51: Chapter 51 The Investigation of the Red Devil

Wesley stayed in the Antique Shop for a full twenty minutes that day.

Yan Zheng remembered holding a rag and replying with a smile, "That's such a pity. A batch of bronze incense burners from the late Qing dynasty just arrived this week," only to be dryly interrupted by Wesley.

Wesley asked three questions.

First, when did Mr. Yan start handling decoration procurement for the underground boxing ring?

Second, what specific categories did Mr. Yan's cooperation with Liu Kun include?

Third, did Mr. Yan keep any paper copies of the procurement contracts on hand?

Yan Zheng answered everything truthfully, his tone warm and his speaking pace moderate. The rag in his hand continued to leisurely wipe down the counter, his posture as open and upright as a good neighbor cooperating with a property inspection.

Wesley glanced through the copies of the three contracts Yan Zheng handed over. The curve of his eternal smile deepened with a layer of satisfaction. Then, he offered his thanks, pushed open the door, and left.

That was eight days ago.

Now, it was May 30th, one in the morning.

The conflict between Kingpin and The Hand had entered its second week. Violent incidents in Hells Kitchen were growing exponentially, and even the 24-hour Laundromat on the corner had its windows shattered by stray bullets.

Yan Zheng sat on a folding chair in the Underground Room, eyes closed, establishing a remote sensory link with the soulfire of Skeleton Soldier No. 1 using his Mental Power.

The Skeleton Soldier crouched behind a rooftop drainpipe of an abandoned apartment building on Ninth Avenue, its field of vision facing a main road four hundred meters away.

A red figure swept past across the rooftops from the west.

Yan Zheng: (ꐦ˘ᴗ˘)

"It's the third day. He appears without fail every day between midnight and two in the morning."

Yan Zheng opened his eyes and drew a third 'X' in the small notebook before him.

"Red skin-tight suit, full-coverage head mask, holding a short metal baton in each hand. His movement is primarily rooftop parkour, supplemented by rope swinging."

"Combat ability: based on the observations of the past two days, his hand-to-hand combat skills are extremely high, capable of taking down four to five armed gang members within thirty seconds, but with no obvious release of superpowers."

"The locals call him the 'Devil', and the newspapers call him 'Hells Kitchen's Red Vigilante'."

He picked up the notebook and turned the page, which featured a scribbled layout map of Hells Kitchen, with the patrol routes of the three days marked in different colored pens.

"On the first night, he started from Kingpin's territory in the north district, made a counter-clockwise loop, and ended on a rooftop on West 49th Street."

"On the second night, he started from the East District Dock, made a clockwise half-loop, and ended on the roof of an apartment building at the intersection of West 44th Street and 10th Avenue."

"On the third night, he started from the north district again, with his route overlapping about seventy percent with the first night."

Yan Zheng drew a circle with the tip of his pen around the location of 'the intersection of West 44th Street and 10th Avenue'.

"Out of the three days, he ended his patrol at this building on two of them."

"He either lives here, or there is something here that he must regularly return to check on."

Yan Zheng: (˵ꐦ˘꒳˘˵)

He leaned back against the chair, spinning his pen cap a couple of times between his fingers.

"This gentleman's patrol focus is concentrated on areas with high gang conflicts. After beating people up, he ties them to lampposts for the Police to collect—a standard non-lethal vigilante operation."

"His threat level to me is low-to-medium."

"He doesn't kill, and I won't leave any corpses on his patrol route."

"As long as our time and space are kept separate, we will remain two parallel lines."

Yan Zheng closed the notebook and stuffed it into a drawer.

"But there is one problem."

He closed his eyes again, switching the sensory link back to the vision of Skeleton Soldier No. 1.

In the Skeleton Soldier's perspective, the red figure was chasing two dark shadows fleeing from an alleyway entrance.

Those two dark shadows wore dark, tight-fitting suits. Their movements were agile, and their wall-climbing postures were excessively fluid.

"They're members of The Hand."

Yan Zheng: (ꐦ⌓ꐦ)

"The Red Devil is chasing ninjas from The Hand."

The Red Vigilante's baton struck the back of the leading ninja's head, sending him crashing face-first to the ground on the spot.

The second ninja threw a shuriken, which the Red Vigilante dodged by turning sideways before a whip kick shattered the ninja's knee.

As the two struggled on the ground, the Red Vigilante pulled a rope from his waist and began tying them up.

Yan Zheng was originally prepared to cut off the sensory link.

But the Red Vigilante did not leave immediately after finishing.

His head turned slightly upward, his face beneath the mask pointing in a certain direction.

Yan Zheng's breath hitched for a beat.

That direction was the block where the Antique Shop was located.

The Red Vigilante stood beside the two bound ninjas, his head tilted, holding the position for about five seconds.

As if listening to something.

Then, he turned and ran back in the direction he had come from.

Yan Zheng: (ꐦ˘͈‸˘͈)

"He stopped."

Yan Zheng stood up from his chair, his fingers gripping the pen cap so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

"He stopped for five seconds while facing the direction of the Antique Shop."

"Five seconds is too long for a vigilante in the middle of a mission."

"He either saw something, smelled something, or heard something."

Yan Zheng looked down at the concrete floor beneath his feet.

Three meters beneath the floor was the hibernation pod of the Stitched Brute, and further down was the material storage area.

"The Brute's soulfire releases an extremely trace amount of Dark Energy fluctuations while in hibernation, which normal humans cannot perceive."

"But what if this Red Devil's sensory abilities far exceed those of ordinary people?"

Yan Zheng took three steps around the Underground Room, then stopped again.

"This needs verification."

"Tomorrow—no, during the day today, I will have the Brute enter a complete deep hibernation and cut off all energy radiation."

"If this Mr. Devil passes by the direction of the Antique Shop again tomorrow night and still pauses, it means what he detected wasn't the Brute's fluctuations, but something else."

"If he doesn't stop, then it proves the Brute's soulfire was indeed the trigger."

He walked back to the folding chair, sat down, and completely severed the sensory link.

"Yan Zheng, you are currently separated from three major factions by only a thin sheet of paper."

"Kingpin's wrath is crashing down on The Hand, so he temporarily has no time to worry about you."

"The Hand's Shadow Eyes is being hunted down by Kingpin, so they temporarily have no time to look for you."

"But this Mr. Red Devil is a variable that wasn't factored into my calculations."

Yan Zheng: (˵ꐦ≖‸≖˵)

He picked up the cup of cold water on the table, took a gulp, and muttered to himself in the empty Underground Room.

"He doesn't pose a direct threat for now, but I must maintain my distance."

"Remember his patrol patterns, avoid his active hours, and operate outside his sensory range."

"If he ever comes knocking on my door one day, that will be a different story."

Yan Zheng placed the empty cup on the table, stood up, and walked toward the stairs.

He stopped halfway up.

"Oh, right."

He looked back at the hibernating Brute in the corner.

"Mr. Brute, I'm cutting your power for the day tomorrow."

"Thanks for your hard work. Think of it as a day off."

The Brute's soulfire showed no reaction in its deep hibernation.

Yan Zheng shrugged, went upstairs, and turned off the lights.

"Nights in Hells Kitchen are getting livelier and livelier."

"Kingpin's thugs are searching the whole city for ninjas, the ninjas are dodging the hunt all over town, and the Red Devil is catching people from both sides across the city."

"With three factions stirring up this muddy water at the same time, I just need to squat on the shore and wait for the fish to jump out."

Yan Zheng lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling for a couple of seconds.

"But when there are more fish, there will also be more cats."

"This red cat's nose is much sharper than I imagined."