Urban Martial Saint

The Lu family members were beaten back step by step by Li Qiang and fell into pools of blood—almost all of them men. The remaining few were mostly women with even lesser combat abilities. These women, terrified by Li Qiang's blood-soaked ferocity, screamed incessantly; however, Li Qiang showed no mercy whatsoever. Each swing of his knife meant someone would fall; his eyes were already bloodshot with fury.

Big Eye and Tibetan Mastiff stood at the door, watching Li Qiang's fierce demeanor without much surprise. He had killed a human trafficker with his own hands at ten, walked from the Northeast to the Northwest at thirteen, and climbed his way from a begging street urchin to become a notorious bandit of the Northwest Road, the number one madman of the one thousand li no-man's land desert. Li Qiang was like a constantly hungry wolf, his teeth and claws terrifyingly sharp, ripping apart anyone who dared challenge him. Now, he was personally back to avenge his murdered parents; if he had shown any mercy, he wouldn't be Li Qiang!

Lu Youjin watched helplessly as his sons, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren fell one by one into pools of blood, nearly losing his mind. He could do nothing but stare blankly as Li Qiang slaughtered the members of the Lu family.

In less than five minutes, all the members of the Lu family lay in pools of blood. Li Qiang's clothes were almost soaked through with fresh blood. He slowly approached Lu Youjin, wiped his dagger clean with his clothing, and said quietly, "Lu Youjin, I know your grandchildren are still sleeping upstairs. Don't worry, I'm not like your family—I won't lay a hand on the kids. But you can tell them their parents were killed by me, Li Qiang. I'll be waiting for them to seek revenge when they grow up!"

After speaking, Li Qiang sheathed his dagger, stood up, and said coldly, "Lu Youjin, today I killed fifteen of your people. You should feel lucky; your daughter-in-law is pregnant, and that child saved her life. Three hundred thousand per person, fifteen people is three million yuan—you'll be receiving this money soon."

Li Qiang patted Lu Youjin on the shoulder, then suddenly burst into uproarious laughter, laughing so hard that tears streamed down his face before he gradually stopped.

"Two months! Two months! Why couldn't I have come back two months earlier!" Li Qiang let out a gut-wrenching howl that carried far into the dark night sky.

Big Eye and Tibetan Mastiff were momentarily stunned, then hurriedly ran to the door to look around.

"Brother, let's go. There are lights over there," Big Eye whispered softly.

Li Qiang turned his head to glance at the living room floor strewn with bodies, then walked out of the yard. In the darkness, the three men quickly traversed the alleyways and left Chengguan Town via a back road. Ten minutes later, they returned to the stadium and drove straight away from the area.

It was a long while before a trembling scream echoed from inside the Lu estate: "Uncle Lu… Uncle Lu's family has been massacred…"

At that time, Director Wang Yuanbo was forty kilometers away from the county, in Zhongtang Town. Officially, he was there to inspect work, but the reality was that he wanted to stay out of the affair between Hong Tianxiang and Ye Qing. To avoid getting involved, he had even turned off his phone; he planned to wait until everything between Hong Tianxiang and Ye Qing was resolved before returning to the county. That way, he wouldn't have any stake in the matter.

After drinking half a catty of liquor during dinner, Wang Yuanbo felt groggy and went to sleep early. However, just as he was in a deep sleep, a sudden intense knocking at the door jolted him awake.

"Who is it?" Wang Yuanbo yelled angrily, groggily getting up to open the door, only to see the police chief of Zhongtang Town standing at the threshold.

"Director Wang…" The chief looked very distressed, his voice trembling.

"What is it?" Wang Yuanbo replied irritably, his only wish to go back to sleep, caring little about any other matter.

The chief said in a low voice, "The county just called…"

Wang Yuanbo retorted sharply, "Didn't I say that I didn't want any calls from the county sent here? And besides, who would call at this ungodly hour? Don't I deserve a break from work?" ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ɴovᴇl(ꜰ)ir(e).nᴇt

The chief swallowed and whispered, "Director Wang, it's extremely urgent…"

"What could be so urgent?" Wang Yuanbo perked up, demanding in a sober tone, "Is it Hong Tianxiang's doing?"

"One matter does involve him, but the other is more critical…" the chief paused before saying, "Chengguan Town's Lu Youjin's house was attacked by criminals. Fifteen people were killed overnight, nearly eradicating the entire family!"

"What!?" Wang Yuanbo was now completely alert, realizing this matter was indeed far greater than anything involving Hong Tianxiang.

Regardless of the situation between Hong Tianxiang and Ye Qing, as long as Wang Yuanbo was not in the county, he could not be implicated. But the near-eradication of Lu Youjin's family could not be avoided. As the director of the county police, this happened in his jurisdiction, making him responsible for dealing with it.

What's more, the killing of fifteen people in one incident was shocking enough to alert the entire province, undoubtedly drawing attention from higher-ups. It was possible that the government might send someone to personally investigate this case. If Wang Yuanbo performed poorly in solving this case, his future career would be doomed!

"What's the specific situation?" Wang Yuanbo immediately ran into the room, hastily putting on clothes as he urgently said, "Tell me the details again, don't miss any details. Also, call Old Pan and have him summon all deputy directors and squadron leaders for a meeting at the county bureau an hour from now. In addition, instruct all district station chiefs to raise their alert levels and be on standby at all times, with no room for error!"

The station chief nodded hastily and sent someone to contact Pan Hongliang while explaining the whole situation to Wang Yuanbo on his end.

After hearing the full account, Wang Yuanbo was already sitting in the car. He closed his eyes, leaned back on the sofa, resting and pondering the matter.

A murder case involving fifteen people—this case was indeed overwhelmingly huge. If he couldn't crack it, he definitely couldn't shoulder the blame!

Amidst his anxiety, Wang Yuanbo's driver knew his mood and drove very fast, returning to the county bureau in half an hour. Several squadron leaders were already seated there, but two deputy directors, Wu Jianbing and Zhou Hongbin, were missing.

Seeing this, Wang Yuanbo couldn't help but angrily say, "Where are Wu Jianbing and Zhou Hongbin? An hour was set for the meeting, why haven't they arrived?"

The people inside looked at each other, and finally, Pan Hongliang spoke softly, "Deputy Director Wu and Deputy Director Zhou are currently in the military, and can't return for now."

Wang Yuanbo angrily said, "In the military? What are they doing in the military in the middle of the night? With such a huge case happening, do they still have the leisure to stay in the military?"

Wang Yuanbo had been preoccupied with the Lu Family murder case all the way and hadn't had the chance to inquire about what was going on between Ye Qing and Hong Tianxiang, so of course, he didn't know why Wu Jianbing and Zhou Hongbin were in the military.

Pan Hongliang softly recounted what had happened tonight—Wu Anping had personally led a team to take Zhou Hongbin and Wu Jianbing to the military, and even Hong Tianxiang had been taken. This truly surprised Wang Yuanbo. He had been wondering what backing Ye Qing could have to confront Hong Tianxiang, but he hadn't expected that Ye Qing could mobilize local military forces. No wonder he was so confident in confronting Hong Tianxiang.

While Wang Yuanbo was astonished at Ye Qing's capabilities, a sudden idea struck him. Originally, he had been thinking about how to shake off this blame, but upon hearing Pan Hongliang's words, he suddenly had an idea.

"Since Deputy Director Wu and Deputy Director Zhou haven't returned yet, let's wait a bit. You guys start discussing this case first, and summarize the specific details in a bit. Everyone must be clear about the case!" Wang Yuanbo instructed before immediately rushing out of the conference room back to his own office.

After locking his office door, Wang Yuanbo quickly picked up the phone on his desk and dialed Director Huang Feiming's private number. Wang Yuanbo had a good relationship with Huang Feiming and was considered part of his camp; naturally, he went directly to Huang Feiming with any issues.

"Hello, Old Wang, what's up this late?" Huang Feiming's voice was still energetic, clearly not asleep yet.

Wang Yuanbo had never called Huang Feiming this late before and thought he might disturb his rest, but surprisingly, he didn't encounter any rebuffs. Spirits lifted, he hastily briefed Huang Feiming about the Lu Family murder case.

After hearing Wang Yuanbo's report, Huang Feiming was genuinely shocked. In his many years as a policeman, he had never encountered such a massive murder case. Fifteen family members dead, nearly an annihilation—this case was enough to shock Pingnan Province!

"Old Wang, how could such a big incident happen in your jurisdiction?" Huang Feiming frowned and said gravely, "Fifteen people dead at once—are you trying to become a provincial example? How do you usually supervise your subordinates? Isn't there a patrol team in the county?"

"Director Huang, I've arranged all of that, but reportedly, the criminals are big thieves from out of town; we couldn't guard against them," Wang Yuanbo said.

"What big thieves or not, they're all criminals, what's the difference!" Huang Feiming said, "Have you set up a special case team? Let me tell you, you must act quickly. If you don't catch these criminals soon, I won't be able to explain to the provincial department!"

"Director Huang, I'm already arranging it. But, there's another matter I need to report to you," Wang Yuanbo paused and spoke softly, "Two of my deputy directors have been detained. Right now, when I need to establish a special case team, I can't even allocate personnel!"

"Detained? What does this mean?" Huang Feiming said angrily, "Even your deputy directors have been detained? Who dares to do this? How can the police do their job like this If your own policemen are detained, how can you catch thieves or maintain your image? Tell me, who is so bold to detain our police?"

Wang Yuanbo gritted his teeth and said softly, "It's... the military stationed in our county..."

Huang Feiming was stunned for a moment before shouting in anger, "Damn it, how did you get into trouble with the military?"