Rich Spoils

But how could Lu Hao let him get his way? He couldn't use his third strike, but his perfected leg technique wasn't for show.

Lu Hao kicked out, sending Bai Yifan, who was about to take a pill, flying four or five meters.

Bai Yifan spat out a large mouthful of blood. Lu Hao stopped, reasoning that although the inner armor had blocked his secret weapon just now, the Vital Blood should have already damaged Bai Yifan's internal organs. With that kick, they had probably ruptured completely.

So Lu Hao didn't attack again. He simply watched Bai Yifan warily as the blood pouring from him grew heavier, listening to his pained expression and anguished cries,

but Lu Hao felt no pity. A life for a life—Bai Yifan should have thought of this day when he killed others.

After waiting for quite a while, Lu Hao saw that Bai Yifan had stopped moving. Only then did a message appear on his panel.

[Enemy killed, Slaughter Point +237]

237 Slaughter Points. Compared with his Vital Blood, it seemed Bai Yifan really had reached the peak of the first rank by relying on a large number of pills.

Lu Hao picked up the metal rod lying nearby.

The rod hadn't broken under Lu Hao's attacks. He swung his blade at it with all his strength, but it still showed no damage. It was probably made of the same material as his Big Ring Blade: D-Grade Alloy.

Weighing it in his hand, he estimated it was about four kilograms. D-Grade Alloy cost around 600,000 per kilogram, making the rod worth 2.4 million.

He removed the inner armor from Bai Yifan's body. It already had a crack from Lu Hao's blade. Although the armor hadn't stopped Lu Hao's attack, that had been his strongest strike.

The damage from a burst of over 50 cards of Vital Blood was something most second-rank warriors couldn't withstand. Only a third-rank warrior, after tempering his breastbone, could block an attack like that.

Even so, the inner armor was probably worth more than the metal rod. After all, you could wear it at all times, and it could save your life.

Without this armor, Lu Hao's second strike would have killed Bai Yifan. He wouldn't have had time to pull out a pill.

Lu Hao took the pill Bai Yifan had been holding but hadn't managed to swallow. It was a Life Recovery Pill, worth six million.

Now that was what you called rich. The things on his person alone were worth over ten million.

Just how much had Bai Yifan embezzled from the Pill Company to equip himself so thoroughly?

It was only because Lu Hao had been the one to come that he'd managed to deal with him. Most low-stage second-rank warriors probably couldn't have handled Bai Yifan—and might even have been killed instead.

Now that was a truly devious bastard.

Lu Hao opened the cellar door and jumped down, only to be startled. An arrow was aimed straight at his head where he landed.

He moved around the opening and took a look. It was a crossbow that had been prepared in advance. If someone suddenly jumped down, Bai Yifan could give them a nasty surprise from inside.

Lu Hao couldn't help feeling a lingering fear. Luckily, he'd been cautious. If he'd jumped straight down, he might already be a corpse. He had only tempered his lower limbs so far; his head was no different from an ordinary person's, and naturally couldn't withstand a crossbow bolt striking it.

Bai Yifan really was vicious. A truly underhanded bastard.

After searching around, Lu Hao found several bottles of Blood Vitality Pills and one bottle of Bone Tempering Pills. There was nothing else. It seemed Bai Yifan had spent most of his pills buying his equipment, and probably used quite a few to break through as well.

Lu Hao pulled the arrowhead from the trap at the entrance and tried squeezing it in his hand. He curled his lip.

He couldn't even make it budge. It was at least D-Grade Alloy, perhaps even C-Grade Alloy. Bai Yifan had really been afraid of dying.

After gathering up the spoils, Lu Hao left. On the way back, he reminded himself to be extremely careful on future missions. If he ran into another devious bastard like Bai Yifan, he might end up losing his life.

When he returned to the Detective Bureau and reported Bai Yifan's strength to the staff, they told him he would have to wait for the Cleanup Department to confirm it before they could give him the corresponding reward.

Lu Hao didn't mind. He hadn't taken the mission for that little reward anyway. His main goal had always been Slaughter Points.

Killing Bai Yifan had taken nearly half a day. Lu Hao didn't take any more missions after that. It was already getting late, and he'd be better off going home to temper his bones.

After arranging a time with Viper for the next day, Lu Hao went straight home to temper his bones.

Once home, Lu Hao looked over what he'd gained that day.

[Slaughter Points: 480]

He kept 80 points for emergencies. The remaining 400 were enough for him to temper eight bones.

And that was just what he'd earned in one day. If every day after this were like today, how wonderful would that be? But Lu Hao was only daydreaming. It was impossible.

First, there simply weren't that many criminal warriors. Most warriors had some sense; they weren't stupid enough to oppose the national law enforcement agencies.

Second, there was the matter of efficiency. The two missions Lu Hao had taken today were ones he'd specifically chosen. Both had already pinpointed the targets' locations, so all he had to do was go deal with them.

But the other missions weren't so clear. They only gave a general location—for instance, that someone had been seen somewhere five days ago. Information like that made finding people a challenge in itself.

The missions that followed probably wouldn't be so easy. Finding the targets would likely take a lot of time, but it would still be worth it to Lu Hao.

Even a low-stage first-rank warrior could provide 170 or 180 Slaughter Points—enough to temper around four bones. Tempering them himself would take him nearly ten days.

Finding someone surely wouldn't take that long. Spending two or three days looking for a target was well worth it to Lu Hao.

If he really couldn't find someone, he could always abandon the mission. He only had to pay a penalty equal to one-tenth of the reward, which wasn't a problem for Lu Hao.

He stopped thinking about it and began tempering his bones. After he finished tempering one, his mother came home.

At the dinner table, Lu Hao told her what had happened during his mission that day. Although Bai Qiuyao would be able to learn the outcome of his mission the day after tomorrow, she didn't know what had actually happened.

So Lu Hao told her everything, showing her how strong he was and putting her more at ease.

But when Bai Qiuyao heard about Bai Yifan's equipment, she seemed to mull something over, her brows knitted tightly.

"What's wrong, Mom? Is there a problem with Bai Yifan?"

"There is. The C-Grade arrowhead and inner armor you mentioned aren't things a mere salesperson could get his hands on. D-Grade metal is the limit for the civilian market, let alone inner armor. No kind of inner armor is allowed to enter civilian circulation."

"How did Bai Yifan get those things? It looks like we'll have to make sure people investigate his fencing operation tomorrow."

"Really? No wonder I've never seen inner armor out in the open. So it's a controlled item."

Lu Hao nodded. Bai Yifan's equipment really had been unusually lavish. He was only at the peak of the first rank, so how could he have gotten access to such things? His fencing operation had to be the problem.