A Familiar Scent

His words left them completely stunned.

Wang Gen didn't care about their reaction and turned to look at a middle-aged man.

"Team Leader Mi, Wang Kailong and Zhang Chaoguang were your men."

"Did you know they were secretly collaborating with human traffickers, pocketing nearly ten million in profit over the years?"

The man called Team Leader Mi looked dumbfounded. Then, he saw Wang Gen turn to another person.

"Team Leader Yu, Chen Xiang and Liu Xiao were your men. They sold even more. Did you know?"

Team Leader Yu bolted upright, shaking his head like a rattle.

"Bureau Chief Wang, I swear to heaven, I really didn't know!"

Team Leader Mi also snapped out of it and stood up as well.

"Chief, I... I didn't know either! When did this happen?"

"Their children are all studying in Central City right now. You didn't know that?"

"We didn't. We just heard they were studying elsewhere."

"You never suspected anything?"

"What was there to suspect? You know the education level in our city. Anyone with a bit of means wants their kids to test into schools elsewhere, right?"

"And you didn't know about their family wealth?"

"Chief, as heaven is my witness, they smoked ten-cent packs of cigarettes at work! Who would suspect they had tens of millions?"

The more the two spoke, the more confident they became. Team Leader Mi even asked, "Chief, could there be some mistake?"

Wang Gen only responded with a cold sneer. The confidence the two had managed to muster vanished instantly under his gaze.

"When I first took office, I thought you were just incompetent, which was why the case clearance rate was so low."

"But I never imagined that such people could exist among our security officers!"

Hearing Wang Gen's words, the captains' faces flushed red.

It wasn't out of shame, but anger—furious that Wang Gen would even compare them to such people.

Yet they couldn't refute him, because Wang Gen was telling the truth. Those four scumbags had indeed been hiding among them all along.

"I have only one requirement: find everyone involved in this matter."

"I don't care how deep they're hidden or who their backers are. Do you understand?"

"But Chief, everything is still in ruins from the disaster. Many things simply can't be done without the Security Bureau's cooperation."

"I'm afraid that with our Security Bureau involved, things might be even worse for the people!!!"

Wang Gen could no longer suppress his fury and roared at them!

The conference room fell into a deathly silence.

"Hoo."

After taking a long, deep breath, Wang Gen said, "Keep the deaths of the security officers a secret for now. We cannot let the people lose trust in us at a time like this."

Wang Gen suddenly froze as he said this. For some reason, his mind drifted back to that incident in Meng City.

Back then, the matter involving Captain Li had been leaked online, dealing a massive blow to the Security Bureau's reputation.

Subsequently, citizens had surrounded the Security Bureau, giving the True Knowledge Society an opening.

Thinking of this, Wang Gen bolted upright. Ignoring the captains, he shouted as he headed for the door, "Xiao Qian! Xiao Qian!"

"Chief, I'm here."

A young man wearing glasses entered from outside the conference room.

"Go online immediately and see if there are any discussions regarding our Security Bureau and human traffickers. If there are, suppress them immediately!"

"Huh?"

"Go!"

"Yes, sir!"

Xiao Qian saluted Wang Gen and turned to run.

Not long after returning to his workstation, he let out a startled cry.

"Chief! Someone is saying the Security Bureau is in cahoots with human traffickers, and they've posted videos online!"

Wang Gen's heart sank upon hearing this.

Dammit, it really was the same familiar playbook.

He walked over to the workstation and said, "Open the video."

"Yes!"

Xiao Qian clicked on the video. In it, Wang Kailong and Zhang Chaoguang were seen splitting money with a man. Not far in front of them stood several large dog cages, inside of which were several people, both men and women, who had been stripped bare.

"Be more careful next time. Don't think you can act lawlessly just because you have us as your backers, understand?"

"Understood, understood."

"We're leaving."

"Yes, yes, please take care, gentlemen."

The man's attitude was incredibly fawning. Only after the two had left did he spit on the ground with disdain.

"Who do they think they are? Just two security officers talking so big. Backers? Someone who didn't know better would think you were the Bureau Chief!"

"Heh, I've recorded all of this. Whatever you've taken from me, you'll have to spit it all back out eventually!"

The video ended there, leaving Wang Gen trembling with rage.

"Good, good, good! It's lucky they died early, otherwise I'd have to kill them myself right now!"

Unlike the incident in Meng City, the news was spreading much slower this time.

After all, this was right after the earthquake, and everyone's focus was on rebuilding their homes.

Furthermore, Wang Gen had caught it early. Through his efforts, the video was banned not long after it started spreading.

He immediately found Su Baadao and explained the situation.

"The True Knowledge Society?"

"It's possible."

Su Baadao narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Those people from the True Knowledge Society seem to have a particular fondness for human traffickers."

"I recall that captain under you back then was also involved with traffickers, wasn't he?"

Wang Gen looked a bit embarrassed but still nodded.

"He did indeed have some ties to them."

Su Baadao's eyes narrowed further. "Go and investigate how many traffickers are left in the city."

Wang Gen understood instantly.

"You mean to use those traffickers as bait?"

"Mhm."

"I'll get on it immediately!"

...

"Right, right, the foundation must be laid well! I'm telling you, this is where the temple of the Lord of Rebirth and Communion is being built. If something goes wrong with the foundation, you can imagine the consequences for yourselves."

A contractor was currently directing and 'threatening' his workers.

"Hahaha! Boss, even if you didn't say it, we'd still do a good job!"

"Exactly! Those believers are treating us to good cigarettes, wine, and tea. If we still didn't work hard, would we even be human?"

"Hahaha!"

The atmosphere at the construction site was bustling. The contractor laughed and cursed at them a few times before leaving.

Sister Qu stood to the side, looking at the blueprints and occasionally looking up to compare them to the site.

Meanwhile, Yin Yang looked at the large stone before him with a strange expression. On it were carved the words 'Lord of Rebirth and Communion,' and even the calligraphy looked familiar—it was his own handwriting.

"What are you looking at?"

Sister Qu noticed Yin Yang and walked over with a smile.

"If Mr. Su hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have known there was already a temple for the Lord of Rebirth and Communion in Huanggang."

"I specifically asked a friend to go take a look. They sent me photos and said the Lord of Rebirth and Communion has no statue, only an honorific title."

"According to the local temple priest, God is formless, so no statue is needed. Whatever the believers imagine the Lord of Rebirth and Communion to be, that is what He is."

Sister Qu spoke with a face full of devotion. "As expected of the priest of the very first temple. His words are so profound."

Yin Yang's expression grew even more peculiar as he listened, and he turned to look at the temple under construction.

His spirituality had been growing rapidly over the past two days. At first, he thought it was because the number of believers had increased again.

But after activating his Perception skill, he realized it was because of the temple...