Chapter 53

The day after the Night Patrol Branch was established.

Li Hao got back on his old bicycle. There was no other choice; yesterday’s car was a write-off. This morning, it wouldn’t even start, which made Li Hao so angry he almost smashed the car.

It was completely useless!

The new house was quite a distance from the Inspection Bureau, further than the old house. It would probably take half an hour to ride there.

But now, Li Hao was already over the hundred barrier, so he wouldn’t get tired.

On the small stone path in front of the door, Li Hao rode his bike leisurely, not in a hurry.

A moment later, a luxury car drove down the road in the neighboring community.

It was much more luxurious than the car Li Hao had received.

Li Hao didn’t turn his head, but the window of the luxury car rolled down, revealing the face of the man who had had a conflict with Liu Yan yesterday. He wore a faint smile, looking quite refined.

Of course, he didn’t look as composed when he was handcuffed by Liu Yan yesterday.

"Little brother, do you remember me?"

Li Hao turned his head and nodded slightly when he saw the man: "I remember, Mr. Qiao from Qiao Mining. Liu Yan told me about it."

"Going to work?"

"Yes."

Li Hao’s expression was calm, and he wasn’t too eager to chat with the man.

"Riding a bike? Want to ride with me?"

Qiao Peng seemed very generous, smiling: "I was just playing around with Liu Yan yesterday. I’m heading to the Inspection Bureau for some business. It would take you a while to ride there. Get in my car."

"No thanks!"

Li Hao politely declined: "Liu Yan said her husband was killed by your security team leader... Stay away from me, or I might not be able to control myself and grab you!"

Qiao Peng raised an eyebrow slightly and sighed: "That was really an accident. In the past few years, I’ve been trying to make amends. To be honest, I pursued Liu Yan to make up for everything... Otherwise, with my status, what woman couldn’t I get? Little brother, you don’t understand. She’s been hurt too deeply, so she needs more security. And I... can comfort her wounds."

Li Hao frowned and ignored him, continuing to ride his bike.

He thought to himself, putting on a show for me?

Everyone’s about the same!

He was also half-acting, as the man in front of him was rumored to be connected to Yan Luo. There was no need to completely offend him right away.

Moreover, this guy was chatting with him for no reason...

Could it be because of the Eight Families?

Because he, Li Hao, was a descendant of the Eight Families, so this guy was trying to get close to him?

Seeing that Li Hao wasn’t responding, Qiao Peng smiled: "Forget it, maybe you don’t understand. When you’re older, you might get it. Young people don’t understand these things. We’ll be neighbors, so you can drop by my place sometime."

As for why Li Hao could live here, he wasn’t too puzzled. For a Night Patrol member, finding a good place to live wasn’t difficult.

Besides, he had received news that this guy had become a deputy minister... Not too surprising, considering Yuan Shuo was still around.

The luxury car gradually drove away.

Li Hao watched for a while, then continued riding his bike toward the Inspection Bureau.

Qiao Peng!

He remembered this name.

Who knows, maybe this guy had dug up his family’s grave.

...

The Enforcement Building.

It had now become the Night Patrol Branch.

The Night Patrol Branch had only nine official members so far, but besides them, Li Hao had recruited ten more from the Inspection Bureau to join, mainly responsible for daily and logistical work.

Today, the Night Patrol officially opened for business.

Li Hao also had his own dedicated office in this building.

A banner hung in the office.

Li Hao kept his word; he had brought the banner Zhou He gave him and hung it as a symbol of merit.

This was the first banner he had received in his life, so he valued it.

Besides, Zhou He had given him a house, a car, combat experience, and even his life... No matter what, Li Hao should remember his kindness.

Just as he entered the office, Liu Yan knocked on the door and pushed it open without waiting for a response: "Let’s go, stop looking at your banner. The boss is calling us for a meeting!"

"Meeting so early?"

"The boss works fast!"

Liu Yan smiled and looked at Li Hao: "Did you sleep well last night? Scared?"

"Not scared."

Li Hao quickly shook his head, I can’t say I’m scared, or will you move in?

That would be terrifying!

The two chatted as they walked together toward the meeting room upstairs.

...

In the meeting room.

When Li Hao arrived, the others were mostly there, with Wang Ming just a step behind him.

As soon as everyone sat down, Liu Long, still in his windbreaker, entered the meeting room with a gust of wind.

Without sitting down, he got straight to the point: "The Night Patrol Branch in Yincheng has been established. While Doushan is still in Yincheng, we need to act immediately!"

"I’ll be brief!"

Liu Long said solemnly: "In Yincheng, there was no official superhuman organization before. The Inspection Bureau was responsible for the entire city’s security system! We didn’t have a military presence, so the Inspection Bureau was the largest and only law enforcement agency!"

"But a city of a million people can’t be all ordinary. Yincheng has martial artists and superhumans... Moon Shadows are rare, but Starlights do exist!"

He continued: "In Yincheng, there are several places we need to pay attention to! First, the Ancient Academy, which Li Hao is familiar with. Second, the Yincheng Administrative Office, responsible for civilian affairs, working alongside the Inspection Bureau, each in their own domain."

The Yincheng Administrative Office was responsible for all matters except for force, ensuring the city’s stability. The city needed not only the Inspection Bureau for law enforcement but also other departments to assist.

The Yincheng Administrative Office and the Inspection Bureau were separate systems but both official. They didn’t interfere with each other, with the administrative office handling civilian matters and the Inspection Bureau handling law enforcement.

"Third, the 18 martial arts schools in Yincheng, I mean those officially run by martial artists!"

"Fourth, the six major corporations in Yincheng!"

Liu Long said solemnly: "These places, to varying degrees, have martial artists or superhumans, either serving various forces or even being the founders. These people are the main source of instability in Yincheng!"

As for the Inspection Bureau, it also had martial artists, like Liu Long and Mu Sen.

As for superhumans, there were none... If there were, the Inspection Bureau would send them directly to the Night Patrol, unless they refused to join. However, almost no one in the Inspection Bureau who became a superhuman would refuse to join.

This led to a special situation where, in other places, there might be a few superhumans, but the Inspection Bureau had none.

Of course, now there were, and more than one.

Everyone looked at each other, and Wang Ming, who had had dinner with Liu Long yesterday, was more willing to speak today, asking: "What does the minister mean?"

"Clear out, organize!"

Liu Long was straightforward: "In the past, the Inspection Bureau lacked authority and strength, so we let some people off! Now that the Night Patrol has been established, we need to make it clear to all major forces in Yincheng that Yincheng is still under official control!"

Wang Ming didn’t say anything more.

But Li Hao spoke up: "Boss, what goals do we need to achieve? Establish authority?"

Li Hao smiled: "If it’s just to establish authority, the boss’s actions before have already achieved that effect. They can’t be unaware that the boss killed three superhumans!"

Just to establish authority, there wasn’t much need for it.

Liu Long said solemnly: "Not just to establish authority, but also... some forces are harboring filth! In the past, we lacked the strength and reason to clean up, but now that we are the Night Patrol, we have the right to clean out these pests!"

He then said bluntly: "Another point, making extra money! Killing law-breaking superhumans and seizing their mystic energy is also an important source. Otherwise, relying on the allocation from above, the Night Patrol headquarters only gives us 10 units of mystic energy per month for Yincheng. 3 units for the City Inspector, 1 unit for the Patrol Inspector, 0.5 units for the Inspector, and the rest is distributed."

The Night Patrol team had nine people, one City Inspector, three Patrol Inspectors, including Li Hao, Liu Yan, and Wang Ming, while the others were just Inspectors, including the two superhumans who were only Level 1 Inspectors.

According to the salary from above, 8.5 units per month would be enough, and 10 units wasn’t too little.

If calculated in terms of money, Li Hao’s monthly salary could reach the million level!

Of course, that was the black market price.

Regardless, being able to provide 1 unit of mystic energy per month was a significant benefit, which was one of the reasons why so many people were eager to join the Night Patrol.

However, for Liu Long, it was too little.

3 units, in the past, he thought it was fine, a steady income, 36 units a year, which was a lot.

But now, he felt it wasn’t enough.

Because everyone’s strength had grown, like Liu Yan, who needed 1 unit per month, which wasn’t enough for her as a martial artist over the hundred barrier. Such a small amount of mystic energy couldn’t even help her strengthen her body, let alone advance to a superhuman.

So, he needed more mystic energy.

This blunt statement made Wang Ming and the others slightly change their expressions.

Liu Long directly said to kill and seize mystic energy, which... was too brutal. Was this the style of local strongmen?

Li Hao didn’t pay much attention to this, thinking for a moment and said: "This could make everyone wary! The Night Patrol is not an invincible existence. If we force some superhumans to join other hostile superhuman organizations, we’ll be in trouble."

Liu Long frowned.

In the past, he had the final say, and now, what did Li Hao mean by questioning