Ark, Just Tell Me Whether the Mission Was Completed

He could clearly lay out the stakes and resolve the misunderstanding in the simplest terms, while shifting all the credit onto his superior. He neither stole the spotlight nor embarrassed his leader.

To react so quickly, Officer Luo's ability to adapt on the fly was undoubtedly genius-level.

"That's right. Then let's first raise a glass to Superintendent Chen, who brought us all together."

Following Lin Ge Rui's lead, Luo Chen raised his glass first toward Chen Huijie, the mastermind behind this collusion between the authorities and the underworld, as though he were the host treating everyone to dinner.

Yet Chen Huijie felt no respect from Luo Chen's toast. Instead, she caught a faint, disdainful smirk on his lips.

That smile seemed to be mocking her—mocking a superintendent of the Lungmen Guard Department for colluding with criminal forces. She was nothing but a disgrace to the police.

"We really should toast Little Chen first."

"Mm."

Rat King and his daughter also raised their glasses toward Chen Huijie along with Luo Chen.

When Rat King and Lin Yuxia toasted her, Ch'en's heart trembled.

She suddenly felt as if she really had become a disgrace to the police, one who colluded with criminal forces.

She had clearly come here for Lungmen's stability. Why had she instead begun questioning her own conscience?

And as for Luo Chen, that swindler who went around bluffing everyone—how could he still have the nerve to mock her?

"Officer Luo, how do you view the current situation in the Lower City? Do you have any better ideas or suggestions for the slums there?"

After toasting Chen Huijie, Rat King unhurriedly asked Luo Chen for his thoughts on the numerous gangs in the Lower City.

Luo Chen first praised Rat King's efforts over the past twenty years.

To transform Lungmen's Lower City from a lawless hell on earth full of gathered criminals into a stable district with some measure of social order, where the lowest classes could barely survive—

Such an achievement must have required efforts beyond ordinary imagination. That honor belonged to Rat King.

Luo Chen then raised several issues currently facing the gangs.

Most gang members were opportunists, failures in other fields. Unable to find a career in which they could succeed, they chose to rely on the most primitive form of violence to gain dignity and status.

These people were the foundation that allowed Lungmen's underground forces to grow, but they were also the obstacle preventing Lungmen's gangs from modernizing and entering a new era.

Luo Chen believed that they could not simply give up educating gang members just because they lacked schooling.

On the contrary, precisely because they were society's castoffs, education needed to be valued even more.

For an organization like this, they should provide civic education, raise cultural literacy, and build a new-era gang that was civilized, cultivated, professional, and modernized.

The gangs of Lungmen's Lower City had to reform their education system, allowing gang members to develop morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically, and through labor, ensuring that the Lower City advanced from stability toward prosperity and strength.

"I hope that whether they are gangsters, the Lungmen Guard Department, or ordinary people in Lungmen, everyone can unite as one, twist themselves into a single rope, and work wholeheartedly to build a prosperous and strong Lungmen."

Luo Chen spoke eloquently about his plans for Lungmen's future development, drawing occasional beard-stroking nods from Lin Ge Rui.

He had to admit that Luo Chen was talking about something very new.

Providing gang members with cultural education and instilling values in them were ideas he had never considered.

Yet it made him feel that this was the fundamental way for Lungmen's Lower City to escape savagery, poverty, and violence.

If Lungmen's gangs, acting as underground police, could truly become new-era gangs, it would be a good thing for all Lungmen citizens.

"Yuxia, what do you think?"

Rat King turned to his daughter, wanting to hear a young person's opinion.

"What do I think... It is certainly novel, but those punks have gotten too used to loafing around. They're good at fighting and brawling, but making them study would probably be very difficult, wouldn't it?"

"After all, if they could make something of themselves through studying, who would still come out to join a gang?"

"Those who can both study well and thrive in the gang world are all second-generation leaders of major gangs. They have no reference value at all."

Speaking from experience as a second-generation gangster, Lin Yuxia felt that while Luo Chen's proposal was wonderful, it was not very practical.

At the very least, she could not think of any way to make that bunch of street loafers sit quietly in a classroom and study.

Hearing this, Luo Chen smiled lightly and waved a hand.

"Solving the problem of not wanting to study is actually very simple. Some poor students join gangs because they think rising through the gang world is easier than learning academics."

"In that case, we only need to raise the entry threshold for traditional gangs and make them recognize the importance of knowledge again."

"For example, change the rule of winning a hundred fights to be promoted to junior cadre into either killing a hundred people or placing in the top eight hundred in the Lungmen Secondary Entrance Exam."

"People like compromise. If they had to choose between fighting a hundred times and placing in the top eight hundred in the Lungmen Secondary Entrance Exam, they would definitely choose to fight a hundred times."

"But if they had to choose between killing a hundred enemies and placing in the top eight hundred in the Lungmen Secondary Entrance Exam, unless they were murderous maniacs with absurd combat strength, everyone else would definitely choose to study academic subjects."

"This way, the talent we select would retain combat power while also improving the cultural literacy of our grassroots cadres."

Luo Chen's words rang out forcefully, brimming with confidence.

That unwavering tone alone made Lin Yuxia's earlier doubts vanish like smoke.

More importantly, Luo Chen had the ability to convince her.

In this officer's eyes, even ruining her father's reputation did not count as much of a problem.

Perhaps building a new-era gang was even less worth mentioning to him.

Before meeting him, she had not really understood what ability Chen Huijie had seen in Luo Chen to promote him as her confidant.

Now Lin Yuxia was utterly certain that this officer, possessed of terrifying talent, would one day become a sage capable of profoundly influencing Lungmen.

Just imagine it: in the future, Lungmen's gangsters would all be educated, polite, and willing to help others. What kind of new era would that be?

Ch'en Felt Out of Place

Meanwhile.

Off to the side, Chen Huijie felt completely out of place.

She did not understand why Rat King and his daughter could so passionately discuss gang development with Luo Chen.

Promotions for killing a hundred people.

Kidnapping the heads of other gangs and killing them if they failed to finish their secondary entrance exam papers.

Was this something a superintendent of the Lungmen Guard Department was supposed to hear?

She felt like an undercover agent who had infiltrated the upper ranks of a cult, liable to be exposed at any moment.

Every second spent sitting here was agony.

While no one was paying attention to her, Chen Huijie quietly left the room and went to the restroom to catch her breath.

After standing by the restroom window and letting the wind blow on her for a while, Chen Huijie noticed someone enter behind her. Turning around, she saw that it was Lin Yuxia.

Perhaps because the earlier conversation had been so lively, Lin Yuxia's once weary eyes were now exceptionally bright.

After using the restroom, Lin Yuxia washed her hands and asked Chen Huijie, "Chen Huijie, where did your Lungmen Guard Department find a talent like Mr. Luo Chen?"

Hearing Lin Yuxia call him a talent, Chen Huijie's eyelids immediately twitched twice.

"What kind of talent is he... Before I met him, I had no idea what I would die from in the future."

"But after meeting him, I can be certain that I'll be angered to death."

Chen Huijie gritted her teeth as she assessed him, but Lin Yuxia heard it as something else entirely.

As Chen Huijie's old classmate, she knew that Chen Huijie sympathized with the weak and looked down on the strong.

When faced with the weak, Ch'en would sympathize with and understand their circumstances, doing everything she could to help.

But when she encountered someone stronger than herself, Ch'en had this attitude of refusing to yield to anyone and fearing nothing.

The more she said Luo Chen was not a talent, the more it proved how capable he was.

Thinking this, Lin Yuxia curled her lips into a smile.

"You're still the same as before. You haven't changed at all after all these years."

"If Luo Chen really isn't a talent, then fire him and send him to me."

"I hope you won't be reluctant when the time comes."

Chen Huijie did not answer. She merely watched Lin Yuxia in silence.

Her emotions were a tangled mess. She had no idea why things had suddenly turned out this way.

The victim appreciating the person spreading rumors about her—what kind of development was this?

She could not figure it out. She could not understand it.

Haven't you noticed Luo Chen's acting?

Chen Huijie had a thousand words at the tip of her tongue, but she could not say any of them. She could only try her best to keep her expression from changing.

In the end, she let out a soft sigh and returned to the private room first.

After the discussion on gang development ended, they finally reached the last stage.

That was Luo Chen's private interview with Rat King on behalf of the Lungmen Guard Department.

Luo Chen took out a sheet of record paper printed with the Lungmen Guard Department emblem. It was one of the documents Chen Huijie had given him for his practical assessment assignment.

It listed the points Luo Chen needed to investigate in secret.

These included age, gender, hobbies, family circumstances, and additional intelligence items.

As part of the practical assessment, every investigation point had corresponding bonus marks.

In other words, the more he filled in, the higher Luo Chen's practical assessment score would be.

When Chen Huijie saw that sheet of paper, her scalp immediately tightened.

One of the pieces of leverage Luo Chen had used to threaten her cooperation was this practical assessment.

Yet Luo Chen was not hiding it in the slightest. He actually dared to take out the assessment form from that practical assessment assignment.

If Uncle Lin noticed anything, neither she nor Luo Chen could expect to leave here peacefully today.

Just how big was Luo Chen's nerve?

Chen Huijie could not help watching Luo Chen's breathing and the rise and fall of his chest, only to discover that he was not nervous at all. His breathing was as steady as though he were taking a stroll, without the slightest ripple.

By contrast, Chen Huijie nearly suffocated because of what Luo Chen did next.

"Mr. Rat King, the interview is really just a formality. Our true purpose is to deepen the Lungmen Guard Department's cooperation with you."

"This is the Lungmen Guard Department's routine survey form. Fill it out as you see fit. Write whatever you want in the additional items."

"As for the case in which you were slandered and framed, I guarantee on Superintendent Chen's behalf that the impact will be completely eliminated by tomorrow at the latest."

"Then I'll leave it to you young people."

Lin Ge Rui smiled as he accepted the survey form Luo Chen handed over. Pulling out a fountain pen from his pocket, he began filling it in.

He was very satisfied with Luo Chen's approach and felt that the young man respected him.

If Luo Chen had interrogated him, then no matter how gentle his tone was, he would still have felt slightly displeased.

But by handing the survey form to him, Luo Chen had both expressed the closeness of their relationship—

And placed the initiative in his hands, allowing him to write whatever he wished.

Having felt Luo Chen's respect through his actions, Lin Ge Rui responded to that respect with his own actions.

He truthfully wrote down his age, gender, name, hobbies, and family composition, leaving nothing out.