In the Name of Divine Powers, Part 14

As he drove away from the border station, Lu Zhao reflected on Lin Zhiyan's reaction just now.

The task force suspected him, just as he had expected, but they had no evidence and could do nothing to him.

If Lu Zhao hadn't been a border police officer, they could have simply arrested him and interrogated him first.

Conversely, if they dared to do that, Zhang Like wouldn't agree either.

As for the generous reward, Lu Zhao didn't give it a second thought.

What he had obtained from the old Daoist wasn't something power and influence could bring him, but Lu Zhao now had the capital to gain power and influence.

As long as his life development reached a high enough level, power and influence would gather around him on their own.

The battered police pickup traveled along the national highway. A van passed it going the other way, and Lu Zhao glanced at its tires and knew it was overloaded.

He wasn't a traffic cop, so he didn't meddle.

Chapter 16: The Back Mountain

Ant Ridge.

As usual, Lu Zhao walked along the mountain path with Liu Qiang, his little sidekick and pack mule.

"I'm planning to make a trip to the back mountain."

"What for?"

Liu Qiang was taken aback, somewhat puzzled by Lu Zhao's decision.

"Our station hasn't cleared out the back mountain of Ant Ridge in two years. If you go in, you'll definitely run into demonic beasts. There might even be large ones."

By convention, the border station used a helicopter to conduct a low-altitude reconnaissance flight every year and cleared out the back mountain area of Ant Ridge.

But starting two years ago, the helicopter had merely gone through the motions before turning back.

"I'm a little short on cash lately," Lu Zhao said.

His reason for going into the back mountain was simple: he would kill a demonic beast to take care of his immediate needs.

The border station paid extra rewards for killing demonic beasts, with the amount determined by size and species.

Demonic beast flesh and blood could be used to make life supplements, so the authorities supported hunting them.

That was especially true in areas like Ant Ridge, where there weren't many of them, but they still had to be dealt with. Lu Zhao usually wasn't short of money, so he had no need to take the risk.

Now he was flat broke.

Lu Zhao drank two and a half bottles of low-grade life supplement a day, and Lang Brand Tequ cost five hundred yuan a bottle.

On top of that, his mother was frail and often ill. Even after government subsidies, her hospital stays still cost tens of thousands of yuan a year.

Lu Zhao also had to pay his niece's school fees, including the expenses required for life development. Even with the subsidy for martyrs' families, it still cost around another hundred thousand yuan a year.

These were all necessary expenses for Lu Zhao. His father and elder brother had secured his education and Divine Ability for him.

He couldn't keep borrowing from Zhang Like to cover expenses like these, and taking out loans and letting the interest compound wasn't an option either.

"You don't have to come with me. Just don't report it to the station. I don't want the hassle of going back and writing a report to explain myself."

Lu Zhao could see that Liu Qiang was afraid. That was only natural.

Liu Qiang hesitated. "Brother Lu, it's too dangerous for you to go in alone. And what if you run into danger while carrying the carcass back by yourself?"

"If you dare come with me, all you'll have to do is carry the carcass. I'll give you thirty percent."

Lu Zhao offered him a cut, and Liu Qiang gritted his teeth and finally agreed.

It wasn't all for the reward. He also valued their bond. What if Lu Zhao was attacked while carrying the carcass, for example?

Hunting demonic beasts was part of a border officer's job, but unless orders came down from above, nobody was willing to risk their life for ten thousand yuan or so.

In the entire border station, only Lu Zhao had the skill and nerve for it. The others wished they never had to go out on duty at all.

The two reached the summit at noon, then followed a narrow path into the dense forest on the back mountain.

The crowns of tall trees blotted out the sky and sun. Rotten leaves and decaying wood covered the ground, and countless streams and hidden channels ran through it.

There was no telling how many pairs of eyes were watching them from the shadows.

Lu Zhao extended his mental power. Though it couldn't replace his eyes, he could immediately detect any major disturbance within a kilometer, hear grass rustling within a hundred meters, and make out breathing within fifty.

Bang!

Gunshots rang through the mountain forest, and a horned mountain leopard collapsed into the bushes.

Beside him, Liu Qiang exclaimed, "Brother Lu, your marksmanship's getting trickier and trickier."

Lu Zhao looked surprised. "You could tell?"

Liu Qiang nodded. "You rarely used to shoot at targets more than eight hundred meters away, Brother Lu. Today, you raised your gun and fired as soon as you saw it."

Lu Zhao had many quirks. He slept only on a hard plank bed, kept almost nothing unnecessary in his room, suffered frequent insomnia, and had severe obsessive-compulsive disorder.

He had a set series of movements for targets at different distances. After a year as his sidekick, Liu Qiang could naturally detect the subtle differences.

"With observation skills like that, you could work in public security in the city."

Lu Zhao surveyed the distance through binoculars. Only after confirming that the demonic beast was dead did he lead Liu Qiang closer.

From ten paces away, he put another shot into it to make absolutely sure.

Although his marksmanship was good enough to destroy a vital organ with a single shot almost every time, there was no telling whether his target had some special ability.

Lu Zhao liked to shoot for the head because it was extremely difficult to modify with a Divine Ability. At most, someone could cover their head with a layer of rock, like that fugitive a few days ago.

Liu Qiang dragged the black leopard's carcass onto level ground and judged by eye that it met the standard for a medium-sized demonic beast.

"Brother Lu, that's ten thousand yuan in the bag."

"That's enough for today. Let's pull back."

One of the benefits of being a border police officer was the right to hunt demonic beasts. They weren't in a hurry.

The two retraced their steps, and the smell of blood attracted another demonic beast. Lu Zhao casually killed it with one shot.

This time it was a small feline demonic beast, worth only a little over a thousand yuan.

Suddenly, Lu Zhao spotted a can half-hidden in a bush. He picked it up and saw that its production date was six months ago.

Lu Zhao and Liu Qiang exchanged a glance, both turning solemn.

The back mountain was a restricted area, and regulations expressly forbade anyone from approaching it.

Anyone caught entering without permission would be treated as having attempted smuggling. If actual smuggling had taken place, they would be dealt with for smuggling.

Given the Federation's current economic situation, there was basically no need to live off the mountains.

The South Sea East Circuit had plenty of free labor producing cheap manufactured goods for them. Nobody would go wandering into the deep mountains and old forests for no reason, especially not in a border area.

That left only one answer: smuggling.

Liu Qiang ventured, "Has someone been smuggling goods or people through here in the past six months?"

"People wouldn't be smuggled through here. Cangwu City has a more established and safer industry for that."

Lu Zhao hacked through the bushes and walked a hundred meters before finally finding a path. One end led out of the mountains, and the other led deeper in.

The marks on the ground and how firmly the soil had been packed showed that the path had been traveled many times over a long period.

It could have been half a year, or a year, or it might even have started three years ago.

Smuggling had always persisted despite repeated crackdowns, and with supernatural powers like Divine Abilities involved, conventional patrols were useless. Places like Ant Ridge had no great wall, and dense forests and hidden waterways were everywhere. It was easy for people to get in.

It had been the same during the Great Cataclysm. Tens of millions of refugees had poured in from every direction, and the Federation simply couldn't stop them.

Lu Zhao had read that a smuggler with a Divine Ability for tunneling underground had once moved more than ten tons of drugs across the border in a year.

But transcendents weren't cabbages. Most smuggling relied on the rugged terrain of the mountains and rivers to sneak goods across under cover of darkness.

The path before them didn't look like one used by a transcendent, nor did it look as though it had only been used once or twice.

It might also have been overlooked. If someone reported it, the responsibility would be grave.

If a major smuggling case turned up on Ant Ridge, the border station would be the primary party held responsible, and Zhang Like would be the first person held accountable.

Lu Zhao immediately instructed him, "Liu Qiang, once we're out of here, don't tell anyone about this path."

"Huh? Isn't that a bad idea? A smuggling route is already part of a major case. If we conceal it and don't report it, we'll face disciplinary action. If it's serious enough, we could be sentenced."

Liu Qiang shook his head repeatedly. He still had that much common sense.

Lu Zhao reminded him, "If this comes out directly, your uncle will be the first person held accountable. He could end up in prison, and at the very least he'll be removed from his post."

Liu Qiang slowly grasped what he meant, and his face gradually turned pale. After weighing the pros and cons, he gritted his teeth. "Brother Lu, I'll do as you say."

He had little mind of his own. As soon as he graduated, Zhang Like had arranged for him to join the border station, and he had then become Lu Zhao's sidekick.

Even if it meant taking a risk to cover for someone, Liu Qiang dared to do it despite being timid, because he couldn't separate his butt from his head.

Lu Zhao reassured him, "Don't be nervous. That's only the worst-case scenario. Besides, I'm definitely going to report this place, but we need to give Old Zhang a heads-up first and work out a response before reporting it."

He knew Zhang Like's character. There was absolutely no way the man would collude in or turn a blind eye to smuggling. Besides, the border station's long-standing practice of not monitoring the back mountain wasn't Zhang Like's order, but a convention.

Still, there were things about it worth pondering.

Had the smuggling route appeared because of the convention, or had the convention appeared because of the smuggling?

Chapter 17: The Other Side of the Mountain

The two quickened their pace and left, descending the mountain before dark and calling in a report to the border station.

On the way, Liu Qiang was as curious as ever and began asking all sorts of questions.

"Brother Lu, are there still people alive on the other side of the mountain?"

"After the Great Cataclysm, the countries south of the South Sea were basically wiped out, but that doesn't mean all the people died. Otherwise, where do you think the drugs come from? Would the country let private individuals grow them on a large scale?"

Over the years, Lu Zhao had encountered many smugglers, either in firefights or during interrogations.