The Empress’s Gigolo

Chao Rong then noticed the largest building across the road. There were some people standing under it whom he didn’t see at first because they were blocked by the trees along the road.

“There are VIPs coming.” He realized this immediately.

“Could it be the owner of this area? With so many people involved, he definitely isn’t an ordinary person. Even if he isn’t the owner of this area, he still must be someone high ranking. Could the people along the road be security guards?”

Chao Rong immediately dispelled the thought after some careful observation.

The people standing on his side of the street didn’t seem alert toward their surroundings and seemed to be observing the people in front of the building across the road.

Those people comprised of monks and priests. The police definitely wouldn’t choose to go undercover in such easily noticeable outfits.

The monks and priests in Wuji City were different from other places. Before the introduction of cultivation, most of these people were experts from various sects. After the introduction, they seized the opportunity and broke through to the Man Wheel level.

Although they were at the Man Wheel level, Chao Rong was very clear that they were much stronger than he was.

“If I had a gun, they would be no match for me,” he thought to himself as he gradually stopped in his tracks.

“That is…” He stopped suddenly. A man in his forties stood in front of him with his hands in his pockets and stared across the road.

If Chao Rong remembered correctly, he was one of the top experts in the Armed Forces Command. Even though Chao Rong hadn’t lived in this city for an extended time, he happened to bump into this man previously and had heard from others that this man was the strongest expert in the agency.

Chao Rong didn’t expect him to be here.

So many people were waiting here just to see who was coming?

Who exactly was this person?

“Chao Rong, you are here too!” A very thin young man walked over with a smile. “I didn’t expect you to be so well-informed even though you have only arrived here recently!”

“Ding Hao!” When Chao Rong saw him, he knew that his doubts would be cleared.

Ding Hao was said to be a disciple of a sect, and it had already been two years since he came to Wuji City. He was talented, his performance was outstanding, his personality was well-rounded, and he was extremely well-informed as well. When Chao Rong first came to Wuji City and went to the Armed Forces Command to go through the formalities, he happened to meet Ding Hao there and obtained a lot of useful information from him.

Today, there were three main groups of people in the Armed Forces Command. The first group had members like Chao Rong that originally served in criminal investigation and various agencies. The second comprised of idle members who originated from sects like Ding Hao. The last group were people who left the military due to various reasons.

Due to their close ancestry, these three groups of people grew more familiar with each other.

Actually, the biggest power in Wuji City wasn’t the Armed Forces Command, but the military.

There were only slightly more than 1,300 Man Wheel experts in the command, and it was said that there were more than 5,000 of them in the military. There were also some people who came from sects and didn’t join either of these two organizations. These people had a high degree of self-respect and strength, but there were very few of them at less than 200 people.

“You think too much. I just happened to pass by. This is my daily jogging route. What’s going on here today?” Chao Rong smiled.

“Don’t you know? I actually thought you heard about it.” Ding Hao gave him a weird look.

“It’s said that a bunch of Earth Wheel people are coming today. The people on the streets are experts in the city who have heard about it and decided to come and see what those Earth Wheel experts actually look like.” He tilted his head toward those people by the roadside.

“To be honest, I’m also very curious. You have to know that there isn’t even a single Earth Wheel expert in the Armed Forces Command or the military,” he added.

“There’s no telling how talented those people are to reach the Earth Wheel level in just a few years!” Chao Rong couldn’t help but feel envious.

“A few years? This may not necessarily be true.” Ding Hao gave a mysterious smile.

“What do you mean?”

“Where did those martial arts manuals come from? They couldn’t possibly have fallen from the sky, could they?”

“Weren’t they developed by scientists?” Chao Rong was slightly surprised.

“Who knows!” Ding Hao shrugged his shoulders.

The two chatted for a while when Ding Hao’s eyes suddenly lit up.

“They are here!” he exclaimed.

A long row of new cars approached from the distance. Chao Rong glanced across and estimated that there were around 50 to 60 of them.

The convoy arrived after a few minutes. Ding Hao silently counted, and there were 56 cars in total.

When the convoy stopped, everyone on this side of the road stared intently at the other side.

Then came the sound of a series of car doors opening. Two to three people got out of each car, and they were mostly in their twenties and thirties.

As for strength… Chao Rong observed carefully and was surprised to find that they were all at the Man Wheel level.

Others might not be able to easily tell whether they were Man Wheel experts or not, but he worked in criminal investigation for so many years that his observational abilities were unrivalled.

Regardless of strength, speed, coordination, or self-control, ordinary people weren’t comparable to Man Wheel experts. There was a smooth flowing feeling between movements that was pleasing to the eye. As long as one watched them closely, one would be able to tell whether they were Man Wheel experts just from their movements.

When the dozens of cars in the middle of the convoy opened their doors, everyone was shocked.

They saw a lot of burly men alighting from the cars. Even though they were separated by a road, the spectators could still feel the ferocity and murderous spirit of these men.

They also noticed a faint sense of oppression!

“These people… These people… Are they Earth class experts?” Sweat started dripping from Chao Rong’s head even though the winged cavalry warriors didn’t notice him on the other side of the road.

“These people are… terrifying!” he whispered.

It was his instinct, which he had obtained through near-death experiences, that told him that these people were extremely dangerous.

As for their level of strength, Chao Rong wasn’t able to tell much because the difference was too big.

However, he believed that there must be Earth class experts among them. All of them might even be Earth class experts.

There were more than 20 of them! More than 20 Earth class experts, was that possible?

“It’s truly very terrifying.” The smile on Ding Hao’s face disappeared, and his face was solemn. “One of them glanced over just now, and it gave me a creepy feeling.”

“They must be the legendary Earth class experts!”

A bald man with no eyebrows alighted from a car. He was wearing simple sportswear and a white T-shirt. Although he didn’t look as strong as those before him, those who were watching him still felt a sense of oppression.

Furthermore, he stood in the middle of everyone.

One could tell his status by observing that everyone looked in his direction after alighting.

He must be the most important person in this convoy.

“He looks a little familiar!” Chao Rong muttered to himself after seeing this man’s face. He was confident in his own faculty of memory. He definitely wouldn’t forget anyone that he met, especially not someone with such characteristic features.

Yet, where exactly had he seen this person before?

He continued to ponder even after everyone across the road had entered the building.

Spectators on Chao Rong’s side of the road also started to gradually disperse. Everyone came to watch with motives in their minds, but after seeing those people, none of them dared to step forward. They sensed extreme danger from the aura of those burly men.

There was no first place in literacy and no place for second in martial arts. There might be people who wanted to see how strong the Earth class experts were, but even with so many experts in the city, none dared to step forward just due to that menacing aura. This showed how powerful those burly men were!

There was no telling how many people secretly swore to themselves that they would attain such a level!

When Chao Rong awoke from his daze, there were very few people left on the road, and even Ding Hao had disappeared.

He wasn’t in the mood to continue jogging anymore and pondered as he walked back home.

He tried to recall everyone he could remember, starting from the most recent.

Just as Chao Rong was about to reach his home, his entire body suddenly froze…

An arrest warrant and a person’s figure gradually overlapped.

Ren Baqian!

His own high school classmate!

His appearance was slightly above average and so was his family background. He was pretty gentle and introverted, but not in a weird way. In short, he was just a very ordinary classmate.

After graduation, Ren Baqian had never attended any gatherings and no one bothered as well.

After that, the next piece of news that Chao Rong received about him was an AAA level arrest warrant. This made him very surprised, and he even got in touch with all his contactable classmates to find out everything about Ren Baqian.

However, the warrant was inexplicably cancelled later on.

There wasn’t even any information in the internal police network about Ren Baqian’s case. It seemed that his warrant was directly revoked, which was extremely rare.

Because of these two things, Chao Rong had very vivid memories regarding this old classmate of his.

The person that Chao Rong saw just now didn’t have any hair or eyebrows and was a little bit fatter. Other than that, the man’s height, face, eyes, nose, and lips looked very similar or possibly even identical to his old classmate’s.

At the thought of this, he quickly rushed home, flipped through his graduation photos and found Ren Baqian. He then compared him to the person he saw just now and discovered that they truly were the same person!

Apart from having the same height and appearance, his movements, personality traits, and other aspects were completely different.

“What are you doing? You have been in a fluster ever since you came back, just to look at your high school graduation photos?” A woman in her thirties felt baffled.

“Do you remember a classmate at our high school named Ren Baqian?” Chao Rong asked after collecting his thoughts.

“Yes, I remember. He has a brother called Ren Wannian. You used to call them the thousand year tortoise and the 10,000 year turtle!” The woman laughed. “I remember that you mentioned him a few years ago. He became a wanted criminal, right? I felt pretty surprised since I could not imagine him turning out to be one.”

“Don’t bring this up anymore. The arrest warrant has long since been revoked. He isn’t a wanted criminal either.” Chao Rong shook his head.

“Why have you suddenly thought of him then?”

“I saw someone just now who looked just like him!”

“There are many people who look alike,” the woman replied casually.

Chao Rong packed his things and put them back in place before sitting on the sofa and looking a little dazed.

Indeed, there were many people who looked alike. He could be overthinking things.

He must be thinking too much!

How could those two be the same person?

No matter how he thought about it, it couldn’t be possible.

Even if Ren Baqian could enter Wuji City, he couldn’t possibly have been surrounded by more than 20 legendary Earth class experts and more than 100 Man Wheel level experts.