Star Gate

Chapter 122: The Qiaos (I)

Li Hao visited a number of places over the course of an afternoon, simply observing formalities at nearly all of them. He greeted those in charge, notified them of his duties, and went through the motions even at locations that seemed to require more of an investigation.

Wang Ming was almost popping with rage!

This is it?? And you told me you wanted to accomplish something grand! What happened to locating the strongholds of the three great organizations?

He now strongly suspected that Li Hao only wanted the position for its kickbacks and presents.

Indeed, while the young man didn’t carry out his responsibilities with any inkling of competency, he accepted quite a few packages. Nothing was precious or valuable, just corporation products or dojo specialities, but the guy took whatever was offered to him!

He took receipt of everything!

In the car.

The next stop was their last of the day—Qiao Mining Industries.

Wang Ming looked coolly ahead. He didn’t like Li Hao’s style and became more silent the more stops they made. Meanwhile, the young man kept trying to have a conversation.

“Don’t be mad, Ole Wang. The last place gave us really nice tea. I’ll split it with you when we get back!”

“No!” Wang Ming snapped back. He was a right and proper Fullmoon; he accompanied Li Hao on this trip not for tea leaves. He wanted to win honor for a deed of merit, unlike his counterpart who wanted to use the Night Watcher name for unpalatable practices!

I might respect you if you actually embezzled a few dozen or hundred cubes of mysterious power, but all you want are tea leaves, fruit, and whatever? Can you be any more embarrassing??

“You don’t understand,” Li Hao chuckled. “It’s accepted practice to take their gifts. They would feel uncomfortable if we didn’t. Silver City is a small place and we’ll bump into everyone often. This is no big deal and nothing to cause unpleasantness over. This is how the rank and file work.”

“Bullshit!” Wang Ming was irate. “Remember that you’re not a third rank inspector anymore, you’re a commissioner inspector! You’re the deputy director of the Night Watchers in Silver City, the senior level of this city! There are fewer than five people more highly ranked than you in all of Silver City! I’m embarrassed for you acting like trash and you should be too!

“It’s one thing at the Veteris Institute, that’s where your teacher works. It’s a place of learning, a palace of knowledge! It’s fine to treat them with kid gloves. But the small dojos, companies, and corporations? What the hell are they? They’re nothing to the Night Watchers!”

“You can’t put it that way,” Liu Yan chuckled. “We can’t look down on mundanes even if we become supernatural.”

“Leave me alone! I don’t want to talk to you!” Wang Ming drove in huffy silence; he was in a very poor mood.

“Don’t misunderstand,” Li Hao continued chuckling and lowered his voice. “I’m doing this to relax their guard so we can gain more clues.”

“Hah!” sneered Wang Ming. “And what have you discovered? Tell me about it!”

Li Hao sighed and took out his notebook. "We went to the Institute, six dojos, and one major corporation this afternoon. We registered one Sunderer, twenty-four Slayers, and two Starlight at these eight places, correct?”

They’d registered twenty-seven superhumans this afternoon. There were eight Slayers at the Institute; the remaining nineteen were from a corporation called Galaxy Inc. Galaxy was a large corporation that rivaled Qiao Mining. Their primary business was car manufacturing and the Silver City location was just a branch. The presence of a Sunderer at a minor locale was ample demonstration of how abundant this corporation’s resources were.

Sunderer of Hundreds was still very strong.

“These are the ones we registered. “Wang Ming nodded, still highly dissatisfied. “But are you sure that’s all of it? Take Galaxy, if we set all the others aside. They’re ranked in the upper echelon of Silver Moon corporations. I don’t believe there’s not a single Darkmoon at one of their branches. Do you believe they only have two Starlight?”

He didn’t!

Darkmoons were strong and even the Night Watchers had sent three Darkmoons to Silver City. For a large corporation like Galaxy with deep pockets and a vast network, how could they only have two Starlight at their Silver City branch?! Money wasn’t effective in small quantities, but the corporation possessed enough to communicate with the gods. They even partnered with Night Watcher headquarters at times!

There was no way that Wang Ming believed that had been a full accounting of Galaxy’s personnel! Not to mention, Li Hao hadn’t bothered making a detailed sweep. Wang Ming had proposed looking around and even bringing out the supernatural probe, but the other turned him down without discussion.

Wang Ming was fit to explode, this was a complete farce! While he didn’t fully agree with Liu Long’s arrangements since it didn’t seem good to plumb the depths of each faction, they should fully carry out the task since the course of action was agreed upon!

What a righteous guy! Li Hao laughed to himself and kept a calm expression on his face. “Don’t worry, you don’t get it. We’re just the vanguard to attract their attention! We have other arrangements in the works—someone else is conducting the concrete investigation while we distract them.”

“Really?” Wang Ming looked skeptical. “You’re lying!”

Don’t try to fool me! I haven’t sensed anything out of the ordinary. Besides, no one on the team—not even Liu Long—could investigate these corporations while keeping everyone in the dark. Many of these corporations had installed supernatural probes. While the instruments wouldn’t pick up martial masters, martial dao was much more limited. Martial masters couldn’t fly through earth or sky like supernaturals. Slightly heightened security was all that it took to deter martial masters.

“It’s true!” Li Hao nodded seriously. “Of course, this is a secret. I’m telling you only because you won’t stop complaining. This actually has nothing to do with you as it doesn’t fall under your jurisdiction.

“Since I have to tell you, this makes you the third person to know about this. If you breathe a hint of this to anyone else... you’ll be a traitor, Wang Ming!”

The handsome young man’s heart skipped a beat and he asked uncertainly, “What does that mean?”

“There’s actually a tenth person on our team!”

A tenth person? Wang Ming blinked.

“We look like we only have nine in the branch, but there’s another high level expert hidden in the shadows. I can’t reveal their identity. All you need to know is that they exist.

“Really?” Wang Ming wasn’t too certain of what he was hearing and neither was he that easy to fool. “I’m a deputy director, how come I don’t know about this?”

“You can determine that yourself!” Li Hao answered evenly. “I’m speaking of this here and only today. I won’t admit to anything after we leave! I’ll play dumb even if you tell other people that you heard it from me—I’ll be a sinner otherwise! The tenth person is very special and not at liberty to show themselves. However, they’re infinitely resourceful and a good hand at collecting intelligence.

“Based on their examination, some factions did indeed conceal certain things today. Galaxy, for instance, has more than one Darkmoon. They have three!”

“Are you sure?!” Wang Ming’s face snapped with shock and he lowered his voice. “How are you guys in contact? I haven’t sensed anything. Are you lying to me, Li Hao?”

“It’s true!” Li Hao nodded seriously. “I can’t tell you how we communicate with each other, we naturally have our ways. You’re not part of the inner circle yet as you arrived only a few days ago. I’m already breaking the rules by telling you so much!”

Wang Ming understood—a Demon Hunter concealed agent! But... how were they this strong?

He didn’t quite believe it and frowned intently at Li Hao until the latter reminded, “Focus on the road!”

Wang Ming instantly returned to his senses and refocused on the steering wheel. “Do you mean it,” he asked incredulously. “Are there really three hidden Darkmoons at Galaxy? There are a decent number of Darkmoons these days, but they’re concentrated in the major organizations. Not that many wander unattached. It would seem normal if they have one, but three...?”

“It’s true!” Li Hao thought for a bit. “One of them seems to be on your level.”

He based that off a similar size of light halo. He’d discovered that he was able to see balls of light as long as they weren’t too far away. Supernaturals of varying strength could be seen at different distances.

Solars, for instance, could be observed from thousands of meters away. Even now, Li Hao recalled the massive ball of light approaching through the terrain. Sunflares could be seen within one thousand meters, and Darkmoons at a much more modest one hundred meters. If Starlight... he might have to be up close and personal to see a tiny twinkling of starlight, as feeble as sparks from a fire.

Thus, most supernaturals did not escape his eye. There were indeed three Darkmoon at Galaxy and one of them was a Fullmoon.

Wang Ming’s frown deepened. He no longer felt that Li Hao was pulling his leg. They were possibly really drawing attention to create opportunities for that hidden tenth person.

There was still one thing he didn’t understand. “What level of strength is this person that they can swiftly assess the enemy without alarming them? Are they an investigative supernatural? They have to be at least a Darkmoon!”

At the very least!

When could the Demon Hunters come in contact with such a supernatural? These kinds were very important and a hot commodity for many organizations.

Offensive type supernaturals were not that valued as there were too many of them. Those with unique abilities were much more in demand. Li Meng and Hu Hao, for instance, received more attention than others. Although their ranks were less than Wang Ming, they were also young geniuses of the Night Watchers. They wouldn’t have been assigned to protect someone like Yuan Shuo otherwise.

Li Meng had her third eye of the sky and could see through many things that others couldn’t. Hu Hao was a flight supernatural. While his importance would severely decline after the Sunflare level, he was an important combat resource before then.