Chapter 82: Statue

"Zhao Jiayi."

After returning to his captain's office from the bureau chief, Lin Qing looked at Zhao Jiayi and asked, "Is there surveillance around the branch bureau now? I must ensure that after I leave the branch, Chu Tianyao can determine my location. This is their last chance."

Zhao Jiayi released her telepathy to investigate carefully, then nodded and said, "There is surveillance, and there is also an instrument used to transmit tracking signals."

"Good."

Lin Qing nodded slightly and said, "Facing Chu Tianyao directly this time is dangerous for you. Do not follow me; stay put at the branch bureau."

"Then you alone..." Zhao Jiayi said with some worry.

"Chu Tianyao poses no threat to me anymore."

Lin Qing slowly shook his head and added, "From now on, do not actively release your telepathy. A big shot is coming from the General Bureau, seemingly a powerful awakened one among the gene awakeners. It is uncertain whether such a person can sense your telepathic investigation."

"Only those who have awakened telepathy can sense telepathy," Zhao Jiayi stated firmly.

"Who knows if there are hidden ones?" Lin Qing said. "It is better to be cautious."

"Alright." Zhao Jiayi nodded obediently.

Lin Qing put on the patrol officer's uniform coat and walked toward the door.

After leaving the office, just as he was about to go downstairs, Lin Qing saw a tall female patrol officer with a cold expression standing not far away, staring quietly at him.

It was none other than the number one among the patrol officers, Xu Qiu.

"Captain Xu."

Lin Qing walked over and said, "How do you have time to come to our Xiaoshan District Branch Bureau?"

"Where are you going?" Xu Qiu asked.

"The hospital."

Lin Qing said frankly, "My cousin is having prosthetic surgery today. The surgery is about to end. If not for this major incident, I should have been waiting outside the operating room."

Mainly, he was also worried that if Chu Tianyao could not find him, he would go after his cousin who was undergoing surgery.

Fortunately, the area around the hospital was already sealed off by drones and laser detection, with a drone-formed fire network on alert.

As long as he went to command the hospital himself, he would not have to worry about Chu Tianyao implicating his cousin's family.

"The hospital?"

Xu Qiu nodded slightly and said, "I will go with you."

"With me?" Lin Qing looked at her.

"You may already be targeted by Chu Tianyao."

Xu Qiu said slowly, "Since Chu Tianyao went mad and killed one patrol officer, he might kill a second one. Especially since you sealed off two underground bases of the Wuyi Society, it is normal for his next target to be you."

She sighed, "With your level of strength, if you encounter him, would it not be certain death?"

Lin Qing said, "It does not matter. The area around the hospital is completely on alert and sealed off. Do not worry about me."

"He is a madman," Xu Qiu said, looking at him.

Lin Qing felt that this female patrol officer had not given up on him yet; could she be secretly in love with him? He immediately shook his head and said, "Truly not necessary. Captain Xu, if you have time, you might as well lead a team to thoroughly search various places."

Xu Qiu frowned slightly, no longer persuaded, and said lightly, "As you wish."

Lin Qing secretly breathed a sigh of relief and then left the branch bureau.

However, he also knew that this female patrol officer would not give up.

After Lin Qing left the branch bureau, he immediately boarded a patrol car and sped toward the hospital.

No sooner had he left than Xu Qiu arrived at the entrance of the branch bureau with her assistant, and also boarded a patrol car.

"Captain Xu, Lin Qing has refused your kindness three times now. Should we still help him?"

In the car, the female assistant could not help but ask softly.

"Why not help?"

Xu Qiu said calmly, "Although he has some talent and a bright future, once he reaches the Patrol General Bureau and understands that there are always those better than others, the confidence brought by his talent will be shattered. Then, if I help him a few more times, after he sees my background and treatment, he will also be unable to resist pursuing me. Helping him now is also appropriate."

"... Captain Xu, you have not given up yet?" the female assistant said in shock. "Did you not say you would not give him a second chance?"

Xu Qiu fell silent for a moment and said, "This is his initiative, it is different... Moreover, I am mainly using him to find Chu Tianyao. With the support of the fire network, I might be able to catch Chu Tianyao. This is a rare opportunity for a first-class merit; I cannot let it go."

The female assistant said helplessly, "Yes, yes, yes, you are right."

Inside a building opposite the Patrol Bureau, in a dim room, only the flashing light of instruments remained, and on the screen emitting cold light, lines of information were being sent.

"Confirmed."

"Patrol Officer Lin Qing boarded the vehicle at 9:11:25. Judging from the tracking signal, the estimated destination is Xiaoshan People's Hospital, expected to arrive at the destination in 7 minutes and 40 seconds."

"Patrol Officer Xu Qiu is following behind, driving illegally at high speed via a shortcut, expected to arrive at the hospital ahead of schedule."

In the dimness, a pair of slightly trembling hands typed information at an astonishing speed.

Immediately, a trembling voice filled with fear sounded nearby: "Brother Qiu, I heard the Patrol Envoys from the General Bureau are arriving, and the patrol satellites have entered low Earth orbit and locked onto Lin'an City. We... are we unable to escape?"

In the darkness, the spark of a cigarette butt suddenly lit up. After someone took a hard drag, a voice full of resentment and anger sounded:

"Damn, I don't know which madman impersonated Chu Tianyao to ambush and kill a patrol officer in public? Damn it, isn't this slapping the General Bureau in the face? Originally, if we had just captured Lin Qing and his assistant according to plan today, we would have had plenty of time to evacuate. Damn... Feng le ge fu de..."

The fearful voice trembled, "Brother Qiu, is there still a chance for us to escape?"

After a short silence, the cigarette butt was pinched out by two fingers.

"There is a net of heaven and earth outside; how can we escape? Chu Tianyao is probably doomed for certain. That is a Patrol Envoy..."

The voice revealed despair and powerlessness: "We are finished..."

"I advise you to try to play some role before you die; at least the BOSS will treat our families well..."

Lin Qing sat in the patrol car, quietly watching the navigation route on the screen.

The hospital is not far away now.

Logically, this was already Chu Tianyao's last chance; once the Inspector and the three Senior Inspectors dispatched by the Inspection Headquarters arrived, Chu Tianyao would have no opportunity to act.

If Chu Tianyao had not yet given up, he would act after he arrived at the hospital.

At that time, he could use the firepower net laid out by the cordon near the hospital to suppress him, kill Chu Tianyao, and it would be enough to use only a portion of his strength.

"Almost there."

Lin Qing glanced at the time on his phone, thought for a moment, and called his cousin.

"Hello? Cousin, is the surgery almost over?"

"Alright, I'll be there in a bit. When I arrive, let my cousin first adapt; I heard this model of mechanical prosthetic limb has very strong adaptability, so there should be no problem."

"See you in a bit."

After ending the call, the inspection vehicle also stopped outside the cordon near the hospital.

After Lin Qing got out of the car, he passed through triple identification of face, fingerprint, and iris before walking inside the cordon.

The entire area within a one-kilometer radius around the hospital was now within the cordon range.

If someone forced their way in, the 'Hornet Hunter' drones carrying heavy machine guns would fly over; after issuing a warning, if the other party still did not withdraw from the cordon, they would face the heavy firepower of the drones.

It was only because an Inspector had died that such a display was mobilized; otherwise, it would not have come to this.

At this moment, evidence collection at the crime scene at the hospital entrance had already ended, and Xiao Peidong's body had long been sent away.

"Team Leader Lin."

"Captain Lin."

There were still many Inspectors at the scene examining fine traces; seeing Lin Qing enter, they immediately spoke to greet him.

Lin Qing nodded slightly.

Just as he walked to the hospital entrance—

【Current Order Level decreased by 1.0 levels】

At this moment, a line of bright red, blood-like text suddenly appeared before his eyes.

Here it comes!

Lin Qing's eyes shifted slightly, but his feet continued walking calmly toward the hospital building, as if he had noticed nothing.

Suddenly—

"Beep—!!!"

Only then did a shrill and piercing alarm sound suddenly ring through the sky, causing everyone inside the cordon to change color.

Immediately following, the sound of a sharp wind suddenly came from not far away.

That was the disturbance caused by super-high-speed movement! Lin Qing turned his head abruptly to look.

He saw a high-speed moving human-shaped phantom penetrate the cordon a hundred meters away with astonishing speed, rushing toward here with the speed of wind and lightning.

The arriving man was bald, with a lean build, wearing dark goggles; it was none other than Chu Tianyao! "Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh—!!"

The twenty Hornet Hunter drones, which had been dispersing and circling in the cordon area in energy-saving mode, now, as if a swarm of wasps awakened, immediately flew toward Chu Tianyao with a cruising speed exceeding two hundred and ten kilometers per hour. The heavy machine guns mounted on the two drones closest to him were already aimed at Chu Tianyao, roaring with angry fire!

At this moment, outside the cordon on the other end a hundred meters away, an inspection vehicle was parked by the roadside.

Xu Qiu stood leaning against the car, looking at her phone with a blank expression.

When the piercing alarm sound rang out, her eyes changed slightly involuntarily.

"He really came!"

Xu Qiu turned her head abruptly to look inside the cordon, seeing drone after drone, like wasps, converging from all directions above the cordon area.

She had already completed the triple identification for the cordon and could enter at any time; she immediately activated her battle technique, preparing to rush in at the fastest speed to prevent Lin Qing from really being killed by Chu Tianyao.

Just at this moment—

"Whoosh!"

A blurry shadow moving at an unimaginable speed suddenly appeared from a street corner not far away; in the blink of an eye, it arrived before Xu Qiu.

It was a mysterious person wearing black clothes, a pale smiling mask, and a voice changer at the throat! "Hmm?"

Xu Qiu was shocked in her heart by the other party's abnormally terrifying speed, causing her pupils to suddenly constrict.

She gritted her teeth and desperately rushed toward the interior of the cordon.

However—

"Whoosh!"

The mysterious person wearing the pale smiling mask merely shifted his figure, blocking her path, and at the same time casually slapped a palm toward her.

Xu Qiu clenched her teeth tightly; metallic luster appeared on her hands as the Six Gates Battle Technique activated simultaneously.

Her hands touched the other party's palm; immediately, invisible force penetrated her body, dispersing her strength and causing her to spit out a large mouthful of fresh blood.

"Fall down obediently; I don't want to kill you."

The mysterious person's voice rang out through the voice changer, sharp and eerie.

"It's 'The Micro'! And the God-Change battle technique!"

This thought flashed through Xu Qiu's mind; she only felt the world spinning before her eyes, and immediately afterward, she fell to the ground, completely powerless.

Before losing consciousness, she tried to struggle and lift her head as much as possible to look toward the direction of the cordon.

It's over... What to do...

Chu Tianyao has rushed over, she cannot reach in time; isn't Lin Qing alone definitely doomed to die?

Immediately after, she lost consciousness.

"Rat-tat-tat-tat—!!!"

Accompanied by a rain of spent shell casings constantly flying through the air, two bursts of specially made armor-piercing bullets poured out at high speed, shooting toward Chu Tianyao.

And Chu Tianyao's figure traced a nimble arc across the ground; after dodging two bullets, his right arm swung out suddenly like a long-armed ape, sending steel pellets soaring skyward with terrifying kinetic energy. They formed a dense curtain of fire, instantly piercing through two drones! "Boom! Boom!"

The two Tiger-Hornet Hunter drones shattered and disintegrated, crashing down in flames right there on the spot.

However, more drones were arriving one after another, beginning to unleash a frenzy of armor-piercing rounds at him from a distance.

Even a Patrol Captain would struggle to block such specialized armor-piercing rounds, so the simplest method was high-speed movement, ensuring the drones' intelligent targeting systems couldn't lock onto the target and their mounted machine guns couldn't swing fast enough.

No matter how powerful the armor-piercing rounds, if they don't hit, they are useless, achieving nothing more than suppressing fire.

Moreover...

Given the drones' payload capacity, they simply couldn't carry many bullets!

"Fire!"

The Patrol Officers present immediately began firing their guns, intensifying the suppressing fire.

An ordinary human's neural reaction speed simply cannot participate in such ultra-high-speed combat; even with a gun, it would be meaningless.

A target no larger than a human body, moving at dozens of meters per second, capable of extremely nimble, unpredictable dodges with an untraceable trajectory—even a sniper couldn't manage it! "Whoosh!"

Chu Tianyao's figure moved again, and in the blink of an eye, he became a phantom streaking across dozens of meters.

At this moment, he had already charged right before the eyes of the Patrol Officers!

As the Tiger-Hornet Hunters turned and flew over, their intelligent targeting systems identified friendly targets, automatically switching their mounted machine guns from heavy-fire mode to single-point precision firing mode to avoid friendly fire.

But with the drones' targeting lock speed and machine gun swing speed, while wide-area sweeping fire could still suppress, how could single-point firing possibly keep up with Chu Tianyao?

Unable to form effective suppressing fire, the drones' support became a joke.

One could say, unless Chu Tianyao could be stopped, the drones simply couldn't play any role! In an instant, Chu Tianyao had charged into the crowd of Patrol Officers, arriving alone before Lin Qing.

"Die."

Chu Tianyao's eyes were ice-cold; his palm suddenly revealed dark, calloused skin and sharp nails, like deadly claws, grabbing directly for Lin Qing's heart at terrifying speed.

He was just a small Patrol Officer with some strength; with one strike, he could rip out the other's heart!

He was still waiting to kill this one in front of him, then rush to the hospital to kill the female Patrol Officer whose leg he had previously kicked to ruin, and along the way kill some more important figures to stir up the atmosphere even more.

Just then—

"Hmm?"

Chu Tianyao felt his vision suddenly blur; he discovered that this young Patrol Officer, so close at hand, had hands that suddenly shimmered with cold metallic luster, simultaneously turning into blurred afterimages. One hand seized his wrist, while the other grabbed for his chest! Clearly intending to rip out his heart!

"How is this possible?"

Chu Tianyao's pupils shrank drastically; disregarding why this small Patrol Officer possessed such terrifying speed, his other hand immediately shot out to block Lin Qing's hand attempting to rip out his heart.

But the hand Lin Qing used to grab for the heart suddenly shifted with incredible dexterity, instantly reversing its grip to seize Chu Tianyao's wrist!

In that instant, Chu Tianyao's both hands were seized by him! "Seeking death?"

A trace of madness flickered in Chu Tianyao's eyes, and killing intent surged in his heart.

Just as he was about to break free, he suddenly discovered that the young man's face and the skin on his neck had also taken on that cold metallic hue. He stared expressionlessly, as if the entire person had turned into a metal statue in that moment! And Lin Qing's hands seemed to have become the most solid and reliable alloy, tightly gripping his wrists!

The strength was so great that it even made his wrist bones feel as if they were cracking.

"Damn it!"

Chu Tianyao's eyes turned icy cold; he instantly understood Lin Qing's intention was to grab him and use the drones to kill him! "Want to die? I'll grant your wish!" A flash of murderous rage passed through his eyes. He suddenly lunged forward with a fierce knee strike, driving his full force hard into Lin Qing's chest! With this strike, even if the target were a person cast in alloy, he could drive a deep pit into them! Capture alive?

Kill first, ask questions later! "Boom!!"

However, when Chu Tianyao's knee strike landed on Lin Qing's chest, it felt as if he had collided with an incredibly tough substance; it only produced a dull thud, completely neutralizing the force of his knee strike.

He couldn't help but pause slightly, immediately understanding.

This was likely the state after fully activating the Zizai Body series of combat techniques, "Rigid" and "Soft"! When fully activating the combat technique "Rigid," the whole body was like steel cast, unified inside and out, in the state of strongest defense, but after the body completely hardened, it was like a statue, unable to move.

When fully activating the combat technique "Soft," it was the same; the whole body became incredibly soft, able to ignore blunt weapon attacks, but after the body completely softened, it possessed no strength.

Activating both combat techniques simultaneously, combining rigidity and softness, was indeed the state of strongest defense, but one could not move a single inch.

However, now Lin Qing clearly had no intention of killing him with his own hands! He had even activated the combat technique "Strength" to make his body heavy, and through the combat technique "Subtle," dispersed his power into the ground beneath his feet!

"How could this be?!"

Chu Tianyao gritted his teeth tightly, attacking frantically at the statue-like Lin Qing before him, but it was all in vain.

Unless he exceeded his limit or his mysterious energy was completely exhausted, he had no other option.

After fleeing for so long, he had planned to go completely mad at the very end, but the result was...

Ending so miserably? "Get lost!!!"

Chu Tianyao roared with red-rimmed eyes, feeling utterly frustrated; his heart filled with resentment and unwillingness turned into killing intent, but with nowhere to vent it, he could only rage impotently.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!"

In just those few seconds of delay, Tiger-Hornet Hunters arrived rapidly one after another. The machine guns mounted on the drones had already locked onto Chu Tianyao, beginning precise firing from various angles!

Chu Tianyao trembled all over; just as he was about to break his own arm with all his might to escape—

"Bang bang bang bang bang—!!"

Armor-piercing rounds with terrifying penetration power tore through the air, spinning.

Even the scale armor defense formed by the combat techniques was pierced by the armor-piercing rounds, instantly exploding into blossoms of blood on his body! "No..."

Chu Tianyao had nowhere to hide; he could only endure it all, his eyes fixedly staring at Lin Qing's indifferent, merciless sculpted face, feeling his life force constantly draining under the other's control.

And Lin Qing looked down upon the other like a divine statue, without the slightest emotional fluctuation.

Finally...

He fell weakly to his knees before him.

First update of 13,000 characters. There should be another update tonight after I wake up from sleep~ Begging for monthly tickets!!

(End of chapter)