Biochemical Martial Arts: Supreme Heavenly Venerate

About 14 minutes later, Zhou Yunfei arrived at the gates of the Tianyang Elderly Care Center in an armored explosion-proof vehicle.

From above, a large number of armed police forces could be seen gathering, encircling the care center.

These were the armed police forces summoned by Zhou Yunfei, who took the situation very seriously and immediately deployed two heavy-armored regiments from nearby stations after hearing the news.

Currently, only a portion had arrived; the rest of the troops were still en route.

However, these armed police forces were stopped outside the care center's gates by the personnel from the Security Bureau.

"Breach it!"

Zhou Yunfei's eyes were cold as he ordered his driver and head of security.

The armored explosion-proof vehicle then braved the many fire control radars shining up from below and broke into the airspace above the care center.

Zhou Yunfei didn't wait for the vehicle to stop before jumping out and rushing towards the underground tunnel.

Along the way, two 6A tactical squads from the sub-branch 'Special Duty Center' attempted to block him, but they were intimidated by Zhou Yunfei's overwhelming martial intent and the imposing presence of the seventh-level battle dragon following close behind him.

"Step aside! Are you trying to start a rebellion?"

Zhou Yunfei, unable to contain his anger, enveloped in immense gang force, rammed straight into the tunnel's entrance.

In the end, the members of the Special Service Bureau's 6A tactical squads dared not engage Zhou Yunfei and had to make way, allowing the Ninth Division's Chief and his armed entourage to burst into the underground passageway.

When Zhou Yunfei made his way through the lengthy, spacious tunnel and reached the underground warehouse, he saw two groups of people in a standoff, separated by a distance.

One side was led by Zhang Long from the Third Special Operations Department, consisting of 80 people. Despite Zhang Long being the only 6SS-class expert, they had nine 'Jianlong' Mark 6 combat robots and three Mark 7s.

Zhang Long had brought all the military forces of the Third Special Operations Department to this place, and they had secured some defensive weapons inside the warehouse, such as the 40 'Gatling Bodhisattva' guns, and established positions in advantageous locations beforehand.

The opposing group was composed of personnel from the 'Special Duty Center' and the 'Anti-Terrorism Department,' which were the two most powerful departments within the Ninth Division, with a portion being from the Security Bureau's 'Smuggling Suppression Department.'

They had a stronger force, consisting of over 200 people, including four sixth-level experts, but they were far inferior in terms of battle robots.

Aside from some melee combatants armed with swords, the rest were aiming their firearms, creating a tension-filled atmosphere.

"What are you doing?" Zhou Yunfei shouted angrily, "All of you, put down your weapons!"

It was at this moment that another figure darted down the tunnel and arrived at the scene.

He was an elderly man with a high nose bridge, wearing the uniform of a Security Bureau admiral, his hair gray with age.

His face, nearly seventy years old, was marked with many deep wrinkles, and his demeanor exuded an aura of calm authority, his eyes sharp and penetrating, as if seeing through the essence of the world.

Upon entering, the old man furrowed his brows then regained his composure, "Lower your weapons."
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When Zhou Yunfei had scolded them earlier, the people from the 'Special Duty Center' and 'Anti-Terrorism Department' remained unmoved. However, as soon as the old man with white hair spoke, they all promptly put away their firearms.

Zhou Yunfei's expression darkened as he turned to glance at the elderly man behind him, "Vice Minister You is quite imposing. What are you trying to do, prepare for a rebellion? Isn't my direct order taken seriously anymore?"

The man in question, named You Ming, was the First Vice Minister of the Security Bureau's Ninth Division and was currently Zhou Yunfei's greatest rival within the bureau.

"Rebellion? Minister, that's quite a heavy accusation."

You Ming chuckled bitterly, "The brothers below just don't understand. This really isn't following procedure. Investigation and suppression of smuggling fall under the jurisdiction of the Smuggling Suppression Department, and the massacre here should be dealt with by the Special Duty Center and the Major Crimes Division. Yet the Intelligence Department insists on taking over their jobs, which really is indefensible."

Looking around, he observed the vast quantity of goods in the cave complex, "It seems this case is a big one. Minister, you should understand the brothers' feelings. The Smuggling Suppression Department members place great importance on this case; it's about their capabilities, and they would not yield no matter what."

You Ming was actually in quite a bad mood; he hadn't anticipated that just as he was gearing up to deal a fatal blow to Zhou Yunfei, such an emergency would occur.

The issue was that the Blood Lizard Gang from the Sixth Street had reported too late, and the Third Special Operations Department had responded too fast, bringing their complete arsenal directly to the scene.

The situation was also not favorable. Although they had the advantage in combat strength within the warehouse, Zhou Yunfei had the assistance of the armed police forces.

In the past, the East Asian Republic almost monopolized all the satellites of Tianji Star with unpleasant greed. Although they were forced by international pressure to convert the Ninth Base City into a jointly-managed city and were unable to fight against Tianji Star's powerful Martial Cultivators on their own, they retained a trump card in the treaty signed with the federal government. This nominally police force answered directly to the East Asian Republic, naturally acting as Zhou Yunfei's reinforcement.

Therefore, even if they resorted to military force, they had no chance of winning and should not engage in combat.

"They have the nerve to say they're taking this seriously?" scoffed Zhou Yunfei, "So serious that a smuggling ring of this scale has emerged right under their noses? Moreover, the smuggling channels here may be involved with the 'Star Naval Forces' and the 'Base Defense Army.'"

"I've already decided that this case will be handled by the Third Special Operations Department of the Intelligence Section. Your unwillingness to yield is irrelevant, as is your lack of understanding."

He referred to the 'Base Defense Army,' which was under the direct command of the Ninth Base City, belonging to the militia system and responsible for the external defense of the base.

The 'Star Naval Forces' were under the jurisdiction of the Earth Federation, similar to the navy of the previous Earth era, equipped with a large number of warships and marine troops.

You Ming still appeared composed and unmoved, "This is just your personal opinion, Minister. For the sake of harmony within the division, I think we still need to convene a ministerial meeting to discuss this collectively."

Just at this moment, Zhang Long, who was some distance away, suddenly shouted out loudly, "Minister Zhou, we have found the database left by the smuggling ring and have cracked the password. According to the data, this base and the smuggling route have been maintained for one year, and their smuggling transactions with the notorious pirate syndicate have also continued for three years!"

Upon hearing this, You Ming's expression drastically changed, his eyes becoming dark and fierce, but Zhou Yunfei's lips curved up slightly, "Does this mean that the smuggling route has existed for one year, and the Security Bureau has been completely unaware of this?

Vice Minister You, I now strongly suspect whether several vice ministers of the Security Bureau are aware of this matter? Has the ninth city's military police system also colluded with this smuggling gang? Or even, are they in cahoots with the notorious pirate syndicate?"

He paused, "Vice Minister You, if you insist on calling a ministerial meeting to decide on how to handle this case, then I will also report the situation here to the First Warlord and the National Security Committee to let them decide how this case should be dealt with."

You Ming's brows furrowed deeply, and he glanced coldly at Zhang Long in the distance, then, with a cold snort, turned around and walked towards the exit of the tunnel.

The personnel from the 'Special Service Centre', 'Anti-Terrorism Department', and 'Anti-Smuggling Department' had already received his orders in their respective work groups and, with reluctant expressions, followed You Ming as they withdrew.

Seeing this, Zhou Yunfei's lips curled up slightly, his face flushed with triumphant enthusiasm as he flew over to Zhang Long and reached out to pat his shoulder, "Well done, old Zhang!"

It wasn't just this incident; over the past month, Zhang Long had uncovered quite a few leads related to Xue Bogao's case.

At the moment, several people from the third bureau under their ninth division had been forced to take leave, undergoing investigation, and two senior colonels from the Eastern District Police had been arrested.

Zhang Long hadn't found direct evidence of their involvement in the Xue Bogao case, but he dealt with them one by one on various charges of corruption, bribery, malfeasance, and the like.

—This was exactly what Zhou Yunfei wanted to see.

Zhang Long didn't give him a warm reception, turning aside to dodge Zhou Yunfei's hand, "I think you'd better hurry to the smuggling route and take a look. There's indeed a major issue with the base defense force and the interstellar navy. The end of that route is a hidden dock that can accommodate three destroyers."

The question was, how did these destroyer-class smuggling ships manage to slip through the double defense nets of the base defense force and the interstellar navy and enter Satellite 9?

"There's such a large dock?" Zhou Yunfei said with a serious expression upon hearing this.

He was dispatched to the ninth division precisely because the East Asian Republic felt something was amiss here.

Yet, Zhou Yunfei had not anticipated that the situation would be so dire.

No wonder the strength of the notorious pirate syndicate had grown so rapidly of late. It was said that these scoundrels were even preparing to build their own high-speed cruisers, indicating their plentiful supplies and financial resources.

Zhou Yunfei quickly collected his thoughts and again, with a smile, gave Xue Lingxue a thumbs up, "Xiaoxue, you've done well too. We owe a lot to your intelligence analysis this time; otherwise, we probably wouldn't have been able to snatch up this case."

Xue Lingxue, upon hearing his words, smiled broadly and heartily, "I was just lucky, and it was thanks to Minister your high regard that all of our combat robots were dispatched here."

She felt quite embarrassed and tried hard to hide her guilty conscience.

But Zhang Long knitted his brows by her side, a glint of something different flashing in his eyes.

It was Xue Lingxue who had notified him and Zhou Yunfei the moment she received the alarm.

Xue Lingxue's reason for notifying them was that she had been closely tracking various clues related to the notorious pirate syndicate, especially the major sources of the syndicate's everyday necessities.

She had noticed, through the flow of goods in the underground market, the 'Tianyang Elderly Care Center' controlled by the Six Streets Gang.

Judging by the traffic and power usage of the center's vehicles and the substantial psychotropic drugs they had recently purchased, this place was clearly a covert distribution center for supplies and was likely a smuggling den connected to the notorious pirate syndicate.

After their arrival, it was also Xue Lingxue who alerted him to the medium-sized database that hadn't been connected to the network.

Zhang Long knew that since Xue Lingxue had been transferred to Ninth Base, she had indeed been closely monitoring the notorious pirate syndicate, so the reasons she provided barely held water.

However, he soon realized after examining the scene that this place was related to the series of murders committed by the Blood Lizard Gang and that it was highly likely to be the doing of their direct superior, Lin Rui.

Zhang Long was an experienced detective; even though he had no concrete evidence, he could identify Lin Rui as a suspect just by indirect clues such as Lin Rui living in the same complex as Xue Bogao, the conflict of Lin Xi with the Blood Lizard Gang, and the battle traces in the Xue family's basement.

If he were leading the investigation of this series of murders, he would definitely focus on Lin Rui as the main direction for inquiry.

But the present issue was that the position for which Lin Twelve was about to be appointed was very important to the entire Earth Federation, and Zhang Long truly had no evidence.

That guy's crimes were getting more skilled and experienced, leaving no legally effective evidence behind.

Zhang Long felt conflicted, thinking he could only wait and see for now. If Lin Rui left behind any blatant evidence, he would bring him to justice!

At that moment, Zhou Yunfei's expression slightly shifted as he looked at a message that appeared on his retinal display.

His pupils dilated slightly, barely able to contain the excitement within him, his face flushed with emotion.

He had received reliable news from a friend at the First Division's Intelligence Analysis Department.

The Great Song Imperial Court's debates regarding the next Commandant of the Assassination Department had been settled; the next Commandant would be Lin Twelve, who was currently serving as the Wang City Defense Commander!

Zhou Yunfei thought that today was truly a double celebration!