In the Name of Divine Ability, Part 42

Zhang Like and the others visibly relaxed.

Only Lu Zhao remained serious. He asked, "Then who will be responsible for tracking down and intercepting them? The Fang City police, or our border station?"

"If it's Fang City, our border station only needs to carry out its own duties."

Lin Zhiyan replied, "In theory, we divide the work and cooperate. The tracking falls to the Fang City police. After all, it's their jurisdiction, so it's easy for them to get to work."

She paused briefly and sighed softly.

"But I think if we leave it to them, they probably won't find anything."

Over the past week, Lin Zhiyan had inspected Fang City's various departments. Based on what she had found, she judged that they wouldn't be able to find the robbers.

It wasn't a question of personnel quality. Even if some Federation units were full of people drawing salaries without doing their jobs, they still received ample life supplements. Neither the number nor the quality of their transcendents could be matched by those in civilian circles.

Lu Zhao understood this, and a hint of puzzlement appeared between his brows.

He felt there was more to Lin Zhiyan's words: the local authorities weren't cooperating with the task force.

But this was an opportunity. As long as he could reach into the city, even if only into the Foreign District, it would be enough to doom Lü Jinshan beyond redemption.

Lu Zhao was leaving in September. This was his only chance to put Lü Jinshan behind bars.

"Our border station can provide assistance."

As soon as he said this, everyone present looked surprised.

Hunting down criminals clearly fell outside their duties, and it wasn't their specialty either.

Zhang Like said, "Old Lu, we still have flood control work to do. Besides, we should leave professional work to the professionals."

He was afraid Lu Zhao would bite off more than he could chew.

Chen Hongtao also objected. "According to the rules, we have no authority to enter the city and conduct a search. Even if we went in, we'd have to accompany the Fang City police."

Ignoring both of them, Lin Zhiyan said, "Under Article Three of the South Sea Special Public Security Law, the task force has the authority to conduct searches, seal and seize property, and carry out technical surveillance in any jurisdiction within the South Sea Circuit."

Then she looked at Lu Zhao with interest and changed tack.

"But I can't grant you that authority. Your rank isn't high enough. You'd need to be at least a field-grade officer."

Lu Zhao didn't feel offended. Instead, his opinion of Lin Zhiyan improved further.

She played by the rules.

Team Leader Lin seemed fond of changing tack. She added, "However, I need your help with the investigation. Staff Officer Lu can provide assistance."

At that moment, even Zhang Like vaguely sensed something was wrong.

A criminal investigation needed help from the border station? Though they weren't a regular military corps, they were still an armed force modeled on the military, equipped with all kinds of heavy firepower.

Normally, the most they were called on to do was counterterrorism. When had they ever gone into the city to help arrest someone?

Were all the other departments dead?

Chapter 51: Inspection

Half an hour later, the meeting ended.

The task force planned to inspect the frontline outposts at Ant Ridge, and the entire border station got busy.

They had to arrange Lin Zhiyan's itinerary. For example, they needed to send a squad ahead to clear the weeds from the road leading to the border station.

Lu Zhao walked out of the meeting room, and Zhang Like hurried after him. "Old Lu, why are you being so eager today? You weren't like this before."

He could sense that Lu Zhao seemed to have undergone some subtle changes.

Had he finally come around? Was he preparing to use his most powerful weapon?

Lu Zhao glanced around and saw no one nearby. As he walked, he replied, "This is an opportunity."

"It sure is. If you latch on to Team Leader Lin, you'll soar straight to the top."

Zhang Like nodded in agreement. "I asked around. Team Leader Lin is from the Lin Family of Cangwu City, the power that rules the South Sea East Circuit."

Lu Zhao's mouth twitched. Pretending he hadn't heard, he went on:

"Our first priority right now is to bring down Lü Jinshan, but that's outside our authority. So I was thinking we might be able to borrow the task force's authority."

Zhang Like gradually grew serious as he considered the possibility.

"But the two cases aren't related. How would you investigate him?"

Lu Zhao stopped and smiled. "I'm investigating the robbers. I just happened to come across Lü Bowen and discovered that he was colluding with people across the border and was very likely helping the robbers escape."

He had handled similar matters in his previous life, where a drug investigation had brought other cases to light. To maintain operational secrecy, the other cases generally wouldn't be handed off. Instead, they would be combined into a single case.

Everyone involved in the other cases could be treated as an accomplice.

Zhang Like worked in the border defense system, so naturally he knew nothing about such practices.

There was no advanced internet these days, either, so he couldn't discuss experiences and gossip with others in the field through online chat groups.

His eyes widened. "How are you so practiced at this?"

Lu Zhao pointed at his head and joked, "How could I have gotten into Imperial Capital if I weren't smart?"

Zhang Like had no reply. "You seem to have been smiling more and more lately. Remember to smile more in front of Team Leader Lin this afternoon."

Lu Zhao put away his smile and continued striding forward, with Zhang Like close behind.

"You really won't consider it?"

"Unfortunately, there's already someone I like, and I'm determined to win them over."

"Who?"

"The Federation."

"Hahahahaha, Old Lu, you can be pretty funny sometimes."

Zhang Like missed the implication, while Lu Zhao's answer had also been half a joke.

At noon, the sun blazed overhead.

A convoy made up of the task force and border station personnel gathered in front of the camp.

Lu Zhao was again riding in the beat-up pickup with Liu Qiang. As the two chatted, Lin Zhiyan walked over and pointed to her gleaming black jeep.

"Ride with me."

The gazes around them were immediately drawn over like magnets.

Lu Zhao refused. "Ma'am, I have to drive."

Liu Qiang immediately spoke up from beside him. "Brother Lu, I can drive by myself."

Lu Zhao glanced at him, already thinking about how he would deal with this traitorous brat later.

Lin Zhiyan said, "I have some questions about the assignment that I'd like to ask you. We can talk on the way."

She had begun to get a feel for Lu Zhao's weakness. In short, a gentleman could be taken advantage of through his principles.

Lu Zhao sighed silently. Knowing he couldn't refuse, he could only nod slightly.

Lin Zhiyan got into the vehicle first, with Lu Zhao close behind.

The convoy set off. In the enclosed space, Lu Zhao and Lin Zhiyan were only a body's width apart.

He could smell a faint scent of sandalwood.

Xu Fang drove in silence up front, having become almost invisible.

"Senior Lu, you seem nervous."

Hearing Lin Zhiyan's voice, Lu Zhao looked straight ahead and replied, "We're both mental-type transcendents, so there's no need for us to pretend. Or did you fail your courses and pull strings to graduate too?"

Emotions were important to mental-type transcendents, and controlling them was fundamental.

Mental-type transcendents were like bottles submerged in the deep sea, filled with fresh water. If their emotions ran out of control, cracks would appear in the bottles and contaminate the "fresh water" inside.

Once it accumulated to a certain threshold, they would go mad.

To protect themselves, they generally had rather paranoid and self-centered personalities. Emotional sensitivity was too precious to them.

That was why, apart from its small number of students, Imperial Capital's mental department had another strange feature: you could hardly find a single couple there.

There were no mental-type transcendents forming unions anywhere in society.

People like them understood their own kind too well.

Lu Zhao was far ahead of Lin Zhiyan in the mental field. He could "smell" the mental power spilling out of her and discern calmness and rationality.

For someone like her, there was no such thing as love at first sight or lust at first sight.

"Tsk."

Lin Zhiyan immediately lost interest and got down to business. "Tell me about the specifics of your border station's outposts."

Since it concerned official business, Lu Zhao gave Lin Zhiyan clear, concise answers without being evasive.

He covered everything from the deployment of the outposts to their staffing.

A reinforced platoon was responsible for the Ant Ridge outpost, with support from other companies. The reinforced platoon had sixty men in total, divided into six infantry squads, with one squad rotating back for rest each week.

Barring special circumstances, five squads were normally stationed there.

Lin Zhiyan asked, "Which organization controls the territory across the border?"

Lu Zhao replied, "The Greenwood Earth Hall. Its numbers are unknown, but a second-tier transcendent often shows up there. He's a water-type transcendent whose Divine Ability is to create and control a ten-meter-long water snake."

Five Elements Divine Abilities were the most common. Most middling Divine Abilities took the form of some kind of animal. If one possessed a trait of a divine beast, it belonged in the category of powerful Divine Abilities; one step beyond that was a strong Divine Ability.

The head of the Greenwood Earth Hall had a middling Divine Ability.

Lin Zhiyan asked, "How strong is he?"

"I've fought him three times, and he didn't die."

Lu Zhao spoke calmly. "He's pretty good."

Lin Zhiyan looked at his handsome profile and pressed her lips together, at a loss for words for a moment.