Use first and repay later: Advance the future cultivation fruits

Chapter 36: 36, Dark Star Association

“Whoosh! Whoosh!”

Seemingly aware that his comrade had been shot, or alerted by the sound of gunfire, two arrows flew over from above the Ferris wheel, piercing through layers of railings and heading straight for Lin Qing.

“Hmph.”

Lin Qing casually waved his electric baton, deflecting the two arrows aside, and continued to race towards the assassin who had just been shot.

With his agility and balance, he didn’t even need to use his hands to move freely on the Ferris wheel.

With his hands free, one holding a gun and the other wielding an electric baton, even with limited space to dodge, he didn’t worry about getting hit by an arrow!

...

Shortly after, Lin Qing crossed multiple layers of spokes and railings, locating the hiding assassin behind a few bars and wheel spokes.

The assassin wore an invisibility color-changing suit that almost blended into the environment. If one didn’t look closely, it would be nearly impossible to spot in the night!

Including the assassin’s compound bow, which seemed coated with a similar functional optic paint, allowing for effective concealment in the darkness.

However, the assassin’s left arm had already been almost severed by the previous gunshot, with only half a sleeve still barely attached, not completely severed.

Forget about drawing the bow, if it weren’t for the suction cup climbing gear hanging by a rope, the assassin might have fallen already.

At this moment, the assassin was staring at him intently, a red light flickering in his right eye’s pupil.

“A mechanical eye?”

Lin Qing instantly understood why the assassin could shoot arrows accurately in the dark without night-vision goggles!

Such mechanical eyes likely had night vision and far-sight capabilities.

Suddenly—

The assassin staring at him began to bleed black blood from the corner of his mouth, his head tilted, and he became motionless.

Lin Qing also heard the assassin’s breathing quickly weaken.

Clearly, his life was rapidly slipping away.

“Suicide by poison?”

Lin Qing frowned, not bothering to check further, and continued to search for the other assassins along the Ferris wheel’s spokes and railings.

His intuition, or perhaps subconscious, kept hinting at him, enabling him to sense the locations of the two other assassins as if divinely assisted.

“Bang!”

Merely ten seconds later, Lin Qing found another assassin. Before the assassin could shoot another arrow, Lin Qing shot him in the chest, killing him instantly.

The attire, gear, and compound bow of this assassin were almost identical to the previous one.

Even… they both had the same mechanical eye!

“Another mechanical eye?”

Lin Qing was somewhat surprised.

This common trait couldn’t just be co-incidence that both individuals happened to lose an eye and both replaced it with mechanical ones?

“Let’s see about the third one…”

…

Nearly two hundred meters away from the Ferris wheel stood an observation tower, almost a hundred meters tall.

At this moment, a tall and straight figure stood on the bungee platform protruding from the highest point of the observation deck.@@novelbin@@

It was a man in a black windbreaker and a duckbill cap, with goggles equipped with night vision and far-sight capability on his face.

In his hands, he held a compound bow as tall as a person, adjusting the pulley system on the bow while gazing at the distant Ferris wheel.

“That’s terrifying…”

The bow-wielding man internally exclaimed, “Lin Qing has only appeared for a short while, and yet he already possesses such strength. Three hunters personally trained by me… couldn’t threaten him. Perhaps he has Captain Level strength?”

“However, this guy is a bit weird; how can he so precisely locate three hidden assassins?”

“It’s a shame I didn’t dare bring a cell phone, otherwise I could ask Yuanhong Society…”

“It’s ridiculous, I don’t know which fool Yuanhong Society found as a mole in the Inspection Bureau, thinking Lin Qing was no threat. This absurd intelligence led to the loss of three Dark Star Association’s hunters…”

“Fortunately, I came too, so I can make some amends…”

While his thoughts were in flux, the bow-wielding man had already nocked an arrow, slowly pulling back the bowstring. The pulleys on the bow began to spin, providing increased drawing strength and stability.

He was originally here as task supervision, to confirm the results of these three assassins from the organization, but he did not anticipate their failure?

As a supervisor, once the mission’s failure was detected, he was allowed to intervene and attempt a remedy.

“However, Lin Qing is too sensitive; at this distance, even the ‘Death Hunter’ cannot kill him…”

“Never mind, the main target requested by Yuanhong Society is Teng Feiyu anyway. This angle is just right to shoot right through her. What a pity for such a pretty female Patrol…”

At this moment, the bow-wielding man’s entire skin began to exhibit a rock-like texture and color, as if he had transformed into a heavy stone sculpture, while his arms were slowly drawing the ‘Death Hunter’, a bow with drawing strength far beyond an ordinary person’s arm strength, to nearly full draw!

Then, his fingertips gently released the bowstring.

In an instant, the pitch-black arrow became a terrifying phantom, piercing the sound barrier at a frightening speed!

In this second, the arrow became the symbol of death itself, the pursuer!

…

Below the Ferris wheel platform.

Zhao Jiayi bowed her head, using a bandage she carried with her to dress Teng Feiyu’s wound, trying to stop the bleeding.

Thankfully, the official Patrol uniform was equipped with these portable tools, else she would have had to cut strips of cloth from Teng Feiyu’s body.

“How’s the team leader?” Teng Feiyu asked weakly.

“Just sit tight,” Zhao Jiayi glanced at him and muttered, “Don’t worry, even if you died ten times, the team leader wouldn’t get hurt…”

Teng Feiyu couldn’t help but wonder why his female colleague’s temperament seemed different from usual, yet he couldn’t hold back his concern, “How can you be so sure? The team leader didn’t bring any tools, and with it being so dark, it’s not easy to find people on the Ferris wheel, right?”

“Just never mind that, anyway…”

Zhao Jiayi was muttering impatiently but suddenly fell silent.

She furrowed her brows tightly, as if she was trying to suppress a headache, pressing the area between her eyebrows with her fingertips.

“What’s wrong?” Teng Feiyu asked, slightly startled.

“It’s nothing…”

Zhao Jiayi’s fingertips remained at the center of her forehead, and under the concealment of her fingers, her brow began to move slowly.

“Whoosh!”

A piercing sound of something cutting through the air suddenly came from the sky.

“Huh?” Teng Feiyu’s expression changed abruptly.

This was clearly the sound of an arrow slicing through the air, and it was even more startling than the ones he’d heard before, obviously moving much faster than the previous arrows!

Could there be another hidden assassin?

However—

Teng Feiyu nervously scanned the area for a while but didn’t find any other signs of movement, nor did he hear the sound of an arrow hitting anything.

It seemed like it was just a sound.

At that moment, he noticed Zhao Jiayi had lowered her hand from her forehead.

“How are you? You look pale, and why are you bleeding from the nose?”

“It’s nothing.”

…

“Bang!”

The sound of a gunshot echoed high above the Ferris wheel.

Lin Qing put away his sidearm, frowning as he looked at the third assassin nearby, who was now lifeless.

The assassin was powerless in death, with only his mechanical eyeball still flashing red light.

“Indeed…”

Lin Qing finally confirmed, “All three of them had the same mechanical eyeballs, and with such complete professional equipment, it seems they were trained by some organization as professional killers…”

He suspected—

Perhaps Teng Feiyu had alarmed the Yuanhong Society, and combined with his status as the son of the city’s Public Security Bureau chief, the society felt threatened, hence they dispatched someone to silence him.

But judging by the state of these three assassins, he didn’t believe this type of killer could be cultivated by the Yuanhong Society.

After all, it’s an underground force that dominates the city, not potent enough to have such capabilities.

Also—

Lin Qing glanced at the “Current Order Level.”

The Order Level had only recovered to 1.2, with no further increase.

If these three were associated with dangerous elements in his social circle, dealing with them should have resulted in an additional increase in the Order Level.

This indicated that the assassins were not locals, at least not connected to his circle of life, and they wouldn’t cause trouble otherwise, so it was only during their assassination attempt that the Order Level decreased.

They had to be professional killers from outside.

Maybe… the Yuanhong Society hired these three?

…

A few minutes later.

The Inspection Bureau and the police had both arrived at the abandoned amusement park and began to cordon off the area thoroughly.

The severely injured and weakened Teng Feiyu was also immediately sent to the hospital for treatment.

As for the bodies of the three assassins, the police and the Inspection Bureau cooperated to bring them down and confirmed their identities after a thorough on-site check.

The group from the Inspection Bureau was the well-connected Team 2, with Captain Han arriving with his team members first.

“Mechanical eyeballs, Dark Star tattoos, poison for suicide, and this equipment…” Captain Han stood beside Lin Qing, looking at the three bodies laid on the ground, and said with a slight frown, “No doubt about it, these three were probably assassins from the Dark Star Association, skilled with bows and arrows, likely ‘Hunters.'”

“The Dark Star Association?”

Lin Qing was hearing about this for the first time and immediately asked, “Are there any warrants out for these three?”

“No.”

Captain Han shook his head, “Hunters are trained internally by the Dark Star Association; each one is unregistered with no traceable identity, so it’s only the hired killers associated with the Dark Star Association that might be on the wanted list.”

“Alright,” Lin Qing sighed with a hint of disappointment.

“You really want merit that bad?”

Captain Han glanced at him and said, “Don’t worry, there are regulations from both the Inspection Bureau and the police, as long as you can deal with a killer from the Dark Star Association, it’s considered a merit.”

“Oh? How much merit?” Lin Qing’s eyes lit up.