Evil Cult

After dinner.

Lu Hao returned to his room, took the arrowhead out of his Storage Space, and showed it to Bai Qiuyao.

Bai Qiuyao confirmed that it was indeed C-grade alloy. It seemed this fence's operation really did have some serious problems.

The next day, Lu Hao got up a little late. The reason was that he had tempered six bones yesterday, one more than planned. This had taken a toll on his mental strength, so it naturally took longer to recover.

Lu Hao had now tempered 43 bones. He could be considered to have entered the upper stage of Rank One. He had 19 bones left to temper in his lower body before he could prepare to break through to Rank Two.

Lu Hao rode to the Detective Bureau in Bai Qiuyao's car. He couldn't help wondering if he should buy a car of his own. After all, he couldn't rely on his mother's and Viper's cars whenever he needed to go somewhere.

Still, Lu Hao didn't think it was necessary. He'd probably spend most of his time in the Earth Caves in the future, and if he bought a car, he wouldn't get much use out of it. It would only come in handy for a while, so he decided against it.

At the Detective Bureau, Lu Hao began looking through the missions. Unfortunately, he had already completed the two missions with confirmed enemy locations yesterday. The next challenge would be finding his target.

Lu Hao browsed missions for peak Rank One opponents. For him, the result would be the same whether he faced an upper-stage or peak Rank One opponent. In a direct fight, they wouldn't stand a chance against him.

He was being a little too cautious. Otherwise, he could have taken a Rank Two mission directly. After all, he was now at the upper stage of Rank One, and his actual combat strength should already exceed that of an upper-stage Rank Two martial artist. Killing someone in the lower or middle stages of Rank Two wouldn't be difficult for him.

"Hey, want to team up and take a mission?"

A voice came from beside him. Lu Hao looked up to see three students approaching.

"Who are you?"

"We're from Jingnan Martial University, Xijiang Martial University, and Nantian Martial University. Which Martial University are you from, man?"

"Magic Martial University."

Lu Hao named Magic Martial University. If he said he was still in high school, they'd probably start questioning their entire lives.

"Oh, Magic Martial University. You're taking a mission by yourself, so you must be pretty strong. Want to team up and take on a higher-level mission? We're all from Martial Universities, so it'll be easier to work together."

"No thanks. I'm used to going alone."

Lu Hao made his refusal clear. What if they tried to steal his kills or ended up dragging him down? Besides, he was far stronger than them. Why invite trouble?

"Okay, good luck with your mission, then."

Lu Hao said nothing more. He picked a peak Rank One mission, swiped his Martial Arts Certificate, and left.

After Lu Hao had left,

"Brother Zhang, that Magic Martial University student sure is arrogant. So what if he's from Magic Martial University? Does he think he's too good for ordinary Martial Universities like ours? We invited him in good faith, and he still turned us down."

"Wu Bai, how many times have I told you not to talk about people behind their backs? Maybe he's strong enough that we'd just be deadweight to him."

"We'd be deadweight? The three of us were the first students in our year to come out and take missions. And even a peak Rank One opponent wouldn't stand a chance against us working together. Could he really take one on by himself?"

"Hmph, I think he just looks down on people from ordinary Martial Universities like us. Taking a mission alone? He'll find out how hard they are when he gets a reality check."

"Enough, stop talking. Let's keep waiting. Once we find one or two more people, we'll try a Rank Two mission."

Lu Hao had no idea that the three of them saw him as an arrogant and conceited person. Even if he had known, he wouldn't have said anything.

Summer insects couldn't be told about ice, frogs in wells couldn't be told about the sea, and ordinary people couldn't be told about the Dao. Naturally, they had no idea how strong Lu Hao was.

In the car, Lu Hao carefully studied the target of his mission. A peak Rank One martial artist, he had killed his ordinary-person wife during a dispute and gone on the run. The most recent sighting since the crime had been five days ago, at a shopping mall in the city.

He hadn't been spotted anywhere else. This man was cautious. It looked like tracking him down would take a lot of time.

Unable to locate the man directly, Lu Hao could only review the surveillance footage included with the mission. He began working out where the man was most likely hiding, then planned to search the area methodically.

Following the direction he had taken, Lu Hao began checking the businesses one by one, asking questions and looking for clues.

By evening, Lu Hao had spent the whole day searching without finding anything. He had followed the surveillance footage back nearly five kilometers, but there was still no sign of the man. It seemed this mission would take a while.

"Hao'er, how did your mission go today?" Bai Qiuyao asked from across the table.

"I searched all day and didn't find a trace of him."

"Mom has an idea. You can use your Martial Arts Certificate to explain the situation at the police station and ask them to help with the search. Since they're used to dealing with frontline situations, they know their jurisdiction far better than you do."

"With their help, you might find something soon."

Hearing Bai Qiuyao's suggestion, Lu Hao immediately nodded. No one would know the area better than the local police.

"Okay. I'll go to the police station tomorrow and ask them to help."

"By the way, they also traced the channel that sold the equipment you took from Bai Yifan yesterday."

"Oh? What did they find?"

Lu Hao was curious. Bai Yifan's equipment had been a little too lavish.

"After Bai Yifan killed someone and fled, he somehow came into contact with people from the Evil Cult. He got those restricted inner armor pieces and C-grade metal through them."

"Once they traced the channel today, the bureau sent people in. It was an Evil Cult hideout with a fourth-grade martial artist. They wiped it out, killing one fourth-grade martial artist and quite a few low-grade ones."

"The Evil Cult? No wonder they could get their hands on so many good things."

"Mm. Hao'er, if you run into the Evil Cult while doing missions, you have to be extremely careful. Evil Cult martial artists usually don't operate alone. They always have a fixed hideout, and those hideouts can be anything from weak to powerful."

"Those fanatics from the Evil Cult might even blow themselves up while fighting you, so you have to be careful. If you encounter any of them, report it to the Detective Bureau right away. The bureau will send middle-grade martial artists to wipe them out."

Bai Qiuyao said this because she was afraid Lu Hao might run into Evil Cult martial artists and get badly injured by one of their self-detonations.

"Mm, I know. Don't worry, Mom. If I run into the Evil Cult, I'll report it to the Detective Bureau right away. I won't charge in recklessly and fight them myself."

Lu Hao said this because he understood his own strength. If he ran into a middle-grade Evil Cult martial artist, he wouldn't be able to escape at all. Against lower-third-grade martial artists, he could hold out with his recovering vital blood, but against a middle-grade one, that wouldn't work.