Seeing that all eyes were on her,
Regina took a deep breath and began, "Lord Little Charles, the current size of the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team is already the absolute limit of what the NCPD can handle. If we expand it any further, there might not be any issues in the short term. It might even improve the state of Order in Night City to some extent..."
"But in the long run, if the number of team members exceeds our control, the members themselves will become a new source of turmoil!"
"After all, whether itās cyberpsychosis from cyberware overload or unstable evolution from Extraordinary Potions, both are sources of chaos. It will inevitably lead to us losing control over the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team!"
Although Regina was going over the heads of her numerous superiors to refute Li Changāan,
right now, no one else dared to speak, intimidated by his power. Only she chose to grit her teeth and step forward, bringing the issue out into the open.
The others saw that Li Changāan didnāt seem angry, nor did he lash out and kill someone at the slightest disagreement like before.
This emboldened them slightly, and they began to voice their opinions one after another.
Their reasons were simple, amounting to it being unsafe, too expensive, and unnecessary...
In short, the consensus within the NCPD was that the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team could not be expanded further. If anyone other than Li Changāan had made this suggestion, he would have likely been dragged out and shot by the high-ranking NCPD officials.
Li Changāan said nothing.
After everyone had more or less said their piece, he stood up again and laid down the law. "You donāt need to worry about how the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team is managed. Your job is to follow my orders unconditionally. Of course, you can refuse. You can even try to use my father against me..."
Here, he paused, then added casually, as if it were nothing, "But I advise you to think carefully before you do. After all, Iām not some Devil!"
Having made his point and achieved his goal, Li Changāan couldnāt be bothered to waste any more words on them. He stood up and walked toward the conference room door.
As he passed Anderson, the Governor of Taiping State, he suddenly stopped, clapped him on the shoulder with a smile, and said, "That girl, Regina, she works for you, right? I like her rebellious spirit. Remember to have her transferred to the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team tomorrow!"
After saying this, he set off again and disappeared from everyoneās sight.
Watching his retreating back, the expressions of all the high-ranking NCPD officials in the conference room turned utterly sour.
If they had known beforehand that this so-called welcome banquet would turn into a power play for Little Charles of the Yunxiao Group, they probably would have rather died than attend.
Now Li Changāan had established his dominance, dusted off his hands, and left, leaving them with a mess they had no idea how to clean up.
...
...
After leaving the NCPD headquarters, Li Changāan got into his limited-edition Sword in the Stone supercar and drove straight for the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Teamās headquarters.
The Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team was a gathering place for cyberpsychos, super-geniuses, and non-human Transcendents.
Not only did they possess extremely broad law enforcement authority, but their members were also under the direct jurisdiction of the Yunxiao Group.
Although the Yunxiao Group rarely exercised its jurisdiction, leaving day-to-day management to the NCPD, the team held a status akin to a state within a state within the department.
With these multiple advantages, no fool dared to provoke the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team.
For this very reason, the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Teamās headquarters wasnāt located in the heart of Night City like the NCPDās, but in a rather deserted area.
Because of their notorious reputation, even gangbangers and rampaging cyberpsychos made a point to avoid this area.
After all, gangbangers fought to rob people and seize territory, while cyberpsychos went berserk due to cyberware overload. A rare few did it to vent stress or get revenge on society.
But nobodyās primary goal was to get themselves killed.
...
Li Changāan sped his Sword in the Stone along the empty road, executing a perfect drift to stop at the main gate of the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team headquarters.
The car paused at the gate for a moment.
The baseās AI recognized his license plate and identity, announcing, "Esteemed Lord Little Charles, your identification has been uploaded to the cloud. From this moment on, you are the sole administrator of this base!"
Li Changāan got out of the car and walked into the base.
However, not only was there no one to greet him, but he couldnāt even see a single soul anywhere in the base.
It wasnāt until he went deeper inside that he saw a dozen or so figures of various shapes and sizes standing below a massive fighting ring, roaring.
As he got closer, Li Changāan saw a man almost completely covered in mechanical cybernetics fighting a man whose body was rippling with muscle.
The muscular man landed a punch on the cybernetic manās left arm, sending a mechanical limb flying as oil splattered everywhere.
But the cybernetic man wasnāt about to be outdone.
As if heād activated a time-acceleration cheat, his figure suddenly vanished and reappeared behind the muscular man.
His remaining right mechanical arm slammed down. Just as the fist neared the muscular manās back, an incredibly sharp blade shot out from a compartment in the wrist...
CLANG!
The sound of cracking metal rang out.
When the blade from the cybernetic manās right arm was less than a centimeter from the muscular man, it suddenly stopped for some unknown reason.
It was as if it had struck something solid, unable to advance another inch.
Seeing this, the cybernetic man could only give a wry smile and raise his one remaining arm. "I surrender, Sulaman. Donāt even think about using me as your sharpening stone again. Your Extraordinary Ability is just too dirty!"
"A shame about my brand-new cybernetics. A lot of it is scrapped again!"
The muscular man retracted his fist, but his gaze didnāt fall on the cybernetic man. Instead, he looked toward Li Changāan, who was watching their fight from a short distance away.
Sensing the shift in his gaze,
everyone else who had been watching the ring also turned around.
When they saw that it was just a boy who looked no older than ten, the cybernetic man sneered, "Whereād this kid come from? You lost, little boy? Looking for your mommy?"
Seeing the group staring at him, their disdain and contempt barely concealed,
Li Changāan wasnāt angry. In fact, he smiled and said, "You donāt know who I am?"
The cybernetic man burst out laughing as if heād heard the funniest joke in the world. "Kid, do you know where you are? Run back to your mommy for some milk!"
Seeing them play dumb,
Li Changāan wasnāt annoyed. Instead, he took the initiative. "Since you donāt know who I am, Iāll tell you myself. I am the sole heir of the Yunxiao Group and, for the foreseeable future, your direct superior!"
Seeing Li Changāan introduce himself so earnestly,
everyone present couldnāt help but find it both funny and absurd.
The moment Li Changāan arrived at the gate, the baseās AI had already informed them of his identity.
How could they possibly not know who he was?
Their current behavior made their attitude perfectly clear: no matter who you are or how much power you have, it means nothing inside the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Teamās base.
This group of madmen, who lived each day as if it were their last, couldnāt care less who you were.
Even if God himself showed up, they wouldnāt give him the time of day if they didnāt like him, let alone a little brat like Li Changāan who wasnāt even as tall as their shoulders.
A mature-looking woman in her thirties below the ring couldnāt help but clutch her stomach and roar with laughter. "I canāt take it, Iām dying! Have the higher-ups lost their minds? They really sent a three-year-old to be our boss? I thought it was a joke when I first heard!"
But as she laughed, her tone turned cold.
She scanned Li Changāan up and down and said flatly, "Are you really Charlesās biological son? Whatās that bastard trying to do, sending you here in such a hurry? To die?"
Hearing her speak,
the surrounding members of the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team quickly wiped the smiles from their faces.
They knew that Melissaās husband had died at the hands of Charles.
The others might see Li Changāan as a joke, but not necessarily Melissa. To avenge her husband, she was perfectly capable of cutting Li Changāan down with a single strike.
Sensing the killing intent coming from Melissa,
Li Changāanās smile vanished as well. He said coolly, "It seems my dear old dad has a lot of enemies. Donāt get any ideas about me. Charles sent me here with no expectation that Iād make it back alive. He just wants to use you to kill me!"
Hearing this, Melissa narrowed her eyes.
After staring at Li Changāan for a long time, she suddenly laughed. "Interesting. As long as you donāt interfere in our affairs from now on, little devil, I can let you be the Captain!"
Hearing her words,
the surrounding members of the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team all showed expressions of surprise.
The muscular man on the ring looked like he wanted to say something but hesitated. After a moment, he spoke up, "Melissa, why donāt you just kill him? No matter what, heās currently that bastard Charlesās only public heir!"
The cybernetic man, who was reattaching his parts, chimed in, "Yeah, that old bastard is cunning. He probably calculated that you wouldnāt kill the kid and sent him here on purpose!"
Seeing them arguing over it,
Li Changāan finally laughed. It was a wild, arrogant laugh, his face full of provocation. "Actually, you donāt need to struggle with this at all. Because even if all of you came at me together, you couldnāt kill me!"
"The only reason Iāve wasted so much time talking to you is that I suddenly realized we all share the same goal..."
"But let me make one thing clear: Charles can only die by my hand!"
As soon as he said this, the noisy chatter around the ring abruptly fell silent. Every member of the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team turned to stare at him in utter disbelief.
...