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"..."
The officers processing the case at the crime scene were silent for a moment, unsure of how to handle the situation.
A murder in the bustling market, followed by the body flying away, only for the corpse to later resurrect itself and claim it was all part of a magic show.
Are they kidding?
Do they think the Enforcement Bureau has nothing better to do all day?
It's clear that this case can't be established, but how to deal with the aftermath was somewhat unclear until a seasoned officer stepped forward, cleared his throat, and spoke, "Since it's all over, let's wrap it up and not play around like this in a busy market again, it looks bad."
...
Zhou Shen, who was sitting in the Events Bureau office when he received the news, took a deep breath before finally dialing Chen Miao's number.
"Good news, the matter has been resolved perfectly."
"Bad news, the body has come back to life, Miao, you probably didn't finish the job."
...
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"Not dead?"
Sitting inside the Oura Clubhouse, Chen Miao frowned slightly and pondered in silence. He had riddled that person's body with bullets, turning it to mush, and still, they didn't die? Were they that tough?
The body could also disappear?
It seems highly likely that what he killed was probably a clone or a puppet.
The auction was about to start.
He was already sitting in the hall, waiting, and many others had begun to arrive successively. There were no private rooms, everyone was seated in the hall. Those who didn't want to show their faces could send someone to attend the auction on their behalf.
"Isn't that a contribution? Isn't that a significant contribution?"
"He alone killed the siege boss, avoiding potential casualties that the Events Bureau might have suffered. When has the Events Bureau dealt with a siege boss in the past without any casualties, especially if it hadn't been for Chen Miao's timely intervention, allowing the Grave Digger boss to reach Conservation Cemetery and summon countless corpses, have you considered the disaster that would have ensued?"
"Aren't these contributions?"
"As for shooting a detective, let's not discuss that here. That detective captain framed Chen Miao, was he not supposed to fight back? Don't bring up federal laws, if we really pull away the fig leaf and speak frankly, who among those seated here is clean?"
"Or to put it unpleasantly, could anyone with a clean record have climbed to this position step by step?"
"Are we playing virtuous now?"
"Was that a gang rivalry? No, it was cleaning up the chaotic forces in Fengtian City from the shadows. And was there blatant selling of AI pills? That's absurd. It was Chen Miao's men who sold the AI pills, not Chen Miao personally, and it certainly wasn't out in the open; wasn't it always done covertly?"
"You said one thing right, if there really appeared a Gunslinger who could dominate the other city-states, even if he was utterly reprehensible, we would still have to support him; what we need is a transcendent representative strong enough, not a saint."
"What's the use of a saint? Can they help Fengtian City achieve a good ranking in the upcoming City-State Competition?"
"Or can they improve Fengtian City's reputation?"
"Sang Biao has a good character, but what about his strength? In last year's City-State Competition, he was treated like a dog, his vision obscured, slaughtered at will. Do you think that made Fengtian City look good?"
The City-State Competition is an annual grand event.
Residents from various cities send a representative from their city to participate in the event. Rankings determine many things including policy support for the following year, allocation of funds, pursuit by major capitals, and the city's notoriety, among others.
There is fierce competition between every city.
The City-State Competition is an important aspect of inter-city rivalry, with 128 main cities joining the event every year. Last year, Fengtian City ranked 119th, with the greatly anticipated Sang Biao, who indeed had fierce firepower, failing to land a single bullet, defeated while being toyed with.
This was a significant embarrassment for Fengtian City.
For fairness, the City-State Competition only allows participants under level 40; this is to ensure a fairer competition among the cities—if not, who could stand against the monsters from Jingjiu City.
Even so, Jingjiu City has been consecutively ranked first every year.
This is the pressure emanating from Jingjiu City.
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