In the Name of Divine Abilities, Section 16

Besides, he was in the wrong on this matter.

Soon, a small stack of banknotes was handed to Lu Zhao.

He split the money with Liu Qiang, seven to three. Liu Qiang had carried the corpse all the way, which counted as hard work. The total came to eight thousand yuan.

He gave three thousand yuan to his sister-in-law and spent the remaining five thousand on ten bottles of life supplements, bringing his stock to twenty-five bottles.

Just like that, all his money was gone again, and Lu Zhao had used up his 50% quota.

His salary and allowances would not be paid until the middle of next month.

Liu Qiang was all smiles after receiving three thousand yuan. "Brother Lu, want to go for a drink? My treat."

"No, I need to get some rest early today."

Lu Zhao quickened his pace back to the dormitory, sat cross-legged on his bed, and meditated.

Extra spirit refinement would not cause any problems, though its effects were not very noticeable. Still, every little bit helped.

He also needed to improve his means of attack as soon as possible to protect himself. At present, the Mental White Worm could cause dizziness at most, and it would be even less effective against a transcendent.

At ten that night.

Knock, knock, knock.

Someone knocked on the door. Lu Zhao opened it to find Zhang Like outside.

"That meeting was torture. It went on until ten."

He walked straight in without ceremony, opened the fridge, and took out a drink. "Why are you stocking up on so many life supplements?"

Lu Zhao answered, "I want to make a push for it. Once I reach fifty vitality points, I can transfer to a local post."

Hearing this, Zhang Like wanted to dissuade him. Developing vitality required more than effort alone; it took a great deal of money.

Life supplements were only the most basic expense. Various kinds of advanced equipment were also needed.

Lu Zhao's family was not well-off, and his mother had a heart condition. He had to help her financially from time to time.

But when the words reached his lips, he did not know how to say them. Was he supposed to tell Lu Zhao to accept his lot and give up?

If not for a petty whim on the part of those in power, Lu Zhao would at least be where Lin Zhiyan was now-a member of the special task force, someone the entire border defense station had to attend to with care.

He supposed he would not accept his lot either.

Zhang Like put aside his tangled thoughts and changed the subject. "Based on the information you provided, the traffic police found the suspects, and a firefight broke out. These criminals are no ordinary bunch. They were carrying rifles."

"Did they catch them?"

Lu Zhao was not surprised. With a license plate number, even without the Skynet system, surveillance footage could quickly be used to pinpoint a target.

"They got away."

Zhang Like took a sip of his drink and continued, "The plan was to wait for the special task force to make the arrests, but something went wrong somewhere. The criminals spotted the blockade ahead of time and tried to break through."

"The traffic police had no choice but to block off traffic. The criminals abandoned their vehicle and fled into an alley. The city sent out a special service rapid response brigade, which killed one of them, while three escaped. Just as you expected, there was one metal-attribute transcendent and one earth-attribute transcendent."

"They've been asking about you."

Zhang Like looked at Lu Zhao's handsome face and saw no sign of panic.

It seemed unlikely that Lu Zhao had pocketed the Fate Bone, as the higher-ups had said.

Lu Zhao was being held down at the border defense station, but it was not the Buddha's Five Fingers Mountain. He could leave whenever he wanted.

And from the perspective of vitality development, as far as Zhang Like knew, Lu Zhao's Fate Bone was of middling quality and belonged to the mental category.

What would he want with a Fate Bone of unknown origin?

It made no sense either way. Otherwise, Lü Jinshan would have jumped out to pin an accusation on him long ago instead of keeping quiet.

Forcing an investigation without evidence could easily cause trouble, not to mention that Lu Zhao was no ordinary civilian.

Zhang Like said, "You're not the least bit worried."

"Why should I be? They're just a bunch of rats in the gutter. So what does the organization need me to do next? Act as bait?"

There was no fear on Lu Zhao's face. On the contrary, he was eager to try.

He needed more merit to obtain a larger quota of life supplements.

"Your identity hasn't been exposed."

Zhang Like shook his head. Under Lu Zhao's puzzled gaze, he took out his phone and played a video.

The phones of this era were comparable to those of the early 2000s. They could already record video, but only at a resolution of 352×288.

The footage was blurry, gray, and full of noise, and the camera shook badly.

"This video was on the phone of the criminal who was killed. Outlaws love filming killings like this and spreading them to gain so-called prestige in the jianghu."

Two colleagues in border defense uniforms, numbered 458955 and 458933, were forced to kneel on the ground, gleaming blades pressed against their necks.

[One more time. Who killed Lamefoot Seven?]

[Jiao Zhi. Your grandpa did it.]

A blade slit his throat. Number 458955 clutched his neck and struggled on the ground as the bloodstained blade pointed at the next man.

[Your turn.]

[...]

Number 458933 held his head high and answered with silence. In the end, his throat was slit too.

Zhang Like put away his phone, a distinct trace of anger in his voice. "The order has come down from above. They want those two criminals found, alive or dead."

At that moment, the ease gradually faded from Lu Zhao's face. His features tightened, and his lifeless eyes grew dark as black holes.

The two men had not revealed a scrap of information to the enemy. Lu Zhao had thought the truth would come out sooner or later, yet someone had guarded it with his life.

Even though he had not so much as exchanged a nod with either of them.

Lu Zhao took back his earlier opinion of the Ant Ridge border defense station. They might be relaxed in their daily lives, might coast through their days, and might not act much like soldiers.

But when facing the enemy, they were unquestionably warriors of steel.

Chapter 19: Mission

A stifling feeling weighed on Lu Zhao's chest, impossible to vent. He reached for his cigarette pack and found it empty.

Zhang Like offered him his pack. "Have one of my Yellow Crane Towers. Not even a dog would smoke your Best Under Heaven."

"My dad likes them. I got used to the smell when I was little."

Lu Zhao lit a cigarette and took several hard drags. After smoking for a long while, he said, "We barely knew each other. If they'd told them, they'd have been criticized or disciplined at most. What was the point?"

His brother Lu Kang had been the same. With their father enlisted, he had not needed to go to the front, yet he had enlisted without telling his family. In the end, he had died in a beast tide.

His sister-in-law had been left a widow, and his niece had grown up without a father.

There were many single-parent families in the South Sea. In each of them, a man had once squatted outside his home to smoke a cigarette, then called a few brothers and friends to go with him to the armed forces office, never to return.

"Because we're soldiers, and they were border defense soldiers."

Zhang Like answered as if it were only natural, then teased him. "You can't expect only yourself to be a hero and think everyone else is a coward."

Lu Zhao did not argue.

In their place, he would not have breathed a word to the criminals either. Counterterrorism was part of their duty as border defense soldiers.

He had killed the outlaw, and they had died because of him. Both were carrying out their duties and fulfilling the mission they had sworn to uphold.

Zhang Like revealed, "Next, we'll join the special task force in a second operation to hunt them down."

Lu Zhao grabbed Zhang Like's arm. "I'm taking part," he said firmly.

"I came here to bring you in." Naturally, Zhang Like would not refuse. "This is also an opportunity. Helping crack a terrorist organization counts as major meritorious service. I need your help too. If the mission goes well, I'll get credit for it."

Without Lu Zhao, Zhang Like was somewhat at a loss when faced with a case this big. These were no ordinary criminals; two transcendents were involved.

They could not shake the Federation, but Zhang Like's personal safety could not be guaranteed.

He went on, "This isn't an isolated case. It's part of a nationwide Fate Bone theft case, with the Hall of Martial Virtue coordinating the investigation."

"Don't tell me a Fate Bone repository was robbed?"

Lu Zhao's heart jolted.

In a major case being investigated nationwide, it was probably more than one or two.

Not every Fate Bone had a suitable inheritor. Those that were not inherited would be sealed away and reserved as rewards for meritorious service.

They were generally kept in local repositories and the national treasury.

If either place had been robbed, it would be more serious than an armory being raided.

Zhang Like shook his head. "I don't know about that. But this is an opportunity for you. If you earn merit on this mission and attract the attention of the higher-ups, even the Chen Family won't be able to hold you down."

Until now, every measure used to hold Lu Zhao back had followed procedure.

They were unreasonable, but they did not actually violate the rules.

The two hit it off at once. Seeing that it was getting late, Zhang Like stood up to leave.

Lu Zhao suddenly said, "I went to the mountain behind the station today. I found a smuggling route there. Judging by the tracks, people have been using it for the past six months."

In an instant, the atmosphere fell silent.

"The mountain behind the station? A smuggling route? Six months?"

Zhang Like repeated each point to confirm it, and Lu Zhao nodded slightly.

He took a deep breath and sat back down on the sofa, rubbing the spot between his brows as he suppressed emotions raging like storm-tossed waves.

"Not checking the mountain behind the station is customary. It was already that way before I arrived..."

"Custom isn't a get-out-of-death-free card," Lu Zhao interrupted, his voice cold and penetrating.

It also steadied Zhang Like's panicked mind.

"If the higher-ups investigate and you say you didn't check the mountain because it was customary, that custom will be ironclad proof of your dereliction of duty."