Chapter 265: Chapter 226: Just Deserts, Severe Punishment

"Damn it! Get the hell out of my way if you don’t want to die! Anyone who dares to keep blocking my path, don’t blame my blade for what happens next."

The bearded man, his face twisted in a ferocious snarl, waved a sharp dagger and roared at the crowd of onlookers blocking his escape.

"He’s got a knife!"

"How dare he pull a knife? Is this guy insane?"

"Don’t let him hurt you! Everyone, get back!"

The man pulling a knife sent the scene into chaos, with shouts erupting from all directions.

Within moments, everyone scattered, clearing a wide path for the bearded man.

"Damn it! Should’ve just gotten out of my way from the start. You had to make me pull a knife."

Seeing the crowd scatter in terror, the cornered man broke into a wild grin. He then made a break for the arcade’s exit.

Just as the desperate man took four or five steps, a figure emerged from a corner, blocking his path.

"Hm?"

"Get out of my way!"

The figure ignored the cornered man’s threat, standing motionless in his escape path.

"You bastard! You’re asking for this..." Seeing the figure remain unmoved by his threats, the bearded man, who had already thrown all caution to the wind, flew into a rage.

He swung the sharp dagger in his hand, slashing at the figure blocking his path.

"Are you trying to get killed? Move!"

"AHH—"

As the bearded man swung his dagger at the figure, everyone who witnessed the scene let out a piercing, collective shriek.

BAM.

A figure went flying backward, crashing heavily onto the ground. Then, with a CLANG, the frighteningly sharp dagger clattered to the floor.

"What the..."

Everyone who had been screaming a moment ago fell silent. They stared, eyes wide and mouths agape, at the figure who had sent the bearded man flying with a single kick.

After kicking away the bearded man, who had been acting like a rabid dog, Lin Li noticed everyone staring at him in shock and muttered to himself.

’Well, so much for playing games tonight. I should probably store my Game Coins and come back in a few days.’

"Whoa... That guy is so cool! He sent that dude flying with just one kick!" a girl with pigtails exclaimed, snapping out of her daze.

"AGHH..." The bearded man, who had been sent flying by Lin Li’s kick, lay motionless on the ground, wailing in agony. His ribs had been fractured by the blow.

The man was merely a First Rank Initial Stage Cultivator. His physique was barely stronger than an ordinary person’s, and his ability to take a punch was even worse.

Even with Lin Li holding back, the kick was enough to completely neutralize the bearded man.

"The Investigators are here!" someone in the crowd shouted. Everyone’s attention immediately shifted from Lin Li to look behind them.

TAP. TAP. TAP.

Two women in Investigator uniforms entered the arcade, and the crowd immediately parted to make way for them.

"Lin Li."

"Liu Jialin?!"

Lin Li hadn’t expected the responding Investigator to be Liu Jialin, someone he’d met a few times and even exchanged contact info with.

’I can’t believe I ran into Liu Jialin again. We must be fated to meet or something.’

Liu Jialin and her colleague walked up to Lin Li, glancing at the bearded man he had kicked to the ground.

Then, she smiled at Lin Li. "What a coincidence! I didn’t expect to run into you at another crime scene so soon."

"It is quite a coincidence," Lin Li said.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Liu Jialin and her colleague began to process the scene.

They spoke with the arcade employee who had called in the report to get the details of the incident.

"Do you have conclusive proof that this man used a Superpower to cheat?" Liu Jialin asked.

"Yes," said the employee, who was being supported by a coworker after taking a punch to the gut. "The shop’s security cameras captured the whole thing—him using his Superpower to cheat."

Liu Jialin nodded. In truth, a Cultivator using a Superpower to cheat and disrupt an arcade’s business was a relatively minor offense, especially given the small amount of money involved. Compared to assault with a deadly weapon, the charge was far less severe.

If the bearded man had just surrendered from the start, he would have, at most, done a bit of time in jail.

A month, at most.

But now, by pulling a knife on someone, he had escalated the situation significantly. Even though no one was actually hurt, he would still face a harsh sentence. For this, he was looking at a minimum of one to two years in prison.

’Was it really worth it? If he’d just given up, he’d have been out in a month. And now this.’

"Aghh..."

"It hurts so much!"

The bearded man Lin Li had kicked was still bawling in pain.

Liu Jialin’s colleague went over to the wailing man, took a pair of handcuffs from her belt, and knelt. She pulled his hands away from his chest and cuffed him.

"Ow, ow, be gentle! That hurts!"

"Should’ve thought of that before you started. Couldn’t you have just gotten a normal job? Why resort to this kind of shady business?"

The young Investigator, a recent recruit to the Superpower Administration Bureau named Zhang Xiao, spoke in an icy tone as she cuffed the bearded man.

Her attitude toward the criminal made it clear she was the type who despised evil with a passion.

Seeing Liu Jialin and her colleague getting ready to leave, Lin Li called out to her to ask about Tie Qiu Heng.

"Jialin, any updates on that Tie Qiu Heng prison break you told me about? Have you found him yet?"

Lin Li already knew from the news that the fugitive, Tie Qiu Heng, hadn’t been caught yet. However, the news reports offered limited information, unlike Liu Jialin, who was directly involved in the case.

"Not yet. Those guys are good at hiding... We suspect that besides the three of them, they have other accomplices on the outside helping them..."

Lin Li nodded. Afterward, Liu Jialin and her colleague escorted the bearded man out of the arcade.

Once Liu Jialin and the others had left, the customers in the arcade dispersed and went back to their games.

Still, many people cast occasional glances at Lin Li.

After all, the way he had faced down the threat and subdued the violent thug with a single, stunning kick was truly impressive.

Lin Li, having anticipated this unwanted attention, took his small plastic basket containing a hundred Game Coins and headed for the token deposit machine.

A few moments later, he deposited all one hundred of the recently acquired Game Coins onto his game card and left the arcade.

...

"Settle down."

A police cruiser bearing the Superpower Administration Bureau emblem was parked on the street. Zhang Xiao opened the back door and pushed the handcuffed, bearded man inside.

"It hurts!" The man cried out again as the movement of being pushed into the car aggravated the injuries from Lin Li’s kick.

Though his cry was filled with pain, Liu Jialin and Zhang Xiao ignored him.

VROOOM...

The engine started. Liu Jialin turned the steering wheel, swung the car around, and headed for the Superpower Administration Bureau.

「On the road.」

Zhang Xiao, sitting beside the bearded man in the back, asked Liu Jialin, who was driving.

"Captain, was that guy your friend? He looks really young. Probably just graduated from college this year, right?"

...