Chapter 186: Disappearing Act
Lin Jie’s face darkened when he saw the damage to his book cafe.
Although the Ash Chamber of Commerce had taken full charge and forked out the money, Lin Jie had been the one who came up with the design!
All of this had been his painstaking efforts!
And now, Lin Jie was really incensed by the mess made by these killers who had just popped out of nowhere.
When he further a.s.sociated this with the Church of the Dome’s evil deeds, Lin Jie felt that these people no longer deserved to live a single second longer. In any case, the situation was now clear and they could continue with their original plan if the new faith was prepared and ready.
With the support of the Central Police Unit, which was sufficient to represent the official stand, as well as all the evidence collated, it wouldn"t be difficult for the plan to succeed.
Lin Jie was just afraid that Church of the Dome would use unconventional means like this again in the future.
Moreover, the organization that Michael was a part of, Path of the Flaming Sword, had gotten involved. Besides Michael and Gabriel, whose ident.i.ties had been exposed, there were still eight other members who were still scheming away.
Compared to the Church of the Dome, where tabs could be kept on, this manipulative organization hidden in the shadows was bad news…
Joseph, who had planned to do the same, nodded. "We"ve got men ready. We’ll expose the Church of the Dome’s dirt when we hear from the Chapmans.
"Then, we’ll cooperate with the pushing of the new faith. I"m sure it will immediately cause the Church of the Dome to panic. And when they’re cornered and desperate will be when they perish."
The former Great Radiant Knight"s eyes were piercingly cold, and he made a gesture of slitting one"s throat.
That murderous glare could easily send chills down anyone"s spine, especially so with the beaten up magician slumped over his shoulder. It wouldn"t be hard to imagine him drawing out his sword and cutting someone’s head off clean and decisively.
"Also, take special note of what I just said. The Church of the Domearen’t the masterminds. There’s still another organization behind them, so be careful and stay safe," Lin Jie said.
He paused slightly, then mused, "I"ll speak of this in detail when you come over to my bookstore later."
Lin Jie hinted at the crowd. There were too many people here, and the more people meant more spies. Even if they claim to be followers of the Sun’s Faith, it could be all an act, and it was too difficult to determine whether they were spies here or not.
According to Young Mike"s last words, their organization had control of the Church of the Dome and were even supporting Congreve, who was a direct rival of Cherry in the Ash Chamber of Commerce.
These were two huge, well-known organizations, yet they had been infiltrated with who knows how many spies.
It wouldn"t be surprising if there was a mole among this crowd that hadn"t yet been busted.
Joseph looked grave. "Alright, thank you for telling us about this. Oh, aside from this, there is something I need to speak with you about... It"s something to do with one of your customers."
Lin Jie raised his eyebrows. A customer?
He didn’t have many customers in the first place, and he rarely contacted most of them. The two he had been in frequent contact with recently were Wilde and Ji Zhixiu.
Joseph wouldn"t be speaking in such a veiled tone if it"s about Wilde... So it"s most likely Ji Zhixiu.
As a matter of fact, Miss Ji hasn"t come back since she took my rose the last time. Has something happened to her?
But now isn"t the time to speculate, I"ll discuss it in detail with Joseph back at the bookstore.
“Mu’en.”
Beckoning with his hand, Lin Jie called Mu’en over, who had been standing at the side as still as a decoration. With a smile, he asked, "Mu’en, by a rough estimate, how much losses for damages did our book cafe incur this time?"
Mu’en obediently worked it out in her head and replied, "About 17,000."
Although Lin Jie seemed calm, the corners of his lips did indeed twitch uncontrollably when he heard the figure.
Just what kind of high-grade materials did the Ash Chamber of Commerce use for the damages to add up to 17,000!
He did a quick glance across the store. The burnt floor, as well as the damaged tables and chairs, had to be replaced and that would be nearly 20,000. He hadn"t expected it to be so costly, and this gave him quite a scare.
Back then, the owner of the audio-visual store was forced to sell the store directly to the Ash Chamber of Commerce because he had a debt of 10,000, which was then handed over to Lin Jie.
And in truth, with the purchasing power of Norzin"s currency, to buy a shop in a poorer and more remote place for 10,000 wasn"t really surprising.
However, it seemed a little excessive in this case.
Lin Jie felt as though he had shot himself in the foot. It was like he had lived frugally to purchase a luxury car, but he couldn"t afford to maintain it...
"Ahem."
Lin Jie turned to Joseph and hinted with his eyes.
I"m providing the new faith with a venue that also acts as a decoy to expose the Church of the Dome’s true colors. Aren"t I also giving you, the police, a s.p.a.ce to enforce law, which is definitely a sacrifice for justice?
Shouldn"t you guys express your grat.i.tude?
Don’t let the hearts of the righteous turn cold! The 17,000 which was sacrificed for justice is crying!
Joseph was moved by the look in Lin Jie’s eyes. Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, he nodded and said, "Don"t worry, Boss Lin. This is all our responsibility. We’ll help you repair it."
Once again, he thought to himself, Boss Lin has a strange temperament indeed.
With this said, Lin Jie was finally relieved.
Joseph spoke to Claude to clarify everything that had happened here. He gave Claude some praise and patted his disciple on the shoulder. Then, he handed Zuikaku over to Claude for him to deal with.
Claude looked at the still babbling Zuikaku, and with a slight smile, felt that his work pressure had just gone up a level.
Just a moment ago, Lin Jie had been chatting and laughing with Joseph without a care.
Those former Church of the Dome believers present, now members of the Sun"s Faith, were all stunned.
They were mostly ordinary civilians and had known that Claude was an officer of the Central Police Unit. It was easy to tell that all ordinary folk had a sense of reverence for the Central Police Unit, judging from the former audio-visual store owner’s att.i.tude from before.
And now, the tall and burly old man had been revealed to be Claude"s teacher, so naturally, he was of an even higher rank in the police unit.
But now, someone of such a rank was showing such respect to that bookstore owner, similar to how they normally revered the Central Police Unit.
What"s more, his words seemed to imply that the Church of the Dome and Ash Chamber of Commerce were at his disposal and now they couldn"t help coming up with all sorts of ideas on the ident.i.ty of the bookstore’s owner.
——
However, Lin Jie was oblivious to all the wild ideas that were going through the heads of the believers of this new faith.
He waited for Joseph to finish and brought the latter back to the bookstore.
The moment he stepped into the bookstore, Lin Jie stopped in his tracks. His eyes narrowed as he looked at the spot where Michael’s corpse had been.
At this moment, there was nothing there!
Lin Jie had previously struck Michael instinctively—This was in fact, something he made up on his own. All the techniques Silver had taught him in his dream weren"t something innate—which had countered Michael and killed him.
He was sure that Michael had stopped breathing and no longer had a heartbeat. But now, that fellow had managed to pull off a disappearing act right under his eyes.
Michael was gone!