Chapter 52: Buy Your Life

“Ssssshhhh—!”

Dozens of silver arrows streaked in, embedding deep into the plastic floor of the fighting ring.

At that moment, ten archers each lined the four sides of the stands, releasing their arrows in unison—but even the most trained ordinary humans had physical limits to their reaction speed.

Their once-superior eyesight now failed them: they couldn’t even make out the shadow of their target!

That blurred phantom moved like an impossibly agile gust of wind, flickering through sight several times, evading or knocking away each arrow.

As it swept past the archers, a fleeting, erratic shadow of a staff flashed—and one archer after another collapsed, motionless.

“This speed…”

In the underground arena’s surveillance room, Zhou Yang’s pupils shrank, staring in disbelief at the monitor.

On the high-speed camera footage, she clearly saw the young inspector’s terrifyingly swift movements—even through the screen, her heart pounded with dread.

Could this really be an inspector who’d only been officially confirmed two months ago?

How could he be this strong? On the monitor, it was nothing but a one-sided massacre!

Her arena had carefully trained fifty professional archers—normally even a captain-level cultivator would tread carefully—and yet they were being slaughtered so casually?

Yes, his speed gave him an advantage over archers, but it was far too fast!

And it wasn’t just raw speed—it was his movement, bizarrely elusive, capable of instant directional shifts and reversals, flawlessly precise, utterly without hesitation? His unpredictable trajectory made it impossible for the archers to anticipate his path and fire!

“He’s not just using two combat arts—he’s definitely mastered at least one to the instinctive level…”

The more Zhou Yang thought, the more stunned she became.

“Such a monstrous combat genius… joined the Patrol?”

Suddenly, Zhou Yang gritted her teeth and turned, striding quickly toward the surveillance room exit.

This scene made her realize: she had to flee.

Though the surveillance logs and data were still being erased, and many loose ends remained unattended, if she didn’t escape now, she’d die in the hands of this young inspector!

“While Zhang Zhu is holding him off, I still have time to get away…”

After leaving the surveillance room, Zhou Yang moved as quietly as possible, sprinting down the corridor.

She knew Zhang Zhu’s strength well.

Though Zhang Zhu couldn’t possibly hold off the inspector, he had mastered the Seven-Seven Version of the Morning Training Method and possessed a combat art specifically designed to counter speed-based opponents.

Combined with the remaining archers, he might at least buy her a few precious seconds before dying.

That time would be enough for her to retrieve the extraterrestrial currency hidden in the safe behind her office wall.

“And the Hyper-Sensory Essence—I must take that too.”

The thought flashed through Zhou Yang’s mind.

Only the Zhi Star Group could produce this substance—it could fetch a fortune on the black market.

If not for the Boss’s plan to elevate Xiao Pei Dong, they’d never have risked releasing something as precious as Hyper-Sensory Essence.

“There should still be time…”

Suddenly—

“Bang!”

After a deafening gunshot, Zhou Yang felt a numbness surge through her right leg, followed by searing pain—she nearly collapsed.

Shot? She instantly realized she’d been hit, whirling her head—and saw a figure, impossibly fast, materializing down the corridor and charging straight at her.

“Whoosh!”

Her vision blurred; wind rushed past her ear. She knew instantly he’d circled to her side. Her slender, porcelain-white right hand instantly glowed with a chilling edge, and she slashed sideways with a palm-knife!

But he was too fast. In the narrow corridor, he retreated half a step in an instant, evading her strike.

Immediately after—

“Bang!”

The silver barrel spat fire, blasting a bloody hole into her right shoulder socket.

Even her body, hardened by the Seven-Seven Version of the Morning Training Method—tougher than an ordinary human’s by several times—couldn’t stop a round of this caliber without a defensive combat art! “Ugh!”

Zhou Yang groaned, pain exploding in her shoulder, her right arm’s strength draining away.

Then she felt something cold press against her forehead.

—It was a gun barrel.

“Move again, and your head explodes.”

A voice devoid of any emotion rang out, freezing her body in place. Lin Qing’s fingertip rested on the revolver’s trigger, pressed against the woman’s forehead. “Are you in charge of this underground arena?”

“Yes.”

Zhou Yang’s face turned pale. “Where’s Zhang Zhu? Did he run?”

Had Zhang Zhu realized how terrifying this young inspector was, dared not fight, and fled—allowing the inspector to catch up so quickly?

“That bald man?”

Lin Qing glanced at her. “He’s dead.”

Zhou Yang’s dread deepened.

Even with the remaining archers, Zhang Zhu couldn’t buy her even a single second?

That meant this young inspector was even stronger than she’d feared. In that instant, countless thoughts surged through her mind.

“I’m the head of this underground arena.”

Zhou Yang’s voice turned low. “I’m Zhou Yang. You’re Lin Qing, the newly promoted deputy captain of the Patrol, right? I want to make a deal with you—I’m certain you’ll find it tempting.”

“Go on,” Lin Qing said, watching her.

Zhou Yang took a deep breath. “Captain Lin, since you joined the Patrol without entering a martial arts hall, your talent must be mediocre. Do you even have a chance to master the original Morning Training Method?”

“I know you want to buy your life.”

Lin Qing’s fingertip remained steady on the revolver’s trigger. “Just say it—what are you offering to buy your life?”

Zhou Yang spoke low. “Money—tens of millions in extraterrestrial currency. I can get you the best high-energy slow-release fluid, the EPS series—have you heard of it? And the legendary Hyper-Sensory Essence—I can give you that too.”

“You have Hyper-Sensory Essence?” Lin Qing raised an eyebrow slightly.

So… this was what his inexplicable intuition had been craving? Right now, what he needed most was indeed Hyper-Sensory Essence.

“Yes.”

Zhou Yang didn’t hesitate. “And it’s right here, in this underground arena.”

“You haven’t mastered the original Morning Training Method either—so why haven’t you used the Hyper-Sensory Essence?” Lin Qing asked.

“It’s not for me. I dare not use it.”

Zhou Yang spoke firmly. “Captain Lin, you can see it too—Yuan Hong Society could hire Chu Tianyao only because we have a far greater patron behind us. In truth, I’m just a puppet. I dare not defy them.”

Lin Qing narrowed his eyes. “Your mole in the Xiao Shan District Patrol Division is Xiao Pei Dong, isn’t he?”

“I can’t say.”

Zhou Yang spoke slowly. “If you want to interrogate me, just kill me. If I lose the money and the Hyper-Sensory Essence, I might still live—but if I betray them, I’m dead for sure.”

“Is that so?” Lin Qing studied her. “Where are the money and the Hyper-Sensory Essence?”

He’s hooked… Zhou Yang exhaled inwardly. “The Hyper-Sensory Essence is in the safe behind the hidden panel in my office wall. The extraterrestrial currency is stored in another hidden safe.”

She added: “But both safes require fingerprint and iris scans to open. I must retrieve them myself.”

Lin Qing stared at her, then shifted the gun barrel and pulled the trigger.

“Bang!”

A spray of blood erupted from her left shoulder socket, the bullet sinking deep. Her vision darkened; her trembling body swayed violently, nearly collapsing.

She bit her lip hard, head bowed, hiding the hatred in her eyes from Lin Qing.

“Stand up. Be cooperative.”

Lin Qing kept the gun aimed at her skull, speaking softly. “One more move, and your head explodes.”

Zhou Yang took a deep breath. “Can you let me stop the bleeding first? If I keep losing blood like this, I won’t last.”

Seeing Lin Qing say nothing, she extended her fingers, now glowing with a chilling edge, and sliced open the hem of her qipao.

She didn’t care that her pale, slender legs were now exposed—she swiftly tore strips of fabric, even revealing the inner thighs as she worked, yet acted as if she noticed nothing, wrapping the wounds tightly to staunch the bleeding.

Lin Qing saw through it: the woman was deliberately tearing her clothes half-off, playing the seduction card, testing the universal weakness of men.

But his version of that weakness had already been boiled into soup in his past life.

So he merely watched coldly, the gun never leaving her head.

In under half a minute, Zhou Yang gritted her teeth, ignoring the pain, and pushed herself upright against the wall.

“Let’s go,” Lin Qing said.

(End of Chapter)