A Quiet Respite in the Medical Bay

"But I really am tired." Xu Lingqu looked up at the door sign. They'd already brought her to the medical bay.

Since she was here anyway, and it was relatively quiet with actual beds to sleep on, Xu Lingqu pushed the door open and slipped into the partitioned sickbed with practiced ease, flopping down without hesitation.

Before long, she drifted into sleep.

It had been a long time since Xu Lingqu had dreamed of those apocalyptic troubles. In the dream, she saw familiar streets again and felt a moment of disorientation.

She was back in the day before her transmigration, called to the North District of Lake Arden to handle a case of a Law Enforcer committing a violent crime.

A Law Enforcer named Youke had opened fire on ordinary humans in the street. The shackle ring on his body transmitted the information to the Central Tower.

Shackle rings were a recent invention by the upper echelons to supervise Law Enforcers. Once ordinary humans nearby used a specific device to input a Law Enforcer's number, the Central Tower would receive the signal and dispatch another Law Enforcer to handle it—if true, the offender would be punished; if false, the reporting human would be dealt with.

This was something they'd only started implementing after Xu Lingqu had dismantled that evolved-human organization that recruited Law Enforcers.

The body of the person Youke had shot lay on the ground. None of the surrounding humans dared to make a sound or run, because Youke had said whoever ran would be killed first.

They knelt on the ground, clutching what little they had in Lake Arden—some saved or freshly rationed food and supplies.

Youke looked at them with mockery, not like they were his own kind, but like lambs waiting to be slaughtered.

When he looked up and saw Xu Lingqu arriving, he dropped his flippant demeanor.

"Commander."

Xu Lingqu glanced at the corpse on the ground—an ordinary human, a middle-aged woman.

"Reason for the shooting," she said.

"Who among you leaked the intel? You dared to report me to Central Tower?" Youke didn't dare respond directly to Xu Lingqu. Instead, he kicked a nearby child.

The child's father let out a mournful wail, then said to Xu Lingqu, "Law Enforcer Youke wanted this man's supplies. The man refused, saying his daughter was still at home waiting for food to survive, and then..."

Before shackle rings existed in Lake Arden, the only things restraining Law Enforcers were mutual supervision among peers, or the title of Law Enforcer itself—relying entirely on duty and conscience.

Situations like this were common. Some Law Enforcers believed that because they killed Mutant Beasts to secure survival space for ordinary humans, it was their right to act as they pleased.

So when an infected human was killed, the victim's family's outburst wasn't just from the unbearable loss of a loved one—it was also the accumulated grievance against tyrannical Law Enforcers.

"Is that so?" Xu Lingqu lifted her head and stared at Youke.

Youke felt his scalp prickle under her gaze. This Law Enforcer Xu from Huaxia was the highest-ranking enforcer in Lake Arden. She showed no mercy—whether to Mutant Beasts, infected humans, or wayward Law Enforcers.

"I had no choice. She provoked me, Commander. I'd just come back from a Mutant Beast elimination mission. I was in a state of stress..."

Xu Lingqu raised her hand and fired. A bullet pierced Youke's skull. The look in his eyes before he died was sheer disbelief.

His last Mutant Beast mission had ended with zero kills. He probably thought Xu Lingqu wouldn't remember, and had tried to invent a justification.

Law Enforcer Youke was dead, but the ordinary humans still didn't dare move. They shifted their positions, changing their posture from offering supplies to facing Xu Lingqu.

Xu Lingqu glanced at them, had the Central Tower send someone else to deal with the body, and walked away from the scene. There was no shackle ring on her foot.

"Still unwilling to wear it?" On the rooftop at dusk, a female Law Enforcer named Chen Shiran sat on the ground with a cigarette between her lips, looking at Xu Lingqu beside her.

"No," Xu Lingqu said with a frown.

Nearly every Law Enforcer in Lake Arden wore a shackle ring—except Xu Lingqu.

Chen Shiran let out a cold laugh and blew out a puff of smoke. "You, and killing Youke like that—those idiots are going to have another excuse to drag you into the interrogation room for questioning. In this rotten world, a Law Enforcer's life is worth more than an ordinary person's. They just wanted a light punishment for Youke, but you killed him outright. They'll definitely use the shackle ring thing against you."

"A life for a life. That's fair. Let them question me if they want." Xu Lingqu looked down, watching the sunset's golden glow warm everything.

"...Was it worth it?" Chen Shiran fell silent for a moment, then stubbed out her cigarette. She felt a pang of regret—cigarettes were too scarce in this era—but she remembered Xu Lingqu hated the smell of smoke, so she put it out anyway.

She stood up and walked over to Xu Lingqu. "No one here appreciates you. No one likes you. The Law Enforcers think you're cold-blooded, the human higher-ups fear you. You protect ordinary humans, and all they feel for you is fear and hatred. If I had your abilities, I would've ditched this broken base long ago. Was it worth it, Lingqu?"

To Lake Arden, Xu Lingqu was like a blade with no sheath and no hilt—powerful enough, but with no one to restrain or control her.

And to such a person, all anyone felt was fear.

Xu Lingqu suddenly spoke, "If the misery contest were still going on, what you just said could probably take top three."

Chen Shiran: ...

Alright, she knew Xu Lingqu would react like that.

"Don't worry. My life isn't that miserable." Xu Lingqu smiled.

Chen Shiran, annoyed, lit another cigarette and deliberately blew smoke in Xu Lingqu's face.

"As for worth it or not... I don't know." Xu Lingqu said softly, her voice so faint that it seemed to be burned to pieces by the dying sunlight, falling onto the streets of Lake Arden.

...

She startled awake from the hospital bed. She'd been asleep from afternoon until now, and outside, the sky had darkened.

Xu Lingqu had thought she'd only doze off briefly and wake up from the sound of people coming and going. But maybe because of the dream, she'd never woken up.

She got up and pushed open the partition door, coming face-to-face with Li Haisha and Ou Liefu.

Both of them had grim expressions, and the medical bay door was locked from the inside, clearly to keep anyone else out—they must have known she was lying in the partition.

But they were still at the league venue. Students should have left on their own by now. They weren't locking the door to keep out students—they were locking it to keep out Sky Network staff?

"Lingqu, come with us first," Li Haisha said seriously.

Xu Lingqu was confused but still got into Li Haisha's flying vehicle.

They took her all the way back to the Moye Military Academy medical bay, and only when they reached what they considered a safer place did Li Haisha and Ou Liefu let out a breath.

Xu Lingqu glanced at them a couple of times and took the initiative to speak. "What's wrong? Is there a problem with the Sky Network staff?"

Ou Liefu was startled. "How... how did you know?"

"Simple deduction." Xu Lingqu lowered her eyes. "From your reactions, they must be targeting me."

Li Haisha nodded. "Your guess is correct."

She still looked visibly angry. "To put it simply: the Imperial physicians and Sky Network had a collaboration—the Xilai Concentrate you're familiar with. Sky Network provides a custom one for each student from each academy at the venue. Normally it's not used, but in emergencies, the medics would prioritize it. In yours, they replaced it with a mix of the prototype Xilai Concentrate and Blue Crow fruit powder. That stuff is highly addictive."

She was so furious that her body trembled. Someone had actually tried to use that thing to destroy Xu Lingqu.