Haijun Benbu, the Yuanshuai's office.
The air in the room was thick enough to slice with a blade. Curtains were drawn to keep curious eyes out, and the large desk at the head of the office looked more like a command podium than a piece of furniture. Around it sat and stood nearly every high-ranking pillar the Haijun could mustermen whose names alone could make pirates in distant seas lose sleep.
Zhanguo, the Haijun Yuanshuai, occupied the main seat. To one side was Kapu, the Haijun's "hero," arms crossed and brows furrowed like a storm cloud that refused to move. Nearby stood Zefa, once a Dajiang himself, his expression grim in that quiet, heavy way only veterans could manage. And then there were the current three Dajiangeach with their own oppressive presencealong with a number of Zhongjiang and staff officers who rarely appeared in the same room unless the world was about to tilt.
When the murmuring died down, Zhanguo swept his gaze across them all. His voice, when it came, wasn't loudbut it carried. It didn't need to be loud.
"Da Haizei Luoqi," he said slowly, enunciating the name like it was something sharp and dangerous, "made contact with the Jie'erma 66 legion in Beihai."
A few faces tightened immediately. Jie'erma 66 wasn't some small-time pirate crew you could swat away with a flick. They were an armed nation on the seasoldiers, technology, warships. If Luoqi had truly collided with them…
"Both sides engaged," Zhanguo continued. "The result: Jie'erma 66 suffered defeat. Their leader, Wensimoke·Jiazhi, was wounded and rendered unconscious. Jiazhi's daughter, Wensimoke·Leijiu, went missing."
The room erupted in low voices again, disbelief mixing with that particular kind of anger the Haijun reserved for people who made them look incompetent.
Zhanguo didn't raise his voice to silence them. He simply waited. He had been commanding long enough to know that silence from the seat of authority was sometimes heavier than any shout.
When the room quieted, he spoke again, tone colder.
"He, who was responsible for apprehending Luoqi, received intelligence and located him in nearby waters after that battlealong with Leijiu, who had been captured by Luoqi and forced to serve as a temporary hanghaishi."
Kapu's jaw flexed. Zefa's eyes narrowed a fraction.
"However," Zhanguo said, "that cunning Luoqi ultimately escaped. And when Zhiyuan was isolatedalonehe seized the opening, defeated her, and took her prisoner."
That sentence landed like a cannonball.
Taotu Zhiyuan wasn't just a capable Zhongjiang. She was a Dajiang houbu, a candidate at the very top of the pyramid. A woman whose strength, skill, and reputation were enough to make seasoned pirates reconsider whether it was worth breathing near her at all.
Yet now she was in the hands of a pirate.
"Afterward, he used Zhiyuan as a hostage to threaten He, destroyed He's warship, and fled," Zhanguo said, fingers tightening slightly on the documents before him. "Because of this incident, I ordered the Haijun in Beihai to conduct a full-scale manhunt."
He paused, eyes hard.
"And yet, it has been half a month. That man has vanished as if Beihai swallowed him whole. Our people cannot find a trace of him."
The moment Zhanguo stopped speaking, the discussion ignited againangry, uneasy, incredulous.
Among them, Kapu and Zefa looked the worst.
They had served alongside He in the same era. They understood her. They trusted her. And now they had to sit here and listen as ZhiyuanHe's own younger sisterwas spoken of like a piece on a board that had been stolen.
If there was anyone in this room who felt the sting personally, it was those two.
Zhanguo didn't feel any better. His friendship with He ran deep too, built over decades of war, blood, and compromises made for the sake of "justice." To have Zhiyuan taken, to have He's ship destroyed, to have Luoqi escape… it was humiliation piled on top of fury.
"A terrifying bastard," someone muttered. "Even He's not enough to catch him."
Huangyuan, hands loosely clasped as if he were merely bored at a theater show, tilted his head with a lazy curiosity that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"Zhanguo Yuanshuai," he drawled, "where did that man even come from? And why did Shijie Zhengfu put a bounty on him in the first place?"
Another officer followed quickly. "And it was five hundred million Beili, wasn't it? All at once."
At that, the room's attention snapped fully to Zhanguo.
Zhanguo's expression sank into something heavier. He didn't answer right away. For a heartbeat, it looked as if he was weighing whether saying it aloud would contaminate the air.
Then, finally, he spoke.
"I only learned the truth afterwardfrom the Wulaoxing themselves."
A ripple ran through the room. When the Wulaoxing were involved, it meant the incident wasn't merely criminal. It was… inconvenient. Something the world wasn't supposed to know.
"It's too shocking," Zhanguo said, voice like stone. "It cannot be made public."
Even Huangyuan straightened a little. The others sat up, backs rigid, ears practically straining.
"Da Haizei Luoqi used to be an elite agent of CP9," Zhanguo said. "He completed countless dangerous missions. He was… an existence that surpassed even another CP9 'elite'Luobu·Luqi."
A few officers exchanged looks. Even among CP9, Luobu·Luqi's reputation was notorious.
"For that reason, Shijie Zhengfu intended to absorb Luoqi into CP0," Zhanguo continued. "And they succeeded."
Zhanguo's gaze drifted, as if he could see a ship rocking on a dark sea.
"On his first day as a CP0 agent, during an assignment escorting a Tianlongren at sea… that man suddenly turned violent. He slaughtered everyone on the warship except the slaves."
His voice didn't shake, but the room did, in its own way.
"And the Tianlongren was no exception."
A sharp intake of breath swept across the gathered officers.
"Killed a Tianlongren…?" someone whispered, as if saying it louder might summon disaster.
"No wonder He was dispatched," another muttered. "No wonder the bounty was so high…"
Kapu's brows knitted deeper, the lines on his face carving themselves into something harsher.
"But his strength," Kapu said, blunt as a punch, "has grown to the point where he can capture Zhiyuan?"
He looked directly at Zhanguo. "Zhanguo. Do we have anythinganything at allon where he is now?"
Zhanguo nodded once, reluctant.
"Not nothing," he admitted. "I received a message from an undercover line I cannot fully confirm. It says… Luoqi used some method to reach Donghai."
Kapu's eyes sharpened.
"Donghai is your hometown," Zhanguo said, not wasting time. "That's why I called you here. I want you to make a trip."
His voice lowered, heavy with expectation and with an old friend's trust.
"If you find him, with your strength, you can capture Luoqi and bring Zhiyuan back."
Zhanguo reached into a folder and pulled out a freshly printed wanted poster. He held it up for the room to see.
At the center was a young man with messy black hair and a handsome, almost deceptively calm facelike someone who could smile while cutting your throat. Beneath the portrait ran a string of numbers long enough to make even hardened officers blink.
"Eight hundred million Beili," someone said through clenched teeth.
"Donghai can't have a pirate with a bounty like that," Huangyuan murmured, voice oddly light, as if he were commenting on the weather.
Kapu stood, chair scraping softly against the floor. He didn't hesitate. He didn't waste breath.
"Whether I'm curious about why he betrayed CP0 or not," Kapu said, "it's better to catch him first."
He turned toward the door.
"Zhanguo, I'm leaving for Donghai now. If you get anything, contact me through a Dianhua Chong."
The meeting dissolved behind him as he stepped out, the weight of eight hundred million Beiliand a captured Zhiyuanhanging over his shoulders.
At the same time…
Far away from the oppressive walls of Haijun Benbu, Donghai's air was salty and bright.
Xie'erzi Zhen.
A strange ship drifted toward the pierpulled, absurdly, by an enormous snail that moved with patient, stubborn strength. The townsfolk gathered along the shore, pointing and whispering, curiosity tugging them closer despite the instinctive fear of anything unusual that came from the sea.
Inside the cabin, the atmosphere was quieter, softerbut no less tense.
"Luoqi xiansheng," a mature woman in a pale pink dress said as she approached. A bold "6" was marked on her long legs, and her demeanor carried a mix of composure and something carefully contained. "We've reached the place you asked for. Do you want to disembark now?"
She was Wensimoke·Leijiu.
Luoqi, sitting with a sheathed long blade resting across his lap, clicked the weapon lightly as if it were a toy. The name of the meidaoJinpiluofelt too elegant for the blood it had tasted.
He looked back at Leijiu and offered her a small, almost gentle smile.
"You've worked hard, Leijiu," he said. "Since our agreement is complete… you can leave after this."
His tone was calm, but the quiet certainty behind it made it sound less like a suggestion and more like the opening move of whatever came next.