masters-orleans Chapter 113 : Chapter 113
Chapter 113 : Chapter 113
Chapter 113: Madam Ling Wants It Both Ways
The moment that press conference came out, nearly every major media outlet swiftly followed the official lead.
The full sequence of events behind the entire incident was laid out clearly.
That included Golden Scale High School’s provocation and Li Mu’s acceptance of the challenge.
The truth spread across the whole city with astonishing speed.
The ordinary people of Ironhand City all began cursing those tabloid media outlets for misleading the public.
Online, support surged like a tidal wave for severe punishment against this rotten social trend.
Punish the idol-chasers. Punish the unscrupulous media!
The Abyss-Suppressing Army soldiers were risking their lives to defend humanity.
They absolutely could not be allowed to go coldhearted from such treatment.
Blackwater High School was even more shaken from top to bottom.
When they had witnessed Li Mu suppress the protest crowd with their own eyes, they had all thought it was over.
This time, Li Mu was surely doomed.
But what happened instead?
The four commanders from the military districts stepped forward in thunderous fury and openly backed Li Mu!
What did people mean by saying the law could not punish the multitude?
Li Mu insisted on doing exactly that.
He beat them, and then he was still going to hold them accountable!
What high school student could possibly display that kind of dominance?
Not even the principal could do that!
As for the reserve soldiers from the various schools, after watching that press conference, their admiration for Li Mu surged like an endless river.
It had already reached an almost unimaginable height.
In truth, that press conference had not been specially arranged for Li Mu.
An incident as major as the monster siege naturally required an official report from the military district.
Now that the siege was over, it would not cause too much panic, but it could further solidify the Abyss-Suppressing Army’s standing among the people.
Matters of this sort had to be made public. They could not simply be covered up forever.
Zhao Yi and those brain-dead fans had simply had terrible luck.
They had chosen exactly this moment to stir up trouble.
The two military districts were already sitting on a mountain of fury with nowhere to vent it, so was this not exactly what they deserved?
And among everyone involved in the entire incident, the most innocent party was probably the Song Family.
They had spent an enormous amount of money on damage control for one reason only: to keep word from spreading that Song Yan had been beaten.
Then this group of fans made a scene, and that was that.
The matter exploded to a scale far greater than before.
Now even the dogs on the street knew Song Yan had been beaten into the ground.
Twice!
It was an unbearable humiliation. The Song Family practically wished they could chop all those troublemaking fans into pieces.
With the military district’s orders on top of the overwhelming public fury of the entire city, how could the Law Enforcement Bureau dare not do its utmost?
In less than two hours, Zhao Yi was caught and arrested.
He was charged with maliciously attacking a reserve officer!
A little after four in the afternoon, Yin Changming called Li Mu.
“Hello, Principal.”
On the other end of the line, Yin Changming said to Li Mu with a bitter smile, “Li Mu, just now, the wife of Deputy Minister of Resources Ling Haidong called me.”
“She wants me to bring you to meet her.”
“I was planning to turn her down and say you’d gone into the Abyss on a mission. What do you think...?”
“Don’t,” Li Mu said.
“The Deputy Minister of Resources’ wife—is her surname Zhao?”
Yin Changming thought for a moment, then said, “I honestly don’t know. Ling Haidong’s wife has always been rather mysterious, and I’m not clear on her name either.”
Li Mu smiled.
Back when he had clashed with Zhao Yi, Zhao Yi had mentioned that his uncle had the ability to alter Blackwater High School’s ranking.
And afterward, it had actually happened. That Ling Haidong was most likely Zhao Yi’s uncle by marriage.
Now Zhao Yi had just been arrested, and Ling Haidong’s wife immediately called?
Even a fool could see the connection.
“Agree to it. Ask her where she wants to meet.”
“Th-That... is that really appropriate?”
Yin Changming was not entirely sure whether Li Mu was speaking in anger.
“It’s appropriate. I want to see what she’s trying to do.”
Li Mu understood Yin Changming’s difficulty.
Naturally, Yin Changming did not want to bring him to meet the wife of the Deputy Minister of Resources.
He was afraid Li Mu would be put on the spot.
But at the same time, he did not dare openly offend the Department of Resources.
After all, aside from the Abyss-Suppressing Army and certain top-tier families, the Department of Resources—which controlled enormous quantities of resources—was a truly powerful department.
The extent of its influence and the depth of its entanglements were beyond what ordinary people could imagine.
Under Li Mu’s firm insistence, Yin Changming could only agree.
Very soon, he called back again.
The meeting could happen immediately, and the location was Cloudwater Restaurant.
At that moment, inside a private room on the second floor of Cloudwater Restaurant,
the large table was covered with delicacies from land and sea, and around it sat seven or eight elegant society ladies.
Every one of them was dressed in the fashion of a wealthy matron.
Most of them were in their forties, still graceful and well-preserved.
Seated in the place of honor opposite the door was a richly dressed woman with a head of beautiful red hair.
She was none other than Zhao Yi’s paternal aunt, Zhao Hong.
Seated beside her was the wife of the South District Law Enforcement Department Director.
The others were also wives of officials with whom she was ordinarily on good terms, invited to accompany her.
Today, Zhao Hong’s main purpose in hosting this gathering was to entertain the director’s wife.
Naturally, her goal was to have the woman think of some way to get her nephew Zhao Yi released.
Now that Zhao Yi had been arrested, Zhao Hong’s heart had been clenched with anxiety.
Because she had already learned that it was her own son, Ling Da, who had given Zhao Yi the idea.
What she feared most now was that Zhao Yi would crack under pressure and implicate her son Ling Da.
But the director’s wife had said she was powerless in this matter.
The one who had made the arrest was Lu Zhenshan, the Director of the East District Law Enforcement Department, and that man did not give face to anyone.
Not to mention that Ironhand City had two law enforcement bureaus for one city.
One was the East City Law Enforcement Bureau, under Commissioner Bai Tiewei, which oversaw all law enforcement branches in the eastern and western districts.
The other was the southern bureau, which oversaw all branches in the southern and northern districts.
And they belonged to the southern side. They were not even part of the same system as the East City Law Enforcement Bureau.
Zhao Hong immediately fell into distress.
However, the director’s wife gave her an idea—go straight to the source.
Find Li Mu.
As long as Li Mu could be persuaded to let the matter go, it would become much easier to handle.
Even if Zhao Yi could not be released immediately, at the very least the case would no longer be pursued so aggressively.
At once, one of the other ladies provided Yin Changming’s phone number, the principal of Blackwater High School.
That was why Zhao Hong had called Yin Changming and demanded that he bring Li Mu to see her.
At that moment, Zhao Hong let out a long sigh, looking somewhat troubled.
“Don’t worry. No matter what, this Li Mu is just a child.”
“If you speak nicely to him and give him a little face, he probably won’t be so tactless.”
The director’s wife tried to comfort her.
But Zhao Hong merely swept a cool glance across her.
Was that what she was worried about? She was worried about whether her son would be dragged into this. Did this woman really think she was fretting over how to speak to some student named Li Mu?
She was the wife of the Deputy Minister of Resources. Did she need to lower herself before a mere student?
At once, her temper flared.
Even when she met a Wolf Guard from the military district, she could still chat and laugh with ease.
As for people like the principal of some Blackwater High School, only women at this level would even have his contact information.
Otherwise, she would never in her life come into contact with someone of such a low rank!
Even if Li Mu was a reserve officer, he would still have to submit to her arrangements.
“Give him a little face? Is that really necessary?”
Zhao Hong asked coolly.
The director’s wife immediately understood what Zhao Hong was thinking and sneered inwardly.
But on the surface, she smiled warmly. “Well, one does not strike a smiling face. After all, we’re the ones asking something of him.”
The moment she said that, Zhao Hong’s expression darkened.
Bitch!
In front of all these people, she was actually saying that Zhao Hong was asking a student for help?
I asked you to handle this, and you failed completely—now you’re mocking me too?
Very well. I’ll show you that you and I are not on the same level.
When I get things done, I do it by ordering people around and cursing them into action!
She merely gave a faint snort and said nothing more.
Just then, footsteps sounded in the corridor.
A knock came at the door.
“Come in!”
Zhao Hong called out coolly.
Li Mu pushed open the door and walked in first. Yin Changming followed right behind him, wearing a helpless, placating smile.
Since he did not know Zhao Hong at all and only recognized the lady who had his phone number, he greeted them by saying, “Good day, Madam Lin. Good day, ladies.”
Madam Lin immediately gestured toward Zhao Hong and said, “This is the wife of the Deputy Minister of Resources. Just call her Madam Hong.”
“Madam Hong!”
Yin Changming also knew that Hong was not actually her surname, but since her real surname was being kept private, it was better not to ask.
Zhao Hong coolly swept a glance over the two of them.
Then she pointed at an empty seat at the table and said to Yin Changming,
“Principal Yin, is it? Sit.”
There was only one empty seat, and she had specifically told Yin Changming to sit. She had made no arrangement for Li Mu to sit.
It was obvious that she was trying to give Li Mu a show of force.
She intended to make him stand there and take a scolding.
Yin Changming had not yet sat down.
Li Mu smiled and said to him, “Principal, looks like there’s nothing for me here, so I’ll be leaving first.”
With that, Li Mu turned and walked straight out of the private room.
He did not hesitate for even a moment.
Zhao Hong froze on the spot, and the corners of her mouth twitched violently several times...