Boss Qiu faked his death and escaped.

Noticing that Yun Zhi was slightly afraid of heights, Ming Su considerately cast a wind-shielding spatial barrier around her.

As for Ming Su herself, she had no need for such measures.

As for the three captives—oh, Ming Su didn't care in the least whether they were afraid of heights or not.

A flying magical artifact traveled at incredible speed, easily hitting over two hundred miles per hour!

After adapting to the high-altitude view, Yun Zhi curiously extended her spiritual sense to look down and even inspected the material of the cloud-like artifact... before immediately pulling it back.

Forget it, there was nothing much to see anyway.

She was utterly speechless. The cloud artifact felt soft and spongy underfoot, commonly known as a "stepping-on-marshmallow sensation." Upon closer inspection, it was composed of clusters of white fibrous material, with densely packed magic arrays engraved on the bottom, which made one rather anxious about whether it might fall apart at any moment.

Fortunately, twenty minutes later, they smoothly arrived at City X's Special Management Bureau without any such mishap occurring.

The cloud slowed down and came to a steady stop right in front of the Management Bureau's administrative building.

It was already nearly midnight, but the Management Bureau always had personnel on duty.

Moreover, shortly before, Ming Su had instructed the personnel of the City X Management Bureau to bring back the leader of the unorthodox practitioners she had just captured—the legendary "Boss."

Consequently, quite a few people were present at the City X Management Bureau.

Ming Su and Yun Zhi gently hopped off the cloud artifact and landed steadily. As for the three captives, after Ming Su waved her hand to dismiss the cloud artifact, they were dumped onto the ground like bags of trash.

When had Qi Xingxue and Li Taifeng ever been subjected to such treatment?

Just as Li Taifeng lost his patience and was about to curse, Ming Su flicked her wrist, casting a spatial confinement spell over his mouth that rendered him completely unable to speak, leaving him only able to emit muffled "mm-mm" sounds.

Qi Xingxue, his face dark, prudently swallowed the provocation that had been on the tip of his tongue.

Even though their ultimate fate was bound to be grim, suffering a little less along the way was always preferable.

Lao Liu, the security guard on duty, hurriedly ran out from the guard station and said, "Lord Ming Su, it's terrible..."

Ming Su said with displeasure, "I'm doing just fine. Speak directly if you have something to report."

Lao Liu said with an embarrassed smile, "Yes, yes. It's like this: that person you had Lao Zhang and Xiao Li bring back a short while ago just blew himself up. It also caused Lao Zhang and Xiao Li to sustain quite severe injuries; they are currently receiving treatment in the infirmary. You should go take a look!"

Ming Su frowned. "How could this happen? I clearly equipped him with soul-suppressing and energy-sealing devices!"

Ming Su had originally intended to have Lao Liu escort Qi Xingxue, Liu Yuxuan, and Li Taifeng to the special detention prison, but remembering the Boss who had inexplicably blown himself up and died...

She had also brought back a newcomer with great potential this time. If these two conscious ones managed to break free from the confinement artifacts and self-destructed, even willing to die just to take Yun Zhi down with them or harm others, that simply would not do.

Furthermore, she couldn't shake the feeling that the leader of the unorthodox practitioners—someone who had lived as a parasite for over two hundred years and was willing to rob others of their destiny just to extend his life—how could he die so easily?

Ming Su asked, "How are Lao Zhang and Xiao Li's injuries? Are their lives in danger?"

Lao Liu replied, "No, no, they're just rather heavily injured."

Ming Su said, "Then there's no rush to visit them. I am a spatial-type, not a healing-type."

"Tell me first, where did that person self-destruct, and how did he do it?"

Lao Liu stammered, "This, this... I wasn't at the scene, so I don't know either. I just heard Xiao Li mention it briefly before he passed out. As for Lao Zhang, he was carried back on Xiao Li's back and had already fallen unconscious from heavy injuries."

At this moment, Qi Xingxue chimed in, "I know what happened. If I provide useful information, can I apply for a reduced sentence?"

The evil deeds he had committed and the lives he had taken over the years could no longer be counted on both hands.

The death penalty was virtually inescapable.

Ming Su said coldly, "What kind of sentence reduction are you still hoping for?"

Qi Xingxue gave a bitter smile. "I know I can't escape death, but I just hope you can leave my son a way out. His hands are clean of human blood..."

Qi Yuan was Qi Xingxue's biological son. Even though Qi Xingxue's own hands were stained with filth, he cared deeply for this son.

He had only let Qi Yuan handle the destiny-stealing and wealth-gathering, while all the lethal tasks were left to disposable subordinates underneath them.

His purpose was precisely that if he were ever captured by the authorities, at least his only direct descendant, Qi Yuan, would be spared.

Perhaps because he had committed too many malicious and wicked deeds, Qi Xingxue had fathered several children in the past, but apart from Qi Yuan—whom he conceived with his eighteenth wife using a special secret technique and nourished with stolen destiny since birth—not a single other child had lived past adulthood.

Moreover, Qi Yuan was naturally fated for an early death and logically shouldn't have survived to adulthood either. Relying on stolen destiny to live until thirty-seven came with massive drawbacks, making it even harder for him to sire offspring than Qi Xingxue.

Ming Su glanced at him indifferently and said, "Speak if you wish, or don't. Even without your words, we would merely spend a bit more time investigating and uncover the truth sooner or later."

Qi Xingxue understood this logic as well. He took a deep breath and said, "Boss Qiu is a master of barrier techniques, far more skilled than I am."

As he spoke, he directly broke free from the energy-sealing handcuffs on his wrists.

The silver chain linking the two handcuffs snapped with a sharp crack.

"You see? Breaking free from energy-sealing and soul-suppressing artifacts is no difficult task for us. I didn't do it because you are a Tier 7, and a spatial-type at that. My speed is far inferior to yours; even if I broke free, I couldn't beat you and couldn't escape."

Submitting obediently could buy him a little more time to drag out his existence, whereas attempting to run halfway would almost certainly result in being executed on the spot.

Qi Xingxue continued, "Furthermore, Boss Qiu possesses a hidden storage artifact, inside of which he always keeps human bombs made from corpses treated with preservation talismans, with their faces surgically altered to look like his."

Li Taifeng shook his head repeatedly, emitting muffled "mm-mm" noises, highly dissatisfied that Qi Xingxue was spilling such a heavily guarded secret.

Was the second brother an idiot? Why was he blurting everything out? Once this woman named Ming Su left, Second Brother could just break free from the restraint artifacts and help him open his as well. Escaping this Management Bureau would then be a piece of cake!

Qi Xingxue knew what Li Taifeng was thinking.

However, he had already been caught, and outwardly, he and Qi Yuan were distant relatives who frequently interacted in public.

He might be able to escape, but Qi Yuan would most likely not.

Plus, his current mental state was still affected by Yun Zhi's heart-probing illusion array, and its effects hadn't fully worn off yet.

Qi Xingxue had no "conscience" to speak of toward anyone else.

His only shred of conscience was tied entirely to his only cherished son, Qi Yuan.

Simply put, his conscience had just experienced a rare awakening, reaching its peak concentration.

Besides, they had already been targeted by the Dragon Unit, the strongest members of the Management Bureau. Even if they escaped temporarily, how long could they hide?

Under the strict investigation of the Management Bureau, it would be extremely difficult for him to continue using the destiny-stealing technique.

Without continued destiny-stealing to nourish his body, his appearance of a man in his forties wouldn't hold up for long. In a mere few months, he would revert to the true appearance of his actual age—one hundred and forty-two years old!

Unless he was maintained with energy-rich elixirs, he would die of natural old age within days.

Li Taifeng had no ties or burdens, so naturally he wanted to escape. Even dying of old age outside was better than perishing within the Management Bureau.

Moreover, once escaped, if they found an opportunity to flee abroad, they might still make a comeback overseas.

No matter how powerful the Huaguo Management Bureau was, it was hard for them to exert jurisdiction in foreign countries.

However, since Qi Xingxue had already revealed everything that shouldn't be said, Li Taifeng couldn't even voice his opposition and could only angrily turn his head away.

A cold glint flashed in Ming Su's eyes. "What? The one surnamed Qiu has escaped?"

She was only learning now that the man's surname was Qiu.

Qi Xingxue replied, "Boss Qiu possesses superb disguise skills and countless false identities..."

Qi Xingxue understood very well that if Boss Qiu wasn't captured, to prevent his secrets from leaking to the greatest extent possible, he would undoubtedly eliminate all subordinates who knew the most about his secrets one by one before assuming a new identity to go into hiding.

Qi Yuan, who had seen Boss Qiu's true face, was definitely at the very top of Boss Qiu's elimination list!

Yun Zhi, who had listened to the entire exchange, said somewhat flusteredly, "Was I wrong to make a move against these three tonight? If not for this, Sister Ming Su, you wouldn't have had to rush over here to catch them, leaving only the two colleagues from the City X Management Bureau to bring Boss Qiu back..."

With Ming Su present, Boss Qiu certainly wouldn't have been able to escape halfway.

Ming Su shook her head and said, "This is my own oversight; I underestimated him. Even without your intervention today, once I left the City X Management Bureau and the Dragon Unit sent interrogation experts to take over the case, he would have found an opportunity to escape anyway. By then, not having to worry about my sudden return, he might have slaughtered everyone in the City X Management Bureau."

What was done was done, and regrets were useless.

Instead of dwelling on it, she should figure out where Boss Qiu had fled and how to capture him back as soon as possible.

And what should be done with the remaining two?

If soul-suppressing and energy-sealing handcuffs were useless, simply locking them in a cell might not work either.

Ming Su looked at Liu Yuxuan, who was still passed out on the ground, and asked Yun Zhi, "How did you manage to keep him unconscious for so long?"

To her knowledge, Liu Yuxuan was a Tier 5 spiritual-realm mystic, whereas Yun Zhi was only Tier 2.

Yun Zhi coughed and said, "Well, as the saying goes, no matter how high your martial arts are, you're still afraid of a kitchen knife. Weren't their physical stats relatively low? I just fed him a tenfold dose of soul-scattering potion. That should easily keep him knocked out for a day or two, right?"

Soul-scattering potion capable of rendering someone with the physical constitution of a Tier 2 supernatural being unconscious for one or two days? That was rare indeed!

At least the City X Management Bureau branch didn't have any.

Ming Su looked warmly at Yun Zhi. "Do you have any more of this soul-scattering potion? I'd like to buy some from you."

Qi Xingxue, who knew very well who Ming Su intended to use the potion on: ...

Li Taifeng: ...

A few minutes later, the three men, laid out in a row, were escorted into the prison of the City X Management Bureau.

Ming Su instructed the two supernatural wardens responsible for watching them: "If I'm unable to return due to other matters, administer an ampoule of nutritional solution to them once a day to ensure they don't starve to death. Also, mix a dose of this soul-scattering potion into their water every day and force it down them! Administer muscle-relaxant injections three times a day—absolutely do not forget. Understood?"

"No problem at all!"

Ming Su added, "It's fine if you forget. Once they wake up, their Tier 5 or 6 spiritual power will easily slaughter everyone in the City X Management Bureau! As fellow colleagues, I'll be sure to burn a little extra paper money for you when that happens."

The two wardens broke out in cold sweat: ...

"We guarantee we won't forget! We might forget to eat or sleep, but we will never forget your instructions, Lord Ming Su!"

"Even if I forget my own name, I will never forget what you've ordered!"

"Shouldn't we just cripple their hands and legs to be safe?"

"I raise both hands and feet in agreement!"

Thus, the three unconscious men had their limbs dislocated and were bound tightly with ropes.

Lao Liu, the security guard, even fetched the City X Management Bureau's ultimate treasure—usually kept hidden and reluctant to use—an artifact designed to isolate spiritual fluctuations, and installed it right at the prison entrance.

This ensured the prisoners could not fly away even with wings.

Yun Zhi asked curiously, "Uncle Lao Liu, since this is your Management Bureau's prized trump card, how could you take it out so easily without even consulting the director?"

Lao Liu smiled good-naturedly and said, "Don't let my status as a Tier 1 supernatural being fool you."

"My ability is 'Empty Hands.' I just secretly fished this out from the warehouse; don't tell our boss about it."

"Of course, even if you told him, it wouldn't matter. I'm his old man after all, and my starting point is the safety and lives of everyone in the Management Bureau. What could he possibly do to me?"

"Besides, he's not even here; he's out on a mission, and Deputy Director Lao Zhang is lying on a stretcher. If we waited for someone in charge to return, hold a meeting, and vote on it, we might all be lying on stretchers right along with them by then."

"When necessary, one must act first and report later! The supreme rule for supernatural beings is simply not to commit heinous crimes!"

Yun Zhi: ...

Ah, appearances can be deceiving, and nepotism truly exists everywhere.

However, Uncle Lao Liu's words made a lot of sense.

Taking advantage of the moment Ming Su went to the infirmary to check on Lao Zhang and Xiao Li, Yun Zhi continued asking, "Why do you all call Sister Ming Su 'Lord'? Doesn't that make her sound old?"

Uncle Lao Liu looked left and right to confirm Ming Su was nowhere nearby before whispering to Yun Zhi, "Ming Lass used to be one of us at the Management Bureau; she was our former director."

"Back then, we all called her 'Big Sis.' But later on, her strength grew so fast she was transferred to the General Bureau within two years, and that title wasn't appropriate anymore. If members of the Dragon Unit heard it and misunderstood, they'd think our City X Management Bureau was a bandit den, so we changed it to the current one."

Yun Zhi: ...

No wonder City X had a supernatural disturbance, and reinforcements from the Dragon Unit arrived so quickly—and upon arrival, it turned out to be a rare Tier 7 spatial-type.

Speaking of which, Ming Su coming to City X in person was triggered by Dou Wanqin's sudden disappearance from her hospital room, which the City X Management Bureau personnel had discovered and suspected to be the work of a spatial-type supernatural being, prompting them to report it to Ming Su.

Ming Su happened to have free time and came over personally. She hadn't expected that following Dou Wanqin's trail would uncover a sizable unorthodox cultivator organization.

Being alone, she couldn't possibly track down so many small fries, so she piloted her flying artifact all across City X, targeting places with abnormal energy fluctuations and arresting individuals who possessed Tier 3, 4, 5, or 6 strength but disguised themselves as Tiers 1 or 2 and weren't registered with the authorities. As it turned out, her blind hunt hit the mark, and upon reaching her second stop, she located Boss Qiu's stronghold in City X.

Coincidentally, this was one of the locations where Yun Zhi had detected weak malevolent Qi fluctuations during the day.

One had to admit, it was a stroke of luck.

After receiving treatment and surgery from the healing physicians, Lao Zhang and Xiao Li were out of danger.

Xiao Li, whose injuries were lighter, had already regained consciousness and recounted the events to Ming Su.

Boss Qiu had suddenly "self-destructed" at a dimly lit, deserted spot while being escorted back to the Management Bureau.

A few minutes prior to the explosion, Xiao Li recalled hearing a very faint "click" sound, but since a passing car happened to honk its horn at that moment, he hadn't heard it clearly.

As for what happened in the few seconds following the man's "self-destruct," Xiao Li hadn't seen anything at all.

Because they were standing too close, if not for the Tier 1 protective bracelets both men wore, they might have been blown to pieces instantly.

Discovering that the suspect had been blasted into multiple fragments, with Lao Zhang—who had been standing closer—unconscious from severe injuries and himself gravely wounded, Xiao Li hadn't had time to carefully inspect the remains. He hastily gathered some larger limbs and brought Lao Zhang back first.

Now, with those remaining limbs brought out for the infirmary's healing doctors to examine closely, it was confirmed that they hadn't belonged to someone newly killed; remnants of preservation talisman energy were still lingering on them.

Ming Su took a spiritual recovery potion, recovering two to three tenths of her supernatural energy, bringing her up to about fifty or sixty percent of her peak strength.

Emerging from the infirmary, she sought out Yun Zhi.

"Little Yun, based on the information Qi Xingxue provided just now, there are three places where Boss Qiu is most likely to go."

"First, back to his old lair to pack up important artifacts and valuables."

"Second, to the homes of several disciples to harvest their existing destiny. But the most probable option is to find Qi Yuan—who has seen his true face—harvest his destiny, and silence him permanently."

"Let's split up, what do you think? If you encounter him, prioritize your own safety above all else and send me a message. If communication signals are jammed, launch a signal flare."

With that, Ming Su handed Yun Zhi a special energy signal flare. Even if Yun Zhi launched it in City X, Ming Su would be able to perceive it all the way from neighboring City Y.

However, City X and City Y were quite far apart, and upon receiving the notification, Ming Su would still need time to rush back.

Therefore, Ming Su repeatedly exhorted, "Remember, do not engage him in direct combat!"

Yun Zhi took the signal flare and replied, "I certainly know how to cherish my own life, Sister Ming Su, so don't worry."

Recalling how cautious Yun Zhi had been when they first met—remaining wary even after Ming Su stated her identity until Qi Xingxue confirmed it and Yun Zhi verified she wasn't allied with Qi and Li—Ming Su realized the girl was bold yet meticulous.

Otherwise, Ming Su would never have allowed her to participate.

Both of them were well aware of the numerous atrocities Boss Qiu had committed; if he managed to escape now, capturing him later would prove exceedingly difficult.

According to Qi Xingxue's speculation, Boss Qiu was more likely to seek out Qi Yuan.

Yet Ming Su believed that was merely Qi Xingxue's subjective bias, driven by his desire to have a spatial-type powerhouse rush over to save his son.

Fortunately, Qi Yuan, as an entertainment company executive with numerous social engagements, wasn't currently in City X. Instead, he was attending a charity gala in neighboring City Y, which would run late, meaning he should already be resting at a five-star hotel in City Y.

City Y and City X were close, yet still over a hundred and fifty kilometers apart.

As for Boss Qiu's lair containing his important artifacts, it wasn't located in downtown City X, but rather in a remote mountain village under City X's jurisdiction, a full hundred kilometers away.

No matter which destination Boss Qiu chose, traveling there would take time.

While he possessed a Tier 4 physical constitution and Tier 6 spiritual power, his traveling speed certainly couldn't match Ming Su's spatial movement and flying artifact.

Ming Su retrieved three specially crafted spatial bombs from her storage space.

"Each of these contains a full-strength strike of mine, with an effective radius of about five meters. Inject a trace of spiritual power and hurl it hard at your target to detonate it. Use them for self-defense. Remember, toss them and get out of the blast zone immediately to avoid accidental injury!"

Seeing that Yun Zhi apparently possessed a spatial storage artifact capable of concealing her presence—so much that even Ming Su's Tier 7 spiritual sense couldn't pierce it—Ming Su felt assured that even if Yun Zhi ran into Boss Qiu, she could at least evade him if she couldn't win, which gave Ming Su peace of mind in letting her act alone.

Yun Zhi accepted the three lethal beads and carefully stored them inside her spirit pouch.

"Thank you, Sister Ming Su!"

"What's there to thank? I'm asking you to help with a task, so providing some self-defense tools is only right. No more talking—let's set off now!"

Time was of the essence. Without further idle chatter, the two exchanged phone numbers and WeChat contacts before parting ways.

Ming Su boarded the cloud-shaped flying artifact and headed toward Boss Qiu's lair.

Yun Zhi stepped into her spatial safehouse and headed for neighboring City Y...