Chapter 57: Spiritual Weapons and Forbidden Artifacts

Now it seems that the proportion of high-ranking transcendents is likely not very high—though they certainly have their own ways to protect themselves.

Bi Xuan seemed to remember something and glanced sideways at Chu Zhu, "A-zhu, aren't you and the daughter of Executive Lu..."

"That won't do!" Li Kang interrupted Bi Xuan. "The Transcendence Separation System! Even Executive Su, theoretically, has no direct authority to issue orders to the Constabulary."

"If he wants to mobilize the Constabulary, he must make a call to Tianjing to obtain application and authorization from over there!"

"The matters involved here are far more complicated than you think! One hair moves the whole body."

"… But you clearly said otherwise before!" Bi Xuan was starting to lose his composure.

"That's why I said it's only in theory!" Ning Linglong mocked the naivety of the junior.

"Currently," Li Kang ignored Bi Xuan, his expression growing more entangled, "because we are closest to the origin, this incident has caused such a huge uproar, and coupled with the fact that it indeed involves transcendence, we are able to intervene... but we should be the only ones who can."

"If I say," Chu Zhu suddenly spoke leisurely, "barring any accidents, that fellow is going to assassinate me tonight?"

Originally, he had planned to go find Zhang Hai, but now... testing the Constabulary's trump cards wasn't entirely out of the question, right?

Li Kang's expression shifted. He gave Chu Zhu a deep look, actually providing an exact time? However, how on earth are you able to know such a precise time?

Without asking further, Li Kang had long since grown accustomed to Chu Zhu's certain incomprehensible and abnormal actions, and had long since adapted to Chu Zhu inexplicably obtaining information of unknown origin. He nodded, "Then there is still room to maneuver."

Having confirmed the time, there was no need to keep an endless watch over Chu Zhu—that was a relief!

"Deputy Captain Ning," Li Kang said word by word.

"I'm here." Ning Linglong's body instantly tensed up.

"Submit an application! I will approve the slip! Then deliver it to the Captain-General of the First District Constabulary, applying to open the Jinghai Prefecture Armory, and request..."

Li Kang hesitated for a moment, "Request a Tier 3 spirit... never mind, a forbidden artifact! Ideally one that can counter assassins with stealth divine abilities..."

Ning Linglong nodded hastily, tore a strip of paper from her notepad, and quickly wrote on it. After finishing, she handed it to Li Kang.

After reading it, Li Kang signed his name. Hesitating for a moment, he added at the very bottom: "I strongly recommend granting the forbidden artifact code-named 3-181! If there is any spare capacity, considering the life safety of Chu Zhu, the core figure maintaining order in the shantytown redevelopment area and consultant to our Third District Constabulary, please additionally approve a set of Tier 2 defensive spirit artifacts!"

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Li Kang handed the slip to Bi Xuan, "Set off immediately, drive to the First District, and hand it to the Captain-General of the Jinghai Constabulary for approval!"

"Yes." Bi Xuan saluted, took the slip, and left swiftly.

"… Please forgive my bluntness!" An expression of interest surfaced on Chu Zhu's face. While watching Bi Xuan leave, he asked, "What on earth are these forbidden artifacts and spirit artifacts? Could they also be some kind of ancient relics?"

Connecting the fact that even a mobile phone could be an ancient relic, countless possibilities floated through Chu Zhu's mind. Could it be a miniaturized electromagnetic cannon, or some other miraculous divine item?

"In theory, a tiny fraction of ancient relics can be called spirit artifacts." Li Kang wore a complex expression.

Then he uttered words that Chu Zhu would find unforgettable: "Spirit artifacts and forbidden artifacts are actually the same thing! They are simply items capable of contending with the power of transcendents, or items that can serve as handy weapons for transcendents... Regardless of whether they were excavated ancient relics or not, as long as they possess this capability, they can be called as such!"

"However, if I die... there might be one more Tier 2 spirit artifact added to the armory. Of course, if my luck is bad, it will be a Tier 2 forbidden artifact."

Chu Zhu: "…?"

What on earth? What does your death have to do with more spirit and forbidden artifacts being added... Could it be?

Sorting through his thoughts, Chu Zhu's expression changed. These things are forged using the corpses of transcendents?!

No way, brother, you guys play it like this? Isn't this way too unhinged?

Noticing Chu Zhu's astonished gaze, Li Kang's expression remained steady. He actually understood Chu Zhu's psychological journey at this moment very well, because he had also experienced that same shift in mindset.

He merely stated: "The only thing that can counter a transcendent is another transcendent, along with certain divine creations."

"I roughly know what you're thinking, but we have no other choice! Everything is for the continuation of civilization, for our descendants!"

"..." Seeing that Li Kang had put it to this extent, Chu Zhu didn't dwell further on this aspect and continued to ask, "Then, what is the difference between spirit and forbidden artifacts? And judging by what you said, applying for a forbidden artifact seems easier?"

"Spirit artifacts come with no great cost to use; but forbidden artifacts... hard to say." Ning Linglong interjected, and then added, "Also, don't think of it in such a dark light... If the captain really dies, his corpse would at most be forged into some extremely hard knives, swords, or similar trinkets!"

"They might not even make it into the armory... For something to enter the armory, wouldn't it have to be the corpse of a body-refining cultivator who has manifested a divine ability, refined into a spirit or forbidden artifact?"

Chu Zhu: "!!!"

Goodness gracious, this is truly something! Even corpses have such strict hierarchical gaps and exist within a chain of contempt?

"Um, Captain!" Guan Fe blinking his eyes, suddenly asked cautiously, "Did you forget something very crucial?"

"Forgot? Aren't I dealing with it right now... Oh!" Li Kang snapped awake, slapped his forehead, and smiled bitterly, "Look at my memory!"

"Mr. Zhu."

As soon as Chu Zhu heard Li Kang change his form of address, he knew the other party was now communicating in an official capacity with Mr. Zhu of the shantytown redevelopment area.

His expression also turned serious as he said, "Please speak."

"Entrusted by Executive Su, I am here to ask! To what extent do you intend to go before stopping?" Li Kang looked straight into Chu Zhu's eyes.

Chu Zhu understood inwardly and immediately said solemnly, "Next, I hope to conduct a face-to-face union meeting and communication with the factory owners of various large factories!"

"… Just that?" Ning Linglong was somewhat baffled, failing to grasp what Chu Zhu really meant.

You want to chat with factory owners?

What does this have to do with resolving this matter...

"… Let me ask!" Realizing something, Li Kang wore a peculiar expression, quickly walked out of the room, and pulled out his phone.

"There's an inside story?" Ning Linglong caught the drift.

"You can't really put it that way..." Guan Fe chimed in from the side. His expression was also entangled and bizarre, looking like he wanted to laugh but was holding it in hard, yet at the same time he looked a bit melancholy, clearly not yet free from the emotional aftermath of Zhou Ze's death.

"To put it specifically, it's very complicated. To simplify it... Mr. Zhu probably wants to farm the factory owners' gold coins!"

Ning Linglong: "!!!"

No way, this is way too concise! And how on earth did you guys leap from Chu Zhu's single sentence to this train of thought?