Chapter Forty-Five: Hidden Murderous Intent

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Handsome Hao stammered, “No, I... you... um, what about the cuffs?”
Prince Xuan shot him a glare.
Old Wang said, “You must be new here!”
Handsome Hao replied, “You’re right.”
As he spoke, Old Wang reached for the box in Hao’s hand. Handsome Hao tried to hold onto it but failed.
Old Wang said, “Better let me handle this myself!”
With a swift shake, he opened the box and, lowering his hands, locked the cuffs in place. Handsome Hao stared in awe.
Prince Xuan said, “Handsome Hao, have you even read the intern manual? Chapter Eleven, Section Eight. Read it.”
Startled, Handsome Hao hurriedly pulled out the intern manual. Old Wang leaned in to look as well.
Handsome Hao read, “Courier handcuffs, item 444, special agent equipment. When escorting physical prisoners, to avoid drawing attention among humans, the handcuffs are integrated with delivery boxes, food containers, etc. Wow, prisoners can pretend to be couriers and so on, so humans don’t notice too much. Amazing, whose genius idea was this?”
Prince Xuan grabbed the manual away.
Prince Xuan said, “From now on, you must memorize the manual. If you don’t, you’ll lose performance points. Lose a full ten, and your brain will be cut immediately.”

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Old Wang asked curiously, “What kind of leader are you?”
Handsome Hao replied, “I’m human. Ha ha.”
Old Wang said, “Humans are great! Humans live such happy lives! They can—”
Before he could finish, Prince Xuan hit him on the head with a book.
Prince Xuan said, “Stop with the nonsense and flattery. Let’s go! Time for a delivery.”
Handsome Hao glanced back, bewildered.
Handsome Hao muttered, “Crazy! Every one of them is off.”
As they descended the stairs, Prince Xuan remembered Handsome Hao didn’t know how to do anything, so he picked up a resonance capsule, reported the coordinates, and tossed it into the sky.
On a rooftop somewhere, two figures watched Prince Xuan and his group walk away.
Shadow One said, “Looks like Handsome Hao has blended in with Prince Xuan’s group.”
Shadow Two replied, “It’s hard to say for now, but I’ve made plenty of arrangements. Let’s hope we don’t need them and everything goes smoothly.”
Shadow One said, “We must succeed, or life will be worse than death. Let’s go back and report the situation to Taibai.”

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Meanwhile, in the underworld, in that inconspicuous little room, Zhong Kui leisurely ate sweet-and-sour ribs from his bowl. Suddenly, a swirl of black smoke condensed.
Zhong Kui said, “You’re here.”
The man in black replied, “How can you be so calm? The Celestial Court has already started moving. If Prince Xuan’s soul is destroyed by them, that’s one thing. But if they control him, have you thought about the consequences?”
Zhong Kui said, “What if they release Prince Xuan’s soul?”
The man in black replied, “The Celestial Court would never do something so foolish. Besides, releasing him doesn’t benefit us at all. Do you have any good ideas? Tell me now.”
Zhong Kui said, “I remember that Lin Xiaowan went to reincarnate, didn’t she?”
The man in black replied, “Exactly. Last time we tried to use her, but it didn’t work. Wait—do you mean you know where she’s reincarnated, who she is?”
Zhong Kui tossed him a piece of paper without saying another word.
The man in black said, “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it’s handled perfectly this time. You’ll get your share, guaranteed.”
Zhong Kui interrupted, “I don’t care about rewards, just don’t let anything drag me into it. Otherwise, the consequences will be something none of us want to see. All right, don’t come looking for me unless it’s urgent. I might leave for a while—deal with ordinary matters yourselves.”