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But unexpectedly, it turned out to be a \'high-frequency earthquake zone.\' The buildings were only half-done when it became clear they couldn\'t be sold, so construction was simply abandoned, leaving behind a whole bunch of unfinished buildings."

Xue Jing followed his pointing, and could see clearly at the end of his line of sight, a large cluster of half-built buildings, most of them with their steel rebar exposed.

"Now you can\'t even find a living soul there, but there\'s a pile of dead bodies. Many of Qingcheng\'s unsolved cases where people died, the bodies were found there. It\'s because the area is usually deserted, which makes it convenient to hide a body."

Xue Jing sat in the back seat without responding, his gaze intensifying instead.

With his Level 5 Aiming skill, his vision was extremely strong, far beyond that of ordinary people, equivalent to having built-in binoculars. Even at a great distance from the abandoned building site, he could still see many details clearly.

Atop one of the unfinished buildings without a ceiling, there seemed to be a strange black shadow standing on a rusty piece of rebar—it looked like... a cockroach?

Xue Jing blinked, looked more carefully, and found that what was hanging on the rebar was just a large black plastic bag, flapping loudly in the wind.

"An illusion..." He was a bit puzzled.

Could it be an aftereffect of killing that Cockroach Monster two days ago? Now, seeing anything similar felt like seeing a cockroach.

He shook his head and didn\'t pay it too much attention.

Perhaps there really was a slight psychological shadow left behind; after all, cockroaches are truly disgusting.

...

North City District is where the majority of government officials reside, and has always been nicknamed \'Noble North.\'

Of course, this is just a saying and not absolute. North City District also has many ordinary residents. There are only a few government officials; if only they could live in North City, it would be a ghost district.

This was Xue Jing\'s first visit to North City District. He sat in the car curiously looking through the window for a while but didn\'t notice anything different from East City or West City.

However, as the car drove up a long slope, rounded two corners, and entered Mufeng Street, his opinion changed.

On the clean and tidy street, one villa after another was interspersed among lush green trees. The pedestrians were well-dressed and carried an air of distinction; some even wore the kind of butler and maid outfits one might see only in idol TV dramas...

The cars on the street weren\'t all expensive luxury vehicles, but their license plates were all ones and fives, six six six six, nine nine nine nine, and the like.

Such license plates, even on a Wuling Hongguang, would be quite imposing, giving an indication of the kind of people in the cars.

After the driver uncle had driven into this area, his originally relaxed driver\'s demeanor vanished, and he became extremely serious. Both hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, his body leaned forward, his full attention engaged.

Like taking a driving test, he was extremely cautious, afraid to scrape or bump into anything.

Upon reaching the destination, Xue Jing scanned a code to pay, thanked the driver, and got out of the car.

He turned around to look at the house in front of him.

Well, a big villa.

At the gate, wide enough for a big car to pass, there were already two people waiting.

"Youguang?" Xue Jing asked with surprise.

He looked at the plump young man who was scratching his head and forcing a smile, then at his brother, Pei Tiancheng, beside him.

"Is it you guys who made the request to the dojo?" Xue Jing raised an eyebrow.

Pei Youguang approached with a smile and said, "Sort of."

"Let\'s not talk about that for now, Master Xue, welcome to our brothers\' home. Please, come in!"

...

Xue Jing followed Pei Youguang and his brother into the villa, through a large courtyard, several corridors, and arrived at a spacious and elegantly decorated living room.

He sat down on the sofa in the living room and was immediately served by several maids carrying trays of tea.

One of them knelt down in front of Xue Jing, prepared the tea set, and brewed him a cup of red tea of an unknown variety with warm water.

"Please enjoy the tea, sir." She respectfully extended her hand and glanced at Xue Jing\'s profile, a blush appearing on her face.

"Thank you," Xue Jing replied politely, lifted the expensive-looking cup and took a sip. He couldn\'t taste much, but the flavor was quite good, with a strong aftertaste.

Setting down the cup, he turned to Pei Tiancheng seated opposite him and began with a smile:

"Master Pei, are you inviting me here because you want to practice with me?"

Pei Youguang, standing beside him, had the corners of his mouth twitch as if he wanted to laugh but dared not.

Pei Tiancheng immediately shook his head quickly and hurriedly explained:

"No, it\'s not me. Someone wants to meet you through me. They said they wanted to see you in person."

"I thought you must be really busy, and it might not be appropriate to invite you directly, so I decided to pay for a request instead."

Pei Tiancheng said tactfully, with an embarrassed look.

Previously, at the Rui Zhu Hotel banquet, he wanted to get to know Xue Jing and asked Pei Youguang to call him over, but Pei Youguang came back alone.

At that time, he already realized it was not because Pei Youguang forgot; it was that Xue Jing had pride, and wouldn\'t do anything that smacked of groveling.

He invited Xue Jing by way of a request this time because he was worried that a direct invitation would remind Xue Jing of that night\'s incident and result in another refusal.

Xue Jing was unconcerned with Pei Tiancheng\'s complex thoughts, merely curious:

"Oh? Someone wants to see me? Who is it?"

Pei Tiancheng waved his hands, signaling the maids to leave.

Then he spoke in a low voice:

"I don\'t know... He\'s a man, seems to have a special background. My father respects him quite a bit and told me to accommodate his requests as much as possible."

"Yesterday, Youguang and I had a drink with him. I did find out some things. He said he\'s from a special government organization, but what exactly it is, I couldn\'t find out."

Pei Tiancheng paused, then continued:

"However, this man is strong."

"Although I\'ve never fought him, I can tell from his appearance, demeanor, and certain habits that he\'s likely used to fighting. He\'s decisive and forthright in his speech and actions, disliking beating around the bush."

Xue Jing nodded and asked,

"Where is he?"

Pei Tiancheng thought for a moment, then said in a low voice, "He\'s on the hill behind North City District, not far from here. He said he would take you to meet him when you arrived."

Xue Jing noticed that Pei Tiancheng seemed a bit cautious in his words. Xue Jing reached out and reassuringly patted his shoulder, chuckling,

"Relax, you\'re the employer now. You call the shots."

Pei Tiancheng let out a sigh of relief.

"That\'s good to hear."

"No time to waste, I\'ll take you there right away."

...

On a grass-covered slope in the North City District\'s outskirts, a man was lying in the sun with his legs crossed.

With his eyes closed, he seemed to be in his early twenties, sporting a buzz cut, slightly dark skin, a resolute face, and a blade of grass tucked between his teeth that he was grinding.

The man was dressed in a black sleeveless vest, green military pants, and black combat boots. His exposed muscles were robust and filled with a sense of solidity, glowing with an almost metallic sheen, as if forged from steel.

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, the man opened his eyes, sat up, and gently pressed behiend his ear with his hand.

"Hello? Captain?"

"..."

"Ah? Don\'t go too far? Didn\'t you say we were going to try inviting him to join White Crow? Isn\'t this part of it? Otherwise, what was the point of all my past suffering?"

"..."

"His backing? How strong can it be, anyway? Fine, I\'ll try to pull my punches."

"But, he might be our comrade in the future, you know how dangerous the Intersecting Boundaries are. It\'s essential for comrades to know each other well... I\'ll try to test his limits and will have to land some heavy blows."

There was the sound of a car driving on gravel, coming from a distance. The man turned to look.

"Enough talking, he\'s here."

After pressing behind his ear, the man stood up and stretched his limbs.

A black sedan slowly drove onto the grass and stopped.

Pei Tiancheng and Pei Youguang got out of the driver and passenger seats, respectively.

The rear door of the car also opened, and an overly handsome young man stepped out.

"Oh? He does look the part," the man muttered to himself.

He walked toward the young man, spreading his arms as if to embrace him. His arms were exceptionally long, reaching past his knees, similar to the limbs of an ape.

The man grinned and said,

"Xue Jing, pleased to meet you. You can call me \'Mountain Demon.\'

"So let\'s not waste any time, let\'s become friends right away."

"The best way to make friends—"

"Is to have a fight!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than the grass around him burst apart, and he vanished from the spot.

Xue Jing, facing the Mountain Demon who appeared suddenly before him and was now swinging a punch at him, showed no change in his expression.

True to what Pei Tiancheng had said, the man was swift and decisive.

"Very well."

"I don\'t dislike this direct way of communication."

The punch carried tremendous power, whistling through the air as if even a steel plate in front of it would be pierced.

However, Xue Jing did not dodge or flinch, standing his ground and taking the punch straight to the chest.

"Puh—"

As the Mountain Demon looked on in slight surprise, the fist that reached his chest felt as if it had struck a tire, the sound dull and heavy.

Xue Jing\'s bones trembled, emitting a rolling thunderous sound. The powerful kinetic energy from the punch was absorbed by his bones and transformed...

His breathing skills activated, his power surged within his body, turning into a True Dragon that roamed everywhere, sweeping the kinetic energy in his bones into his own power.

The sound of the dragon\'s roar resonated.

All the force converged in his right fist. Xue Jing spun around quickly and threw a backhand punch as powerful as the tail of a True Dragon sweeping the clouds from the sky.

Killing move—Seal Cloud Tail!

"Bang!!"

The air was torn asunder, and the grass within several meters was flattened into a fan shape by the blast.

In the stunned gaze of Pei Tiancheng and Pei Youguang, followed by a loud explosion, the Mountain Demon was launched more than twenty meters away, his body rigid as a javelin, plunging into the sloping hillside.

...