Chapter 24: Yu Zizi
Chapter 24: Chapter 24: Yu Zizi
A few moments later.
Wang Xi was loaded into the ambulance.
After some emergency treatment, his injuries were stabilized. All that was left was to return to the hospital for further treatment.
To his surprise, Inspector Yu actually got into the ambulance as well, accompanying him.
「On the way.」
"The onboard navigation of that black hovercar was tampered with beforehand. The route was deliberately set to lead to the abandoned factory."
Yu Zizi held a semi-transparent tablet, her fingers swiping across the screen as she spoke calmly.
"Furthermore, the disaster materials from Cupid Housekeeping weren’t being sent to the Overlook Bureau branch in the Melting Furnace District. They were meant to be received by headquarters."
Hearing this, Wang Xi frowned.
He knew, of course, that this was most likely Lin Zhifeng’s doing. He just hadn’t expected the man to be so meticulous in his scheming.
’Working overtime, delivering materials, being led to an abandoned factory, then having Black Mamba snatch the materials and kill me to tie up loose ends...’
’I took every precaution I could, but I was only guarding against Lin Zhifeng trying to pin the blame on me for some work-related issue. Who would have thought he’d actually want me dead!’
’Perhaps even if I hadn’t come in to work overtime, Lin Zhifeng would have found some other way to lure me into this trap...’
"You’re a new hire, so you aren’t privy to a lot of internal information. That made you the perfect target."
Inspector Yu lifted her beautiful eyes, glanced at Wang Xi, and added,
"There’s no definitive evidence yet, but in all likelihood, he was the one who contacted Black Mamba... It seems the materials that Cupid Housekeeping ’occasionally lost’ over the years were the result of Lin Zhifeng’s inside jobs."
"I was a little puzzled at first. He’d been so careful not to get exposed for so many years. Why would he take such a risk now with such a foolish plan..."
"But seeing you, it’s starting to make sense."
A flicker of surprise and curiosity was mixed into Yu Zizi’s calm gaze.
"I doubt Lin Zhifeng could have ever imagined it. In fact, probably no one could. That a recently graduated intern Cleaner could not only survive an encounter with a high-risk wanted criminal, but actually manage to kill him!"
Wang Xi felt the gaze from behind her lenses, and his heart sank. He knew his performance had been too exceptional, arousing the top inspector’s suspicion.
Thinking quickly, he offered a calm smile.
"My goal is to become a Professional Hero of the Federation. If I can’t even handle one furtive wanted criminal, how could I ever talk about fighting Mazes and disasters..."
"..."
Yu Zizi was taken aback for a moment, then chuckled softly.
When she laughed, it was like a glacier melting.
Even Wang Xi, who had a maxed-out resistance to beautiful women, couldn’t help but sneak a second glance and praise her silently.
"You really don’t get it, do you?"
Yu Zizi smiled and shook her head, seemingly amused.
At the same time, she sighed wistfully.
"Do you know why ’Black Mamba,’ Park Hong, was listed as a high-risk wanted criminal?"
"No, I haven’t been following his case."
Wang Xi told the truth.
Yu Zizi’s smile faded, and she said calmly,
"Because he has killed three Professional Heroes."
"Huh?"
Wang Xi was startled.
He had fought Park Hong firsthand, so he knew the man was powerful. He had only managed a narrow victory due to the information disparity, plus the fact that he had exploited his opponent’s weaknesses.
But he never imagined that this wanted criminal had the blood of three Professional Heroes on his hands!
"The fact that you could kill Park Hong means you already have the strength of a Professional Hero. Even if you have shortcomings in some areas, you’ve basically got one foot over the threshold."
Yu Zizi stared intently at Wang Xi, her voice solemn.
"Don’t tell me you didn’t know that."
"Huh?" Wang Xi murmured. "So I’m that strong..."
Yu Zizi was taken aback.
For some reason, she was suddenly reminded of the newly transferred "Section Chief Chu" at the Valley City Overlook Bureau.
The Disenchantment Class was the Overlook Bureau’s special operations department and its highest internal combat unit. Anyone who could be "parachuted in" as its Section Chief was typically a long-established powerhouse in the Federation.
But who would have expected the new arrival to be a recently graduated girl?
What was even more shocking was that she had crossed the Wilderness all by herself and entered Disaster Area No. 6 near Valley City. In just half an hour—no, 27 minutes to be precise—she had destroyed the Disaster Core target that had been entrenched there for ages.
That was a Disaster Core that surpassed the blue "Regional Seal" level and had reached the Yellow "Major Incident" level, yet it was as fragile as a toy before her.
At the time, Yu Zizi and Ning Meng, the captain of the Valley City Defense Team, were providing support outside the city. Both of them had seen a look of bewilderment on Section Chief Chu’s face.
It was the exact same expression she was now seeing on the face of the young man on the stretcher.
’Is this what a genius is...?’
Yu Zizi couldn’t help but feel a surge of emotion.
She knew that some people were naturally sensitive to Universal Cards and could tap deep into a Card’s potential. Others had an extreme affinity for a specific type of Universal Card and could easily unleash its full effects. Still others could make lightning-fast progress with Technique Cards...
In short, their power grew at an astonishing rate!
’It’s no wonder those two are childhood friends. Like attracts like...’
Inspector Yu came to a conclusion.
Just then, the ambulance arrived at a hospital in the Melting Furnace District.
Once the vehicle stopped, the paramedics opened the back doors and worked together to lift Wang Xi’s stretcher out, preparing to take him to a room for treatment.
"Mr. Wang."
Yu Zizi took two steps forward, stopping beside the stretcher. She leaned in close and whispered,
"I know you took the Cards from Park Hong, but you were smart enough not to touch the most important ones... That’s the key evidence the Security Bureau needs to make the charges stick."
Hearing her whisper, Wang Xi’s heart tightened.
Then, he heard her add,
"Don’t worry, I can turn a blind eye to a small matter like this... In light of your heroic performance, the Security Bureau will also give you an appropriate reward."
"Focus on your recovery. I’ll be back tomorrow."
The purple-haired inspector gave a slight smile, said a few words to the paramedics, then turned and walked away.
Her tall figure in the trench coat gradually vanished into the gathering dusk.
...
...
「Night.」
The bustling activity in the hospital room died down, leaving only a lingering silence.
Wang Xi, wrapped in gauze and wearing a striped hospital gown, sat on his bed and gazed out the window at the night sky.
Unlike the daytime sky, which held both a sun and a moon, the night sky had only a single, slightly smaller moon, just like in his previous life.
’I can’t believe working overtime led to all this...’
Wang Xi withdrew his gaze and shook his head.
He recalled the day’s events with lingering fear. During his fight with Black Mamba, his adrenaline had been surging, dulling the fear and pain. Now that the hormones were fading, both sensations were surging back with a vengeance, like a dark tide in his heart.
Wang Xi felt the stabbing pain in his calf, chest, and back, and the corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily.
’If I were a first-class citizen, none of this would have happened today. Lin Zhifeng probably wouldn’t have even dared to target me.’
’If I were stronger, I wouldn’t have gotten injured today. I could have killed Black Mamba, Park Hong, in an instant.’
’If I had enough money...’
’But there are no "what ifs"!’
Wang Xi lowered his gaze, watching his hand slowly clench into a fist as he murmured,
"I have to get stronger... and become a Professional Hero!"
He picked up his phone, opened an online shopping app, and winced as he spent 500 Credit Points on an e-book titled *Professional Hero Examination Points Summary*.
He opened it and glanced through a few pages, but quickly started to feel drowsy.
"Ugh..." Wang Xi yawned, his eyelids growing heavy. "I recognize all the words, so why can’t I understand any of it when they’re strung together?"
BEEP.
A message notification popped up on his phone.
Wang Xi tapped on it and saw it was from his work group chat. The chat was already blowing up, with over a hundred unread messages.
"@Wang Xi: Hey, did you get into a car accident?!"
The message was from Zhu Yuhe.
Wang Xi scrolled up a bit and saw that his colleagues from Team Two were mostly discussing the arrest of Lin Zhifeng, the deputy director of the Cleaning Department.
This evening, several police hovercars from the Dawn District Security Bureau had shown up. A dozen officers stormed the Cupid Housekeeping Building and took Lin Zhifeng from his office into custody.
The incident caused a huge stir in the company.
Even though upper management did their best to keep it under wraps, the news spread much faster than they’d imagined. Now, almost every employee at Cupid Housekeeping knew.
"..."
Wang Xi prepared to reply, but after a moment’s thought, he decided against it.
’I’ll just let them think I was in a car accident.’
BEEP.
Just then, another message notification appeared.
Wang Xi thought he’d been @’d in the work group again, but when he opened it, he saw it was a message from Chu Nai.
"What are you doing, Brother Xi?"
"Studying for my exam."
Wang Xi typed a reply.
BEEP.
"So diligent! (silly goose is impressed)"
"I can’t compare to your godly intellect, so I have to make up for it with the sweat of my brow."
"You’re exaggerating..."
They exchanged a few more messages, chatting idly.
Suddenly, Chu Nai sent another message:
"Can you send me a picture, Brother Xi? (expectant)"
Wang Xi held his phone and glanced around the hospital room. Then he looked down at his hospital gown and bandages.
He replied:
"It’s not really a good time."
"Oh. (silly goose is disappointed)"
Wang Xi smiled and typed:
"You send a picture, Xiao Nai."
「At this very moment.」
Atop a transmission tower in the Valley City Central District.
Under the moonlit sky, with the city’s neon lights flickering below, a girl stood atop the tower, staring blankly at her phone.
She wore a futuristic, form-fitting blue and white uniform under a gray-black trench coat, her waterfall of silver hair dancing in the night wind.
But the bloodstains covering her ruined the beautiful image.
Chu Nai tucked a stray lock of silver hair behind her ear, wiped a droplet of blood from her cheek, and pursed her lips as she typed a reply on her phone:
"Still working overtime, so it’s not a good time for me either."
After sending it, she hesitated for a moment before adding a pouting silly goose emoji.
BEEP.
"Then let’s go out and have some fun when you get a day off."
A smile blossomed on Chu Nai’s tired face as she read the message from her only contact on the app.
"Okay! (Happy!)"
...
...
「The next morning.」
Officers from the Security Bureau came to the hospital room.
Yu Zizi brought one piece of good news and one piece of bad news.
The good news was that Lin Zhifeng had already confessed. He admitted to planning the attack on Wang Xi and to abusing his position to steal materials from Cupid Housekeeping over the years.
The death penalty awaited Lin Zhifeng.
As for Wang Xi, for his part as a righteous citizen who "assisted" the Security Bureau in taking down the high-risk wanted criminal "Black Mamba," Park Hong, he would receive a reward of 100,000 Credit Points and a medal.
As for the bad news...
"I pulled your file. It looks like you used your status as a Cupid Housekeeping employee to register for next week’s amateur Hero assessment."
Yu Zizi stood before the hospital bed and said to Wang Xi.
"But the doctors say your injuries won’t heal anytime soon. I’m afraid you’re going to miss the assessment."