Chapter 314: The Three Parties Join Forces! A Shocking Speculation

Chapter 314: Chapter 174: The Three Parties Join Forces! A Shocking Speculation

In a massive office at National Security headquarters, located in the Capital City.

Personnel from three important units were gathered here.

National Security, Public Security, and the Special Fifth Bureau!

The last time the three of them had gotten together was… about ten days ago.

Back then, it was for the Human Skin Thangka case.

The case had infuriated the higher-ups. They had slammed their fists on the table, spittle flying as they furiously demanded the case be investigated and solved.

It was in this very office that they had discussed the case and formulated a plan.

And now, in the short span of ten days…

Personnel from the three units had gathered together once more.

Sun Qiang from National Security, Zhao Wei from Public Security, and Wang Tao from the Special Fifth Bureau—the three of them each held a copy of the same file.

“Life Collection and Cutting?”

“Tsk. How are these bastards not all dead yet!?”

Zhao Wei of the Public Security Bureau wore an exceptionally grim expression. As he stared at the file from Zhang Liang, the darkness in his eyes was so thick it was almost tangible.

He had been a frontline officer twenty years ago.

Back then, he had personally arrested these kinds of criminals and rescued their victims with his own hands.

He had also witnessed, with his own eyes, some of the victims he rescued later take their own lives…

It had left a deep impression on the then-young Zhao Wei, a memory that often haunted him late at night.

“It’s not that same bunch of animals. Though criminals like that still exist, this is…”

Sun Qiang took a drag from his cigarette, letting the smoke swirl for a moment before exhaling.

“Worse than them.”

The other two men fell silent.

“What about your side? What were the orders from above?”

They looked at Wang Tao, who remained silent for a moment.

“Just one word.”

“What word!?” Sun Qiang and Zhao Wei asked, their curiosity piqued.

Their agencies operated differently. Unlike the Special Fifth Bureau, which could receive direct and precise commands, they had to wait for official orders or for information to be released after meetings were concluded.

The Special Fifth Bureau, however, was different. They reported directly to a single individual, with few procedures or rules to slow them down. Everything was for the sake of efficiency.

Wang Tao paused, glanced at the other two, and slowly uttered a single word.

“Kill!”

“Kill?”

“Kill!”

Wang Tao said with conviction.

The Special Fifth Bureau wasn’t known for its subtlety. They solved cases by applying overwhelming force, just pouring in resources until the problem was solved.

But given the agency’s special nature, its members were certainly no incompetent fools.

They had two defining characteristics.

One, if a target so much as showed their tail, the Special Fifth Bureau would latch on and never let go, so long as they were in the country.

Two, their sheer force!

They possessed the law enforcement powers of Public Security and the authority of National Security. They could even, as a matter of procedure, request the deployment of armed police to support a particular case.

As for their targets…

Let’s put it this way: if you committed a crime and Public Security arrested you, you might be able to withstand interrogation and keep some things to yourself.

If you were caught by National Security, you’d get two shots of Truth Serum before you could even say a word.

But, if you were caught by the Special Fifth Bureau…

No, that’s wrong. You wouldn’t be ‘caught’.

Kill on sight is the priority!

They were far more violent. They handled the killing, but not the burial. Once a target was neutralized, they’d dump the case on the police. Their only goal was to solve the problem, not to deal with the problem’s aftermath.

“Tsk, you guys have nothing in your heads but killing.”

Sun Qiang remarked with a sigh.

National Security didn’t usually kill people, because their main responsibility was dealing with spies, and spies were only useful in two states.

One, while they were still undercover, being monitored by National Security without their knowledge.

Two, when they were captured alive and the information in their heads was needed.

So they almost always captured them alive, or not at all.

But this case…

“However,” Sun Qiang added in a cold voice, “they really do need to be killed!”

“The order I received from the higher-ups is to investigate this matter thoroughly and get to the bottom of it, at any cost!”

Zhao Wei spoke up, bluntly stating the order from his superiors.

His eyes were dead serious, and his face was hard as stone.

The Capital City was taking this matter very seriously.

Why?

For no other reason than that it involved children, and Life Collection and Cutting!

The government cracked down hard on this kind of crime. The resources, manpower, and materials invested every year to combat it were an astronomical figure.

Especially when it came to children.

The importance of protecting them was spelled out in black and white!

“My directive is that foreign powers are suspected to be involved. We must conduct a thorough investigation and root out everyone connected.”

Wang Qiang spoke slowly.

The implications for National Security were self-evident.

They understood perfectly well why foreign agents would be specifically targeting Eastern Country People.

There were two possibilities.

One, experiments. Genetic experiments to create a weapon specifically targeting certain genes—a terrifying concept.

Two…

Brainwashing!

An effective spy would never show up inside the Eastern Country with a Western face.

If not, then how would they be chosen…? It didn’t take much imagination to figure it out.

“From the looks of it, the reason the higher-ups have gathered us all here is…”

Wang Tao trailed off, silent for a moment.

None of the three units showed any sign of taking a soft approach to this. Realizing this, he took a deep breath and said:

“A three-way joint investigation!?”

“Then let’s investigate.”

“We’ll establish a special task force, jointly formed by our three units. The Special Fifth Bureau, National Security, and the police will each assign personnel to it.”

Wang Tao began to lay out a more detailed plan.

“Who will lead the task force?”

Sun Qiang suddenly asked.

The other two men paused, taken aback for a second. “Zhang Liang.” “Sun Yu.” “Zhao Qiao from National Security.”

Three men, three different answers. After a moment of thought…

“Xu Huo.”

Zhao Wei and Wang Tao said in unison.

Xu Huo was their consultant, holding positions with both the police and the Special Fifth Bureau. He couldn’t be a more perfect fit.

However…

Sun Qiang’s eye twitched.

“Let’s vote on it.”

“Xu Huo.” “Xu Huo.”

Two voices rang out.

Sun Qiang said helplessly, “Don’t you two forget, he’s not an official. He’s not part of the system.”