Chapter 14: The Showdown

“Agent Qin Jiajia has commenced her operation and entered the surveillance area.”

“The route is correct; she is heading toward the target location.”

“She has arrived at the north gate of Liangzhou Park and is waiting for the target’s arrival...”

Before the monitoring station, several agents craned their necks to watch the live feed. On the screen was the park’s entrance, where a girl in a white floral dress with a shoulder bag stood nervously, glancing left and right. Her hands rose and fell intermittently, betraying her uneasy state.

According to the plan, she had arranged to meet Zhou Qing today at the nearby Liangzhou Park and would seize the opportunity to negotiate with him.

Under the watchful eyes of the agents, she paced anxiously for a while, then suddenly looked up as if sensing something, waved toward an off-screen direction, and quickly ran out of view.

“Turn off the surveillance,” Li Yulan suddenly said, stopping an agent from switching the camera feed. “Judging by her lip movements, she did call out to Zhou Qing.”

The operator looked puzzled. “Why? They’ve met. Isn’t this the perfect time to start tailing him?”

“High-level cultivators often possess the ability to sense danger. Some powerful ones can even vaguely detect drone photography. Watching through surveillance might alert him as well. We can’t afford to take that risk.”

Li Yulan eyed the direction Qin Jiajia had disappeared toward on the screen. “All we need now is to confirm that Qin Jiajia actually entered the park with him. Establishing their general movement range for the next few hours is enough. It’s better to miss something than to overreach.”

To ensure absolute safety, Qin Jiajia carried out this mission alone—without any accompanying agents, no common listening devices, no pinhole cameras—traveling light and unencumbered.

Yet, if she knew what the Sanitation Bureau had done behind the scenes, she might not consider this “traveling light” at all.

Over the past few days, all park service staff had their shifts rearranged to guarantee that only the most courteous and service-minded personnel were present during this time. Even the street cleaners were polite and refined. All electronic devices capable of transmitting information had been recalibrated; any issues that might disturb visitors were swiftly resolved, and even several frequently troublesome broken paths had been repaired.

Every possible source of interference was eliminated—everything was prepared to ensure the smooth negotiation planned for today.

---

The agent grunted softly and pressed a button; the screen before him went black. Behind him, Li Yulan pressed her walkie-talkie, alerting all regulatory departments within a three-kilometer radius around Liangzhou Park.

“All units, attention. From this moment, enter Level One alert status. Immediately report any abnormal weather phenomena or disasters within your jurisdiction...”

...

Liangzhou Park was no famous tourist spot, nor did it hold any special cultural significance. Its scenery was artificial: a man-made lake, rockeries, and some old pavilions.

But after decades of maintenance, the rockeries had been stacked higher and higher, shaded by lush trees; the vast artificial lake shimmered perpetually, making it picturesque. Many came here to jog and exercise or to stroll leisurely, allowing life’s pace to slow just a bit.

The two of them left a nearby milk tea shop carrying two drinks, walking along the path as they chatted casually about recent happenings.

Even as students, they often met here to walk and enjoy the view, chatting freely under the open sky. Since Zhou Qing studied history at university, their conversations mostly revolved around anecdotes from past and present.

She had always thought Zhou Qing’s insights on history were quite unique. Many dry records came alive when he spoke, as if they were not mere documents but his own eyewitness accounts—an irony she never anticipated.

As they stepped onto a narrower path, the surroundings grew more desolate. The voices around thinned, yet Qin Jiajia’s heartbeat grew louder.

Glancing around, no one was in sight. Untended tree canopies stretched over the area, turning it into a shadowy forest, invisible even to surveillance cameras—a perfect place for unsavory deeds.

Qin Jiajia halted. She had been forcing herself to stay calm by chatting along the way; all her preparations were for this moment.

For this very instant, she had rehearsed in front of the mirror dozens of times, memorizing every line perfectly. Yet when it came time to speak, her palms grew sweaty.

“Actually, there’s something I want to ask you...” she said, looking at the young man in a hoodie and jeans, holding a large cup of lemon water. Summoning all her strength, she almost instinctively forced out the words:

“Zhou Qing... you’re not an ordinary person, are you?”

---

The world froze. The sunlight and breeze ceased simultaneously. Apart from her own heartbeat, she sensed nothing.

Though she had rehearsed this countless times in her mind, once spoken, regret flooded her.

Her mission required her to conceal her identity and avoid alarming him. Speaking those words was essentially a leak. If Zhou Qing lost control because of it, she would be nailed to the pillar of shame—dismissal at the very least, imprisonment not impossible.

But the shoe was already wet; the thief’s boat had set sail. She clenched her teeth and held her breath, diving straight in.

“What I’m about to say might be hard to believe, but you must hear me out.”

She took a deep breath, trying to keep her voice steady. “There should have been a department called the Sanitation Bureau... the Environmental Investigation and Defense Bureau—that’s where I work. Not long ago, I was transferred to the Extraordinary Affairs Division. From my superiors, I learned about you. Now the department wants to approach you through someone familiar. I’m here on their behalf.”

“Mm, I know.”

“I know this sounds abrupt... huh?” Qin Jiajia’s eyes widened. “When did you find out?”

“The moment I saw you,” Zhou Qing replied. “There’s a significant causal shift about you that only a cultivator could cause. And when you spoke just now, your mind was unsettled—not a voluntary state. If it were a sect, they wouldn’t be so roundabout. So it can only be the authorities.”

The script she had prepared for days was abruptly shattered, all her rehearsed lines left bottled inside, fermenting into a dizzying turmoil.

Qin Jiajia stood there, locking eyes with Zhou Qing, feeling his gaze like that of a child who had been told a supposedly earth-shattering secret—like “I discovered you can start a fire with a magnifying glass and the sun,” told with an air of mystery.

It wasn’t that he was expressionless—it was more like he was barely suppressing a smile.

“Tell me, what happened that made them send you to find me?”