"Was picking up this executor why you were in such a hurry to leave this morning?" Qin Ze asked.
Number Three nodded, admiration appearing on his face.
"That's right."
"At first, I thought the executor was another bureaucratic type, making the whole department come out to welcome him on an inspection."
"Turns out I couldn't have been more wrong!"
Qin Ze was curious. "Is he extraordinary?"
"Extraordinary?" Number Three said excitedly. "He's more than extraordinary!"
Qin Ze: "..."
Having heard what you had to say, I have heard what you had to say.
Number Three continued, "The executor summoned all the law enforcement officers to ask about the work we were currently handling."
"After I told him about the connection between the human trafficking and the arson case, he immediately investigated it himself and took the case over from the police."
"We actually found a few leads during the day."
"But a big surprise came tonight."
"All the rescued girls came running to the Law Enforcement Department compound, and they handed over a ledger."
"And now, the executor has started arresting everyone on the list in the ledger, one by one!"
There wasn't a single Law Enforcement Department name in the ledger.
That was why Qin Ze had felt safe letting the girls take it to the Law Enforcement Department.
But he had been careful and kept a copy for himself.
If law enforcement played dead, he wouldn't mind letting the light of justice shine upon the land.
To Qin Ze's surprise, the new executor acted with the force of thunder and the speed of lightning.
"Do executors hold a high position in law enforcement?" Qin Ze asked curiously.
Number Three explained, "At the bottom are ordinary law enforcement officers, hard-luck workers like me."
"Above us are the adjudicators. They're at least level three, and most are level four or above. They handle major martial artist cases that ordinary officers can't resolve."
"A small department like Jiang City's only has three or four adjudicators."
"Above the adjudicators are the executors. Every executor is an Advanced Martial Artist of level six or above."
"Executors are like firefighters. They go wherever they're needed."
Wherever they're needed?
What in Jiang City needed an Advanced Martial Artist to deal with it?
After all, Jiang City's city lord was only an Intermediate Martial Artist.
Qin Ze's heart skipped a beat.
Damn, it's the Jiang City Otherworld.
"Above the executors are the nine archons and the director-general. They're all said to be Level Nine Martial Artists."
Number Three's face was full of longing and aspiration.
Qin Ze waved a hand in front of his face.
"What are you dreaming about, wage slave?"
"Have you met this month's KPI?"
Qin Ze's words woke Number Three from his dream.
"Hmph!"
"Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river. Don't look down on a poor young man!"
Qin Ze said, "The dead deserve respect."
Number Three rolled his eyes. "I can't be bothered arguing with you. I'm going to arrest someone."
"You came to a KTV to make an arrest?"
"They're in the presidential suite upstairs. I'm guarding the door on this side."
As he spoke, a voice sounded in Number Three's earpiece.
"Yes!"
His face turned serious, and he hurried off before he even had time to say goodbye.
Poor wage slave.
Qin Ze breathed a sigh of relief.
The threat of his identity being exposed was finally over.
Qin Ze had been singing at the KTV when the Phoenix Tower incident happened.
Number Three's doubts were completely dispelled.
But who could have imagined that the Qin Ze at the KTV was only a clone?
"Brother Ze, why did you take so long to pee?" Fatty asked when Qin Ze came back.
Qin Ze said, "A man can't be called short!"
After the gathering ended, everyone went back to their own homes and their own mothers.
The class monitor started to speak to Qin Ze several times, but ultimately said nothing.
Qin Ze's home was nearby, so he could walk straight back.
Outside the KTV, Qin Ze and the class monitor saw their classmates into taxis one by one.
As the class monitor got into a car last, Qin Ze suddenly said,
"Class monitor, happy birthday!"
The class monitor froze for a moment, then smiled.
"Thank you."
"Tonight was the happiest birthday I've ever had."
The taxi gradually receded into the distance.
With his arms behind his head, Qin Ze whistled as he walked into the vast night.
That night, a storm of blood swept through Jiang City.
All ninety-two of Jiang City's law enforcement officers and four adjudicators mobilized under the leadership of an executor.
Everyone connected to the Phoenix Tower was arrested, whether they were martial artists or not, regardless of their sequence or status.
Anyone who dared resist was shot dead on the spot.
At the same time, more than a dozen gangs guilty of countless evil deeds were uprooted along the way.
For a time, Jiang City's criminals saw danger in every gust of wind and every cry of a crane, and feared for their lives.
Dawn was approaching.
The Jiang City Law Enforcement Department.
The executor's office.
A tall, handsome young man not yet thirty sat in a chair, reading the arrest reports his subordinates had just submitted.
"Young master, your coffee is ready."
A curvaceous maid in a black-and-white maid outfit placed a cup of coffee before the man.
The man waved a hand, and the maid respectfully withdrew.
Knock, knock, knock~
After a knock at the door, a Jiang City adjudicator nearly fifty years old came to see him.
"My lord, in the Phoenix Tower case, forty-eight martial artists and one hundred and twenty-six ordinary people were implicated. How should we deal with them?"
The man took a sip of coffee and said calmly, "Kill them all, as a warning to others."
Though the adjudicator had expected it, a storm of shock still surged in his heart.
Forty-eight martial artists were no ordinary people; some of them even held high positions.
The adjudicator asked, "Shouldn't we interrogate them first?"
The man snorted coldly. "No interrogation. Carry it out immediately."
"Also, contact the reporters and have them report tonight's operation and its results."
The adjudicator nodded. "Yes."
The man continued, "And look into this Hater Circus thoroughly."
"An organization this big appeared right under your noses, and you knew nothing about it?"
"A bunch of good-for-nothings."
"How can vermin like you do law enforcement work properly?"
The adjudicator trembled. "Your reprimand is justified, my lord. I'll personally investigate it right away."
The adjudicator hurried out before the executor could lose his temper.
The telephone on the desk suddenly rang.
The man answered it, and a displeased voice came from the other end.
"I didn't send you to Jiang City to crack down on gangs and crime. Don't forget your real business!"
The man replied unhurriedly, "Isn't what I'm doing real business?"
"You know what I'm talking about."
"And you know what I'm talking about."
The person on the other end fell silent for a full two minutes.
"My phone's been ringing off the hook. Some people have asked me to plead on their behalf, hoping you'll let a few people go."
The man said calmly, "Too late. They were all killed before you made this call."
The person on the other end spoke through gritted teeth. "Fine, fine, fine!"
The man slurped his coffee and said, "Right, right, right!"
The person on the other end hung up.
The man raised an eyebrow.
That's it?
After finishing his coffee, the man stood and stretched.
The distant sky was already turning white, and the faint light of dawn slowly rose.
Early in the morning, Qin Ze brought a fruit basket to the hospital to visit Ma Yan.
In the ward, Ma Yan lay on the bed, her eyes vacant and her whole being full of the air of approaching death.
Hearing the door open, she didn't react in the slightest, like a puppet that had lost its soul.
"Sister Ma Yan, I've come to see you."