A heretical cultivator in Bureau 749, I'm the fiercest at pulling out tendons and skinning peop

Ji Zuodao paused in his act of cracking sunflower seeds, squinted and looked downstairs carefully, then chuckled.

"Hey, Brother Liu, look!"

He nudged Liu Ming with his elbow and gestured towards the downstairs area.

"That fat old man over there with the big gold necklace, didn't he just give out a gift? Why is he lingering there, staring at the boxes in other people's hands?"

Liu Ming looked in the direction and indeed saw a well-to-do old man who, after presenting a gold-inlaid jade gift box, did not slip away as if he had been granted a pardon, unlike the others.

Instead, he huddled in the corner, craning his neck, his eyes like searchlights, staring intently at the things in the hands of the people queuing behind him.

His eyes were focused yet anxious, and that anxiety was mixed with heartache. His face gradually turned green as he saw the value of other people's gifts increase.

Finally, he stomped his foot hard, his wrinkles scrunching into a bitter grin, and took a smaller wooden box from his attendant. The box was clearly more antique and mysterious. He gritted his teeth, turned around, and went back to the end of the line.

"Tsk." Ji Zuodao spat out the sunflower seed shells and smacked his lips.

"That expression...is worse than discovering that the son you've raised for eighteen years isn't your own."

"That's where Director Zhang's brilliance lies,"

Liu Ming watched with great interest and then grabbed a handful of melon seeds to share with Ji Zuodao.

"How much of a gift is considered 'light' and 'heavy'? Director Zhang didn't give a definite answer. The only clumsy way they could avoid being 'written down' by him is—"

"That's a free gift; it has to be more, more expensive, and rarer than anything else in line!"

"Good heavens! They even rolled up a gift like that? Are they that afraid of Uncle Zhang?"

Ji Zuodao was genuinely curious.

He himself was notorious in Jinghai; his reputation as a living Yama could stop children from crying at night.

But he could tell that the fear the people downstairs had for him was a completely different kind of fear than their fear of Zhang Yucheng.

The fear of Ji Zuodao stems more from the fear of his connection to Bureau 749, and the state apparatus and violent institutions he represents.

To put it bluntly, it's "fear of the system".

If he were to shed this disguise one day and go to some sect to cause trouble all by himself, he would probably be framed as a typical case of "committing suicide with eight stab wounds in his back" the moment he showed his claws.

But the group of people downstairs were terrified of Zhang Yucheng to the bone; they were not only afraid of 749's skin, but also of him as a person.

It was a tremor mixed with awe, powerlessness, and even a sense of resignation.

"How could I not be afraid?"

Liu Ming pointed with his chin to several elderly men at the very front of the line, their hair white, their legs trembling as if electrified, and they could barely stand with their canes.

"See those people? They are among the first batch of established sect Qi cultivators who have settled in Jinghai to do business."

They personally witnessed and experienced how our Director Zhang established the rules for the cultivation world in Jinghai back then.

"Oh?" Ji Zuodao's ears perked up instantly, forgetting even to crack his melon seeds. His eyes blazed with gossip. "A story? Tell me in detail! I love hearing that!"

Liu Ming looked around and lowered his voice:

"This story goes back several decades. Back then, the cultivation world in Jinghai was a chaotic mess, with numerous factions vying for power."

"Out-of-town monks want to chant sutras, but the local bodhisattvas don't buy it. They fight each other every day more often than they do business, and street brawls are as common as eating and drinking."

"The dirty tricks the Hehuan Sect pulled were nothing compared to what happened in Jinghai back then! People would have thought they were petty and low-class just talking about it!"

He clicked his tongue, a look of world-weariness on his face that seemed to say, "You kids have never seen the world."

"Back then, those sect cultivators who were forced to sneak into the city to make a living, what kind of legitimate business do you think they were engaged in?"

Liu Ming counted on his fingers, one item at a time, and with each item he listed, the disbelief in his voice grew stronger:

"Opening secret passages is basic practice, setting up gambling dens is commonplace, and the most ruthless ones directly sell 'Freedom Powder'—that stuff is much stronger than the Joyful Pill of the Hehuan Sect, it specifically damages a cultivator's foundation, and once you get involved, you're ruined!"

"It was a place rife with prostitution, gambling, and drugs; a chaotic and filthy place, a den of monsters running rampant!"

Ji Zuodao raised his eyebrows upon hearing this: "Good heavens... this is a mess? What about 749 from back then? Are they just going to ignore it?"

"Manage? With what means to manage?"

Liu Ming chuckled and shrugged. "Back then, Bureau 749 had only been established for a short time. It had the name, but where were the manpower and resources? Everything was in disarray, and there was a shortage of people everywhere. How could we possibly care about this quagmire in Jinghai?"

He paused, a mysterious expression on his face that said, "Here comes the important part."

"I understand."

Ji Zuodao, thinking he had figured out the routine, took over the conversation.

"So later on, 749 will definitely intervene forcefully. Uncle Zhang, as the ace investigator, will be parachuted into Jinghai and suppress all dissent with thunderous means, restoring justice to this place. That's how it's written in novels."

"Hey!" Liu Ming chuckled, patting the windowsill. "Brother Ji, you only guessed half of the script correctly."

"It's true that Director Zhang suppressed Jinghai, but at that time, he wasn't an investigator for 749 at all—"

Liu Ming spoke slowly and deliberately, ensuring that every word was crystal clear to Ji Zuodao's ears:

"Back then, he was the biggest troublemaker in Jinghai! He was a top dog in both the legitimate and underworld circles, someone whose mere mention of his name would send shivers down your spine!"

"He was nicknamed 'Bloody Hand Butcher,' Zhang San."

"Zhang Yucheng, this refined-sounding name, was a new name he gave himself after he retired from criminal activities and joined the 749 Regiment."

"What?"

Ji Zuodao's hand, which was holding melon seeds, froze in mid-air, his mouth slightly open, and his expression instantly frozen.

It was as if I had heard something utterly absurd.

Bloodhand Butcher?

Zhang San?

The boss?

These words are reminiscent of the always gentle, smiling, and ethereal Director Zhang…

Does it even matter?!

Looking at Ji Zuodao's stunned expression, as if he'd dropped his melon seeds in fright, Liu Ming grinned with satisfaction and slowly added the last sentence, like sprinkling the most crucial pinch of salt into a dish:

"Didn't expect that, did you?"

"Our Director Zhang, who seems to be the most particular about rules and regulations..."

"Back then, it was the biggest and most corrupt one in Jinghai."

"Back then, Dongxing, founded under the leadership of our Director Zhang, was no joke; it was a renowned brand in Beijing and Shanghai."

"With twenty-eight branches, their names are revealed. From the docks to gambling dens, from opium dens to pawnshops, most of the shady businesses in Jinghai have to be subservient to him."

"To put it another way, back then in Jinghai, it wasn't up to the government to decide which area wasn't lit up at night; it depended on whether Dongxing (the government) gave the order."

"What's the most amazing thing?"

"The mayor of Jinghai City, whether he is officially promoted, reporting on his work, or taking office, must first pay a roundabout visit to this Mr. Zhang and respectfully call him Third Master."

"To put it bluntly, back then in Jinghai, in the underworld, he was the top dog; in the legitimate world, he was a concerned citizen who could make sure his official position was secure or destroyed."

He has connections in both the legitimate and criminal worlds.