Chapter 347: Father and Son Adopt the Same Strategy

After Yan Jing finished his instructions, Zeng Qing stared at her disconnected Information Component, still finding it a bit hard to believe.

Just this morning, two candidate councilors had been assassinated.

And tonight, the greatest riot in the history of Muke District was about to break out?

And now, that man was planning to stop the chaos all by himself.

It was simply—

Absurd.

But in the end, she dialed her Information Component to call the subordinate she had instructed that afternoon:

"How is that investigation I asked for this afternoon coming along?"

"..."

"Good. Bring me a batch of the goods you found."

"..."

"Alright. Remember, don't mention this to anyone."

Ending the call, Zeng Qing stood up. Ignoring the men still tied to their chairs, she changed her clothes and headed straight downstairs.

Starting her car, she followed Yan Jing's instructions and drove straight toward the Muke District Law Enforcement Bureau.

Meanwhile, inside a building next to the Muke District Law Enforcement Bureau.

Zhou Mo sat in his office chair, wreathed in clouds of smoke.

He looked incredibly haggard. The unshaven stubble on his chin made him look as if he had aged ten years overnight, and the fingertips pinching his cigar were stained a burnt yellow from the smoke.

It was hard to imagine that this was Zhou Mo, the dashing young master of the Four Masters Society who cared more about his appearance than anyone.

"Fuck—how did this happen—"

He couldn't figure it out. In just a single day, both Li Chengxi and Wen Tian were dead.

The worst part was that there was no one to hold accountable.

The assassins were a group of humans.

And an extremely experienced group of assassins at that.

If some deputy chief at the Law Enforcement Agency hadn't somehow managed to lead a team and catch them in the end, it probably would have taken half the day just to track them down.

One strike for the kill, light-speed retreat, evading surveillance, dodging Anomalous Energy Detection, changing disguises—in any election in history, these killers would have ranked among the very best.

And even finding them in the end was useless. Out of the five humans, the leader was dead, and the remaining four showed signs of disappearing after a dozen hours. They had to be executed, leaving him with absolutely no way to close the case.

Over the years, the existence of the Great Prison had already caused the crime rate in the Peace Heavenly Kingdom to soar, steadily eroding public trust in the Law Enforcement Agency.

The current president had been emphasizing the need to lower the crime rate ever since he took office.

Muke District, as a bottom-tier district, already suffered from a stubbornly high crime rate. And now this mess had happened.

If this continued, his grip on the Muke District Law Enforcement Bureau would quickly become worthless. It might even be forcibly taken over, and Zhao Jiucheng—whom he had worked so hard to invest in—would swiftly be replaced.

"Damn it—"

Overnight, the 'law enforcement empire' he had painstakingly built was crumbling.

He stood and walked to the window, staring out at the flashing neon lights of the nightscape, and took a deep breath.

There was still a chance—

Even without Wen Tian and Li Chengxi, there had to be someone among the other candidate councilors who needed his help.

He already had his eye on one of them: a man named Xu Chao.

Once Xu Chao took office, all they had to do was issue a decree. Then, by coordinating with Zhao Jiucheng to strike at the two reserves he had been keeping, the situation could be turned around.

Intellect Brain and Plague—two mafia organizations that had existed for over twenty years—existed purely to serve as 'reserves' for the Law Enforcement Agency.

If the Law Enforcement Agency ran into trouble, they would butcher one of them to placate the public.

Zhou Mo had seen through this the moment he took office, so he hadn't been in a rush to use these two organizations to pad his own track record.

Otherwise, it made no sense. How could two mere gangs possess the power to survive for so long?

Inside a Tower constructed entirely of metal.

In a room on the top floor.

A man sat in a chair.

The right half of the man's body appeared to be constructed entirely of metal, with precision wiring and modules perfectly integrated. His eye flickered with a scarlet light.

He raised his mechanical right hand, took a drag from the cigar pinched between his fingers, and slowly exhaled.

"I didn't expect it to be today."

"Neither did I."

Papa Rat's voice drifted from a shadowed corner of the desk opposite him.

"What tier are you at?"

The man looked at Papa Rat, who was dressed in a suit and sitting on the corner of the desk.

"What tier are you at?"

Papa Rat asked in return.

"I've cultivated desperately all these years. I'm just one step away from the Sixth Tier," the man said calmly, exhaling a cloud of smoke.

"Then you're still a bit short."

Papa Rat's expression remained composed, as if merely stating a fact:

"If you resist, the probability of you turning into a corpse is one hundred percent."

The man let out a laugh, his voice tinged with bitterness:

"Sure enough, you've reached that step."

"But I also have to thank you. If I hadn't spent every day chasing you as my target, my strength wouldn't have grown so quickly."

"Tell me, what do you want me to do?"

He had just listened to Papa Rat recount the entire sequence of events, but he hadn't yet heard his specific demands.

"Go on television, admit that you are the mastermind behind this Happy Water incident, and turn yourself in," Papa Rat said slowly.

The man fell silent for a few seconds before nodding:

"Fine."

"But I have to say, I'm afraid only the public will believe it."

"Those guys at the top aren't bottom-tier fools. They might even stand up and say it wasn't me. You know how they are—they've always resorted to any means necessary to achieve their goals."

With that, the man rose from his chair, his face emerging from the shadows.

If anyone from the Law Enforcement Agency were present, they would find this face incredibly familiar.

The leader of Intellect Brain, Ling Xie.

In everyone's eyes, Intellect Brain and Plague were supposed to be diametrically opposed in Muke District. Yet at this moment, Ling Xie was clearly bowing his head to Papa Rat.

More accurately, he was immensely respectful.

"You don't need to worry about that."

Papa Rat's expression darkened:

"I have other cards to play for the rest of the situation."

"As you wish."

Ling Xie took a deep breath. Though he looked to be in his forties or fifties, he bowed deeply to Papa Rat.

The world thought Intellect Brain and Plague were evenly matched, but only he knew the truth: he was nothing more than a dog raised by the rat sitting across from him.

Now, with trouble looming and the man across from him demanding he step up to take the fall, he had no other choice.

One could even say he was doing it willingly.

"If anyone is capable of achieving great things, it can only be you."

"Are you planning to run in the general election this year?"

Papa Rat sighed:

"I don't even belong to a political party. How could I possibly run?"

"But it really is time to make a move this year. Quan Dazhong has been in power for far too long. His replacement has already been decided, so nothing can be allowed to go wrong right now."

"The candidate has already been chosen."

"Understood." Ling Xie nodded:

"I wish you success."

"Nothing is certain yet," Papa Rat said.

"Regardless, here's to our Peace Heavenly Kingdom reaching a successful conclusion," Ling Xie said.

This time, Papa Rat didn't contradict him.

At the same time, Yan Jing, who was inside a certain restaurant, received the news from Papa Rat's side through Xiao Xin. He nodded:

"Alright, got it."

A few minutes later.

A long, slender leg stepped out of the sports car's driver seat, leaving the Enforcers on duty dumbfounded.

Zeng Qing walked over and addressed the Enforcers at the door:

"I'm looking for Zhao Jiucheng. Tell him Zeng Qing is here to see him."

Looking at the extraordinarily elegant Zeng Qing, the Enforcer swallowed hard. Without a second thought, he directly dialed Zhao Jiucheng's communicator.

Soon, Zhao Jiucheng rushed back from outside.

"Lady Zeng!"

Zhao Jiucheng opened his arms, making a gesture to embrace her:

"I never expected you to visit our Law Enforcement Agency. You truly bring light to our humble halls."

Zeng Qing smiled:

"Chief Zhao, aren't you going to invite me in?"

"Please, of course."

Zhao Jiucheng said, then stepped closer and whispered in Zeng Qing's ear:

"Should I call Lord Zhou over to keep you company?"

"I strongly advise against that," Zeng Qing said with a smile. "This might just concern your political career."

Hearing Zeng Qing's words, Zhao Jiucheng's heart inexplicably sank, but he immediately recovered his smile:

"Right this way then, Lady Zeng."

Up until this moment, he had still been rather optimistic. That was, until—

Fifteen minutes later.

Zhao Jiucheng took a deep breath and looked at Zeng Qing across from him:

"Is what you're saying true?"

"You don't have to believe me."

Zeng Qing took a sip of her tea:

"You'll know for sure once the situation completely blows up."

Zhao Jiucheng gripped his hair fiercely with both hands.

He never imagined that his political career had already reached its end.

Soon, the subordinate he had just sent out returned to report. After testing the Happy Water Zeng Qing had brought over, they had indeed discovered a completely new substance capable of inciting feral instincts.

"Fuck!!!"

Knowing full well that his political career was finished, Zhao Jiucheng let out a roar of fury.

He agonized over it for a long time but ultimately couldn't find a way out of this dead end. Taking several deep breaths, he finally recovered a sliver of composure and looked at Zeng Qing:

"You came to see me, so you must have a proposal. Tell me. As long as you can help me survive this crisis, I am entirely at your disposal."

With that, Zhao Jiucheng actually dropped to his knees right in front of Zeng Qing.

Looking at the youngest Chief of the Law Enforcement Agency in history kneeling before her, Zeng Qing felt an inexplicable thrill in her heart.

Following what Luo Sheng had taught her, she spoke:

"There is actually still a way to resolve this."

"As long as someone exposes beforehand that this is a conspiracy and confesses to being the mastermind, it will be fine, right?"

"Right now, our worry is that no one will take the fall for it, and the public won't believe it."

"But as long as we fabricate someone they will believe, won't that solve it?"

"Are you suggesting...?" Zhao Jiucheng asked, his eyes widening.

"Exactly." Zeng Qing smiled faintly. Extending her index finger, she hooked it under Zhao Jiucheng's chin:

"You've worked with Zhou Mo for so long. You must be sick of him by now, right?"

"Spill everything about him that you can."

"With Chen Xiaojing's incident still fresh, the public is in desperate need of an outlet to vent their anger."

"Wouldn't you agree?"

Looking at Zeng Qing's cold yet enchanting smile, and thinking of his political career that could be severed at any moment, Zhao Jiucheng nodded almost subconsciously.

"That's more like it."

Zeng Qing reached out and patted Zhao Jiucheng on the head:

"Good dog. What a good dog. From now on, you follow me."

"I'll give you the bones you want."