BPIFC -Volume 1 – Chapter 91 The Opponent

Just as Che Qianzi had hung up a “Cleaning in Progress” sign and was searching the restroom for the “fat man” from earlier, Sun Desheng finally returned his call.

“Brother, your big brother here was just having a little meeting with the airport brass…”

“Save your meetings for the crematorium. Something’s happened!”

Che Qianzi briefly recounted everything that had just taken place. He then said:

“Fatty, hurry up and pull up the surveillance footage. Whatever came out of that restroom, find it. The whole airport is covered in cameras—he can’t escape.”

“You came face-to-face with that person, right…”

Sun Desheng fell silent for a moment before saying:

“Brother, don’t worry about things over there anymore. Come to the control room—forget it, just stay where you are. I’ll come pick you up.”

Ignoring him, Che Qianzi replied:

“Pick up my ass. Find that guy first. He made a monkey out of me…”

Before the little Taoist could finish, Sun Desheng had already hung up.

Soon, nearby investigators arrived to reinforce the area.

The investigator hidden inside the suitcase had been knocked unconscious. His head had been split open and was covered in blood. Though the sight was frightening, fortunately he wasn’t seriously injured. His colleagues from Second Division took him away for treatment.

Eventually, Ximen Lian discovered traces of someone crawling above the restroom ceiling. He personally climbed into the ceiling and followed the trail.

Not long after the Great Scholar entered the ceiling, Sun Desheng arrived in an airport police vehicle.

Without giving Che Qianzi a chance to object, Fatty Sun dragged him into the car and, under the eyes of the other investigators, drove toward the airport control center.

Seeing that Che Qianzi was still upset, Sun Desheng said:

“Brother, your life is tough enough to survive anything. Otherwise, you’d have been the one stuffed into that suitcase just now.

That person wasn’t a living corpse. He was most likely the master controlling the corpses and sending them home.

He prepared two backup plans. If nobody discovered him, he’d board the plane wearing that fat disguise. If someone became suspicious along the way, he’d discard the disguise and leave under another identity on a different flight.

Not to praise him, but that’s the courage of a truly skilled expert.”

At this point, Fatty Sun glanced at the still-fuming Che Qianzi and continued:

“But brother, you’ve got sharp eyes. Even the security personnel didn’t notice anything unusual, yet you spotted him. If you hadn’t exchanged glances with him…”

“Fatty, are you worried he’ll come back for revenge?”

Che Qianzi frowned.

“Does he even know who I am? Besides, that wasn’t his real face. Didn’t you see those piles of fake skin inside the suitcase? I never even saw his real—”

Before he could finish, Sun Desheng opened his phone and played a video.

“See for yourself.”

The footage showed the business-class security checkpoint.

The fat man appeared on the screen. There were checkpoints on both his left and right, but instead of entering immediately, he stood outside observing.

Only after he spotted Che Qianzi chatting with Xiao Yifeng did he deliberately choose the left checkpoint—the one where Che Qianzi was standing.

“See?”

Sun Desheng put away his phone.

“He approached you on purpose. Logically speaking, he shouldn’t have any reason to seek revenge against you. You weren’t the one leading last night’s operation. If he wanted revenge, I should be his first target, since I’m the one directing the effort against him.”

After a pause, he asked:

“Brother, since coming to Beijing, have you offended anyone else?”

“Offended people?”

Che Qianzi thought for a moment.

“Not many. I beat up an illegal taxi driver when I got off the train. Then there was your Director Wu, Yang Xiao, Xiong Wanyi, your Secretary Yang, that whole bunch from the Underworld, a dog-meat restaurant owner, that mutt in the Min Tiao Bureau, Hao Wenming, more than half the investigators in Second Division, and Ma Xiao…”

“Enough.”

Sun Desheng smiled bitterly.

“If you keep going, even I won’t be able to protect you.”

“I’m telling you, brother, maybe you should learn from me and stop offending everyone you meet. The fact that you’ve managed to survive to nineteen years old is already a miracle.”

By then, they had reached the entrance to the control center.

After getting out of the car, Sun Desheng used his access card and led Che Qianzi inside.

As expected of an airport control center, one entire wall was covered with dozens of surveillance screens. Every few seconds, the images rotated to new views.

Old Mo was temporarily watching the room in Sun Desheng’s place.

Seeing Fatty Sun return, he said:

“I checked the playback footage earlier. I didn’t find anyone who came out without first going in…”

Before Old Mo could finish, the walkie-talkie on the desk crackled with Ximen Lian’s voice:

“We’ve been tricked! It’s Jiang Dahe… The one in the ceiling was Jiang Dahe! The person taken away earlier was fake! Hurry and go after him!”

Old Mo looked confused and pressed the talk button.

“Great Scholar, what are you talking about? What’s wrong with Little Jiang? What’s fake—”

Before he could finish, Sun Desheng snatched the radio from his hand.

“From now on, nobody moves alone! Great Scholar, you and Xiong Wanyi go find the investigators who took Jiang Dahe away. Once you find them, come straight to the control room. I’ve got assignments for the two of you.”

After putting down the radio, he turned to Che Qianzi.

“Brother, from this moment on, you are not leaving my sight for even a second. Even when we go to the bathroom, we go together. Until this whole affair is over.”

Che Qianzi looked at him in surprise.

“Fatty, you’re being awfully loyal. Do you know something I don’t?”

“It’s because I genuinely treat you like my own brother.”

Sun Desheng had just begun to continue when Ximen Lian’s voice came over the radio again:

“We found Jiang Dahe. He’s fine… Great Sage, I’m coming up now to—”

The transmission suddenly cut off.

No matter how many times Sun Desheng called, there was no response.

He immediately had Old Mo bring up the surveillance cameras covering Ximen Lian’s location.

Unfortunately, they discovered that the Great Scholar had been inside a restaurant storage room—a blind spot in the surveillance system.

There was no way to see what had happened.

Sun Desheng no longer dared send ordinary investigators.

He immediately contacted the Two Yangs and ordered them to investigate Ximen Lian’s situation.

Unexpectedly, only Yang Jun answered.

At some point, Yang Xiao had disappeared as well.

For the first time, events had slipped completely beyond Fatty Sun’s control.

Such situations were exceedingly rare.

Previously, he’d only encountered similar difficulties when dealing with masters like Guangren.

But now, they didn’t even know who their opponent was.

Since joining the Min Tiao Bureau, this was the first time Sun Desheng had experienced such a crushing failure.

Fortunately, Yang Jun quickly reported back.

Ximen Lian had merely been knocked unconscious and was not seriously injured.

Only then did Sun Desheng finally breathe a sigh of relief.

He took out his phone and dialed another number.

“La Zi, are you still with Little Zhao?

“Mm, just a small matter… Good. We’re at Capital Airport Terminal Three. Come over.”

After summoning Shen La, Fatty Sun made another call.

“Secretary Yang, we’ve run into some trouble at the airport. Send Tu An over. And get me another round of air traffic control authority. Starting now, all outbound flights are suspended. That’s right, I’ll take responsibility. This time we’ve encountered a worthy opponent. How rare…”

After hanging up, Sun Desheng glanced at the time and said to Che Qianzi:

“Maybe I was wrong.

Maybe he wasn’t targeting you after all…

A truly rare opponent…”