Looking at the deformed solid brass paperweight, Chen Hai sighed and rubbed his forehead in distress.
Arahato's actions this time were truly excessive. Despite the grand display they had put on before, they were actually just trying to save face.
They hadn't interfered with Arahato's heroic act of stopping a crime in progress. They had only popped up after the fact to invite Arahato to the police station for a cup of tea.
This "tea" was literal tea, just that the invitation was more of a summons.
If Arahato had really been caught by them, Chen Hai would have genuinely offered him a cup of tea, followed by some simple legal education. He probably wouldn't even have asked him to take off his armor.
The two sides had always had such a "harmonious" atmosphere. Why now...
The change was so drastic that Chen Hai couldn't help but suspect that the person under the Arahato armor had been replaced, or that the person under the armor had suddenly gone mad, or perhaps been driven mad by something...
In any case, the situation was completely different now. After a moment of headache, Chen Hai sighed again and waved his hand at the accompanying officers, signaling them to take Wang Defa away.
From beginning to end, Chen Hai hadn't given Wang Defa a single kind look.
Don't think they really didn't know what these guys had done.
Perhaps those young, hot-blooded grassroots police officers didn't know about these people, but the veterans like them knew everything. In fact, as long as a search warrant was issued, these guys could be securely arrested that very night.
Especially their so-called backup plans; they were laughable to an old police superintendent like him.
"You've enjoyed what you shouldn't have, and you think you can get away scot-free? There's no such good thing in this world!" Chen Hai sneered inwardly.
Every penny of these people's wealth was tainted with original sin, pus and blood sucked from the body of society.
The reason the authorities had held back was not because they were powerless to punish them, but because they were performing a more delicate "surgery"—cultivating alternative industries, ensuring a smooth transition, and making sure the lives of ordinary people were not affected.
The final step would be a thunderous blow, turning these pests into the dust of history, not the trigger for social unrest.
But with one blow, Arahato had smashed the operating table!
Those other industries of the same type weren't even in place yet! You've had your fun playing the hero, but the government, which was preparing for a slow transition to avoid the slightest discomfort for the public, was left completely stunned.
He had already reported the situation here. On the other end of the phone, his superior was so angry that he coughed for a long time, and finally, almost roaring, gave the order:
"File a case! We must file a case! If he continues like this, where will the face of our Sapphire City police go? Do we still want economic stability in Sapphire City?!"
After roaring, the leader hung up the phone in a hurry, obviously to coordinate resources to deal with the possible small local market collapse that Wang Defa's downfall might trigger.
Thinking of his usually dignified leader now having to humble himself, begging and pleading everywhere to mobilize resources and stabilize the fluctuations, a hint of schadenfreude even crossed Chen Hai's mind.
He knew the resources could definitely be secured, but the process would be enough to give the leader a hard time.
However, schadenfreude was one thing; Chen Hai knew the seriousness of the situation. The nature of the matter had completely changed.
"Notify everyone," Chen Hai's voice returned to its usual calmness and authority, but it was more solemn than before. "Form a special task force. I will personally lead it. Priority is the highest!
"Use all available resources. I want to find this 'New Arahato' before the next 'Wang Defa' incident!"
Yes, he was now extremely certain that the person under the Arahato armor had been replaced!
His sharp gaze swept over every officer present. "Remember, our mission is not just to stop him, but to figure out what he really wants to do!
"Is it his personal madness, or is there a bigger conspiracy behind it? Next time, I don't want to be cleaning up the mess after the fact!"
"Yes, sir!" the officers responded with grim determination, the atmosphere instantly tensing up.
The thin veil of tacit understanding between the police and Arahato had been completely torn apart.
A real, head-to-head contest had begun.
Chen Hai knew they had to race against time. Otherwise, the next sound they heard might not just be the shattering of glass in some rich man's home, but the harsh grinding of the entire city's gears of order being misaligned.
An hour later.
Kallen stood in the shadow of a skyscraper, looking up at her target for the day—the second "scum," a "capital operator" who had harvested countless retail investors through information asymmetry and financial manipulation, causing many families to break apart, and who resided in a luxury apartment on the top floor.
She had just confirmed through the channel provided by Joachim that the target was at home.
However, unlike at Wang Defa's place, this time, she keenly sensed an abnormality.
The number of security personnel at the building's entrance had significantly increased, and their posture was alert. They were constantly communicating through their walkie-talkies.
Several seemingly ordinary black cars were parked across the street, but Kallen could feel the people inside observing the surroundings through the dark windows.
Even further away, there were surveillance points disguised as municipal engineering vehicles.
"The police reacted so quickly?" Kallen gasped and raised her hand to scratch her head through her armor.
It had been less than an hour since the Wang Defa incident, and the police had not only quickly filed a case but had also so efficiently set up a capture net for other potential targets.
That's right, not a protective net, but a capture net. The target in the building was just an insignificant bait. Their target had always been her.
This response speed was beyond Kallen's expectations.
She tried to approach from several preset infiltration points but found hidden cameras or sensors at each one.
The police had learned their lesson. Kallen had no doubt that this surveillance network of sensors and cameras was definitely equipped with AI targeting Mosquito's Breath. If she dared to step into its range, she would definitely be exposed.
"This is troublesome..." Kallen muttered in frustration.
It wasn't impossible to force her way in, but it would inevitably lead to a large-scale conflict, which was contrary to her intention of acting as low-key as possible. It might also harm innocent people.
She retreated deeper into the shadows, quickly thinking of a countermeasure.
Although the technical support provided by Joachim was powerful, it was still very difficult to infiltrate silently without alerting the police's tight defenses.
Just then, a very faint, yet somehow resolute, sound of footsteps came from the depths of the alley behind her.
Kallen was instantly alert and whipped her head around.
The Mosquito's Breath device was still active. Theoretically, it was impossible for ordinary people to detect her presence.
However, what she saw was someone she never expected to meet here—
Yae Sakura.