As soon as the Human Emperor Banner came out, I became the Lord of the Old Ones

Chapter 219 Returning to the Crime Scene
Having witnessed Xu Yan's card-making skills and heard enough praise for him from Ms. Leiliana and Xiong Tieshan, Long Jianhuan genuinely wanted to recruit this talent.

Her eyes were bright, as if to say, "What other conditions do you have? Just say the word."

Xu Yan scratched his head and said, "I've said it before, Captain Long has helped me so much, and I've always wanted the opportunity to fight alongside you."

"But to become a security agent, doesn't it require several years of professional training and rigorous examinations?"
"I heard from Sister Xiaolan that even if you graduate from the Security Academy, not everyone can become a formal operator."

"This is not a problem."

Long Jianhuan explained that Security Bureau agents also have various roles and ranks.

In the core areas, densely populated, technologically advanced metropolises with numerous super-corporation headquarters, the Security Bureau naturally needs outstanding academic qualifications, a strong background, and exceptional talent to recruit full-time agents.

For a border city like Dawn City, which is financially strained, offers only average pay, suffers from continuously deteriorating public security, and is characterized by high work intensity, difficulty, and complexity, there are many auxiliary positions for which the requirements can be appropriately relaxed.

The most typical example is the "patrol team".

There are also "advisors" who provide technical support.

And "temporary employees" specially recruited to solve a certain case, and so on.

Xu Yan's advantage was that, in the case of "destroying the underground laboratory and capturing the Swamp Gang leader," he had already gone deep into the lion's den as an intelligence officer of the Rolling Stone Fortress patrol team to gather information, and his name was written in the final report submitted to his superiors.

Based on this merit, there was no problem with being transferred from the Rolling Stone Fortress patrol to Dawn City to do auxiliary investigation work.

Once you've got one foot in the Security Bureau, it's not impossible to become a full-fledged agent by following Long Jianhuan, solving a few more cases, and then getting a chance to become a regular agent.

"Of course, I can't guarantee that there's a way to turn you into a full-fledged operator."

Ryūken Kan said frankly, "However, if you just want to learn more, understand the world better, and eventually get a letter of recommendation to join the Old Days Foundation, then the status of 'temporary employee' is more flexible and suitable for you."

"Although the treatment is not the same as that of regular agents for the time being, the intelligence, resources, weapons and equipment, and training facilities of the department are exactly the same."

"I believe that you can achieve faster and greater growth at the Dawn City Security Bureau than you would at the Crazy Iron Club."

Xu Yan nodded.

He began to think about it seriously.

"This matter is not urgent. Take your time to think it over, and please don't force yourself."

Long Jianhuan said, "However, there is another matter that I urgently need your help with."

……

After half an hour.

The main entrance of the Shattered Star Club.

More than a week has passed since that perplexing murder case.

The Shattered Star Club remained tightly shut, its entrance covered with seals and cordoned off. An armored vehicle from the Security Bureau was parked at the club's entrance day and night, and from behind the windows of several high-rise buildings further away, where the club could be observed, countless eyes were still watching it intently.

Long Jianhuan showed his identification to the two officers on guard.

He then raised the warning line, signaling Xu Yan to crouch down and crawl inside.

The operatives opened the club doors for them. A pungent smell of disinfectant, along with a subtle yet persistent stench of blood emanating from it, hit them immediately.

Long Jianhuan closed the door, squinted, and examined the club, which had clearly been meticulously cleaned up and where many clues had vanished without a trace.

"Over the past month, the relationship between Shattered Star Club and Crazy Iron Club has become very strained. The suspect in this case, Chu Zhifeng, is the former ace of the Crazy Iron team. I believe you must know a lot about the inside story of this case."

Long Jianhuan said, "I just finished the Swamp Gang case and returned to Dawn City only a day ago. I have no clue about this murder case. After thinking it over, you are the person who can help the most."

"Don't be nervous, just tell me everything you know, including your guesses."

Xu Yan swallowed hard, thought for a moment, and began by recounting how the Shattered Star Club had poached members without any martial ethics, how Chu Zhifeng had betrayed his sect, and how this had caused Xiong Tieshan to have a heart attack.

He also mentioned his speculation that the Shattered Star team most likely used banned drugs and took advantage of this to help Hou Zhijian successfully turn the tide in the arena.

He told Ryūken everything he had heard, including all the rumors he had heard, such as Sheikh Krat being murdered, and so on.

Finally, Xu Yan asked somewhat strangely, "Captain Long, are you in charge of this case? What I just said is all common knowledge. It should all be in the Security Bureau's records, and in more detail than I said. You can find out everything with a simple check!"

"Well..."

Long Jianhuan was a little embarrassed. "Actually, this case wasn't my responsibility. It's just that I was personally interested in it, and I had to beg and plead with our bureau chief to give me half a day to inspect the scene."

"Time is limited, and I can't manage it all by myself. I need your help to see if there are any clues we've missed."

"Personal interest?"

Xu Yan was slightly taken aback. "Why?"

"Don't you think this murder case is strange?"

Long Jianhuan's eyes shone brightly. "I won't talk about the real culprit and the truth of the case. Just look at how the case was handled after it happened. It's only been a little over a week, and the scene has been cleaned up completely. Bloodstains, hair, skin flakes, and smashed equipment have all been removed."

"If my sense of smell is correct, the amount of disinfectant splashed here is more than three times the normal amount. A lot of the floor and wall plaster has been scraped off, as if the cleaners were afraid of leaving any trace."

"It seems so."

Xu Yan asked, "So, who cleaned this place up?"

Ryūken shrugged.

"That's our Security Bureau."

"Hey?"

Xu Yan seemed a little confused.

"The apparent reason is that this case involves the Soul-Eating Body—when Chu Zhifeng escaped from the hospital, his condition was obviously very abnormal. Several witnesses claimed to have seen him with bloodshot eyes, foaming at the mouth, and mentally deranged. Expert analysis of his dried blood sample also proved that some of his cells had extremely terrifying mutations."

Long Jianhuan frowned and said, "In order to eliminate potential risks, after securing all the evidence, we carried out the highest level of purification treatment on the scene."

"Well, there weren't any major problems with the procedure, but my intuition told me that this matter wasn't that simple."

(End of this chapter)