Chapter 73: A Coin

"Zhao Jiayi."

Lin Qing adjusted the collar of his uniform and asked, "Did anyone spot me along the way?"

"According to the plan, only the surveillance on the main road saw you, this 'Chu Tianyao'." Zhao Jiayi nodded and said, "As for the other surveillance nearby, I destroyed them all in advance with my telekinesis."

She had been using her telekinesis to observe the underground warehouse beneath that bar at all times.

The reason Lin Qing could break into the bar so smoothly and rush into the underground warehouse at high speed was the route provided by Zhao Jiayi's telekinetic reconnaissance.

Even before he entered, he already knew of the existence of that short, fat man, Mr. Lu, and Councilor Wang.

As soon as he heard Zhao Jiayi say that Councilor Wang had revealed the Illuminati tattoo and was a member of the management, he had no hesitation in killing him after breaking in.

After all, the one who acted was the fugitive Chu Tianyao; what did it have to do with Inspector Lin Qing?

"We can begin now."

A hint of a smile appeared on Lin Qing's face. "Their retreat has been cut off by me. Even if they want to transfer, they can only use this obvious route through the back door of the bar."

Zhao Jiayi nodded, immediately used her telekinesis to make a phone fly out, and began sending a tip-off letter to the Patrol.

After she successfully sent it, the phone shattered into pieces under her telekinesis.

"Huff!"

A metallic sheen rose on Lin Qing's hands, which then turned into a series of afterimages, instantly smashing the broken phone into dust.

This unregistered phone, prepared in advance, was used to send the tip-off letter.

There was no need to worry about this tip-off letter sinking into the sea without a trace.

Because the end of the tip-off letter read 'Concerned Citizen Chu Tianyao'.

The letter also contained keywords such as the Crimson Ibis Society and the missing persons case, as well as detailed time and location.

Once the Patrol system's intelligent search detected these keywords and the detailed location, it would classify this tip-off letter as high priority and check the surveillance near this block.

Once facial recognition through the surveillance records identified him, this 'Chu Tianyao', an immediate emergency temporary mission would be issued.

This entire process might not even take a minute.

"Captain."

Zhao Jiayi said in surprise, "That surname Lu is quite good at imagining things. He thought you were worse off than death and would rather die, so he directly killed Councilor Wang."

Lin Qing nodded slightly and said, "That means Chu Tianyao's situation is about the same as we guessed, not on the same boat as the Crimson Ibis Society. He was probably poisoned and had to obey orders."

Of course, there was nothing to sympathize with regarding Chu Tianyao's fall to this state.

He was originally a fugitive from Qinghu Island Prison, with over a hundred lives on his hands. The enormity of his crimes meant he was long past deserving of death.

"Captain." Zhao Jiayi suddenly said, "That Zhang Zhiren has started making people transfer those who were captured."

"It doesn't matter; they won't make it in time."

Lin Qing said calmly, "I specifically destroyed the doors of those few warehouses holding people just now to make those doors harder to open. Even dismantling them will delay things a bit."

The Xiaoshan District Patrol Branch is right in the center of the district, less than twenty kilometers from here.

Patrol vehicles are naturally extremely fast, and traffic routes have higher priority. Duty inspectors can arrive in just a few minutes.

"Captain."

Zhao Jiayi suddenly frowned slightly and said, "Those thugs, in their rush to get the captured people into the vehicles quickly, were very brutal. They killed a chicken to scare the monkeys and injured several people."

"Endure it a bit longer." Lin Qing said, "Just let them bring the people out of the underground warehouse. It will be convenient to catch them in the act. As long as those people can survive, that's enough."

Zhao Jiayi silently bit her lip and continued observing with her telekinesis.

However, a trace of sorrow permeated her eyes.

Lin Qing looked at her and asked, "Have you experienced this kind of thing before?"

"... Mm."

Zhao Jiayi hesitated for a moment, then nodded lightly and said in a low voice, "I have seen it many times, watching people like me being taken away one by one... Although I never spoke to them, they were all my compatriots. And because I have seen it so many times, everyone has long become numb..."

Seen it many times? Numb? Lin Qing couldn't help but be slightly stunned.

Although the current security situation was not as stable as it appeared on the surface, criminals only dared to do things like treating people as goods to be sold at will in secret, so it was still extremely rare.

Why did it sound from Zhao Jiayi's words as if it were a routine daily occurrence? "Did you hear them say what the Illuminati wants so many people for?" Lin Qing asked.

"They didn't say."

Zhao Jiayi shook her head and added, "But living people... always have a use. Among those treated as goods, there is also a little girl. She should be the one with the excellent talent that Zhang Zhiren mentioned."

Lin Qing, however, thought of his past life's experiences.

In the apocalypse, people selling themselves out to survive were common.

People abandoning their humanity in the apocalypse were common, but those who could still maintain their humanity were rare animals.

Most who wanted to remain human had long ended their lives, either passively or actively.

He was very fortunate; because of the Entropy-Reverser talent, he could live like a human.

Only those with ability had the power of choice... Therefore, what he needed most was strength.

This was the only path to achieving his goals.

Only when his strength grew powerful could he climb higher, make the order level rise higher and higher, and bring more opportunities to become stronger.

"It's about time."

Lin Qing glanced at the shoulder insignia representing the Wings of Freedom on his shoulder, gently wiped a speck of dust off it with his fingertip, and said, "Let's go in."

The dark blue horizon gradually brightened, and a ray of dawn pierced the sky.

At the back door of the Night Cat Bar on White Elephant Street, which was blocked off by a courtyard wall, two large black trucks were parked. A strange circular symbol was visible on the cargo boxes, and the rear doors of the trucks were now open.

Inside the cargo box were divided into compartments two meters long, half a meter wide, and forty centimeters high.

Except for two narrow aisles in the middle, the entire cargo box was filled with compartments, just like coffins. At this moment, the lids of quite a few compartments had already been closed.

A cargo box merely over ten meters long, three meters wide, and less than three meters high actually held over a hundred coffin-like compartments.

"Quick, hurry up!"

Thugs from the Crimson Kite Society wielded batons, ruthlessly urging people with sacks over their heads into the vehicles, beating and shouting to force them to lie down in the compartments one by one.

The short, fat Mr. Lu stood expressionless nearby, watching the scene.

For years, he had been responsible for escorting these people captured by the Custody Organization from various cities and districts, and had long grown accustomed to it.

Even...

The past him was the same; the difference was that most people died, while he survived the gene modification experiments.

"Mr. Lu."

Zhang Zhiren approached with his men; behind him, a trusted subordinate held a girl of eight or nine years old. Her mouth was sealed with a restraint mask, and her eyes were filled with a numbness born of long habit.

"This child is so young yet already confirmed to have excellent aptitude. If cultivated from a young age, her potential will be even greater in the future."

Zhang Zhiren smiled: "She should be worth more points, right?"

He ran a leading enterprise in the province; the money he earned was already more than enough, and he cared little for wealth.

Only the status and points of the Illuminati could grant him access to better things: strength, knowledge, intelligence, and even the life-extension technology of the Wisdom Star Group! "Not bad." Mr. Lu glanced at the numb girl and said in a flat tone, "It should add 50%."

Zhang Zhiren could not help but show a look of delight.

Mr. Lu suddenly looked at the girl's tightly clenched right hand, frowned slightly, and asked, "What is in your hand?"

The girl's face remained numb; like a puppet, she slowly opened her palm.

It was a worn-out one-yuan coin.

"Throw it away," Mr. Lu said flatly.

He did not care what significance this coin held for the little girl; he only knew that all accidents must be avoided during transport.

The girl silently looked at the coin in her hand, but instead of obeying like a marionette, she hesitated, gazing at it.

Mr. Lu narrowed his eyes slightly.

Suddenly—

"Chairman Zhang."

A man in a suit hurried over with a tense expression and whispered, "We just received news from our informant in the Patrol Bureau: the patrol team of the Xiaoshan District Branch has assembled and is heading here!"

"What?"

Zhang Zhiren frowned slightly, then said in a low voice, "Move faster; we can still evacuate in time."

As for these two transport vehicles?

Transport vehicles bearing the Urban Circle insignia, once outside the Urban Circle, could not be searched even by a Patrol Chief!

Just then—

"Boom!"

A thunderous crash echoed as a large section of the courtyard wall behind the Night Cat Bar suddenly collapsed, instantly raising a cloud of dust.

With the wall's barrier gone, the dawn light from the horizon pierced through the dust, dispelling the gloom of this backyard.

"Whoosh!"

At the same time, a blurred figure swept past like a gale, instantly breaking through the dust and appearing before the crowd.

In the dawn light, the tall, solemn black patrol uniform and the shoulder epaulets carved with two pairs of wings immediately caused the members of the Crimson Kite Society to turn pale.

"Lin Qing, Second-Class Patrol Officer of the Xiaoshan District Patrol Branch."

Lin Qing swept his gaze across them. "Oh? It seems the evidence is conclusive; no need for a search. Surrender now. Anyone who dares resist... will be shot on the spot."

(End of this chapter)