"Everyone, move aside!"
"The Overseeing Bureau is handling this!"
"Move! Move!"
"."
Li Fei stood among the crowd, watching a squad of men in black uniforms with sabers at their waists roughly disperse the onlookers and cordon off the crime scene.
Outside a noodle shop, a man lay motionless in a pool of blood. Noodles still steaming, shattered porcelain bowls, and broken wooden tables were scattered across the ground.
The scene was a complete mess.
"Someone's been beaten to death."
"It was the noodle shop owner. He got into an argument with someone."
".Looks like a martial artist from the Tiger Sabre Gang."
"The Tiger Sabre Gang again. Doesn't the Overseeing Bureau do anything?"
"How could the Overseeing Bureau dare interfere?"
".I heard they took money from the Tiger Sabre Gang."
"Shh, keep your voice down."
"."
Li Fei listened expressionlessly to the conversations around him. When he saw that the people from the Overseeing Bureau had carried away the victim's body without even calling a forensic examiner, he instinctively clenched his fists, as though recalling something unpleasant.
"What a world."
Supporting his bicycle, he squeezed out of the crowd and soon began pedaling along the road.
Quite a few young people on the way looked at Li Fei's bicycle with envy.
These days, owning a bicycle of your own was no simple matter.
The Road Safety Law recently introduced by the Judicial Pavilion of the Great Blue Dynasty stipulated that every bicycle had to have its own license plate. Bicycles without plates were not allowed on the road, and violators faced fines. Cyclists also had to carry their licenses with them at all times, or they would be fined one yuan.
Furthermore, privately owned bicycles could not be rented out, or the owner would be fined three to five yuan. Any change in bicycle ownership had to be registered with the local Ministry of Internal Affairs; otherwise, the fine was one to two yuan. Bicycle owners who moved house also had to report the change, or they would be fined one to two yuan.
Finally, every bicycle had to pay one yuan a month in road maintenance fees.
The newest Ever Blue Brand bicycle sold for 180 yuan, already equal to five or six months of wages for most laborers. With the additional one-yuan monthly road maintenance fee, bicycles had practically become the preserve of the wealthy.
So Li Fei, riding his bicycle beneath the sun with his hair flying in the wind, was the very image of a tall, rich, and handsome young man.
Amid the envious gazes along the way, Li Fei rode into a gray compound.
This was the family compound for mid-level and higher-ranking cadres of the Xingcheng Overseeing Bureau.
Li Fei parked his bicycle in the shed. Beside it stood row upon row of gleaming black cars.
These were vehicles assigned by the Overseeing Bureau to squad leaders and higher-ranking cadres.
When he spotted a familiar license plate among the parked cars, Li Fei grew thoughtful and hurried into one of the buildings.
He went straight up to the twelfth floor without even breathing hard, took out his key, unlocked the iron door, and entered the apartment.
"Yesterday, the Xingcheng Overseeing Bureau destroyed a stronghold of an evil cult. The cult is called the Tranquil God Sect. It uses talisman water that supposedly calms the spirit and stills the mind to deceive the populace, while secretly extorting wealth and taking lives. So far, more than a hundred people have died at the hands of this evil cult."
As soon as he entered, Li Fei heard the voice coming from the radio.
"Xiao Fei is back?"
On the sofa, Li Lei was still wearing his black uniform. He looked up toward the entryway while drinking tea and listening to the radio.
"Uncle Li."
Li Fei called out a greeting and sat down on the sofa opposite him. He removed the gray canvas shoulder bag from his back and placed it on his lap, keeping his back straight and sitting properly.
The other man had come home early today. That probably meant there was news about the matter Li Fei had asked him to handle.
"Xiao Fei is home."
A fair-skinned, graceful woman with a head of fashionable permed curls emerged from the kitchen carrying a plate of fruit.
"Aunt Zhang."
Li Fei greeted her, a smile appearing on his face.
"Xiao Fei, have some fruit first. Auntie bought your favorite strawberries."
Zhang Yuqing placed the plate of strawberries in front of Li Fei and spoke with a kindly smile.
"Thank you, Aunt Zhang."
Li Fei picked up a bright red strawberry and put it in his mouth.
Li Lei turned off the radio and looked at Li Fei.
"Xiao Fei, do you really want to go to the Military Academy after you graduate?"
Li Fei slowly swallowed the strawberry in his mouth before smiling at Li Lei. "Uncle Li, Sister Tianyu wants to take the university entrance exam for the Conflict Mitigation Department. With her aptitude, she has a very good chance of getting in. My aptitude isn't good enough, so I won't join the fray."
Li Lei sighed. "It's been seventeen years since the Great Blue Dynasty began its reforms, yet there are still only Twelve Universities. The competition is fierce, and the Conflict Mitigation Department is even harder to get into. Your Sister Tianyu might not pass either. And even if she does, the annual tuition alone will give me a headache."
After the Great Blue Dynasty's reforms, its education system was divided into four levels: primary school, advanced primary school, secondary vocational school, and university.
Primary school lasted four years, and everyone could attend for free, needing only to pay a small fee for books.
Advanced primary school lasted two years. Students had to pass an entrance examination and pay tuition.
The full name of secondary vocational school was "Secondary Specialized Vocational School." It was divided into eight disciplines: liberal arts, science, law, agriculture, engineering, commerce, teacher training, and Conflict Mitigation. Its purpose was to train specialized professionals.
After that came university, the highest level of education. There were only Twelve Universities in the entire country. The entrance examinations were difficult, and tuition was exorbitant—far beyond what an ordinary family could afford.
Li Lei was a squad leader in the Xingcheng Overseeing Bureau. He earned 100 yuan a month, along with various other forms of income, and had managed to save a considerable sum over the years.
But university tuition was at least 500 yuan per semester, and the Conflict Mitigation Department required students to practice martial arts, which meant even more expenses.
Li Lei's daughter, Li Tianyu, wanted to apply to the Conflict Mitigation Department. He could barely afford to support her, but adding Li Fei to the burden would make things extremely difficult.
That was why Li Fei had taken the initiative to give up on university and transfer to the Military Academy.
He did not want to put Li Lei in a difficult position.
Li Lei looked at Li Fei.
"The Military Academy is a mixed bag. Instead of going there, you should come to the Overseeing Bureau. I can look after you. With your secondary vocational Conflict Mitigation Department qualification, work hard in the future and I guarantee you'll be able to take my position!"
The Overseeing Bureau was responsible for public security in its jurisdiction. It wielded considerable authority and offered excellent benefits and treatment. It was absolutely a place most people would envy.
Yet Li Fei shook his head.
"The Overseeing Bureau is a good place, but it can't train martial artists the way the Military Academy can. So I still want to go to the Military Academy and give it a try."
The Great Blue Dynasty had established itself through martial arts. Martial culture ran deep, and the dynasty placed great importance on martial artists.
Not only did its secondary vocational schools and universities establish Conflict Mitigation Departments dedicated to teaching martial arts and strengthening the body so that conflicts could be ended through martial prowess, it also established Military Academies throughout the country. As long as applicants passed the physical examination and paid the fees, they could enter and study martial arts.
Precisely because the threshold was low, the Military Academies were a mixed bag. Scions of influential families who failed to enter university, along with members of various gangs, would choose to pursue "further studies" at a Military Academy.
For Li Fei, however, the most important thing was not merely that the Military Academy could train martial artists. It was that every year, each Military Academy had several spots to recommend students directly into the Conflict Mitigation Department of the Twelve Universities—and the Military Academy would cover all the students' tuition.
The Li Family could not support two people through university at the same time, so Li Fei could only rely on himself.
Li Lei looked into his eyes. "Have you thought it through?"
Remembering the noodle shop owner's corpse, Li Fei nodded firmly.
"Yes. I've thought it through!"
This world was not a time of chaos, but the lives of ordinary people were still worth little more than weeds.
The noodle shop owner had worked diligently to run his shop and earn money. He had lived honestly his entire life and had never done anything wrong, yet he lost his life simply because he got into an argument with someone. In the end, the matter would most likely be left unresolved, because the person who beat him to death was a martial artist from the Tiger Sabre Gang.
A martial artist's wanton violence could kill one person, while an evil cult running amok could claim the lives of hundreds. Ordinary people were far too fragile in this world. Only by becoming a martial artist would they have a chance to seize control of their own fate!
Half of the world's finest martial arts lay in the martial world, and the other half lay in the Twelve Universities. The martial world was bloody and cruel, while Li Fei's family background made it easy for martial-world figures to view him with suspicion. Therefore, if he wanted to go further on the path of martial arts, entering a university's Conflict Mitigation Department was the best choice.
Of course, obtaining one of the Military Academy's spots for the university's Conflict Mitigation Department was no easy task.
In the past, he naturally would not have been confident. But now...
Li Fei subconsciously touched his chest.
"If that's the case, I'll take you to the Military Academy to register tomorrow."
Li Lei said this to Li Fei.
Before you continue