"That Qin guy has gone too far!"
"What's with that attitude?"
The Security Bureau break room.
Zhao Qinglin slammed his hand on the table, his face full of dissatisfaction.
"He's completely arrogant!"
"We have him to thank for this."
"Now the Old District's a powder keg!"
Ever since he'd learned that his jurisdiction had been reassigned to the Old District, Zhao Qinglin had been seething with resentment.
But he had nowhere to vent it.
He couldn't exactly complain to the bureau chief, could he?
Or protest to Miss Ju Zi?
So.
Taking advantage of the small group chat they'd created that day, he'd made a sarcastic jab at Qin Annian.
Zhao Qinglin had thought Qin Annian would just keep quiet.
After all.
Who in the group didn't have complaints after being assigned to the Old District?
As the "culprit" who had lit the fuse on this powder keg, Qin Annian was automatically the "wrong person" in the group.
But who could have guessed—
Qin Annian would be so clueless as to respond like that!
It left Zhao Qinglin feeling as if he'd swallowed a dead cat.
Especially after these past few days of working grueling shifts in the Old District.
His resentment had grown stronger by the day!
He'd only just finished work, and his workload had increased more than tenfold!
On top of that, every case had to be handled with the utmost care. Not a single mistake could be made.
If anything went wrong,
he'd be in serious trouble!
"Brother Zhao."
"Let it go."
Ma Ji, a security officer who hadn't said a word in the group chat, tried to dissuade him.
"We'll all keep running into each other."
"There's no need to make things so awkward."
Zhao Qinglin was furious. He snapped,
"He's the one who caused all this trouble."
"He's the one trying to pick a fight with us!"
"How dare that Qin guy act so high and mighty?"
Ma Ji shrugged and said helplessly,
"What can we do?"
"He's a genius, after all."
"He's the second person in the Security Bureau's entire history to pass the temp-to-permanent employment exam."
"We should avoid provoking him."
That only made Zhao Qinglin even more unhappy.
"Avoid provoking him?"
"He's an eighteen-year-old kid, and I'm supposed to watch my step around him?"
"Give me a break!"
"Even if he's a genius, his Life Development Power is only 11.7."
"I've cultivated for years, and my Life Development Power has already surpassed 19. Even I wouldn't dare touch the Old District's powder keg."
"He really has no idea how high the sky is!"
Ma Ji picked up a glass of ice water and handed it to Zhao Qinglin.
"Brother Zhao."
"Xu Laosan and Ge Qingwang both went down at his hands."
"Let's cool off."
The implication was clear.
The two gang leaders, both with Life Development Power above 20, had been no match for Qin Annian.
So what good was a Life Development Power of 19?
Zhao Qinglin's face flushed crimson. He was so angry that he stammered,
"The Old District—how, how could it be that simple?"
"Xu Laosan and Ge Qingwang weren't even in the top ten in the Old District!"
"Everyone knows that. We just don't say it out loud."
The Old District was deep water.
The Blood Blade Gang and the Azure Dragon Society were merely the strongest gangs on the surface.
Beneath those waters lurked even more terrifying "Great White Sharks"!
They were the biggest obstacle to the Old District's redevelopment.
"With the way he handles cases,"
"who knows when he'll get himself killed in there?"
"Don't expect me to lift a finger when it happens!"
He drained the glass of ice water and left with a dark expression.
Watching Zhao Qinglin disappear from view, Ma Ji took out his Personal Terminal and sent an encrypted message.
"Chief, don't worry. I've taken care of it."
The sky was growing brighter. Morning had come again.
Even after some streets in the Old District had been washed down, a faint smell of blood still lingered in the air.
The small businesses that operated in the area had all kept their doors firmly shut for the past few days, afraid to keep trading.
The Old District's economy had already been struggling. Now, it had ground to a complete halt.
People went about their business carefully, afraid of getting into trouble.
Old District, Southwest District.
As Qin Annian stepped out of the Police Car in his security officer's uniform, he immediately felt countless eyes fall on him.
Some were numb, some cold, some hostile. All sorts of people watched him.
After reporting his location to Miss Ju Zi, Qin Annian headed toward the nearest street.
"I used to patrol the Old District too,"
"but mostly around the outskirts. I'm still not familiar with this part of my jurisdiction."
When he'd worked as a temporary employee under Zhao Daming, Zhao Daming had forbidden him from entering the Old District's core area without permission, to keep cases from landing on their doorstep.
He walked into a narrow alley.
A foul smell immediately wafted toward him.
It was a strange mixture of human waste, tobacco and alcohol, and household garbage.
On both sides, people watched through narrow gaps in the windows of the tightly packed buildings, coldly observing the unfamiliar security officer as he walked down the street.
Just as Qin Annian reached Fifteenth Street,
"Run!"
"The security officer's here!"
A child upstairs pointed at Qin Annian and suddenly shouted.
In a flash,
the people gathered deep in the alley scattered in every direction!
Qin Annian glanced at the smug-looking kid, who seemed about thirteen or fourteen.
His figure flickered, and he vanished from where he stood.
"You brought everything, right?"
"Don't let that mutt get his hands on it."
"Boss."
"Don't worry."
"I've got it in my pocket!"
"Besides,"
"would he really dare chase us?"
After winding through the crowded alleys, the group of men, drenched in sweat, found a stairwell and sat down on the floor.
"Hey!"
"With this bottle of medicine,"
"we'll be able to tear it up tonight!"
As he spoke,
the hooligan, who looked to be barely in his twenties, pulled a bottle of Contraband out of his pocket.
"This is a miracle drug that leaked out of Lingyun Pharmaceuticals."
"I heard it's incredibly potent!"
"It makes you immune to pain and doubles your combat strength!"
The hooligan was so excited that he urged them on.
"Let's hurry back."
"We'll find a chance to spike the liquor with this stuff and make those country bumpkins fight on the front lines for us."
But—
the moment he finished speaking, he noticed a shadow appear in front of him.
"Who's there?!"
His terrified shout rang through the stairwell.
"You are suspected of unlawful assembly and illegal possession of Contraband. You are under arrest."
A calm voice came from behind them.
The hooligans were scared out of their wits!
"Quick!"
"Run!"
A tremendous force suddenly struck.
The hooligan holding the bottle felt the world turn upside down, then hit the ground face-first.
The item in his hand was snatched away too.
"Hiss!"
The pain made his eyes bulge like a fish's. He couldn't help crying out,
"It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!"
"Let go of me!"
"I'm with the Green Mountain Group!"
"My boss knows people at Lingyun Pharmaceuticals!"
In his panic,
he blurted out anything he could think of, hoping to make the security officer behind him think twice.
Sure enough,
as soon as the words left his mouth, he felt the security officer holding him loosen his grip.
The hooligan was overjoyed!
"I knew it!"
"Even security officers have to think twice about messing with Lingyun Pharmaceuticals."
Click—
The electronic handcuffs snapped shut with a sound that boomed in the hooligan's ears like muffled thunder.
"Let me go!"
"I told you, my boss knows people at Lingyun Pharmaceuticals!"
Qin Annian adjusted the Law Enforcement Recorder clipped to his shoulder, which he had just switched on. He nodded and said softly,
"Go on."
"I'm recording."
Realizing things weren't going the way he'd imagined,
the hooligan panicked at once.
"Sir!"
"I was wrong!"
"Spare me just this once!"
"I can be your informant!"
At that moment,
Every hair on Qin Annian's body suddenly stood on end as he sensed danger closing in.
He abruptly stepped back.
Smack!
Like a watermelon smashed by a hammer, blood and brains splattered across the dilapidated wall in red and white.
The headless corpse, its hands cuffed behind its back, crashed to the ground and tumbled all the way down the stairs.
"You can eat whatever you want, but watch what you say—or you'll end up dead."
Before you continue