Chapter 1190: Half-Mountain Hotel

This process lasted for a full two or three minutes before Chu Changqing stopped vomiting. He sat on the ground, dazed, as if his mind had come to a complete standstill...

Not to mention Chu Changqing, who had experienced it firsthand, even Lu Xun and the others watching from the side felt their scalps tingle.

"...Director Chen, is it resolved?"

"Yes." Chen Ling nodded slightly. "All the ink in his body has been pulled out. The surface wounds aren't deep; they should heal in a few days... Hmm?"

Before Chen Ling could finish his sentence, he saw the bloody holes all over Chu Changqing's body begin to shrink at a speed visible to the naked eye. Within a few breaths, they had completely healed, leaving not a single scar.

Seeing this, Chen Ling's eyes widened in surprise... Even he and Jian Changsheng's [Blood Garment] didn't necessarily have such rapid healing speed. Chu Changqing was only at about the third or fourth rank; how did he have this kind of regenerative ability?

While his physical wounds healed quickly, the mental trauma lingered. It took a while for Chu Changqing to come back to his senses. He slowly stood up from the ground and spoke with a hint of exhaustion:

"Phew... Thank you... Director Chen."

Although the process was painful, Chu Changqing knew Chen Ling was treating him. Now that he was a normal person with no restrictions on his movement, he naturally didn't need the wheelchair anymore.

Seeing how haggard he looked, Chen Ling spoke directly:

"No need to thank me. Get some rest first; we'll talk about other things when you've recovered."

Most of Chu Changqing's wariness toward Chen Ling had dissipated. He didn't try to force himself to stay awake; after a slight nod, he walked toward the bedroom next door.

It was clear he was truly exhausted. Even though the bedroom only had a bare bed frame without a mattress or pillow, Chu Changqing collapsed onto it and fell into a deep sleep almost immediately.

"Director Chen, would you like to eat something?" Yang Xiao asked, pointing to the food on the table.

"I'll pass."

Chen Ling walked slowly to the balcony and took a list out of his pocket... It was the list Sun Bumian had gotten for him, containing all the guests participating in the banquet tonight.

If nothing went wrong, Ying Fu should have already made his move. But the problem was, out of all these names, which ones would Ying Fu choose to target...

Under the hazy moonlight, Chen Ling looked at the many names on the list and fell into deep thought.

……

In the deserted park, a slightly haggard middle-aged man was walking across the dim lawn.

"It should be right here..."

He muttered to himself. After looking around, his gaze landed on a stone pavilion not far away.

At this moment, an old man was sitting alone in the pavilion. Under the hazy moonlight, his shadow looked mysterious and lonely.

The man immediately stepped toward the stone pavilion.

"Mr. Han, is there something you need, calling me here so late?"

Han Xiang turned slowly. Under the moonlight, his eyes were as deep as an abyss... He pointed to the seat in the stone pavilion and said softly:

"Sit down. Let's talk slowly."

Although the man was puzzled, he sat down obediently. Han Xiang had high seniority and prestige in Bureau 749; naturally, the man didn't dare to be negligent after receiving a sudden invitation from him.

"Li Huang, 33 years old. Ten years ago, your fiancée was imprisoned for suspected money laundering and eventually died of illness in prison..." Han Xiang seemed to know the man's situation very well. His first sentence struck the man's sore spot.

The man's pupils contracted slightly, and he stood up abruptly.

"No, she didn't launder money!! She was framed as a scapegoat by someone... She didn't do anything!!"

"Is that so?" Han Xiang raised an eyebrow.

"Yes!!" The man seemed to recall something, his eyes filled with pain.

"The person who actually laundered the money was powerful and influential locally... Because my fiancée looked sixty or seventy percent like her, she used her parents as leverage and pulled strings to make her take the fall..."

"I was away on a mission at the time. By the time I got the news, it was already too late..."

The man locked his gaze on Han Xiang, his brows furrowed tightly. His tone was cold. "Mr. Han... did you call me here in the middle of the night just to ask about this??"

"No." Han Xiang shook his head. "Actually, I wanted to introduce you to someone."

"...Who?"

Han Xiang turned to look into the depths of the dense forest, and the man's gaze followed...

A figure slowly emerged from the pitch-black trees. Ying Fu had already removed his black-rimmed glasses, and his sharp eyes radiated an indescribable pressure under the moonlight.

For some reason, the moment he saw those eyes, the man's heart jolted. Even his own Divine Path seemed to be affected, and an inexplicable sense of oppression weighed down on him like a mountain.

"Who... are you?"

Ying Fu stopped in front of the stone pavilion and slowly raised his palm, pointing toward the center of Li Huang's brow...

A calm voice rang in his ears:

"Follow me, and let us overturn this era..."

……

Wushan, mountainside.

On the pitch-black, lightless mountain road, Shen Nan's figure slowly emerged...

He looked at the brightly lit Half-Mountain Hotel not far away, and the dozen or so black sedans parked at the entrance, his brows furrowing tighter and tighter.

"It's already the middle of the night; why is he still coming here?"

Ever since the banquet ended, Shen Nan had been tailing Sun Zhongliang's motorcade. He wanted to know what was about to happen on Wushan. Besides preparing to ask directly, he also wanted to see if he could glean more information from Sun Zhongliang's movements.

But he hadn't expected that Sun Zhongliang, who had been dead drunk at the banquet, would not only fail to return to his room to sleep but instead head up the mountain in the middle of the night to this hotel, which looked like it had just finished renovations.

Shen Nan remembered that this was supposed to be the venue for tomorrow's meeting... He couldn't possibly be coming here in the middle of the night to scout the location, could he?

For the director of Bureau 749, there was truly no need for that.

Shen Nan pondered for a long time, took out the hideous Nuo mask from behind him, and after quietly putting it on, he drifted toward the Half-Mountain Hotel like a light breeze...

With Shen Nan's skills, bypassing the Bureau 749 staff outside and sneaking into the Half-Mountain Hotel wasn't difficult. He easily reached a corridor on the edge and moved inward, inching along the wall.

Even though it was the middle of the night, there were still a large number of Bureau 749 staff inside the Half-Mountain Hotel, rushing about with various documents, their expressions extremely urgent.

Seeing these people, Shen Nan's suspicions deepened. He could vaguely guess that Bureau 749 must be preparing something in secret...

He followed some of them and soon arrived in front of the central elevator bank. He saw the staff enter the elevator and press a button; the elevator doors slowly closed, but the screen above the elevator didn't show a floor number, instead flashing a red "error" message.

Shen Nan stood in front of these elevators, lost in thought...

This Half-Mountain Hotel was only four stories high and should be quite old; logically, it shouldn't be equipped with an elevator... Could it be a new elevator installed specifically for the meeting?

But the meeting room was clearly on the first floor, and everyone wasn't staying here; what would they need an elevator for?

A sharp glint flashed in Shen Nan's eyes. He raised his finger and gently pressed the elevator call button...