Wen Yan blinked, but before he could say anything, Cai Qidong immediately reached out and personally brewed a cup of tea for Wen Yan.

"You brat, I know exactly what you're up to just by looking at your ass, so don't say a word. Just drink your tea and listen to me."

Wen Yan held the teacup and drank in silence, not saying a single word.

Cai Qidong let out a long sigh, worry written all over his face.

"I'll be straight with you—the woman we caught was extremely cooperative after we brought her in, even more so than those dumb demons who turn themselves in.

It's like she was just shy of saying, 'I'll sign now—just let me in and work the sewing machine.'

If that's not enough to get her locked up, then she wants to be detained for a few days.

Way too cooperative, and she even volunteered some documents to us.

But from what she's implying, even after all her cooperation, 'You guys still haven't fixed that unruly Dragon God or brought my husband back. Well then, I'll handle it my way.'

The Changfeng Group's network is just way too massive. Subsidiaries, partner companies, the daily movement of goods—it's all an absurdly huge number.

I know she's definitely got other files on hand. But it's not like we can comb through years of records and examine every document. Even if we brought in everyone from the Scorching Sun Department, we couldn't check it all in months.

Just the paperwork alone, if you printed everything out, would be over ten million pages.

How the hell are we supposed to check that?

God knows what kind of stir this woman—so calm on the surface, crazy inside—could whip up.

Her demand is really simple—she's laid her cards on the table.

I also know, letting her throw money around, help us gather intel, help us deal with that freshly revived Dragon God—she could be really useful.

Truth is, we just don't have the budget to burn through like this according to our estimates.

That detailed dossier on the West River water system she's got—she's been pouring money into it for five years.

Five years—every year, just for this, she burns up hundreds of millions. In total, at least three billion's gone.

She really doesn't care about money, like it means nothing to her.

Also, I never realized before—turns out she's got all kinds of connections in other commanderies, and the ties seem pretty close.

She was barely brought in to assist in the investigation, and suddenly a bunch of people popped up to plead her case—even commandery ministers.

The impact is honestly getting out of hand.

Headquarters haven't called me about it—that only means the top brass is already aware, but some big leaders are personally watching.

Letting those two tear each other apart actually isn't such a bad idea.

But I need to make sure, if necessary, we can hit the brakes.

The catch is, the brakes on Liu Qiying's side.

So—can you hit the brakes?"

Wen Yan held his teacup, looking at Cai Qidong's deadly serious face, and almost admitted right there.

He set down the cup, and just as seriously replied,

"Minister, He Changfeng really isn't in my hands."

"I'm not asking you that. I'm just asking—if it comes to it, can you hit the brakes?"

"I've got other methods I can try, but I can't guarantee anything."

Cai Qidong leaned back in the chair, holding his thermos and sipping his medicine, his heart finally at ease.

Wen Yan just sat there drinking tea. After all, he had already learned one core lesson from Cai Qidong—do things if you must, but keep your mouth shut till the end. Never admit to anything directly.

Even carrying Ox-Head on your back, you shouldn't own up to it—let alone now, when he hasn't even taken Ox-Head on yet.

He Changfeng really wasn't with him. He was actually sealed with Zhang Laoxi for now.

He'd had this idea for a while but never found the timing to try. Now more or less felt right.

When he got back, he could try to awaken He Changfeng's consciousness and have a chat with him.

Liu Qiying wanting to resurrect her husband—that wasn't really a problem. But then, why did that Dragon God upstream of the West River also want He Changfeng?

Surely that Dragon God doesn't mean to use He Changfeng against Liu Qiying for something?

But this isn't something urgent, doesn't have to be rushed.

Wen Yan thought for a moment and asked,

"Minister, for the Dragon God upstream of the West River, shouldn't we have our own hand on the brakes?"

"We do—the Calamity Protector Goddess Talisman is it. Dragon Tiger Mountain already has disciples who've chosen the Calamity Protector Goddess Talisman, and after coming down the mountain, they'll be at the Nanwu County Scorching Sun Department for at least three years."

"No kidding, that fast? They've already got a ritual set up? They can do the ceremony now?" Wen Yan was a bit surprised.

"Yeah. Right now, if they complete the whole ritual, they can bestow the secret talisman divine skill—makes you immune to drowning.

If we can't solve this within the month, I'll personally ask the Tuoba Martial God to get in the water and just kill off that freshly revived Dragon God, problem solved.

Slaying dragons—this is what our predecessors did. Why can't we do the same?"

"Is there really a Tuoba Martial God?" Wen Yan couldn't help asking.

Honestly, when Fake Mo Zhicheng tried to borrow strength, he failed, and even with everything happening these days—even dealing with the Soul Devouring Beast, the Tuoba Martial God never showed up. They still had to have Qin Kun hold the banner for Martial Path.

Wen Yan was starting to think maybe he didn't exist at all—maybe he was just some hidden trump card the Nanwu County Scorching Sun Department invented, totally unusable, just a name to keep a lid on the whole commandery.

Otherwise, with all that's happened lately, how come he's never shown up once?

"Of course there is." Cai Qidong shot Wen Yan a glance. "If there wasn't, where do you think all that deterrence comes from? You think mere rumors can keep people in check? Are you underestimating or overestimating everyone else here?"

"Alright then. When can you introduce me?"

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