That same day.

A Patrol Department vehicle was parked beneath a concrete building.

Lu Chao, having received a notice for temporary duty, rushed to the scene. He stood outside the yellow police tape, gazing at the utter mess within the alley.

There were several pools of blood and bullet streaks scarring the walls.

Several corpses with civilian-grade cybernetic implants lay scattered on the ground. It was clearly the scene of another gang shootout.

Members of a cleanup crew arrived to take care of the bodies, their heads bowed as they worked. Among them were several youths who looked to be around his age.

It was as if he saw his past self in them, and a flurry of images flashed through Lu Chao’s mind.

The next moment.

"Captain, here."

Footsteps approached. Chen Xiao, who was on duty with him, handed him a bottle of soda and called out with a smile.

His tone was half-serious, half-joking. Lu Chao accepted the soda and shook his head helplessly.

"Just call me by my name when we’re off the clock."

Even though he had been promoted to captain, the two were already close, so he didn’t care much for formalities.

Hearing this, Chen Xiao chuckled, happy to oblige.

After all, he was a veteran member of the team, and calling his friend ’Captain’ in private felt a bit awkward.

The two chatted for a bit, enjoying a rare moment of peace by the patrol vehicle.

During their chat, Chen Xiao seemed to recall the morning’s events. He smiled and said, "That uncle-in-law of mine, he just talks like that. He loves to keep people in suspense, always speaking in riddles."

"Don’t mind him."

He had overheard their conversation at the time and had been just as startled by it.

Lu Chao just shook his head slightly, not really minding.

On the contrary.

What Yu Yong had said at the end had piqued his curiosity.

’A special mission?’

Chen Xiao mulled it over for a moment, as if something had occurred to him.

He glanced around before lowering his voice. "I’m not too sure, but while you were on leave these past few days, I did hear a rumor."

"Oh?"

"Apparently, they’ve made a breakthrough in Miss Su’s case. The reason Qiu Shan and his group were able to kidnap her was because Ring Academy let their guard down."

Chen Xiao recalled, "So, the higher-ups made a decision. It seems they want to select a few squads from our department to be responsible for Miss Su’s security during some of her trips."

"After all, you and Captain Yang did save her. As for the specifics... I can’t say for sure."

He shrugged, uncertain.

Lu Chao fell into thought upon hearing this.

Soon after, they were busy again, heading to other districts to help different squads handle riots and protesting crowds.

He didn’t get home until evening.

Lu Chao looked at the new, palm-sized, blue-covered ID in his hand.

He opened it and saw the Patrol Department rank: Squad Captain.

A flicker of emotion appeared in his eyes before he suppressed it. He smiled faintly, feeling as if he had finally, truly adjusted.

’Captain, huh...’

...

...

「Half a month later.」

Jinshi Boxing Hall.

The number of people on the concrete training ground had quietly dwindled by another quarter. The dull thuds of flipping tires were far less frequent than before, and the figures doing frog leaps and running laps looked sparse compared to usual.

And in a corner.

SWISH! SWISH!

Two steel nails shot through the air. Several meters away, a large wooden board blocked their path.

Just as they were about to hit, Lu Chao threw two more nails. Like bullets, they spun at high speed, catching up to and striking the first two despite being thrown later.

CLINK! CLINK!

With a crisp sound, the second pair of nails ricocheted, changing direction to curve around the large wooden board.

They traced a semi-circle before banking again to strike the thick, green tree behind the board.

THWAK! THWAK!

The steel nails sank into the tree trunk, disappearing almost completely within it.

Seeing this, Lu Chao nodded to himself and glanced at the other steel nails in his hand.

They were nearly a finger long, the threading had been reinforced, and they were made from a better metal alloy.

Thanks to the enhancement from [Flow State], he had long since broken through to the 2nd Floor of the Needle Throwing Skill: the Rain Transformation Realm.

His nail attacks were now more flexible, capable of striking from all sorts of tricky angles.

To maximize their power and make them a threat to enemies at the peak of the professional-grade, or even stronger opponents, he had someone custom-design a more destructive type of nail.

’This gives me a few more tricks up my sleeve.’

Nodding to himself, Lu Chao then looked at his panel.

[Life Energy: 60→63]

Over half a month had passed, and his Life Energy had increased by a full three points—a bit faster than before.

And the corresponding cost?

Four servings of mid-grade Nutritional Potions from the Patrol Department, plus two sponsored portions from Instructor Luo and Brother Hao, had all been used up.

’Bone-Strengthening and Qi-Replenishing Ointment, mid-grade Nutritional Potions, Cyan Jade Crystals... I’ve tried pretty much every mid-grade potion on the market.’

’My resistance to their effects is definitely building up.’

Shaking his head helplessly, Lu Chao knew he was being too greedy.

Compared to others, his [Plunder Growth] ability already gave him a huge advantage in this area. Otherwise, some rich kids with better resources wouldn’t still be stuck at lower stages of Life Energy development.

’But...’

His gaze shifted down to the Potential Progress bar.

[Potential Progress: 6%]

His eyelid twitched. He already knew that accumulating energy for a mid-grade potential was exponentially harder and that the required quality of Biological Energy more than doubled.

But he hadn’t expected the requirement to be *this* high.

He wasn’t discouraged by this, however.

He knew that the higher the requirement, the more exceptionally powerful the mid-grade talent or specialty would be, which was why it needed so much energy to awaken.

’Perhaps I’ll need Senior-Level Nutritional Potions or elementary-grade resources to speed this up.’

A glint in his eye, Lu Chao understood the key.

The problem was, resources of that tier were no longer sold on the open market and were extremely difficult to obtain.

Whether it was direct acquisition channels or Superpower Knowledge—like potion formulas, mineral element extraction methods, and theories on fusing the properties of Spirit Plants—everything was monopolized by mega-corporations like the Biotechnology Company or controlled by key government departments within the Alliance Country, and rarely made available to the public.