Chapter Thirteen: Undercurrents Stir, The Night Raven Emerges

The fifth chapter of the Bucket List, the Chapter of Infamy, contained just one wish: to make at least half the world’s population feel a sense of aversion toward Liang Zhi.

Thus, for Liang Zhi, the worse his reputation became, the closer he would be to fulfilling this wish.

He strode over to Qiu Shilu, grabbed her by the collar, and dragged her out of the courtyard.

Her injuries were severe and required immediate attention. Fortunately, there was a hospital nearby: Kaiyuan Grand Medical Hall.

“I’m a lady, and we’re comrades-in-arms now, aren’t we? Can’t you be a bit gentler? I’m not a suitcase…” Qiu Shilu protested as she half-dragged along the ground.

“If you’re being rescued, you shouldn’t make so many demands.” Though Liang Zhi said this, he still used his powers to alter the ground, protecting her pants from being torn.

Qiu Shilu’s eyebrows shot up. “You rescued me? If I hadn’t held off that cyborg, you wouldn’t have stood a chance!”

“Yet you’re the one lying on the ground,” Liang Zhi replied, his tone flippant.

Qiu Shilu crossed her arms, looking aggrieved. “If I’d had a decent weapon—like a big iron hammer—I could’ve taken on ten of those cyborgs!”

“But you ended up on the ground…”

“You!!”

Bickering as they went, they soon arrived at the entrance of Kaiyuan Medical Hall. Liang Zhi dropped Qiu Shilu there and slipped into a dim alley.

“By the way, my name is Qiu Shilu. And you?” she called after him.

Liang Zhi paused, glanced at the crow perched on his shoulder, and replied, “Just call me Night Crow…”

His figure faded into the shadows, the crow’s disgruntled caw echoing faintly.

“Night Crow… Just what kind of person are you, really?”

With the help of a nurse, Qiu Shilu was ushered into the medical hall. She’d lost too much blood and needed urgent care, but all she could think about was Liang Zhi.

As a journalist, she couldn’t simply ignore someone so shrouded in mystery.

…

On the fourth floor of the medical hall, a pair of eyes peered through parted curtains, watching Liang Zhi’s retreating figure.

“Chief, this guy who calls himself Night Crow just took down a cyborg from Peach Blossom Spring. That reporter Qiu also shows a lot of promise. Should we make contact and try to recruit them to our cause?”

“Leave that for later. Let’s not complicate things—we have more important matters to attend to right now.” Another pair of eyes gazed toward the towering communications mast, as if they could see flames burning within it.

“The world is waiting to hear our voices. And I… I will make sure they do.”

…

The crow stomped on Liang Zhi’s head, cawing indignantly.

“Shameful! Utterly disgraceful. What sort of villain are you? A true villain, when that girl was holding off the cyborg, should have run. When she got hurt, you shouldn’t have taken her to the hospital—you should have done what a real villain would do!”

Liang Zhi paused, a faint blush coloring his cheeks. “And what exactly should a villain do?”

“Steal her wallet, of course!” the crow replied instantly. “If someone’s lying there helpless, and you don’t take their money, what kind of villain are you? Taking her to the hospital? You’re an embarrassment to villains everywhere.”

Liang Zhi sighed in disappointment, then smiled. Should he say this little crow was incorrigibly greedy, or just naively amusing?

The crow continued, “But that girl is a Strongman from the Extreme Body Arts sequence. That whole branch is full of muscleheads—you could use her as your muscle.”

“Strongman…”

Liang Zhi repeated the word softly.

He’d been in Dazhong for several days now, gathering intelligence, but what little he’d learned about ability users was trivial.

Ordinary people knew of their existence, but saw them more as urban legends—good for idle chatter, but never anything useful.

He hadn’t even heard the names of any of the ability user branches.

Judging by his encounter with Qiu Shilu, it seemed ability users weren’t rare in Dazhong, yet the public’s ignorance was profound—perhaps someone was deliberately concealing information.

The matter of cyborgs and automatons also puzzled Liang Zhi.

Thirty years ago, Emperor Wulong shattered the Mechanical Holy Court and drove humanity’s enemies to the Eternal Frost Wall—a feat that should have been the subject of endless praise.

Yet in all his time here, only Old Lin had mentioned robots in passing; no one else spoke of the Mechanical Holy Court at all.

This, too, was odd.

“Hey, I’m scolding you—aren’t you even going to respond?” The crow bent forward, peering into Liang Zhi’s eyes.

“What do you want to eat tomorrow?” Liang Zhi replied absently.

The crow immediately forgot its rebuke. “I want roasted centipede—three of them! Five-spice, cumin, and spicy—I want them all!”

Their figures receded into the distance.

…

“What a headache—a cyborg,” muttered Pan Tu, squatting in the courtyard and inspecting the traces left behind.

His squad from the Erasure Division had originally been stationed on Dazhong’s border, only recently transferred to Kaiyuan District in East Wangjing. Their appearance in Antai Town had been purely coincidental.

All regular cases in Kaiyuan District were handled by the local Criminal Tribunal, while any case involving ability users or traitors fell to the Erasure Division.

“I swear I’ve seen this face before,” Han Beinuan said, looking at Wu Zinan’s shattered visage.

In the five-person team, there was one shrouded in a cloak, their features obscured, who spoke in a cold, mechanical voice: “Wu Zinan. A kidnapper with a bounty of ten thousand coins.”

Han Beinuan started. “Wu Zinan? Wasn’t he the one under interrogation during the Antai Town incident? Could he have been the mysterious ability user there, fleeing to Wangjing afterward?”

Disheveled Wen Zhongxiang examined Wu Zinan’s mangled body and shook his head. “Your analysis is off. The one in Antai Town couldn’t have been someone so insignificant.

Here’s my guess: the original Criminal Tribunal in Antai Town tried to pin the blame on Wu Zinan and ended up provoking someone they shouldn’t have. That’s what led to the incident in Antai Town.

Afterward, the real perpetrator tracked Wu Zinan down and killed him… Someone this ruthless and brutal—there are few like that.”

But as usual, none of his teammates paid Wen Zhongxiang’s deductions any mind.

Pan Tu told the others to record the scene’s details, exhaling a thick plume of smoke. “News of the cyborg mustn’t leak. And we need to find the perpetrator as soon as possible.”

Niu Danong nodded. “Cyborgs can barely feel pain, yet this one was dismembered so thoroughly it’s beyond words. Whoever did this is a born sadist—utterly deranged and completely unrestrained.”

Wen Zhongxiang solemnly warned his teammates, “The one who wiped out Antai Town’s Criminal Tribunal is here in Kaiyuan District. Who knows—maybe one of these days, he’ll raze the Kaiyuan Tribunal, too.”

“Haha… Lao Wen, you’ve always had a sense of humor.”

The other three laughed heartily, not taking Wen Zhongxiang’s words seriously at all.