Lungmen

On a dirt road through the wilderness, a convoy from the Lungmen Guard Department sped onward.

After failing to receive word from the other missing squads, Chen, the highest-ranking and highest-positioned officer still present, ordered a retreat back to Lungmen.

At present, the enormous mobile city was already close at hand.

"What a magnificent sight!"

As he looked at the city built atop a mobile platform in the distance, Roy could not help but marvel inwardly.

This world was not as backward as he had imagined. Perhaps cold weapons still dominated combat, perhaps most people of this era possessed certain special abilities, but its civilization and technology had not fallen far behind either. Or perhaps... this world had followed an entirely different technological path from the one Roy had known.

In the world where Roy had once lived, moving a single building was not impossible. But moving an entire city at once was something that was nearly impossible to achieve—at least, it was impossible within the scope of the knowledge Roy had encountered.

The closer they came, the more he could feel the sheer scale of the city. At the same time, he gained a certain understanding of its structure.

This mobile city was formed from separate urban districts combined together. Every individual module could detach itself, then merge back into a single whole once the journey was complete.

After all the police cars entered the landing platform, the platform slowly rose. When it reached the top, a sentry post awaited them. However, after Chen showed her police identification, the Guard Department officer on duty stepped aside and opened the way.

"This is?"

"The Longmen Outer Ring—the slums of Lungmen. Its main residents are the Infected and the gangs hiding within Lungmen."

Seeing Roy's puzzled expression, the officer seated across from him explained.

Although they had not met Roy before this, his earlier performance and his seemingly close relationship with Chen had naturally caused the officers' attitude toward him to change greatly.

Although Chen was not in this vehicle at the moment, the officers' attitude remained unchanged.

"Doesn't the Guard Department intend to do anything about places like this?"

After hearing the explanation, Roy asked in return.

He found it hard to imagine why a district of a city would belong to gang members—and why the city's police would actually tolerate such a thing!

In both his understanding and practical work experience, something like this was almost impossible. Even before the nationwide crackdown on organized crime and evil, gangsters in most places would not have dared to be so blatant. After the crackdown, the remaining ones had tucked their tails between their legs!

As for the Infected...

Through his previous conversations with the officers, he had learned what that term represented. He could understand why these people had been arranged to live in this district.

When dealing with any incurable infectious disease, isolation was often the most effective epidemic-control measure. It was just that this city's quarantine zone was far too poor, as if its rulers had no desire to treat the Infected at all.

Through the police car window, Roy saw the people living on this land. They were all humanoid beings, yet differed in subtle ways. In his original world, biologists would probably have classified them as demi-humans.

However, they were clearly the mainstream in this world.

Beneath their thin clothing, black crystals protruded from their bodies. If Roy had not guessed wrong, these were symptoms of Oripathy infection.

Not even police cars passing by with sirens blaring could stir these people. After casting a numb glance at the vehicles, they returned to their own tasks. Hope had long vanished from their hearts; they had become completely despairing of this land.

The convoy traveled through the slums of the Longmen Outer Ring for roughly fifteen minutes. After passing through a second sentry post and undergoing Oripathy-related testing, Roy's group officially entered Lungmen proper.

At last, the police cars stopped beside a tall building bearing the Guard Department emblem.

This was the Guard Department headquarters. All kinds of people came here every day. Some came to handle various matters, while others came to inquire about the progress of investigations. Of course, there were also plenty who had been released on bail after being arrested.

Overall, the city's law enforcement environment and the composition of its police force resembled the Hong Kong police force from Roy's former world. However, compared with the Hong Kong police, the Guard Department also had several other responsibilities.

"Brother Roy, we're going to report in first. If we get the chance tonight, we'll invite you out."

After leaving those words behind, the regular officers departed.

As for Chen...

After saying, "See you later," she left ahead of them. She did not even return to the Guard Department. Judging from her somewhat hurried manner, she might have had an urgent matter to attend to.

Roy had no intention of speculating further about any of that. At that moment, he was following the signs on the walls toward his own department.

Compared to the other areas, the Auxiliary Police Corps was somewhat more run-down, and there were far fewer people there.

Unlike the auxiliary police Roy remembered, the Guard Department's auxiliary police system resembled Hong Kong's. They were assigned and promoted through the same ranks as regular police officers; the only difference was an additional "A" on their shoulder insignia.

At work, when auxiliary police officers and regular police officers were together at the same rank, the auxiliary officers followed the regular officers' command. When their ranks differed, those of lower rank followed those of higher rank.

"Yo, Roy, how did the operation go this time? Did it go smoothly?"

As Roy entered the office, the only person inside greeted him.

"Not very smoothly."

As he answered, Roy walked over to the bookshelf. Since the written language was fairly similar, he had little difficulty reading it.

He needed to learn about this world now, and reading was both an excellent and the most basic way to do so. Thus, he intended to start there.

"I see..."

A cup of hot tea was placed before Roy. Then, the man headed out of the office.

"Go on with your work. I won't keep you company."

After saying that, the man left directly.

Roy pulled book after book from the shelves. There were not only books on general knowledge, but also some related to the Guard Department and Lungmen.

As for books containing legal statutes and the like... there was no need for Roy to read those for the time being. What he needed now was foundational knowledge, not rules and regulations that he did not know where he might ever use...