Chapter 98: Look Into Xiao Kaitian Thoroughly

Bai Kou ignored him. Her hands rested on the wheelchair’s handles, and she followed only one rule in all her actions: Zhao Qixi’s wishes came first. If Zhao Qixi said no, she would push the chair and leave at once, even knowing full well that Xiao Kaitian might have a way to treat Zhao Qixi.

The three of them held in a tense deadlock. Inside the room, the wall clock ticked softly. At the final moment, when the minute hand swung to the hour, there came a faint click, and Zhao Qixi finally gave a slight assent.

“Fine...”

“For now, let’s present it to the outside world that way,” Xiao Kaitian said, taking out his card to open the door. He pushed it open and added, “As for the company positions, look around as you like.”

In Xiao Kaitian’s mind, these two would be of little use in business operations and management. One was a grandmaster, but certainly no business hand; as for Zhao Qixi, there was no need to say more—she was nothing but a frail invalid.

“I...” To his surprise, Zhao Qixi suddenly spoke. “Operations and management...”

Bai Kou could not help smiling faintly. It had been a long time since she had seen Zhao Qixi in this state. “Mr. Xiao, you’ve struck gold this time.”

“What?” Xiao Kaitian did not immediately understand what she meant. The agreement had already been reached, and no matter what happened, the company had gained two more people.

Especially Bai Kou—she was a grandmaster. From now on, he would not always have to take on those swarming challenge matches himself.

And from what Bai Kou had just said, matters of the higher dimensions in this world did not seem to be secret in the martial world. That greatly increased the feasibility of his future entry into the next dimension. The only trouble was that he would have to take these two along as well.

Bai Kou aside, he could always study her technique when he had time and simply devise a cultivation method from the central axis of the universe for her to learn. As for Zhao Qixi, she was not a martial cultivator, and if he wanted to take her with him, he would likely need another path entirely.

But in any case, this time at the Haidu Technology Expo, Xiao Kaitian had achieved his goal.

Compared with the very pleased Xiao Kaitian, Yan Xuan and Lin Dandan were not nearly so cheerful. By the time they returned to the Haidu Martial Arts Institute, they had both seen helplessness in each other’s eyes.

The disappearance of Mishima Fuichi had already been under investigation for nearly a month, and there was still no progress at all.

It would be wrong to say they had not tried. During this period, the two of them had almost worked from dawn until dark, turning the entire city of Haidu over several times.

All the hotels, residential compounds, entertainment venues, hospitals, and every other place one might imagine Mishima Fuichi would go had been searched. Every fixed or mobile martial cultivator in Haidu had also been investigated. The conclusion remained only one: this person did not exist.

Yan Xuan stared at the image on the computer screen of Mishima Fuichi entering customs with his passport in hand. He took out a cigarette. Because of this case, he had resumed smoking after years of quitting.

“Do you think we’ve overlooked something?” He drew deeply on it, feeling the thick smoke slide into his lungs, and his whole body loosened, floating in a light haze.

“I don’t know. This case is too damned strange,” Lin Dandan said, tapping away at the keyboard to compile her work report. The report was already over a hundred pages long, but it was all pointless filler. “The deputy director said the island nation seems to be pressing us for an answer. If we can’t produce one, it may cause diplomatic complications in the martial world.”

Mishima Fuichi was a high-ranking onmyoji. For him to vanish without a trace in Haidu, inquiries from the island nation’s martial world were only natural.

“The last place he appeared was that residential compound. Surveillance in the area caught him, but the guards never saw him enter. My guess is that he slipped in.” Yan Xuan continued smoking with long, hissed exhales. “He dug his own grave, really. He hid his tracks, only to get taken out by someone else. And now look at it—his body’s gone too.”

“Maybe they used corpse-dissolving powder or something like that. But what’s odd is that the first place we investigated was that compound, and we found nothing at all.” Lin Dandan stopped typing and flexed her hands.

The door was pushed open with a creak. A colleague in charge of compiling records came in carrying a report. “Brother Yan, Sister Lin, you two are back pretty early today.”

“Early my ass,” Yan Xuan muttered irritably. “We’ve been killing ourselves for more than twenty days. Xiao Zhang, have you got any ideas?”

“What ideas would I have? I’m just the guy who tallies records.” Xiao Zhang smiled. “Still the missing-person case?”

“The man just vanished in Fu’an Residential Compound.” Yan Xuan sighed. He put his feet on the desk, clasped his hands behind his head, and stared at the ceiling in thought.

“Fu’an Residential Compound?” Xiao Zhang froze. Then a thoughtful look came over him as he shuffled through the papers in his hand. “Strange. That’s strange.”

“What’s strange?” His behavior drew Lin Dandan’s attention, and she leaned forward. “Did something come up?”

“Yes, there is something.” Xiao Zhang flipped through more than a dozen pages and stopped at one sheet. “This person also lives in Fu’an Residential Compound. He’s a martial cultivator—no, not a martial cultivator. Anyway, this is the first time I’ve encountered something like this.”

Lin Dandan leaned over to look, and a chill ran straight down from the top of her head. “Yan Xuan, look at this person...”

Yan Xuan nearly fell off his chair in shock. He clicked his tongue, took the paper, and looked. It was a person’s file, and the name on it was clearly written as Xiao Kaitian.

“Why would this man’s file be sent to the Martial Arts Institute?” Yan Xuan asked, frowning.

“Brother Yan, Sister Lin,” Xiao Zhang explained, “this person took part in the corporate challenge tournament. The front-end staff submitted his information. I had noticed it before, but then I turned around and forgot. This person isn’t a martial cultivator, but he defeated a martial cultivator at the peak of the Profound Realm.”

“Impossible!” Yan Xuan and Lin Dandan denied it almost at the same time.

“It’s true. The records were cross-checked several times, and we confirmed it repeatedly with the front-end staff. The one he defeated was Duan Fei of the Yin Mountain Tricky Gate Sect.”

“Duan Fei?” Yan Xuan studied the file in his hand more carefully. He turned to look at Lin Dandan, whose gaze, as though the clouds had parted to reveal the sun, swept over as well. “He still lives in Fu’an Residential Compound?”

“Yes.”

The hand Yan Xuan used to hold the file trembled slightly. A man who was not a martial cultivator had defeated a martial cultivator. Since when had the martial world developed such a massive loophole?

And the key was that he lived in Fu’an Residential Compound, exactly near the place where Mishima Fuichi had last appeared.

When all coincidences were gathered together, they were no longer coincidences. This man called Xiao Kaitian might be deeply suspicious.

“Brother Yan, Sister Lin...” Xiao Zhang asked in confusion, “how should we handle this?”

“I’m taking the file. Don’t report it yet. Check again carefully and see whether there was some system error.” Yan Xuan made the decision at once. “And I want a copy of this man’s background as well.”

“Little Lin, it looks like we need to investigate Xiao Kaitian properly. Your instinct last time was dead on.” Yan Xuan recalled Lin Dandan’s feeling after she first met Xiao Kaitian and sighed.