Sitting in the Deputy Chief's chair and staring at the mountain of official documents before her, Ch'en Hui-chieh had no desire whatsoever to help Roya revise his paperwork.
Her anger from earlier had subsided somewhat, but she had already made up her mind. No matter what, she was going to drag Roya down from this position.
The problem was that although Roya's reputation was terrible and people constantly filed anonymous reports against him, there was still no actual evidence.
Ch'en had investigated him in private. Roya's lifestyle showed no signs of extravagant spending. He lived in Guard Department housing, drove an almost-scrapped secondhand van, and had no other bank accounts under his name.
But if all those reports were nothing but slander, that didn't seem likely either.
So where had all the money he embezzled gone?
Unable to make sense of it, Ch'en tapped lightly on her communicator. It wasn't as if she had never reported Roya to Wei Yenwu before, but his response was always the same merciless refusal:
"There is no evidence proving that Deputy Chief Roya is unfit for that position."
That meant the relationship between Wei Yenwu and Roya was definitely more than a simple superior-subordinate one.
"That bastard..."
Yet the moment she thought of the way Uncle Liu—who had cared for her for so many years—had died by Roya's hand, Ch'en could not stop herself from clenching her fists.
According to the information she'd heard, the incident began when Roya bought bad fruit at Liu's shop, used it as an excuse to demand a free replacement, and got an earful from Liu on the spot. That petty argument had supposedly planted the grudge.
If she'd heard that story for the first time, Ch'en never would have believed it. But during Roya's year as deputy chief, anyone who offended him either vanished without explanation or died in some bizarre accident. Who could say it wasn't all at his command?
And such a piece of scum was actually her fiancé.
How had she failed to see his true nature back then? She'd believed, at the very least, that Wei Yenwu and Wen Yue would not misjudge a man so badly.
Fortunately, Lungmen's citizens seemed to understand that her engagement to Roya was just for appearances, and that Ch'en herself had always opposed him. None of them blamed her for the things Roya did.
"If he doesn't have any extra accounts, then even if it's cash, there has to be a place where he's hiding it."
Ch'en pondered the matter. She had suspected for a long time that Roya had hidden away the benefits he'd gained through corruption somewhere, but nobody could ever pin down his movements.
So perhaps...
She should simply follow him.
The thought surfaced in her mind. But before that, she needed to know where he was right now.
Taking out her communicator, she dialed Roya's number. She waited, and soon heard him pick up—along with the unmistakable sounds of fighting in the background.
"Hello? What is it, Hui-chieh?"
"Are you fighting over there?"
"Ah, no. Just collecting a debt. And taking care of a bit of work while I'm at it. Anyway, I'm a little busy right now, so I'm hanging up."
Roya casually ended the call, set the bloodstained baseball bat aside, and looked at the gangsters in front of him, who still refused to move out of his way. He rubbed his temples in mild exasperation.
"Now then—move. All of you."
At that single command, every gangster froze, then obediently stepped aside in perfect unison, clearing a path for Roya straight into the innermost room.
On one hand, they were stunned that their own bodies had stopped obeying them. On the other, they could only watch helplessly as Roya walked toward the room where the gang leaders were holding their meeting.
"Good thing these idiots still don't want to attract attention."
Roya muttered to himself.
There were only a few dozen gangsters here—not enough to exceed the upper limit of the number of people his power could affect. Nor was there anyone here strong enough to resist him the way Wei Yenwu could.
But that also revealed another problem:
The slum gangs had become far too arrogant.
When they'd seen Roya, their first reaction had been to call him Wei Yenwu's dog, so Roya had graciously taught the two lookouts what "manners" meant using his baseball bat.
With a loud bang, he kicked the door open and walked inside.
Ten seconds later, he emerged again.
Behind him trailed more than a dozen gang bosses from the slums, each looking as if they were sleepwalking—eyes unfocused, steps unsteady—as they followed him out of the courtyard.
An indescribable terror took hold of the assembled gangsters. From Roya's appearance to his departure, less than three minutes had passed, yet he had openly taken all of their bosses away right in front of them and left without a scratch.
What kind of Originium Arts was that?
"Oh, right."
At the doorway, Roya seemed to remember something. He turned and looked at the now-unfrozen gangsters, who still did not dare make a move.
"If your hands are dirty, end yourselves."
With that, Roya led the gang leaders straight toward his beloved van, completely ignoring the screams and thickening smell of blood coming from the compound behind him.
Far away, in a candy shop on the other side of the district, an elderly Zalak man looked at the secret letter in his hands and finally shook his head with a sigh.
"Old Liu... what a waste."
"Father, Uncle Liu..." The pink-haired woman standing beside him hesitated. "Was that really necessary? I could have handled this myself."
"You don't understand, Yuhsia. Old Liu followed Wei Yenwu for decades. No matter when he sold himself to Ursus, the fact remains that he saved Wei Yenwu's life and mine back then. Not to mention that you younger ones practically grew up under his watch. Having Roya do it was the best choice."
Lin Yuhsia clenched her fists and thought about it. She could have carried it out—but not without difficulty. Old Liu had been formidable in his own right, and there were years of old ties to consider. In the end, letting Roya handle it really had been the only option.
"What a pity, though. That boy Roya probably won't be able to keep living in Lungmen much longer. His reputation's already in shambles. Hoshiguma just messaged me to say Ch'en Hui-chieh punched him. Looks like that engagement's going to fall apart too."
"Wasn't that engagement just an excuse to fend off Great Yan?"
The moment Roya and Ch'en's marriage came up, Lin Yuhsia's already cool expression turned even colder. As far as she was concerned, Roya and Ch'en were completely mismatched.
"It started that way. But you've seen how Roya's performed over the past year. His reputation may be awful, but Lungmen's order really has stabilized. Wei Yenwu and I have been discussing whether, in the future, we might have him manage the slums. With his methods, he should be able to handle it."
As the current speaker for Lungmen's slums, the Rat King found it easy to imagine that if Roya took control here and then married Ch'en Hui-chieh, Lungmen's future would be even better than its present.
But just imagining such a scene made Lin Yuhsia feel uncomfortable.
She had known Roya for more than half a year by now. How could she not understand what his real nature was? He and that rigid, bull-headed Ch'en were never going to match no matter how hard anyone tried.
Before either of them could say more, though, a fishmonger in an apron came hurrying in, flustered and breathless.
"Old Lin! This is bad! Something huge has happened!"
-------
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