Chapter Ninety: Inspector Wu’s Visit and the Fourth Round Qualifiers

Chapter Ninety: Visit from Inspector Wu and the Fourth Qualifying Round

When Xia Zheng woke again, he immediately sensed a noisy commotion lingering around the inn. Had something happened inside?

After dressing and opening his door, he found two shadow guards from the Nalan family standing outside. They were both young women, about his age. Seeing him, one of them said, “Mr. Xia, a group of reporters is waiting outside the inn, insisting on interviewing you. Miss Nalan has kept them from entering. For the sake of tomorrow’s qualifier, please do not go out.”

“Oh, reporters? What exactly happened?” Xia Zheng was already familiar with these shadow guards from the Nalan family. They were all girls under twenty, from Nalan Sheng’s collateral branch, though still of the same bloodline.

The Nalan family’s attitude toward him remained ambiguous for now. They neither openly supported him nor opposed his private contact with Nalan Sheng. Xia Zheng knew that if he wanted to formally marry Nalan Sheng in the future, he would need a far higher status and standing.

Another shadow guard said, “We heard that the opponent you fought in the last match died under mysterious circumstances, and the Federation even sent a senior inspector to investigate. Somehow the media’s attention turned to you, so reporters came to ask questions. Miss Nalan was afraid you might be distracted, so she ordered us to guard this place and prevent any opportunists from taking advantage.”

“Albert is dead?” Xia Zheng frowned at once. His opponent had actually died mysteriously after the match, which was enough to spark all kinds of speculation, but for the media to connect it to him was simply absurd.

Still, he did not act rashly. He quickly forced himself to calm down. Since Nalan Sheng had already blocked the flies swarming in like reporters, he would not concern himself with them further.

So he continued repeatedly sharpening a few of his skills, keeping everything within a small range so as not to make too much of a stir. In addition, he kept practicing the infusion of mental beads, using the ten selected jade beads over and over again, which made his infusion technique more and more polished.

When he was in peak condition, he could infuse one bead in half a minute, and his conversion rate even surpassed ninety percent at times. That made Xia Zheng rather excited. He felt that the claim made by “Midnight Fragrance” on the forum—that ninety percent was the upper limit—might still have room to improve. Of course, reaching one hundred percent was impossible; whether during infusion, storage, or use, some loss was inevitable.

By lunchtime, when Nalan Sheng came to find him, she had brought a woman with her: a sharp, capable woman in casual clothes who looked oddly familiar.

“Ah Zheng, Albert, the man you fought in the last match, died mysteriously. The whole Federation is paying close attention to this matter. This is Senior Inspector Wu Nianfang, who is in charge of the investigation. I couldn’t stop her,” Nalan Sheng introduced.

Xia Zheng nodded. “So you’re Inspector Wu. No wonder you looked familiar. Congratulations on your promotion.”

“Thanks. You’re already a rising ability user yourself, and it isn’t easy to get an audience with you now,” Wu Nianfang said with a touch of emotion.

Nalan Sheng looked at the two of them and only then realized they had actually met before. Judging by the situation, though, they were clearly not close friends. Still, her feminine intuition told her that she needed to be wary of any woman who appeared around Xia Zheng, especially the beautiful ones.

Xia Zheng invited Wu Nianfang to dine with them. The three of them entered a private room with a rock garden and a hot spring, which was quite pleasant.

The food was exquisitely prepared. It was not really Xia Zheng’s style, but since it was his girlfriend’s kind intention, he could hardly refuse, so he put on a composed air and ate slowly and properly.

“Inspector Wu, could you tell me how Albert died?” Xia Zheng asked after the three of them had nearly finished eating. He took a wet towel handed over by a waiter and wiped his mouth before speaking.

Nalan Sheng then had the waiters leave the room and stationed the shadow guards outside on alert.

Wu Nianfang also tidied herself a little before saying, “Albert’s death was not complicated. The coroner determined that he died from a neurotoxin. It was not mixed into his wine or drinks. Rather, a professional assassin poisoned him while he was asleep.”

“Oh? Then who does Inspector Wu think wanted to kill him?” Nalan Sheng poured tea and water for the two of them. Wu Nianfang picked up a cup of tea but did not answer immediately.

Seeing this, Xia Zheng could not help smiling. “Could it be that Inspector Wu thinks the murderer was me?”

Wu Nianfang stared at Xia Zheng. Nalan Sheng’s expression immediately turned unpleasant, and she stopped refilling Wu Nianfang’s tea at once.

“As an inspector, I naturally have to consider every possibility. I did suspect it might have been you, but... in the end I felt your motive for murder was too far-fetched. So today, I actually came to ask Mr. Xia: in your view, who do you think killed Albert?” Wu Nianfang instead turned the question back on him.

Xia Zheng took a sip of tea and said, “You give me too much credit, Inspector Wu. I only just learned that Albert died suddenly. I’m not in a position to comment.”

Seeing that Xia Zheng kept his counsel tightly, Wu Nianfang nodded. In truth, she had not expected much. She rose to take her leave.

“Inspector Wu didn’t actually come today to ask me anything, did you?” Xia Zheng suddenly understood something and asked as he escorted her to the door.

Wu Nianfang smiled brightly and replied, “Indeed. This matter won’t stand up to scrutiny; it all depends on whether those above want to investigate. If someone is foolish enough to dig their own grave, everyone else can do nothing about it. Today’s visit was really just a signal from the police. We’ll issue a public statement soon. Mr. Xia only needs to focus on preparing for the tournament. I placed a bet on you, after all, so don’t disappoint me.”

“Huh? Then please just call me Xia Zheng, Inspector Wu. No need to be so formal.” Seeing that Wu Nianfang was no longer wearing that stern expression, Xia Zheng also let his goodwill show.

Wu Nianfang nodded, then glanced back as if she had noticed something. There was a smile in her eyes, and she even deliberately leaned a little closer to him, saying in an intimate tone, “Come out for tea when you have time.”

Only after Wu Nianfang left did Xia Zheng feel a chill run down his back. He hurriedly turned around and saw Nalan Sheng smiling sweetly at him, though the smile looked a little eerie.

“Shengsheng, she was joking just now,” Xia Zheng said, taking Nalan Sheng’s hand.

Nalan Sheng hummed and replied, “I know. It’s just that this female inspector seems a little too flirtatious.”

“Is... is she?” Xia Zheng did not dare answer directly. Wu Nianfang’s behavior earlier had indeed been somewhat intimate.

“Enough, Shengsheng, don’t dwell on that. Hurry and make me a bowl of noodles. We had a guest just now, and I barely ate enough.” Xia Zheng immediately changed the subject. Nalan Sheng knew when to stop, and did not continue making things difficult for him. As for meals, she also understood that Xia Zheng was not quite used to the Nalan family’s customs, but she still wanted him to adapt as much as possible.

That night, during the prime-time segment, at the public press conference held by the Professional League, Wu Nianfang, as the lead investigator of the incident, issued a brief statement. The gist was that Albert’s sudden death had been an assassination, and that the murderer was the person who had hired Albert in the first place. The goal had been to target Xia Zheng, to set him up, and to let certain parties profit. As a result, the investigation quickly followed the trail of Albert’s employer, and the focus of public opinion gradually shifted to the Delansol conglomerate in the western borderlands. Xia Zheng was completely removed from the affair.

Around eight the next morning, Nalan Sheng arranged for a car sent by the family to take Xia Zheng ahead of time to the venue for the qualifier.

There were eight contestants in the fourth round of the Division Four qualifiers, and only the final four would advance to the main draw.

This time, Xia Zheng’s opponent was a woman far less famous than Albert, named Xu Rongyi, but she was an A-rank ability user, twenty-four years old. According to the available intelligence, she seemed to possess both superhuman and natural abilities, making her very difficult to deal with.

After reviewing the information, Xia Zheng understood that today’s duel would not be easy. But by this stage, everyone wanted to enter the main draw. After all, simply entering the main competition guaranteed each contestant a million in prize money.

Each subsequent match brought fifty thousand for a win and ten thousand even in defeat. Reaching the first elimination round meant two million per person, and every additional advancement automatically granted another million. The temptation was immense.

However, Xia Zheng no longer had much desire for money. What he wanted most was the quarterfinal qualification—something he had promised Chu Yan.

Xia Zheng entered the venue alone. Nalan Sheng and Dream Fox could only watch from the spectator stands, and this time they were not even allowed into the waiting room.

On the way to the waiting room, he ran into the other contestants, including Xu Rongyi.

Xu Rongyi had a rather androgynous appearance. She wore a red skin-tight leather outfit and had a sturdy build, with a vest of some unknown material protecting her chest and back, making it look much like armor.

Her hair was very short, almost a buzz cut. Her face was somewhat sharp, with slightly sunken cheeks on both sides, though her features were otherwise fairly ordinary.

Noticing Xia Zheng sizing her up, Xu Rongyi looked at him with hostile eyes.

“Hello, I’m Xia Zheng,” Xia Zheng said, taking the initiative to step forward.

Xu Rongyi paused, then replied coldly, “Xu Rongyi. I’ve long admired your name, sir.”

“Heh, you flatter me. See you later.” Seeing that she was not particularly easy to get along with, Xia Zheng had no intention of pursuing the conversation. After greeting the other six contestants, he went to his own waiting room. This time, all the contestants’ waiting rooms were arranged on the same side.

The fourth-round qualifiers were divided into morning and afternoon sessions, with two matches held in the morning and two in the afternoon. Xia Zheng and Xu Rongyi had been assigned to the first match.

After entering the waiting room, Xia Zheng quickly organized his equipment. Most of his protective gear had been provided by the Foundation and was mainly defensive in nature. His top was a white undershirt with excellent elasticity and storage properties. Normally it looked plain, but once Xia Zheng infused it with mental power, it would instantly become as hard as armor and provide excellent protection. Inside the shirt was also a vest made of special material, bulletproof against anything short of large-caliber rounds or sniper-fire.

His belt could transform in combat into a short sword, extremely sharp when infused with psychic power. His trousers enhanced speed and agility, while his shoes had been made from a blueprint obtained from Wadsworth, giving him the ability to fly at low altitude. Very impressive.

Xia Zheng placed his storage pouch into the inner pocket of his trousers, then took one of the ten mental beads and tucked it into the collar of his sleeve so it would be within easy reach at any time.

“Ready, more or less.” Xia Zheng glanced at the time. There were about fifteen minutes left until ten o’clock. At that moment, the loudspeaker in the waiting room sounded as well, notifying him to proceed immediately to the arena.

Xia Zheng strode out of the waiting room with an air of confidence, and just happened to see Xu Rongyi coming out at the same time. The two of them nodded to each other almost in unison. Then Xu Rongyi led the way, Xia Zheng followed, and when they reached the exit of the corridor, they stepped out together. A thunderous round of applause immediately rang through the venue.