feng Baobao. He wanted to say something to her, but in the end, he couldn't bring himself to say it.

Several seconds later, he slowly exhaled, raised his hand to rub his temples, and felt a throbbing pain in his temples.

He should have thought of that sooner.

I shouldn't have let that dim-witted kid handle Zhang Chulan on his own.

Originally, it was just thought that this was the old man's order for Bao Bao to contact Zhang Chulan, but the current situation is both reasonable and unexpected.

The situation is now heading in the worst possible direction.

Now, Zhuge Qi had a reason to intervene.

That day, when Zhuge Qi sat in the reception room and said in that calm tone, "If your people cause problems again, then I will have no choice but to intervene," he had a hunch that the other party seemed to have already anticipated that something would happen to Zhang Chulan.

That certainty didn't seem like a guess, but rather like a premonition.

He comforted himself at the time, saying that Feng Baobao was in charge of contacting Zhang Chulan. Although Baobao seemed a bit silly, she was always reliable and shouldn't cause any major trouble.

And now?

"The World Society..." Xu San murmured, repeating the name over and over, feeling his head throb even more. "Did Feng Zhenghao personally send people to pick him up?"

"It was Zhang Chulan who made the call and sent him; I couldn't stop him."

Xu San opened his mouth, wanting to ask some details, but looking at Feng Baobao's face, which rarely showed a hint of frustration, he felt that there was no point in asking these questions now.

The person has already been taken away. Asking how they were taken away is like asking if they can be brought back.

The World Society is, after all, one of the Ten Elders' territories, and their North China branch isn't at the level where they can just barge in and demand people.

He turned around and walked back to his desk, picked up his phone, found Xu Si's number, and dialed it.

The phone rang twice before being answered.

"Brother? What's up?" Xu Si's voice came through the receiver, with his usual nonchalant attitude, and there was a car engine roaring in the background, as if he was driving.

"Zhang Chulan has been taken away by the World Society." Xu San got straight to the point.

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone.

"What the hell?" Xu Si's voice rose noticeably. "When did this happen?"

"The baby just came back and gave us the news."

"Feng Zhenghao gave the order personally?" Xu Si's tone turned serious. "What is he trying to do? Kidnap him?"

"Sigh, stop asking now." Xu San's tone was somewhat irritated. "Where are you? Come back right now."

"I'm on my way, I'll be there soon," Xu Si said. "Don't rush, I'll talk to you when I get back."

The phone hangs up.

Xu San put his phone on the table, let out a long breath, put his hands on his hips, looked up at the ceiling, and felt as if he was being pressed down by something.

There's been no peace lately. First, the files were stolen, then the cemetery was robbed, then the Quanxing members were captured and taken away by Lü Ci, and now Zhang Chulan has been intercepted by the Tianxiahui.

One case after another, leaving no time to breathe.

Feng Baobao was still standing at the door, her hands hanging at her sides, her head down, like a little animal that had done something wrong and was waiting to be scolded.

Seeing her like this, Xu San's anger subsided considerably.

"Alright, go wash your face and rest for a while." Xu San waved his hand, his tone softening. "This isn't your fault, it's my fault."

Feng Baobao looked up at him, her lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she didn't say anything, just nodded and turned to leave.

The sound of her footsteps faded into the distance in the corridor, quickly disappearing around the corner.

Xu San paced back and forth in his office, his mind racing with various possibilities.

What is the purpose of the World Society taking Zhang Chulan away?

Is Feng Zhenghao trying to win over Zhang Chulan? Or is he trying to extract the secret of the Qi Body Source Flow from Zhang Chulan?

Or is it related to the recent trend in the world of supernatural beings?

About twenty minutes later, a series of hurried footsteps came from the corridor, and the office door was pushed open from the outside. Xu Si walked in, enveloped in a blast of cool air from outside.

His gray casual suit was wrinkled, with two buttons undone at the collar, and his hair was a bit messy from the wind; it was clear he had rushed back.

"What's going on?" Xu Si asked as soon as he entered the room.

Xu San had already learned most of the situation from Feng Baobao, and at this moment he briefly recounted it.

After hearing this, Xu Si frowned deeply, plopped down on the sofa, stretched out his long legs, leaned back against the sofa back, and stared at the ceiling for a long time.

"What is Feng Zhenghao trying to do?" he muttered to himself.

"Whatever he's planning, the person is already with him." Xu San sat down opposite him. "Our problem now is how to get him back."

Xu Si was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly turned his head: "Is there any movement from Zhuge Qi's side?"

Xu San was taken aback, then shook his head: "No, he has been meeting with Ren Fei these past few days, either in the office or at the temporary station in Central China. I haven't seen him do anything extra."

Furthermore, our people don't even know that Zhang Chulan has been taken away by the World Alliance, so he probably hasn't received the news yet either.

"What if he gets the news?" Xu Si's tone was tinged with wariness. "You remember what he meant before, right? Now that Bao Bao has lost sight of him, he has a perfect excuse to interfere. Could this be...?"

"No." Xu San interrupted him. "Think about it, if Zhang Chulan was taken away by someone he arranged, why would he have made it so explicit?"

"Why not just do it covertly? Why bother giving us a heads-up beforehand? Wouldn't that be like alerting the enemy?"

Xu Si thought about it and felt that his brother made sense.

"That's even more troublesome." Xu Si sighed and rubbed his temples.

Now that they can't find any fault with Zhuge Qi, he can really interfere in Zhang Chulan's affairs without any scruples, and they won't be able to find any fault with him.