27, Level A, Level AA

The room was quiet, with two guests both dressed in light yellow bathrobes, lying motionless on the couch, positioned so that their backs faced the door, seemingly dozing off.

Just as Lin Qing and Zhao Jiayi entered the room—

"Bro!"

With a loud shout, the two guests lying on the couch simultaneously flipped over and leapt up from the couch!

One grabbed the ashtray from the table and fiercely smashed it toward them, while the other picked up a teacup that was still half filled with tea and threw it with all their might!

"Hmph."

In that instant, time seemed to slow down.

The digital clock on the wall seemed to freeze at 23:14:27.

Lin Qing, expressionless, watched the slowly flying ashtray and the teacup with tea droplets flinging through the air, and glanced at Zhao Jiayi beside him.

She seemed not to have reacted yet, her expression unchanged, just staring dumbfounded.

From the guests getting up and throwing the items to the flying teacup and ashtray, it took no more than a fraction of a second; for ordinary people, it was too quick to react, and getting hit and killed would have been quite normal.

But Lin Qing, who was prepared, immediately activated his Combat Skill, and the actions of the two seemed far too slow.

"Whoosh!"

Lin Qing's hand moved like a phantom, and with astonishing Speed, he grabbed a bathrobe hanging on a nearby rack, then swept it toward the incoming ashtray and teacup— the thick bathrobe wrapping around the rapidly flying objects.

At the same time, his other hand grasped the gun at his waist.

As he swung the bathrobe with the ashtray and teacup to one side, his vision cleared to reveal the two guests who had suddenly jumped toward them.

Both were of a slim build, and their faces bore some resemblance to each other.

The one closest unleashed a murderous air, his crew-cut revealing shiny bald scars, and as he forcefully leaped from the couch, he launched a ferocious flying knee strike toward Lin Qing!

The other, a bit farther, charged toward Zhao Jiayi.

Their movements were incredibly fast and aggressive, and their battle-hardened aura clearly indicated they were no ordinary people!

Time flowed slowly.

The electronic clock on the wall was still stuck at 23:14:27.

In that moment, Lin Qing had fully grasped the situation, his hand gripping the handle of his gun and pulling it out.

The long, silver barrel of the revolver M500 aimed directly at the man flying at him with a knee strike.

Then, he pulled the trigger!

"Bang!!"

Amid the deafening sound of the gunshot, a flash of fire burst from the muzzle, and the bullet, carrying massive kinetic energy, burst through the air and instantly struck the man's knee!

"Splat!"

Blood splattered.

The bullet, twice as powerful as a Desert Eagle, blew a horrifying hole through the man's knee.

The now harmless man kept moving due to momentum, but Lin Qing acted quickly follow it up with a kick, sending him flying back even faster.

Even in terms of Strength, he was many times stronger than an ordinary person!

All of this happened in just a few tenths of a second.

Meanwhile, the other man had already reached Zhao Jiayi and was about to strike.

Lin Qing had no time for a second shot but kept up with the motion, about to slap when suddenly he heard a crackling sound and pulled back his arm.

Unknown when, Zhao Jiayi had already prepared a stun gun, and in a reflex response as if startled, she closed her eyes and pushed the stun gun forward.

It hit the man right in front of her.

The man apparently didn't expect this and couldn't dodge in time; accompanied by blue sparks, he was directly knocked down by the stun gun in Zhao Jiayi's hand.

"Ah!"

Zhao Jiayi screamed and poked the man on the ground twice more with the stun gun until he fell unconscious, then she stopped.

Lin Qing also pulled out a stun gun, swiftly crossed the couch, and shocked the man who had been shot for a few seconds to prevent any further struggle.

[Order Level increased by 0.2 Level]

[Order Level increased by 0.2 Level]

Green prompts appeared before his eyes; with these two as no longer threats, the Order Level had returned to 0.8.

Lin Qing then put away his stun gun and returned his gun to its holster.

The gun was powerful, and although it had strong recoil, after activating his Combat Skill, using it with one hand was more than sufficient.

"These two..."

Lin Qing looked at the two men lying on the ground, a trace of killing intent forming in his mind.

These two had attacked without a word, clearly problematic, and given their ferocity, they were almost certainly escapees.

The last escapee's brain had been fried by his stun gun, turned into a vegetable on the spot, eliminating a dangerous element from the environment and immediately reflecting in an additional 0.2 Level increase in the Order Level.

But these two hadn't completely lost their capacity for harm and hadn't been captured yet, so the Order Level hadn't shown any change brought by environmental stability.

However...

It was just a fleeting thought for Lin Qing, and he refrained from acting.

Even though the suspect had lost the ability to resist, the Patrol Department could not just kill him.

Moreover, there was no need to kill him; handing these two men over to the police would still mean removing dangerous elements, and feedback on the Order Level would be rapidly received.

Furthermore...

Digging deeper might stabilize the community even more and possibly increase the Order Level significantly.

His class had risen, and his community had expanded. Once these two were apprehended, might the Order Level break through Level 1?

Thinking about this, Lin Qing abandoned the idea of killing them.

He turned his gaze to Zhao Jiayi, looking at her somewhat curiously, and said, "You actually managed to react and use the electric baton just now?"

Zhao Jiayi appeared stunned for a moment before whispering softly, "Team leader, it was my first mission, and I was a bit nervous, so I kept holding the electric baton."

"Is that so?"

Lin Qing examined her again, his words tinged with deep meaning. "Then you're quite lucky."

He always felt that something was off about Zhao Jiayi.

The movements of the two lying on the ground were clearly abnormal, on par with Jiang Chengwu, the fugitive he had previously encountered.

They must have reached the First Limit of the human body, having explosive strength and exceptionally brutal moves.

It was one thing for him to easily overpower them with his capabilities, but Zhao Jiayi's reactions were so slow—how could she have stunned one with the electric baton just in time?

It seemed a bit far-fetched.

However, although it was coincidental, it indeed could happen.

If it was just coincidence, then it could only be chalked up to her sheer good luck.

And while he had some doubts, for some reason his subconscious felt that she was telling the truth and that he should probably trust her.

His intuition told him that it was probably luck...

Lin Qing slightly shook his head and said, "We need to identify these two men; these two are definitely suspicious."

Those reluctant to be verified by the Patrol usually had something to hide.

"Do you mean me? Alright then..."

Zhao Jiayi picked up her phone timidly and began to perform facial and fingerprint recognition on the two unconscious men.

At this moment, Team Leader Han and others had followed the sound of the gunfire to the scene.

"What happened?"

Team Leader Han rushed over first.

"It's nothing." Lin Qing glanced at the two men on the ground and said, "These two attacked us. They refused to be checked; they definitely have issues."

This time Qin Qin arrived too, and Team Leader Han immediately said to her, "Help check them as well."

...

It was not surprising that both men were wearing synthetic fingerprint sleeves; their real fingerprints had been erased, their facial features didn't match, and their irises clearly had undergone artificial iris implants.

Just like the fugitive Jiang Chengwu that Lin Qing had first caught.

DNA recognition was the only option left, which would take about twenty minutes to yield results.

"Still wearing fingerprint sleeves? With these characteristics, over 90% are likely fugitives, and from the calluses and scars on these men's bodies, they're obviously involved in Black Boxing."

Team Leader Han deduced this.

"How coincidental? How come all the fugitives from Lin'an City have been involved in Black Boxing?"

Lin Qing was surprised, not only by the encounter but also by the newcomer Zhao Jiayi's luck.

It was even more outrageous than his own.

On his first mission, he had only caught one fugitive, and that was in a territory known for problems owned by the Blue Scarf Gang.

This newcomer, randomly checking a bathhouse—a place everyone else treated like a game—had also managed to find two fugitives?

If it was coincidence, that was extremely good luck.

Even though subconsciously he felt what Zhao Jiayi said was right, deserving trust, it was just a feeling after all; rationally, he still thought it was a bit too coincidental.

However, Lin Qing didn't mind; bringing him more Merit was what mattered.

After all, the Order Level hadn't changed.

"Team Leader Lin, confirmed!"

Finally, after comparing databases, Qin Qin confirmed the identities of the two men.

Lin Qing walked over and looked, his face revealing a touch of joy.

"Liao Xinjie, Liao Xinying?"

These two were biological brothers, both of whom had escaped from a national Level 1 security prison, Phoenix City Prison, in May 2118.

Both had blood on their hands, involved in several major criminal cases.

"Years ago, these maximum-security prisons holding vicious criminals seemed to have been attacked by some unknown forces…"

While Lin Qing puzzled over this point, seeing the police wanted levels and reward money for these two men made him even more delighted.

Big brother Liao Xinjie had a Class A warrant, with reward money of one hundred twenty thousand.

The younger brother Liao Xinying, had a Class AA warrant, with the reward as high as four hundred thousand!