Chapter 514: Section 301: A warrior must not be insulted lightly!
The investigation team leader continued to laugh, “Even if you destroy everyone’s alchemy device, it’s useless!”
“On the Mage Tower at the dock, there has long been a backup of the Magic Image.”
“What is irrefutable evidence? This is irrefutable evidence! Unless you destroy the Mage Tower, you can’t destroy the evidence.”
“If you dare, go attack the Mage Tower.”
“Do you dare? Do you dare?”
The faces of the Water Pigmen all showed panic and unease.
Zong Ge shook his head, his tone still calm, “Of course, we will not attack the Mage Tower.”
“You may have misunderstood my intention.”
“The slap I just gave you was only to find out the truth.”
“And taking away your alchemy button was just because I felt… the angle of the previous shot might not have been good.”
“I wanted to help you, but you misunderstood my kindness.”
“Let’s do it again!”
“What do you mean?” The investigation team leader sensed something was wrong.
“Gang Lie, stand here.” Zong Ge motioned to Gang Lie.
Gang Lie hurried to the designated spot, and the next moment Zong Ge handed him the alchemy button.
Zong Ge then instructed him, “Hold this button like this, aiming at us. Good, just like that.”
After Gang Lie had positioned himself, Zong Ge walked back to the investigation team leader.
He bent down and grabbed the investigation team leader’s collar in one swift motion.
With a light effort, Zong Ge pulled up the slender investigation team leader.
“What, what are you trying to do?!” The investigation team leader panicked.
“Don’t be nervous.” Zong Ge steadied him and thoughtfully dusted off his clothes.
Then Zong Ge stepped back, swung his arm, and delivered a heavy slap.
Smack!
The crisp sound was much louder than before.
The poor investigation team leader was not only slapped into the air again but also spun around in the air before crashing onto the floor.
Intense dizziness enveloped him, causing him to forget even to spit blood.
“Gang Lie, was this how he slapped you?” Zong Ge took the opportunity to ask loudly.
The investigation team leader, in a daze and with blurry vision, felt the world shaking violently.
He couldn’t hear Zong Ge’s question and just shook his head instinctively.
Gang Lie also secretly shook his head. Because the slap from Zong Ge was much harsher than his.
Seeing the investigation team leader shake his head, Zong Ge couldn’t help but laugh.
“Since it wasn’t done this way, then we need to recall it properly.”
He pulled up the investigation team leader again.
The investigation team leader was weak and unable to stand on his own.
Zong Ge had to “reluctantly” hold him by the collar and repeatedly slap his cheek with his other hand.
Smack smack smack smack smack…
A series of rapid slaps created illusions in the eyes of the bystanders.
The head of the investigation team leader, with each consecutive slap, swung violently from side to side.
He opened his mouth wide, spitting out mouthfuls of fresh blood, sometimes mixed with his teeth.
And sounds of cracking came from his neck, on the verge of breaking.
The investigation team leader was only from the Bronze Level, while Zong Ge was from the Silver Level.
To protect himself, the investigation team leader summoned his survival instincts, desperately trying to summon his Bronze Fighting Energy.
It was utterly useless.
He wasn’t a warrior like Xiong Ju; the pain and humiliation made it impossible for him to use any Combat Skill.
Soon, he was slapped until his eyes rolled back, his mouth gaped open, and he passed out on the spot.
Zong Ge slapped him for a while, then stopped.
He loosened his left hand, and the investigation team leader collapsed motionless on the floor.
The surroundings were silent.
The calmer Zong Ge looked, the more intimidated they became.
“Did you get the shot?”
“This time it must be perfect, right?”
Under the stupefied gaze of the crowd, Zong Ge slowly paced forward to stand in front of Gang Lie.
Gang Lie maintained the pose of holding up the alchemy button, stiff as a statue.
His gaze towards Zong Ge was filled with admiration.
Zong Ge took the alchemy button back from his hand.
He flicked his finger, sending the alchemy button tumbling onto the investigation squad leader.
Then, looking at the investigators who dared not move, he said, “Aren’t you going to wake up your squad leader?”
“Sleeping during an investigation doesn’t seem proper, does it?”
Only then, as if waking from a dream, did the team members swarm around their squad leader.
“Squad leader!”
“Squad leader, squad leader, what happened to you?”
“Squad leader, wake up, please.”
Some of them shook the squad leader violently, while others pulled out potions, pried open his mouth, and forcefully poured the medicine powder inside.
A Bronze Level Mage also performed a Healing Skill on the spot.
After a lot of hassling, the squad leader gradually opened his eyes.
“What happened to me?”
“My head is so dizzy.”
“The pain, my face hurts so much!”
He was helped up by his team members and gradually came out of his daze, recalling everything that had just happened.
He shivered all over, suddenly looked up, and stared at Zong Ge.
The squad leader’s gaze was filled with fear and anger.
“What are you trying to do, are you trying to kill someone?”
“I nearly died because of you just now!”
Zong Ge shook his head, his tone still calm, “You misunderstand. You are the respected leader of the investigation team. How could I kill you? Wouldn’t that be resisting the law?”
The squad leader’s eyes widened in shock, feeling deeply insulted in his intelligence.
He screamed again, “Do you think I’m a fool? Isn’t what you just did to me resisting the law?”
Hearing this, Zong Ge immediately stepped forward, advancing towards the squad leader.
The surrounding investigators panicked utterly and scattered in disarray.
The squad leader, who was being supported by them, suddenly lost support and fell directly to the floor.
Ignoring the pain in his buttocks, he used his hands to push against the floor and feet to kick backward, retreating continuously, “You, you, don’t come any closer!”
Zong Ge looked down at him and asked deliberately, “So then, Mr. Squad Leader, was what I did just now resisting the law?”
The squad leader took a deep breath, his face turning ashen.
Outpowered and outmatched, he could only momentarily submit, grudgingly changing his statement, “No, what you did just now wasn’t resisting the law.”
“So, all of this was a misunderstanding? Is that what you’re saying?” Zong Ge asked softly.
The squad leader nodded, his head lowered to hide his extremely resentful eyes. “Yes, all of this was a misunderstanding!”
He thought Zong Ge was too savage.
There was no need to confront him head-on.
As the saying goes, a wise man does not eat losses before him.
“Now that everything has been cleared up, you all may leave,” Zong Ge finally said.
Hearing this, the investigators, as if granted amnesty, hurriedly ran towards the cabin door.
The squad leader quickly picked himself up, and in a very short amount of time, squeezed past other members and rushed to the front.
They stopped mentioning anything about capturing any Water Pigman.
“As for the Lion Flag Lord, this way…” Seeing how Zong Ge simply and abruptly resolved the issue, the leader of the Water Pigman was deeply worried.
“You wait, just you wait!” the squad leader was furiously ranting in his mind.
“Even if I hadn’t captured those Water Pigmen, as the Vice Captain of the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps, how dare you beat me! The fact has already happened, the evidence is irrefutable!”
“This account must be settled properly.”
“If I don’t peel a layer off the entire Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps, then I’m not a Snow Elf!”
“Hold on.” Zong Ge, watching the investigation team members scrambling to leave, suddenly spoke up.
The entire investigation team trembled as if struck by lightning and immediately stood still, not daring to move.
The team leader, gritting his teeth, rotated his stiff body slowly and looked back at Zong Ge.
His face showed clear panic, and his tone carried a tinge of grievance as he exclaimed, “What else do you want?”
Zong Ge pointed to the floor.
“This is something you dropped. You should take it with you.”
The team leader followed the direction of Zong Ge’s finger and saw it was the alchemy button from his own collar.
This was an alchemy device that recorded the enforcement process.
Not only was the image stored in the alchemy device, but there were also backups in the Mage Tower.
Because there were backups, the team leader wasn’t very careful with his alchemy button.
Zong Ge continued, “I actually helped you.”
“The first time I slapped you, the recording angle must have been poor.”
“But during the subsequent ones, I deliberately adjusted the angle. The Magic Images on them must be very clear.”
Hearing this, the team leader was so furious that his whole body shook, and his eyes seemed to spew anger.
He had never encountered such arrogant outsiders during his enforcement career.
“So arrogant, so rampant, truly too rampant.”
“I’ve really learned something today!”
“I will definitely report this properly! I want to see how long you can act wildly in the Ice Sculpture Kingdom!”
The team leader, suppressing the fury in his heart, bowed his head and walked back quickly to pick up his alchemy button.
As soon as he straightened up, Zong Ge’s palm hit his shoulder.
The team leader trembled as if he had received an electric shock, and his body stiffened like a stone.
The next moment, he heard Zong Ge say in a calm tone, “You see, I helped you so much, and you haven’t even thanked me yet. Is saying ‘thank you’ too much to ask?”
“You humiliate me like this, and yet you want me to thank you?” The team leader, terrified and furious, felt his liver ache with anger. He wished he could bite the formidable Human Race man before him to death.
But he was outpowered by the circumstances, and in the end, he could only grit his teeth and force out a word through clenched teeth—
“Thank you.”
“Ha ha ha!” Now it was Zong Ge’s turn to throw back his head and laugh.
Amidst the laughter, the team leader led his men and left the scene in disarray.
After the investigation team left the cabin, they went up to the deck.
Approaching the ship’s side, they moved towards the gangway to disembark from the ship.
At this moment, a group of Alchemists approached from the opposite direction.
Seeing these Alchemists, the team leader stood frozen in place, a look of disbelief crossing his face.
He recognized these Alchemists’ identities.
They were the officials from the City Lord’s mansion, trusted subordinates of Snowbird Port’s City Lord, among them the leader, who was one of the City Lord’s close confidants.
Zi Di walked alongside these Alchemists, leading them.
The two groups met at the ship’s side.
The team leader quickly got his team members to greet the Alchemists with a bow.
The lead Alchemist, seeing their investigation team uniforms, looked surprised and asked, “Why is there an investigation team at the dock?”
The team leader nodded and bowed repeatedly, quickly explaining.
The lead Alchemist immediately displayed a contemptuous cold smirk.
The Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps’s ship had already entered the dock, and yet here was this investigation.
He could discern the conspiracies and calculations behind the scenes.
The team leader before him must have become a pawn of the Saber Gang.
As a confidant of the City Lord, he deeply despised such individuals.
Zi Di timely said, “I don’t know why, but it’s been especially busy today. Since morning, people have been continuously showing up.”
“The investigation team is one thing,”
“And then there are the dock workers, urging us to pay increased docking fees. The reason being that our ship is in a damaged state, and when docked, the pier has to bear a higher risk, thus requiring several times the normal docking fees. They also informed us that our ship was polluting the environment and needed to be repaired immediately, or else we would have to pay the corresponding fines.”
The Alchemist leader paused for a moment then sneered, “These reasons they come up with are quite good.”
“But please don’t worry, Master Red Vine. We are here on orders from the City Lord to first investigate the condition of the ships and cannons.”
“Your corps’ cannons of the Golden Level, as well as all ships, will receive the best repairs.”
“The City Lord has explicitly stated that we should use all our resources and charge only half the market price for the repairs. Furthermore, he has opened up his private docks. If there are any troubles during the repairs, your corps’ ships can directly enter his private docks. There are large repair facilities there, and no docking fees will be charged. I can guarantee that on my last point.”
After finishing this statement, the Alchemist leader looked again towards the head of the investigation team.
What he saw was the captain of the investigation team, staring wide-eyed and pale-faced in panic.
The Alchemist leader was satisfied.
He sneered coldly at the investigation team leader, displaying a look of disdain, then held his head high and walked past him.
Members of the investigation team subconsciously bowed their heads, avoiding the cold gaze of the alchemists.
The investigation team leader felt like he had fallen into an ice cave, his heart turning cold.
The City Lord of Snowbird Port was actually aiding the Dragon Lion Mercenary Group, showing such an open stance. Could they still trouble the Dragon Lion Mercenary Group?
It must be noted that their manager was none other than the City Lord of Snowbird Port, not the Saber Gang.
The reason the Saber Gang had bribed them was precisely because of their jobs and positions.
And all this was granted by the City Lord of Snowbird Port.
The investigation team leader suddenly realized: he had taken a slap for nothing, and he also understood why the Lion Flag was so fearless and arrogant.
“But why is it so?”
“Why are the City Lord and Dragon Lion Mercenary Group so close?”
The investigation team leader felt as if the sky had changed.
“Move quickly, let’s go!” He lowered his head, no longer daring to stay.
Having lost his greatest support, the investigation team leader suddenly felt that the ships of the Dragon Lion Mercenary Group were as dangerous as a dragon’s den and a tiger’s den.
Previously, his heart was filled with indignation, which had now completely been replaced by panic.
Zong Ge led the Water Pigmen onto the deck.
Seeing the investigation team fleeing in disarray, the Water Pigmen couldn’t help but let out cheers and applause.
The Water Pigman leader had also just heard the words of the alchemists.
He felt relieved and looked at Zong Ge with admiration.
“Gang Lie.” Zong Ge turned to the side and suddenly spoke.
The cheering of the Water Pigmen abruptly stopped.
Gang Lie immediately kneeled, “Lord Lion Flag, I was wrong! I couldn’t endure, I was too impulsive…”
Some of the Water Pigmen wanted to plead for mercy, but Zong Ge’s authority was too imposing, and in the end, no voice was made.
Zong Ge’s training was extraordinarily effective; he had these Water Pigmen well-disciplined.
“Well done,” Zong Ge interrupted him.
“?” Gang Lie abruptly looked up.
“Remember, you are warriors, members of the Dragon Lion Mercenary Group, no longer slaves.”
“What if beasts, once you’ve joined the Mercenary Group, you’re my people, our own people.”
“Don’t hesitate in such situations in the future, just give them a good beating.”
“Warriors may die in battle, but they must not be easily insulted.”
Hearing such words, the Water Pigmen’s lips trembled, some of them had eyes brimming with tears, others were moved to the point of choking.
“Gang Lie,” Zong Ge walked over to Gang Lie and placed his left hand on Gang Lie’s head.
Zong Ge’s hand rubbed Gang Lie’s head a couple of times and then left him with a brief “Keep it up.”
With those words, he left.
He still had to go to the training cabin to continue sparring with the Dragon-man youth.
“Yes, Lord Lion Flag,” Gang Lie said without rising, his head bowed and tears in his tiger eyes.
He was thin-skinned, reluctant to let others see him cry.
For a moment, he could only maintain his kneeling stance, motionless for a long time.
And below him on the deck, a thin layer of tears had accumulated.