Chapter 49 - Suspicions Of Pontiff Jule

 

…

 

Li Qu’s short delight of watching the livestreamer was once again abruptly interrupted. Paul Chan– after the pot of tea was emptied, nervously approached Li Qu and asked.

 

“Um, Boss Li, t-that person… I heard you say that ‘he’ was from the Garcia Mafia?”

 

Carefully phrasing his words, Paul Chan was not about to send himself to death’s door by mentioning the wrong things. However, Li Qu seemed to pay no heed towards his jitteriness.

 

“What about it?”

 

Although disturbed– the conversation had not warranted Li Qu enough importance to take his eyes away from his phone.

 

As if Paul Chan’s thoughts were reaffirmed from Li Qu’s answer, his body shook a little– he looked left and right, acting in an overly suspicious manner before talking in whispers.

 

“Boss Li, I know you killed him easily– but aren’t you scared of the repercussions? I mean… The Garcia Mafia is well-known around this area and their top echelons have connections with–”

 

“You can stop there. I do not care about what groups made by which insect exist.”

 

With one hand holding the phone, Li Qu’s other hand slightly raised up to stop Paul Chan with his bombardment of information that was useless to him– a Void Immortal.

 

“But, Boss Li! It’s not that I’m doubting you! It’s just that…the authorities and the Garcia Mafia family won’t take it too nicely– most likely, you’ll be experiencing waves of investigations and counter-attacks by them.”

 

Although Paul Chan had seen Li Qu eliminate Edmundo Lain easily, he did not know the full extent of the prowess of a once Immortal Emperor.

 

However, even though it might be easy for Li Qu to just wipe them from existence, he was not someone who would bother with them unless provoked.

 

If it were to be taken further into context, a person could imagine a bunch of ants running about in front of said person, although easy to kill– it was annoying.

 

Li Qu knew what Paul Chan was trying to tell him, a world that had societal laws that were proactively enforced and where the act of murder was frowned upon– it was troublesome.

 

And thus, he told Paul Chan in a calm way, however, hidden behind his calm countenance was theKarmic Banisher– why should Li Qu take it lying down when ants try to bite him?

 

“I get what you are trying to say. Nevertheless, I am not one to find trouble first. Despite that, if they want to find trouble with me– then trouble would be the least of their concerns should I be forced to react; oh, and one more thing.”

 

“What…?”

 

Paul Chan asked in a fearful tone, he felt his heart pound rapidly– it was from how Li Qu had stated those facts so calmly– or simply because he was just too unhealthy.

 

Li Qu gave a playful smile and looked directly at Paul Chan, with him feeling the goosebumps creeping up.

 

“I react very easily– if they play with fire, they should expect an explosion.”

 

Paul Chan swallowed his saliva loudly and wiped his sweaty forehead, he was speechless.

 

“Alright, calm down. I will be adding another tea to the menu from tomorrow onwards. I was just playing with you earlier.”

 

Li Qu saw that he had frightened his regular customer a little too much, he chuckled and stood up to Paul Chan’s shoulder once before heading towards the brewing room to find Xia Qiu.

 

Despite saying that, Li Qu muttered something under his breath that made the already calming down Paul Chan once again tense up.

 

“Or not.”

 

…

 

Back in the headquarters of the Church Of Chaos, in a dark room that had a huge monitor that extended down all the way from the five metered ceiling to the floor– a man in an exquisitely crafted gray uniform, donning a miter headdress, stood there with a heavy expression.

 

Pontiff Jule stared at a monitor that displayed twelve separate screens with what looked like heart rate graphs of people, presumably representing the important members of their organization.

 

All twelve of the graphs displayed standard heartbeats, all except one– it displayed a flat line, no reactions whatsoever came from that particular screen.

 

Pontiff Jule frowned and fell into deep thought.

 

‘It’s impossible for the microchip pacer to malfunction… Only two reasons I can think of– one is ‘Six’ betraying us, but that’s pretty far-fetched. As for the second reason, he…”

 

He did not finish his sentence as he was pretty sure something went horribly wrong, he fished out his phone from his pocket and dialed a number with his screen displaying the contact name– ‘Six’.

 

Du du du…

 

‘The number you have dialed is currently unavailable. For voicemail, press ‘1’. Fo–’

 

Pontiff Jule’s phone rang for a good minute and there was no response, only an automated message was heard, he hung up directly and dialed yet another number.

 

However, this time, someone picked up, a gentle voice was heard through Pontiff Jule’s phone.

 

“Pontiff Jule, ‘sup?”

 

“I need you to head over to where ‘Six’ lives immediately. I suspect that he’s dead– his screen is displaying a flatline. Investigate and report back to me.”

 

“...’Five’ obeys the Pontiff. May the Chaos ruin our hearts.”

 

“Same to you.”

 

‘Five’ hung up the phone with a grave expression and immediately gave an instruction to the person in his driver’s seat– his sense of urgency could be felt through his tone.

 

“F*ck! Turn around immediately and head towards Saint Hilda’s Lakeside. With haste!”

 

“I understand, Master Rosefield.”

 

The chauffeur acknowledged.

 

The limousine immediately came to a screeching halt after the chauffeur received the order; it swerved and rushed towards the opposite direction from where they came from, thundering off in the distance.

 

…

 

The limousine arrived in a massive circular stretch of beautiful estates that were near a calm blue lake– it looked like the sort of place retired pensioners would love to stay till their eventual passing.

 

It stopped right in the middle of the circular stretch, in front of an estate that looked a cut above the rest in the neighborhood.

 

“Master Rosefield, we’re here.”

 

“I know. Stay here until I come out, don’t let anyone come close.”

 

‘Five’ arrived at the door and keyed in a sequence of complicated numbers before placing his thumb on the biometric reader.

 

Beep!

 

The door unlocked after a small beeping sound, ‘Five’ stepped in and headed towards the spiral staircase in the middle of the hall leading up in careful steps– as if he had been here enough times to memorize the lay-out of this estate.

 

In such a big house, one would wonder– why would there not be a single assistant or cleaner attending to the well-being of the house and the owner?

 

‘Six’ was a master of hidden arts, but most of all, he was paranoid– to ensure his own safety, he had installed booby traps throughout the whole estate and did not allow unfamiliar people to even get close.

 

With careful steps, ‘Five’ avoided the booby traps and arrived at the bedroom of ‘Six’, he knocked on the door and called out the name of his friend.

 

Knock knock knock!

 

“Alejandro Garcia, are you there?! It’s me, Tobias Rosefield!”

 

“...”

 

There was no response. Tobias Rosefield gritted his teeth as he prayed hard for Pontiff Jule’s suspicions to be proven false and he positioned his shoulders to face the door and thrusted with ample strength.

 

Bang!

 

The door caved inwards and snapped in half before displaying a scene of the chaotic bedroom with weapons lying around; the walls were bubbling black from being corroded by the poison mist released earlier– the aftermath of the battle.

 

Tobias Rosefield squatted and picked up the revolver, needles and inspected everything he could– no traces related to Alejandro Garcia’s life or death could be detected, he could not find even a single trace of the perpetrator as well.

 

“F*CK! There must be a clue to determine what happened. Think… Thi– That’s it!”

 

Tobias Rosefield spotted the surveillance camera in the top corner of the bedroom that was still intact and running.

 

…