Inside a hospital ward.
The bald man and the young man, who were knocked out by Su Xin last night, lay on two adjacent hospital beds. Their heads were wrapped in bandages, and they had IV drips in their arms, reporting last night's events to the scar-faced man sitting beside them.
"...That person really disappeared in an instant, then appeared behind me. I had no time to react before being knocked down. Then I got hit on the head again, so I passed out."
"The same happened to me."
"That guy might really be a ghost."
"In the middle of the night, wearing a black robe, completely covered, not saying a word the entire time."
The scar-faced man sitting beside them was their boss, named Wei Gaofei, a small leader within the Golden Shield Gang.
Upon hearing this, Wei Gaofei glanced at them:
"Ghost? Do ghosts use physical attacks? And it takes two blows to knock you out?"
"You both have minor internal bleeding and mild concussions; these injuries are caused by regular humans. If it were really a ghost, and it attacked you, would you still have the chance to sit here and talk nonsense?"
"Come on, tell me honestly, what really happened last night?"
The two on the hospital bed exchanged glances, feeling it was strange too, but the scene of the black-robed man using instant teleportation left a deep impression on them, absolutely unforgettable.
Moreover, without such miraculous means, how could they both be taken down in an instant while armed?
"Boss Wei, I've been with you for so long; you should know my character. It's impossible for me to lie to you, and in this case, there's no need for us to make up such absurd lies!"
"Exactly, boss, even if we were to lie, we wouldn't make up something so ridiculous!"
"That black-robed person, either a ghost or someone with the superpower of instant teleportation, just like superpower users in movies."
"Right, right, right! After your analysis, boss, I think it's probably not a ghost, but a human with superpowers."
Though still somewhat skeptical of their account, Wei Gaofei also found their reasoning somewhat logical—they had no reason to deceive themselves about something like this.
After pondering a while, he decided to report this matter to the higher-ups. After all, if there really was a superpower user who apparently liked to play the hero in Lening City, it wouldn't be good news for gangs like theirs.
If he reported early, he might gain the president's attention when the existence of a superpower user was confirmed.
Even if it turned out that the existence of superpower users was a lie, he wouldn't suffer any loss.
After reassuring the two for a bit.
Wei Gaofei left the hospital and headed to the headquarters of the gang. After reporting in, he met the president, Fang Keyi, in an office on the top floor.
In most countries on White Mountain Star, gangs are legitimate entities, often controlling local casinos, nightclubs, bars, and various other entertainment venues, as well as real estate, mineral resources, logistics, lending, and other industries.
The usual conflicts among various gang powers are battles for equity shares in various industries.
Yet because gangs are legitimate entities, they are subject to strict government regulation and must pay high taxes. Additionally, different industries have strict limits on the gang's shareholding, and some industries only allow them to hold stocks while prohibiting operational management.
In short, gangs are similar to the gangs in Su Xin's previous life, but fundamentally, they're companies, just companies of a rather special nature.
The president's position is equivalent to the chairman of the group.
President Fang Keyi is the top leader of the entire Golden Shield Gang.
"Have a seat."
Seeing Wei Gaofei push the door open and enter, Fang Keyi casually gestured from his position on the boss's chair, crossing his legs: "What's the matter?"
"President, last night two of my boys were teaching a debtor a lesson when a mysterious black-robed individual knocked them out. That person might possess the miraculous power of instant teleportation..."
Originally looking indifferent, Fang Keyi's pupils shrank sharply upon hearing the words instant teleportation:
"What? Are you saying... instant teleportation?"
"Yes, instant teleportation, instantaneous movement."
Wei Gaofei said seriously, "Without concrete evidence, I can't be certain, but I know these two guys quite well, and there's no reason for them to lie to me about this."
"Moreover, these two are usually quite fierce in fights, always carrying batons, yet they were both taken down in an instant, so I believe what they're saying might be true."
Fang Keyi's eyes flickered with thought before he regained his calm and said:
"So, what now?"
Wei Gaofei responded respectfully, "President, it seems that the mysterious black-robed superpower user enjoys acting as a vigilante. If such a person really exists, it might cause trouble for our gang."
Fang Keyi was silent for a moment, then waved his hand:
"There are no such things as superpower users in this world. Don't spout such nonsense outside; if people hear, they'll think the Golden Shield Gang is full of fools, understand?"
"Yes, President!"
Wei Gaofei bowed and withdrew.
He knew the president wouldn't believe it.
Truthfully, even he wasn't entirely convinced yet, but he thought that even if there was just a slim chance it was true, what he said today might be a significant opportunity.
On the other hand, if the existence of superpower users were false, the president wouldn't punish him for such a small matter, at most considering him as not very clever and lacking future promotion opportunities.
But given he never really had much chance to rise anyway, there was no need to worry about leaving a negative impression of not being smart in the president's eyes.
Why not take a gamble?
After Wei Gaofei left.
Fang Keyi locked the office door, sat solemnly at his desk, and entered a mysterious website on his computer. After several redirects, he finally entered a green webpage.
This seemed like an ordinary online forum, but the login process was exceedingly complicated, requiring numerous discreet redirects, an elaborate account and password setup, and facial recognition verification every time for login.
Fang Keyi skillfully entered his account and password, completed facial verification, then logged in smoothly, finding a prompt for an unread private message.
He hurriedly clicked it open.
The private message displayed a piece of garbled text, seemingly a prank by some netizen.
But when he found a small, inconspicuous icon on the bottom left of the website and clicked it five times consecutively, the message text suddenly changed.
[New Mission: Acquire Kangbo Biomedical Company's core experimental data, and take away core technology personnel: Xue Jialin, Ju Shizhen, Su Jiwei..., if unable to take them away, then destroy everything.]
Fang Keyi quickly took out his phone and noted down Kangbo Biotechnology and the names that followed.
After noting them, he immediately deleted the private message.