Chapter 313: The Search
When Young Master Zhao was attacked and severely injured, others from the Zhao family, whether sincere or feigning concern, rushed to the hospital immediately. Almost simultaneously, Zhao Lin Gang's subordinates and some friends also arrived.
Their esteemed position in Tianning City largely depended on Zhao Lin Gang himself, so with such a major incident occurring, they naturally had to show their faces.
A large group of people sat outside, awaiting news. Especially the young men who were usually instructed to cultivate a good relationship with Zhao Zhisheng, each of them gazed with concerned eyes toward the intensive care unit.
The condition of the person inside concerned the fruits of their networking efforts over the past few years. If, by some accident, he truly passed away, then all their hard work over these years would have been completely in vain.
Zhao Lin Gang did not allow any of them to enter the ward to visit, so as to prevent them from developing any strange notions right now.
As Zhao Zhisheng was already in a dying state, all the hospital could do was supply him with enough energy to sustain him longer, to fight for that glimmer of hope for recovery.
Samples of the white powder found on his body were taken and sent to relevant experts for analysis. However, the hospital subtly advised Zhao Lin Gang not to place too much hope on the analysis. Even if he, as the mayor, guaranteed that the researchers would work overtime, effective analytical results would still take at least several days.
Nevertheless, Zhao Lin Gang still leveraged every connection he had, mobilizing a sufficient number of people from relevant fields to research the white powder.
Based on his perception of his own body, it was highly likely that he himself would be lying in the intensive care unit a month later. Zhao Lin Gang had to get to the bottom of everything before he lost control of the situation.
"Chief Li, have you found any trace of that kid?" After receiving all the visitors who came to see Zhao Zhisheng, he walked alone into the hospital garden and dialed Li Jie's number on his phone.
"Don't worry, I've already reported this case to the higher-ups. He definitely won't escape," Chief Li replied with great confidence.
"As long as you handle this case successfully, there will be plenty of benefits for you, at least a promotion or two." After the previous stick of threat, Zhao Lin Gang offered Li Jie the carrot of temptation.
"Thank you for your generous patronage, Mayor Zhao."
Under the machinations of Zhao Lin Gang and Li Jie, a large number of police officers began a dragnet search.
Originally, because the suspect was merely an ordinary person, there was no need for Ability Users from the Special Combat Department to intervene. However, in order to capture Feng Bu Hui more quickly, Zhao Lin Gang leveraged his standing as a Fourth Tier powerhouse and heavily compensated a high-level Ability User specializing in solving cases to join the investigation.
"Mayor Zhao, I apologize, but the target has a strange layer of protection that largely prevents scrying. I can only confirm that he is within these few cities." The invited Ability User circled a region on the map with an oil-based pen, marking the possible cities.
He was also quite frustrated with this result. With his abilities, and given the abundance of clues provided, the margin of error for pinpointing an ordinary person's location was usually well under a hundred meters. Furthermore, hardly any criminal had ever successfully evaded his special tracking abilities before, unless they themselves were sufficiently powerful.
But for some reason today, perhaps he was in a particularly bad state, or perhaps there truly was interference, he could only arrive at such a vague conclusion.
Nevertheless, people always tend to attribute the cause of problems to other factors rather than themselves, so in the end, he gave Zhao Lin Gang this reply.
"That's enough, thank you, Mr. Chen." Facing a cultivator of the same level, Zhao Lin Gang was exceptionally polite, especially when he needed something from the other person.
"Don't mention it. In my opinion, this matter isn't so simple. Mayor Zhao should be careful not to accidentally get caught up in the struggles of those big figures above." To prove he had truly done his best, he specifically warned the other party.
"This concerns my son's life and death; no matter what, I have to give it my all." Zhao Lin Gang didn't reveal the full truth; it wasn't just his son, his own time was also running out.
As it concerned his own life and death, even if it were truly the scheme of some great figure above, he would fight with all his might. Even an ant clings to life, let alone a powerhouse like him.
After the search area was further narrowed, large numbers of police officers immediately moved into the target cities.
To evade the police and omnipresent surveillance cameras, Feng Bu Hui disguised himself as a homeless man sleeping on the streets. This was actually not a very good anti-reconnaissance choice, as homeless people were definitely priority targets for investigation.
Yet, under the protection of some mysterious and profound power, Feng Bu Hui miraculously evaded capture for several days.
Meanwhile, the Spirit Devourer had, through various channels, infected hundreds of cultivators. However, because they hadn't experienced direct high-dose exposure, it didn't erupt as violently in them as it had in Zhao Zhisheng. Instead, much like in Zhao Lin Gang's own body, their power was being slowly eroded.
Most of the infected cultivators had already discovered this, but for reasons similar to Zhao Lin Gang's, each of them chose silence, or only confided in those closest to them.
"Dad, I'm sorry, I'm tired, I can't hold on anymore. Avenge me." After a grueling week-long battle at his bedside, Zhao Zhisheng, who had nearly lost all five senses, finally left these last words, bringing tears to Zhao Lin Gang's eyes as he stood by the bed.
Ten years prior, his wife had died in the Tianjing catastrophe, leaving only the father and son. After his power grew daily, he transferred all his yearning for his beloved onto his son, showering Zhao Zhisheng with ever-increasing doting affection, which gradually nurtured his arrogant and overbearing personality.
Protected by him all this time, Zhao Zhisheng had never caused any major trouble. His son's ability for accelerated regeneration made Zhao Lin Gang even more at ease, confident he wouldn't suddenly die from an assassination by some ruffian. Yet, he never expected such a lunatic to appear, whose white powder actually tormented Zhao Zhisheng, with all his abilities, to death.
"Don't worry, Dad will definitely avenge you." Holding Zhao Zhisheng's remaining half-body, Zhao Lin Gang gnashed his teeth and spoke.
None of the medical staff outside dared to enter the intensive care ward at this moment, fearing accidental injury from Zhao Lin Gang in his furious state.
Merely from the accidental leakage of his power, being in the Unmelting Realm, he had already gouged several chunks from the ward walls. The doctors outside did not believe their ordinary human bodies were sturdier than walls..
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