In the Name of Divine Abilities, Part 41

He now had thirty bottles of Tequ and eight bottles of Honghualang, so he had enough life supplements for the month.

After four years at the border station, Lu Zhao had finally gotten a taste of the benefits.

Ring, ring, ring.

Zhang Like called, and the moment Lu Zhao answered, he heard, "Lu Zhao, hurry to the compound's main gate. The special task force will be here soon."

"I'm on my way."

Lu Zhao quickly left his room, greeted Zhang Laoniu as he passed the guardroom, and hurried to the compound's main gate.

Along the way, a steady stream of "minor leaders" greeted him. No matter their rank, everyone who saw him stopped to say, "Hello, Staff Officer Lu."

Losing his title as the reinforced platoon's acting political instructor had done nothing to diminish Lu Zhao's authority. The lower and middle ranks feared Lü Jinshan, but Lü Jinshan had taken a fall, and his invincible image had been shattered.

Even someone as capable as Lu Zhao had been kept down by Lü Jinshan, but then again, Lü Jinshan wasn't so impressive either. Lu Zhao had managed to turn the tables on him.

At the compound's main gate.

Zhang Like and the other leaders, high and low, had already assembled. Lu Zhao was the last to arrive.

Anyone else might have been reprimanded, but no one minded that it was Lu Zhao-or perhaps only Zhang Like and Chen Hongtao did.

Seeing that everyone else had arrived long ago, Lu Zhao frowned. "Old Zhang, you gave me the notice far too late. Everyone else got here first."

Zhang Like laughed. "People get notified in order, and you just happened to be last."

Chen Hongtao gave an understanding smile. "Staff Officer Lu isn't really late."

Everyone was a little bewildered. How had the winds shifted like a tornado?

Seeing the expressions on the others' faces, Lu Zhao belatedly realized that being late was a leader's privilege.

But there was nothing special about it. Anyone who wasn't a leader would be criticized for daring to arrive late. This time, it was just Old Zhang's own vulgar hobby, something like a compliance test and a way to flaunt his authority before other departments.

About ten minutes later, a line of black jeeps drove through the compound's main gate.

Just as at the end of May, Lin Zhiyan stepped out of a vehicle with more than a dozen members of the special task force, greeted by the border station's many leaders.

The only difference was that Lu Zhao had become one of those leaders and was standing right in the middle. Then Zhang Like pushed him forward to meet Lin Zhiyan face-to-face.

That should have been Chen Hongtao's job.

Lin Zhiyan noticed the subtle change in the atmosphere and lifted her chin slightly, the same pride as ever in her expression.

"Senior Lu, long time no see."

She held out her hand first. Lu Zhao took it and said, "On behalf of Ant Ridge Border Station, I welcome the special task force here to guide our work."

Zhang Like had been about to step forward and smooth things over, but when he heard that, he immediately took half a step back.

So he did know how to talk! And he'd put it very well. It was still a little impersonal, but there was absolutely nothing to fault.

Hearing this, Lin Zhiyan's thin lips gradually curved into a smile.

She had heard words like that too many times. Last month, Lü Jinshan had practically wanted to kneel before her. Lin Zhiyan didn't care, or rather, she had come to take it for granted.

But hearing it from Lu Zhao made her feel good, giving her an inexplicable sense of satisfaction.

Welcome me here to guide their work...

"I'll need your assistance too, Senior Lu. I look forward to working with you."

Lu Zhao let go of her hand, took half a step back, and cleared a path inside.

Lin Zhiyan headed toward the office building, with the task force members close behind. Once the entire task force had moved away,

Lu Zhao and the other leaders of the subordinate unit finally started walking.

"Nicely done, Old Lu." Zhang Like nudged Lu Zhao with his elbow and lowered his voice. "I was really afraid you'd butt heads with her again."

Lu Zhao was somewhat speechless. "What kind of person do you take me for? Why would I talk back to a superior for no reason?"

"Isn't that what you've always done?"

"You think I did it for no reason before?"

"Uh..."

Zhang Like was at a loss for words. After thinking it over carefully, he realized that Lu Zhao really hadn't.

Lu Zhao had no disciplinary problems whatsoever, or he would have been punished long ago. On the contrary, he was the most by-the-book person at the border station, with no disciplinary issues at all.

Even Zhang Like himself sometimes slacked off and skipped work, Mo Kun took kickbacks, and Chen Hongtao drank tea on the job.

Everyone had minor problems of one sort or another. It was only human.

It's all because of that old dog Lü. He made me instinctively think Old Lu was in the wrong. He's done real harm!

Captain Zhang immediately blamed Lü Jinshan for his own mistaken thinking.

The group arrived at the conference room in the office building, with the task force on the left and the border station on the right.

Lin Zhiyan sat at the head of the table, and Lu Zhao was deliberately seated at her right hand so the two could talk easily.

This was another unconventional arrangement, but it wasn't because Zhang Like was vying for power, nor did Chen Hongtao have some ulterior motive.

Anyone with eyes could see that Team Leader Lin treated Lu Zhao differently. Naturally, they arranged it this way to curry favor with the big boss.

A month ago, Lu Zhao couldn't even get through the conference room door. A month later, he was seated at the head of the table.

He had risen to power overnight, and it felt like a dream.

Chapter 50: A New Mission

Lin Zhiyan said, "Xu Fang, hand out the documents to everyone."

"Yes."

A middle-aged woman stood up and handed the prepared documents to everyone present.

Lu Zhao and the others noticed that the task force members seemed to have all been replaced. There wasn't a single familiar face among them.

Lu Zhao paid it no further mind. He hadn't known any of them well anyway.

He picked up the documents. This was also his first time seeing the special task force's documents.

Before this, he had heard everything from Zhang Like, and each time he had to wait for the latter to finish a meeting and tell him about it.

And Old Zhang was rather careless at work, only skimming documents for the gist.

[Thunderbolt 021]

With the boost from his powerful mental strength, he needed only ten seconds to read each page and commit its contents to memory.

Old Zhang had already told him how the case began.

The excavation of an ancient tomb had uncovered a large number of Fate Bones. Since there was no precedent for such a discovery, Greenwood had intercepted the Fate Bones and was now fleeing in all directions.

Now, as the criminals had been apprehended one after another, more information had come to light.

In fact, a gang of tomb robbers calling themselves the Mojin Xiaowei had found the Ming-dynasty Tomb of the Prince of Jingjiang through some means. They had then used official archaeological credentials to excavate it and made off with the Fate Bones inside.

A dispute over the division of the spoils had led to a conflict, which in turn had attracted the police.

The South Sea Circuit had reacted swiftly, imposing a blockade that very night and cutting off the robbers' chance of using public transportation to move quickly.

It had also dispatched a large number of special task forces, pursuing the robbers day and night while consolidating forces in the border regions to impose martial law.

Every time the robbers moved or exchanged fire, they expended enormous amounts of energy, and the daily metabolism of superhumans wouldn't allow them to remain hidden and inactive.

If the robbers entered public places too often, their risk of exposure would inevitably increase, yet the remote mountains and forests didn't provide enough calories to sustain their metabolism.

As long as they were kept within the territory, they would be found sooner or later. Even if some slipped through the net and reached the border, they would be reduced to a wretched state, just like the fugitive Lu Zhao had shot dead some time ago.

The robbers could also hold out until the South Sea Circuit's security forces were exhausted.

But trying to outlast the only state apparatus in the world that could still function normally was obviously a bit of a pipe dream.

At present, the South Sea Circuit had the upper hand. Many robbers had been killed, arrested, or had surrendered.

Now the task force and Lu Zhao were charged with guarding the border and killing or capturing anyone who slipped through the net.

Lu Zhao reached the last page of the report.

In the Sanjiang Region across the border, an informant had reported that someone had already escaped abroad.

At the same time, one robber was confirmed to have fled into Fang City's jurisdiction and gone into hiding the previous night.

Male, 1.7 meters tall, with a gunshot wound to the leg. A portrait was attached.

Lu Zhao finished reading and put down the report.

Without checking whether anyone else had finished, Lin Zhiyan propped her chin on her hands and said, "Our next task is to intercept those who slipped through the net. There won't be many of them, and most will be injured."

"But the problem is that they're hard to catch. We have to find one person in a city of three million, or in dense mountain forests spanning dozens of kilometers."

Lu Zhao asked, "What about those people from before?"

"Greenwood sent them in to disrupt the border region. They wanted to tear open a gap so more robbers could escape."

Lin Zhiyan revealed information that hadn't been written in the report.

"There are already gaps in the border defenses on Linchen City's side."

Lu Zhao frowned. "We can't hold the line either. The targets are too small, and we lack effective surveillance methods."

If technology had another decade or so to develop, cameras became ubiquitous, and a system like Sky Net was established, it might be manageable.

But computers had only just become widespread, and cameras were few and far between.

There was no Great Wall at Ant Ridge either. It was easy for a superhuman to slip across the border.

Lin Zhiyan said, "My Divine Ability is suited to finding people. Besides, the higher-ups haven't set any strict requirements for interception. Nothing will happen if we fail, and we'll earn merit if we succeed."

Lu Zhao glanced at her, while Zhang Like and the others also looked surprised.

Was this mission really that cushy? Border defense work had always been thankless. They often did the hardest, most exhausting jobs, only to be criticized by the departments above them.

Then everyone thought of Lin Zhiyan's status and understood.

Important people really are different. Even when they come out to work, it's like they're playing. We get to have a taste of the benefits too.