Chapter 412: Chapter 400: One Side of the Story (Seeking Subscriptions)
Baijiang City.
The city wall is a thousand meters high, with countless giant cannons perched on it, the black barrels instilling fear in anyone who sees them.
Clearly, this is a super large city, named after the great river outside its walls.
The mutation ten years ago made the creatures in the water even more terrifying than those on land. The ocean became a forbidden zone, and even ordinary rivers now hide deadly dangers.
However, Baijiang City is a super large city, stationed with Yan Country’s top Awakeners. Strong experts are as numerous as the clouds, so there are almost no traces of Fierce Beasts in the river. Even some ordinary people dare to approach.
Inside the city, in a meeting room of the Awakened Association.
Several people were seated around a conference table, each holding a file with the words "Anshan City" vaguely visible on the cover.
In the northern seat, a middle-aged man was quietly drinking tea from a cup.
A few minutes later, everyone gradually put down their files, their faces showing signs of amazement.
"Is that Li Ping from the Anshan City Awakened Association really that powerful? He single-handedly killed eight B-level Awakeners from Jiulong City?" someone questioned with a frown.
"Theoretically, mastering the Dragon Elephant Wisdom Skill combined with the Vajra Indestructible Divine Skill could indeed achieve this," a woman nodded.
"Can an Awakener from a small city actually train to have the Vajra Indestructible Body? Moreover, each layer of the Dragon Elephant Wisdom Skill is twice as hard as the previous one. Even in our Awakened Association, very few have learned this Martial Art."
"But that’s what the report says. Even if you gave the Anshan City Awakened Association ten lives, they wouldn’t dare to joke about this, right?"
They exchanged glances, finally turning their eyes to the middle-aged man in the north.
"Have you all finished reading?"
Ji Huan put down his teacup and smiled slightly at them.
"Yes."
They all nodded.
"President, what about the authenticity of this matter?"
"The authenticity should not be a problem," Ji Huan said. "What do you think should be done about this matter? Should it be treated as if nothing happened, or should we send someone to investigate it?"
As he finished speaking, everyone present fell into thought.
"President."
The only woman among them, Liu Mei, frowned and said, "I think we should send someone to investigate. At first glance, the whole thing seems unrelated to Li Ping, but the people from Jiulong City still found him due to some details.
Maybe, those details are real, and it was Li Ping who killed the previous City Lord of Anshan City. They were simply outmatched and got killed when they came to confront him."
"I agree with Wang Jing."
A man wearing gold-rimmed glasses glanced at the woman and said, "The more seamless his actions, the more suspicious they seem."
"Nonsense."
A burly man in a shirt said, "Zhang Min, what you said is unreasonable. The people from Jiulong City invaded, injuring our association members. Does Li Ping have a fault in defending himself? If it were you, would you lower your guard and willingly be captured?
Moreover, he reported it promptly. Is that wrong? If he had reported it a day or two late, would you still say he had a guilty conscience?"
"Hao Wanshan, that’s not what I meant. Don’t twist my words," said the gold-rimmed man discontentedly. "I just think he is hiding something."
"In what aspect specifically?" Ji Huan asked.
"I’m not very sure," the gold-rimmed man frowned. "This report is entirely one-sided from Li Ping and the others. If we want to figure out the whole story, we need to ask the people from Jiulong City."
"Indeed," Wang Jing looked at the document in her hand. "According to Li Ping’s account, the people from Jiulong City divided into two groups after arriving in Anshan City. One group went to the Awakened Association and was completely wiped out. The other group, led by Xiang Long, went to the Martial Arts Association. If we can contact him, we might understand the whole story."
Ji Huan shook his head and said, "There’s no time."
"No time?"
Everyone was taken aback.
Did it mean that the other group also died at the hands of Li Ping?
If so, Li Ping would indeed be suspicious.
"What I just showed you were the materials submitted by the Anshan City Awakened Association. There is also a video sent by the Anshan City Martial Arts Association."
"Martial Arts Association?"
Quickly, a video played on the screen.
After watching it, everyone’s face showed deep shock.
"So, President," Wang Jing said with wide eyes, "Xiang Long and his group were all killed by Shi Tao?"
"Yes."
Ji Huan nodded, "He sent this video to us last night. The bodies of those people should arrive by this afternoon."
The meeting room fell silent.
Everyone seemed somewhat disgruntled.
Xiang Long and his people, after all, were members of the Awakened Association. If they had done something wrong, it should have been handled by the headquarters.
But anyone with discernment could see that Shi Tao was not at fault. Even if they wanted to nitpick, they had no justifiable reason.
"The members of the Martial Arts Association are becoming more and more dismissive of us in the Awakened Association," a man sighed.
"Forget it. What Xiang Long and his people did was indeed wrong. They probably didn’t expect to encounter Shi Tao."
"The key is, they underestimated Shi Tao’s strength and brought about their own destruction."
"Exactly."
Everyone nodded.
Deep down, they all had some level of apprehension towards the President of the Jiangnan Sub-district Martial Arts Association.
"President, given the situation, there’s no way to verify the truth anymore, is there?"
The gold-rimmed man’s frown deepened.
"Zhang Min, enough already,"
The burly man said dissatisfiedly, "I think what Li Ping did was reasonable. The people from Jiulong City were aggressive. He had no choice but to kill them. And after the act, he reported it immediately. President, I think we should let this matter rest."
"I agree. We shouldn’t jump to conclusions based on suspicions." Another man spoke up, "No matter how you look at it, Li Ping has done nothing wrong. Besides, aren’t there already enough cases of Awakeners killing each other out there?"
The atmosphere went silent.
Indeed, Awakeners often fought each other to seize various Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.
Even if they wanted to control such matters, they could not manage all of them. The final rule was just not to fight inside the city or challenge the headquarters’ authority.
The people from Jiulong City had actually overstepped by acting within the Awakened Association.
"Let’s vote. The usual rules, minority obeys majority."
Ji Huan said, "Raise your hand if you think this matter should be closed."
The burly man and another person immediately raised their hands.
Then Ji Huan himself also raised his hand.
The gold-rimmed man and Wang Jing exchanged helpless glances.
If they had known the President’s choice, they wouldn’t have argued at all.
"With three votes to two, this matter is closed."
Ji Huan said, putting down his hand.
"Agreed."
Wang Jing and the others responded. The other two looked somewhat smug.
"Now let’s move on to the next topic."
Ji Huan glanced at everyone and said, "How about recruiting Li Ping into the headquarters and making him a Hunter? You all know, we’ve recently had considerable losses among Hunters."
As he finished speaking, the conference room fell silent.
Even the burly men looked shocked.
Indeed, large cities are safe. Even ordinary people need not worry about Fierce Beast attacks. However, this doesn’t mean there are no dangers. In some ways, it is even more dangerous than outer cities.
Fierce Beasts don’t hide among the populace, but humans can.
Many A-level, even S-class fugitives, reside in large or super large cities.
They are adept at hiding their presence, powerful, and possess various peculiar items. Especially anti-Awakener Demon-Breaking Weapons, sometimes even Demon Breakers.
Ordinary Awakeners face them with greatly reduced strength, sometimes losing their combat power in an instant!
Only Awakeners proficient in Martial Arts can face Demon-Breaking Weapons and fight against them.
In short, Hunters are the elite among Awakeners.
However, recruiting Li Ping into the Hunter Organization—isn’t that too reckless?
"President, I am against this," Wang Jing said first, "We don’t even know if he had anything to do with the death of Anshan City’s previous City Lord. Bringing him into the headquarters is too risky. Who knows if he could become the next fugitive?"
"Exactly, President, this matter needs careful consideration,"
The gold-rimmed man said worriedly.
After all, the majority of fugitives used to be members of the Awakened Association!
"What about you two?"
Ji Huan looked at the other two.
"President,"
Another man spoke, "I also think recruiting him rashly is too risky. However, him joining the Hunter Organization isn’t entirely out of the question. Besides completing the necessary Hunter assessments, he must also undergo our investigation to prove he’s unrelated to Anshan City’s past events."
"Is that necessary?"
Only the burly man scoffed, "I think letting him join the Hunter Organization is fine. With proper training, he might become an excellent Hunter."
"Then let’s vote again. Raise your hand if you disagree with his recruitment,"
The gold-rimmed man said, raising his hand,
Wang Jing quickly followed.
The other man hesitated but raised his hand too.
Three to two.
"President, the result is clear," said the gold-rimmed man.
Ji Huan smiled and said, "Alright, then this matter is closed."
"Well, if there’s nothing else, we’ll leave."
As he spoke, the others disappeared from the conference room one by one.
Only Ji Huan remained.
He looked at Li Ping’s file on the table, hesitated, but closed it.
Indeed, although the man’s strength is decent, he is an unstable factor. Besides, headquarters have plenty of talents stronger and more gifted than him.
Let this be a minor incident.