Chapter 3389 — Qiu Lingshan Asks for Help Again

"Then... who's going to make the call?" Tang, the patriarch, also thought the idea was fairly sound—at the very least, they had to find out where this lot had come from first.

"I'll make the call myself," the Tang patriarch said. Before this, he had held the mysterious Investigation Bureau in contempt, but now, to show sufficient sincerity, he would place the call in person...

……………………

Early that morning, Wei Zhao had just gotten out of bed and was in the kitchen fixing breakfast for Xiaoshu and Xinyan when his phone rang—it was Qiu Lingshan calling.

"Darling, what are you up to?" Qiu Lingshan's voice was soft and glutinous, and it sent a physiological reaction straight through Wei Zhao...

"Lingshan, what are you up to at this hour? Don't tell me you've got something to ask of me again?" Wei Zhao instinctively assumed Qiu Lingshan had a favor to request.

Previously, Qiu Lingshan had been busy with work and Wei Zhao had had plenty on his plate too. He had only found a spare moment to raise her strength to the late Earth Rank peak, and after that he had gone off to deal with other matters. This time, on his return, he had not even met with her.

"I've been promoted," Qiu Lingshan said.

"Promoted? You're the chief now? What about Brother Feng?" Wei Zhao was slightly taken aback.

"Still deputy chief," Qiu Lingshan said, shaking her head.

"Still deputy chief? Then how is that a promotion?" Wei Zhao was caught between laughing and crying. "This is you having nothing to do early in the morning and pulling my leg, isn't it?"

"Heh, no. I'm now deputy director of the mysterious Investigation Bureau and deputy chief of the East Sea Police Bureau as well," Qiu Lingshan explained. "These days, my post as deputy chief carries more weight than an ordinary department head's. Wherever I go to handle a case, everyone has to take my orders and my command."

"How did you end up at the mysterious Investigation Bureau? And as deputy director? So Uncle Feng is your subordinate now?" Wei Zhao found this odd—the jump in Qiu Lingshan's position was far too great! After all, that yamen, the mysterious Investigation Bureau, had vastly greater authority.

"Uh, Director Feng is my direct superior. He got promoted, and the former Director Xia was getting on in years, so he was transferred to another department as a leader—no longer on such a dangerous front-line post," Qiu Lingshan said. "As for me coming here, isn't it all because you raised my strength? I became a late Earth Rank peak expert, and I'm from a secular family besides. The secular families have always kept ties with the mysterious Investigation Bureau, and so—well—they dragged me in for compulsory service!"

"Pfft... What about Wu Chengtian and the others?" If Qiu Lingshan had gone, surely Wu Chengtian would have to go too?

"Wu Chengtian didn't agree. He said he wanted to wait for you to come back and ask your opinion. For now he's only a nominal instructor," Qiu Lingshan explained. "He's different from me. I was in the system to begin with, and I'm a deputy chief of the police bureau—when a superior gives an order, I can only obey. But Wu Chengtian is different."

"So that's how it is." Wei Zhao nodded. He had little interest in Qiu Lingshan's new post, and merely signaled that he understood. "Is that what you came to me about?"

"No. This morning we received a report from the hidden Tang family. Director Feng hasn't agreed to help them investigate yet—he first consulted my opinion, and so I called you at the first opportunity..." Qiu Lingshan said in a small voice.

"Pfft..." Wei Zhao was rendered somewhat speechless by her words. "Uncle Feng consults your opinion, so why are you consulting mine? This is an internal matter for you people..."

"Isn't it because the hidden Tang family is involved... uh, aren't you and Tang Yuyu of their family quite close?" A thought suddenly struck Qiu Lingshan—Tang Zhi's matter could not be mentioned—and so she pushed Tang Yuyu forward instead.

"What exactly is going on? Besides, aren't the hidden families outside the mysterious Investigation Bureau's jurisdiction?" Wei Zhao was puzzled.

"Actually, after Uncle Feng took up the baton as director, he wanted to bring the hidden families under the mysterious Investigation Bureau's authority as well. You know as well as I do—these uncertain factors, if left unconstrained, might do things that defy secular morality," Qiu Lingshan said. "This is an opportunity, and Director Feng doesn't want to miss it. But the matter is thorny: handle it well and fine, but handle it badly and he fears he'll lose all face and achieve the opposite of what he intended!"

"The hidden families—integrating them all wouldn't be a bad thing." Wei Zhao spoke mildly. "Uncle Feng is right. This really is an opportunity. If used properly, integrating the hidden families won't be difficult at all! Once this business is settled, issue a notice in the name of the mysterious Investigation Bureau and the Central Plains Cultivators' Alliance Association to those hidden families and ordinary sects. Tell them to join the Central Plains Cultivators' Alliance Association and submit to the restraint of the mysterious Investigation Bureau and myself! That will bring corresponding benefits as well—when they run into difficulties and troubles, I will lend a hand as I see fit. If they refuse, then they are my enemies."

"Uh..." Qiu Lingshan had not expected Wei Zhao to back her so strongly, and she was deeply moved. "Wei Zhao, you're so good... Thank you. I don't even know how I'll ever repay you!"

"Actually, I have deep ties to the mysterious Investigation Bureau too. I once trained there, and besides—you and Uncle Feng are the people closest to me. If I don't help you, who would I help?" Wei Zhao smiled. "Go on, then—what exactly has happened to the hidden Tang family?"

"This matter actually seems to have some connection to a case I've been investigating all along. Wei Zhao, I don't know if you remember—that unsolved bank robbery?" Qiu Lingshan said.

"The bank robbery? I think An Liwen did that one," Wei Zhao said flatly. "He's the only one who could conjure up those eerie puppet experts to rob banks and jewelry stores!"

"Be that as it may, I'm a police officer. Without evidence, there's nothing I can do to him. Besides, he's stopped doing it, so I can't find even the faintest trace anymore." Qiu Lingshan sighed, somewhat helpless. "But this recent case involving the hidden Tang family is quite similar to those bank robberies!"

"How so?" Wei Zhao's interest was piqued, and he asked.

"It's like this: a group of people similar to the bank robbers, who look like suicide soldiers, all possessing roughly Heaven Rank strength, went to the Tang family's properties and simply started robbing the place outright—they didn't waste words at all!" Qiu Lingshan said. "What's most impossible to deal with is that the Tang family head, Tang Taizhong, a early Heaven Rank expert, went to stop them and was beaten badly! According to him, those robbers seemed not to fear being struck at all—even with their arms broken and blood spilling from their mouths, they kept charging forward, feeling no pain and saying not a word."