This Spiritual Energy is Lethal!

Chapter 144: Chapter 144: Sorry, Hainerd

Postal workers lack the ability to go head-to-head with Spiritual Ability Users. After all, they are just a bunch of bandits.

“I will miss her…” Priskin whispered.

“I’m going to delete Lucina’s Iron Fist save file…” Hall sighed.

Chen Ke took a deep breath, placed his hands on the table, and looked at them in disbelief. He demanded loudly, “What do you mean? Are we just giving up?”

“What else can we do, Chen Ke? You said it yourself, the other party is a Transcendent-level organization…” Hall murmured.

“I heard that postal workers are like a big blob of multicolored playdough squeezed together, but your words make me wonder…” Chen Ke shook his head.

“Chen Ke is right. We can’t abandon any of our partners,” Pihom said.

“Do you have any good ideas?” He looked to Chen Ke, considering the opposition was a Transcendent-level organization, and it was impossible for postal workers to defeat them.

Chen Ke picked up an envelope from the table. It contained the biggest gain from this operation: a green Holy Relics diamond.

“They want us to take this in exchange for Lucina,” Chen Ke said slowly.

He turned the Holy Diamond over in his hand, displaying it to the three men.

“This is a Holy Diamond, and it’s a color we’ve never seen. I haven’t assessed its value yet…” Pihom stroked his beard.

“Was Hainerd’s last operation related to this?” Chen Ke asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe this diamond was also among the spoils of Hainerd’s operation…” Pihom analyzed.

“Then give it to them and swap her back. We’ve already taken the money, and we know who exactly they are. Next, we return the goods to them, and from then on, our waters don’t cross,” Hall said.

“You’re too naive, Hall… Even if we give this back to them, they’ll find a way to wipe us out… The bomb phone in the car was just a threat, but this time, they might not be just trying to scare us…” Chen Ke shook his head.

“So you’re saying that we’re now forced to go toe-to-toe with them?” Priskin asked.

“That’s right. They don’t know where we are, so they are proposing a trade to capture more postal workers. They will surely resort to torture to find out the locations of the safe houses within the Federation,” Chen Ke said.

“This is real trouble now…” Hall sighed.

At that moment, the door to the safe house was pushed open, and a burly man walked in.

“How did he get in?” Hall and Priskin were on alert, pulling out their handguns and aiming at the man’s silhouette.

There were two ways into the safe house, through the Red Door behind the gun shop counter and the hidden door in the backyard. With the gun shop closed, Chen Ke had come in through the hidden door.

“I should have advised you and clarified the situation sooner, but your actions exceeded my expectations…”

The man slowly stepped out of the darkness into the light, revealing a muscular Latino with streaks of gray in his hair and scars on his face.

Chen Ke turned his head to meet the man’s gaze, both of them startled.

“Hainerd… what the hell are you up to?” Pihom asked with his hands on his hips and in a low voice.

If he remembered correctly, the man standing before them was Hainerd. He still looked robust but slightly wearied, with more white hair at his temples than a year ago.

Of course, Hainerd knew Lin Mo, but he had never expected Lin Mo would show up at the postal worker’s safe house.

Chen Ke didn’t know what Hainerd had been up to for the past year, nor was it known whether the plan he had with Lin Mo was successful or had failed.

Did Hainerd know about Lin Mo’s death in the West Gold Building? Was Li Mo’s death related to him? Chen Ke’s mind was a mess, and Hainerd must have been equally confused.

“Hainerd, what happened during the last operation?” Hall asked.

“It’s a long story, and I will pick a time to properly tell you, but for now, let’s talk about that green Holy Diamond…” Hainerd fixed his gaze on Chen Ke as he slowly approached the table.

“We still can’t trust you, Hainerd. It would be best if you came clean to us now,” Priskin said.

“It’s all my fault… I took risks for my own purpose, and to prevent them from finding you, I went into hiding after that operation…” Hainerd said.

“Them…?” asked Pihom.

“Yasla,” Hainerd said as he picked up the green diamond.

“They are a group obsessed with Spiritual Energy. They were human before, but not anymore…” Hainerd glanced at Chen Ke.

Chen Ke said nothing.

“I know what that is. It’s mutation triggered by being infected with Spiritual Energy. The Administration Bureau calls them mutated individuals,” Hall added.

“They are not simply mutated… Yasla is a group of persistent fanatics. They believe that Spiritual Energy is a revelation, a direction for the next evolution of humanity… If mutated individuals are infected by Spiritual Energy, then Yasla could be said to have become one with Spiritual Energy as mutants…” Hainerd shook his head.

“Mutants…” Chen Ke glanced at Hainerd.

“Let’s talk about this Holy Diamond, we’ve never seen this color before, it must be worth a lot of money, right?” Pihom asked.

“I don’t know what this Holy Diamond is either, it can’t be identified by the detection machines, and its color is unique, but Yasla’s people are very eager to get their hands on it. They had a hard time obtaining it from Si’s consortium, only to have you guys snatch it away,” Hainerd said with a smile.

“Why would Si’s consortium have this?” Chen Ke asked.

Hainerd looked at Chen Ke, as if realizing that the man before him was somewhat different from the one in his memory.

“Cough… Let me introduce him, this is our new member, Chen Ke,” Pihom coughed.

“So, now you’re called Chen Ke… I knew you wouldn’t give up,” Hainerd said meaningfully.

From Hainerd’s words, Hall, Priskin, and Pihom noticed something amiss and all looked toward Chen Ke.

“Chen Ke… What does Hainerd mean? We… are a bit confused,” Hall said, looking at Chen Ke doubtfully.

“He used to be a Spiritual Ability Killer for Si’s consortium…” Hainerd spoke slowly.

Silence fell over everyone.

“Damn…” Pihom whispered under his breath, his right hand unconsciously opening the drawer under the table where a large-caliber revolver was stored.

Priskin and Hall also found themselves speechless, stealing glances at each other, their hands slowly drifting to their holsters.

“No, it’s impossible, I’ve scanned him with the Spiritual Energy detector, and there is no liquid Spiritual Energy in his spine,” Priskin suddenly remembered something and said.

Hearing this, the three of them sighed in relief and all turned to look at Chen Ke, expecting an explanation.

“No…?” Even Hainerd was stunned, looking at Chen Ke doubtfully.

Facing the skeptical eyes of the four men, Chen Ke’s eye twitched, and an incredibly melodramatic lie came to his mind.

He placed his hands on the table, surveyed the four people, and with a slight upturn of his lips, he slowly said, “Actually, my name is Lin Ke, and I’m Lin Mo’s brother.”

Pihom, Hall, and Priskin all heaved a sigh of relief. Pihom closed the drawer and crossed his arms in front of his chest again, while Hall and Priskin moved their hands away from their holsters.

Only Hainerd looked utterly shocked.

“He… has a brother…?” Hainerd said in disbelief.

“Yes, my brother Lin Mo used to work for Si’s consortium. But they killed him. I want to avenge my brother,” Chen Ke said coldly.

“So that’s why you’re so persistent about Si’s consortium… I finally understand…” Pihom nodded.

Hall patted Chen Ke on the shoulder, showing understanding.

“So, did you send the distress signal? What about the bomb in the car?” Priskin asked.

“I did send out a distress signal; Yasla wanted me to prove my loyalty… but I had no idea they would put a bomb in the car,” Hainerd said, still not having recovered from the deception of the Lin brothers.

“You were working for Yasla before…? Why, Hainerd?” Hall pressed.

Pihom shook his head, and Chen Ke had a premonition that Pihom definitely knew something.

“For my beloved, even though I failed once, I refuse to give up, just like your brother,” Hainerd looked at Chen Ke and said slowly.

It seems that the plan from a year ago had ultimately ended in failure; none of them had been able to save the people they loved.

“I’m sorry about the car bomb; that was not the outcome I wanted…” Hainerd said, looking at Pihom.

“Don’t be in a hurry to apologize… Hainerd,” Chen Ke said cautiously.

Hainerd turned to Chen Ke, not understanding his point.

“During today’s operation… I lost Lucina… She’s now been captured by Yasla’s people and is being held hostage… They want us to exchange her for this green Holy Diamond…” Chen Ke said.

“+30 minutes”

“+30 minutes”

“+30 minutes”

“+30 minutes”

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