A dozen or so minutes later.

A new patrol car pulled up to the black market’s entrance. The man in black, his breathing faint, was handcuffed by two members of Team Three and shoved into the back seat.

Several black market gangsters who had previously tried to stop Lu Chao in the square were also cuffed behind their backs, squatting on the ground with ashen faces, waiting to be taken away.

"How are you feeling?"

Chen Xiao took a high-energy nutritional drink from the car and handed it over, his face a mixture of relief and lingering fear.

Lu Chao, drenched in sweat, took it, twisted off the cap, and chugged several large mouthfuls before stopping.

"Don’t worry."

Wiping the moisture from the corner of his mouth, he said in a slightly hoarse voice, "It’s nothing serious. Just exhausted. I’ll be fine after a day of rest."

The strain on his body hadn’t fully subsided. His muscles still ached and throbbed with sharp, stabbing pains, but his breathing was gradually steadying, no longer as labored as before.

As for the wound on his abdomen, it was just a graze from dodging the steel nails earlier. It wasn’t too serious—just a shallow cut that had barely broken the skin, oozing a few trickles of blood. It had already scabbed over.

With [Beginner’s Tenacity], he would be fully recovered after one night’s rest.

"Really?"

He looked Lu Chao up and down, confirming he was really okay.

Only then did the deep frown on Chen Xiao’s face reluctantly ease.

"That was way too close today."

He said in a low voice, almost gritting his teeth, "Those bastards from Team Two... they actually played dirty with us."

"If Captain Yang hadn’t sensed something was wrong and arrived in time, the two of us would’ve definitely been punished, even if we’d made it back in one piece."

His deep voice seemed to be suppressing his fury as he looked across the street.

Lu Chao followed his gaze. Team Two’s patrol car was already speeding away, as if afraid of being held back.

It was thanks to Captain Yang’s arrival earlier that the other party had backed off.

Qian Hu and his two men had bolted the instant they saw him, their retreat remarkably decisive.

All their suspicions were confirmed. Team Two had wanted to steal their credit and take the opportunity to kick them while they were down, tripping them up.

"Are we just going to let it go?"

Watching Qian Hu and the others flee in disarray, Lu Chao asked in a low voice, a flicker of anger igniting in his own heart.

But even though Chen Xiao’s clenched fists were white at the knuckles, veins bulging, he eventually loosened his grip, letting out a helpless, heavy sigh.

There was no proof that they had obstructed their work.

And if they started a fight back at the department, it would only give Team Two more ammunition against them.

The atmosphere grew silent and a little suffocating.

Both men had complicated feelings. Lu Chao even found a name inexplicably coming to mind.

Ruan Hui.

The captain of Team Two, a peak Professional Level expert.

His father, a Vice Director, and his mother, with her deep ties to the Biotechnology Company.

His strength and background made all the higher-ups in the Second Division turn a blind eye. If not for age restrictions, he probably would have been promoted to Grand Captain long ago.

Anyone with eyes could see he was destined to become a high-ranking official in the Patrol Department.

’Just for a case like this, he deliberately sent people to make trouble for us.’

’Is the credit for taking down Qiu Shan’s gang that important, or is it...?’

A flicker of doubt crossed his eyes. Lu Chao thought of the rumored grudge between Captain Yang and Ruan Hui, and what Luo Qianshan had once told him about factional conflicts.

He felt like he’d been unwittingly dragged into some kind of vortex.

TAP TAP!

As he was thinking, footsteps sounded. Yang Wangtao was walking out from the walled city.

The black market’s Qin Guangrong followed him all the way, a placating smile on his face, only stopping after seeing him off at the mouth of the alley.

He didn’t say a word, even as he watched several of his subordinates about to be hauled away.

"You two took on too much risk today, and I was late."

"I’m sorry."

Yang Wangtao looked at Lu Chao and Chen Xiao, his typically stern, square-jawed face showing a rare trace of self-reproach.

As he spoke, he handed something over.

Lu Chao froze for a second, then subconsciously took it.

Looking closely, he saw it was a yellowed, old book. Three bold, powerful words on the cover were particularly eye-catching.

Needle Throwing Skill!

"This is?"

"The Fighting Skill that Geng Xiao practiced."

Geng Xiao?

Lu Chao was taken aback for a moment before realizing that was the suspect he had just captured.

"That old fox, Qin Guangrong, knows he messed up today and is trying to apologize."

Despite his usual composure, a cold glint flashed in Yang Wangtao’s eyes.

"But the lives of my Team Three members aren’t that cheap."

"Don’t worry about what happened today."

He clapped them both heavily on the shoulders, his gesture carrying the weight of a promise. "This is just the interest."

"You’ll get everything you’re owed later. Not a single bit less."

At his words, Lu Chao and Chen Xiao were momentarily stunned. They glanced at each other, feeling a surge of excitement and warmth.

They knew Captain Yang always kept his word. If he said this, there would surely be a resolution.

As they chatted for a bit, Lu Chao curiously examined the object in his hands.

He opened the yellowed pages and saw numerous illustrations and text, mostly diagrams of the human body’s meridians and written records of force-generation techniques.

This wasn’t surprising. When the Alliance Country was first founded, many Fighting Skills were recorded and preserved in secret manuals.

It was only in recent years, when storage devices became widespread, convenient, and secure, that this method was replaced.

’A hidden weapon Fighting Skill...’

His eyes lit up. Lu Chao suddenly recalled Geng Xiao’s methods during their intense fight.

He had simply grabbed some steel nails from an old wardrobe on the side of the alley and used them as hidden weapons, their power no less than that of a small-caliber pistol.

If his opponent hadn’t already been seriously injured, they might have actually posed a real threat to him.

’Third-rank patrol officers can’t carry guns, and the test for a firearm license is a real hassle. These steel nails could be a good substitute.’

’At a certain distance, the lethality isn’t that much different. Plus, in a group fight like the one earlier, they’re more flexible and can catch enemies by surprise.’

As he pondered, an idea began to form in Lu Chao’s mind.

The group didn’t delay any longer. A short while later, they started the patrol car and drove away.

....

「Inner Ring. A Private Mansion.」

Inside a standalone villa.

A glass canopy, like a firmament of its own, formed a massive dome that covered most of the villa’s sky.

From the outside, it looked unremarkable. But stepping into the estate felt like leaping from the dead of winter into the vibrant, revitalizing heart of spring.

Warmth and light.

The glass canopy seemed to control the temperature of everything within the estate. The light, filtered through a special layer, was bright yet gentle.

The lawn was as green as a velvet carpet, the flowerbeds burst with colorful blossoms, and birds even chirped as they built nests in the branches of neatly trimmed trees.

Amid this peaceful and serene scene, bodyguards in suits patrolled the villa’s perimeter with quiet steps, earpieces in place. Several expensive sedans and a sci-fi-esque hovercar were parked at the entrance.

And deep within that villa, in a spacious, brightly lit training room with sound-absorbent flooring...

...several men and women in uniform stood to one side. Some held plates of fruit and Energy Supplements, others carried communicators and towels, all waiting patiently like servants, their expressions deferential.

BANG! BANG!!

In this environment, dull thuds sounded continuously.

A long-haired young man in a black Martial Arts uniform was relentlessly punching a red leather sandbag.

His movements were swift and fluid. With each punch, the air cracked with a short, explosive pop, sending out ripples of white vapor.

And yet, the red leather sandbag, suspended by iron chains, remained perfectly steady, only swaying slightly on occasion.

THUD!

Another punch landed, and a faint CRACKING sound could be heard from within the sandbag.

The long-haired young man raised an eyebrow slightly, as if he had noticed something. Only then did he stop his training and glance over at the people around him.

TAP! TAP! TAP!

As if on cue, all the waiting men and women hurried forward.

Someone wiped the fine beads of sweat from his brow, while another skillfully massaged his shoulder and back muscles to relieve his fatigue.

Another handed him an Energy Supplement. One even knelt respectfully on the floor to receive the boxing gloves he took off.

"Young Master, Guo Yun left a message for you. He says he’d like to invite you to a dinner tonight."

A middle-aged man with salt-and-pepper hair, who looked like a butler, said while holding a communicator, reporting the messages that had come in during the young man’s training.

"Oh?"

The long-haired young man didn’t even lift his eyes. He took the Energy Supplement and sipped it, his Adam’s apple bobbing. "What else?" he asked faintly.

"From the Patrol Department, Qian Hu sent you a message and also tried to call."

"What about?"

"He said... he botched the job."

As his words fell, the atmosphere froze.

An invisible pressure filled the room, making the attendants subconsciously soften their movements.

The long-haired young man narrowed his eyes slightly as the butler continued his report. "Yang Wangtao personally went to the scene. The rookie from Team Three captured Geng Xiao himself."

"That useless piece of trash."

His voice turned cold, and a frigid glint flashed in his narrow eyes.

The butler lowered his head in silence. The entire training room fell quiet.

"And that Yang Wangtao... If Vice Director Liu hadn’t vouched for him back then, he’d be a dead man. How dare he ruin my plans."

His cold snort echoed in the training room. Several breaths later, the long-haired young man spoke again, "Who is this rookie from Team Three?"

He hadn’t been to the Patrol Department in months.

"Lu Chao. A core disciple from Jinshi Boxing Hall. Broke through to Fighting Level nearly four months ago. His current Life Energy is estimated to be between 30 and 35. He’s from an orphanage, owes over a hundred thousand in welfare loans, and has no special background..."

The butler reported factually, the information so detailed it was as if he’d simply plucked it from his pocket.

"Jinshi Boxing Hall?"

His eyes flickered. The long-haired young man seemed to have thought of something, a hint of intrigued interest on his face.

Then, he said no more about it.

He just strode out of the training room.

"Remember to clean it up."

At his command, a middle-aged security guard nodded gently, only then daring to step forward and take down the sandbag hanging from the chains.

CRASH.

THUD!

The red leather split open, and a human figure, covered in blood with flesh mangled beyond recognition, tumbled to the floor.

Drip, drip, drip. Blood trickled down from the sandbag, forming a pool on the floor.

The figure’s heart and breath had stopped at some unknown point, but its body was still warm.

Clearly, it had been beaten to death just moments ago.