Lantern Sister is still very capable.

Chapter 163 Old acquaintance

"Oh? You mean Chu Deng single-handedly killed the Insect King?" Zero Degree ate fruit salad while lying in his hospital bed, listening to Bai Mei tell a story.

"That's not all. He was promoted four levels and took over your command." White Eyebrows glared at Zero Degree with exasperation. "You've worked so hard here for months, and in the end, someone else has reaped all the rewards."

Zero smiled. "The higher-ups will never let me down."

No matter how much importance is attached to Chu Deng, the higher-ups' attention to Level 4 is unlikely to cause Zero Degree, an old Level 4, to be sidelined just because of Chu Deng.

“That’s true.” Bai Mei took a bite of melon, narrowing her eyes. She hadn’t intentionally come to stir up trouble; it just came up in the conversation. “Speaking of which, do you remember the problem with the space in Shantou?”

Zero paused for a moment while eating. "What happened? Is there any follow-up?"

After he was seriously injured and hospitalized, he didn't pay much attention to the source of the problem that forced him to fight.

The problem in Shantou City is that Meng Xiang, the superhuman who was responsible for responding to Cai Zhizhi's assistance in building the spatial barrier, was kidnapped, which involved enemy agents, and he was directly implicated.

"It's related to Chu Deng. Chu Deng arrested a group of people who were smuggling the corpses of parasitic beasts. During the interrogation, they found that the group was the same one that killed Meng Xiang."

"Which country?" Zero asked, frowning.

South Korea.

Chu Deng never expected that the person she casually grabbed could cause such a lot of trouble.

Initially, she was called to observe the interrogation of smugglers. Logically, this matter should have had nothing to do with her, but Jiang Guoqiang spoke up, so Chu Deng just went through the motions.

As a result, Liu Wenqing, the spy being interrogated, began to implicate her.

"You mean the person protecting you is a level four fire-type ability user?"

"That's right, his name is Zheng Weiduo. But he suddenly disappeared a while ago. We investigated and found someone you would never expect."

"Who?" asked the officer in charge of the interrogation, his expression calm.

"Chu Deng. She was with another space-type ability user at the time, and Zheng Weiduo chased after Chu Deng and went out." Liu Wenqing said with certainty, "We are absolutely not mistaken."

Chu Deng blinked. She had gone to find Zheng Weiduo wearing a mask and carrying a clock. Logically speaking, someone who didn't know her couldn't possibly have bitten her.

The worst-case scenario is that some of these smugglers may be acquaintances.

Liu Wenqing is talking nonsense in an attempt to divert their investigation.

But Chu Deng did not take the initiative to refute. Instead, she waited until the umbrella finished interrogating the others and watched the whole process. Even when she was accused to death by the spy and smuggler, no one stopped her from continuing to watch, and no one took her away for interrogation. Everyone seemed to trust her completely.

As Yu San emerged from the interrogation room, a hint of weariness in her eyes, but her attitude towards Chu Deng remained unchanged. "What did you say?"

"There's nothing to say, and I can't prove it either," Chu Deng said calmly. The principle of innocence applies; anyone who tries to slander her with just words and no evidence is delusional.

“I’ve heard about Zheng Weiduo’s situation too. You were apparently undergoing special training at the base at the time, so it would be easy for you to prove your innocence,” Umbrella said proactively.

Chu Deng, however, was not about to fall into a trap easily. "That's not necessarily true. Didn't he say that I'd be accompanied by a space-type ability user? If I have a space-type ability user with me, the base won't be able to stop me at all."

The ambiguous response, coupled with an air of self-doubt, left Yusan speechless. "Alright, stop messing around. It couldn't be you. You can go now."

Chu Deng smiled and walked away slowly.

At the same time, the dark clouds that were scouting the territory connected with Chu Deng's consciousness, and several dark shadows streaked across the sky, heading to Shantou City to investigate, following Chu Deng's instructions.

"No. 291, Shangzhong Community, Jinsha Road." Chu Deng read out the address she had seen in the information in a low voice. It was the address where Meng Xiang, a level two space-type ability user, was murdered, and it was also the safe house of the smuggler's accomplice.

It's estimated that the entire area within a ten-mile radius has been searched. The information mentions that there are quite a few people with superpowers among this group. She should follow the gathering of superpower elements to find them.

Chu Deng boarded the cloud to investigate, and the fire crow's eyes instantly turned crimson. Its level five ability was used briefly for three seconds. In those three seconds, the colorful elemental distribution in the sky was fully visible. The cloud was much lower level than Chu Deng and could only barely borrow Chu Deng's ability. The duration was short, but fortunately, Chu Deng had a strong memory and noticed the anomaly.

"Interesting." Chu Deng felt relieved. It was indeed an acquaintance. She looked at the distant waves and the sunset. "Shang Hong, Hong Shang, Sister Hong... indeed an old friend."

Chu Deng couldn't help but recall the old events of that year. After Fire Butterfly died, she deliberately sealed these memories away, but unexpectedly, some minor figures still surfaced.

Hong Sang managed to escape back then and boarded a smuggling ship with Ying Chengji. The ship departed from Haishi Port, passed through South Korea and Japan, and finally arrived in the United States.

Hong Shang disembarked at the first stop, South Korea, and tricked Ying Chengji by taking away Ying Chengji's "great scientist"—Bae Se-mok.

While Pei Shimu was imprisoned in the Cosmic God Cult to study divine blood, he unexpectedly discovered a parasite that could enhance the power of divine blood. However, during the research process, Ying Chengji's plans backfired.

Of all the people, Ying Chengji only brought two people with him: Ying Wuchou and Pei Shimu. The others discovered Ying Chengji's whereabouts during their escape and tried their best to catch up with him.

After all, these low-level thugs, backed by the Cosmic God Cult, have committed numerous crimes. Even if they are weak in the country, they are still only facing a suspended death sentence. It would be better for them to go with Ying Chengji.

Although Ying Chengji fled in a sorry state, he had already decided to go to the United States to make a comeback using his superhuman identity. He certainly didn't mind having more subordinates, so he brought along these small fry.

Among them, Hong Shang was the most beautiful and the most capable. With mutual consent, Hong Shang also fell for him. However, after this ordeal, she felt that it was better to rely on herself than on others. If the boss was unreliable, she might as well be the boss herself. Using her status as Ying Chengji's lover, she collected a lot of information, turned a group of people to join her on the ship in South Korea, and kidnapped Pei Shimu.

What should have been the rise of a powerful figure turned into tragedy when Pei Shimu developed a high fever halfway through his journey and, due to neglect, died.

Hong Shang nearly shattered her good teeth, but she could only swallow the pain. As a woman without any special abilities and having lost her only means of survival, she had to fight her way out of danger.

He hooked up with the director of a beauty clinic in South Korea, got a face transplant, and started a business smuggling beauty products.

But she always remembered Pei Shimu's research. She found the parasite in Pei Shimu's research records and extracted a liquid from the parasite that could actually repair scars.

This perfectly matches Hongshang's beauty expertise!

Hong Shang directly opened a special line in the Southeast Sea, secretly smuggling the corpses of parasitic beasts to South Korea to produce beauty masks mixed with parasite extract. Once launched, the masks had excellent effects and huge profits. In order to evade taxes, Hong Shang also found several people with storage space ability to help him smuggle the goods.

That's incredibly audacious.

She also opened a chain of beauty salons in Guangdong Province and even sponsored several welfare homes, specifically selecting children with potential, thinking of training thugs directly from a young age.

It can be said that given time, she can build a complete industrial chain.

But coincidentally, her cargo ship was seized by the Southeast Sea Front, but fortunately, no problems were found with the cargo.

Unfortunately, her storage space unit was recruited by the Guangdong Provincial Ability User Base. After all, being a civil servant sounds much better than being a smuggler, and one of her people was turned.

Hong Shang personally led his men to the Southeast Sea front to kill traitors, just in time for the parasitic beasts to attack, and his henchmen were killed in the sea.

Hong Shang had barely caught his breath after being moved to a safe place when his subordinates reported that the safe house was being targeted by a Level 3 space-type being, and they immediately killed him.

Hong Shang, breathless, hurriedly led his men to relocate, and the cargo ship was seized by Chu Deng once again.

Completely enraged, Hong Shang simply overturned the table. There was no way to get the person out, since they were now involved with South Korea. She simply ordered her men who had gone in to accuse Chu Deng of stirring up trouble, and then take the opportunity to leave China while she called for reinforcements.

Hong Shang vowed that after leaving China this time, she would never come back, even if it meant death. Wouldn't it be better for her to stay in South Korea and be a rich woman?

I just hope I can get away with it this time.

Hong Shang thought to herself, but a sense of unease crept into her heart, for she had seen Chu Deng again.

That strange little girl from back then has grown up and become a level three fire-type ability user!

Recalling the fire from that year, she seemed to understand something.