In the early morning, Shi Jin was disappointed to find that Lian Jun’s progress bar had only dropped to 490, a far cry from the 400 he had hoped for. But he quickly pulled himself together and started tidying up—it’s okay, any decrease means improvement! Take it slow, take it slow; Lian Jun’s recovery is destined to be gradual and meticulous, so there’s no need to rush.

The next day’s meeting was relatively light, focusing on discussing and analyzing the current situation of all illegal violent organizations in the country. Shi Jin once again entered the conference room with a large stack of documents, and after sitting down, immersed himself in flipping through them.

The leaders of each organization silently shifted their gaze, glancing at him and then at the documents in his hands, feeling an itch of curiosity in their hearts.

What exactly are the contents of the information that Fei Yujing discovered? They were so curious that, if possible, they even wanted to find a way to sneak a peek at it.

The only one who had the opportunity to sneak a look, Lu Shan, noticed everyone’s situation and recalled her conversation with Shi Jin yesterday. Her lips twitched, and she couldn’t help but roll her eyes in her mind—these foolish organization leaders didn’t even realize they were being played by Shi Jin. The documents Shi Jin had were indeed information, but not the kind they thought. Instead, they were basic introductory materials about the major organizations and their leaders. Shi Jin was using this opportunity to get to know and familiarize himself with the basic situation of the various organizations.

Shi Jin was only doing something that all novices would do, and he even did it worse than most beginners. Only at the last moment did he remember to familiarize himself with the enemy’s situation. Yet those senior figures were all anxious and speculating in various ways just because Shi Jin said something vague to Fei Yujing…

I can’t think about it anymore; just thinking about it makes me want to laugh.

Lu Shan covered the lower half of her face, making a disgusted expression toward Shi Jin, and turned her head to look away.

The meeting started on time. Zhang Zhuoyuan began by listing the major illegal violent organizations active in the country over the past year, detailing their profiles and crimes one by one. He then started urging the leaders of the legitimate organizations present to come forward and take on missions to help the authorities eliminate these malignant organizations.

Among the leaders of the organization below, some responded, some played dumb, some tried to fish in troubled waters to gain benefits, and others wanted to push their enemies into the fray to get rid of them. Everyone had their own schemes. Shi Jin observed everyone’s reactions out of the corner of his eye, then covered the documents in his hand, leaned back in his chair, and began to play on his phone.

Zhang Zhuoyuan: “……” You might as well sleep!

Seeing this, Meng Qing, who was sitting opposite him, couldn’t help but speak up, saying, “Deputy Leader Shi, suppressing and eradicating illegal violent organizations is also one of our responsibilities. Isn’t it inappropriate for you to act this way?”

Shi Jin continued with what he was doing, glanced up at him, and said, “It is indeed not very appropriate. But to be completely honest, I’ve only just recently become the Deputy Leader of Annihilation, and Lian Jun hasn’t had the chance to explain to me in detail about Annihilation’s stance on dealing with illegal organizations. So to avoid making mistakes by saying too much, I can only handle things this way for now. But don’t worry, Lian Jun will contact Director Zhang separately about this matter later. Annihilation has never forgotten its responsibilities.”

‘Contact separately.’

Everyone latched onto that wording, deep in thought.

Meng Qing nodded and said, “I see. It seems that Deputy Leader Shi is only responsible for certain aspects of Annihilation’s affairs.”

“Yes, after all, I’m still a student and have to go to school, so I don’t have much time to help Lian Jun with work-related matters,” Shi Jin responded casually, frowning as he muttered, “Actually, I skipped class to come to this year’s meeting and didn’t even submit a report. Lian Jun might not let me come again next year.”

What? Student? Skipping class?

The organization leaders were all a bit stunned—”student” and “skipping class,” two everyday terms that represent the normal world. How long had it been since they had heard them? Ten years? Twenty years?

No, no, that’s not the main point. The point is, if Shi Jin is still a student, doesn’t that mean if they find out which school he attends, they could track his whereabouts for at least half a year? This is a great opportunity! A deputy leader with a fixed schedule is much easier to investigate and deal with than one with unpredictable movements!

Meng Qing didn’t expect Shi Jin to reveal his personal information so easily. He took a glance at him up and down and tentatively continued to probe, “Given Deputy Leader Shi’s age, you should be in college, right? I’ve heard that Deputy Leader Shi grew up in Country M. From what I know, schools in Country M…”

Shi Jin quickly waved his hand and said, “No, no, I went to school domestically, and I’m enrolled in the police—”

“Ahem, ahem, ahem!” Zhang Zhuoyuan suddenly started coughing loudly, making the documents in his hands rustle noisily. He said loudly, “Everyone, be quiet and focus on the meeting. No idle chatter during the session.”

Shi Jin stopped fiddling with his phone, as if realizing he had said too much. He frowned, glanced at Meng Qing, then shifted his body slightly and went back to playing on his phone.

Meng Qing glanced at Zhang Zhuoyuan, who was clearly trying to stop Shi Jin from speaking, and thought about the last word “police” that Shi Jin had mentioned. He then turned his head to look at Qi Yun.

Qi Yun understood and made a gesture indicating a phone call.

The morning meeting ended smoothly. After lunch, Meng Qing and Qi Yun had a phone call.

“Was it really ‘police’?”

{I also heard ‘police,’ not ‘jing’ as in economics, nor ‘jin’ as in finance—just ‘police.’}

“Could it be ‘jing’ as in landscape?”

{If it were ‘landscape,’ Zhang Zhuoyuan wouldn’t have reacted that way.}

The two fell silent, then spoke in unison: {“This Shi Jin issue is too problematic/a big problem.”}

The two were stunned for a moment, followed by a few seconds of silence. Then Meng Qing spoke first and asked, {Do you have any thoughts on this?}

Qi Yun replied, “Based on the information we currently have, Shi Jin’s background includes: the young master of Ruixing, the younger brother of Commander Xiang, and either an employer or relative of Fei Yujing. He holds too many valuable assets and can bring too many benefits to Lian Jun. From our standpoint, his presence is quite troublesome.”

Meng Qing said, {We need to first determine what type of school Shi Jin is attending. At this critical moment, it’s not suitable for Annihilation to deepen its relationship with the authorities any further.}

Qi Yun pondered and asked, “Old Meng, do you think Shi Jin might have deliberately revealed this information to make our focus solely on him, thereby diverting our attention from Lian Jun? Could there be other hidden reasons behind Lian Jun not attending the conference this year?”

{For example?}

“For example, what if Lian Jun didn’t choose to not attend the conference but actually couldn’t come? Lian Jun’s health has always been poor, and his illness might be genuine and possibly severe. Shi Jin might be a smokescreen deliberately used by Lian Jun to cover up his own situation.”

Meng Qing frowned and said, {I’ve considered this possibility too, but whether it’s a smokescreen or not, the information Shi Jin has revealed is definitely real. Given Shi Jin’s background, even if Lian Jun were to really face an issue, Annihilation’s strength wouldn’t weaken in the short term. If Shi Jin is indeed someone within the system, then without Lian Jun, Annihilation might even gain genuine acceptance from the authorities and become stronger. From this perspective, Lian Jun not having any issues is actually more advantageous for us than if something did happen.}

Qi Yun fell silent, furrowing his brows in thought.

{Zhang Zhuoyuan’s attitude towards Shi Jin is also very suspicious—he’s being overly protective. Right now, I’m more concerned about one possibility.}

“What possibility?”

{Suppose Shi Jin is an official planted by the authorities beside Lian Jun with the purpose of infiltrating and dismantling Annihilation from within. The authorities might have already succeeded in their infiltration and are now testing the waters to replace Annihilation with a new regime…}

{Heroes find it hard to resist the allure of a beautiful “woman” and Lian Jun is still young.} Meng Qing pondered for a few seconds and said, {It’s pointless to speculate further. Let’s wait and see how things develop. I’ll contact Lu Shan and see if she can extract any more information from Shi Jin.}

Qi Yun acknowledged and hung up the phone. He looked out the window towards the direction of the official ships, frowning in deep thought.