Lord of Prayer-Chapter 169 - 128: Brother-in-law
A new Monday. Nine in the morning.
Zhou Chen arrived at the main office hall right on time, sat down at his workstation, and started scrolling through his phone while eating breakfast.
He procrastinated until ten o'clock before finally starting on the pile of work files, which he finished with superhuman efficiency in less than twenty minutes.
Then, he opened up the livestream of an eight-time Go champion to study his superb auto-chess skills while launching the auto-chess client on his desktop.
'Who plays traditional Go in this day and age?'
He wasn't the only one slacking off. A glance around the office hall revealed that practically no one was actually working. Some were playing games, others were binge-watching shows.
It couldn't be helped. They were just too idle.
After the recent uproar, all hidden threats in Jinzhu City had been swept clean. The Eternal Fire was completely uprooted, and authorities had cracked down hard on the underground black market. Smuggling rings and Illegal Ascenders were either eliminated or thrown in prison. Even the few who slipped through the net wouldn't dare show their faces. The whole of Jinzhu was bright and crystal clear, leaving very little work to be done.
And so, everyone became idle.
In reality, this was the norm. Working for the Star Association was usually quite relaxed, but when things got busy, it was a living hell.
Just as it was almost time for the lunch break, a notification suddenly chimed on Zhou Chen's computer—Jiang Che wanted to see him in her office.
·
"Congratulations. It's your first day back from vacation, and you already have a mission."
In the office, Jiang Che spoke calmly to Zhou Chen, who wore an expression of utter despair.
"No, why? There are so many people in the Special Operations Team. Why me, of all people?" Zhou Chen couldn't help but feel indignant. 'I just want to slack off, coast, and collect my salary. What did I do wrong?'
"The individuals involved in this mission are rather special. The others can't keep them in line." Jiang Che moved her mouse and clicked a few times, and a holographic projection rose from her desk.
The image displayed detailed information on ten Ascenders.
"Xu Li, Gu Shian, Lin Qingyue, Fujiwara Shunsuke, Morishima Ryoko, Heidi Romanov, Delman Suleiman, Baron Brook, Colin Hurst... Huh? Shane Elizabeth?"
The profiles of these Ascenders left Zhou Chen stunned for a moment. The Xu Family, the Gu Family, and the Lin Family from the Eastern Continent; the Fujiwara Family and the Morishima Family from Yingzhou; the Brook Clan and the Hurst Clan from America; the Romanov Clan from Russia; the Suleiman Clan from the Middle East; and the Elizabeth Clan from the Laine Kingdom.
Ten young Ascenders, all from world-renowned families across the continents.
Jiang Che swiped through the hologram in mid-air, bringing up a block of introductory text. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂
"These Ascenders are from an organization called the 'White House.' The 'White House' was jointly established by twenty-four families from around the World. Its purpose is to train the younger generation of their respective families. They often have the young ones form teams to carry out missions, which allows them to gain knowledge, accumulate experience, and expand their networks.
"Just this morning, they tracked a wanted criminal to Jinzhu."
She pulled up a photo of the wanted criminal. It was a female Ascender. Her curly, permed hair covered one eye, and there was a mole by the corner of her fiery red lips. She exuded a bewitching and seductive aura.
"Her name is Liu Hanyan, from the Eastern Continent, a Tier Three Ascender. Her Extraordinary Ability is 'Blood Control,' with the Derivative Abilities 'Blood Burst' and 'Bloodthirsty Syndrome.' She has some connection to the American Chainsaw Murder Association and has over four hundred deaths on her hands. A while ago in Southeast Asia, she slaughtered an entire village, dismembered all the villagers, and skewered them as a sacrifice to a Demon. She is cold, cruel, and a natural-born Killing Maniac.
"After being put on the wanted list and hunted down, she fled all the way to the Eastern Continent, darting between various cities and nearly escaping the Arbiters' pursuit. Later, the 'White House' set its sights on her and requested that she be handed over to the younger generation of several families to be dealt with—as their whetstone."
"Ten Tier Two Ascenders from major families, probably decked out in godly gear... Wouldn't taking down one Tier Three be a piece of cake for them? What do you need me for?" Zhou Chen asked, confused.
"As the local branch of the Star Association, we need to at least make our presence known."
Jiang Che said calmly, "Some of these people are used to being arrogant young masters and are very likely to cause trouble in Jinzhu. If we just ignore them, others will definitely talk behind our backs. Your mission is to ensure they don't do anything out of line while they're carrying out their mission in Jinzhu.
"If necessary, you can teach them a lesson. Although we don't have a detailed comparison of combat abilities, I personally believe your overall strength far exceeds any single one of them."
Zhou Chen now understood why Jiang Che had said the others couldn't handle this group. They all came from major world families that wielded both wealth and power. Could an ordinary person afford to offend them?
Stirring the coffee in her cup, Jiang Che said nonchalantly, "Don't worry. As my Secretary, you have that authority. It won't matter even if their parents come looking for you.
"Coupled with your status as an Honorary Knight of the Laine Kingdom, you're the only one for this job."
·
"Everyone, the last place Liu Hanyan was seen was at the fried chicken shop on Top Ten Street. This is the surveillance footage from that time."
Ten Ascenders were gathered in a hotel room. They were the members of the White House who had just arrived in Jinzhu.
A portable projector cast an image onto the hotel room wall. In a bustling fried chicken shop, Liu Hanyan, disguised with a hat, sunglasses, and a mask, appeared at the counter and ordered a family bucket. As she was leaving with her food, she briefly took off her sunglasses, glanced at the shop's security camera, and blew a seductive wink.
It was a clear provocation.
"Liu Hanyan was trained in an assassin organization. Her skills in disguise and counter-tracking are far superior to ours. The slightest carelessness will allow her to escape. We must act quickly," said a burly man with thick eyebrows and large eyes.
He was Xu Li, the leader of this team and its strongest member.
"This is a bit tricky. It's not like you don't know what happened in Jinzhu City recently. The underground black market has been completely wiped out, so there are no channels," the handsome young Gu Shian said, shaking his head.
In any city, the best place to gather intelligence was always the murky underground black market where all sorts of people mingled. Liu Hanyan had been injured during her previous escape and would certainly need potions to recover. Buying them openly was impossible, so her best bet would be the black market.
But now that all the underground black markets in Jinzhu City had been dismantled, Liu Hanyan had nowhere to buy them, which meant they had no way to investigate.
"Don't forget that Liu Hanyan knows many evil Curse Techniques. She could easily sacrifice living people to heal her injuries."
"Her Extraordinary Ability requires a large amount of blood. The previous pursuit should have depleted her blood reserves. Next, she'll definitely need to find a place to replenish it, either by killing people for their blood or by sneaking into a hospital blood bank to steal it..."
"Or, she could seek help on the dark web. There are many unofficial Ascenders in Jinzhu, and even more of them have dirty hands."
"..."
As everyone analyzed the situation one by one, Xu Li nodded slightly and said, "First, let's check the dark web for any posts related to Jinzhu."
Fujiwara Shunsuke opened a dark web address on his laptop and started searching.
"Most of the posts are discussing what happened in Jinzhu before. There's one post arguing over the Crowned King's combat power that already has over two thousand replies. The rest are ads for hookups and escort services... Wait, there's a new post."
[In Jinzhu, seeking Alchemy Potions for a high price. PM if interested.]
"Could this be Liu Hanyan?" Fujiwara Shunsuke looked at the others. The dark web concealed the poster's real identity and IP address, so all they could do was guess.
"Let's talk to them first. We can try to set up a trade."
Xu Li added, "Gu Shian, Qingyue, Heidi, Ryoko, Colin, Shane, you guys go look around Jinzhu. Split into pairs and secretly gather intelligence. We'll meet up with you later."
"Okay."
·
"Crazy Thursday is here! Get our Hot and Spicy Bone-in Chicken for just..."
The fried chicken shop's latest promotion played on a loop over the speakers. Zhou Chen pushed the door open, found a seat, and skillfully took out his phone to scan the QR code and order.
It was high noon, and it just so happened to be Crazy Thursday. He'd eat first and worry about everything else later.
After getting his food and heading back to his seat, he took a big gulp of his iced cola and let out a satisfied sigh. Then, Zhou Chen suddenly froze and looked toward the entrance.
Two young men with Western features pushed the door open and walked in.
Seeing Western faces in Jinzhu wasn't particularly strange. In the new era, every city was a mix of ethnicities. Although cities in the Eastern Continent were naturally dominated by Easterners, there were still plenty of Westerners.
The crucial thing was, he had seen these two in the mission briefing!
The tall one with messy black hair, who seemed to have little presence and remained silent, was Colin Hurst.
The shorter one, a young boy of only thirteen or fourteen with blond hair and blue eyes, was Shane Elizabeth.
—Erin's younger cousin.
Shane and Colin pushed the door open and scanned the fried chicken shop. They paused, saw Zhou Chen drinking his cola, and their eyes met. Both sides froze, completely stunned in disbelief.
Finally, the somewhat oblivious Shane snapped back to his senses. An expression of surprise, astonishment, and adoration appeared on his face. He quickly walked over to Zhou Chen's table, enthusiastically shook his hand, and, with a genuinely joyful smile, called out warmly:
"Brother-in-law!"
Zhou Chen was completely dumbfounded. It took him a long moment to recover before he replied, shocked, "Huh?"
"Brother-in-law!" Shane repeated.
