After a moment, Governor Suwen stopped ughing. He cleared his throat and spoke in a deliberately composed tone: "Mm, you've done well. I'll reward you handsomely. Where are you right now? I'll send someone to meet you immediately."

  "I'm at—" Jason was about to answer when Rulu pressed his palm over the communicator's microphone and whispered beside him: "Tell him you want to deliver the person to him in person, to cim the credit yourself."

  Jason then said: "This subordinate wishes to personally hand the person over to you, Governor, as this was entirely my doing and the credit should belong to me alone."

  Suwen hesitated briefly, then said: "Very well. Come to East District, Twenty-Third Street. Contact me once you arrive."

  "Yes, sir. I'll be there shortly."

  Suwen then cut off his communication with Jason. Rulu calcuted that the location Suwen mentioned wasn't far from here—less than ten minutes by car. He immediately used his Spiritual-power to control Jason, and together they left the building. Finding a red car by the roadside, he drove to the street Suwen had described. The wide street appeared completely deserted. Rulu ordered Jason to contact Suwen at once.

  "Governor, sir, I've arrived. Where are you now?"

  "That red car that just pulled up—that's you, isn't it? Bring the person I want out of the vehicle. I need to confirm it's really her."

  "Uh, well…" Jason hesitated, because he hadn't brought anyone Suwen wanted at all—it was simply impossible. Suwen asked with puzzlement: "What's the matter? Didn't you say you'd already captured the person I need? Bring her out now."

  Rulu whispered: "Stall for time…"

  Jason then said: "The thing is, I've temporarily pced her somewhere safe. She's not here."

  "What are you pying at? Go bring her here at once!" Suwen was growing impatient, his tone turning sharp.

  "Yes, sir, I'll bring her right away. However, I hope that once this is done, I might receive a small fief in the Sanctuary, a hundred houses, and also…"

  Suwen suppressed his irritation and said: "Fine, fine. I'll convey your requests to His Majesty the Emperor. Now hurry up and bring the person."

  "Additionally, I have one more request. I'd like…"

  "Are you ever going to stop?! Keep babbling and I'll have you charged with a crime!"

  While Jason and Suwen went back and forth, Rulu was quietly scanning the surroundings through the car window. He knew Suwen had to be hiding somewhere along this street. Suddenly, he spotted a figure standing near an open window on the fifth floor of a building—someone whose build bore a certain resembnce to Suwen's, gazing down toward the car.

  "Could that be Suwen up there? Worth a try." With that thought, Rulu quickly grabbed the communicator from Jason's hand, pointed at the figure by the window, and said: "Go grab that person and bring them to me."

  "Yes—" Jason gnced at the figure by the window, pushed open the car door, stepped out, and with a whoosh, leapt up to the fifth-floor windowsill. He seized the person standing there by the front of their clothing and hauled them out, nding beside the car. Rulu looked at the person Jason had grabbed—it was a middle-aged man with a build somewhat simir to Suwen's, but it was not Suwen himself.

  "Damn, wrong person." Rulu's heart sank. He told Jason to release the man. The middle-aged man fled in a panic without a moment's hesitation.

  At that moment, a dozen or so humanoid armored soldiers appeared seemingly out of nowhere, along with thirty or forty ordinary soldiers bearing firearms, surrounding the red car on all sides. Simultaneously, Suwen's furious voice came through the communicator: "Jason, you worthless wretch—are you trying to rebel?! Bring me the person I want immediately, or I'll order your execution on the spot!"

  "Jason is no longer of any use to me…" A cold gleam fshed in Rulu's eyes. He crouched low inside the car, produced a detonator switch from his person, and smmed it down.

  With a thunderous boom, the bomb pnted on Jason's body exploded violently. In an instant, Jason's body was blown apart. Smoke from the explosion billowed around the car, swallowing it completely. The soldiers, witnessing Jason's body detonate, froze in stunned disbelief, utterly unable to comprehend what had just happened.

  Taking advantage of the Sanctuary soldiers' momentary paralysis, Rulu slipped out of the car under the cover of the smoke and rode the wind up to the rooftop of a nearby building. It wasn't long before some of the soldiers spotted him. Someone pointed up and shouted: "Look! That person looks like the assassin who attacked the Governor before!"

  At those words, every soldier's gaze snapped up to Rulu on the rooftop. Wearing his white smiling mask, Rulu looked down at the Sanctuary soldiers below and called out loudly: "Does anyone among you know where Governor Suwen is? Speak up now."

  The crowd was taken aback; none of the soldiers reacted. Rulu intensified his Spiritual-power and bellowed at the soldiers below: "Whoever among you knows where Governor Suwen is—shoot him dead for me!"

  At that, one soldier's eyes went bnk. He slowly turned his head toward a building near the street and began to raise his firearm. The soldiers beside him immediately moved to restrain him. Noticing the soldier's unusual behavior, Rulu quickly followed the direction of the man's gaze—and caught a glimpse of a shadow in a fourth-floor window of that building, there for just a moment before it disappeared back inside.