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

The plane flew smoothly above the clouds, the cabin lights were dim, and most of the passengers were already dozing off.

Only in one row of economy class was the atmosphere so heavy it was almost palpable.

Liu Ming practically poked a hole through his phone screen, frantically switching between various encrypted forums and internal groups.

"Damn it, these bastards! They all claim to have found clues, and their answers are more and more outrageous than the last!"

He slammed his phone on the small table, his voice low but dripping with anger:

"Some say the clue is the arrangement of sesame seeds on the biscuits in the airplane meal."

"Some people are saying the flight attendant's black stockings today had a hidden message! I stared at her the whole way, and I almost got mistaken for a pervert!"

Li Shuwen wasn't much better off.

In front of him lay a sheet of paper with the competition details printed on it, the edges of which he had unconsciously scratched raw.

"I'm good at drawing erotic pictures—lines, composition, light and shadow, conveying emotions… but solving puzzles…"

He scratched his head in anguish, his eyes above the mask filled with utter despair.

"This is harder than drawing a serious comic book for all ages."

Ji Zuodao looked at this one, then at that one, and blinked.

"No, I'm just curious about one thing—"

"Our Jinghai team has consistently ranked first in martial arts competitions every year, which means they've consistently reached out to the General Administration and gotten involved. How did they manage to find out about it all these years?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Ming slumped his shoulders and let out a long sigh.

"We relied entirely on that kid Zhang Quan before. That guy's brain is like it's been blessed. As soon as the competition details were released, he glanced at them and the answer came to him."

Where is Zhang Quanren?

"He started his seclusion at the end of last year, struggling with those two eyeballs, and went to rebuild his 'Insightful Golden Eyes.' We couldn't exactly dig him out of his seclusion room back then, could we?"

"What were the clues like in previous years? Were there any patterns?"

"There's no pattern; it's purely random."

"Last year, the clue pointed to an embroidered wallet belonging to an elderly woman on the same flight; the year before that, it was found in a prop book held by a sculpture at the airport..."

The three looked at each other in bewilderment. For a moment, the only sounds in the cabin were the engine and the scratching of Li Shuwen's pen as he unconsciously twirled it.

Just then—

"Don't move!"

A rough roar came from the front cabin, followed by several terrified screams.

The curtain between economy class and the front cabin was suddenly flung open, and four burly men wearing black hoods, with only their eyes showing, rushed in.

Each person held a pistol, its dark muzzle pointed at the panicked passengers.

"Quiet! Hands behind your heads! Hand over all your money and valuables! Anyone who moves, I'll shoot!"

The leader of the robbers had a hoarse voice, carrying the ruthlessness of a desperate criminal.

The cabin instantly descended into chaos, filled with cries, pleas for mercy, and the clatter of things falling.

The flight attendant, pale-faced, was crouched in the aisle with a gun pointed at her by a robber.

Liu Ming frowned and lowered his voice: "Damn it, a professional gang, they have guns. Are airport security sieves? How did they bring this thing in?"

Ji Zuodao didn't look at the robbers. He squinted, his gaze sweeping over the robbers and then over the panicked crowd around him. Suddenly—

"Snapped!"

He lightly slapped his thigh, and his eyes lit up.

"I see!"

Liu Ming and Li Shuwen turned to look at him simultaneously: "What do you know?"

"A clue!" Ji Zuodao said confidently, even with a hint of excitement, "It's on these robbers!"

"What the heck?" Liu Ming was dumbfounded.

"Think about it, why did they have to hijack the plane when we were on this plane and just when we were worried about not finding any clues?"

"What a coincidence! It's too much of a coincidence! Something's definitely fishy going on here. Isn't this a clue delivered right to our doorstep?"

Liu Ming was stunned for two seconds, then suddenly realized what he meant and clapped his hands:

"Damn! That makes sense! Those old bastards at headquarters, they're really capable of doing this! Putting the clues on the robbers."

Li Shuwen timidly raised his hand: "But... what if it really is just a coincidence, and they're just a group of ordinary hijackers?"

Ji Zuodao waved his hand, his tone resolute:

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Let's go, let's get them! The clues must be on them, maybe it's the tattoo, a code, or something they stole!"

"Hmm...that makes some sense."

Of these three, one dared to speak, and the other two dared to believe.

"superior!"

The three exchanged a glance, unbuckled their seatbelts, and stood up.

The movements weren't fast, even a bit casual, making them quite conspicuous in the chaotic cabin.

"Hey! You three! Put your hands on your heads and squat down! Didn't you hear me!" One of the robbers immediately turned his gun and shouted sternly.

Ji Zuodao walked at the very front, even with a slight smile on his face, without stopping.

A fierce glint flashed in the robber's eyes, and he was about to pull the trigger.

Ji Zuodao suddenly quickened his pace, closing in like a ghost. He raised his left hand to parry the opponent's wrist holding the gun, and with his right hand, his fingers were like a knife, swiftly and accurately slashing the robber's neck.

The robber didn't even utter a sound. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the ground, his pistol easily caught by Ji Zuodao.

With a flick of his fingers on a certain mechanism, the magazine and bolt assembly detached with a "click," becoming a pile of parts, which he casually tossed onto the empty seat next to him.

The entire process took less than two seconds, flowing smoothly without using any spiritual power.

Another robber nearby saw this and went to help.

Liu Ming's figure blurred, and somehow he had already cut in from the side, delivering a clean and crisp high sweeping kick, his toe precisely striking the tendon in the elbow of the opponent holding the gun.

The robber's entire arm went numb, and the pistol slipped from his hand.

Liu Ming landed and turned around, then used his elbow to strike backward, slamming it heavily into the opponent's chest.

The hijacker slammed against the bulkhead and slid down, barely able to breathe.

The third robber charged in with a roar. He seemed to be trained and threw a powerful straight punch at Li Shuwen's face, who looked like the easiest target.

Li Shuwen cried out "Ouch!" as if he was startled and shrank back, but he nimbly took a step back, narrowly avoiding the fist, and at the same time hooked his foot out.

The robber charged too fast, tripped on his lower body, and immediately lost his balance and fell forward.

Li Shuwen seemed to be in a flustered state as she "helped" him up, but her fingers pressed down lightly on a spot under his ribs.

The robber suddenly felt half of his body go numb and weak, and all his strength was gone. Li Shuwen "helped" him and slowly laid him down on the ground, and even "kindly" helped him into a relatively comfortable position.

The last robber, seeing his three henchmen fall dead in the blink of an eye, was both shocked and enraged. He roared and pointed his gun at the nearest passenger: "Damn it! Come any closer and I'll..."

Before he could finish speaking, his wrist, which was holding the gun, was gripped by a terrifyingly steady hand that reached out from the side.

It is Ji Zuodao.

The robber frantically pulled the trigger, but found it wouldn't budge.

Ji Zuodao's finger got stuck in the trigger guard at some point.

"Shh—" Ji Zuodao raised his other index finger to his lips, then gently twisted the hand that was gripping his wrist.

"Click."

A slight cracking sound.

The robber screamed and let go, his pistol falling to the ground. Ji Zuodao flicked it with his toe, caught it in mid-air, and disassembled it into parts just as neatly.

"Done."

Ji Zuodao clapped his hands and looked at Liu Ming and Li Shuwen.

"Search them, look for clues. Be careful, check the linings of their clothes, belt buckles, and shoe soles, don't miss anything."

The three men immediately crouched down and began groping the unconscious robber, their movements so professional that one might suspect they were tomb raiders as a side job.

The passengers in the cabin were stunned.

Hijacking? Solved? This is too simplistic.

Are these people plainclothes air marshals? But their skills are just too outrageous!

In the eerie silence, only the whispers of Ji Zuodao and his two companions could be heard:

"This person doesn't have a tattoo."

"This belt buckle is a regular one."

"There was nothing hidden in the soles of the shoes..."

"Strange, could the clues not be on them, but among what they stole? Quick, let's see what they took..."

The three then searched the bag the robbers had brought, but it contained only cash, jewelry, and watches, with nothing unusual inside.

Just as Ji Zuodao was stroking his chin, beginning to doubt whether his "coincidence theory" was somewhat unreliable—

In the back row of economy class, a young man dressed in casual clothes, wearing black-rimmed glasses, and looking like a white-collar worker on a business trip, silently lowered his hand, which he had raised halfway as if to greet someone, pushed up his glasses, and sighed helplessly.

The clues in the competition details point to him, but according to the rules, he needs to wait for the contestants to discover him themselves before he can give them further hints.

But right now...

He looked at the three ruthless men from Jinghai who had already searched the robbers thoroughly and were now huddled together, whispering about whether they should wake them up and interrogate them. His lips twitched slightly.

"What kind of talents did Jinghai send this year...?"

"We're going completely in the wrong direction..."

"But this hijacking incident is quite a coincidence!"

"How am I supposed to respond to this? Stand up now and say, 'Comrade, I'm the lead'?"

The bespectacled man opened his mouth, but ultimately closed it with a conflicted expression, deciding to wait and see.

After all, rules are rules.

We'll have to wait for them to discover it themselves.

Order gradually returned to the cabin, and the flight attendants and passengers, still in shock, began to handle the aftermath.

Ji Zuodao and his two companions squatted down next to the unconscious robber and began a second, more thorough search.

Watching this scene, the bespectacled man silently took out his phone and sent a message in a encrypted group chat:

"The Jinghai trio. Contact has been made. But they're currently focused on investigating several hijackers... Yes, real hijackers, definitely not ones I arranged. I haven't had a chance to reveal my identity yet. Over."

After sending the message, he put away his phone and continued to watch with a look of utter despair.

This batch of investigators is really hard to manage.