BPIFC -Volume 1 – Chapter 119 The Hao Brothers

The walkie-talkie fell silent, and Ren Rong began to panic.

He had originally assumed the opponents were nothing more than a few street-level mystics with minor tricks. No matter how many there were, they were still human, not gods. They even had to watch the expressions of several gray-haired directors from the Municipal Investigation Bureau’s Sixth Division. His old subordinates numbered only thirty-something men, but they were equipped with modern firearms. One burst of automatic fire should have been enough to drop them all—dead or injured, none should have escaped.

So why had he completely lost contact with them?

“You should seriously consider submitting your resignation,” Hao Zhengyi said as he walked over.

Turning to Ren Rong, he added flatly, then looked back at the colleagues from the Municipal Investigation Bureau behind him:

“Someone already went in ahead of us. Now it’s our turn. There’s no time to draw up a proper plan. The directors will go in first, the rest of you follow. Whatever happens, we retrieve the people who went in earlier first.”

With that, Hao Zhengyi was the first to enter the building. His younger brother, Hao Wenming, followed without hesitation.

The three directors from Division Two exchanged a quick glance. Ximen Lian and Xiong Wanyi also went in. Old Mo stayed behind to coordinate and lead the investigators in support.

Division Three’s director Hugo was not in the country. Division Five’s Ouyang Pianzuo was not suited for frontline action, so his deputy Xiao Yifeng took his place and entered the building instead. Before leaving, Xiao Yifeng ordered that no other investigators were to enter until they received signals from the directors.

Inside the lobby of the building, everything was eerily quiet. Xiao Yifeng saw no obvious abnormalities.

The directors who had entered earlier were standing near the reception area. Against this kind of opponent—not demons or monsters—much of the Bureau’s specialized equipment was useless. Fortunately, those who entered were not ordinary investigators.

Hao Wenming pulled a small paper packet from his backpack. Inside was a pinch of dry, withered grass-like fibers.

Right in front of the other directors, he lit the dried herb.

When only half of it had burned, he blew it out in one breath. The flame extinguished, but dozens of glowing embers remained, and thick smoke quickly began to spread.

Though the amount of herb was tiny, the smoke it produced was astonishing. Within two to three minutes, it had filled the entire lobby.

Seeing that it was ready, Hao Zhengyi took out a strange flashlight. When he switched it on, everyone noticed a talisman-like symbol engraved on the lamp shade. The beam, imbued with the symbol’s effect, swept aimlessly through the smoke-filled room.

This was the private “special stock” of the Hao brothers. It was said that Hao Zhengyi had acquired it while serving as a personal religious consultant for the King of Thailand, purchased from a Thai shaman. Ouyang Pianzuo had once tried to mass-produce the herb, but every attempt failed. In the entire Municipal Investigation Bureau, only the Hao brothers could use this method—leaving the other directors envious.

Soon, Hao Zhengyi found what he was looking for.

Near the stairway entrance, as the light passed through the smoke, a faint pink glow appeared on the floor.

The Hao brothers were seasoned veterans of this field. After a glance, they said almost in unison:

“Mind control technique.”

Hao Zhengyi nodded and added:

“North Branch Five’s ‘Mind Seizing Art.’ Good—those people still have some scruples. They didn’t kill anyone here. Those thirty-some police officers might still be alive.”

He continued scanning the lobby with the flashlight until he was certain no further techniques were present. Only then did he turn to Xiao Yifeng at the back:

“Director Xiao, you can let them in now. The lobby is safe. My brother and I will take the stairs up first—”

Before he could finish, a thunderous crash erupted overhead.

A large hole burst open in the ceiling, and two mutilated bodies fell straight down.

Everyone was startled. Their first instinct was that the dead were the police officers who had rushed in earlier. But when they saw the clothing—civilian attire—Hao Wenming recognized one of the bodies as someone already on the blacklist.

Only then did they slightly relax.

The smoke still obscured vision outside, and no one knew what had happened.

Ouyang Pianzuo rushed to the entrance and shouted in his thick regional accent:

“What’s going on? Everything alright inside?”

“Fine, Ouyang, don’t come in yet!” Hao Wenming shouted back.

He examined the bodies.

There were no signs of corpse poison or formation techniques. They had died recently—killed by magical weapons. Each had been stabbed in the chest. Though dead, the wounds were still visibly decaying, turning from small punctures into festering, gaping holes.

After identifying the injuries, Hao Wenming stepped back and said with a strange expression:

“They were killed by Lin Zhongtian’s Netherworld Steel Stingers. The dead are Lu She and Du Ziteng—both of them were Lin Zhongtian’s disciples. Rumor says the three of them had… complicated relationships. Among the blacklist group, those three were the closest. So why are they killing each other?”

Since it was confirmed there was no corpse formation set above, the investigators at the entrance were finally allowed inside.

Worried about his old subordinates, Ren Rong entered last.

By then, Hao Zhengyi had already burned away the mind-control technique at the stairway entrance using quicklime. While the others guarded the lobby, the Hao brothers prepared to continue upstairs.

Just as they cautiously reached the midpoint of the staircase, the locked elevators suddenly lit up.

They activated—and began descending from the eighth floor at the same time.

Everyone immediately retreated, fearing a trap.

When the elevators reached the first floor, both doors opened simultaneously.

Inside were twenty to thirty unconscious armed police officers, sprawled across the cabins.

They were Ren Rong’s men—the subordinates who had entered earlier and never returned.

Seeing this, Ren Rong’s vision went dark. He staggered and collapsed to his knees at the elevator entrance.

“Director Ren, what are you doing? They’re not dead!”

Old Mo stepped forward and pointed at the faint rise and fall of their chests.

“They’ve just been hit by the Mind Seizing Art and lost consciousness. Back then, Sun Desheng made a three-part agreement with those people—they don’t dare easily harm ordinary people. Get some men, carry them out. Be careful—there may still be traps.”

At that moment, the Hao brothers returned to the elevator.

After confirming the officers were only unconscious, Hao Zhengyi muttered:

“Knocked out and sent back down… what does that even mean? Are they really that merciful?”

He then glanced oddly at his younger brother.

“Second brother… are you and Sun Desheng hiding something from me? Like… did you plant moles among them back then?”

Hao Wenming gave a bitter smile.

“You think too highly of me. I’m not Shen La. I do have a decent relationship with Fatty Sun, but not to the point where he’d tell me something like that. Still… your idea makes sense. That shameless kind of thing—Fatty Sun would definitely do it.”

At that moment, the elevator had been cleared.

Hao Zhengyi suddenly said:

“Since the elevators are down, no need to waste effort climbing. I’ll take the elevator up. Second brother, listen for me. One shout means you take the elevator too. Two shouts means take the stairs.”

Before he finished speaking, another body fell through the hole in the ceiling.

Looking at the corpse in the distance, Hao Zhengyi became even more convinced:

“There’s infighting upstairs. They’re busy killing each other. No one has time to deal with the elevators.”