Chapter 172: [153] Ruthless Destroyer of Flowers! Xie the Thief Makes Another Trip to the Netherworld (Seeking Monthly Votes and Recommendations)_1

Late at night, inside a certain clubhouse.

Xie Zuxin was dining with a few friends from the political circles, and although urged to drink, he merely sipped lightly, not imbibing much.

“During special times, the higher-ups have issued a prohibition on alcohol, please understand.”

It was inevitable that his friends teased him.

Xie Zuxin just smiled mildly, without objecting.

His phone suddenly vibrated.

Seeing the caller ID.

He furrowed his brow slightly, stood up discreetly, and although his bodyguard wanted to follow, Xie was stopped by a raised hand. Finding a secluded corner, he redialed, “Didn’t I tell you not to contact me these days?”

“Have you found someone else?” a soft and tender voice came through the phone.

Xie Zuxin sighed.

He had never considered himself a lecher, but at that banquet years ago, among all the young women, only this one had a lovely singing voice, belting out ballads he often heard in his youth. From then on, his relationship with this woman became ambiguous.

Such is the affair between men and women.

Listening to the woman on the phone sobbing about feeling scared alone and missing him terribly, Xie Zuxin’s tough heart softened a bit.

After pondering for a moment,

“I’ll come see you in a bit.”

“Trojan Horse, waiting for you…”

Hearing the sweet nothings on the other end of the phone, Xie Zuxin couldn’t help but feel a surge of passion.

He ended the call.

He returned to the private room, waited for a while, and then took his leave.

Elsewhere.

Inside the Golden House.

A young woman dressed in white gauze, with a look of grievance on her face, reached out to gently caress the waist of Ghost Face Man in front of her, cooing softly, “My lord, I’ve said what you told me to say, so look… is there no more trouble for me now? Or, maybe we can go somewhere else to talk about life and dreams?”

“Sure.”

The response from Ghost Face Man made the woman sneer internally.

All men are the same when they die.

But before she could imagine what would happen next, a hand suddenly clamped down on her throat.

“Snap.”

The hand exerted force.

Ruthlessly nipping the blossoming life.

Heartlessly snapping the woman’s neck.

Pei Jinye casually tossed the woman’s corpse aside.

Not long after,

Noises from a sedan engine shutting off came from outside.

Xie Zuxin had instructed his bodyguards not to follow and then went upstairs alone, wearing a hat to block the surveillance cameras in the corridor. He soon made his way familiarly to the door of the Golden House.

He knocked twice.

But there was no response.

Xie Zuxin wasn’t suspicious; instead, he wore a knowing smile that all men understand.

Because just ten minutes ago, he had received a message from the woman inside that tonight’s theme was that of a Princess in Distress tragically abducted by bandits…

This woman always gave him different surprises.

He opened the door.

It was dark inside.

Only a sliver of orange light seeped from underneath the bedroom door.

Xie Zuxin’s lips curled into a knowing smile, starkly unlike his usual reserved demeanor at the Investigation Team’s Base.

He hooked the door closed with his foot.

After the door was shut,

Xie Zuxin didn’t intend to turn on the lights and began unfastening his tie and shirt buttons, readying himself for the upcoming actions, and stepped toward the bedroom door ajar by just a small gap.

He pushed the door open.

Xie Zuxin pounced with sleazy eagerness onto the bed, “My treasure—”

Suddenly.

His expression froze.

The woman on the bed was ice-cold, completely pulseless!

She… was dead?

Xie Zuxin’s complexion changed, but he didn’t have time to react.

A hand instantly seized his spine and “snap,” broke it.

Xie Zuxin was about to scream in agony.

The assailant quickly covered his throat, and a Triangular Military Dagger pierced directly through his head.

Xie Zuxin attempted to bite the assailant’s palm, but what terrified him even more was—

The attacker was thoroughly prepared.

He wore Golden Silk Gloves on his hands.

Forget breaking them, it was impossible for Xie Zuxin even to leave the slightest biological trace!

At the same time,

“Thud thud thud thud!”

Several Triangular Military Daggers plunged down,

Penetrating Xie Zuxin’s Body from different angles.

The sharp pain of his Physical Body tearing apart almost made Xie Zuxin lose consciousness.

And then

“Enter the dream.”

A massive Blood Spear struck down.

Xie Zuxin’s soul hardly had the strength to resist and was instantly Devoured and annihilated on the spot!

A deluge of memories, just like the last time, poured into Pei Jinye’s mind.

Yet, he distinctly felt a subtle difference.

With his current Ability, he couldn’t yet fully absorb all the memories, but last time he had Devoured Xie Zuxin’s memories, which didn’t vanish despite the rewinding of time.

On the contrary, now that he Devoured them again, his memory recalled additional parts that hadn’t been preserved before.

Three minutes later.

Pei Jinye was gasping for air.

“I must improve my spiritual power as soon as possible, otherwise if this continues, my brain simply can’t contain so many memories!”

With two dead bodies lying unblinkingly beside him,

Pei Jinye extended his hand, and flashes of flame passed, quickly reducing the two corpses into a heap of char.

He skillfully took the golden leaves Xie Zuxin had left in the bedroom earlier.

Three o’clock in the morning.

The bodyguard waiting downstairs glanced at his wristwatch hesitantly.

Usually, at this time, the team leader would have already come downstairs.

But today, so much time had passed, and there was still no sign of the team leader coming down… Could it be that he had shot too many rounds last night and overslept?

The bodyguard sighed, shrank into his clothes, turned up the car’s heating, and continued to feign sleep as he waited.

A little past eight in the morning.

Pei Jinye, who had just finished his morning run, was sitting at home having a meal with his parents.

Suddenly, his phone rang.

The caller ID showed—[Brother Bi].

Pei Jinye suppressed the smile that had briefly appeared on his face, “Brother Bi, what’s up? Didn’t you tell me to enjoy my vacation? Why are you calling me all of a sudden? What? Really? I know, I’ll come right over… Okay, come pick me up, I’m at…”

He hung up the phone.

Father Pei looked over suspiciously, “What happened?”

“Someone died. They say it might be a crime of passion.” Pei Jinye had stopped hiding the nature of his work from his parents, only asking them to not boast about it outside and to keep a low profile.

His parents understood this principle very well and kept their silence. But ever since they found out this morning that Pei Jinye was working for a law enforcement agency, their backs had naturally straightened a bit more.

At the entrance of the residential area.

Pei Jinye brought a few steamed buns. “Have you had breakfast? They are homemade.”

“This is splendid.” Brother Bi laughed as he took them, devouring one right away. “Tasty, tasty.”

Blowing on the steaming food, he started the car.

Pei Jinye just smiled.

Reuniting with an old friend…

But only he knew of the events that had transpired in the past.

While waiting for the traffic light, Brother Bi continued munching on the hot buns and said indistinctly, “The leader’s disappearance this time is too mysterious. Everyone in the group is talking about it, saying the leader has kept a woman outside. The lady of the house made a big scene this morning, claiming the leader deserved to die.”

“Isn’t it just a disappearance?” Pei Jinye asked casually.

“They say disappearance, but it doesn’t look good. Little Li followed him to his mistress’s place yesterday, and after waiting all morning, nobody came out. When they knocked and got no response, they broke in and discovered the person was gone.” Brother Bi shared all the rumors he had heard while eating his bun.

Pei Jinye nodded, casually listening.

Suddenly, Brother Bi asked, “How’s your recovery coming along?”

“Still a bit off. If the team could give me another bottle of nutrient solution, I’d probably be all set.” Pei Jinye spoke earnestly.

Brother Bi’s action of eating the bun paused.

He wore an expression as if Pei Jinye was teasing him.

Pei Jinye’s gaze remained calm as he suggested, “The light’s green.”

“You rascal.” Brother Bi cursed playfully as he put down the unfinished bun and started the car, “The resources in the group are distributed according to one’s contribution. If you use too much, others might hold it against you, and you might have to pay out of your pocket. If you really want to fleece the group’s resources, you need to take on more missions. The higher your KPI completion rate, the less the higher-ups will care about the resources you’ve used, even if someone reports you out of jealousy.”

Pei Jinye chuckled, “Brother Bi, you seem to be speaking from experience.”

“Ah? Hahaha, no, no, I’m a straight arrow.” Brother Bi laughed it off.

Pei Jinye laughed.

Twenty minutes later.

Brother Bi finished the buns and successfully brought Pei Jinye to the Investigation Team’s Base.

Someone was speaking to the side, walking quickly.

Pei Jinye recognized the person at a glance.

Fan Dahai, Hu Beng!

“Old Fan, what’s the rush?” Brother Bi yelled loudly from behind.

Fan Dahai turned around, looking annoyed. “The team leader’s dead, and you’re still taking your sweet time? Hurry up, people from above are here for an emergency meeting.”

“Damn, he’s really dead?” Brother Bi was stunned.

Fan Dahai glared at him irritably but didn’t answer, continuing to walk quickly toward the meeting room.

The young team member Hu Beng looked curiously at Pei Jinye, interested in this newcomer who had killed two members of the Old Gods Association.

Noticing Pei Jinye’s gaze, Hu Beng gave an embarrassed smile, nodded as a greeting, and exactly at that moment, Fan Dahai’s voice came from ahead, annoyed, “What are you dawdling for? Hurry up!”

Hu Beng quickly followed after him.

Pei Jinye looked at Brother Bi, “Aren’t we running?”

“Run for what? No matter how fast you run, the boss is always the last one to arrive.” Brother Bi said leisurely.

Pei Jinye chuckled.

After arriving at the meeting room.

Brother Bi led Pei Jinye to sit in the last row, mumbling, “This spot has good Feng Shui, no one will notice anything you do here.”

Pei Jinye felt bemused.

And took a seat in the last row.

In the front was another familiar face—Zhou Ye.

Turning around and recognizing Brother Bi, he grinned, not forgetting to nod at Pei Jinye as well.

“All familiar faces here.”

Pei Jinye responded with a smile.

“Brother Bi, how about letting this brother have a few missions this week? I’ll buy you dinner later; I’m short of a Third Class Merit this week.” Zhou Ye turned around and whispered.

“Which time aren’t you the first to choose? You want me to let you go ahead? Should I just go whistle in the wind?” Brother Bi chortled, “We’ll do the mission together later.”

“That works.”

The screen in the meeting room displayed a dark-faced middle-aged man, who said succinctly, “As approved by superiors, from now on, Qiu Hezi will be acting team leader of your second team. Qiu Hezi, you’re in charge of assigning tasks. You must find Xie Zuxin’s whereabouts as soon as possible.”

“Yes, sir!”

Qiu Hezi stood at attention and saluted.

“Damn, Old Qiu’s climbed up the ranks too quickly.” Brother Bi sat in the last row, looking enviously at Qiu Hezi standing on the podium.

A cold wind swept past the window.

Pei Jinye fiddled with the dagger in his hand, lost in thought…

I’ll knife someone else tonight.

Wonder who it should be?

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