First-Year Internship—And You Went to Site 749 to Contain Monsters?!
Chapter 48: Tell Tang Long and Tang Bao to See Me—If They Don’t Behave, They Can Die Together

Yan Biexi, regaining some of her strength, forced down the nausea in her chest and spoke hesitantly, "Lu..."

But she couldn't get the rest of the name out.

Lu Ding reminded her, "Call me Investigator Lu, Officer Lu, or just Lu Ding. Any of those will do."

"Investigator Lu, isn't this against the rules? Shouldn't they be handed over to the courts for trial?"

That question made Lu Ding laugh out loud.

He had seen stupid people before.

But he had never seen someone this spectacularly stupid.

"You handle ordinary people. I handle people like them. Ordinary people have their own laws, and people like them are bound by a different set of laws. What I’m doing is legal and justified."

"But you didn’t say it was by the book."

Lu Ding rolled his eyes at her. "Mind your own damn business. Don’t be ungrateful. If you can't keep your mouth shut, go to sleep first. Listening to you talk is annoying."

"No, no, I didn’t mean anything by it. I just don’t quite understand, that’s all. Sorry. But I really can't fall asleep."

She genuinely had no other intentions—she simply didn't understand. Everything happening now completely contradicted her worldview and the education she had received since childhood.

Lu Ding flicked a stream of Qi at her acupoint, and she immediately collapsed, unconscious.

"Now you can sleep. Chief Gao, you have Tang Long and Tang Bao’s contact information, right? Call them back and tell them to come see me immediately."

The reason he wanted the other two to come was simple—he wanted to see how they would react.

If they reacted well, he'd observe them further. Though he was inclined to eliminate them completely, 749 Bureau didn’t operate on guilt by association. He couldn’t just kill them for no reason.

But if their reaction was bad?

Perfect.

He’d uproot the problem entirely.

All three brothers could take a trip down the Yellow Springs together.

As for whether the Bureau would punish him for the deaths of Tang Hu and the other Cultivators of Qi?

Just like he had said—and like Yan Biexi had pointed out.

Legal. Justified. Not by the book.

He’d probably have to go through another round of questioning, just like last time, but he wouldn’t be punished.

After all, he had just resolved the Yin Domain Overlap incident at Dinghao Complex. He had done a great service. The only reason he hadn't been rewarded yet was because the aftermath was still being handled.

Would the higher-ups really punish a meritorious officer for something that had a clear cause and was entirely legal?

Arresting a security officer was already a grave offense.

Torturing one?

Even worse.

Security officers didn’t have jurisdiction over Cultivators of Qi, but Cultivators of Qi weren’t allowed to touch security officers either. That was the rule.

Otherwise, if becoming a Cultivator meant you could trample over the law, slaughter ordinary people, and harm the officers who maintained order, wouldn’t society fall into chaos?

Listening to Lu Ding, Gao Zhengliang finally gave up. He had figured it out—this man was absolutely lawless. As long as he could justify his actions under some clause in 749 Bureau’s regulations, if you crossed him, he’d kill you without hesitation.

Not even a second thought.

And he was just an ordinary person.

Might as well just accept it.

"Fine, fine, whatever you say."

Gao Zhengliang took the opportunity to slip in a bit of sarcasm.

After spending some time with him, Lu Ding had also figured out Gao Zhengliang’s personality.

He spread his hands with a helpless expression. "Weren’t you the one who asked me to help rescue them? I’m an Investigator for 749 Bureau, a Patrol Officer of Bao Fan District. When I encounter something like this, of course I have to take care of it. What, you’re not happy with that?"

"Even if I’m not happy, what can I do? It’s not like I can stitch them back together and tell them, ‘Hold on a little longer, you’ll be fine once we get to the hospital.’ No, these guys are headed straight for the crematorium—and with the doors shut tight."

Lu Ding raised an eyebrow in surprise. He hadn’t expected Gao Zhengliang to have a taste for dark humor and gallows jokes.

Meanwhile, Tang Long and Tang Bao met up outside the Wuzang Shengshe headquarters.

Looking up at their own base, the two brothers lifted their heads in unison.

Tang Bao spoke first. "Big Brother, Second Brother might be gone. When we go up there, don’t act rashly. Let me do the talking. Follow my lead. We’ve already lost Second Brother—I don’t want to lose you too."

Compared to Tang Hu’s fiery temper and Tang Long’s quiet nature, Tang Bao was undoubtedly the smartest and most cunning of the three.

He handled all the affairs, big and small, at Wuzang Shengshe.

Tang Hu was their public muscle—he was the one who showcased their strength and stepped in whenever brute force was needed.

Tang Long, on the other hand, was their true powerhouse. He focused solely on cultivation and was the backbone of Wuzang Shengshe.

Originally, the midnight purchase of ritual materials should have been Tang Bao’s responsibility.

But halfway through, Cao Ying from Caojia Alley had called him over to discuss securing a foothold in the Cao Family.

By a twist of fate, that led to Tang Hu taking over the transaction instead.

His carelessness had resulted in security officers like Yan Biexi catching onto the deal, which had led to everything that followed.

It was also at Cao Ying’s place that Tang Bao heard about what had happened at Dinghao Complex that night.

Yin Domain Overlap.

Swarms of monsters.

Flesh and bones carpeting the ground.

Rivers of blood.

One horrifying event after another pounded against Tang Bao’s heart.

As soon as he heard about it, he made a decision—he would return immediately, prepare an offering, and personally take Tang Hu to apologize to Lu Ding.

Even though he had told Gao Zhengliang to turn a blind eye to the incident at the time...

You could never be too careful.

What if Gao Zhengliang decided to throw them under the bus? What if Lu Ding remembered and decided to deal with it later?

If that happened, Wuzang Shengshe would be finished.

Offending someone like that?

The Bao Fan District—or even all of Yunhai—might no longer have a place for the three of them.

But in the end, what he feared most had already come true.

He hadn’t even had the chance to seek out Lu Ding.

Lu Ding had come to them first.

And once again, because of Second Brother.

When Tang Bao received the news, he nearly blacked out on the spot.

At the same time, he prepared himself mentally for the worst—that his Second Brother was already dead.

He had never met Lu Ding in person, but he had heard plenty about him.

And that man had just single-handedly resolved the Dinghao Complex incident.

Maybe he was exhausted. Maybe he wanted to rest.

But even at a time like this, he still had the energy to personally storm Wuzang Shengshe.

Think about it—what kind of person, with that kind of temperament and that kind of power, would take action at a time like this?

Did Tang Hu really have any chance of surviving?

Tang Long was silent for a long time. "...If Second Brother is really dead, this grudge—"

Tang Bao immediately interrupted, "Big Brother, I’m heartbroken too, but this isn’t a grudge we can afford to hold, let alone avenge. Wuzang Shengshe has been too arrogant these past few years—so arrogant that we’ve forgotten our own limits. Second Brother has always been reckless, and you and I have covered for him countless times."

"Because he’s our Second Brother!!"

"Our purpose in coming to Yunhai—what was it for? It was to build a better life for ourselves, to bring honor to our parents, and to prove our own worth. Over the years, we’ve traded dignity for money, and we’ve traded money for dignity. But Second Brother… all he remembers is using money to buy respect and the thrill of wielding power."

"He’s forgotten the humiliation we endured when we had to trade dignity for money. Wuzang Shengshe is our life's work—but what has Second Brother been doing? He’s been leading it step by step toward destruction!!!"

"There are rules in this world. If you act lawlessly, all that awaits you is annihilation. Big Brother, do you understand!!?"

Tang Long was finally shaken.

"...I understand. Let’s go up."

"Wait a moment."

Tang Bao called out, then turned back to the car and retrieved a bundle of thorned branches. They had originally been prepared for Tang Hu to carry as a gesture of atonement, but now, it could only be him.

He stripped off his shirt and lashed the thorns across his own back. The sharp barbs tore into his flesh, and blood trickled down in steady streams.

His expression remained unchanged.

"Let’s go."