Beginning with the Ubume Bird-Chapter 576 - 8 Tiger Tooth Tower

One month later.

Only four days left until the funeral of the Lou Master, all Yan Fu travelers suddenly received an official death notice from the Ten Masters:

"Qin An, a representative of the Yan Zhao Club, died unexpectedly in the series Luo Jiazi Six. The memorial service is scheduled to be held in Luoyang on October 20th. We hereby announce this with solemnity."

All members of the Yan Zhao Club

October 16, 2015.

Besides those few sentences, there was nothing else, not even a touch of emotional embellishment. As for the cause of Lou Master’s death, the vacancies and arrangements after the major casualties of the Yan Zhao Club, all these were left vague. Most low-ranking travelers could not feel the weight of this death notice, and some even learned of the existence of the Yan Zhao Club for the first time.

Most of them just looked up for a moment in confusion and then continued with their own lives.

Yet a group of people with deep understanding of Yan Fu’s upper echelons had hurried to Luoyang long before, eagerly viewing this grand memorial as a great opportunity to make a name for themselves.

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Longmen High-Speed Rail Station, blazing sunlight, a weave of people.

"Why haven’t they arrived yet..."

An Jing, wearing a white lapel flower, searched around until her eyes lit up.

"Here, here."

She waved at a tall woman wearing a loose hoodie approaching with a suitcase.

"You’re Taishuai, right?"

"Mountain Spirits and Wild Charms really are beautiful," she thought to herself.

Lady Dan hesitated and then nodded.

An Jing cleared her throat, revealing a friendly smile, "I’m Bifang, a fourth-seat representative of the Yan Zhao Club, here to pick you up."

The Yan Zhao Club had a total of five hundred and one seats, divided into five ranks.

One of the ranks was represented by twenty-eight individuals led by the Ten Masters, currently with two vacancies.

Second rank had fifty-two representatives.

Third rank had one hundred and twenty representatives.

Fourth rank had one hundred and forty representatives.

Fifth rank had one hundred and sixty-one representatives.

The affairs of the Yan Zhao Club often represented the interests of most or at least a large portion of Proxy Travelers. It was often used to draft solutions for high-intensity Yan Fu incidents. Occasionally, it also arbitrated major conflicts between Proxy Travelers over the delegation of key Yan Fu privileges.

Under normal circumstances, only the top-rank Ten Masters are qualified to convene a Yan Zhao meeting, but if more than half of the second-rank representatives jointly request a meeting on a certain issue, the Ten Masters must convene one.

Usually, the Ten Masters would lead the proceedings of the entire Yan Zhao Club, but every member had the right to speak. The resolutions of the Yan Zhao Club required votes from all members, and approval by more than two-thirds of the votes cast to pass.

The Human Master Zhao Jianzhong, Ghost Master Su Ling, Landlord Hou Tu, Feather Lord Cao Yuanchao, Jie Master Zhan Yuejin, and Scale Lord Zhu Jiuyin, six individuals, each held a veto. If any one of them opposed, the Yan Zhao Club could not pass any resolution.

Beyond that, the representatives of the second rank held significant power.

They often shouldered some core Yan Fu responsibilities, able to intervene in the order of Yan Fu and other conveniences not to be discussed with outsiders. The most crucial point being that only second-rank representatives had the qualifications to apply to initiate the ultimate Yan Fu event of harvesting the fruits. Initiating an ultimate Yan Fu event without authorization would be deemed an act against the interests of the entire Yan Zhao Club.

It is worth mentioning that among Yan Fu travelers, not just Jie, Scale, and Ghost masters have independently completed ultimate Yan Fu events and harvested fruits. In fact, more than a dozen members of the entire Yan Zhao Club have completed such events, though those fruits were either broadly vast yet barren, or small-scale fruits like the "Capital City Nocturnal Chaos". They were not on the same level as entities such as the "Four Realities".

This is almost the greatest convenience a Yan Fu traveler can achieve in the current Yan Fu.

Furthermore, it’s the establishment of organizations powerful enough to interfere in international affairs within the Heaven Jiazi Nine Fruits, in actuality, the only one who dares to do this is Feather Lord and his Third Eye Global. Others either lack the need or the capability.

As per tradition, travelers from the Six Ministries would enter the second rank.

"Why are you here alone? Weren’t there supposed to be two others coming with you?"

An Jing looked around.

Li Yan, Cha Xiaodao.

The former had participated in an ultimate Yan Fu event as a non-Proxy Traveler and surprisingly received no punishment, and his reputation was ambiguously linked with the infamous Renegade, Yu Shu.

The latter had just completed Taotie’s Yan Fu trial, and her joining the Yan Zhao Club was all but guaranteed.

"They arrived in Luoyang this morning, said they had some other matters to attend to, said they went to..."

Lady Dan’s face showed a hint of recollection.

"Tiger Tooth Tower."

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"Yesterday morning, a large section of the 310 national highway in our city collapsed. So far, it has caused three deaths."

"On the morning of October 15th, a serial car accident occurred on the White Horse Temple flyover."

"At noon on October 14th, a gas explosion occurred in the Hetong Industrial Zone. At six o’clock in the evening, a major fire broke out in the Drumming Platform scenic area, suspected to be related to tourists carelessly discarding cigarette butts."

"On October 13th, on the eastern section of the Lianhuo Expressway, a tanker truck spontaneously combusted and exploded violently, fortunately without any casualties."

The screen went dark amid the electronic voice.

"Ghosts and goblins."

Yang Zheng muttered to himself. He turned off the TV, took off his blue scarf, and placed it on the coat rack to the side. He turned to the child curled up in the corner of the bed and said, "Awake yet?"

The child’s round eyes glared at Yang Zheng with resentment, but he said nothing.

"Hmph."

Yang Zheng snorted through his nose and picked up a box of milk from the table.

The child pursed his lips and suddenly his eyes widened with terror. A large mass of blood-red mud surfaced behind Yang Zheng, and cold red facial features were silently approaching him.

Gulp, gulp.

Yang Zheng seemed unaware, still gulping down the milk.

The child swallowed a mouthful of saliva, eerily quiet, trying hard to suppress any unusual expression.

Just as the blood-red features were about to pounce on Yang Zheng, a cold gun was pressed right in front of it.

"Looking for death, huh."

Yang Zheng turned his head, milk still clinging to his lips.

The terrifying blood-red features suddenly softened, followed by a bell-like laugh as the mud twisted and changed, finally turning into a girl with a curvy figure.

"You really have no sense of humor."

The fiery girl raised her hands.

Bai Xiao, Proxy Traveler, Yan Fu Heritage: Mirage.

Yang Zheng, Proxy Traveler, Yan Fu Heritage: Zheng.

"Things have been uneasy in Luoyang these past few days. Why did you bring a child with you? A family member?"

Yang Zheng shook his head: "That guy called Mou Gang who ran toward the border in our last case—this is his kid. No other relatives at home."

Bai Xiao frowned and muttered, "Leave this kind of thing to the organization. Modify memory, put him in an orphanage, leave a nurturing fund, done."

Yang Zheng pursed his lips: "This little wolf cub is no ordinary person."

"Oh?"

Bai Xiao seemed to notice something. She leaned in close to the child and said with a teasing smile, "Be good, let sister see what’s so special about you."

The child recoiled in disgust, but stood no chance against Bai Xiao, the Proxy Traveler.

Bai Xiao pulled open the child’s clothes and involuntarily frowned.

The child’s body was very clean, but near the heart, it was all twisted purple-red veins, with a shiny hole opened up where a complex mechanical part was embedded, steadily operating in place of a heart.

"This..."

"His name is Mou Zhong, born with a congenital heart defect. Mou Gang used to be a worker loading and unloading containers on the railway; later, he took a risk and became a mule for a warlord in Myanmar. Afterward, he entered Yan Fu and relied on his abilities to make trouble on the China-Myanmar border. This mechanical heart was a harvest from a certain fruit, and despite the child’s small stature, he can take on several grown men."

"Non-single-use items can’t be used on people outside of Yan Fu, that’s the old man’s rule. This thing has to be turned in to the organization."

"If we remove it, the child will die."

"He should have died a long time ago. Yan Fu doesn’t intervene with the life and death of non-relatives, that’s also the old man’s rule."

Bai Xiao replied, then suddenly she cocked her head at Yang Zheng, "You’re not planning on adopting him, are you?"

Yang Zheng twisted open another milk bottle and stayed silent.

Bai Xiao’s eyes widened. "He’s already so big, how are you going to manage?"

"If he doesn’t listen, I’ll beat him."

"What if he fights with other kids?"

"Beat him."

"What if he fails an exam?"

"Beat him."

"What about puppy love?"

"Beat him."

"Is that how you raise a child?"

"That’s how my dad raised me, and now don’t I serve the people just the same?"

"I definitely don’t want to be a mother before I even get married!"

Yang Zheng rolled his eyes and stood up, collecting the empty milk cartons from the table into a trash can: "As if I need you."

"What did you say? Say it again."

"Alright, alright, cut it out. What do you want with me?"

Yang Zheng quickly gestured with his hands.

"Oh, right. I found a restaurant that tastes good, invited you to try it out."

Bai Xiao remembered only after being reminded by Yang Zheng.

"Where?"

"Not far from here, the name is kind of strange, what was it, Tiger Tooth Tower."