Chapter 127: Stealing Books
Hood was firstly dumbfounded. Eventually, he managed to complain, "I-I didn"t do anything! You destroyed my masterpiece!"
Even if it was a robbery, I didn"t make any move at all....
This unreasonable claim was Hood"s incoherent attempt at defending himself.
Lin Jie turned and smiled. "What? Trying to explain yourself after breaking in? You were the one who trespa.s.sed and got caught! It wasn’t me who kidnapped and brought you inside, right?
"Sounds to me like those things and your gun were self-made. That means you are rather talented. It"s a shame you took the wrong path and you ought to be taught a lesson.
"You should feel glad you haven"t done anything or it wouldn"t just be as simple as a lesson."
Youths with disorderly and unrepentant conduct were the sort of people Lin Jie abhorred the most.
For some reason, Hood felt his body turning cold. And he stopped speaking when he recalled his completely destroyed armor.
The lights downstairs had already been switched on.
A bunch of fellows wearing "indigenous suits" as well were lying in front of the bookcases. However, their suits were not as flashy as Hood"s and the metal alloy frames looked much better.
Lin Jie did a quick scan and saw six people. In addition to the one at the sword end, there were a total of seven.
Great, it really was a gang crime.
At this moment, they were all clutching their heads and rolling on the ground with some opened books scattered around them. They seemed to be in pain from the way they were moaning and groaning.
From the look of things, surely they weren"t attempting to search the bookshelves because they couldn"t find any money at the counter. Moreover, the one who had come up and was now being held at sword point was likely to be their leader.
Mu"en stood before this bunch, watching them silently. Hearing the sounds of Lin Jie coming down, she turned around with an innocent look on her face.
"Well done,” praised Lin Jie.
Mu"en eyed the group of fallen intruders on the ground, then glanced at the smiling Lin Jie and blinked several times.
I haven’t even done anything yet...
After hearing some activity downstairs and arriving at the scene, all Mu"en saw were this collapsed bunch with books in their hands, convulsing, screaming in terror and trying to crawl out.
Thus, using her quick wits, she ran to shut the main door that had been pried open to prevent these people from escaping.
Since the boss had praised her, she must have done the right thing.
Thus, the girl nodded earnestly. "What do we do next?"
Lin Jie glanced at his communications device that was still on dial. "Let"s wait first. I"ve already made a call to the police. What"s the situation with these people?"
Naturally, Mu"en was able to tell that these people were scholars of the Truth Union and they went straight for the bookshelves, meaning it was likely they were from the "Truth-seekers" faction.
However, it could be said that they had shot themselves in the foot this time around, for Mu"en could sense the great horror oozing from these books.
"They came to steal knowledge. Oh, but their lives shouldn"t be in any danger," replied the young a.s.sistant.
"Steal knowledge... books, oh! You mean stealing books?" Lin Jie stared at this bunch in bewilderment.
Mu"en"s phrasing of the situation was strange, but Lin Jie was used to this young girl"s raw degree of understanding and thus interpreted the meaning on his own.
Hood"s eyes widened in shock when he heard what was said. With veins bulging out his forehead, he clenched his fists tightly and declared, "It"s extracting, not stealing! This is the creed of our "Truth-seeker" faction. It"s a Truth Union matter. How can it be called..."
Pa! Lin Jie"s palm, together with the communications device, came slapping across the back of this fellow"s head. "What did you say?"
Hood: "..."
"Hold up." Lin Jie"s eyes narrowed. "Truth Union?"
Beep.
Lin Jie"s call finally connected at this moment. He made a hush gesture at Mu"en, then put the communications device close to his ear to hear Claude"s respectful voice.
"Mr. Lin. What are your instructions?"
Sounding so alert even at such a late hour... Seems like it"s really difficult being a cop in Norzin.
However, Lin Jie reckoned that it was only Claude who was dedicated to work when recalling those three other suckers that had visited his store.
Eying Hood who was glaring p.r.i.c.kly at his comrades, Lin Jie started to explain the situation to Claude.
"Hey, Claude. Sorry to bother you this late at night, but it would be more convenient since you are Joseph"s disciple.
"It"s like this. Just now, some people broke into my bookstore in the middle of the night."
"What?!" A startled exclamation came from Claude"s end, followed by the faint sounds of explosions and screams in the background.
Claude seemed to move the communications device a little further away from himself as he barked out instructions. "Team Two up top, Team Three round the back. Where"s the medical team? Help the wounded first. Now!
"Those f*cking b.a.s.t.a.r.ds are going to die today! When I catch hold of them, I"m gonna put their socks in their—"
A confusing mash-up of voices and sound ensued.
Lin Jie"s lips twitched. It seemed like he had stumbled upon a police operation.
Norzin seems very calm though... But Claude got so worked up that such flowery language came flowing out. Haa, he"s definitely picked up this habit from Old Uncle Joseph.
A few moments later, Claude picked up the communications device again and took a deep breath. "Cough... Apologies, Mr. Lin. We"ve recently discovered new activity from "Blood Feast" and tracked them down to one of their rendezvous points where we suffered an ambush. Currently, we are in pursuit of some of their members that are trying to escape."
"Oh..."
Blood Feast?
Lin Jie frowned. He seemed to have heard this name before.
After some thought, Lin Jie recalled that it was Wilde who had mentioned this name before.
On Old Wilde"s first visit to borrow books, he had mentioned, "Recently, I"ve received an invitation to join an organization called "Blood Feast’."
Lin Jie had offhand asked what this was about, and Old Wilde"s rough explanation was that it was a group of idle people who had nothing to do but have fun gatherings for entertainment and exchange ideas.
Lin Jie felt that this organization wasn"t too reliable and sounded like there was a tendency towards multi-level marketing without a pure motive. Thus, Lin Jie had advised against it and Wilde had dropped the idea.
Lin Jie never expected to hear about this organization again.
And now, its nature was even more sinister. Lin Jie"s original guess was that it was a multi-level marketing scheme, but from the looks of it, this was a whole terrorist organization!
Moreover, it was a terrorist organization that dared go against the Central Police Unit. From the sounds over the call, it appeared like the battle was really intense.
Fortunately, I advised Old Wilde against it. Otherwise, I would probably have one less loyal customer...
"But all of this isn"t important," Claude continued. "What"s the situation like on your end, Mr. Lin?"
Lin Jie returned back to his senses and replied, "There are seven intruders who broke in, calling themselves the Truth Union. I"ve already caught them. After some thought, I think that it would be better leaving them to you all."
"Truth Union? Don"t tell me it"s the "Truth-seekers"?" Claude exclaimed.
Lin Jie had heard this name just moments ago. "Yes, it"s the "Truth-seekers"."
Claude was speechless. The situation his teacher had been trying to stop had still happened. The bookstore owner and the Truth Union had crossed paths and now they could only hope that the Truth Union would be left unscathed.
"I understand. I am currently unable to leave my position at the moment. Can I come over in the daytime and help you with them?"
"Of course," replied Lin Jie.
After exchanging a few more pleasantries, he ended the call, cast a sweeping glance over this bunch of thugs and his eyes finally landed on Hood, the only one who still seemed to be clear-headed.
"Well, we"ll just wait for the police to come pick you all up.
"In the meantime, I have a few questions to ask."