Chapter 305: Papermaker
Meng Chao thought about it for a long time.
“Okay.” He paused for a moment before he added, “If I find new clues and really find the person who killed Jin Yongqiang, can I ask for your help again?”
“Of course.” Shen Yupeng smiled. “Regardless of whether you find any clues or suspicious people, you can contact me at any time. As long as I don’t have any cases on hand, I will definitely hurry to your side as soon as I can. Although, there’s rarely a time when I don’t have anything at hand.”
Meng Chao smiled. “I look forward to a chance to work together with you and your team of elites again.”
“As long as you want to, there will be a chance.” Shen Yupeng looked impressed. “Due to the unique nature of the secret police’s work, we sometimes recruit a few members to join a squad based on the requirements of a case. First, it’s to cover up the lack of skills in a certain professional territory, and second, if we often show up, people will come to know our ident.i.ties. The suspects will then become wary and might do something extreme.
“If we bring in unfamiliar faces, it’s easier for us to do things.
“You’re young, courageous, and ambitious, but you also appear to be a youngster who has nothing to do. So, if you’re willing to support our work, we’ll definitely welcome you with arms open.”
“That’s a promise!” Meng Chao extended his hand to Shen Yupeng.
He had told Shen Yupeng the clues because he hoped that he could use Shen Yupeng to form a connection with the secret police.
As a law enforcement organization in charge of investigating and executing justice on out-of-control superhumans, the adjudicator court would continue to serve an important purpose in Dragon City in the future.
Based on what he remembered he might need to do, if he managed to get himself the authority of the adjudicator court, he would be able to interfere with the future even better.
When he left the congee restaurant, it was almost seven.
Pedestrians had started appearing on the streets. They wore 3D mobile gears and jumped around to go to work.
Meng Chao sat down in Lu Siya’s car and heaved a long sigh.
He told her about Shen Yupeng’s suspicions regarding Shen Yulong’s death.
Lu Siya was completely unbothered. “If he wants to investigate it, let him. Shen Yulong wasn’t killed by you, Qin Hu, or me. I even went out of my way to ask Lin Chuan to spare him, but in the end, the White Spirit took his life.
“I’ve also split part of the mining rights for the Red Radiance Jade mine with Universe Corporation. As for the mine explorers from both parties who died in the accident, their families have received compensation fees that were higher than the ones in the contract. One of these days, I will also find the mastermind behind White Spirit and take revenge for everyone!”
Meng Chao then told her about the results of the case of the murderous pets in Blessed Paradise.
“It’s about the same as what I thought,” Lu Siya said. “This matter has been blown out of proportion. There are leaders in the biochemical modification technology and the runic symbol machines factions who might even be Deity Realm elites. No one wants this minor case to cause an internal rift in Dragon City. That’s why this is the best conclusion.
“What now? You look quite gloomy. Have you been looking forward to another result?”
“That’s not it.” Meng Chao shook his head. “Logically, I understand the difficulties of the secret police, but emotionally... It feels like the secret police is different from what I imagined. They aren’t the ruthless, perceptive, and sharp law enforcement organization I thought they were. They’re more like... papermakers, I guess?”
Lu Siya chuckled.
“Papermakers? That’s an apt description. Honestly, the secret police aren’t the only papermakers. The Supernatural Tower is also made of a group of papermakers. In fact, even the entirety of the Survival Committee is made of papermakers. Everyone is just trying their best to maintain the illusion of unity and stability. Do you know why?” Lu Siya asked faintly. “Because Dragon City is not like a true country.
“No, I’m not talking about the population and territory we have. If we talked about that, even though our territory is small, Dragon City is still a city that has tens of millions of people, and that number is higher than that of many small countries on Earth. Besides, the concept of a city state has existed since ancient times. That’s not the problem.
“The problem is the transmigration itself. The rampage from the zombie virus and out-of-control superhumans destroyed the concept of nations and society from ancient times. The people who struggled past the b.l.o.o.d.y and dark era had to rely on the various organizations that were built during those times. Those organizations kept expanding and merging until they turned into corporations, and later upgraded to mega corporations.
“The mega corporations of the Other World are completely different ent.i.ties compared to the mega corporations on Earth.
“To resist the zombies, monsters, and out-of-control superhumans, the employees possess great fighting strength and are in control of people’s needs. They have the right to set up various rules that replace the laws, and they even have the people’s grat.i.tude and loyalty up to a certain degree.
“In some sense, the mega corporations are miniature pseudo countries.
“The Survival Committee is just an alliance of the pseudo countries. Most of the power and authority in the current Dragon City belongs to the mega corporations.
“Then again, the appearance of superhumans have caused the control of countries over individuals to plummet to the drain.
“But nations can’t be held together by violence. If a nation can’t control the individuals living in it and have to use extreme violence to control them, this nation will not have any prestige.
“Unfortunately, Dragon City is currently in such an awkward state.
“Shen Yupeng is right. There is a limit to the resources of the Supernatural Tower and the adjudicator court, and their opponents are much stronger and crazier than the criminals on Earth.
“On Earth, no matter how crazy a hoodlum is, even if he ties bombs all over his body and has a bus full of hostages, his evil is limited to that bus full of people.
“You just need to deploy a few squads of armored special forces and a few armored vehicles to deal with this sort of hoodlum. A limited amount of capital is needed to suppress it.
“But superhumans are incredibly unstable elements in the Other World and Dragon City. One out-of-control Heaven Realm elite can collapse a building at any moment, which will take the lives of thousands of people.
“He might also be skilled at hiding. He could sneak out of the secret police’s encirclement or even change his appearance and figure to swagger past the surveillance cameras to continue committing crimes.
“Because of that, the capital required to capture an out-of-control superhuman is much higher than the same type of criminal on Earth. It’s enough to cripple any organization.
“The secret police, naturally, wants to solve this problem. The Supernatural Tower wants to centralize all the power in Dragon City and enforce stricter control over the superhumans.
“But right from the start, the adjudicator court is just an arbitrator organization to judge superhumans. They need mega corporations to provide them with money, technical skills, and resources. They’re part of the problem, so how can they rely on themselves to solve it?
“Perhaps this is why the research department was born. We’re the ones who can truly centralize all the power in Dragon City!”
Lu Siya’s gaze was intense.
She seemed to be hinting at something.
Her speech reminded Meng Chao of something. The abnormal beast research department did not seem to only focus on investigating abnormal beasts in his previous life.
They seemed to have been involved in an unfathomable problem.
Unfortunately, in his previous life, Meng Chao was just a poor citizen. He did not have a clear understanding of the fights between the mega corporations, the Supernatural Tower, and the Survival Committee.
He only knew that the conflict in Dragon City and their goal of colonizing the Other World had possessed a negative influence.
“I didn’t expect that you would have such a great understanding of the negative aspects of mega corporations. Aren’t you—”
“Aren’t I a member of Sky Pillar Corporation, which is one of the mega corporations?” Lu Siya smiled at him. “Let’s put it this way. If Sky Pillar Corporation belonged to me completely and I was content with it, I would definitely stand on Sky Pillar Corporation’s side and fight for it to the death.
“Unfortunately, Sky Pillar Corporation is not mine. Besides, the Other World is huge. The fog is gradually disappearing, and no one knows what sort of an exciting world is hiding behind it. Am I supposed to be trapped in Sky Pillar Corporation and the land it controls while fighting against my relatives until I’m badly battered? That’s... really boring.”
Meng Chao stared at her for a long time. “What exactly do you want to do?”
“I don’t know.” Lu Siya shrugged. “An unknown future is the most interesting aspect about life, don’t you think so?”
Meng Chao returned to Agricultural University before ten in the morning.
The university had deliberately set up ten big screens on the field to broadcast the adjudicator court’s case briefing about the murderous pets in Blessed Paradise.
When the students heard that the case had been solved and the mastermind from Heavenly Works Machines was discovered, the field instantly filled with cheers.
“I knew it. There’s just no way the modification technology from Spirit Creation Creatures would have gone wrong. Even if the pets went out of control, they wouldn’t do something as terrible as kill their owners!”
“Biochemical modification technology is Dragon City’s future! We didn’t choose the wrong path! This is great!”
“Those people from Heavenly Works Machines are too despicable. They can’t win against us, so they used such a lowly method! They’re even worse than monsters!”
“Yesterday, those people from the University of Technology’s machine course were acting all arrogant and said that there must be a problem with the modification of those pets! Let’s see what they will say now!”
The students cheered.
The hot-blooded and pa.s.sionate freshmen were the most excited.
The day before, they had gone on an “expedition” to the University of Technology. They engaged them in a debate before starting a sparring session, which allowed them to act on their hot-blooded nature.
The only problem was that Meng Chao had never showed up.
“Meng Chao, you’re the worst!” Xie Feng threw an arm around Meng Chao’s neck while grumbling. “You said that you would cheer for the monster controller course students in the afternoon, but forget about showing up and even disappeared for an entire night. So, what exactly did you do with that beautiful woman? Did you do something... really exciting?”
The students stared at him with gazes as sharp as blades.
Meng Chao remembered what he did yesterday.
He first performed an autopsy. Then, he went to the depths of a trash site to fight against a giant Sandworm.
He performed another autopsy after that.
Afterwards, he went into Golden Tooth Lair to search for Small Insect and chased him down a shabby street. Oh, and he also went into a women’s toilet.
Once he recalled what he did, he ma.s.saged his temples and sighed with sudden exhaustion.
“Yeah, it was really exciting. You cannot imagine it,” he said faintly.