The Thug.

Someone without ability would likely not know this name.

But those who did know it were wary, even fearful, of the moniker.

Because no one knew when this guy would go crazy and decide to rob the rich to help the poor.

Judging from the examples of the Tiefeng Group and Old Master Xu Zhenchang, the Thug's actions seemed to have no rhyme or reason.

But from the subsequent destruction of several underworld and gray-area forces, the Thug's actions seemed to follow some kind of pattern of punishing evil and promoting good.

Jiang Zhihen directly saying the name showed that she had clearly understood something about him before coming.

Most of the members present at the association remained silent, their expressions calm.

Some secretly admired Zheng Kai. After all, daring to confront a desperate criminal head-on while possessing billions of assets was in itself admirable.

"It's him!" Zheng Kai's voice was firm. "According to the materials we've collected, the Thug has caused twelve major and minor malicious cases in and around Suiyang City, including deaths and injuries to innocent civilians. If such actions don't count as terrorism, then who does!?"

His gaze burned as he stared intently at Jiang Zhihen.

"So the case of the Tiefeng Group's alleged rape and murder of a female student doesn't count as terrorism?" An old silver-haired woman sitting opposite Zheng Kai suddenly sneered.

She was Wang Kaizhi, the matriarch of the Wang family, a local prominent clan in Suiyang. At ninety-seven years old, gene drugs and organ replacement surgeries had kept her energetic and healthy, despite her advanced age.

The Wang family had previously had significant commercial friction with the Tiefeng Group. Now, seeing Zheng Kai's innocent victim facade, the Wang family matriarch finally couldn't stand it anymore.

"Old Madam Wang, my son is dead. We respect the dead, and he has already paid the price for his actions. What more do you want from him?!" Zheng Kai said coldly.

"If death could solve everything and absolve all subsequent responsibilities, then the price of making mistakes would be too simple," Wang Kaizhi retorted coldly.

"Alright, you two." Jiang Zhihen interrupted, "Regarding the Thug, based on his specific actions, he does fall under the category of a terrorist. I will arrange for the Jiuyi security forces to enter Suiyang afterward."

"Wait."

Suddenly, Ding Zaocheng, the deputy director of the Security Department, spoke up.

"Specialist Jiang may not know the full story. The Thug's name actually originated from Elysium.

The reason is that he had a violent conflict with the terrorists in Elysium, killing and injuring many of them.

Moreover, based on my investigation of the previous cases, the Thug was only truly involved in the Tiefeng Group and the Xu Zhongsheng case of the Xu family. I can't confirm whether he was involved in the other cases.

Another point is that the Thug himself should be a Dead End person (sijiaoren), which we have confirmed through other channels. Therefore, according to psychological profiling, we have analyzed that this person's essence is full of justice, easily impulsive, but still able to be persuaded back to the middle ground."

"Director Ding can be responsible for his words?" Jiang Zhihen asked in a deep voice.

"I can," Ding Zaocheng nodded. "The root cause is that during the time I went to the provincial capital, although the Thug was still active in Suiyang, he didn't harm any innocent people. This shows that his essence is still inclined towards the positive. We shouldn't indiscriminately force a potentially helpful figure to the opposite side."

Dead End person (sijiaoren)?

As soon as this term came out, everyone present frowned.

There were no restrictions on the promotion of Dead Ends, but many people had not personally experienced it and did not believe it.

But the people present were all well-informed and naturally knew of the existence of Dead Ends.

"Can you contact this Thug?" Jiang Zhihen pondered for a moment and asked.

"We can try to find a way. Dead End people have their own little circle," Ding Zaocheng nodded.

"Try to contact him first to determine his attitude. Modified humans must be registered. But for Dead End people..." Jiang Zhihen frowned. "The value isn't very high."

A good hand who could be swallowed by the Dead End at any time was too unstable.

Even if he surrendered, if you gave him a task and he was swallowed by the Dead End in the middle of it, you wouldn't even know if the task was completed and you would have to send someone else to investigate.

This was also the key reason why Dead End people were not valued.

If it weren't for the fact that some people in the middle and high levels were occasionally pulled into the Dead End, the country's attitude towards this group might be much more negative.

"This matter is temporarily shelved, pending the results after contact. Let's discuss the next topic." Jiang Zhihen moved on from the topic and stopped continuing.

"Specialist Jiang!" Zheng Kai still wanted to speak.

"Sit down." Jiang Zhihen's eyes turned cold as he stared at him, unmoving. "This is the association! Not a special session for you to use for personal revenge!"

Zheng Kai's expression froze, his face quickly turning red and congested.

He gritted his teeth and stopped speaking, sitting down directly.

Looking at Old Master Xu Zhenchang on the side, he suddenly realized that the other party had probably received the news long ago.

Only him.

He knew nothing!

*

*

*

A few days after the big news was broadcast, Li Cheng Yi thought that the entire Yi Nation would undergo huge changes.

But to his surprise, everything quickly returned to calm.

The assassination of the crown prince was indeed a major event, but for ordinary civilians, life went on as usual, with nothing different.

The only change was the constant stream of news on mobile phones about the military's preparations in various directions, and the opinions of representative media in other countries.

December 5th.

Li Cheng Yi had just oiled Iselin when the Forever Botanical Garden welcomed an unexpected guest.

"Li Cheng Yi, the Security Department needs to register your newly established Destiny Garden team, is that alright?"

The visitor wore a black, fitted leather windbreaker, with a dark red long knife on his back, and was strongly built.

He was a square-faced man who gave people a strong sense of deterrence at first glance.

He was about thirty to forty years old.

He was followed by two security department officers who wore black uniforms that were slightly different from those of ordinary officers.

"Of course," Li Cheng Yi said with a smile.

After receiving the employee's notification, he came out from inside as soon as possible.

And in the botanical garden's dedicated lounge, he received three distinguished guests from the Security Department.

"I am Ding Zaocheng, the current deputy director of the Suiyang Security Department. Originally, other investigators should have come to inquire about the registration.

But considering that the Dead End people (sijiaoren) you established seem to include a Dead End person (sijiaoren) named the Thug, I came here myself," Ding Zaocheng said in a deep voice.

"So it's Director Ding," Li Cheng Yi said quickly, showing a somewhat restrained posture.

"That's right, you should be talking about Xiao Hao in our team, right? He clashed head-on with the people from Elysium before, and was given the nickname Thug."

"So, the person who had a conflict with the Tiefeng Group was also him?" Ding Zaocheng asked again.

His hawk-like eyes stared intently at Li Cheng Yi, waiting for his answer.

"We don't know about that. We Dead End people (sijiaoren) are struggling to survive every day, so how can we care about other people's backgrounds? As long as we can help each other and share information, everything else is not important," Li Cheng Yi replied.

"Can you contact him?" Ding Zaocheng asked.

"I can leave a message, but we don't know when he will reply. After all, we don't have any close relationship, we just gather together to share Dead End information," Li Cheng Yi replied helplessly.

"Leaving a message is fine, you tell him that Jiuyi has zero tolerance for terrorism now. It doesn't matter what he did before, but from now on, from today onwards, there will be no disturbances allowed in the city. This is the rule," Ding Zaocheng said seriously.

"I fought the Thug before, and he was quite strong. But Jiuyi is different. They are all equipped with military-grade flying instruments, plus advanced enhancement injections, and military-grade exoskeletons. The strength of a mechatronicist and a modifier largely depends not on the operator, but on the equipment they are equipped with.

So he should understand. This time is different."

"Okay, I will definitely pass it on," Li Cheng Yi nodded seriously.

But soon, he showed a hint of curiosity.

"Director Ding, I am also a neophyte mechatronicist and I know a little about this. Can I ask you a few questions?"

"Go ahead," Ding Zaocheng's purpose for coming here had been achieved, so his tone was not so tense. His attitude was also much gentler.

"That is, what aspects determine the strength of a mechatronicist? How can I improve my strength?" Li Cheng Yi had had the flying instrument for some time, but he was still stuck on basic applications.

Now that he had money in hand, he was itching to do something again.

"It mainly depends on the equipment," Ding Zaocheng replied, "The mechatronicist himself, his mental strength determines how big the flying instrument he can operate, how far he can fly, how long he can last, and how flexible he can be."

"But these are just operating skills. In a real battle, the operating skills are about the same. What really determines life and death is who can focus fire on the opponent faster and destroy their protective force field.

So it depends on how powerful the weapon module is."

"Weapon module...can it be replaced myself?" Li Cheng Yi asked.

"Yes, provided you can bear it," Ding Zaocheng said with a smile. "Modern warfare is all about beyond-visual-range combat, which means that city street battles require our mechatronicists to use flying instruments for close combat. In fact, on the battlefield, the real use of flying instruments is long-range sniping."

He held out a finger.

"For example, flying instrument beyond-visual-range combat. You say you can rely on your little operating distance to precisely control it from that far away? It's impossible."

"Then what do you rely on?" Li Cheng Yi was really curious. Ding Ning hadn't told him any of this.

"You rely on a comprehensive team, the power of logistics. Electronic warfare helps you resist interference, auxiliary drones provide you with satellite terrain scanning, and signal amplification towers greatly enhance your operating signal. Generally, the difference is a ratio of one to one thousand. That is to say, if you can control the flying instrument at a distance of one meter, then after amplification, you can reach one thousand meters."

"Amazing!!" Li Cheng Yi was really stunned this time.

Free curve sniping from a thousand meters away was truly awesome.

"That's not all. On the battlefield, flying instrument masters generally have a dedicated paired railgun, which first launches your flying instrument at ten times the speed of sound, and then, after reaching the destination, you can precisely control it from a long distance. Sometimes, true masters can snipe more than ten important targets from a long distance through logistics support alone." Ding Zaocheng hadn't had anyone to talk to about this kind of thing for a long time, and now, as he spoke, he was also slightly emotional.

"This kind of surgical strike tactical team is our Yi Nation's true trump card. If you can deepen this direction of mechatronics in the future, you can get in touch with more."

(End of this chapter)