Star Gate

Chapter 674: Li Hao Returns (II)

Chen Jin walked over from his post nearby and bared his teeth at the youngster. “I’ll hack you into two if you come out! Commander Li isn’t here and Director Hou hasn’t said anything, so you can just try putting a foot over the line!”

“Chen Jin!” The youngster plainly knew Chen Jin and snapped back, “Remember that you are in Skystar City! This is not the savage wild lands of Silver Moon! I gave Li Hao face and allowed him three days to make his investigations. It’s been three days. You don’t have the right to hold me anymore!”

The hubbub raised quite some attention and everyone in the yard looked their way. Some Night Watchers watched from a distance. Big Eyes and the others looked observed from even further away. A strange look filled their eyes—Deputy Director Zhou’s son wanted to leave.

Li Hao wasn’t here. He’d disappeared after Hou Xiaochen showed himself. Deputy Director Zhou, however, was among the group of Night Watchers watching from the outside. He was in the same clique as Yellow Dragon. With Director Yao abstaining from operations, these two deputy directors represented the Night Watchers. Deputy Director Zhou’s son, however, was detained to present day.

Zhou Chao’s anger was not an impulsive reaction. The trio immediately ran through the possibilities. This might be a probing of Li Hao’s capabilities or forcing him to acquiesce to their will. Regardless, both deputy directors were nearby. One was a metamorphosis, the other a peak Nova. They were both confident that they could prevent Li Hao from taking action when he returned.

“Zhou Chao is a peak Solar, Chen Jin is just a Dominator,” Big Eyes transmitted to her comrades after a quick look around. “The difference between them is obvious to see. On the Silver Moon Guard side, Golden Spear seems to be in seclusion and Mu Lin is strong enough, but he focuses on defense. There’s probably no one else among the Guards who can stop Zhou Chao.”

She looked around the premises and saw that many Night Watchers were present. There were Novas, Solars, and those beneath Solar. Powerhouses abounded at the Night Watcher headquarters. The deputy and principal directors were peak Nova at the very least, or metamorphosis. Apart from Hou Xiaochen and Yellow Dragon each being the commander of a cardinal direction, the other three were also staffed by peak Novas.

There were also a lot of other Nova heavyweights, such as Hu Qingfeng and Big Eyes themselves.

Everyone was watching with bated breath. There were eleven directors total at the Night Watchers—one principal and ten deputies. They were almost all sitting at their posts in headquarters. Those who weren’t had made it back in the last two days.

Deputy directors walked out of their office buildings and frowned in the yard’s direction. Could Yellow Dragon and the rest not contain themselves after Li Hao left? Hou Xiaochen actually exerted less authority over the scene than Li Hao.

Everyone knew that Hou Xiaochen was a veteran official and would be wary of certain things at times. But Li Hao was a pure martial master, his titles spontaneously given and the young man didn’t have the experience to back them up. Therefore, people were cautious of Hou Xiaochen, but being cautious didn’t mean being afraid of him.

Instead, they were afraid of Li Hao! That was definitely a person who killed without blinking!

Yellow Dragon and Deputy Director Zhou convened not too far away. They watched silently without a word—but their presence also levied a certain amount of pressure. The others standing by their side weren’t Night Watchers, but senior officials from other ministries. A deputy minister from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, for example, and another from the Ministry of Armed Forces, a peacemaker commissioner from the Ministry of Foreign Relations...

When they walked out together, they seemed to bolster Zhou Chao’s confidence. “Don’t you dare run completely lawless, Chen Jin! This is Skystar City and I am a high rank chief commissioner! And you are? What right do you have to stop me or hold me? Stand down!!

“Does the Silver Moon Guard wish to mutiny?!” roared the youngster.

A light danced in the eyes of the nobles on the scene. So it began. The internals of the Night Watchers were beginning to force Li Hao’s hand and demand Hou Xiaochen to release the people. Even if the young man came back after the fact, was he going to go to everyone’s homes to capture his prisoners again or kill them?

Powerhouses stood in the distance, a sight that did not go unnoticed by the crowd in the yard.

“My grandfather’s here!” someone muttered with excitement.

“My dad’s here too...”

“Hahaha!”

“We can finally leave... It’s been awful the past couple of days and I never want to come to this forsaken place again.”

“Same!”

“......”

The nobles were highly excited when they saw their family. These days had been such an arduous hardship! Their family had wanted them to wait since they would try to brainstorm a solution. The prisoners grew frantic when no news was forthcoming. Tomorrow was the last day of Li Hao’s imposed deadline, so they should be deciding on the list of names tonight.

No one had come to a decision, if for no reason other than they could not do so because it would give too much offense. They needed to wait for news from outside.

Some minor nobles were also excited, despite not seeing their family. They were most likely to be part of the one hundred. Now that the nobles were striking back at Li Hao, they could benefit from the sides and wouldn’t have to die.

Who wanted to die?

Their lives were so comfortable in the laps of luxury and they could seek out some fun at the Four Seas Island when they were bored. Who wanted to die?

......

The director’s office building.

Yao Si silently watched the proceedings as Little Ye introduced softly, “That’s Zhou Chao, Deputy Zhou’s son.”

Yao Si lifted his tea cup for a sip. There was no longer Water of Life in his tea. He simply watched events unfold and asked gently after a moment, “What is his crime?”

“Um... ah... no crime...” Little Ye was very nervous. She’d come to the Night Watchers five years ago and rather understood this old director. What she understood was that he liked to drink tea and read newspapers everyday, he didn’t care about anything else.

She’d thought this one was a hero among heroes five years ago. She didn’t think so five years later. This one... was old!

“It’s just us two here, what are you afraid of?” Yao Si said softly. “Forget whatever his crime is. I just want to get to know him. What do you think of him as a person?”

Little Ye was a bit nervous. The old director normally didn’t berate people; he’d only suddenly lost his temper once a few days ago. She lowered her voice when her thoughts traveled here and whispered, “Zhou Chao... is nothing good. I don’t know much about anything else, but he’s forced many... sisters... in the Night Watchers... to his will. No one dares make a fuss about it and his father, the deputy director, knows about it too.

“We don’t have many with power or influence among our ranks. Many of our members are powerhouses recruited from the general population. There are some minor martial masters, some Starlight and Darkmoon. Everyone knows that the Night Watchers are a legitimate organization, which prompts their submission. They just close their eyes and bear the happenings when it occurs.”

This was the Night Watchers, not the nine ministries. There weren’t many nobles among the Night Watchers as the agency had been formed to be a scapegoat. The nine ministries were powerful, but they weren’t willing to battle the three great organizations.

The Night Watchers were the original cannon fodder. It was due to Yao Si’s strength that they found their footing after fifteen years. They absorbed large sums of martial masters and supernaturals from the general populace to reach their current heights. The agency possessed sufficient strength to go toe-to-toe with the nine ministries now.

“We’re all on the same team with the supernaturals among us being the vanguard,” Yao Si remained calmly. “There are whorehouses if he wants women. What is he thinking in acting against his own?”

It wasn’t like the young man couldn’t locate women for consensual relations. He had money and authority to spare, as well as women offering up themselves to him. He was the son of a deputy director and a peak Solar in his own right. How would he lack for women?

Little Ye was disappointed when the director didn’t say anything, but she quickly concealed it. She squeezed out a smile. “They’re all nobles, perhaps... this is what they like.”

She smiled and didn’t say anything else, but couldn’t process the disappointment in her heart. She’d said it! She’d taken such a great risk and even accepted the possibility of Deputy Director Zhou learning what she’d done. Zhou Chao was a villain, a sinner that didn’t even refrain from acting against his own.

And yet, the director asked only one question. Why?

Why?!

How do I know why?! I just know that you are definitely all the same. Thank goodness I didn’t say anything else or speak of what else he’s done. I didn’t mention the even worser matters and just talked about the one that everyone knows.

Little Ye laughed at herself. She’d known this would be the outcome. Since she’d known, she shouldn’t have said anything at all. What were a few Darkmoons and Sunflares worth in the director’s eye?

They were all from the general population, a few minor Heaven Favored or weaklings lucky enough to direct energy into their bodies. Deputy Director Zhou was Deputy Director Yellow’s cherished general and a peak Nova...

Her thoughts wandered to the person who she’d found laughable and comical at first glance. Dressed in a trench coat, top hat, and twirling a staff... she’d only found him hilarious and interesting when she saw him as she walked down the stairs.

Now that she thought of him some more... What a domineering man! Would the world be in this state if there were a few more like him?

But...

The fire in her heart extinguished. He was not long for this world. Everyone wanted to kill him and no one was helping him. None of the nine ministries were taking a stand for him, not even the Inspectorate. Apart from Hou Xiaochen who’d come with him, not a single person inside the Night Watcher senior executives were stepping forward to give him a hand.

His bedraggled running away might be a very bleak sight, but could he be blamed for his actions?

No!

He was only twenty years old; perhaps he’d gone to the Inspectorate in hopes of help. He received none as no one was willing to take a stand for him.

Little Ye’s heart turned to ashes in this moment. The Night Watchers was just a place to draw a salary and live out their days. I’m better off being the old man’s secretary. At least he’s not like the others who treat female supernaturals as hookers they can play with!

Perhaps those guys liked it even more when the female supernaturals resist, but who dared resist?

There had been a spark of light in Little Ye’s eyes; it immediately dimmed. A smile returned to her face, much like the attitude that the female manager had adopted. Such was the way of the world. Since she could not resist it, then she would remain alive.

Alive!