The second floor of the Patrol Department fell silent for a moment.

People passing through the corridor subconsciously lightened their steps and held their breath.

At the doors of the other squad offices along the wall, many patrol officers hung their heads low, pretending to be busy. In reality, their fearful eyes were fixed on the figure in the black leather jacket as he slowly walked away.

Some of them glanced toward Team Three.

Their expressions were complicated. Those on good terms with him went over to chat casually with Yang Wangtao, seemingly offering words of comfort.

Others subconsciously kept their distance, not wanting to get drawn into the conflict.

The commotion quickly died down. The office door closed, and Team Three was quiet once more.

Yang Wangtao walked into his captain’s office, his expression unchanged. Before settling in, he called out.

"Xiaochen, Xiaochao, come in for a moment."

As he spoke, Lu Chao and Chen Xiao exchanged a look and followed him in.

CLICK!

The door clicked shut.

"Captain?"

Chen Xiao blinked. For some reason, the air felt thick, making it hard to breathe.

"You don’t need to worry too much about Ruan Hui."

Yang Wangtao walked behind his mahogany desk, set down his briefcase, and turned to the two of them. "Although he has an erratic personality," he said softly, "he’s always been arrogant. He won’t deal with you personally."

"But you still need to be on your guard. You don’t want any of his lackeys causing trouble just to suck up to him."

Lu Chao and Chen Xiao nodded. They understood.

Then,

"As for what happened the other day."

Yang Wangtao sat down behind his desk, pulled a report from a drawer, and handed it to them.

"Captain?"

"The department has reached a decision."

He spoke in a steady voice, gesturing at the report. Even seated, his posture was ramrod straight. "Vice Director Liu personally signed off on it. He praised you in the meeting for handling the matter appropriately."

"Combined with your previous cooperation with the Mechanical Violence Team in maintaining public order, the higher-ups have decided to award you each two thousand contribution points."

"On top of that... you also get a free allotment of three beginner-level potions."

At these calm words, Lu Chao was slightly taken aback, and Chen Xiao was surprised as well.

They looked through the report together and quickly found the corresponding explanation for the reward.

"This..."

Lu Chao was a little surprised. He hadn’t expected the reward to be so generous.

Three beginner-level potions would be worth nearly thirty thousand Alliance Coins on the open market.

And as for the two thousand contribution points...

An emergency mission usually awarded a few hundred points at most. This was several times that amount. If they could get a similar reward just one more time, they could even exchange it for a Martial Skill or a Secret Technique.

"Captain!"

A huge smile spread across Chen Xiao’s face.

He could tell that their captain had fought to get this for them.

Compared to this, the injustice they had suffered the other day felt like nothing.

"You..."

Shaking his head in resignation, Yang Wangtao picked up the thermos on his desk. He seemed about to take a sip, but there was no hot water left. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Chen Xiao chuckled, quickly grabbing the hot water kettle and stepping forward to refill it for him.

Lu Chao smiled as he watched the scene.

It was clear their efforts hadn’t been in vain, and that their team captain, Yang Wangtao, had never backed down for them.

"This matter isn’t as simple as you think."

However, he shook his head gently.

As if reading their minds, Yang Wangtao took a sip of tea and said, "The reward is so generous mainly because the intelligence that Geng Xiao provided was extremely important."

His tone was pointed. Chen Xiao and Lu Chao’s smiles vanished as they understood the implication.

"Captain, are you saying that Geng Xiao is really connected to Qiu Shan and his crew?"

"Mm."

Yang Wangtao nodded and gestured for them to keep reading the report.

"Qiu Shan’s group of four realized we were watching them, so they specifically found Geng Xiao and had him buy antibiotics on the black market to throw us off their trail."

"As for why Geng Xiao agreed..."

He didn’t finish, but Lu Chao and Chen Xiao had already turned the page and seen the interrogation transcript in the report.

Their expressions immediately tensed.

Their gazes locked onto a single word that grabbed their full attention: Rebels.

"Rebels?"

Chen Xiao muttered, his expression growing grim.

Lu Chao wore a similar expression, his gaze turning grim.

The Rebels. The largest clandestine organization on Earth Star, they dominated the wilderness and the criminal underworld. They often conducted forbidden research, and even the major warlords gave them a wide berth.

They were a group of people who had lost their nations in the old era, people dissatisfied with the establishment of the Alliance who constantly incited rebellion.

The organization’s goal, just as its name suggested, was to restore the fallen nations of the old era.

They had been wanted criminals since the very founding of the Alliance Country and had even fought several major wars against it.

They had only gone quiet and faded into the shadows in recent years. To think they were now resurfacing.

"This matter has now alerted the Superpower Bureau. Our two departments will conduct a joint operation going forward."

"As for Qiu Shan and the others, we’ll just wait for orders."

Yang Wangtao set down his cup and added a few words of advice.

Lu Chao and Chen Xiao exchanged a look, their doubts finally dispelled. It all made sense now.

’No wonder Team Two had been so desperate, even willing to risk breaking the rules to go stir up trouble in the black market.’

’Ruan Hui must have guessed what was going on and wanted to seize the initiative—and the credit—before the Superpower Bureau took over.’

Shaking their heads inwardly, they both knew better than to ask any more questions.

After they finished discussing a few more matters, they left the office and returned to their patrol.

...

「Ten days later.」

As the end of the year approached, the winter grew colder.

Although Ring City was located on the northwestern edge of the Alliance Country, its altitude wasn’t very high, so it hadn’t snowed.

A bleak, cold wind swept down from the high mountains of the wilderness, carrying an icy chill.

Many pedestrians were wearing cotton hats and bundled up in three layers of cotton and fleece clothing.

[Ring Daily: The Political Affairs Department has issued a public announcement. The aid conference for the wilderness settlement has concluded successfully. The aid request was passed by a unanimous vote!]

[In the future, they will work with the Patrol Department, City Defense Department, Superpower Bureau, and other departments to provide material aid to the wilderness settlement. They also issued a strong condemnation of the acts of war by the Wilderness Warlords Lu Shan and Ogrin...]

The news broadcast played on schedule inside the tram, sparking discussions among the passengers.

Lu Chao, a satchel slung over his shoulder, tightened his black cotton jacket. He glanced at the other passengers, not particularly surprised.

This was a rule left behind by heroes like Fearless Robert—reasonable requests for aid from the wilderness were not to be refused.

Not to mention, the war between the two warlords was having a significant impact on Ring City as well.

"’Have you noticed? The price of pork, cooking oil... so many things have gone up recently.’"

"’Tell me about it. My husband just got laid off, and we still don’t know what to do.’"

"’You’re lucky. The Iron Blood Gang and the Hongyi Society have started a war recently. There’s gunfire outside my apartment building in the middle of the night. I’m too scared to even sleep...’"

A few plainly dressed middle-aged men and women in the car conversed in low, worried tones.

Lu Chao listened quietly until the tram reached his stop, then he got off.

He made his way to the nearby Jinshi Boxing Hall.

He subconsciously glanced up at the sky. Though hover-cars occasionally streaked past, shuttling between the inner city and the wilderness, the clouds remained a dreary gray.

A sense of urgency grew within him. Lu Chao took advantage of a free moment on his walk to glance at his status panel.

[Life Energy: 35→38!]

[Potential Progress: 65%]

During this time, he had cashed in all of his free beginner-level potions from the Patrol Department. He had deliberately chosen the one he had used the least: the Muscle Building Nutrient Liquid.

Although there was some overlapping resistance to its effects, it still worked reasonably well. Combined with consuming large amounts of Mutant Beast meat, he managed to raise his Life Energy by three points.

’With the power of my Stacked Force Fist, I should be able to unleash over five hundred kilograms of force.’

’And with my Needle Throwing Skill, I could even hold my own against a Professional Level fighter for a short while.’

Lu Chao thought to himself, gaining a rough assessment of his current strength.

Even so, he was far from satisfied.

Being comparable to a Professional Level fighter for a short time didn’t make him a true Professional Level.

’Besides, I’ve basically tried every kind of beginner-level potion by now.’

’This last stretch... I’m afraid I’ll have to find another way.’

Lu Chao thought, his desire to break through to the Professional Level growing more intense.

His footsteps echoed as he passed through the open, rust-yellow iron gate, crossed the concrete training yard, and entered the training hall.

Figures moved about, training hard. Billowing white clouds of steam from their sweat filled the room, and the surrounding windows were fogged over with condensation.

"’Did you hear? The hunting team is official. They’ll be leaving the city to hunt Mutant Beasts soon.’"

"’That’s old news. The Political Affairs Department and the City Defense Department are leading it. All of the Five Major Enterprises are sending people, and so are companies like Hengjia Security and Feihuan Security.’"

"’There’s more. Martial arts halls like ours will be sending Fighting Level practitioners too. I heard Senior Sister Fang and Senior Brother Shen are both going. Senior Brother Luo will be leading them personally, just in case.’"

As the junior disciples in the rest area whispered among themselves, Lu Chao walked over, his eyes flickering with thought.

He had heard Senior Brother Zheng mention the hunting team before but hadn’t expected it to come together so quickly.

As for the members chosen to hunt the beasts outside the city...

’Senior Brother Luo Yan is the head of the core disciples and Master Luo’s own son. He was already at the peak of the Professional Level when I first joined the hall, and now he’s pushing for the Elite Level. With him leading, there certainly won’t be any problems.’

’As for the other core disciples, most of them are quite strong, seasoned Fighting Level practitioners for the most part.’

’If he weren’t tied up with Patrol Department business, he would have wanted to join in too—to see if he could hunt some Mutant Beasts outside the city and earn money for more potions.’

The thought passed in a flash. Lu Chao walked straight into the locker room to change his clothes.

But unexpectedly, he heard a faint noise coming from inside.

He paused at the doorway.

Just in time to overhear a few teasing, low-voiced comments.

"’Hunter?’"