Chapter 398: Approved

Chapter 398: Approved

“If it were me acting alone in the past, when encountering such enemies, I would have wiped them all out long ago!” Carlin narrowed his eyes slightly, quietly taking down a suspicious person. He tossed the unconscious body into a dark corner and paid it no further attention. The Academy would soon send someone to handle it. This matter was not Carlin’s responsibility, and he didn’t want to waste time on such small fry either.

Sure enough, after Carlin dealt with this enemy, a new target appeared. These two were definitely from the same group, which made Carlin even more annoyed. This was the result of not eradicating the root of the problem—failing to cut off the source of the trouble. The other side probably thought they were doing well, and with a little more effort, they might succeed. If he weren’t already tied up, he would have… XXX!

Just as Carlin finished dealing with the second person and turned around, he saw a pair of eyes staring at him. “Cough, little kid, you shouldn’t be watching this kind of thing.”

Carlin gave a light cough and kicked the corpse, which hadn’t bled much, back into the shadows. He spoke while looking at Lily, who had somehow found him.

“Who are these people?” Lily ignored Carlin’s words and asked the question she wanted to ask. She knew Carlin’s identity. As for how she found him… it wasn’t that she spotted Carlin but that she detected the scent of blood here. Even though Carlin’s ambush technique was masterful—precise and fatal, without letting much blood spill—her sense of smell for blood was extremely sharp. Although there was very little blood, it was still within her detection range.

While her overly strong blood-scenting ability could make up for her lack of spiritual perception, it also had some minor drawbacks. For example… during those days of the month, she could also smell a bloody scent. There was no helping it. She could shut off this sense of smell, but doing so would mean losing one of her bodily senses.

Without her keen sense of smell for blood, her sense of smell was about the same as an ordinary person’s.

“Small fries from a minor gang in Kaja called ‘Severed Fingers.’ The kind with a bit of cunning.” Seeing that Lily already knew his identity, Carlin stopped playing dumb and spoke directly. He could determine the other party’s identity mainly from some items they carried.

It was a small knife—not the kind for cutting fruit or sharpening pencils, but for cutting fingers. This knife wasn’t of good quality, so from certain marks on it, Carlin deduced the other’s identity. Not just anyone holding a small knife was from ‘Severed Fingers.’ Originally, this gang wasn’t called ‘Severed Fingers.’ After winning a fight against another gang, the victors cut off the thumbs of everyone on the losing side—a pretty brutal act. After that, their reputation spread.

People even started calling them ‘Severed Fingers.’ The gang probably wanted to maintain their fearsome reputation. Not only did they not reject this name, they embraced it and even made it a rule: anyone in ‘Severed Fingers’ would carry a small knife. The specifications might not be uniform, but this item was never missing. It even became a necessary item among them to prove their identity and seniority.

Additionally, the boss of the Severed Fingers gang actually had some brains. Although they acted ruthlessly, they always stayed just within the line, never going too far. They also found a powerful backer. Kaja’s Law Enforcement Team found it difficult to deal with them.

“So, they are not innocent?” After listening to Carlin’s explanation, Lily fell silent for a moment before asking.

“Innocent? How could they be? In any line of work, how many are clean?” Carlin said with a hint of disdain. Although Infiltrators could be seen as thieves, they had their own code of conduct… As for the lot from Severed Fingers, during his usual Quest acting as a hidden guard, he had investigated them. Not just Severed Fingers; he had also looked into other easily investigated forces.

In short, these people did a lot of things. The most common one… kidnapping. It covered both women and children. They didn’t have to worry much about handling the people they kidnapped; they just needed to find the right buyers. For example, those special venues—they had their own connections to resolve any loose ends.

Or, for example, some Life Domain researchers. Once taken by them, there was even less to worry about. After the research, not a trace would remain, let alone whether the kidnapped person would survive. The researchers themselves would clean up all traces meticulously. If they didn’t handle things cleanly, what then?

Risk being labeled as violating taboos and then get taken down by law enforcement?

Apart from these, there were other equally unacceptable things… directly selling people to Cults!

Don’t think Cultists are crazy and have no brains or wealth. On the contrary, Cultists are among the most extravagant spenders, more exaggerated than women shopping. When they get worked up, they can even sacrifice themselves to their Evil God—what’s a little money compared to that? If Cultists’ bodies weren’t already twisted and polluted, they wouldn’t even blink at selling their blood or kidneys if they needed money—provided the matter required them to spend money to resolve it.

Cultists have no interest in other commodities; the only thing that attracts them is people! From some of Carlin’s past investigations, Severed Fingers seemed to have connections with some Cults. However, their boss handled things very cleanly, so Carlin couldn’t be completely sure if this was true.

“Kidnapping people…” Lily whispered, a cold red glint flashing in her eyes. “He has faced a lot of trouble lately. I don’t want to cause him additional trouble because of myself. So… can you take me along to deal with these constantly appearing troubles first?”

“…” Carlin’s heart gave a slight twitch. He couldn’t help but glance at Lily, whose expression had turned unfriendly. This unfriendliness wasn’t directed at him but was a kind of malice toward the Severed Fingers gang! It made him a bit curious. What had Lily experienced before? She was fine just a moment ago, but upon hearing about kidnapping, she was about to explode.

Major gang forces were under closer scrutiny, so they exercised restraint in this regard and wouldn’t go too far. However, Severed Fingers was just a small gang, not under strict supervision, so they acted more recklessly. In fact, this type of small gang all had this kind of ‘business.’ It was unavoidable. After all, they were a small force without substantial industries. They had to find ways to cover expenses. Collecting protection money? Hmm… not only was it easy to clash with the Law Enforcement Team, but relying on that alone wasn’t enough to support a bunch of thugs.

Robbery? Forget it! If you didn’t want to operate in Kaja anymore, anyone who dared to do it so blatantly ended up dead. Theft… well, small gangs did keep a group of pickpockets, but that wasn’t enough to cover all expenses either. They couldn’t handle high-capital ventures, so kidnapping people—requiring no capital—became the best choice.

Could it be… Carlin suddenly thought of a possibility. Lily might have been a victim of some small gang, but she was lucky enough to be saved by his own Boss. However, with that kind of experience, and after gaining power later, even if the gang that once kidnapped her no longer existed, knowing that other small gangs were also doing this, and they were currently hostile, all her past and present grievances surfaced at once. Wasn’t it normal for her to get worked up?

So, should he agree or not?

In terms of strength, it was just a small gang. He alone could quietly wipe them out overnight. Bringing along a burden wouldn’t be difficult either. Moreover, Carlin knew Lily’s background. She now possessed the Evil God’s Power, which was no weaker than that of a High-tier Professional.

Even though this wasn’t power she cultivated herself and she couldn’t use it perfectly, and despite her lack of combat experience, relying on the sheer force of her power, she could still handle some Ranked Practitioners without issue. Even without him, Lily alone had the power to single-handedly wipe out ‘Severed Fingers,’ as long as she was careful during the process and avoided being taken down by any dirty tricks.

Under Lily’s big, watery eyes, Carlin fell silent. He quietly took out the Magic Weapon Summoning Book and sent a message to Zheng Yichen. Lily’s big, watery eyes immediately took on a slightly threatening look, but Carlin pretended not to see it. Joking aside, was he afraid of a mere Loli’s threat?

Well, he felt a bit uneasy, but he was clear about who his real Boss was and whose word ultimately decided matters. Clearly, it wasn’t the little bean in front of him. Even if he offended her and she might make things difficult for him at some point later… thinking about his Boss’s way of handling things, as long as he truthfully reported the situation here, he should be fine, right?

After reporting what happened here to Zheng Yichen, a reply from Zheng Yichen soon came—two big words: “Approved!”

Concise and to the point, along with a link that could access the ‘Armory.’ Carlin understood the meaning: backup resources were now open to him. This time, he had to handle the matter flawlessly.

On the other hand, Zheng Yichen felt a bit complicated when he replied. After all, although Lily was mature for her age, her age was still what it was. She had always had two lingering issues: one was the Undying Witch, and the other was the gang forces in the Town that initially changed her fate.

“Hey, do you understand psychology?” Zheng Yichen closed the Magic Weapon Summoning Book and looked at Dan Marina. He didn’t know whether Lily’s current state was good or bad.

“Hmm? Are you planning to have me help you babysit?” Dan Marina tilted her head slightly, asking with a hint of an odd smile.

Zheng Yichen simply shook his head. Forget it. Letting Dan Marina babysit, who knew what kind of scheming Little Witch she might raise in the future. “Let’s leave it at this for now… As long as we keep a close watch and make sure she doesn’t go astray, it should be fine. By the way, which number is this?”

He glanced out the window.

“Who knows? Probably the twentieth or so…”