Having collected a reward once before, Lin Li’s trip to the Superpower Administration Bureau to claim his prize money went very smoothly.
As he was leaving the Superpower Administration Bureau’s payment office, he happened to run into Investigator Wang Jing—the very same woman he’d seen battling the giant Wild Boar Beast on the battlefield.
She and a few colleagues were rushing toward the parking lot. A moment later, two cars sped out of the lot and away from the Superpower Administration Bureau.
’So busy this early in the morning. It’s a tough job,’ Lin Li thought to himself as he watched the Investigators depart.
Then, he too left the Superpower Administration Bureau, walked over to his van parked by the curb, opened the door, and got in.
VROOOM...
The van’s engine rumbled to life. Lin Li started to turn around and head for home. Just across the street, as soon as Lin Li’s van started moving, a black sedan’s engine fired up as well.
Ten minutes later, the black sedan tailing Lin Li pulled over. The driver had seen Lin Li’s van enter the district.
The window rolled down slowly, revealing a burly man with bright, dyed-blond hair and an earring in the driver’s seat.
Zhu Daqi gazed at Ping’an Garden District in the distance, pulled his phone from his pocket, and found his boss’s number.
RING... RING... RING...
The call connected but wasn’t answered immediately. After about ten seconds, someone finally picked up.
Liu Menglong, who had just been taking care of some business in the restroom, heard his phone ringing incessantly in the living room. He walked out and hurried over to it.
"Hello." He snatched the ringing phone off the sofa and, seeing the call was from Zhu Daqi, quickly answered.
"Boss, the guy you had me tail just took a trip to the Superpower Administration Bureau.
He was inside for a little over ten minutes, then came out and went straight back to his district," Zhu Daqi reported, updating Liu Menglong on his surveillance of Lin Li.
"The Superpower Administration Bureau, this early in the morning?" Liu Menglong frowned slightly at his subordinate’s report. "Alright, I got it. Anything else?"
"That’s it," Zhu Daqi said.
"Alright, that’s all for now. You keep watching him. If he heads out to the wilderness on the outskirts, call me immediately," Liu Menglong said.
"Got it, Boss." Zhu Daqi nodded, then hesitated before asking, "Uh... Boss? Can I ask what you’re planning to do with this guy you’ve got me watching?"
Liu Menglong went silent. Hearing Zhu Daqi pry into his reasons for tailing Lin Li, and considering it was best not to let too many people in on it, he started to berate him.
"Just do what I tell you. I’ll let you know what you need to know. Don’t ask about things you’re not supposed to."
"Right." Thoroughly chastised, Zhu Daqi quickly backed down. After hanging up, he patted his pockets and realized he’d forgotten his cigarettes. Muttering a curse, he opened the car door, got out, and headed for a convenience store across the street.
Li Ying, an elite member of the Canglan Society’s intelligence department, stood under a large, leafy tree by the side of the road. A satisfied smile spread across his face as he watched Zhu Daqi head to the corner store for cigarettes.
’Tsk... Not bad. That Liu Menglong from the Heilin Society is pretty efficient. I only gave him the job yesterday, and he already has his people on it today.’
Meanwhile, Liu Menglong’s brow was tightly furrowed after hearing his subordinate’s report.
Just then, the gorgeous, scantily clad woman—the one Zhu Daqi had called Yan—returned from grocery shopping.
After putting the groceries from the market in the kitchen, she walked into the living room. Seeing Liu Menglong on the sofa, phone in hand and brow furrowed in thought, she asked quizzically,
"What’s with the long face? Did something happen?"
Liu Menglong looked up at his fellow organization member and relayed what Zhu Daqi had just reported.
"The target went to the Superpower Administration Bureau first thing in the morning? This job we took... it’s not a setup, is it?" After hearing Liu Menglong’s story, Yan couldn’t help but feel a surge of worry.
Their organization, the Heilin Society, was on the Superpower Administration Bureau’s wanted list. If the Bureau’s Investigators were the cats, then people like them were the rats who couldn’t afford to be seen in the light.
Learning that Lin Li had visited the Superpower Administration Bureau naturally made these rats paranoid, their minds always jumping to the worst-case scenario.
Seeing the worried expression on her face, the frowning Liu Menglong immediately smoothed his own brow. A smile replaced his scowl as he reassured his partner.
"Even if it is a setup, there’s no need to panic. It’s not like we’ve made a move on the target yet, right?
That guy gave us a month, so we’re in no rush. We’ll just keep observing him for a few more days. If the job really is a setup, we’ll just drop it."
"But if we drop it, what happens when that guy, Huang Liu, comes looking for us?" Yan asked.
"What happens? If this job is really a setup and he didn’t disclose that to us, then it’s perfectly reasonable for us to pull out.
As for the advance he paid us... if he thinks he’s getting that back, he’s dreaming," Liu Menglong said.
"Hmm." Yan nodded in agreement. "Then we need to be extra careful with our observations. If he really is connected to the Superpower Administration Bureau, then we absolutely can’t take this job."