"Damn it, to be unfortunate enough to be posted here again for 5 years. How long will this postpone my advancement, staying in this rathole.", an angry voiced travelled through the door.
After hearing the knock, he grunted, "Come in."
The Magistrate put on a smile after seeing the boy.
"Leave us alone, maid. And don't let anyone come close.", commanded the Magistrate.
"Yes, Lord Magistrate.", the maid bowed and left, closing the door behind her.
"Tsk. My luck has been rotten for a long time now. But my luck isn't too bad this time it seems, seeing a tender young boy like you here.",said the obese man while taking a sip of his alcohol.
Then, the fat old man slowly started advancing towards Zheng Li.
Holding Zheng Li up to his neck, the fat man tried kissing Zheng Li when Zheng Li stabbed the Magistrate in the neck in a quick motion.
"Arrggh!", he screamed as he stumbled backwards.
"You brat! I'll teach you!", he yelled, trying to get back up.
"What have you done to me?"
Zheng Li spit on the man's face with a look of derision and said, "Stop struggling. You won't make it out alive."
The Magistrate tried moving his mouth but fell on his back, his eyes whitening and his mouth foaming.
["Congrats to the host for killing the Magistrate of Old Zemo district! Everything the Magistrate owns belongs to the host now. The system urges the host to exchange everything as soon as possible."]
And the boy didn't dare be slow. He quickly picked up everything on the Magistrate's body.
["Exchange 12 Layer Teymour Blade for 121 points?"]
["Exchange Calm Breeze pendant for 221 points?"]
["Exchange Gold Nibbed pen for 18 points?]
Zheng Li noticed a slightly bulging weight over the Magistrate's bed and opened it up, to find a treasure chest filled to the brim with Tenars and other loot.
Zheng Li quickly exchanged everything of value, bring his point value up to 883.
"System, purchase as many Qi Pellets as possible."
["Ding! It will cost 850 points. Confirm?"]
"Yes."
["Ding! Purchase confirmed. You have 19 Qi pellets now.]
Zheng Li popped two Qi pellets in his mouth at the same time and started circulating his Qi according to the manual.
"Not enough, I need more.", Zheng Li struggled as he got on his knees.
He popped one more into his mouth and grunted openly.
Zheng Li's veins were saturated with Qi to the maximum at this point, and after 5 minutes of circulating Qi according to the manual, he finally broke through to the 2nd Qi Refining stage.
Zheng Li didn't consolidate his breakthrough, but rather rushed out of the window, breaking the glass.
After a while, a maid knocked on the door.
"Lord Magistrate? Lord Magistrate? I'm coming in.", she walked inside, only to be greeted by a dead body.
"Ahhhhh!", the maid shrieked, alerting the rest of the mansion.
---
"This injury was caused by an unknown poison applied on a thin needle of unknown origin, penetrating the neck. The poison took effect immediately, killing the Magistrate in a matter of seconds.", a man in a brown coat said as he examined the body of the dead Magistrate.
"Duh, no shit.", replied another man who was collecting samples from the location.
The man ignored the remark and turned to the maid.
"You said the boy, named Zheng Li, was the last one to be with the Magistrate?", questioned the man.
"Yes, Lord Inspector.", the maid nodded.
"Interesting. Until we find evidence otherwise, charge the boy with a three star bounty for the murder of a District Magistrate."
"How did the boy even obtain this poison and weapon, and manage to hide it from everyone?", questioned the man collecting the samples as he squinted his eyes at the maid.
"That... I'm not sure, please forgive me.", bowed the maid.
"Don't be sorry.", slowly spoke the man in the brown coat.
"You will end up in the same grave as the Magistrate if you don't come up with a good enough reason.", said the man without a hint of mercy.
The maid looked stunned and stumbled backwards, fainting on the spot.
"Hey now, you've done it again.", laughed the other man.
"Are you done yet?"
"All the samples have been collected. Our job here is done, let's go."
The man in the brown coat signalled to a group of robots before leaving the room.
---
Zheng Li entered a dark alley and opened up a sewer vent, heading inside on the ladders.
Falling on the stinky sewer water with a thud, Zheng Li ran along the thin tunnel at a fast pace.
"System, how many points do I have now?"
[Host has 33 points available.]
"Consolidate my realm as much as possible with my points.]
[Confirmed. Taking action....]
Zheng Li's speed suddenly increased a bit as he felt his control over his strength increase.
[Ding! 25 points deducted, and Host has been fully consolidated.]
"I have to get out of here before-"
Zheng Li was thinking out loud when a blaring loud siren rang above the district, reaching even the inside of the sewers.
"Convict Zheng Li, accused of killing the district Magistrate, stop and turn yourself in or face the consequences.", a robotic female voice rang out through the district.
Zheng Li panicked inside a bit but he did not stop.
"Damn it. To think they would take action this fast."
The same message rang out thrice before it adruptly stopped.
"Convict Zheng Li did not turn themselves in. Capturing measures have been enforced.", a voice finally rang out after 5 minutes.
Zheng Li perked his ears, hearing the noise of something.
Then, suddenly, his expression changed.
"Oh no! Is that.."
A large amount of water rushed along the tunnel from behind Zheng Li and pushed him along.
Zheng Li was unable to do anything, and was helplessly taken by the water despite his struggles, unable to breathe.
"System..."
*Gasp*
"Exchange for.."
*Gasp*
"Oxygen.."
[Ding! Exchanging 1 point for a 5 minutes worth of oxygen.]
Zheng Li was able to stay conscious for a while exchanging for oxygen, but faded to sleep after some time.
---
In the old Inn.
"Convict Zheng Li, accused of killing the district Magistrate, stop and turn yourself in or face the consequences."
"Break the damn speakers, why the fuck is it so loud?", a goon spoke out loud.
"Yeah, boss. Why don't we go and catch this dude for some rewards?
The boss snickered and said, "The balls on this Zheng dude to kill the Magistrate...haha, not bad. I would have done it myself if it wasn't for the damn bounty."
A goon with a gun on his shoulder suddenly burst in through the door, saying, "Yes...yes, he's here. Don't kill me...ah!"
A gunshot went through his neck as the goon fell to the ground, bright red arterial blood gushing out like a fountain.
The boss and the henchmen quickly got up and equipped their weapons, while the women fled into another room, screaming.
A man in a brown coat slowly walked inside the room with a menacing presence.
"Shi Long. Class II citizen of the blights. Is that right?"
The boss put his finger on the trigger and replied, "Huh? How the hell did you know? Who the fuck are you?"
"You are a secondary suspect in the murder of the District Magistrate. Do not resist and come with me to the local district hall.", the man spoke, ignoring Shi Long.
"Heh...what is this bullshit? You must really want to die, huh?", the boss said as he pulled the trigger.
But the bullet did not fire.
"Huh? What's wrong with this piece of--", Shi Long did not get a chance to finish when he was directly knocked out by a piece of rock hitting his head.
"Boss! Damn you!", the henchmen also tried to fire but weren't able to shoot their weapons.
"Why can't I move?", a fat man shouted.
"Me too! I can't even walk?!"
"What's happening?!"
"The secondary suspect has been captured. Kill the rest.", the man spoke as he picked up the boss and left leisurely.
Very soon after, screams rang out from inside the Inn, until everything went silent.
---
In the sewers.
Zheng Li suddenly woke up, gasping for breath.
"Huuuuu...."
"I was lucky enough to survive that, it seems.", thought Zheng Li after a deep exhale.
"What is this place?", Zheng Li wondered as he looked around him.
Zheng Li was standing on the bottom of a massive room supported by gigantic concrete pillars that looked like skyscrapers. Huge pipes led into this "room" which occasionally produced a roaring sound echoing throughout the chamber.
Zheng Li got up and walked around for a bit, looking for somewhere to go.
Walking along the dirty gray floor, Zheng Li walked straight ahead following the main tunnel for quite a while, when he heard some footsteps.
*Thud. Thud.*
"Yeah, so that's what the mistress wants us to do."
"Tsk. Talk about rotten luck."
Zheng Li leaned in closer to hear a bit better when he stumbled on a piece of plastic.
"What's that?", the voice questioned.
"Wait here. I'll go check it out.", the voice echoed.
Footsteps grew louder.
"Whoever's here, come out quick.", the masculine voice yelled.
Looking around the corner, a man dressed in ragged leather poked his head around the corner carefully.
At the same time, a rat scurried out.
"Tsk. It was just a rat.", the man clicked and went back.
"Hey, Yang, false alarm. Let's get back to the base."
Zheng Li lightly landed on the ground and slowly snuck behind the two men, following them.
The two men went through a series of narrow tunnels and turnings, and finally ended up at a small, decrepit metallic door.
*Knock knock.*
"Please state the password.", a robotic voice sounded out.
"Ten flowers in a mud field.", the man replied.
"Access granted."
The door opened with a slight rumble, and the two men headed inside.
Zheng Li waited for some time and entered inside using the same method.
Upon entering, Zheng Li saw a small cobble path leading to somewhere. The surroundings were dark, and had no uniqueness to them.
Following the path for some time, Zheng Li finally encountered a small district in the distance, glowing with tiny neon lights all over.
His figure grew tinier and tiner as he walked towards it, until he disappeared entirely from the grey cobble path, fading into the dark.
---
In a small, wooden office.
A man wearing a bright pair of spectacles flipped through a bunch of documents slowly.
Picking up his drink, he slowly savoured the taste and let out a sigh of satisfaction.
"Case Number IV : 57503; Sec C. Suspect Zheng Li accused of killing the 78th District Magistrate of Old Zemo district, yet to be apprehended after he went missing 10 years ago.", the man spoke in a clear, deep tone.
Looking up to his darkly clad counterpart, he spoke, "This case has been unsolved for several years. As the new Head Investigator, I will not have such blemishes on my record. Take whatever resources you need, and find this person, whether dead or alive."
The dark clad person replied, "Yes, Sir.", and left after bowing.