My Professions Have Too Much Personality - Chapter 77: Words Carry Little Weight, Who is the Oriole?

Chapter 77: Chapter 77: Words Carry Little Weight, Who is the Oriole?

“The main trade depot… What about it?” Su Chen was slightly taken aback.

Seeing his confusion, Fatty Sun explained, “The fog isolates the routes. Although there are fixed shipping lanes connecting the cities, and Ying Feng sends people to clear them every year, there are still unavoidable risks.”

“That’s why powerful Professionals are needed for escorts. The people in charge of trade are usually city officials. In Southwind City, the one responsible for it is the City Lord’s younger brother.”

’Zhang Hongbo’s younger brother, no wonder…’ Su Chen realized. He knew very little about these kinds of connections.

’Does Zhang Hongbo know? Or is this a classic case of being blind to what’s right under his nose…’

“If we send people over, I’m afraid we won’t even get through the main depot’s gates.” Fatty Sun’s face was full of worry. He gritted his teeth and said angrily, “Of all the people to slip it to, they had to give it to me. And with such ugly handwriting!”

There was definitely some personal resentment mixed in with that comment.

Su Chen’s eyes darted around as he asked, “Then what’s your plan?”

“Me?” Fatty Sun said helplessly. “Isn’t that why I’m here discussing it with you? You’re the only person in the entire Inspectorate I can trust.”

“Why don’t you find a way to slip it to Zhang Hongbo at his home?” Su Chen suggested after thinking for a moment.

Sun Tai’s chubby face twitched. Su Chen added, “Otherwise, just report it up the chain, tell the truth, or pretend this never happened.”

“I’ll just have to pretend it never happened…” Fatty Sun sighed. Noticing the profound look in Su Chen’s eyes, he explained, “It’s not that I’m gutless. The situation is just delicate right now. If I submit this, there’s no telling what kind of power struggle it could ignite.”

Sun Tai comforted himself, ’Besides, Zhang Feng—the City Lord’s brother—is in charge of trade. It’s a lucrative position. Why would he possibly conspire with the Deceitful God Sect?’

Su Chen fell silent, keenly aware of how insignificant his words were. ’If I were Xia Hanshi, I wouldn’t need to resort to slipping notes under doors. I’d just storm in directly, no excuse needed.’

’But since this involved Zhang Hongbo, whoever I told would grill me for every last detail.’

……

“My Lord…” The Priest gazed at the black statue before him. It seemed to be forged from some kind of metal, radiating a cold luster. It sat cross-legged on a silver platter and was only half a man’s height.

Its head was bowed, revealing a single black, vertical pupil on its forehead.

Beside him, Zhou Xian couldn’t help but take a step back. The thing was too sinister. He had felt dizzy and faint several times while transporting it.

Once, after staring at that vertical pupil for too long, he snapped out of it to find himself nearly half-kneeling on the ground, drenched in a cold sweat.

“I’ve safely escorted the item here,” he said in a low voice. “Now, can I go settle my score?”

The fanaticism in the Priest’s expression gradually faded. He turned his head to the side. “Zhang Hengyu has already left?”

“Yes.” Zhou Xian nodded. “He’s become a Tier Two Professional and needs better training grounds. Plus, I haven’t made a move in so long, he should have let his guard down by now.”

“’Should have?’” The Priest’s tone was indifferent. “If you get caught, you won’t leak my plans, will you?”

Zhou Xian’s face tightened. “I won’t go recklessly. I’ll scout out the situation and only make a move when I’m certain it’s foolproof.”

“Xia Hanshi is here. In my current situation, even if I gave up all the intel I have, it wouldn’t end well for me.”

“As long as you understand.” The Priest turned his gaze back to the statue before him.

Zhou Xian hesitated for a moment before carefully asking, “So, could you lend me a few Tier Two Professionals?”

The Priest sighed. “Why are you so unwilling to believe in My Lord? If you did, you’d be one of us.”

Zhou Xian remained silent. The Priest didn’t press him further. “Three Tier Two Professionals. You can take them.”

From the dark shadows around them, three Believers with fanatical expressions stepped out.

’What I need to do next requires a distraction. Someone to draw their attention.’

“If I find that ’Delicious Soul’…” Zhou Xian couldn’t help but ask.

The Priest didn’t turn around. His voice drifted over, “The promise still stands.”

……

“Elder Xia, Elder Xia, please say something! What are we supposed to do now? Are we really just going to wait like this?” Zhang Hongbo paced back and forth, his face etched with obvious impatience.

Xia Hanshi stood before the floor-to-ceiling window, not saying a word.

“Elder Xia!” Zhang Hongbo gritted his teeth. “I am the City Lord, after all. Even when the Judicial Court is on a mission, they should still take the local authorities into consideration…”

Before he could finish, Xia Hanshi tilted his head slightly, his frigid gaze sending a chill down the spine.

“Black Tuo…” he began in a hoarse voice. “It preys on the hearts of men and covets Souls. Its most common tactic is to slowly corrupt an area, from the low-level personnel to the high-level ones.”

“This process takes three to five years. Once the top brass is sufficiently corrupted, it will initiate a sacrificial harvest.”

Zhang Hongbo froze.

Xia Hanshi said grimly, “They’ve been active in Southwind City for two or three years now. If my deductions are correct, they would have initiated the harvest in another year. But something unexpected happened.”

“Black Tuo doesn’t like direct confrontation. In similar situations, once their conspiracies are exposed, they usually withdraw. But in Southwind City, they’ve changed their strategy. They actually haven’t pulled back.”

“An unexpected development has forced them to stay. Even with the arrival of their Priest, they still haven’t made a move. They’re still waiting.”

“Still waiting…” The color drained from Gu Bing’s face. “Something even the Priest has to wait for… Could it be…”

“The Deceitful God’s avatar…” Xia Hanshi uttered four words. Including Zhang Hongbo, the faces of all three listeners changed drastically.

Yang Yan couldn’t help but cry out in alarm, “How can that be? The last time we saw Black Tuo’s avatar was more than a decade ago, wasn’t it? What in the world is it trying to do?!”

“Reinforcements! We must request reinforcements!” Gu Bing blurted out.

“There’s no time…” Xia Hanshi shook his head, his brow deeply furrowed. “I’ll be honest with you. The situation in Southwind City has exceeded my expectations as well. This is just an ordinary city. I can’t figure out why Black Tuo is so attached to it.”

“Since we don’t know why they’re so attached, we don’t know when or where they’ll make their move.”

The three of them felt a chill run through them. They didn’t know if Xia Hanshi was just putting them off or if he genuinely didn’t know.

Then, Xia Hanshi added, “But a Deceitful God’s avatar isn’t so easily summoned. As I said before, Black Tuo didn’t originally plan on this, so their preparations are incomplete.”

“First, send people to screen the populace. For now… we can only search for a needle in a haystack.”

’A needle in a haystack?’

The three of them looked at each other in dismay. Southwind City wasn’t small. How long would a search like that take?

“One more thing.” Xia Hanshi changed the subject abruptly. “During the Inspectorate’s last encirclement of the Black Tuo Followers, did they find a body that was burned to a crisp?”

“A charred corpse?” Zhang Hongbo hadn’t processed the question yet. After thinking back carefully, he nodded. “That’s right. We only just verified his identity two days ago. It was Yu Xuan from the City Patrol Department.”

“According to our detailed investigation over the past two days, there’s a good chance he was involved with the Deceitful God Cultists.” Zhang Hongbo looked grim; Black Tuo’s infiltration of Southwind City was far deeper than he had anticipated.

“Yu Xuan… Where is the body? I want to see it,” Xia Hanshi commanded.

“Right, I’ll take you there at once.” Zhang Hongbo didn’t dare to delay. He led him to the morgue and found the still-charred body of Yu Xuan.

“The smell of sulfur… Just as I thought.” Xia Hanshi sniffed the air. A chilling smile appeared on his gaunt face as he had Zhang Hongbo retrieve the main files on that operation.

“…Someone witnessed red lightning…” He scanned the document. “The source is from the Internal Affairs Department. Sun Tai’s informant. The last operation was also reported by his informant…”

“Quite the well-informed informant.”

The three people behind him were confused, their minds still preoccupied with what they had just discussed.

“This informant—do you know who it is?” Xia Hanshi suddenly asked.

Zhang Hongbo hesitated for a moment before realizing the question was directed at him. He shook his head. “I’m not too clear on the specific details, but for their protection, the identities of low-level informants are generally only known by their recruiters.”

Zhang Hongbo dealt with countless matters every day. For an operation like this, he would only glance at a summary. What was written on the page was likely just the phrase, “Based on information from an informant…”

Xia Hanshi remained noncommittal. He pushed the slab with the body back into its slot. “I’m stepping out for a bit.”

……

When Fatty Sun left, the sky was already growing dark. He was filled with anxiety, terrified that someone would come for his life in the middle of the night. He was even ready to entrust his family to someone else’s care.

Although he was laying it on a bit thick, it was clear he was genuinely worried.

’…The main trade depot? Zhang Feng…’ Su Chen also sighed. He hadn’t expected this twist.

’If it really comes down to it, I’ll just go stir up some trouble near there myself.’