Forge a path to success

"I'll just rob it," Ji Huaisu grinned.

"You're supposed to be a captain, can't you at least have some manners?" Chu Hengkong exclaimed indignantly, "How could you actually steal it!"

Ji Huaisu let out a shriek and lunged forward, grabbing the phone like a big kid. Seeing how focused she was, Chu Hengkong simply let her have it, and Ji Huaisu cheered as she took the game, laughing along with him as they stared at the small screen. He turned his attention away from the game and noticed that there were extra cushions on the wooden bench, making it very comfortable to sit on. The room, now bright and clean after he finished cleaning, reflected the outside light on the floor.

"Want to go boating tonight?" Ji Huaisu asked casually.

"Sure," Chu Hengkong said. "Anyway, it's a holiday today."

They huddled together to play games, golden wisps of hair brushing against his ears, and the occasional excited shouts of a girl echoed through the room. Chu Hengkong felt this was a bit of a waste of time, yet he also thought it wouldn't hurt to kill some more time like this.

He had to admit that such a holiday was not bad, much more enjoyable than a holiday spent alone.

Chapter 40 Salted Fish Kung Fu

Nine o'clock in the morning, the shrine on the 31st floor of the headquarters.

The lamplight cast two long shadows, one of which leaned forward and then lifted. He was bowing. Ji Qiufeng, receiving the bow, remained expressionless, closed his paper fan, and stepped forward slightly.

“Come here,” he said.

The invitation was like the sound of a gong announcing the start of a new chapter, and the atmosphere inside the temple changed abruptly. A third slender figure darted out from under the lamplight, exuding a chilling aura, and his first move was a silver whip aimed straight for the temple's forehead!

Ji Qiufeng raised his head, narrowly avoiding the surprise attack. Approval flickered in his eyes, for the man opposite him had also held his ground. The man crouched low, bending his knees, and retracted his left foot, shifting his weight backward, employing a clever "drawing the spear" maneuver. This was a common technique in polearm combat, quickly retracting the weapon to handle close-quarters combat. Used here, it transformed a missed whip strike into a diagonal lash; even a slight glancing blow could destabilize the enemy with the force of the rebound.

This time, Ji Qiufeng didn't dodge. With a slight flick of his wrist, he pressed down with his paper fan, striking the middle to rear of the silver whip. This strike severed the whip's power, like striking a snake at its vital point, causing the whip-wielder immense discomfort. His right side was thus exposed, and Ji Qiufeng stepped forward, the opening opening right at his hand. The whip-wielder also stepped forward, using a light step to forcefully retract the whip, then switched to a spinning kick to attack Ji Qiufeng's upper body.

This move was decisive and excellent. The first kick could be a feint or a real strike; if it missed, the momentum from the spin would be used to deliver a double whip strike. But this wasn't enough for the astute Ji Qiufeng. He dodged the first strike to the side, and the second strike barely grazed his hair. He crouched low to avoid the whip strikes, and suddenly his paper fan shot out like a sharp sword, aiming straight for the whip-wielder's throat. At the same time, the whip-wielder's right hand flashed out, slashing like a scimitar towards Ji Qiufeng's profile!

His right hand froze in mid-air, the paper fan having touched his skin first. Ji Qiufeng retracted the fan, opened it, and shook it, saying with a smile, "Almost succeeded!"

"There's a difference of several decades." Chu Hengkong withdrew his fist. "Thank you for your guidance."

The whip-wielder was, of course, Chu Hengkong; the silver whip was his tentacle. His first assignment after the holiday was to learn martial arts techniques, sparring with Ji Qiufeng for fifteen minutes every morning. Success meant hitting Ji Qiufeng even once. That last spar was his most effective one this week; it looked like he was just a centimeter away from winning… but such a victory was meaningless. The other man fought the entire time with one hand behind his back, only wielding a folding fan. That wasn't holding back; it was practically flooding the enemy.

“I’m serious. I made a bet with Huaisu before, guessing what your trump card was. Huaisu guessed it was a fist, I guessed it was a gun, but I didn’t expect it to be a knife.” Ji Qiufeng smiled, “It’s a pity Hengkong, you forgot that you don’t wield a knife.”

Chu Hengkong scratched his head, feeling a little embarrassed. Ji Qiufeng was right; the final move was indeed a sword technique. But if one side suddenly unleashes a killing blow while the exchange is going well, it's dishonorable for any school or sect to do so.

He told the truth: "The pressure was too great, and I couldn't control myself."

"That's a good thing. Fewer thoughts will make it easier to overcome life-or-death situations." Ji Qiufeng gestured for him to sit down. "Tell me about your current situation! You have complete control over your new arm and are no longer bound by any particular combat mindset. You've built a very good foundation. What do you think your next step in training should be?"

"Practice moves," Chu Hengkong replied immediately. "We're missing moves."

He retracted his tentacles and gestured as he spoke: "I have learned many skills in my martial arts practice, but in the current battle, I only have two decisive killing moves."

“A single-point breakthrough ‘gun’.” He compressed his tentacles, which then surged and struck the temple wall. “A wide-range strike ‘thunder whip’.” The swirling tentacles slammed into the floor, the impact spreading out in a circle. Chu Hengkong withdrew his attack and sat back down.

"With weapons and concealed weapons, we can handle most situations, but there are still fatal flaws." Chu Hengkong held up two fingers. "First of all, our defenses are too weak. There are too many weapons in the city that are more powerful than bullets, and mind control and poison are also difficult to deal with. If we don't take precautions, I will die from concentrated fire sooner or later."

Ji Qiufeng smiled enigmatically: "Is the only difference in physique?"

Chu Hengkong pressed his temples and admitted with a wry smile, "...I'm too prone to overconfidence."

“Yes, that’s the real problem with the ‘defense’ aspect.” Ji Qiufeng tapped his shoulder with his fan. “You’re so young, yet you have the mentality of a strongman. You’re not afraid of death, pain, or the enemy’s treacherous tricks. This has helped you make rapid progress in martial arts, but it has also cultivated some bad habits. Do you think you would have fought so dangerously if you had truly considered Adali a formidable enemy?”

Chu Hengkong could only smile bitterly: "...No."

"So now, how do you plan to fight?" Ji Qiufeng patiently guided him.

"We must prepare enough medicinal herbs and weapons, and use the whip to safely eliminate the pile of corpses covered in torches. Once we force out his true form, I will go all out and try to kill him with a single strike," Chu Hengkong said.

Ji Qiufeng shook his head: "Heng Kong, you still don't understand! Why don't you use the Blessing Water Cannon to spray it?"

"……what?"

Chu Hengkong stared in disbelief as Ji Qiufeng vividly explained, "Since this firefly is afraid of Xiao An's medicine, then we should treat it accordingly and use a specialized weapon! If you're worried about not having enough medicine and decide to assassinate it alone, you can simply coat yourself with blessings and carry two jars with you as backup. Then you can deal with the firefly as if it were nothing, and what means will Adali have to restrain you?"

Chu Hengkong could easily tell that this was a deliberate insult, and quickly raised his tentacles in surrender: "I've really learned my lesson... I'll definitely use it again next time!"

"That's right. We martial artists can be strong, but not arrogant." Ji Qiufeng shook his fan. "And then? Do you feel like you're lacking anything?"

“I don’t have any special attack methods,” Chu Hengkong said without hesitation. “I can defeat spirits with talismans, and I can defeat fireflies by dispersing the mud that possesses them. But if the next enemy doesn’t have this weakness, then I’m really out of options.”

“Generally speaking, we do not consider such demanding conditions during the first phase of the mass process.”

"The enemy won't spare me just because I'm skilled," Chu Hengkong chuckled. "At this stage, what techniques will Longquan Township teach?"

Having read several appraisal reports on related relics, he already knew that Ji Qiufeng came from a place called "Longquan Township." Longquan Township was famous for its "Longxiang Boxing Technique," and it also had forces like Chenjun Palace and Zhengxuan Palace that resembled "sects," so it must have a strong Xianxia (fantasy martial arts) atmosphere... And immortals probably don't lack methods to deal with demons and monsters, right?

"That's a very good question!" Ji Qiufeng said seriously. "Generally speaking, at this stage we would teach blacksmithing, architecture, calligraphy and painting, pharmacology, and music!"

"Ah...ah?" Chu Hengkong was dumbfounded.

Ji Qiufeng eagerly joined in: "How can you only know how to fight? Our Longquan Township has always advocated holistic education and encouraged well-rounded development. To be honest, I also have a lot of experience in painting. Since Hengkong, you're interested in learning, how about we add three more hours of painting lessons every day from now on..."

"No! Let's forget it!"

"You can draw talismans after you learn it," Ji Qiufeng began to tempt him.

Chu Hengkong waved his hands vigorously, as if he had been awakened by painful memories. Back when he first became an assassin, the old men in his family dragged him to countless classes on art appreciation, mysticism, heraldry, and world history. The professors on the podium were passionate and energetic, and he felt like he was sitting on pins and needles, wishing he could transform into a rocket and fly away.

"Without that talent, there's no chance," Chu Hengkong said firmly. "I'll just learn martial arts!"

"With your uneven academic performance, how can you become a martial arts practitioner?" Ji Qiufeng sighed dramatically. "You'll just have to learn some basic moves. Horse stance, retract your tentacles, raise your right arm to defend, and face your fist inward."

Chu Hengkong perked up; this was a stance not covered in any of the three thousand sets of exercises. After he did as instructed, Ji Qiufeng helped him make some minor adjustments before giving the second instruction: "Tense all your muscles."

Chu Hengkong channeled his energy, his muscles contracting to prepare for the blow, making his body harder than steel. But Ji Qiufeng suddenly struck him in the chest with his fan, sending Chu Hengkong crashing backward! Then, like a roly-poly toy, he rose again!

"You were clearly in a defensive stance, how did you fall down?"

"Too tough," Chu Hengkong pondered. "It left no 'room for maneuver'."

Ji Qiufeng's answer was unexpected: "Wrong, not hard enough!"

He picked up his folding fan again and pointed, the fan first striking Chu Hengkong's biceps: "Tighten, right arm muscles rotate 15° to the right."

"…………ah?"

Chu Hengkong tried to do it, and the feeling of muscle rotation was just like a muscle cramp that would wake him up in the middle of the night, but a horizontal one at that. Ji Qiufeng then pointed to his chest: "Rotate the pectoralis major muscle outward by 3°."

How do you rotate your pectoral muscles?

Ji Qiufeng straightened his face and said, "Enough with the nonsense! Turn around! Next up are your abs, then your thighs!"

"My grass..."

In five minutes, Ji Qiufeng examined him from head to toe, and every muscle in his body was tense and twisting in a strange direction. Chu Hengkong felt his whole body cramping, the kind of cramping that felt like he was fleeing from a breakdown. He felt that if this continued, his muscles would probably say "goodbye" and then go on strike and break out of his body to the ends of the earth.

But Ji Qiufeng's torment was not over yet. Satisfied, he put away his fan and said, "Very good. Stand still, until you can't take it anymore."

Chu Hengkong glared, but his tongue was tied and he couldn't speak. Ji Qiufeng laughed three times ruthlessly and strode away.

·

Three hours later.

A small golden head peeked furtively out of the doorway, and Ji Huaisu tiptoed into the temple.

"Hey~ Sorry to interrupt your passionate cultivation, I'm just reminding you it's almost time to switch shifts with me... Chu Hengkong, are you even going to make it to work?"

"…………"

She felt the answer to the question should be "no," because Detective Chu was lying on the ground like a dead fish. It seemed he had recently challenged himself to wring himself dry, as the sweat beneath him had formed small puddles. Ji Huaisu squatted beside the dead fish, took out a baton, and poked him: "Still breathing? Still breathing?"

The moment the baton touched him, Chu Hengkong sprang up from his prone position in an extremely bizarre way! Then, like a cat leaping from a height, he spun around himself! His rotation speed was extremely fast, and in the blink of an eye, he had spun nearly a hundred times. From the front, he looked like a vortex, with sweat pouring out in all directions like rain!

Ji Huaisu immediately raised a light shield and let out a strange cry: "What kind of dog bathing technique is this?"

Then the spinning stopped, and Chu Hengkong rolled over and lay on the ground, utterly dejected, as if he had transformed from a salted fish into a dried-out one. Ji Huaisu removed his light shield and grinned, "Congratulations on your mastery of divine skills... Salted Fish Detective..."

"I didn't learn it," Chu Hengkong mumbled, "It's too difficult."

"I didn't expect you to use the word 'difficult' too." Ji Huaisu pulled him up. "Alright, that's enough practice. I'll cover your afternoon shift. Do you still have the energy to go to the workshop?"

"What... are you doing...?"

"Take a look at the new 'gashapon machine'." She gestured with a gashapon toy, "and pick up your new equipment while you're at it."

Chapter 41 Specialized Equipment

Flames roared from the smelting furnace, the noise of loading and unloading goods was incessant, and white smoke billowed from the large chimney behind the workshop. The smoke spread out majestically, like a gentleman in black donning his grey top hat. Steam filled the air, the sound of hammering shook the walls, and the young men wielding hammers were drenched in sweat, but their expressions were as joyful as if they were celebrating a festival.

The green-skinned proprietress stood on a high place, shouting: "Pay attention to the time! The next batch of raw materials will arrive in two minutes! Young men in Group A, pay attention to safety during operations, and do not remove your protective masks!"

Chu Hengkong stood at the door and deliberately turned back to look at the sign: "...This is Mrs. Ansa's workshop?"

“Of course, it’s the workshop,” Ji Huaisu said cheerfully. “It can finally start operating again!”

Then another batch of handcarts arrived, and the salvage workers unloaded the cargo, placing baskets of relics onto transport pipes that resembled water slides in a water park. Water flowed like a small river within the pipes, automatically transporting the relics to a rear warehouse. At the same time, new materials were output from the warehouse and transported to the top of a gourd-shaped smelting furnace via differently colored water pipes.

Chu Hengkong thought the process was incredibly extravagant, because all the materials were relics, but they were categorized according to some rule and put into the furnace in different orders.

"Release, release, release... Okay! Take turns resting, keep monitoring, and continue in thirty minutes!"

The flames in the smelting furnace weakened, and the temperature dropped significantly. The salvage crew cheered and then took their shifts to rest. Mrs. Ansa walked up to the two of them and patted Chu Hengkong's arm hard, her facial scales opening and closing.

"This is the first time we've started construction in ten years! Now it can finally be called a 'workshop,' hahaha!"

The proprietress laughed heartily, and Chu Hengkong guessed, "Is your workshop the same as the Healing Temple?"

"Of course, these are all urban components personally designed by Lord Huilong. Construction can only begin when order is stable." Mrs. Ansa beamed, looking like a happy lizard. "This is of great significance. Once the first domino is pushed down, everything will fall into place! With work, the young men won't go hungry; by consuming the relics in the water curtain, Lord Huilong will have more energy to create Flowing Pearls; with more Flowing Pearls and sufficient energy, we can create even bigger and better things... Come on, you'll definitely love our wonderful creations."

She led the two into the warehouse, then took out a large bunch of keys to open the door to a small room deep inside. Chu Hengkong had no expectations; he was still heartbroken over the belongings that had been thrown into the fire.

Several lights illuminated the human figure in the center of the room. A set of light black armor stood in the light, like a black eagle folding its wings, waiting for the right moment to take flight. Chu Hengkong's gaze was firmly drawn to it. The light armor resembled a lightweight combat suit, but the left arm was empty, with only a round shoulder guard on the shoulder, leaving ample room for movement.

"This combat suit was custom-made for you." Ji Huaisu picked up the helmet, which resembled an eagle's head. "Want to try it on?"

He eagerly donned his full gear. The combat suit was incredibly light, and the instant he was fully equipped, an indescribable "vitality" seeped into his body, like a warm ray of sunshine against his skin, making him feel incredibly energetic. Chu Hengkong took out the Silver Eye Book, flipped the pages onto his combat suit, and the identification text appeared as he had expected:

【Resurrection Force Combat Uniform (Detective Custom Version)】

[Rating: Level 1 (Numbers are bolded)]

【Origin: Mysterious Realm of Senluo - Huilong City】

【Effect: The cutting edge of Huilong City's trendy craftsmanship, personally designed by Huilong Youyou. The wearer must have a rank of one or higher.】

It can slowly restore stamina and heal injuries; it can defend against weak elemental attacks; it can defend against weak mental attacks; and it has weak resistance to external erosion.

[Missing: Let me tell you, this kid fights like he's going to die. If I don't give him more resistance, I'm afraid he'll die on his own doorstep... What are you laughing at? Do you think I'll get me arrested by the Party Secretary for saying that?]

—The migrating dragon roams freely.

Mrs. Ansa curiously peeked out, but because she wasn't tall enough, she couldn't see the text. She only saw Ji Huaisu and Chu Hengkong covering their mouths, trying hard to suppress their laughter. The latter cleared his throat and said seriously, "I'll wear this to bed every night from now on."

"How pathetic!" Ji Huaisu scoffed. "Let me make this clear beforehand, it's not that I don't want to give you better..."

“I understand. The workshops can only produce level one relics at most right now, right? This thing is already crammed to the limit.”

Of the four abilities, one is an incredibly useful resistance to external erosion; no one would believe it's even considered level one. This resistance, literally meaning it prevents being instantly killed by the gnawing ability of the Firefly Corpse, is truly life-saving!

"It's totally worth it," Chu Hengkong exclaimed. "It's worth a hundred low-grade relics."

"No business can operate at a loss," the proprietress said with a hint of regret. "Unfortunately, our current production line is only enough to manufacture armor; we can't provide you with better weapons."

“That’s more than enough,” Chu Hengkong said.

After bidding farewell to Mrs. Ansa, the two left the workshop. A new batch of white armor had begun to be forged; it was undoubtedly mass-produced relic weaponry prepared for the resurrected troops. Youyou's decision was entirely correct; in battles within the range of Point One, even the sharpest weapon was no match for unyielding fate.

Chu Hengkong looked at the gauntlet with delight, feeling refreshed: "After working for more than two months, I'm finally enjoying the benefits of government employment!"

"Don't make it sound like you've been working illegally all this time." Ji Huaisu tossed him a notebook, filled with lines of completed or pending tasks. "Remember to write the handover report. What's the work plan for this week?"

“Routine patrol, check on Tina and the dog, investigate the black market workshops and clubs…” Chu Hengkong’s gaze focused on the newly checked line. “Finished checking Adari’s ledgers? Any new discoveries?”

Ji Huaisu shook his head, his expression strange.

"Calling it a new discovery isn't quite right. Remember the assassination attempt on you a while back?"

"Which time?" Chu Hengkong asked in return.

"The time with the hundred palm strikes."

He paused for a moment before remembering the "skillful hands" with many palms, who seemed to be a moon worshipper. The mission to find gold in the swamp was too urgent and too long, and Chu Hengkong had long forgotten about this little matter, but Ji Huaisu still cared about something.

“We judged from the confessions that it was the Swamp People who did it, but after investigating Adali’s recent expenditures, I did not find a huge shortfall in the amount of money. Instead, I found that some of the core members had disappeared.” Ji Huaisu said, “I don’t know what he sent those people to do, but now it seems... that assassination was not ordered by Adali.”

Who else could it be but the Great Wizard? Who in the city could easily come up with a million Flowing Pearls just for the life of a newcomer?

Without prior arrangement, they all remembered the white-clad man in the top hat and the blue flame in his hand.