Chapter 36: Dark Star Society

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Seeming to sense a companion had been shot, or perhaps hearing the gunshot, two arrows flew from above the Ferris wheel, piercing through the layer upon layer of railings on the spokes, and headed straight for Lin Qing.

"Hmph."

Lin Qing casually waved his electric baton, knocking the two arrows aside, and continued rushing toward the location of the assassin who had just been shot.

With his agility and balance, he could move freely on this Ferris wheel without even using his hands.

His free hands, one holding a gun and the other the electric baton, meant that even with limited space to dodge, he had no need to worry about being hit by arrows! In no time, Lin Qing crossed the layer upon layer of spoke railings and found the assassin hiding behind several railings and spokes.

The opponent wore a camouflage suit that blended almost perfectly with the environment; without careful observation, one could barely see their presence in the night!

Even the compound bow in the opponent's hands seemed coated with similar optical paint, allowing them to hide their assassination well in the darkness.

However, the assassin's left arm was now almost completely severed by the previous shot, with only half a sleeve still barely attached and not fully detached.

Forget drawing a bow; if not for the suction cup climbing equipment still holding the opponent with ropes, they would have fallen straight down.

At this moment, the opponent was staring at him fiercely, with a red light flickering in the pupil of their right eye.

"Mechanical prosthetic eye?"

Lin Qing instantly understood why the opponent, despite not wearing night-vision goggles, could still shoot and snipe them with such precision in the darkness!

Such mechanical prosthetic eyes most likely possessed both night-vision and long-range vision functions.

Suddenly—

A wisp of black blood flowed from the corner of the assassin's mouth, who was staring at him fiercely; their head tilted to the side, and they went still.

Lin Qing also heard the opponent's breathing begin to weaken rapidly.

Clearly, their life was draining away at an extreme rate.

"Poisoned themselves to death?"

Lin Qing frowned, disregarding any further inspection, and continued along the spokes and railings of the Ferris wheel to search again for the positions of the other assassins.

His intuition, or rather his subconscious, kept hinting, allowing him to sense the locations of two other assassins as if aided by a god.

"Bang!"

Mere ten-plus seconds later, Lin Qing found another assassin; before the opponent could release another arrow, he shot them in the chest, killing them on the spot.

The opponent's attire, equipment, and compound bow were almost identical to the previous assassin's.

Even... they also had an identical mechanical prosthetic eye!

"Also a mechanical prosthetic eye?"

Lin Qing couldn't help but feel somewhat surprised in his heart.

With such common traits, could it be that both happened to be blind in one eye and just happened to replace it with a mechanical prosthetic eye?

"I'll know once I see the third person..."

Nearly two hundred meters away from the Ferris wheel stood an observation tower nearly one hundred meters high.

On the bungee jumping platform extending from the highest point of the observation deck, a tall and upright figure was currently standing.

It was a man wearing a black windbreaker and a baseball cap, with a pair of goggles possessing night-vision and long-range vision functions on his face.

At this moment, he held a compound bow nearly half a person's height in his hand, adjusting the pulley system on the bow while gazing at the distant Ferris wheel.

"Truly terrifying..."

The man holding the bow sighed to himself, "This Lin Qing has only emerged for a short while, yet he already possesses such strength; the three hunters I personally trained cannot threaten him... perhaps he has Captain-level strength?"

"However, this fellow is a bit strange; how can he locate three hiding assassins with such precision?"

"Pity I didn't dare bring a phone; otherwise, I could have asked the Crimson Oriole Society..."

"Truly ridiculous; I don't know which fool the Crimson Oriole Society found as an informant within the Inspection Bureau, thinking Lin Qing posed no threat? Such absurd intelligence caused the Dark Star Society to lose three more assassins..."

"Fortunately, I came, and I can remedy the situation..."

As his thoughts shifted, the man holding the bow nocked an arrow and drew the string, slowly pulling back the bowstring; the pulleys on the bow began to turn, providing greater tension and stability.

He had originally come merely as a mission supervisor to confirm the results of these three assassins within the organization, but he never expected them to fail?

As a supervisor, once a mission failure is discovered, one is permitted to intervene and remedy the situation.

"However, this Lin Qing is too agile; at this distance, even with the 'Death Hunter' bow, I cannot kill him..."

"Never mind; the Crimson Oriole Society's primary target is Teng Feiyu anyway; from this angle, I can take out two with one shot; pity for such a beautiful female inspector..."

At this moment, the skin all over the man's body began to take on the texture and color of rock, as if he had already turned into a heavy stone sculpture, while his arms slowly drew the 'Death Hunter', whose tension far exceeded normal human arm strength, to a state nearly like a full moon! Immediately, his fingertips lightly released the bowstring.

In an instant, this pitch-black arrow transformed into a terrifying phantom, piercing the sound barrier in a flash and flying out at a terrifying speed!

In this instant, this arrow seemed to become a hunter representing death!...

Below the Ferris wheel platform.

Zhao Jiayi lowered her head, using a bandage she carried to bandage Teng Feiyu's wound and stop the bleeding as much as possible.

Fortunately, portable supplies are always prepared in the uniforms of formal inspectors; otherwise, she would have had to cut several strips of cloth from Teng Feiyu's body with a knife.

"How is the team leader?" Teng Feiyu asked weakly.

"You sit properly." Zhao Jiayi glanced at him and muttered, "Rest assured; even if you die ten times, the team leader won't suffer the slightest injury..." Teng Feiyu ignored the confusion over this female colleague's personality, which seemed different from usual, and couldn't help but ask, "How are you so sure? The team leader brought no tools; it's so dark, and it's inconvenient to find people on the Ferris wheel, right?"

"Just don't worry about it; anyway..."

Zhao Jiayi muttered impatiently, but suddenly fell silent.

She frowned tightly, as if enduring a headache, pressing her fingertips against her brow.

"What's wrong?" Teng Feiyu was slightly stunned.

"Nothing..."

Zhao Jiayi's fingertips pressed against her brow; beneath the cover of her fingertips, her tightly furrowed brow began to slowly wriggle.

"Whoosh!"

A piercingly sharp sound of something tearing through the air suddenly came from the sky.

"Hmm?" Teng Feiyu's expression suddenly changed.

This was clearly the sound of an arrow cutting through the air, and it was even more startling than what had been heard before; the speed was obviously far greater than that of the previous arrows!

There are hidden assassins after all? However—

Teng Feiyu watched tensely for a long while, yet discovered no other movement and heard no sound of an arrow striking anything.

It seemed to be merely a sound.

At this moment, he noticed Zhao Jiayi lowering the hand that had been massaging her brow.

"How are you? You don't look well, and why is your nose bleeding?"

"It's nothing."

"Bang!"

The gunshot echoed above the Ferris wheel.

Lin Qing put away his service pistol, looked at the third assassin nearby who was already lifeless, and frowned slightly.

The opponent had died without strength, leaving only that mechanical prosthetic eye flickering with red light.

"As expected..."

Lin Qing finally confirmed, "These three all have the same mechanical prosthetic eye, and their equipment is so complete and professional; it seems they are professional assassins cultivated by some organization..."

He suspected—

Perhaps Teng Feiyu had alarmed the Yihong Society, and combined with his identity as the son of the director of the Gongan Bureau, made the Yihong Society feel threatened, so they sent people to silence him.

But judging from the situation of these three assassins, he did not think such assassins could be cultivated by the Yihong Society.

After all, they are just an underground force that runs rampant within the city; they would not possess such energy.

And—

Lin Qing glanced at 【Current Order Level】.

The Order Level had only recovered to 1.2, with no additional increase.

If these three belonged to the dangerous elements within his circle of life, resolving them should have caused the Order Level to increase additionally.

This indicated that the opponents were not locals, at least unrelated to his circle of life, and would not do unnecessary things; thus, the Order Level only dropped when they attempted to assassinate him.

Then they could only be external professional assassins.

Perhaps... these three assassins were hired by the Yihong Society?

A few minutes later.

Patrol officers and Gongan Bureau personnel arrived at this abandoned amusement park and began to heavily seal off the scene.

The severely injured and weak Teng Feiyu was immediately sent to the hospital for treatment.

As for the three corpses of the assassins, the Gongan Bureau and patrol officers cooperated to bring them down; after an on-site inspection, their identities were confirmed.

The patrol unit that arrived was the Second Group, with whom they had the best relationship; Group Leader Han immediately led his members to the scene.

"Mechanical prosthetic eyes, Dark Star tattoos, poison used for suicide, and this equipment..."

Standing beside Lin Qing, Group Leader Han looked at the three corpses laid out on the ground and frowned slightly, saying, "That's it. These three are likely assassins of the 'Dark Star Society', skilled in using bows and arrows; they must be 'Hunters'."

"Dark Star Society?"

This was the first time Lin Qing had heard of it; he immediately asked, "Do these three have wanted posters?"

"No."

Group Leader Han shook his head and said, "Hunters are assassins cultivated internally by the Dark Star Society; every one of them is a black household registration, so their specific identities cannot be traced. Only assassins hired externally by the Dark Star Society could possibly be wanted criminals."

"Alright." Lin Qing sighed with some disappointment.

"So eager for merit?"

Group Leader Han looked at him and said, "No need to worry; both the patrol and the Gongan Bureau have regulations stipulating that as long as assassins of the Dark Star Society are eliminated, it counts as merit."

"Oh? How much merit?" Lin Qing's eyes lit up.

(End of this chapter)