Chapter 167
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Chapter 167: Big News
For most people, renovations are a tiring and stressful task.
The clanging sounds are often unbearable and can even lead to mental disarray.
If the renovation involves a secret that cannot be revealed to outsiders, it becomes even more torturous.
At this moment, Lin Qingliu was enduring such torment.
He never imagined his strongest ability would be used in such a setting—
Right now, Lin Qingliu was wearing goggles and using his [Natural] ability, [Ground Shatter], on the chunks of soil hidden in the darkness before him.
This catastrophic power, usually activated on a large scale, was now being employed in a small area to extend the range of a secret passage.
Thanks to the member of the first superhero team codenamed "Fortress," the entire inner city had become exceptionally solid.
With such a rare location, plus the prime geographical spot of Number 102 on Fourth Commercial Street, Lin Qingliu finally began constructing the secret base that every secret organization inevitably possesses.
As the main character, does he need to build this base himself?
Not at all.
When choosing this location as his new base, Lin Qingliu had another unspoken reason—this place was not far from the research institutes.
The valuable land he had set his sights on was the site of a former battlefield within the institute—
the underground laboratory used by the Department of Life Technology under Zhao Kai for experiments.
How could such a great place go to waste?
Although he had personally destroyed that tunnel after the incident, for someone who had mastered Dimensional Shift, finding this route was clearly not a problem.
Lin Qingliu had scouted the area several times and discovered that the institute and the authorities merely cleaned up the site and took away the items that could serve as evidence before leaving the basement idle.
The current staffing at the institute was still insufficient to occupy that area fully.
Many of the surveillance cameras there were neglected, and researchers and patrol personnel would usually avoid such uncomfortable places.
At this moment, Lin Qingliu needed a peaceful environment that was conducive to his research.
This would determine his important actions in the future.
With the continuous interplay of his spatial and natural abilities, Lin Qingliu pushed forward in the dim underground.
Eventually, he touched a layer of familiar ceramic tiles, behind which lay the remnants of the underground laboratory.
He amplified his five senses and listened quietly for a moment, confirming that the area was empty.
He passed through the thin layer of tiles and began to utilize the well-equipped laboratory for his own use.
After several events, Lin Qingliu developed some unavoidable suspicions about the high-ranking officials of Hope City.
It felt as if a translucent veil was covering him, obscuring the true nature of this world and this city…
—
With Shi Jin joining the superhero team, all of Lin Qingliu’s followers fell into a state of dormancy.
Everything seemed to return to its original track; extraordinary beasts continued to invade in rotation, while Hope City opened a new production line to prepare thoroughly for the soon-to-be-restarted Exploration Plan.
Soon, it was the end of September. In this month, Hope City had not experienced any dramatic changes; if anything, two significant events occurred in mid-month that could be considered real news:
On September 15, year 52 of the New Era, the Heart Snatcher struck again in the inner city, causing a large number of pharmaceuticals, which had been recorded as destroyed, to go missing.
Captain Wang Yang of the inner city security bureau vehemently condemned this illegal act in a broadcast, vowing to lead the dedicated peace officers to apprehend the lawless criminals.
Meanwhile, in the shadows, Luke and his team had already caught the trail of the Heart Snatcher.
Following the last case, Luke had devised a simple yet effective plan to track the Heart Snatcher.
It must be said that while the Special Task Force members seemed somewhat amateurish in catching thieves, they displayed remarkable efficiency in investigating their own kind.
Soon, a list of suspects was presented to Luke. The individuals on this list shared some common traits:
Their positions were not very high and could be easily filled by others, and each had unresolved issues that had been uncovered.
Acting on Luke’s orders, the team quickly initiated targeted surveillance, and sure enough, a week later, the Heart Snatcher launched another attack.
Unfortunately, due to Luke’s inability to cover every angle, he arrived at the scene only to find that the Heart Snatcher had already fled.
However, Luke also made a significant discovery—he found evidence that the Heart Snatcher was not a single individual.
A few hidden team members, lacking the strength to intervene, watched quietly as a batch of drugs was taken away and disappeared into an alley.
Although they were unsure how a massive hundred-kilogram load was taken away so easily and vanished, they were certain about one thing.
The ones carrying the box were two individuals, one tall and one short.
The Heart Snatcher was indeed an organization!
Excited by this revelation, Luke’s intuition told him that this group of criminals was likely related to the believers’ organization and was probably just another name for them.
But at the same time, Luke felt the weight of responsibility on his shoulders.
Last time it was firearms, this time it was pharmaceuticals…
If the Heart Snatcher was not apprehended soon, what would be next? He hardly dared to think!
With this, Luke resolved in his heart to ensure that he would capture the Heart Snatchers next time.
Working late into the night on the Heart Snatcher case, Luke barely had time to rest because another important event was about to unfold.
Early the morning after the Heart Snatcher’s attack, a commotion erupted at the North Gate of the outer city.
With the screeching noise of metal gears grinding, the northern gate of Hope City slowly opened.
Since humanity decided to tighten their defenses and focus on managing the city walls, this gate had remained closed for twenty years.
The long absence of its opening had caused many to forget that Hope City actually had a door leading to the outside world.
On this day, as the gate reopened, it symbolized humanity, having regained strength, once again challenging the world.
In reality, only five individuals were responsible for the exploration. They could have chosen the electric lift on the wall to go outside, but to demonstrate strength and boost public confidence, the council ultimately opted for the more attention-grabbing method of opening the gate.
Embarrassed? They had already faced that twenty years ago.
And with so much time passed, aside from a few old-timers glued to their seats, the representatives had all changed.
It was time to showcase the power of the new generation!
