The Search in Ba Sing Se

Four days passed, each day Long Feng grew more crazed as he lost sleep and was annoyed constantly by a shadow that would wake him up whenever he would fall asleep.

…

Walking with red eyes and black bags under his eyes, Long Feng walked around, feeling like he could fall asleep even whilst walking.

He walked through the main hall of the Royal Palace as he prepared himself to head outside of the palace to bask in the sunlight to rest himself.

All the servants and even the Dai Li looked at Long Feng with worry as he walked right past them in a heavy and exhausted manner.

"Long Feng…"

Hearing a whisper, Long Feng's trudging figure stood tall as he felt the adrenaline running in his body. His tired eyes morphed into eyes filled with anger as he turned to look at a man standing not too far from him.

"You!" yelled Long Feng with great anger, surprising everyone around him.

With a mocking smile on his face, the man flipped off Long Feng before turning around to run.

Giving pursuit, Long Feng chased the man without giving up, no matter how far the taunting man ran and how tired Long Feng felt.

By the time Long Feng had caught up to the man, they were standing in an alley with a dead end.

"You can't run… ha… now!"

Long Feng gasped for air as he looked at the man standing before him.

Smirking, the man shook his head, "Long Feng… you're such a fool. What makes you think you can catch me, the Great Huan Meng?"

"This… ha… is a dead… ha… dead end," gasped Long Feng.

"You don't get it. You'll never catch me, just like how the Earth King will never figure out that you were controlling him," said Huan Meng, narrowing his eyes at Long Feng's serious yet infuriated gaze. "I'm just like your dream, you may see me, but you will never capture me."

"Shut up! I already have the Earth King in my grasp. The entire Earth Kingdom is mine to control the way I see fit…"

"Hehe… Hahahaha!"

Huan Meng laughed as he slowly walked over to a corner that was hard for Long Feng to see.

Long Feng frowned, "Hiding will do nothing, you're at a dead end. The only way to leave is past me…"

"…"

"Come out!"

Feeling his anger seething once more as he thought about his days of torment, Long Feng walked forward. His hopes rose as he finally found the culprit that tormented these long four days.

At first he believed the culprits to be the Avatar and his group, but after having the Dai Li keep an eye on them, Long Feng heard that all that they had been doing was training, reading, and playing around.

Now, with the true culprit before him, Long Feng couldn't help but start to feel elated.

A smile filled with joy and anger spread on his face as he approached the area where Huan Meng was hiding.

"There's no where to run anymore, Huan Meng!"

Jumping forward with joy, Long Feng stared at the empty before him with a dumbfounded look on his face. Eyes wide and a stunned look on his face, Long Feng couldn't look away from the empty area.

"Ha… haha… hahahahhahahah!"

Laughing like a maniac, Long Feng covered his face as his face went through countless expressions before finally landing on anger.

"ARGHH! How?! HHOOWW?!?!"

Falling to his knees, Long Feng punched the ground, frustrated.

"How… how did he escape… I'll torture him… I'll kill him… him and his entire family… everyone that knows him… ARGHH!!"

Standing up with a face red from anger, Long Feng left the alley and called forward the Dai Li.

"Find every person named Huan Meng and bring them before me!"

"Yes!"

The Dai Li sprang into action and searched throughout the entirety of Ba Sing Se for every single Huan Meng.

However, the Dai Li were growing wary and doubtful of Long Feng after he ordered them to look for Huan Meng.

***

Meanwhile…

After four days of reading and training, Genji had already begun to recreate the Immortality technique of Lao Ge.

It might even be similar to the one Lao Ge had gained insight into compared to the one he imparted to Kyoshi.

Not just that, but Genji had already begun to delve into the flight skill one can gain from Airbending. He already had some form of inspiration and insight from the show, Legend of Korra.

Now he even has the scripts and writings from Guru Laghima.

"Only a matter of time before I can fly and create the immortality art…" mumbled Genji with a smile on his face.

"Master!"

Suddenly, a man with a black mask on his face, and a black martial robe made of silk, appeared next to Genji's bed by appearing from the ground with Earthbending.

This man with the white mask was the exact same person that Long Feng had fired when he was woken up. Genji had found the man leaving at midnight through his Spirit Sense before stopping him.

Genji found out why the man was leaving, and by offering him a job that will get him back into the Dai Li. Genji told the man that he would remove Long Feng from power.

The man was skeptical, but he agreed to Genji's terms.

After all, since the very beginning, none of the Dai Li had any loyalty to Long Feng. Their loyalty only stayed true to Ba Sing Se and the prosperity of the Earth Kingdom.

They followed Long Feng because they believed that he could lead them and not cause any mayhem in Ba Sing Se.

They believed Long Feng to be a wise and cunning man that could guide Ba Sing Se, something that they didn't see in the current Earth King, Kuei.

"What did you discover?" asked Genji as he turned to look at the masked man with a smirk.

"I have discovered a dense metal within the treasury. A fist sized portion of the metal would weigh approximately 45 kg (~100 lbs). The amount of this metal is about the size of an adult," reported the masked man as he explained the rare and mysterious metal he had found. "Records state that this metal is only a part of a meteor that had fallen here during the 3rd Earth King's reign. They couldn't break the metal, nor could they melt it, so they left the rest of the meteor.

The location of the rest of the meteor has been lost according to the Royal historian."

Genji smiled and looked at the rock bracelets on his wrists and ankles.

These rock bracelets were made together with Toph.

Combining their Earthbending skill and strength, they condensed a large mass of rocks together, making the resulting rock turn out heavy and dense.

Making 8 rings, Genji and Toph placed these rings on their wrists and ankles.

Each ring was about 15 kg (~33 lbs), which wasn't much for Genji considering he has the strength of four adult men ever since his power stat reached 20.

[Power: 20

Vitality: 18

Energy: 18

Spirit: 62]

"Good find," praised Genji as he stood up. 'Looks like I need to find a way to melt the strange metal before I turn it into one of these rings.'

"Master?"

Turning to look at the masked man, Genji one of his eyebrows, curiously, "What else did you discover, Zhong?"

Zhong knitted his eyebrows as he thought about what he found before revealing it to Genji.

"I've discovered that Long Feng is conducting a wide search to look for a man named Huan Meng," Zhong said as he looked up at Genji, wondering what he might plan to get rid of Long Feng.

"Ha! Searching for a man…" Genji began slowly with a snicker before erupting out into laughter. "Ahahahahaha!"

Feeling uncomfortable, Zhong felt rather intimidated by Genji's laughter.

'Has he… already done something? But when?!'

Zhong's eyes lit up in awe replacing the fear as he looked at Genji in a new light. A seed of devotion nestled itself neatly within Zhong's heart.

"Let's make a move…" said Genji as he began to move. "Keep a lookout, Zhong."

"Yes!"

Heading out of his room, Genji watched as Zhong jumped up to the ceiling and hid in the shadows as he moved around and stuck himself to the ceiling using Earthbending.

Heading to Long Feng's study whilst he was out and searching for Huan Meng, Genji began to look around the study. With his spirit sense, Genji searched the room before finally finding a particular book that he was searching for.

It was Long Feng's 'Mind Control Research' Notes.

Inside this book was everything Long Feng knew about hypnotism. Every technique, every method, and every trick.

Genji searched for this book so that he could learn hypnotism, not to use it, but rather counter it.

Because of his past life, Genji already had a basic idea of how hypnosis works. There are various forms of hypnosis, two which are particular ones Genji paid attention to in his past life.

Genji found interest in hypnosis because of the two times they had mentioned it in the Avatar series. Once in the tv show, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and the other time in the comics from Avatar: The Legend of Korra.

The two types of hypnosis Genji wishes to be 'immune' to would be the traditional hypnosis (including Long Feng's forceful brainwashing) and the Electromagnetic Hypnosis, hypnosis through manipulating the brainwaves of a person.

However, to be immune to them, Genji has to first learn them.

With furrowed eyebrows, Genji looked at the book in his hand. With this very book, Genji will begin on his path to learning Hypnosis.

Not just learning it, but advancing it and researching it himself all just to be 'immune' to it.

Since he has no help from the system, Genji will have to study and develop hypnosis on his own.

Pocketing the book into his storage, Genji left the room and called out to Zhong.

"Zhong, take me to Lake Laogai."

With his spirit sense, Genji followed Zhong out of the royal palace and over to Lake Laogai, which was located not too far away from the royal palace.

After almost two hours of travel on foot, Genji and Zhong entered the underground base.

Switching out of their clothes, Zhong had prepared Dai Li clothes for both Genji and himself.

Wearing the clothes, Genji and Zhong began to travel within the underground base.

With a frown on his face, Genji watched everything within this underground base with his spirit sense.

Prisoners… brainwashing… the training of Joo Dee…

"Zhong… do you like the idea of brainwashing your own people," asked Genji, surprising Zhong.

"No. But it's something that needs to be done," answered Zhong with a confident expression.

Genji turned to look at Zhong with narrowed eyes, "Oh? Something that needs to be done?

So you wouldn't mind if I were to brainwash you and make you a mindless slave like Joo Dee?"

"N-…"

Zhong flinched at Genji's question and lowered his head. He was just about to answer Genji when he realized what he was about to say.

He clenched his fists and remained quiet.

"Why do you believe it to be needed, despite the various lives the Dai Li are destroying?" Genji's eyes were threatening to pierce through Zhong as he glared right at him.

Zhong could feel Genji's discontent and disgust despite not turning to look at him. It made him feel guilty, no matter what excuse he came up with in his head, he only ended up feeling even more guilty.

'Am I in the wrong? What if one of the Joo Dee was my mother? Or my wife?'

The more Zhong began to think through it, dread began to sprout in his heart.

When he became a Dai Li, Long Feng had given every Dai Li members' families an exemption from the brainwashing.

Whenever Long Feng needed more people to conduct his research, the Dai Li would be sent out to procure more people for Long Feng.

Most of the time they would use the prisoners, but it wasn't enough for Long Feng who wished for a faster process.

It was something Zhong never really paid any heed to, yet now that he was no longer a Dai Li, he began to fear that the Dai Li had grabbed his family to brainwash them.

'No… nonono…'

Zhong shook his head, fearing the worst.