86: Chapter 86 Director Wang's "Resurrection"

As soon as he entered the city, Li Zhengyang sensed that something was wrong.

The atmosphere on the streets was too oppressive.

More than half of the shops on both sides of the road were closed, and those that remained open were desolate.

Every two intersections, he would encounter a squad of martial artists patrolling with battle sabers slung over their shoulders.

These people all had deadpan expressions, looking at everyone as if they were suspects, and the interrogations were extremely strict.

A checkpoint had been set up at the intersection ahead, where two patrolling martial artists were berating an old man pushing a tricycle.

Li Zhengyang could not be bothered to entangle himself with them.

He took a light step forward with his right foot.

"Soaring Dragon Sky-Stepping Footwork."

The space beneath his feet rippled like water, creating a layer of transparent folds. His body vanished into thin air, and when he reappeared, he was already in an alley three hundred meters past the checkpoint.

The entire process went unnoticed by anyone; even the surrounding surveillance cameras failed to capture a single afterimage.

Using this movement technique for travel was simply absurdly effective.

Li Zhengyang did not linger and headed straight for that urban village from back then.

He navigated the familiar routes into the urban village and arrived at that dilapidated building.

Upon reaching the third floor, Li Zhengyang was stunned for a moment.

The loan company was gone.

Had they moved? Or had they cleaned up their act?

Seeing that there was no useful information, Li Zhengyang turned around and went downstairs.

Just as he walked out of the alleyway of the urban village, a steaming shop came into view.

"Old Zhou's Breakfast Shop."

The sign was still that same old one.

Li Zhengyang's stomach happened to growl.

He walked over, pulled up a chair, and sat down.

"Boss, give me six baskets of meat buns, two bowls of wontons, and four fried dough sticks."

Old Zhou did not even lift his head, instinctively replying, "Alright, please wait a moment..."

Halfway through his sentence, Old Zhou felt the voice sounded a bit familiar.

He scooped out the fried dough sticks to drain them, then turned his head to look.

The bamboo chopsticks in his hand clattered onto the floor.

"You... you..."

Old Zhou pointed at Li Zhengyang, his eyes wide as saucers.

"Don't be nervous, Boss. Just eating normally."

Li Zhengyang took out his phone. "I'm not doing the thirty-yuan buffet; just charge me normally."

Upon hearing that he would pay normally, Old Zhou's expression softened quite a bit.

"Oh my! It's you, young man! I haven't seen you for a month. Looking at how you're dressed, have you struck it rich?"

Old Zhou nimbly served the freshly steamed buns, smiling warmly.

"It's alright, just doing some small business up north."

Li Zhengyang dipped a bun in vinegar and ate it in one bite, saying as he ate, "Boss, I just went into the urban village. How come the loan company on the third floor called 'Speed Loan Treasure' is gone?"

Hearing the words "Speed Loan Treasure," Old Zhou quickly looked around and lowered his voice.

"Young man, you shouldn't go around mentioning that name."

Old Zhou pulled up a small stool to sit nearby, holding a rag and pretending to wipe the table.

"Why? Did the loan sharks get busted?"

"Busted, my foot! They're making a fortune now!"

Old Zhou gestured mysteriously. "They moved to the city center! They changed their name to 'Starfire Financial Group.' Not only did they build their own high-rise with over ten floors, but even the East City defense team is close with them."

Old Zhou sighed and pointed at the street.

"Haven't you noticed how many martial artists are patrolling the streets now? They say it's a security crackdown, but really, it's because people have been going missing in East City lately."

"One day it's the Zhang family's boy who goes missing, the next it's the Li family's girl. Everyone who goes missing is a young person who has just started practicing martial arts, or those rogue martial artists drifting through society."

"The higher-ups can't figure out why, so they just check temporary residence permits on the streets every day, making it impossible for everyone to do business."

Li Zhengyang paused his movements.

All those missing were low-level martial artists.

It seems the information on the files was correct.

"There's another strange thing."

Old Zhou looked around and lowered his voice even further. "Didn't you use to attend that Martial Arts Technical College in the south of the city?"

"Yes, what about it?"

"That school is sealed off now!" Old Zhou slapped his thigh.

"Sealed off?" Li Zhengyang raised an eyebrow.

"Yes! They say it's for cultivating top-tier martial arts talent for Daxia, so they implemented a fully enclosed management system. People inside aren't allowed out, and people outside aren't allowed in."

Old Zhou smacked his lips and continued.

"But the treatment is really good! I heard they don't charge tuition for technical college students now, and they even give out a three-thousand-yuan subsidy every month. They have meat at every meal, and they even give out free blood-qi soup."

"But there's one condition: every week, they have to draw a large tube of blood for a physical examination, saying it's to precisely monitor the students' potential data."

Hearing this, Li Zhengyang was thoroughly amused.

Free room and board, plus money, and a large tube of blood drawn every week.

This isn't running a school; this is clearly building a compliant and legal blood-cow pig farm!

Impressive.

The Demon People have even infiltrated the heart of Daxia and are now playing with industrial-scale farming.

No wonder that Xue You in the Northern Wilderness could continuously receive blood soul orbs; so the root of it was here.

"By the way, young man, you dropped out early, so you probably don't know."

Old Zhou leaned in closer. "That Director Wang from your school's Academic Affairs Office is really strange."

The chopsticks in Li Zhengyang's hand paused in mid-air.

"Who are you talking about? Which Director Wang?"

"It's that Director Wang, Wang Dewen! I don't know where he went before; he disappeared for a while, but then he came back."

Old Zhou clicked his tongue in wonder.

"He used to come to my place for breakfast often, but now he's like a different person. He wears big sunglasses every day and wears a long trench coat even in the middle of summer."

Li Zhengyang didn't speak.

In his mind, the image surfaced of that Level 5 Demonic Beast crushing Wang Dewen's spine with one foot in the territory of the Abyssal Giant Lizard.

He was dead as dead could be.

He had watched him breathe his last with his own eyes.

Now Old Zhou was telling him that Director Wang had returned to school to oversee work?

"Young man, why did you stop eating?" Old Zhou asked, seeing Li Zhengyang dazed.

Li Zhengyang stuffed the last half of the bun into his mouth, chewed twice, and swallowed.

He wiped his mouth with a tissue.

"Boss, how much?"

"Thirty, I'll give you a discount." Old Zhou smiled and brought out the payment code.

Li Zhengyang took out his phone and scanned it.

"Ding, payment received, twenty thousand yuan."

Upon hearing the voice broadcast, Old Zhou was startled. "Oh my, young man, you scanned too much! You gave too much!"

"It's not too much."

"The rest is an advance. After I finish what I'm doing, I'll have to come back here for a late-night snack."

Old Zhou held his phone, confused. "Finish what? You just got back, what are you going to do?"

Li Zhengyang didn't answer.

He walked two steps forward.

He lifted his right foot and stepped lightly into the air in front of him.

Ripples in space suddenly spread out, and his figure, like a reflection on the water, instantly distorted.

He vanished into thin air right before Old Zhou's eyes without a trace.

"Holy sh*t!" Old Zhou's hand shook, and the phone fell directly into the dough basin for the fried dough sticks.

He rubbed his eyes, looked at the empty street, and broke out in a cold sweat.

"In broad daylight, did I see a ghost?"

...

Outside the gates of the Martial Arts Technical College.

The originally dilapidated gate had long been dismantled and replaced with a heavy alloy door.

High-voltage electric fences were strung along the top of the wall, with all-weather surveillance cameras installed every ten meters.

Four security guards stood at the entrance.

Each of them was burly with cold, sinister eyes.

Even the weakest one exuded the aura of a Martial Master.

How could a local technical college have this level of security?

Li Zhengyang's figure appeared outside the gate, his eyes turning cold.

Wang Dewen, is it?

I want to see exactly how you came back from the dead.

He gripped his spear and strode toward the gate.