In the Name of Divine Ability

Most of the idle school dropouts joined the New Gang.

Immature as they were, they were often the most vicious and gave no thought to the consequences.

The blond-haired leader sauntered toward Lin Zhiyan, a cigarette dangling from his mouth.

With a thought from Lu Zhao, a white worm invisible to the naked eye shot at the blond man and disappeared into his face.

Bang!

The blond man immediately passed out, hitting his head on the pool hall. Blood flowed across the floor.

The thug in charge of the place was older and had some discernment. He hurriedly ordered his men to drive the New Gang out.

Lin Zhiyan seemed not to have noticed the minor commotion. She had already picked up a cue and was trying to hit a ball by imitating the others.

Standing beside her, Lu Zhao said, "Team Leader Lin, we've already exposed ourselves doing this."

"Do you think we could have stayed hidden?"

Lin Zhiyan bent over to strike the cue ball, displaying her shapely figure before Lu Zhao.

"If I were really here to find someone, I wouldn't have brought you along, senior. With your looks, you're not suited to undercover work."

"In today's world, no organization can stand against the Federation, whatever form it takes. Be it Greenwood or the gangs, whether at home or abroad, they're all offshoots of certain people within the Federation."

"All struggles, all conflicts, are-"

Clack!

The ball dropped into a pocket.

Lin Zhiyan smiled faintly. "A question of power."

With that, she finished the game and walked out of the pool hall without paying.

Lin Zhiyan led Lu Zhao on a purposeless stroll, from the pool hall to an arcade, and then from aboveground to an underground casino.

Lu Zhao could already see people with guns clearly tucked at their waists. The places they visited grew more dangerous, and more eyes watched them from the shadows.

At four in the afternoon, Lu Zhao and Lin Zhiyan walked out of Kabuki Street.

Nothing untoward had happened the entire time. Not even a single gang had come to trouble them.

The absence of trouble was the biggest problem.

West Street Bar.

Fingers parted the blinds, allowing a sliver of sunlight to slip through.

Lü Bowen held a phone in his right hand and said worriedly, "Why don't we hand him over? We can't hide a living person."

The Greenwood hero's flight into Kabuki Street had caused quite a stir. Things were chaotic here, but not so chaotic that everyone would turn a blind eye to a gunshot victim running down the street.

Besides, very few organizations in the world could truly keep secrets.

At the end of the day, they were all just people in the underworld, and none had ever received any special training.

Tight-lipped gangsters existed only in movies. Not one of those thugs who thought themselves tough failed to talk once they entered a Federation interrogation room.

Lü Bowen was a businessman. All he wanted was to make money.

Lü Jinshan's voice came from the other end of the line, cursing, "If we hand him over, we'll all die. You really don't have any political instincts."

Lü Bowen said, "Then let's kill him and leave his body on the street. At least that would give the special task force an answer."

Lü Jinshan said, "What about the item? It's not the person the special task force and Old Zhao want, but the item in their hands."

The Greenwood robber had fallen unconscious from his serious injuries as soon as he ran into the Foreign District. His mind was suspected to have suffered severe trauma, and he still had not woken up.

"Anyway, stall for now and wait until I get back to the border post. Whatever you do, don't let him get away. Someone will help you handle the rest."

Chapter 56: Municipal Enforcement

Noon.

Lin Zhiyan and Lu Zhao went into a restaurant to eat. The decor was splendid, and most of the customers were black-haired, black-eyed Hua People.

Here in the Foreign District, which was known to the outside world as the poorest and most backward district, he could see a dish of stir-fried yellow cattle beef.

When Lu Zhao first saw it, his eyes visibly widened. Then he frowned.

Beef was contraband. The last time he had eaten it was at the orphanage. Back then, Old Tang had heard that beef production was going to be banned and had brought ten kilograms of it back especially for them.

Eight years ago, shortly after the beast tide subsided, the Federation had adopted a limited planned economy to stabilize the turbulent society.

That limited plan had continued to expand over time. The production structure increasingly shifted toward subsistence, with farmland reserved first for high-yield staple crops such as rice, wheat, and potatoes.

In livestock farming, raising beef cattle was expressly prohibited, and beef could not circulate on the market. Only dairy cattle could be legally raised.

At present, only chicken and duck were permitted to be produced as meat.

But there were loopholes in everything. The less something was permitted, the more readily it sprang up like mushrooms after rain in the Foreign District.

Lu Zhao's frown gradually smoothed out again. This was neither within his jurisdiction nor within his power.

Why should he dwell on it?

If he could just keep himself in line, that too was a way of upholding order.

If he gained the ability to deal with it someday, that would be a matter for the future.

Noticing the dish he was looking at, Lin Zhiyan specifically said to the waiter beside them, "We'll also have a plate of stir-fried yellow cattle beef."

Then she handed the menu to Lu Zhao.

"Order whatever you like. This meal's on me. There are lots of things you can't get outside."

"I should say you can't even find them. I thought cattle were only kept for breeding now."

Lu Zhao closed the menu and set it aside. "I don't think I should eat this meal. Team Leader Lin, I'll wait for you outside."

Lin Zhiyan looked stunned. By the time she recovered, Lu Zhao had already left the restaurant, walking very quickly.

What happened?

She turned to the waiter and asked, "Are men always this changeable?"

Lin Zhiyan had never had a boyfriend. She did interact with men, but most of them were second-generation scions from the compound.

She couldn't get along with that bunch of assholes. Whenever they met at family gatherings during holidays, Lin Zhiyan always looked at them as if they were idiots.

Man or woman, she despised every asshole equally.

The waiter said awkwardly, "Perhaps the gentleman isn't feeling well. Would you still like to eat?"

"Forget it."

Lin Zhiyan had lost interest. She got up and walked out of the restaurant.

Fifty meters to the right of the restaurant entrance, a handsome man was squatting by the curb, smoking. His posture didn't match his appearance at all.

Seeing her approach, Lu Zhao asked in puzzlement, "Aren't you eating?"

Lin Zhiyan said sarcastically, "Someone was such a killjoy that I'm not in the mood to eat anymore."

Lu Zhao answered with a perfectly straight face, "I don't eat beef."

"Hm? You won't even eat beef? Are you hoping to eat dragon meat instead?" Lin Zhiyan tilted her head. "You won't eat any of the other dishes there either?"

Lu Zhao added, "I don't eat at restaurants that sell beef, either."

Lin Zhiyan immediately understood.

Buying and selling beef were both illegal now. He didn't want to break the law.

She said helplessly, "Does it make any difference? There are many things you can't change. Besides, the ban on raising and selling beef cattle wasn't originally intended to stop people from eating it, but to optimize the structure of food production."

"Senior, you're too rigid."

Lu Zhao turned to look at Lin Zhiyan, who was standing over him. From this angle, he couldn't see her chin. He asked, "Which class did you choose for your course on the mind at Imperial Capital?"

Lin Zhiyan answered, "Laozi's."

She remembered that it had probably been the first time she met Lu Zhao. She had just enrolled and didn't yet know about his past, so she had only thought that the teacher was quite young.

"'Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is enlightenment. Overcoming others takes force; overcoming yourself takes strength.' That's from chapter thirty-three of the Tao Te Ching."

Lu Zhao finished his cigarette, stood up, and crushed the butt underfoot. His eyes were now half a head higher than Lin Zhiyan's.

"As a psychic transcendent, you should understand that the world is your own and has nothing to do with anyone else."

Lin Zhiyan took a small half-step back. "So I believe beef can't possibly be erased by human effort."

Lu Zhao nodded noncommittally. "And I don't believe wrongdoing should be taken for granted."

"..."

Lin Zhiyan's eyes widened slightly, a trace of astonishment in them. Then she seemed to understand something, and her expression gradually grew calm.

She had met people like Lu Zhao before, and they were the kind she hated most.

Federation lieutenant general Lin Youmin, who had died in the line of duty ten years ago-her father.

Lin Zhiyan pointed at a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant in the distance. "Then let's eat there."

Lu Zhao raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised at how easygoing Lin Zhiyan was. "Are you paying?"

"We're splitting the bill."

"Then I'm not hungry. I'll wait until you're done."

Seeing that Lu Zhao really had squatted down again, Lin Zhiyan pulled him back up. "You really don't have an ounce of generosity."

Lu Zhao spread his hands. "I only make twenty thousand a month, and I have a child to support. Even a simple meal here costs tens or hundreds of yuan."

Lin Zhiyan was amused. Seeing that Lu Zhao was short on cash, she said, "Fine, I'll treat you. Happy now?"

Evening.

Lu Zhao had thought they were done for the day, but Lin Zhiyan dragged him to the east side of the city for a dinner gathering.