Martial Dao: Peace by Force

Chapter 30: Chapter 29: Danger! Luring the Tiger Away from the Mountain

Lei Ming’s face flushed under Wan Ze’s stare, and he quickly changed the subject. ”Alright, stop teasing my Junior Brother. I saw you all looking dejected the moment I got here. Did something big happen? Is Miss Ling here? Calling everyone together seemed a bit rushed.”

Zhao Qilong sighed at his words and glanced back, gesturing to a young woman writing at the front desk not far away. She was young, in her twenties, with blonde hair tied back.

Lei Ming looked over. ”Is this about Miss Ling herself?”

”The Ling Family lost a piece from their collection. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here today.” Zhao Qilong lowered his voice. ”I get the feeling they’re up to no good.”

Lei Ming raised his eyebrows slightly. ”Let’s go have a look.”

The group followed.

”Miss Ling,” Lei Ming greeted. The figure turned to look at them.

It was only then that Wan Ze noticed this Miss Ling was quite striking. Her face was fair, yet she projected an air of sharp competence.

”Mr. Lei.” Miss Ling nodded in acknowledgment, but her smile was a bit forced. When her gaze fell on Wan Ze beside him, she showed a hint of surprise. ”And this is?”

”My Junior Brother, Wan Ze.” After the introduction, Lei Ming got straight to the point. ”Miss Ling, just tell us. What do you need us to do?”

Miss Ling passed over a photograph from the desk. ”This is a piece from my grandfather’s collection, called the [Rain Bell]... Yesterday, I went back to my old home to sort through some old belongings and found the house had been burglarized. Many books were knocked to the floor, but the only thing missing was this single item. It’s very strange.”

”Only this one item was stolen?” Lei Ming was taken aback. ”Their target was quite specific. Could it have been an inside job?”

Miss Ling shook her head; she didn’t know either. ”I don’t know much about the artifact myself. I only know that my grandfather once mentioned this old item came from an old friend of his, and that person seemed to be a Martial Artist as well.”

”A Martial Artist?” Lei Ming’s voice was grave. ”Which senior was it?”

Miss Ling gave a wry smile. ”My grandfather wasn’t lucid at the time. He spoke in fits and starts... so I’m not clear on who the original owner of the item was.”

Lei Ming went on to ask a few more questions, and Zhao Qilong quickly joined in. The group fell into a discussion.

Wan Ze sat quietly beside Lei Ming, listening to their analysis.

As if worried he was being left out, Zhao Qilong, holding a thermos, moved closer and asked with a smile, ”Little Brother Wan, do you have any insights?”

Seeing everyone look his way, Wan Ze showed no sign of panic. He unhurriedly set down the disposable cup in his hand and said calmly, ”I’ve listened to all this discussion, but why haven’t we gone to check the crime scene?”

The hall fell silent.

Suddenly, everyone snapped back to reality. Lei Ming’s sharp intake of breath was the loudest. ”Exactly!” he exclaimed. ”What the hell have we been talking about all this time? Let’s go, let’s go! To the scene! We might find something unexpected.”

Miss Ling also blushed. ”It was my oversight,” she said with a cough. ”The item was stolen from the old house. We’ll go over right now.”

She had been in such a panic at the time, thinking an enemy had come for revenge, that she’d forgotten the most crucial step.

’This world really is just one big amateur hour,’ Wan Ze thought with a sigh.

The group left Lingyun Manor to head for the Ling Family’s old residence. As Lei Ming and Wan Ze got into the car, he finally couldn’t hold it in anymore and gave Wan Ze a thumbs-up. ”You made me proud.”

”...”

Wan Ze gave a wry smile.

’Seriously, Senior Brother? How can you still be laughing when you’re with such an unreliable bunch?’

He shook his head and said nothing more.

The Ling Family’s old residence was located in the old district.

The streets were quiet and deserted. Pedestrians passing by couldn’t help but look over curiously as several cars approached.

「After a couple of turns.」

The group arrived in front of a courtyard residence.

Miss Ling was about to open the door when she suddenly noticed the lock had been pried open. Her expression changed. Just as she was about to speak, Zhao Qilong appeared by her side, holding up a hand to signal for her to stay quiet.

Lei Ming looked back at Wan Ze and said in a low voice, ”Junior Brother, you stay here and protect Miss Ling.”

Wan Ze nodded.

Lei Ming then exchanged a hand signal with Zhao Qilong and was the first to vault over the wall. The sounds of a fight came from inside shortly after.

”Come on in! We’ve got him!”

Lei Ming shouted.

The few men behind Wan Ze rushed in eagerly. They saw a man with a crew cut, about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, pinned to the ground by Zhao Qilong, grimacing in pain and repeatedly apologizing that he’d made a mistake.

”Where’s the item? I’m asking you, where’s the item!”

”What item? Sirs, I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

The man with the crew cut wailed.

Lei Ming got the photo from Miss Ling and shoved it in front of the man. When the crew-cut man didn’t cooperate, Lei Ming slapped him across the face and said viciously, ”Take a good look, you bastard. Where is this thing? If you don’t tell the truth, my boys and I have plenty of ways to deal with you.”

The man with the crew cut panicked at this display. He quickly admitted his mistake, his forehead covered in sweat, and confessed, ”It’s my first time here. I heard there was treasure in this house, so I came to have a look...”

”Where did you hear that?” Zhao Qilong suddenly asked.

”At the tea shop up the street. A couple of guys were talking about it, so I thought I’d come over. I haven’t even gone through anything... See for yourselves, I haven’t even touched that chest yet.” The man with the crew cut was on the verge of tears.

The moment the words left his mouth,

Zhao Qilong abandoned the man and dashed out, heading straight for the tea shop down the street.

Two more people chased after him.

Lei Ming thought for a moment and also gave chase, not forgetting to call back to Wan Ze, ”Junior Brother! Old Zhong! You guys watch him!”

Before Wan Ze could reply, the four of them vanished one after another.

Only four people remained: Wan Ze, Miss Ling, the flirtatious young woman surnamed Tang, and a man in his early thirties. The man, surnamed Zhong, was wearing bell-bottoms. He’d wanted to give chase as well, but seeing how few people were left in the room, he decided to stay. He and Wan Ze exchanged a look, and he gave a polite nod.

Wan Ze kept his eyes on the man with the crew cut.

”Hey, heroes, can we make a deal? I didn’t touch anything, and you haven’t lost anything. How about you just let me go?” the man with the crew cut said with a cheeky grin, rubbing his reddened wrists.

”Stay down!” Zhong Tie, seeing the guy was trying to stir up trouble, immediately snapped.

But unexpectedly, the man with the crew cut showed no fear at all. Instead, he looked past Wan Ze to Miss Ling and said with a grin, ”Remember me? We’ve actually met... at your grandfather’s funeral. I didn’t expect you to be all grown up.”

Miss Ling’s expression was blank.

Tang Yuling’s expression shifted slightly as she moved to shield her.

Martial Artists are the most sensitive to changes in aura.

At that moment, in the room that was barely over ten square meters, the three people present—everyone but Miss Ling—all sensed that the meek and subservient man with the crew cut had transformed, as if into a ferocious tiger.

’This is bad! It’s a ruse to lure the tiger out of the mountains!’

”Zhong Tie, take him down!” Tang Yuling shouted urgently. The moment the words left her mouth, she had already launched herself forward, covering two meters in the blink of an eye, leaving her just a step away from the man with the crew cut.

She lunged forward with a punch, aiming straight for the man’s chest.

Her arm cut through the air, making a sound like the CRACK of a whip.

It was only at this moment that Wan Ze realized the young woman who had been throwing flirtatious glances at him earlier was actually a master of the Martial Dao.