“Talk.”

Chen Yanan didn’t turn her head, gnawing on an apple while looking at the gossip news on her phone.

“Have you heard of the Yuanhong Society?” Lin Qing asked.

Chen Yanan turned her head to look at him and said, “Why ask? Kids should mind their own business, it’s no good for you.”

“I’ve already come into contact with them,” Lin Qing said. “The merit I’ve recently earned was for capturing a fighter from the Yuanhong Society’s underground boxing arena.”

“Just a fighter? Then there shouldn’t be a problem.”

...

Chen Yanan breathed a sigh of relief, “I’ve also heard about the Yuanhong Society’s underground boxing arena, just didn’t know how to get in, and there’s no need to struggle against such a vast underworld force for that little salary.”

“I didn’t want to fight either.” Lin Qing nodded.

He added to himself, “Not yet, at least.”

After all, it was his backup plan for earning merit.

“That’s good.”

Chen Yanan continued, “Although the Yuanhong Society seems like just an underground organization, theoretically even someone at the captain level shouldn’t be afraid, but I actually feel like the Yuanhong Society might be more powerful than expected.”

“How so?” Lin Qing asked curiously.

“The reason I’m in the hospital now is related to the Yuanhong Society.”

Chen Yanan said, “On the night I was seriously injured, during an emergency operation, I led a team to search a location suspected of human trafficking, which was under the Yuanhong Society’s control. Halfway through the search, before we could go deeper, we happened to run into that terrifying escapee from Qinghu Island Prison.”

“That escapee from Qinghu Island Prison… is related to the Yuanhong Society?” Lin Qing frowned.

“I can’t rule out that possibility.”

Chen Yanan nodded, “Although I think it’s unlikely for an underground force active within a province to possess such strong military power, the appearance of that Qinghu Island Prison escapee at the time was too coincidental, almost like he was providing cover.”

Lin Qing pondered.

If that was the case, wouldn’t he possibly run into that same Qinghu Island escapee if he decided to forcefully search the Yuanhong Society’s underground boxing arena?

No matter what, he had to consider this in the future.

Prepare for the worst, just in case.

“Anyway, you need to be careful.”

Chen Yanan cautioned, “That escapee from Qinghu Island Prison is terrifyingly powerful, in the whole Lin’an City, perhaps only the General Captain of the City Patrol Bureau, Yuan Anping, could stand a chance in a fight against him.”

“What kind of power does the General Captain have?” Lin Qing couldn’t help asking.

“I’m not sure.”

Chen Yanan said, “But definitely, he’s mastered the Original Sunrise Training Method, and his Combat Skill is extremely strong. Seriously speaking, he could probably defeat me in one move.”

Defeat someone at the captain level in one move?

Lin Qing began to understand how big the gap was, and couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

Although he now had strength comparable to a captain level, there were always stronger fighters, and he still needed to improve.

Luckily, he would soon receive two Third-class Merits, and with the one Zhao Jiayi had lent him, he would be able to learn another Combat Skill.

As long as he could advance his learning to an Instinct Level Combat Skill, his power would increase significantly.

Though the two Combat Skills had clear drawbacks and weren’t fully reliable against the armed forces of the Yuanhong Society’s underground boxing arena, it was enough for self-defense.

Eventually, he could consider starting a search of that underground arena.

…

After chatting with his cousin for a while and seeing it was almost 9:30 pm, with patrol time approaching, Lin Qing left.

After arriving at the branch office, each team had already set out at their scheduled shift times.

The seven members of Team Seven were also ready.

“Where’s Han Group Leader and Team Two?”

In the branch compound, Lin Qing looked around and asked.

Since Team Seven’s establishment, they had always operated alongside Team Two.

The official reason was that Team Seven was new and inexperienced, but he suspected Xiao Peidong didn’t want to give him the opportunity to earn money, so that’s why he paired them with Team Two.

However, tonight, Team Two was nowhere to be seen.

“Group Leader.”

Zhao Jiayi spoke up from the side, “Team Two set out at nine, not with us. They said they were short on staff tonight, so they went on separate operations.”

Lin Qing nodded, waving his hand, “Alright, let’s move out.”

…

Team Seven’s main patrol area was the region between Yucuai Road and Pingcheng Road’s service lanes, focusing mostly on the several bars, an entertainment city, two abandoned schools, and a deserted amusement park.

These abandoned sites often became a haunt for criminals to deal and hide, which is why they required periodic patrols.

Of course, those holed up there were mostly not very capable guys.

So there wasn’t much danger.

The biggest downside was that there wasn’t much to gain from these places.

Lin Qing didn’t care too much though, even in the most profitable venues, it was impossible for him to make several million in two months.

As time approached midnight, Group Seven finally finished their routine inspection of an entertainment city and a bar, and the most troublesome part was over—tonight’s goal was just one abandoned amusement park.

It was also the easiest part, usually just a quick patrol round was enough.

“Everyone stay alert, patrol around and then we can go home and sleep.”

After the patrol car stopped at the entrance of the abandoned amusement park, Lin Qing clapped his hands and was about to lead his teammates out of the car when Han Ying, sitting opposite him, put her hands together pleadingly and whispered, “Captain, I have a favor to ask.”

“Can I refuse?” Lin Qing looked at her.

“No…”

Han Ying begged pitifully, “I haven’t had dinner yet tonight, and there was no time to eat in the entertainment city. I saw a night market on the way here; let me go grab a bite to eat, since this amusement park isn’t worth patrolling.”

“Alright, you drive there,” Lin Qing said. “Go and come back quickly.”

“Captain,” Ruan Bing next to him couldn’t help but speak up, “I’m kind of hungry too, I want to go with her.”

Lin Qing glanced at him, knowing that this guy had long wanted to leave Group Seven. He couldn’t be bothered to say more and casually said, “If you want to go, then go.”

Anyways, it was just a patrol around the amusement park, it wouldn’t matter if they were two people short.

“Let’s go.”

After getting out of the car, Lin Qing pushed open the gates of the amusement park and walked into the long-abandoned park with Zhao Jiayi and Teng Feiyu.

Thanks to the glow of Sleepless City in the distance from inside Coastal City’s urban circle, they could barely make out the silhouette of the abandoned amusement park.

Before the apocalypse a hundred years ago, the amusement park had already existed. It had been renovated a few times after civilization was rebuilt, but now it had fallen into disuse.

Under the lights of the urban circle, the most eye-catching feature was the Ferris wheel at the heart of the amusement park.

After a short while, the three had checked several abandoned stores and a carousel, places where people could easily hide. They crossed half of the park and reached the central plaza, with a stage not far away.

A hundred meters further was the gigantic Ferris wheel.

“Captain, New Year’s is coming up, does the Patrol have any holidays?” Zhao Jiayi quietly asked beside him.

“There’s only compensatory leave, no holidays,” Lin Qing responded absentmindedly, observing the surroundings.

“Oh… jumble mumble…”

“Did you just speak in dialect again? What does it mean?”

“Nothing…”

Teng Feiyu remained silent throughout. The series of setbacks from the day had left him slightly bitter, and he had developed a grudge against Lin Qing, even contemplating splitting from the group, so naturally, he did not want to make conversation.

Suddenly—

[Current Order Level decreased by 0.3]

A line of blood-red text emerged in his view.

“Hmm? 0.3 level?”

Lin Qing narrowed his eyes slightly and immediately entered a state of full alert.

Continuing the patrol at a leisurely pace, he subtly observed the surroundings. However, standing in the wide-open space of the plaza, he saw no sign of any enemies.

Suddenly, Zhao Jiayi’s steps faltered slightly before returning to normal.

“Is there an enemy here? Or some other danger?”

Lin Qing wasn’t particularly tense within himself; with his current strength, a threat of 0.3 level wasn’t that dangerous.

But at that moment—

He suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of crisis. Instinct or perhaps subconsciousness made him spin around and look up in the direction of the Ferris wheel.

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

Sharp whistling sounds of something cutting through the air suddenly came from above!

Time seemed to slow down.

Those were three dark, slender afterimages speeding through the air at a terrifying velocity that was almost imperceptible to the naked eye, clearly originating from the Ferris wheel a hundred meters away!

Arrows?

“Be careful!”

Lin Qing’s pupils contracted and, without a moment to identify the source of the arrows, he yelled as he instantly pulled out an electric baton from his waist.

The arrows were too fast, easily approaching a speed of 700 fps, or more than two hundred meters per second!

Within just a fraction of a second, the three fearsome arrows were upon them!

In that instant, Lin Qing determined—

The three arrows precisely targeted him, Zhao Jiayi to his left, and Teng Feiyu to his right!

“Clang! Clang!”

In that instant, Lin Qing’s arm became a blur of an afterimage, and under his preemptive prediction, two of the shadowy arrows were accurately deflected to the side by his electric baton.

But there was still one arrow shade he couldn’t deflect in time—it grazed past his electric baton and flew straight at Teng Feiyu!

“Thud!”

As the sound of an arrow piercing flesh echoed, blood abruptly burst forth!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com