I'm a Law-Abiding Citizen!

Zhang Tian stood frozen in place, staring blankly at the iron ring on his wrist.

"What the hell! What is even going on here!"

Just then, the man in the jacket stood up, pulled a small black notebook from his pocket, flipped it open, and shoved it right into Zhang Tian's face.

"Do not resist! Sea City Destiny Bureau!"

The moment the words left his mouth, the man in the jacket twisted his hand, pinned Zhang Tian's arm firmly behind his back, and slammed him against the wall.

The tough-guy act Zhang Tian had been putting on instantly wilted; the moment he heard the words "Destiny Bureau," every thought of resistance vanished, and he obediently pressed himself against the wall.

The turn of events happened too fast.

Gu Yuan and Zhang Yining, who had been squatting behind, were jolted into alertness, not yet grasping the situation.

Two figures immediately lunged out from the crowd.

"Stay still! Don't move!"

Two members of the Destiny Bureau charged out from the shadows.

The agent on the left used a grappling hold to lock Gu Yuan's shoulder.

Neither Gu Yuan nor Zhang Yining offered any resistance.

The two of them cooperated perfectly, hands behind their heads in a movement that could only be described as smooth and practiced.

The scammers manning the stalls nearby, however, descended into chaos.

Without even bothering to gather their fake goods, they scattered in every direction in an instant, without a shred of hesitation.

"Seal the exits! Don't let a single one escape!"

The man in the jacket roared.

Immediately after, a large group of uniformed regular law enforcement officers flooded into the rear passage, wielding stun batons and quickly swarming the fleeing crowd.

In less than five minutes, all the vendors who had been scattering were rounded up by the enforcement team, not one left behind, and gathered in the center of the passage.

"Officer! We're innocent! We're just selling some scrap metal in the black market to make a living, we haven't broken any laws!"

A fat man lay on the ground, wailing at the top of his lungs.

"That's right, even you lot from the Destiny Bureau can't just be unreasonable and arrest people at random! Everything I sell is legitimate beast material!"

A skinny man nearby joined in the clamor.

A chorus of grievances erupted from the crowd as over a dozen vendors shrieked about their innocence.

The man in the jacket turned around, pulled a telescopic baton from his waist, and slammed it against a nearby iron pillar.

The piercing metallic clang drowned out all the noise.

"Enough nonsense!"

The man in the jacket pointed his baton at the group of black market vendors.

"We've been watching you lot—you fake medicine peddlers and counterfeit gear sellers—for nearly a week!"

"You've got some nerve! Taking advantage of the fact that the Destiny Bureau has been tied up lately to sell fake medicine out in the open, and you even dare to touch contraband!"

The man in the jacket scanned the circle.

"Every single stall owner in this black market today is coming back to the Destiny Bureau with me for interrogation! Not one of you is staying behind!"

About three minutes later.

Two enforcement officers led two young men over; both were sallow-faced, and one was clutching his stomach, his legs trembling.

"Take a look, is the person who sold you your items in there?"

The man in the jacket pointed at the gathered black market vendors.

The youth clutching his stomach suddenly lifted his head, scanned the group, and pointed excitedly at a middle-aged man squatting in the corner, shouting.

"It's him! It's him! It's definitely him!"

The youth was stomping his feet in agitation.

"I took his so-called 'internal Blood Qi Pill' or whatever garbage, and I've been having diarrhea all day. I couldn't even leave the toilet; I almost died of dehydration in there!"

"Damn it, I've turned into a human firehose!"

The other youth standing nearby was even more agitated, stepping forward to point at the fat man's nose and curse.

"And that dead-fatty who sold me the broken chest armor!"

"I had just left the city and reached the wilderness when an Iron-Armored Pig gave me a light nudge, and the chest armor shattered into eight pieces, breaking three of my ribs! If I hadn't run fast, I'd be dead!"

The youth lunged forward, and had the enforcement officer not been holding his arm firmly, he would have already rushed up to slap the fat man across the face.

Pinned against the wall, Zhang Tian began to cry out his own grievances after hearing the two victims' statements.

"Big Brother! Officer! You've got the wrong guy! I'm not with them! I just got here today!"

"We're law-abiding citizens! I'm a freshman at Martial University! I'm selling genuine, slightly defective medicine refined by a Martial University professor—it's definitely not contraband!"

Gu Yuan lay on the ground, his mind racing.

This was the Destiny Bureau! His cousin Shen Tingxue was a captain there; if he were hauled in as a suspect for trafficking contraband and fell into her hands, he would be lucky to escape with his life.

"Officer, please see the truth! I was dragged here by him just to make up the numbers! I don't know anything!"

"I don't even know what kind of stuff is in his bottles! I'm just a law-abiding, study-loving high school senior who was just passing by!"

Gu Yuan wore a face of utter sincerity, selling out his teammate without a moment's hesitation.

Zhang Yining, lying beside him, froze for half a second before hurriedly nodding along.

"That's right, that's right! Officer, we just came to watch the excitement, we don't know him at all!"

Zhang Tian's face was still pressed against the wall, but he managed to turn his head with great difficulty, staring at Gu Yuan and Zhang Yining in disbelief.

The man in the jacket sneered.

He released his grip on Zhang Tian, pulled his phone from his pocket, tapped the screen, and shoved it right under Zhang Tian's nose.

"See for yourself!"

"The situation you three are in is far more serious than selling fake medicine!"

The phone screen displayed a high-definition candid photo.

In the photo, Zhang Tian was sneakily pulling two white porcelain bottles from his jacket and placing them on the table.

Gu Yuan and Zhang Yining were huddled on either side, necks craned, staring at the bottles.

The angle of the photo was incredibly tricky, perfectly capturing the three of them gathered around the bottles.

"Someone filed a real-name report that you are trafficking high-risk contraband on the black market!"

The man in the jacket put away his phone and slapped the back of Zhang Tian's head.

"With both witnesses and physical evidence, what else do you three have to say for yourselves!"

Zhang Tian stared at the photo, his entire body stiffening.

"No, Officer, aren't you going to open them and see what's inside my bottles..."

"Shut up! I've been trying to inspect them since the start, and you've been obstructing me the whole time!"

The man in the jacket rudely cut Zhang Tian off and waved for his subordinates to move in.

"Save your words for the interrogation room at the Destiny Bureau! Take them all away!"

Gu Yuan's heart sank to the bottom of his chest.

He was done for.

If he stepped through the gates of the Destiny Bureau, his social life would be dead on arrival.

Just as the Destiny Bureau personnel were about to haul the black market traffickers back to their headquarters.

A young woman wearing a Destiny Bureau uniform sauntered slowly into the black market.

She was holding a large bag of original-flavor potato chips, grabbing a handful with her right hand and stuffing them into her mouth.

The needle on the compass in her hand was spinning wildly.

The woman ignored the merchants being arrested all around her, chewing on her chips while staring down at the spinning compass, muttering something unintelligible.

Gu Yuan looked up, his gaze sweeping across the woman's face.

Gu Yuan's eyes lit up suddenly, as if he had grabbed onto a life-saving straw.

"Sister Miaomiao!"