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Tit for Tat

Yang Haoran was the true 'local emperor' of Lecheng; Wang Yiming was unaware of this. The reason he had come to Yang Haoran so late at night, looking so anxious, was entirely because he had caught a whiff of an impending great war.

As the head of the Talisman Order in Lecheng, even if Ancheng launched an attack on Lecheng, the Ancheng Administrative Courtyard wouldn't harm him without reason. Let alone him, even the other Talisman Masters in Lecheng, the Ancheng Administrative Courtyard wouldn't dare to act rashly against them.

He wasn't worried about his own safety, nor did he need to be; what he worried about were the ordinary citizens of Lecheng.

Once war broke out, the common folk would suffer the most. Whether they were citizens of Lecheng or Ancheng, none would be able to escape this catastrophe. If the battlefield was in Lecheng, the casualties among Lecheng's citizens would be even more terrifying.

Wang Yiming's words made Yang Haoran's smile recede slightly. He couldn't help but think of the woman whose soul he had extracted earlier.

"I came to disturb Brother Yang so late because I wanted to ask if the Underworld Office had issued a similar order to Brother Yang, and to discuss countermeasures with you. Now, under the leadership of Administrative Chief Zhu, the citizens of Lecheng have only just begun to enjoy a bit of peace. If war breaks out, not only will these peaceful days end, but many common people will die in this war. I genuinely don't wish to see such a tragedy occur," Wang Yiming said.

"I haven't received a similar order yet, but it's highly possible that Ancheng will launch a war against Lecheng in the near future," Yang Haoran replied.

Wang Yiming, who was already extremely worried about this matter, felt his anxiety intensify upon hearing Yang Haoran's words.

If it were just his own thoughts, that would be one thing; perhaps he was overly sensitive and overthinking, and the situation wasn't as serious as he imagined. But since even Yang Haoran thought the same, then this war might truly not be far off.

"Brother Yang, do you have any good countermeasures, preferably ones that could prevent this war from breaking out? " Wang Yiming asked.

Hearing this, Yang Haoran's face showed a bitter smile, and he gently shook his head at Wang Yiming.

"This matter is rather sudden, and I don't have any good countermeasures for now. However, I think you could discuss this with Administrative Chief Zhu; perhaps she might come up with a solution."

After receiving the order from above, the reason Wang Yiming came to Yang Haoran first to discuss countermeasures instead of Zhu Rong was because his trust in Yang Haoran far surpassed his trust in Zhu Rong.

Moreover, in his eyes, Yang Haoran was a very clever man; no matter how difficult a situation, it couldn't stump him. Thus, he believed that although this matter was troublesome, it wouldn't necessarily be able to hinder Yang Haoran.

Yang Haoran's current answer surprised and somewhat puzzled him, but he didn't ask further. Instead, he nodded at Yang Haoran, accepting his suggestion.

"This kind of matter indeed needs to be discussed with the Administrative Chief so she can prepare in advance. Brother Yang, would you like to come with me? " Wang Yiming asked.

"First, explain the difficulties you're currently facing to her, so she doesn't misunderstand anything. As for countermeasures, I believe she'll invite all of us to a meeting later, and discussing it together then would be more appropriate," Yang Haoran said after some thought.

"Alright, I'll go find her now."

Wang Yiming accepted Yang Haoran's suggestion, and after leaving the villa, immediately headed to the Administrative Courtyard to find Zhu Rong.

As for Yang Haoran, at this moment, he had no mind to wake up Guan Hai and his wife, because he had even more important matters to attend to.

He took out the woman's soul, first using his Ghost Eye to view events from her life. Upon doing so, he not only confirmed the woman's identity but also learned some other information.

The woman was the captain of Ancheng's Spirit Police, Administrative Chief Qin Yefeng's right-hand man. The woman's current operation was naturally arranged by Administrative Chief Qin Yefeng.

However, none of this concerned him the most. What concerned him most was that in the fragments of the woman's life, he discovered the presence of the Black-Robed Person.

Not only had the woman interacted with the Black-Robed Person, but the Lock Yin Talisman she used was also a gift from the Black-Robed Person to Qin Yefeng.

Although Yang Haoran didn't know if the Black-Robed Person was male or female, nor had he seen their face, he felt that this Black-Robed Person was very likely the same individual who had poisoned Wu Junior. Even if they weren't the same person, they were absolutely in league with each other.

Through his Ghost Eye, he had already learned a great deal. However, he still decided to awaken the woman's soul, hoping to see if there were any other gains through interrogation. If there were, that would naturally be for the best; if not, it didn't matter, as he already knew quite a bit.

After forcibly awakening the woman's soul, Yang Haoran interrogated her through the night. Only when the sky began to faintly lighten did he stop the interrogation and return the woman's soul to the Soul-Gathering Bead.

However, he didn't receive any unexpected surprises from that night's interrogation. It wasn't that Yang Haoran's interrogation methods were ineffective; rather, because the woman's soul had been forcibly awakened, it had sustained a certain degree of damage, leading to a partial loss of her memories. That was why he didn't gain any unforeseen revelations from her.

Forcibly awakening a soul inherently carries a chance of causing it a certain degree of damage. As an Underworld Office agent, Yang Haoran naturally knew this. It was just that in the past, whenever he forcibly awakened a target's soul, this situation never occurred, so he hadn't paid it much mind. He hadn't expected to encounter it this time.

However, he felt no regret about this. After all, the woman wasn't one of his own; if her soul was damaged, then it was damaged. Furthermore, the woman's ultimate fate wasn't merely soul damage; compared to Soul Transformation, soul damage was simply a drop in the bucket.

Although it was somewhat regrettable that he didn't obtain any unexpected gains from the woman, it didn't cause him to feel regret. After all, he had already learned some information through his Ghost Eye, and this information was enough for him to make some decisions.

In the study, Yang Haoran smoked, deep in thought. The cigarette slowly burned away, consuming itself little by little. When its life came to an end, Yang Haoran extinguished it in the ashtray.

"I originally didn't intend to act against you, but since you've already harbored murderous intent towards me, then don't blame me, Yang Haoran, for being ruthless."

As his words fell, Yang Haoran tore space, then stepped into the spatial rift. When he reappeared, he was already in Ancheng.

However, this time he came to Ancheng not for romance with Xu Meijing, but to kill.

Since Qin Yefeng dared to arrange for her subordinates to assassinate him, he naturally had to return the favor, otherwise others might think Yang Haoran was easy to bully.

If this were before the world fell into chaos, taking action against a local Administrative Chief would have had a considerable impact. If there was a reason to act, it would be fine, but without one, the impact would naturally be even greater, and he might even face a crusade from other forces. This was because back then, there were far too many factions wanting to establish good relations with the Administrative Courtyard, and with the Supreme Administrative Council protecting local Administrative Courtyards, which force wouldn't show them some respect?

Now that the world was in chaos, local Administrative Courtyards had become self-proclaimed kings. Although they no longer had the Supreme Administrative Council to back them, the Administrative Courtyard was still an official power, and some forces would still give it some face. Some even had deep collaborations with the Administrative Courtyard; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they were "in the same boat."

If he were to act against a local Administrative Chief without reason, it would certainly arouse strong dissatisfaction from some forces, and might even invite deadly disaster.

Although Yang Haoran was an Underworld Office agent, if he were to casually kill an Administrative Chief, it would still bring him some trouble,

However, given the current situation in the New Beginning Realm, when he had sufficient reason to take an Administrative Chief's life, this trouble would be reduced to a minimum.

Of course, the prerequisite was that he had the ability to kill the opponent.

According to the rules of their Underworld Office, since Qin Yefeng sent someone to assassinate him, it was only natural for him to seek revenge against Qin Yefeng. Under normal circumstances, even if he killed Qin Yefeng, the Underworld Office wouldn't punish him.

Precisely because of this, he had no intention of hiding his actions. He simply arrived openly at the Ancheng Administrative Courtyard!