Chapter 75: The Mysterious Number One

Since Yuan Anping was tracking Mr. Lu of the Illuminati, Lin Qing felt relieved and focused on dealing with the enforcers of the Crimson Kite Society.

Yuan Anping's strength was even greater than Chu Tianyao's; even while concealing his power, he could easily handle Chu Tianyao, so dealing with that person should be no problem.

With no leader to guide them, the enforcers of the Crimson Kite Society scattered like birds and beasts, each trying to flee separately.

Lin Qing casually killed a few who refused to give up, and after knocking down several who tried to escape, the other members of the Crimson Kite Society had not yet fled far when the Patrol Team arrived.

With a massive deployment of patrols surrounding, pursuing, and intercepting them, not a single member of the Crimson Kite Society present managed to escape; they were either killed on the spot or captured.

In Lin Qing's vision, he could also see his Order Level constantly rising.

Immediately, the patrols sealed off the scene, waiting for the Public Security Bureau to arrive and investigate.

Not long after, Yuan Anping returned.

"Chief, where is that person?" Lin Qing asked.

"Dead. Waiting for the Public Security Bureau to perform the autopsy."

Yuan Anping helplessly spread his hands. "That guy fought me to the death, so I had to go all out. I didn't control my strength well enough and accidentally killed him."

"Oh, as long as he didn't escape," Lin Qing nodded slightly.

However, he felt that Yuan Anping had done it on purpose.

With Yuan Anping's concealed strength, he was definitely far superior to Mr. Lu and should not have needed to go all out.

But killing him was fine anyway.

"By the way, when that person died, a sun tattoo appeared on his body. He was one of the Illuminati," Yuan Anping reminded.

"He was also from the Illuminati?" Lin Qing feigned surprise.

After all, he only knew Mr. Lu was from the Illuminati because of Zhao Jiayi's telepathic probe, so this fact naturally could not be revealed.

"The members of the Illuminati are indeed scattered across the globe."

Yuan Anping shook his head. "However, he had no number. Did you confirm that the red-haired woman who ambushed you yesterday had a number in her tattoo?"

"Yes, it was 7486," Lin Qing nodded.

"Then you must be careful," Yuan Anping said. "Those who can obtain a number from the Illuminati are almost all stronger than people at Chu Tianyao's level."

"Stronger than Chu Tianyao?"

Lin Qing frowned. "How is that possible? Apart from her special invisibility ability, her strength was far inferior to Chu Tianyao's."

"It must be because of her potential," Yuan Anping said. "Just as the status of geniuses is very high, since the Illuminati gave her this number, it means her potential and utility will surely exceed this number in the future."

Lin Qing pondered thoughtfully.

That was true.

The red-haired woman's assassination ambush was not only invisible but also completely silent; if he had not been warned by his Order Level and had not had Zhao Jiayi's telepathic probe, he might have died at her hands.

Invisibility plus silence; this combination was indeed too monstrous.

People always have moments of relaxation; once they relax and are completely unguarded, the red-haired woman could complete an instant kill.

She was only countered by awakened telepaths.

Once the red-haired woman mastered the original Morning Sun cultivation method and learned a few more combat techniques suitable for assassination and ambush...

She would absolutely be an extremely terrifying assassin.

Indeed, the threat she posed in the future would surely far exceed Chu Tianyao.

"Pity, eliminating members of the Illuminati doesn't count as merit," Lin Qing said regretfully, shaking his head.

Yuan Anping was speechless.

The Dark Star Society was a killer organization, a criminal organization on the surface, with all members being villains.

But the members of the Illuminati are scattered across the globe; many are not criminals, and their tattoos are only discovered after they die.

Under such circumstances, it is impossible to accurately locate members of the Illuminati, so naturally, it cannot count as merit.

"It's fine. You will definitely have plenty of merit this time; at least it won't be less than last time."

Yuan Anping glanced at the messy scene and couldn't help but sigh. "Your speed in earning merit, kid, is even faster than mine back in the day. Looking across all young patrols in Jiangnan, there aren't many faster than you."

"There are even faster ones?" Lin Qing was surprised.

"Of course there are."

Yuan Anping nodded. "Some have greater strength, some have better intelligence, and some have bigger backgrounds. There are plenty of talents in this world. Moreover, I heard... last year, a patrol in the neighboring province earned a Special Merit on their very first achievement."

"What?" Lin Qing was stunned.

Special Merit? First-Class Merit is something many patrol officers can only dream of but never reach; they can't even get close to it, let alone earn it. Special Merit... that is even more unimaginable.

"You're not bad either," Yuan Anping patted Lin Qing's shoulder. "Once this merit is awarded, you'll probably be a Level One Patrol Officer."

Lin Qing shook his head slightly, not caring much.

Even with many Second-Class Merits, he could only learn combat techniques from other series.

That would not bring a qualitative improvement to his combat power.

And the three awakening methods require First-Class Merit.

Moreover, the Headquarters had promised in the contract that when he achieved First-Class Merit, they would unlock certain Special Merit permissions for him, allowing him to learn the original version of the "Free Body" combat technique.

But all these benefits require First-Class Merit as a prerequisite.

"First-Class Merit..."

Lin Qing pondered silently in his heart.

The Crimson Kite Society had almost been crushed by him; logically, Chu Tianyao should take action against him.

So, he still had a chance to achieve First-Class Merit.

On the night of March 2nd.

In the office of the Director at the Xiaoshan District Patrol Branch.

"Lin Qing, the report from the Public Security Bureau is out; I've forwarded it to you."

Sitting behind his desk, Kou Guoyong shook his head slightly at Lin Qing and said, "I must say, you were far too reckless this time."

"Reckless?" Lin Qing asked. "Why do you say that?"

Kou Guoyong spoke in a deep voice, "It seems you don't know yet. Based on the verified situation so far, the armed forces at this Orpheus Red Society stronghold are much stronger than those at the underground boxing ring last time."

"Really?" Lin Qing feigned confusion.

"Of course."

Kou Guoyong said, "There is an underground warehouse beneath this bar, specifically used to detain these trafficked people. The armed guards were very strong, but according to the Orpheus Red Society thugs' confessions, before you searched, Chu Tianyao broke in and caused a huge disturbance. Many capable thugs and archers were killed by Chu Tianyao."

"Chu Tianyao went there before me?" Lin Qing exclaimed in surprise.

"The Patrol System released a mission this morning because it received a tip-off letter claiming to be from Chu Tianyao."

Kou Guoyong nodded and said, "Moreover, facial recognition in the surveillance near that bar did indeed identify Chu Tianyao, so it should be true."

"No wonder... I thought it was a coincidence," Lin Qing remarked. "I previously thought Chu Tianyao and the Orpheus Red Society were allies; it seems they are in an internal struggle?"

"Indeed."

Kou Guoyong also sighed, "You could say you got lucky and picked up a windfall."

"Luck," Lin Qing smiled, naturally not denying it.

During this operation, aside from exerting his full strength when impersonating Chu Tianyao at the start, and except for using his leg against Mr. Lu later, he only used half his strength.

But Mr. Lu was also killed by Yuan Anping, so no one knew... his true strength had already approached the level of a Patrol Chief.

"I heard the Orpheus Red Society has three person-in-charge; you just took care of two of them."

Kou Guoyong exclaimed, "If you even resolve the last person-in-charge of the Orpheus Red Society, wouldn't you have earned a First-Class Merit?"

"It's not that simple," Lin Qing shook his head slightly.

Zhang Zhiren had previously admitted he was the number two person-in-charge of the Orpheus Red Society, and that woman Zhou Yang was the number three person-in-charge.

But who the number one person-in-charge was, there was no way to know.

"Indeed difficult."

Kou Guoyong was just joking; he shook his head and said, "According to the confessions of the Orpheus Red Society thugs, no one has ever seen the number one person-in-charge. Even the number two person-in-charge, Zhang Zhiren, and the number three person-in-charge, Zhou Yang, do not know who this number one is."

"No one knows?" Lin Qing asked in confusion.

"Yes, no one knows."

Kou Guoyong said, "The main strongholds of the Orpheus Red Society are in Xiaoshan. Normal operations rely on Zhou Yang and Zhang Zhiren. Only when the Orpheus Red Society cannot solve a problem does that mysterious number one person-in-charge appear."

Lin Qing couldn't help but fall into thought.

After a long while, he shook his head and said, "By the way, did the Director get anything out of the interrogation? Why does the Illuminati need those trafficked people?"

Kou Guoyong fell silent instead, speaking slowly, "This touches upon a major case in the metropolitan area."

(End of this chapter)