Chapter 148
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Chapter 148: Holy Shield, a Useful Knife
For El, whose life was turned upside down, six in the evening felt like six in the morning for most people.
He followed his usual routine, washed up, and had an unappetizing "breakfast." Then, as usual, he returned to his small room, took out a communicator, and glanced at it.
His habitual glance suddenly froze as he noticed the flickering green glowing dots, indicating new messages from outside.
El locked his door and opened the communicator, where he indeed found a message from Zhuang Mian.
After reading the message twice, he permanently deleted the information, then reflected on its content.
Avoid actions in the inner city?
“Master Hand” has been captured?
The new Holy Shield plans to investigate "Heart Snatcher"?
He is tracking down the whereabouts of the "follower"?
He had actually found a clue… he just didn’t know if it was a lucky coincidence.
According to Zhuang Mian, that Holy Shield should be investigating his information right now, right?
Thinking about how all the related case files on Heart Snatcher were written by Zhuang Mian herself made El feel a wave of relief.
This feeling mainly stemmed from two aspects:
First, both of them belonged to the same organization. After confirming this, Zhuang Mian had temporarily sealed the cases related to Heart Snatcher before transferring positions. Now, apart from the subordinates led by Holy Shield, no one cared about this wanted criminal.
As for the criminals in Hope City, they seemed to sprout up from the ground, almost endless.
The once prominent Wanted Notice for Heart Snatcher had long since been buried under layers of old papers on the bulletin board.
The second reason was that El and Zhuang Mian had an agreement for mutual cooperation. When Zhuang Mian needed intelligence and forceful support from the outer city, she could receive El’s help. Likewise, she would give him necessary warnings, just like today.
The most important point was that after both parties confirmed their identities, Zhuang Mian did not change the profile of Heart Snatcher in the records. Instead, she consciously fused it with the "Beef Leg Killer," attributing the collective destruction of the Brotherhood study group to Heart Snatcher.
Thus, at this moment, El appeared to Holy Shield as a—
A tall, strong, silent carnivore with a penchant for heart-to-heart chats.
He was almost the exact opposite of El!
After pondering for a while, El suddenly combined his seemingly dangerous situation with his new thoughts.
One person, no, two people fighting crime in the lower city was still a bit beyond their capabilities.
Though the Ash operations could temporarily bring peace to a certain area, this stability was not permanent.
Once the news faded away and the Ash left, everything would gradually return to normal, just like the never-ending wild grass.
El didn’t want to expand the members of Ash for now. Therefore, he needed better means to make his actions more efficient.
And now, Holy Shield’s investigation seemed like a good choice.
El defined official personnel as organizations that can legally use violence.
So, when the authorities were investigating criminals, if they encountered other illegal activities, would they take action against those crimes?
The answer was yes.
In other words…
In the dimly lit room, El slowly began to smile.
This was not Holy Shield; it was clearly a double-edged sword.
The only concern was to avoid cutting himself.
Thinking of this, El tidied up his things and opened the door, where he found Li Rui waiting respectfully at the entrance.
“Hey, Daoge, have you been waiting long?”
He greeted warmly, but to Li Rui, it sounded like a wild beast roaring.
Since El had reached the Second Level, the presence of Dimensional Shift made it impossible for Li Rui to harm El directly.
Apart from sneak attacks while El was asleep, he couldn’t think of any effective means to attack.
After the encounter with the Infected, his boss seemed to have absorbed some kind of energy, rapidly and strangely becoming stronger.
El’s control over Dimensional Shift was not yet proficient.
He did not have the understanding of his powers like Lin Qingliu, and without the enhancement from the Blood and Flesh pathway, Dimensional Shift did not appear invincible in El’s hands.
He had to be careful about getting stuck in the ground, walls, or doors and always monitor his oxygen supply when shifting into solid objects.
It could be said that this ability had a high ceiling, but using it felt like dancing on the edge of a knife…
Seeing Li Rui’s expression grow more solemn, El smiled and pulled out a tattered piece of paper from behind him, handing it over.
Li Rui took the yellowed Wanted Notice and trembled as he read the description of the wanted criminal aloud:
“Heart… Heart Snatcher?”
“……”
Sometimes, El really wanted to report his semi-literate teammate…
After briefly correcting Li Rui’s pronunciation, Li Rui asked,
“Boss, is this you? Your bounty is a whopping 150,000 information coins, that’s impressive.”
He didn’t really know if it was impressive; his long-standing experience as a sycophant had taught him how to flatter.
“It’s me, but I have a good idea.”
“Please share, Boss.”
“From now on, this is you.
“You are Heart Snatcher, and Heart Snatcher is Li Rui.
“Don’t panic; this isn’t your first time being a decoy. You’ll get used to it.”
Seeing that Li Rui still looked hesitant, El, despite being a head and a half shorter than him, hugged Li Rui’s shoulder.
“You won’t refuse me, right?”
Li Rui’s mind raced at high speed.
The outcome of refusing was simple: death.
With his current state, even if he died, he could hardly hurt El.
If he agreed, although it wasn’t his first time playing this role, it seemed that this situation was not so simple.
One meant dying now, while the other meant dying later…
After some brief contemplation, new thoughts flooded into Li Rui’s mind, and his remarkable adaptability began to take effect—
He started to PUA himself!
In an instant, as if to justify his future actions, Li Rui recalled many details from the past.
Including, but not limited to, El cleaning up messes, allowing him to raid the casino vault.
Using unexplained superpowers to help him fend off enemy sneak attacks during fierce battles.
Granting him leave to recover when he was seriously injured, and…
When the Infected swept through the streets of the city, leading him to carve a path through the chaos.
The funding for Ash was also managed by him; El never checked the accounts, although given his level of education, he wouldn’t even know what a ledger was…
His boss, he’s actually quite nice…
Having convinced himself, Li Rui’s face broke into a familiar smile:
“It’s an honor to be a decoy for the boss!”
