In the Name of Divine Abilities, Part 10

"Bring me Lu Zhao's file."

The assistant brought the file over. Lin Zhiyan opened it, and his eyes went straight to the education section.

[Outstanding graduate of the Imperial Capital Academy's class of 34, mental discipline]

Lin Zhiyan stared at it for a long time before muttering, "It really is him."

The assistant beside him was somewhat surprised to see Lu Zhao's education. "Why would an outstanding Imperial Capital graduate be working border defense here, and only as a platoon leader?"

The Federation practiced elite education in the field of life development, and the Imperial Capital Academy was its highest institution. Every student there was a chosen child of heaven.

Its basic requirement of at least twenty vitality points by the age of eighteen alone shut out ninety-eight percent of applicants.

Those who graduated from the academy could generally expect to join management in the future. Of the twelve current seats in the Hall of Martial Virtue, half of its Martial Marquises were Imperial Capital graduates, as was the current Chief Heavenly Marquis.

"Team Leader, do you know him?"

"I know him, but he may not know me. He was quite the celebrity back then."

Lin Zhiyan had seen Lu Zhao more than once. Whenever he walked across campus, it was as though a spotlight followed him, drawing attention wherever he went.

He was strikingly handsome, came from the bottom rung of society, and had a particularly unpleasant nickname. In the end, through his own efforts, he ranked twelfth in his year and first in the mental discipline.

His story was so inspiring that teachers still held him up as an example. Lin Zhiyan had enrolled two years after Lu Zhao, so he had arrived just in time to see the legend at his peak.

He was always alone, always sitting in the farthest corner of the cafeteria, with bland life supplements and blocks of synthetic protein on his tray.

Yet he always drew attention, whether for his looks or his abilities.

What Lin Zhiyan remembered most was the time Lu Zhao stood at the lectern, filling in to teach a class of first-year students about "fine control of mental force fields." More than a hundred suspended steel balls traced an intricate topological structure with precision in the air, each ball's trajectory accurate to within a millimeter.

His unparalleled computation and control left the mental-type geniuses from all over the country speechless.

It was also the academy's way of putting them in their place and taking the freshmen down a peg.

Lin Zhiyan had once regarded him as a goal to strive for, but in the end, he had never managed to challenge Lu Zhao for first place.

He had thought Lu Zhao must have joined some classified unit. He had never expected him to be holed up in a small place like this.

Lin Zhiyan instructed, "Help me look into it later. Find out why an outstanding Imperial Capital graduate is here."

"And summon Lü Jinshan here right now."

A few minutes later, Lü Jinshan hurried in. Before he could even find his footing, Lin Zhiyan's icy voice, carrying mental power, came down on him in a torrent of abuse.

"The file clearly says the fugitive may have hidden something, and the internal notice about him also mentioned a Fate Bone. Why didn't you send people to search the mountain immediately?"

"Well, it was raining heavily at the time..."

Sweat poured down Lü Jinshan's face, but he only dared lower his head.

In theory, as the local administrative head, he didn't have to bow his head to Lin Zhiyan, even if Lin Zhiyan outranked him.

In practice, however, his authority only covered Ant Ridge, while Lin Zhiyan's extended across the entire South Sea West Circuit. On top of that, Lin Zhiyan's background was no ordinary one. The families more distinguished than hers in the whole South Sea could be counted on one hand.

"Enough! I didn't come here to listen to a weather report. Would the rain have killed you? And you still didn't search after it stopped. How many days has it been? Three whole days! What are you waiting for? For it to grow legs and walk into your office on its own?"

Lin Zhiyan slammed the file onto the desk and looked down at him coldly. "Lü Jinshan, this isn't just an oversight. It's dereliction of duty."

"Find it within three days. No excuses."

The words "dereliction of duty" struck Lü Jinshan's heart like a sledgehammer, draining all color from his already haggard face.

He scrambled out of the office and happened to run into Lu Zhao and Liu Qiang, who had just returned.

His anger flared at once, and he marched over, his face full of rage.

I can't deal with the task force, but can't I deal with you two?

Lu Zhao and Liu Qiang had just returned to the border defense station. Before they had even parked, they saw Lü Jinshan striding over furiously in the rearview mirror.

"Brother Lu, the station chief's coming."

Lu Zhao didn't even lift his eyelids. His tone was as calm as if he were discussing the weather. "Pretend you didn't see him. Drive around to the parking lot on the east side."

"Huh? Isn't that... a bit much?"

Liu Qiang hesitated, but his immediate superior mattered more than a distant official. He promptly stepped on the gas and sped away.

They could still faintly hear Lü Jinshan's roar.

"Lu Zhao! Liu Qiang!"

The vehicle stopped in the parking lot. Lu Zhao got out and was about to have a cigarette when he suddenly saw Lü Jinshan running over in the rearview mirror, panting hard, his face twisted.

Though he had put on weight in middle age, life development had at least ensured he retained his basic physical fitness.

"Did he eat gunpowder today?"

Liu Qiang also spotted Lü Jinshan, and his expression turned somewhat frightened.

"Brother Lu, what should we do now?"

He turned around, only to find that Lu Zhao was nowhere to be seen in the passenger seat beside him.

"..."

The two had long since fallen out over Lü Jinshan's efforts to block Lu Zhao's promotion. As long as Lu Zhao didn't openly defy him and give him a handle to use against him, there was little Lü Jinshan could do to him.

For instance, Lu Zhao was absent for most of Lü Jinshan's usual lectures.

So Lü Jinshan had come up with a very military solution: whenever Lu Zhao failed to show up, he would punish everyone else, hoping to isolate him.

But everyone just thought he was a fucking idiot.

Lü Jinshan charged up to him, his chest heaving, spittle nearly spraying onto Liu Qiang's face. "You and Lu Zhao actually fucking dared to run from me? You've got some nerve!"

Liu Qiang wanted to run too, but unlike Lu Zhao, he didn't dare offend Lü Jinshan too badly. He could only brace himself and stand his ground.

Sure enough, he was cursed out from head to toe.

After a full half hour of scolding, Lü Jinshan finally tired and asked, "When you and Lu Zhao killed the fugitive that day, did you see him carrying anything?"

Liu Qiang answered, "Nothing at all."

"Really nothing?" Suspicion showed on Lü Jinshan's face. Then his expression suddenly changed, and he said earnestly, "Liu Qiang, this case is no small matter. If you have any information that could help solve it, I'll make your position permanent next month."

If he failed to handle this matter properly, he would be criticized by his superiors. In the worst case, he would face disciplinary action, affecting his promotion two years down the line.

That was something Lü Jinshan was determined to avoid. He had to pass the blame.

Lu Zhao was the perfect target. No one would protect him.

Besides, the brat had been showing him less and less respect lately. He had magnanimously relented and offered to transfer Lu Zhao to the retirement home, but Lu Zhao had defied his orders.

Lü Jinshan had also heard Zhang Like's lobbying, something about how "it's all in preparation for the coming rainy season, and it wouldn't be wise to change commanders before a battle."

It was all bullshit.

Lu Zhao clearly didn't want to leave a frontline post where he could earn military merit. He wanted to use his accomplishments to put pressure on Lü Jinshan.

Liu Qiang shook his head repeatedly.

"Think carefully. Could you have missed some detail? For example, did Lu Zhao do anything unusual?"

Just as I thought.

Liu Qiang thought to himself that, after going around in circles, Lü Jinshan still wanted to pin the blame on Lu Zhao.

He answered without hesitation, "I was with Brother Lu the whole time. We can vouch for each other."

After several more fruitless questions, Lü Jinshan had no choice but to leave in a huff.

Liu Qiang breathed a sigh of relief, then hurriedly used his phone to tip Lu Zhao off.

At the same time, they coordinated their stories to avoid giving themselves away if they were taken in for questioning later.

Chapter 12: Expounding the Dao

That evening.

Lu Zhao asked Zhang Like out for drinks at a late-night food stall outside the border defense station, taking the opportunity to gather some information.

As the border defense duty brigade captain and the immediate superior of all rank-and-file border defense soldiers, Zhang Like inevitably had a hand in many matters.

No sooner had Lü Jinshan been scolded than Zhang Like heard about it.

Before Lu Zhao even had to ask, Zhang Like said with undisguised glee, "Old Lu, I've got good news for you. Lü Jinshan might be in for a rough time."

Lu Zhao raised his glass and clinked it against his. Without betraying any reaction, he asked, "How so?"

"That green bandit business a few days ago." Zhang Like stirred the pot with his chopsticks and fished out a large piece of sheep tripe.

"It happened so suddenly, and since he was already close to the border, we were afraid he'd get away altogether, so we let you shoot him yourself."

Lu Zhao took a sip of wine and said nothing, motioning for him to continue.

"Your report said he might have hidden something, but Lü Jinshan never ordered a search of the mountain."

Unable to hide his grin, Zhang Like described it animatedly. "The task force came down and took one look at the report, then hauled our esteemed station chief over and gave him a real dressing-down! I heard Team Leader Lin pointed right at his nose and berated him, while our Chief Lü could only lower his head, too scared to breathe loudly."

That last part surprised Lu Zhao somewhat. "They're not in the same system. In theory, Lü Jinshan doesn't answer to her."

"In theory, the man in charge of the cafeteria is the same rank as me, but doesn't he still have to defer to me when he sees me? Still, that Team Leader Lin must have quite a background. She has an air of nobility she was born with. I wonder which family's young lady she is."

Zhang Like was quite curious. In just a few brief encounters, he had sensed that Lin Zhiyan was no ordinary person.

Lin Zhiyan acted swiftly and decisively, but also paid little attention to rules or established procedures.

Such people were either reckless hotheads or born to wealth and privilege, the rules themselves.

Someone appointed by the commandery to lead a task force was most likely not the former.

Lu Zhao didn't care much. "No matter how noble she is, it has nothing to do with me."

"You're taking your anger out on someone else." Zhang Like joked, "If I were you, I'd hurry and find a beautician to spruce myself up. You might even learn the barbarians' superior skills to control them."

"If I were you, I'd find a tailor to sew my mouth shut."

"Tsk. You don't have an opportunistic bone in your body."

After trading a few more jabs, Zhang Like grew serious and brought the conversation back on track.