Chapter 253 207: 800 Men It Is, and 800 Men Strike First

"Sister Lu, this is actually a misunderstanding," Hai Mingyue said timidly. "Brother Chu previously thought I was connected to a case the Police Chief Bureau was investigating. In the end, it turned out the case... is related to my family!"

Lu Muxue, who had been sulking and ignoring Chu Bamboo ever since she saw Hai Mingyue, froze upon hearing this. She shot a shocked glance at Hai Mingyue, then turned to look at Chu Bamboo, who stood with his arms crossed as if in deep thought. Her words stammered, "With your family... doesn't that mean... Uncle Hai is!"

A look of sorrow and misery crossed Hai Mingyue's face. She nodded and pleaded, "Please don't ask any more questions, okay? Sister Lu..."

"Okay." Lu Muxue nodded instantly. She patted Hai Mingyue's head, a worried look on her face. Her gaze drifted to Chu Bamboo at the side before she turned back to Hai Mingyue seriously. "Is this serious? If... do you want to come stay at my place for a while?"

"Wait, are you not going to ask your dad about this?" Chu Bamboo really couldn't hold back any longer and finally interjected. "Have you ever considered the possibility that the one going after the Hai Family might just be your father?"

'So naive! She's as pure as a recent college graduate from the Real World.'

Lu Muxue: "?!?!"

Lu Muxue's eyes went wide.

"Alright, that's enough small talk!" Chu Bamboo looked at Hai Mingyue.

Hai Mingyue nodded in understanding. She quietly said her goodbyes to Lu Muxue, then trotted forward to pinch the corner of Chu Bamboo's shirt, following his every step.

Chu Bamboo started walking, his voice steady. "Hai Mingyue and I have business to attend to! We'll be leaving now. Let's talk again when we have the chance!"

Lu Muxue: "???"

Staring dumbfounded as the two left, Lu Muxue felt like her brain had been stuffed with too much information, causing it to crash. 'This... this can't be right? Business? What kind of business could you have on your first meeting?'

'And why does it feel like I've become the third wheel?!'

'So, what exactly happened between you two in that secret room?!'

Lu Muxue's mind raced. She looked toward the security room, her body trembling. 'Damn it, I was just one step too late! If I had rushed into that security room too, maybe my relationship with Chu Bamboo would be as close as his is with Hai Mingyue...'

...

「Outside the Police Chief Bureau.」

"Alright, that's enough," Chu Bamboo said, glancing expressionlessly at Hai Mingyue, who was still pinching his shirt. "If you wanted to rile up Lu Muxue, you can't even see her anymore!"

Chu Bamboo knew that Hai Mingyue was actually a little jealous of and admired Lu Muxue. Lu Muxue was basically the ideal version of herself. Though her purity bordered on stupidity, that was only because she had been so well-protected by her parents.

She had parents who loved each other and doted on her. She had money, power, and influence... yet somehow, she hadn't been spoiled.

Everything she had seen and experienced was filled with love and warmth.

Even just in terms of status, Hai Mingyue didn't seem that far beneath Lu Muxue on the surface. If they weren't in the same social class, they couldn't have become such good friends so easily... even though Lu Muxue herself didn't care about such differences.

But only Hai Mingyue knew just how vast the difference truly was.

"No, no!" Hai Mingyue whined coquettishly. However, under Chu Bamboo's death glare, her expression gradually froze. She gently released her fingers and sighed, "Alright, Brother Chu, I'm quite curious! Do you like women?"

Chu Bamboo raised an eyebrow, gazing at Hai Mingyue with interest.

"What type do you like?" Hai Mingyue tilted her head. "You know about 'Kung Fu,' right? Because of the special nature of my Inner Strength cultivation, I can freely use 'Disguise' to become any woman you like!"

Hai Mingyue's voice was soft and alluring. "Marry me, and it's like marrying many, many women..."

"Oh." Chu Bamboo looked thoughtful. 'So this must be Hai Mingyue's Divine Technique.'

"Also, I... have a little bit of status!" Hai Mingyue made a gesture like she was holding a tiny universe between her fingertips. "Whatever wildflowers you desire, I can help you find them. No one is better than me at finding women who fit conventional standards of beauty."

"I know." Chu Bamboo nodded, aware that she was alluding to the Hehuan Sect. If they weren't so skilled at cultivating all sorts of... women, how could the Hehuan have possibly infiltrated the Officials to such an extent?

The Hehuan's slogan was: Men conquer the world, women conquer men!

So...

Chu Bamboo patted Hai Mingyue's shoulder and said earnestly, "Are you done? Then you should get to work. Don't forget what you promised me!"

Chu Bamboo didn't say the ruthless words out loud, but the unspoken threat was clear to both of them—'Think about the schemes I've laid out against your family. If you dare to defy me...'

A brief silence.

"..." Hai Mingyue was so exasperated she laughed. After glaring at Chu Bamboo with puffed cheeks for a good while, she finally turned and sped away. "You clueless man!"

Watching Hai Mingyue ride off on her electric scooter, Chu Bamboo pondered for a moment before turning his head. "How much longer are you all going to keep spying from over there?"

The next moment.

Several heads peeked out silently from around the corner. From top to bottom, they were Li Kang, Wall Announcements...

"Seriously?" Ning Linglong was clearly speechless. She walked straight out from the corner. 'What's the point of peeking around now that we've been discovered?'

But then, Ning Linglong looked at Chu Bamboo, her eyes filled with complex emotions.

"Ah Zhu, you, uh, being treated like that by Miss Hai... It must be... quite tempting, right?"

Even though she tried her best to suppress it, a strange tone crept into Ning Linglong's voice. She thought for a moment with a sense of despair, realizing she stood no chance against Miss Hai. 'I used to think Miss Lu was a powerful rival, but now it seems Lu Muxue was just the vanguard for the true queen!'

'It's one thing that she's beautiful, but from the way she spoke... it seems she's also a Transcendent!'

'I don't know if she's a wild Transcendent or from some faction... but since they're both Transcendents, the excuse I used to comfort myself—that Lu Muxue and Chu Bamboo are ultimately not from the same world—can no longer be applied to Hai Mingyue.'

'And... that tone of hers.'

'Does that mean if Chu Bamboo was willing, she would personally help him build a harem? This...'

'You're not jealous at all?!'

Ning Linglong was fuming. She simply couldn't understand why someone of Hai Mingyue's wealth and status would accept such a thing. Because she knew she herself would be jealous, all she felt now was despair.

"It's nothing special," Chu Bamboo said calmly. He took out his phone and dialed Madam Xue's number. "I've received word. Xue Fusheng should be..."

This call, of course, was to get the same promise from Madam Xue as in the previous worldline—thirty percent for success, and ten percent if it fails but the information proves true.

Hanging up, Chu Bamboo looked at the others, whose expressions were now completely different.

"Uncle Li, now... with them mobilized over there, they should be able to quickly find the injured escort personnel!" Chu Bamboo's voice was calm. In this timeline, Li Kang hadn't actually received a notification about this yet, which was why he was so relaxed.

He continued, "I just got word. They should have been sent directly to a hospital in the Second District... Let's go over there and check on the situation!"

"...Okay." Li Kang nodded, his expression grim. Inwardly, he clicked his tongue in amazement, filled with shock and even a hint of dread.

'Seriously, did Governor Lu just stir up a hornet's nest? Why are these Demon Cult Influences so unscrupulous, using every dirty trick in the book against Governor Lu?'

'And... do these Demon Cult Influences have a death wish?!'

Li Kang had completely failed to realize what Madam Xue had grasped in an instant: this was no longer a matter between the Officials and the Demon Dao Sect... but a matter between Officials and Officials! His thinking was still stuck on the surface level.

...

「Second District.」

「Joy Street.」

Even though Lu Jin had officially approved the proposal to sweep Joy Street, the street itself remained as busy and prosperous as ever, seemingly oblivious that its annihilation was just around the corner.

Hai Mingyue stared coldly into the distance at a man whose face was covered in lipstick marks. He was smirking lewdly, his hands occasionally wandering over the gaudy woman beside him.

His features were well-defined and soft. If not for his overly pale complexion and the listless, lecherous look in his eyes, he might have passed for a handsome young gentleman.

"...Proceed as planned!" Hai Mingyue gave a light wave of her hand. A pretty woman immediately nodded, her expression changing in a flash. She took a small flask from her waist, spritzed herself lightly, and took on the faint smell of alcohol.

As if drunk, the pretty woman staggered forward. Her clothes were modest, a stark contrast to the flamboyant women around her. One look at her demeanor suggested she was a respectable lady.

Hai Mingyue watched from a distance as the person she'd sent out "accidentally" bumped into her "blood brother." As a result, her brother immediately locked onto her, a lustful glint in his eyes. He deliberately pretended to be a gentleman, but in reality, the cheap floozy beside him hadn't even left yet, and he hadn't even wiped the lipstick marks from his face.

'...Brother Chu was actually telling the truth!' A profound light flickered in Hai Mingyue's eyes. This was her second older brother, a typical hedonistic heir. Though he enjoyed frequenting pleasure quarters, he had a preference for respectable women. Most importantly, he wasn't very bright...

'It's such a classic honey trap, yet this dear second brother of mine didn't notice anything wrong at all!'

'Judging by his expression, he looks like he thinks the heavens are smiling upon him...'

'The hardest one to deal with is my eldest brother! If only everyone were like my dear second brother, how wonderful would that be...' Hai Mingyue resisted the urge to facepalm. After a moment of thought, she began to laugh, but there was no mirth in her eyes.

Her dear eldest brother was, one might say, the product of all Lord Hai's painstaking efforts.

He was aloof from women, cold and ruthless, and utterly steeped in capital. He knew how to mercilessly squeeze the last Qian Coin out of blue-collar workers and even regular employees, and somehow even make them thank him for it.

This dear eldest brother of hers was currently hiding his identity, working as a department head at the Hai Family headquarters.

Even Chu Bamboo had once told her regarding this brother: 'He's unassailable!'

This man was both unlike Old Man Hai's child, and yet too much like Old Man Hai's son...

Having shed all of Old Man Hai's weaknesses, he had somehow managed to perfectly inherit all of his strengths. A born capitalist, truly!

Originally, Hai Mingyue had been conflicted. If she couldn't find a weakness, how was she supposed to deal with him? And then... Chu Bamboo had shot her down.

"Are you stupid? Just clean out all the others... and for the last one, can't you just show up at his door and take him out by force?"

At the time, Hai Mingyue had been completely stunned. She almost wanted to retort subconsciously, but after thinking it over for a long time, she realized that there was actually nothing wrong with this approach—

She had been limiting herself to resolving everything within the rules before forcing a confrontation. Chu Bamboo, however, believed that rules be damned; as long as you can win, you should flip the table when you need to. He had even been muttering something she couldn't understand at all: "Eight hundred men is eight hundred men. With eight hundred men, he who strikes first gains the advantage!"

Watching her dear second brother get lured into a small alley by the "respectable lady," Hai Mingyue sneered. Just as she was about to leave, she realized something and glanced at the still-open Human-Demon Workshop in the distance, a complex look appearing in her eyes.

'Master, you... who exactly are you...'

Chu Bamboo's words seemed to still be echoing in her ears...

"Sowing discord! Hmph!" Hai Mingyue pressed her lips together, walked into the shadows of the alley, and never looked back.