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The blood splattered and foamed, making a slight hissing sound.

If you have good eyesight, you can even see a lot of grayish-white insect carcass debris settled at the bottom of the basin.

As he coughed up the blood, the raised bluish-black veins on Li Fei's body surface dried up rapidly, like the receding tide, until they disappeared without a trace.

The previously short and disordered breathing gradually returned to a steady and long rhythm.

The electric fan inside was still running, but the oppressive atmosphere had finally dissipated.

Everyone stared at this unbelievable scene, their breaths catching in their throats.

A person on the verge of death was pulled back from the brink of death by being poked a few times with a few fingers.

Could it be that the president has mastered some kind of supernatural power?
Li Ran was the first to come to her senses.

Her knees buckled and she collapsed to the edge of the bed, her hands dangling in mid-air, wanting to touch but afraid to lower them, her voice trembling:
"President, my senior brother..."

Fang Cheng casually grabbed a tissue and wiped his fingers:
"His life has been saved, and the Gu worms have been completely removed, but he has suffered nerve damage and lost too much blood, so he is still very weak."

"Remember, he can only have liquid food for the next two days, and he should rest more in bed."

"Thank you... thank you, President!"

Li Ran's eyes reddened, and she nodded repeatedly like a chick pecking at rice.

Then, she leaned closer to the head of the bed and whispered "Senior Brother" twice in Li Fei's ear.

Li Fei's eyelids twitched slightly on the bed; he was still not fully awake.

All that could be heard was the chapped lips moving, and a few fragmented words being mumbled out of the throat:

"Run... Ah Jie... Don't stop, run..."

It seems that even in a dream, one is still enduring unimaginable terror and pain.

Seeing her senior brother like this, Li Ran couldn't stop the tears from falling.

Jiang Yun then brought over a basin of clean, warm water, wrung out a towel, and handed it to her.
"Hey girl, come here and help him wipe off the sweat. Clothes sticking to the wound can easily cause infection."

"Thank you, Sister Jiang."

Li Ran quickly took the towel and carefully unbuttoned Li Fei's shirt.

Fang Cheng turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the crowd crammed into the guest room:

"Let's go out first and let him get a good night's sleep."

The group tiptoed out of the room and into the courtyard.

The afternoon sun shines through the grapevines and leaves, casting dappled light and shadow on the blue brick ground.

Several bamboo chairs are scattered around the stone table, exuding a rural tranquility, making it a good place to cool off.

A moment later, Lin Chuqiao and Jiang Yun brought out freshly brewed hot tea from the kitchen, and washed two plates of watermelon and plums, which they placed on the stone table.

Fang Cheng pulled out a bamboo chair, sat down, thanked him, and waved his hand.

"Everyone, please sit down."

Bailing moved a small stool closer to him and asked with a face full of curiosity:
"President, did you just force those parasites out of Li Fei's body like that?"

"Ah."

Fang Cheng nodded slightly and picked up his teacup.

The professor sat down opposite him and adjusted his black-rimmed glasses.
"President, if I may ask, what ability did you just use?"

Fang Cheng blew away the foam, took a sip of tea, and then replied:

"I use Qigong therapy."

"Qigong? No wonder..."

The professor nodded thoughtfully, as if he had witnessed similar situations before.

Fat Tiger stood to the side, and suddenly slapped his thigh with his fan-like hand:
"Who cares about any merit? Being able to snatch the dead back from the clutches of the King of Hell is a divine feat! Looking across Dongdu and the entire Xia Kingdom, how many people have the same abilities as the chairman?"

"I told you that following the chairman was the right thing to do. Our Illuminati will definitely be able to walk around Dongdu with impunity in the future, right, Xiaoying?"

Feiying leaned against the wooden pillar and nodded.

Although he didn't say anything, his gaze towards Fang Cheng was full of admiration.

Xiao Sa squatted down beside him, head down, peeling oranges, his expression completely calm.

In his mind, the chairman was an omnipotent god who could save a person's life, which was not worth mentioning.

Li Dingjian stood in the corridor not far away, smoking with a smile.

As his uncle, he was naturally proud to share in the honor.

At that moment, he was thinking that now that his nephew had learned this skill, if his grandfather ever got sick, he could treat him at home and save him from suffering in the hospital.

Fang Cheng put down his teacup and glanced at everyone present.

At this gathering, almost all the long-time members of the Illuminati were present, except for Wendi Pan.

As for Lao Chen, Eagle Eye, Big Hammer, and Monkey, they are stationed at their strongholds in Jiangbei Old Factory Street and Wanghu Town with several newly recruited brothers.

Xu Hao stayed in Guhuai Village to work with Cheng Jiashu.

Just then, Lin Chuqiao came out carrying a bamboo basket and placed it on the stone table.

Lifting the cover, you'll find a stack of steaming hot rice dumplings inside.

"Brother Cheng, you rushed over at midday, haven't you had lunch yet? This is what Xiaoyun just made this morning."

Jiang Yun wiped her hands with her scarf and said with a smile:

"Tomorrow is the Dragon Boat Festival, so I specially made some salted egg yolk and pork dumplings and red date dumplings. I don't know if they will suit your taste."

Fang Cheng smiled slightly, reached out and took one, peeled off the reed leaves and took a big bite.

"It's quite sticky."

He chewed and swallowed, eating three zongzi in less than half a minute.

Upon seeing this, Jiang Yun's eyebrows curved into crescent moons, and her face was full of smiles.

Lin Chuqiao pulled out the bamboo chair next to Fang Cheng and sat down, her expression becoming more serious:
"Brother Cheng, Li Fei is out of danger now, but Li Jie is still in their hands, and his fate is unknown. What should we do next?"

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone's eyes turned to him.

After all, this is the first time since the founding of the Illuminati that a member has been kidnapped and persecuted.

The way the president handles things largely determines the future direction of the organization and also maintains the sense of security of its members.

Just like Jiang Yun and Xu Kuan, although they didn't mention it verbally, their eyes also showed concern.

"How to do it?"

Fang Cheng slightly raised his eyelids, and a flame seemed to flicker in his eyes:

"Of course, it's an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. In this world, anyone who dares to offend the Illuminati must pay the corresponding price."

His calm tone carried an overwhelming sense of power.

In that instant, everyone felt the temperature of the surrounding air suddenly rise.

It felt as if I were near a blazing furnace, and even breathing was painful.

Fortunately, this feeling only lasted for a moment before disappearing without a trace.

Fang Cheng regained his composure, picked up his teacup, and took a sip of water to clear his throat.
"However, we'll have to wait until Li Fei wakes up and we understand the situation before making any specific plans." He then turned to look at the professor:

"Tell me about the background of this organization first. Professor, you recruited these people, so you should know their details very well."

Recently, Fang Cheng has been busy with work and matters in Guhuai Village, and hasn't paid much attention to the progress of recruiting new members.

The professor sat up straight and began his introduction in a deep voice:
"Li Fei and his two companions come from a secretive, transnational assassin organization known in the underworld as 'Black Shark'."

"Black Shark?"

Upon hearing this, Fang Cheng's eyes flickered.

The professor keenly noticed his change:

"What? You've heard of it?"

"I've fought against one of the members of their organization before."

Fang Cheng, holding his teacup, paused, then added:

"Do you remember the night of the explosion in the unfinished building area in the eastern suburbs? The person I fought was also an assassin. Judging from the few words they uttered over their walkie-talkies, it should be this Black Shark organization."

Upon hearing this, Lin Chuqiao frowned slightly:
"You mean, this might be related to 'Utopia'?"

Fang Cheng shook his head:
"It's hard to say for sure yet."

Then, he raised his eyes, his gaze turning cold:

"Regardless of whether it's related to Utopia or not, since they've taken our people, this debt must be settled."

"The president is absolutely right."

The professor nodded in agreement:

"Based on the information provided by Li Ran, and combined with the intelligence gathered in the market, we have a general idea of ​​what's going on."

Then he began to recount the story of this mysterious force hidden in the shadows.

Black Shark is an international assassin organization with a long history and mysterious practices.

Their influence extends to many countries around the world; they are ruthless in their actions and have extremely strict internal rules.

The organization will never tolerate betrayal. Once a defector is caught, he will be subjected to tortures such as "lighting the sky lantern" and "eating the heart with ten thousand poisons," and even his soul will not find peace after death.

Black Shark employs extremely cruel methods to control its members.

They mostly adopt orphans from a young age, subject them to long-term domestication, and use poisons, venomous insects, and other means to exert dual control over their bodies and minds.

The goal is to train these children into emotionless killing machines.

The organization has a strict hierarchy, from highest to lowest: leader, protector, gold-level assassin, silver-level assassin, bronze-level assassin, and the lowest-ranking iron-level assassin.

Among the three, Li Jie is the most skilled and is a gold-level assassin, while Li Fei and Li Ran are slightly less skilled and are silver-level.

Just yesterday evening, less than a week after the three joined the Illuminati, Li Jie and Li Ran left the stronghold, saying they were going to see an old friend.

By nearly noon today, only Li Fei, severely injured, had managed to escape.

Because Li Fei was suffering from the Gu poison and was delirious, they did not know what had happened. They only knew that it seemed that the other party had set a trap and ambushed the two of them.

Fang Cheng listened quietly, silently processing the information.

The others in the courtyard listened attentively.

"crunch-"

Just then, the door to the main room suddenly rang.

Everyone turned to look and saw Li Ran helping Li Fei, who had just been detoxified, walk out.

Li Fei, who had just recovered from a serious illness, was as pale as paper, and his forehead was covered with cold sweat.

Her steps were unsteady, as if she were walking on cotton, and she was almost hanging on Li Ran.

Even so, he did not stop, gritting his teeth and persevering as he moved over the threshold.

Amidst the astonished gazes of the crowd, Li Ran helped Li Fei walk to the stone table.

The two of them bent their knees and knelt down together.

"President..."

Li Fei was panting heavily, his voice hoarse, and each word seemed extremely difficult to utter.
"We've caused trouble for the organization this time, but... please, you must step in and save Ah Jie!"

He was extremely anxious about his senior brother's safety and didn't even have time to rest. As soon as he regained consciousness, he forced himself to come out and plead.

Li Ran gripped her senior brother's arm tightly, her lips pressed together, her eyes filled with resolve:
"As long as we can rescue our senior brother, our lives will belong to you from now on. Whatever orders you give, we will never disobey and will swear allegiance to the Illuminati!"

Fang Cheng sat on a bamboo chair, looking down at the two people kneeling in front of him.

He didn't immediately get up to help her up, nor did he make any promises; he simply raised his hand.

"Stand up first. Explain the whole story clearly. What grudges and secrets do the three of you have with Black Shark? It's best not to hide anything, otherwise..."

He didn't say the second half of the sentence, but the meaning was obvious.

The intimidating pressure emanating from his tone made the two of them gasp for breath.

Li Fei swallowed hard, his dry throat bobbing with difficulty, and quickly nodded in assurance:

"I dare not utter a single false word."

With Li Ran's support, his legs trembled as he forced himself to straighten up, then spoke respectfully:
"The three of us, my fellow disciples and I, were orphans from a young age. We are assassins trained by Black Shark at their training base in Xia Country."

Li Fei's voice is severely hoarse due to vocal cord damage.

"Two weeks ago, the professor secretly found us. He described the Illuminati to us, mentioning the power of the president and the organization's mission to protect Inhumans."

“We were tired of those dark and relentless days of killing, and we were very interested after hearing about it. After discussing it privately, we decided to leave Black Shark and join the Illuminati.”

"But……"

Li Ran knelt to the side, her eyes red-rimmed, and continued speaking:

“We underestimated the ruthlessness of the organization. The head of the Xia Kingdom training base is codenamed ‘Ghost Fox.’ Our defection not only humiliated him, but before leaving, our senior brother also took away a secret document detailing Black Shark’s personnel deployment in Xia Kingdom.”

"He originally intended to keep this as a trump card for self-defense, so that Black Shark would be hesitant to act rashly."

"At the beginning, things did indeed develop as we expected."

Li Fei gritted his teeth, several veins bulging on the back of his hand:
"Ghost Fox did not immediately send people to hunt him down, but he knew his senior brother's weakness and sent a message through Black Shark's internal channels."

"The message says that our mentor... the old instructor who treated us like his own father, was implicated because of our betrayal of the organization. The leader sentenced him to a severe punishment, ordered him to be imprisoned and tortured, and he will be publicly executed in three days..."

At this point, extreme pain and hatred flashed in his bloodshot eyes, and he choked on his words.

After catching his breath several times, he regained his composure and continued:

"In the letter, Ghost Fox set out conditions. He said that he also disapproved of the leader's actions. If we returned with the secret scroll to admit our mistakes and then did one last job for him—assassinating an official—he would use his Dharma Protector privileges to release the old instructor and spare our lives."

"The eldest brother knew that this was most likely a trap. But he told us that the old instructor had been seriously injured and left disabled while protecting us."

"Even if there is only a one in ten thousand chance, he cannot just watch his mentor sacrifice himself like this."

As he spoke, cold sweat trickled down Li Fei's forehead, and his body swayed uncontrollably.

Seeing this, Li Ran quickly steadied him with both hands.

"So, the eldest brother made a decision: he left the real scroll with the junior sister and told her to hide it. He then took me with him, and we went to the appointment with a fake scroll, intending to rescue our master. Who would have thought..."

At this point, Li Fei suddenly raised his head, his eyes bloodshot, his voice trembling:
"It turns out it was all a scam targeting us from beginning to end!" (End of Chapter)