Haizhou HQ City.
Inside a conference room at the city Inspectorate.
Tang Ling, Wang Qi, Huang Hao, and a middle-aged man were staring at the large screen ahead.
The screen was packed with photos; one showed two black-cloaked, masked men holding two urns.
Clack! The door opened and a middle-aged Inspector walked in with a file. He addressed Tang Ling respectfully: "Team-leader Tang, we've caught them. The pair confessed they don't know Jiang Yan. They were hired by the secretary of An Conghao—the boss of Haoyang Real Estate in Liuyang City, Lingzhou Prefecture."
Wang Qi shot to his feet. "So we finally have a lead! Team-leader, let's head to Liuyang right now!"
Tang Ling remained calm, not even turning as she told the Inspector, "Read An Conghao's file."
"Yes, ma'am." The Inspector saluted, opened the folder and began.
"An Conghao, 48, native of Liuyang. Made his fortune in real estate and is currently the city's richest man; his connections are a tangled web, spanning both legitimate and criminal circles."
Huang Hao frowned. "How would someone like An Conghao know Jiang Yan? A man of his status has no need to deal with that sort—harboring an S-class fugitive would ruin him if it came to light."
"Hmph, no matter how rich, he's still just a civilian. Once I haul him in personally, let's see how tough those 'connections' really are," Wang Qi sneered, dismissing the tycoon.
The silent middle-aged man now warned Wang Qi, "Stay calm. Judging by his methods, Jiang Yan won't be easy. If you barge in you'll only tip him off and let him slip away."
Tang Ling pondered quietly. Not long ago Lai Lirong and Li Pubin, the officers on Jiang Yan's case, had been killed—same bizarre M.O. as Yuan Kui and Wang Xiaoye. Cameras had caught nothing at all.
That gave her a mental profile of the still-unseen Jiang Yan: reckless, vindictive, cunning.
If the foe hadn't slipped up by stealing the ashes, she wouldn't have known where to start looking.
"So what's your plan?" Wang Qi asked the older man, pursing his lips.
Huang Hao suggested, "How about we have the local Inspectorate quietly pick him up first, then go question him? With me there, even if he won't talk he won't escape."
Tang Ling vetoed it at once. "No. An Conghao is Liuyang's richest man; odds are some of the local Inspectors are on his payroll."
All eyes turned to her; they trusted their captain had a plan.
Tang Ling's gaze was icy. "I'll request the local special-forces unit to arrest An Conghao. All his money can't reach into the army. We move out now."
"Yes, ma'am!" Wang Qi was first on his feet, fists clenched—vengeance felt within reach.
Once they located Jiang Yan, a probable Level Three Awakened, he would stand no chance against their squad.
Psychic Awakened had frail bodies; as long as Tang Ling kept him busy, the rest could finish him off.
Jiang Yan had no idea a manhunt was closing in on him.
An unofficial Awakened group coveted his buddha crystal, while the official Xuanjian Division wanted him dead... 13 July 1760, inside the Haoyang Real Estate tower, Liuyang City.
An Conghao sat in his 30th-floor office handling Jiang Yan's commission to buy a foreign base.
He looked unchanged—merely stout—but he knew a huge mouth now gaped where his belly had been; closed and clothed, it was invisible.
Leafing through the proposals, An Conghao lounged contentedly in his leather chair. "Being a Monster may be ugly, but the physique is incredible—my old lower-back pain is gone."