My Professions Have Too Much Personality - Chapter 91 - 90: Su Chen’s Face

Chapter 91: Chapter 90: Su Chen’s Face

“Damn… he was a tough one…”

Xia Hanshi gasped for breath, his clothes in tatters, revealing the form-fitting armor beneath. He held a thin, golden hammer, only a meter long, its prismatic head emitting an amber halo.

The ground was a total wreck, either scorched black or still burning, and riddled with craters. Fortunately, this area was near the edge of the outer city and quite desolate.

In the distance, Yuan Chenyang was pale and swaying on his feet. Zhang Hongbo had collapsed on the ground. Yang Yan was covered in blood, and Gu Bing lay on their back, gasping for air.

In the center of the battlefield, the Black Tuo Statue remained perfectly intact, its black pupil staring out from the top of its head.

The Priest’s body, however, was in pieces. His head had rolled to the side, his eyes twitching faintly.

“A pity. We were so close.” Xia Hanshi landed beside the head, his voice hoarse. “It’s all thanks to that… person with a heart full of justice!”

With a light tap of his thin hammer, the air compressed into transparent ripples. When these ripples touched the ground, they erupted in a flash of light, and the Priest’s head exploded. A Priest’s faith in a Deceitful God is absolute; there was no value in interrogating him.

“A Black Tuo Statue. At least this trip wasn’t a total waste.”

Xia Hanshi gazed at the statue. Without the power of Black Tuo it contained, the Priest, a Tier Four Professional, would never have been able to hold out against him for so long.

The title of Priest itself doesn’t grant any increase in strength; it merely represents the intensity of one’s faith. However, the favor gained through it allows one to call upon the power of the Deceitful God for aid.

Another tap of the thin hammer, and golden chains wreathed in flames extended from the void, wrapping around the statue layer by layer.

…

When Yuan Chenyang and the others dragged their exhausted bodies back to the Inspectorate, the first thing they saw were the large numbers of Inspector Guards patrolling the perimeter and the black smoke rising from the roof.

“The Inspectorate was attacked?”

Yuan Chenyang’s expression changed drastically. “Luring the tiger out of the mountains?”

“More like luring the tiger back to its own den,” Zhang Hongbo, pale-faced, gave a dry cough. “It’s more likely Black Tuo’s people found out the Priest was under attack and went after the Inspectorate in response.”

Yang Yan frowned and said hesitantly, “The Black Tuo Statue was at the other location. The Black Tuo Followers would have rushed there at any cost.”

“And if it was the non-believers who were just bought off, they should be hiding now that the plan has been exposed…”

“Zhou Xian…” Zhang Hongbo spat out a name.

Yuan Chenyang couldn’t help but shout, “Su Chen!”

A chill ran down everyone’s spines. Xia Hanshi had already vanished.

Yang Yan and the others tensed up and hurried to follow. They only breathed a sigh of relief when they found Su Chen unharmed in the rooftop office.

Xia Hanshi was already in the room, his hands clasped behind his back, his expression grim.

“How are your injuries?” Yuan Chenyang came forward and asked with concern, seeing the bandages wrapped around Su Chen’s upper body.

“It’s nothing serious. The medics insisted on wrapping me up like this,” Su Chen explained helplessly.

’I have to show that I was actually in the fight. Can’t have that notoriously fierce Chief Judge taking his anger out on me.’

Sun Tai, standing to the side, was grumbling to himself. His clothes were also tattered and dusty, some of his injuries were still untreated, and there were even dried tear tracks on his face.

’My pitiful state needs to be seen by everyone, too.’

“Damn that Zhou Xian! We should have torn him to shreds!” Yuan Chenyang roared. “Zhang Hongbo, what the hell have you been doing? It’s been this long, and you still can’t find him!”

Zhang Hongbo’s face tensed, and he repeatedly tried to signal Yuan Chenyang with his eyes.

“My fault,” Xia Hanshi said, his expression cold.

Su Chen tried to placate him, “Teacher, when you let him go, you couldn’t have predicted what would happen later. All we can say is that the waters in Southwind City run too deep.”

Yuan Chenyang’s expression froze. ’Xia Hanshi let Zhou Xian go?’

“Yeah…” Yang Yan agreed, unable to stop himself from adding, “Who could have thought it would nearly attract a vessel for a Deceitful God? Black Tuo is considered one of the less conflict-prone Deceitful Gods. What on earth do you people have here in Southwind City?”

At this question, everyone present fell silent.

Zhang Hongbo, Yuan Chenyang, even Du Jingming and Sun Tai, all began to ponder it subconsciously.

“In any case, this is the best possible outcome,” Zhang Hongbo was the first to break the silence. “Zhou Xian is a dog on the run now. If we lock down the four gates of Southwind, we’ll find him soon enough.”

“I’ll go give the order right away,” Yuan Chenyang reacted quickly.

“Minis— City Lord,” Du Jingming called out, his expression strange. “There’s no need to look for him.”

“Hmm?” Yuan Chenyang frowned at him, but then noticed Du Jingming glance at Su Chen before saying, “He’s already dead. His body is in the morgue.”

“Dead?” Yuan Chenyang was stunned, finding it hard to believe. But he knew Du Jingming would never lie about something like this.

Zhang Hongbo also looked over in astonishment. Zhou Xian was a Tier Three Middle Level Professional, a [Thunderbolt Shadow]. After so many years, he had developed his abilities to their later stages; his strength was definitely not trivial.

The Inspectorate’s forces were almost completely deployed elsewhere. The only one of note left behind was Du Jingming, but he was an Incomplete Tier Three and couldn’t possibly be Zhou Xian’s opponent.

“Haha…” Yuan Chenyang couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “Old Du, you’ve really made me proud! Not bad, not bad at all…”

“There were quite a few people who had complaints about me making you the Minister. This should finally shut them up.”

Yuan Chenyang spoke without much filter, but Du Jingming’s expression turned awkward. He quickly waved his hands. “I wasn’t the one who killed him. It was… it was…”

He pointed in one direction. Yuan Chenyang glanced over subconsciously, his brow twitching. “Su… Chen?”

’He was speechless. Du Jingming’s attempt to pass on the credit is just too fake. Su Chen is only a Tier Two Professional, how could he kill Zhou Xian?’

Du Jingming emphasized, “…Plenty of the Inspector Guards saw it. I wouldn’t dare take the credit.”

Zhang Hongbo, who hadn’t been paying much attention, now wore a solemn expression. ’If Du Jingming is saying this, maybe he isn’t just trying to pass on the credit?’

’Could it be…?’ The thought was incredible.

Yang Yan and Gu Bing looked at each other. A Tier Two killing a Tier Three in a head-on fight? That sounded like something out of a fairy tale.

Su Chen explained helplessly, “Du Jingming helped a lot and heavily wounded Zhou Xian. Afterward, Zhou Xian started fiddling with some strange gadget and even summoned a phantom of Black Tuo. But for some reason, he ended up getting himself killed.”

“I just withstood a few of his attacks. I didn’t die, so I guess I was pretty lucky.”

“Summoned Black Tuo and got himself killed?” Yuan Chenyang listened with a blank expression.

Yang Yan looked hesitantly at Gu Bing. “How does something like that happen?”

“Hmm…” Gu Bing pondered for a moment before speculating, “If I’m not mistaken, Zhou Xian must have used an item that stores an artificial, Postnatal form of Divine Power. It allows Believers to unleash immense strength.”

“But only Believers can use these kinds of things. Zhou Xian probably wasn’t a Black Tuo Follower, or his faith wasn’t strong enough. He used it and ended up dying from the backlash.”

“So that’s how it was.” Su Chen had a look of sudden realization. ’I have a rough idea of how Zhou Xian was so severely wounded earlier now. In a battle between a Deceitful God’s Followers, it all comes down to who has the stronger faith.’

’Whichever one is more steadfast, the Deceitful God helps.’

Yuan Chenyang also muttered, “To think something like that could happen.”

Xia Hanshi remained silent the whole time, standing before the floor-to-ceiling window, his thoughts impossible to guess.

“However…” Gu Bing suddenly added, “Zhou Xian must have known he might suffer a backlash, but he still chose to gamble on it. He was probably at his wit’s end.”

“He was probably afraid you all would return too quickly and didn’t dare to get bogged down in a long fight,” Du Jingming speculated. The others nodded thoughtfully.

But the way they looked at Su Chen had subtly changed. Regardless of the details, it proved that Zhou Xian hadn’t been able to do anything to Su Chen in that short amount of time.

Even if all he could do was take the hits, that alone was astonishing enough.

Su Chen’s scalp tingled under their gazes. Not wanting everyone’s attention to remain on this topic, he quickly asked, “What about… over there? How did it go?”

“Hmm…” Yuan Chenyang hesitated for a moment. Sun Tai immediately said, “I’ll go down and see how things are being handled.”

After Sun Tai left, the lowest-ranking person remaining was Du Jingming, the Minister of Inspection.

“The Priest has been killed, and we’ve confiscated a Black Tuo Statue,” Yuan Chenyang explained briefly. Du Jingming’s face changed drastically. He said, aghast, “There was a Deceitful God Priest in Southwind City? And even a Black Tuo Statue?”

The terror on his face was plain to see, but no one thought to mock him.

Yuan Chenyang was also shaken. “We were just in time. The Priest was setting up a Sacrificial Array. If we had been any later, all of Southwind City might have been turned into a living hell.”

Du Jingming hadn’t known the details before, only guessing that Black Tuo’s people had invested significant resources. Upon suddenly hearing the specifics, he swallowed hard.

He couldn’t help but ask again, “How could our Southwind City attract something like this?”

It was again the question that no one could answer.

Zhang Hongbo skipped right over it. “It’s all thanks to Chief Judge Xia for leading us straight to the enemy’s heart and averting this disaster.”

Yang Yan chimed in, “As expected of you, sir. You had already locked onto the Priest’s location.”

“I wasn’t the one who located him,” Xia Hanshi said faintly.

Su Chen’s heart skipped a beat.

“It was a person with a heart full of justice…”

A cold wind seemed to blow through the room. Everyone froze. ’Elder Xia has a humorous side?’

“So, that Black Tuo Statue thing is in here?” Su Chen looked at the silver-white metal box by the door. It was about a cubic meter, not too large.

“Yes,” Yuan Chenyang nodded.

“Can I see it?” Su Chen was quite curious.

Yuan Chenyang hesitated slightly and glanced at Xia Hanshi. Seeing no reaction from him, he gave a hesitant nod. “A quick look should be fine.”

He carried the box in, placed it on the floor, and entered a few passwords into the lock. With a CLICK, the four metal walls split open, revealing the Black Tuo Statue bound by golden chains inside.

“So this is the Black Tuo Statue?” Su Chen studied it. “Why is it locked up in chains? Is it still dangerous?”

“We’ve already drained all the power from it. This is just a precaution, in case of anything,” Yang Yan explained.

“Oh.” Su Chen nodded in understanding. After a couple of glances, he didn’t see anything special about it and had Yuan Chenyang close the box again.

“Bringing this Black Tuo Statue back will be a great achievement,” Yang Yan said with a sigh of emotion. They had initially come to investigate the Deceitful God’s Followers, but they only expected to find a nest of small fry, not get into something this huge.

Fortunately, it was a close call, but they came out unscathed. Elder Xia’s methods were brilliant, and they easily obtained the Black Tuo Statue in the end. It would be a beautiful addition to their records.

“Are you all preparing to head back?” Zhang Hongbo picked up on Yang Yan’s underlying meaning and asked.

“Pretty much,” Yang Yan mused. “We just need to tie up some loose ends, and this incident will be concluded.”

Zhang Hongbo’s expression flickered. Finally, he turned to Xia Hanshi, gritted his teeth, and said, “Elder Xia, could you possibly take Zhang Hengyu with you as well?”

Even though no one had mentioned the spot for the Judicial Court during this time, it was tacitly understood that the spot had automatically transferred to Su Chen.

Yuan Chenyang’s eyes narrowed slightly. Yang Yan shook his head imperceptibly.

“Zhang Hengyu?” Xia Hanshi turned around and stared at Zhang Hongbo. After a long moment, he asked, “Who is that?”

Zhang Hongbo’s already pale face grew even more ashen. How could Xia Hanshi possibly not know who Zhang Hengyu was?

He was simply expressing that his son wasn’t even worthy of his notice.

If he hadn’t been so cooperative recently and also put in effort tonight, Xia Hanshi’s reaction might have been even more direct.

’Ah, little Zhang…’ Su Chen thought of the “Wise Man” and said thoughtfully, “Teacher, Zhang Hengyu is… Uncle Zhang’s son. He’s very diligent, has a Silver Talent, and is already a Tier Two Professional.”

“If it’s possible, could he also be allowed to go to the Judicial Court?”

Gratitude showed in Zhang Hongbo’s eyes, but Su Chen ignored it. He hadn’t spoken up for Zhang Hongbo’s sake.

“Fine,” Xia Hanshi nodded, his reply concise.

“F… ine?” Su Chen hesitated.

“It’s just one spot. Rules are dead, but people are alive,” Xia Hanshi said indifferently. “Since you’re the one asking, I can at least give you that much face.”