Chapter 153: Say Nothing. Pick a Side.
At An Xing’s low shout, the Abyss-Suppressing Army soldiers swarmed forward and pinned everyone down on the spot, including Tong Longyi.
Naturally, Tong Longyi had people behind him.
In truth, even An Xing did not know exactly how deep this matter could go.
But they had long wanted to make a move against these families.
Today, with Li Mu here, it looked as though Li Mu was borrowing his power.
In reality, Wanren Military District was borrowing Li Mu’s power!
If An Xing truly touched the lifeline of the family powers himself, the Abyss-Suppressing Army might not necessarily back him to the end.
But who was Li Mu?
He was the person who had single-handedly modified the paper-format versions of Flowing Cloud Triple Shock and Falling Leaf Saber Art.
He was the seedling the Military Merit Bureau had taken out the Heaven-Shaking Compass to protect at all costs!
And the position of the Military Merit Bureau within the Abyss-Suppressing Army was unshakable. It was the source of the Abyss-Suppressing Army.
It was the source of the nation!
Tong Longyi did not dare say another word. He obediently allowed himself to be escorted out.
How could the others possibly dare resist?
Section Chief Zhao was now completely dumbfounded.
He had never even met An Xing, and he had no idea how this matter had reached the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Military District!
He had merely helped his relatives deal with someone.
How had it pierced all the way to the heavens!?
As for the most dumbfounded ones, they were still the wealthy woman and her executive husband.
At this moment, they did not even dare scream.
The killing intent of the Abyss-Suppressing Army soldiers was too heavy.
Especially after this Deputy Commander-in-Chief came in, the room practically seemed to have entered winter.
In their perception, this was killing intent!
Even the little girl, who had previously been crying herself half to death, was now biting her lips tightly, terrified to the extreme.
It was as though if she dared shout or cry recklessly again, this group of people would mince them into meat paste.
After everyone had been escorted away, An Xing turned to Li Mu and smiled.
“Tiger Marquis Li, you have suffered a grievance.”
“I did not arrive too late, did I?”
Li Mu did not show anything on his face, but inwardly, he thought to himself:
What a cunning old fox!
You were probably here long ago.
You refused to come out because you were waiting for Tong Longyi to make trouble for me.
However, Li Mu also understood An Xing’s approach.
If An Xing had entered from the beginning with those Abyss-Suppressing Army soldiers just now, Tong Longyi would probably have admitted defeat the moment he saw him, dealt with Section Chief Zhao and Captain Song on the spot, and cut off his own limb to survive.
But precisely because An Xing had not appeared at first, Tong Longyi had dared bare his teeth at Li Mu.
And now that Tong Longyi’s performance just now had been recorded by Li Mu’s Technological Watch, they could investigate this matter through proper channels.
Li Mu first gave An Xing a formal salute, then said, “It was not much of a grievance. I am only a little embarrassed that I had to trouble Deputy Commander-in-Chief An to come personally.”
“What trouble is this? I have not even thanked you for helping Linyuan City uncover a few scum,” An Xing said with a smile.
At the mention of this matter, Li Mu’s expression turned solemn.
“Deputy Commander-in-Chief An, what I said just now was not merely for show.”
“I know that it is somewhat against the rules for the Abyss-Suppressing Army to directly interfere in the law enforcement system.”
“But as a paramilitary department, the Law Enforcement Department is the final line of defense for the common people.”
“Once public trust in the law enforcement system declines, the impact on the Abyss-Suppressing Army will also be far-reaching.”
“So I must continue investigating the people behind Tong Longyi.”
“I wonder whether Wanren Military District is willing to provide support.”
An Xing had not expected Li Mu to be so sharp despite his young age.
The moment they met, Li Mu had immediately put him, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief, on the spot and forced them to take a side.
He did not give them any chance to weigh the matter or wait and see.
The meaning was extremely obvious: if Wanren Military District did not dare get involved, then say it quickly and do not become a useless teammate.
For ordinary people Li Mu’s age, being able to remain steady without trembling when seeing An Xing would already be considered impressive.
But Li Mu was something else. He was almost making An Xing tremble instead!
Fortunately, Wanren Military District had already communicated with Liang Huajun and Wang Longcheng beforehand.
Toward Li Mu, they were bound to support him with all their strength.
So An Xing nodded solemnly.
“I did not expect Tiger Marquis Li to possess such courage and breadth of mind despite your youth. We of Wanren Military District will stand firmly behind you!”
After An Xing finished speaking, he looked around.
Then he lowered his voice slightly.
“This is not a convenient place to talk. Let us go. We will return to the Military District first. If there are any questions, we can discuss them on the way.”
Li Mu nodded and followed An Xing out of the Law Enforcement Department.
There was no point staying here any longer.
With Tong Longyi arrested, no matter whether the Commissioner of the Law Enforcement Bureau had been corrupted or not, as long as he still had a brain, he would sacrifice his own kin for the greater good.
He would directly deal with Tong Longyi first, then make other plans afterward.
So in the short term, it would be very difficult to see clearly what was going on with the Commissioner of the Law Enforcement Bureau.
At this moment, the Law Enforcement Department had already been surrounded so tightly by large numbers of Abyss-Suppressing Army soldiers that not even water could pass through.
It seemed that An Xing’s words just now should be reliable.
Li Mu followed An Xing into his military vehicle.
The two of them both sat in the back seat. After getting into the vehicle, Li Mu asked An Xing, “Deputy Commander-in-Chief An, how much do you know about Tong Longyi’s background?”
When An Xing heard Li Mu continue asking about Tong Longyi the moment they got into the vehicle, he understood Li Mu’s true purpose in coming to Linyuan City.
Therefore, there was thoroughly nothing left to hide.
“Before that, I need to first explain the overall situation of Linyuan City’s law enforcement system to you.”
“Linyuan City is a rectangular city running from south to north.”
“It is led by the Linyuan City General Law Enforcement Bureau and divided into three Law Enforcement Headquarters: Nanhai, Beicheng, and Zhongshan.”
“There are more than twenty Level-One Law Enforcement Branches and nearly a thousand Level-Two Law Enforcement Branches.”
“They are spread throughout the harbor district, the city core district, and the mountain development zones on both sides.”
“Among them, Beicheng Law Enforcement Headquarters is the largest.”
“As for this Tong Longyi, he is the Branch Director of a Level-One Law Enforcement Branch under Zhongshan Law Enforcement Headquarters.”
“Before he sat in this position, he was the assistant to the former Chief Minister of Zhongshan Law Enforcement Headquarters.”
“And the Minister of Zhongshan Law Enforcement Headquarters is now a second-generation mid-level figure of the Lu Family.”
Li Mu asked directly, “What sort of foundation does the Lu Family have in Linyuan City?”
An Xing thought for a moment.
“They can be considered a quasi-first-rate family. Their development momentum has been extremely fierce these past few years.”
“The Lu Family has at least four secret methods for producing high-quality spiritual medicines.”
“Among them, their high-quality Spiritual Energy Concentrate is especially popular.”
“The cultivation improvement of High-Grade Martial Artists has always been a top priority. Aside from personal effort, the largest source of external assistance is the spiritual medicine industry.”
“And low-quality Spiritual Energy Concentrate has little effect on Martial Artists.”
“The medicinal ingredients needed for high-quality Spiritual Energy Concentrate are extremely precious, and the older the herbs, the better the effect.”
“I do not know what secret method this Lu Family has, but their output of high-quality Spiritual Energy Concentrate is several times that of others in the industry, and the quality is quite good too.”
“They carry considerable weight in the spiritual medicine industry.”
“Even the Abyss-Suppressing Army has to purchase large quantities from them.”
Li Mu roughly understood now.
Families could actually be classified as well.
They could broadly be divided into combat-type, spiritual medicine-type, spirit treasure-type, forging-type, cultivation art-type, secret method-type, and so on.
Combat-type families, as the name suggested, had strong family combat power. They either had cultivation secret methods or special bloodlines.
Geniuses emerged from them in large numbers, and their combat power was formidable, especially their high-end combat power.
This sort of family was the hardest to deal with, because they also possessed great power in the Abyss and could get involved in the development of Abyss energy.
Only this kind of family would compete with the Abyss-Suppressing Army over energy development.
Spiritual medicine-type families were families like the Lu Family, which possessed special secret methods in medicine production.
Spirit treasure, forging, and cultivation art-type families were also exactly what their names implied. They based themselves on these factors closely tied to Martial Artists.
All of them had their own specialized fields and hoarded all kinds of secret methods and secret arts.
The final category was secret method-type families.
They possessed secret methods that played decisive roles, such as Storage Rings, the Balance Space Grand Formation, the Linked-Star Defensive Grand Formation, and so on.
All of these were provided by secret method-type families.
One had to admit it.
The existence of family powers had both advantages and disadvantages.
At times when humanity was in crisis, there were families that developed things like the Linked-Star Defensive Grand Formation and the Balance Space Grand Formation.
They poured their hearts and blood into researching formations, then directly offered them to the nation.
Many combat-type families could always stand at the most critical positions at critical moments.
With their extraordinary family cohesion, they could play a role far beyond that of ordinary Martial Artists. One generation after another advanced without fear of death, sacrificing themselves without hesitation.
It was precisely these people who had won the current special status enjoyed by family powers.
And yet, the more such families existed, the more they would instead be plotted against and persecuted by those unscrupulous families that put profit first.
The families that committed every evil under the sun made a fortune and sang through every night in revelry.
When good families acted, they might touch the interests of evil families, and then they would be targeted.
The logic was very simple.
For example, every household had to use light bulbs, and the public had already accepted that light bulbs needed to be replaced once every ten days.
The people selling light bulbs therefore made a fortune and gained both fame and profit.
Then one day, someone suddenly appeared and said, “The light bulb I developed can be used for three years, and its price is extremely cheap.”
That person would have a hard time seeing the sun the next day.
Even if the light bulb he developed was promptly proven real, and he was promptly placed under state protection...
What about the others?
Those researching batteries, those researching medicine, those researching grain seeds...
A nation was made up of people. It was not a tightly operating machine. It could not fit together seamlessly and be perfect in every way.
This was actually also the national tragedy of a great nation.
Yet the country would still have some foolish citizens who only knew how to shout at the top of their lungs, “Why did they not protect the talent properly?”
These people were all the sort who considered matters only on the surface.
They could not consider that the state was also conducting similar research, and that the possibility of an individual producing results was far lower than that of a state institution investing far greater manpower and resources.
They could not consider that no research succeeded in a day or two. Many projects died prematurely after achieving only phased results during the research process.
From which stage should protection begin?
To what extent should protection be given?
Who should provide the protection?
Should it be left to those law enforcement personnel who already lacked enough officers for countless major and important cases?
They could not even think of the fact that if a certain policy were introduced to protect this kind of civilian “genius,” then bad people could create large numbers of “fake genius” smokescreens to consume that layer of protective policy.
If these foolish citizens were asked to stand up and come up with a solution, they would be utterly dumbfounded.
The larger a nation was, the more such fools there would be!
However, Li Mu very much wanted to be the person who created that three-year light bulb.
He wanted to see exactly who would dare stop him from seeing tomorrow’s sun.
And when he pressed the other party’s head down and forced them to watch the sunrise the next day, he wanted to see just how wonderful their expression would be.