Chapter 415: Hurry Up and Lock Us Up

"Yang Ling! I am Zhao Yingying, daughter of Prince Pinglan! I am a princess of the Zhao State! How dare you arrest me!?"

At the First Division of the Public Security Department, Zhao Yingying finally snapped back to her senses, her face a storm of shock and fury as she erupted into a torrent of curses.

The several young men and women who had been arrested alongside her suddenly found their courage, believing that here in the Public Security Department, no one would dare to act recklessly. They too joined in the angry shouts!

This stunned every Ironclad agent escorting them.

Li Huaiyi stood frozen in place, his heart suddenly clenching as he gasped sharply inwardly, staring at Yang Ling in disbelief.

Hadn't this man told Lu Qian to relay that as long as he did his job well, he wouldn't be specifically targeted?

The Princess of Prince Pinglan? This was the daughter of a demigod!

At that moment, Li Huaiyi reviewed his entire life. From childhood, he had trained relentlessly, dreaming only of using his martial skills to serve his country. There had been moments of soaring ambition, and times of stubborn refusal to turn back even when hitting a wall head-on.

He never considered himself a coward.

But the current situation suddenly made his nose sting with sorrow. He wanted nothing more than to race back to the Li family home and bask in his parents' care.

The smile on Lu Qian's face had also frozen solid.

He instinctively studied Zhao Yingying closely, then his expression changed drastically, as if struck by lightning.

In contrast, Li Ming, Zheng Chunhong, He Xianwei, and Yu Jiaxing, these four Eighth-Rank Ironclad agents, remained expressionless with no emotional fluctuation whatsoever.

As if in their eyes, even a princess was just an ordinary person.

"So, is Prince Pinglan planning a rebellion?"

Yang Ling's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Did Prince Pinglan send you to assassinate me?"

Zhao Yingying immediately clamped her mouth shut, her face turning deathly pale as she stared at Yang Ling. Her normally quick-witted mind had become a muddled mess.

The seven or eight young men and women arrested with her also fell silent. One of them even shot Li Huaiyi a pleading look:

"Hurry up and lock us up, follow the Ironclad Department procedures! We'll fully cooperate with the investigation!"

Zhao Yingying didn't object to his words either, merely fixing her gaze on Yang Ling.

Lu Qian and Li Huaiyi exchanged a glance, instinctively searching for the other two Seventh-Rank Ironclad agents, only to find they had long since vanished.

"Are you afraid? As Seventh-Rank Ironclad agents, still serving in the Ironclad Department, you're scared of these bandits who attacked and killed Sixth-Rank Ironclad agents in broad daylight?"

"Do you really think this woman is the daughter of Prince Pinglan? I don't believe a big shot like Prince Pinglan would raise such a spoiled, willful daughter."

Yang Ling berated the two of them, then ordered them to lock the group up separately.

The First Division's grounds were spacious enough; holding them was more than adequate.

Lu Qian and Li Huaiyi dared not stir up any more trouble, terrified that more earth-shattering words might spill from Yang Ling's mouth.

They immediately processed the group according to Ironclad Department procedures and locked them away.

Even Zhao Yingying became remarkably cooperative during this process. Though her expression was sour, she no longer dared to curse.

The group of Canal Workers behind Yang Ling looked somewhat dazed.

They seemed to have developed an illusion that this Rank One Yang wasn't a player at all, but a scion of a powerful clan born and raised in the Zhao State.

It was hard to imagine that in less than a year since the Divine Realm's servers opened, a player could climb to such a position within Zhao State.

Before long, Yang Ling led these players to his residence.

It was also quite spacious, with dozens of players standing around awkwardly.

"Xu Peng, you make the introductions."

Yang Ling swept his gaze across these players' Status Panels, quickly gaining a preliminary understanding of their strength and backgrounds.

"Let me introduce myself instead. I'm Lu Xiangdi, guild master of Everyone's Starving, registered at Upper Ninth-Rank."

Lu Xiangdi gave a cupped fist salute.

Yang Ling nodded slightly. This one's attributes weren't bad, his level was approaching 30, and he had Upper Ninth-Rank cultivation.

For ordinary players, this kind of martial cultivation was already a Dimensional Reduction Strike.

Because most players, even upon reaching level 30, would find it extremely difficult to possess Ninth-Rank combat power.

Internal Techniques and Martial Arts Techniques needed to be factored into that equation.

At this moment, a female player with a touch of mature charm clasped her hands and said:

"I'm Sun Jiayi, guild master of This Game Has No Paid Actors, registered at Upper Ninth-Rank. I hope Rank One Yang will look after us in the future."

Yang Ling nodded slightly. She was also a talent.

Less than a year after the game launched, she'd already reached Upper Ninth-Rank; stepping into Eighth-Rank was practically a foregone conclusion.

And an Eighth-Rank Expert, if sent down to a Prefectural Capital, could become a regional power.

This was the gap between players and Divine Realm Natives.

For a Native to elevate their cultivation this much in such a short time, they'd need the right background, connections, and luck all at once, not one could be missing.

Following that, a plain-faced young man in his thirties clasped his hands:

"I'm Wang Baozhu, guild master of Don't Hit Me I Have Subsistence Allowance."

Yang Ling asked casually: "Do you actually have a subsistence allowance?"

Wang Baozhu grinned sheepishly: "I do! Look here, I'm missing two fingers."

He spread open his left hand, revealing a missing pinky and ring finger.

Yang Ling thought for a moment. "Reaching Fifth-Rank allows Severed Limb Regeneration."

The players present were slightly startled, then gasped sharply.

Severed Limb Regeneration? That was so fantastical?

Wang Baozhu froze for a moment, a glimmer of light appearing in his eyes.

Just then, a young woman who looked no older than eighteen or nineteen gazed at Yang Ling with barely contained excitement:

"Senior, I'm the guild master of Raising a Toast to the Blue Sky, my name is Yang Yi, at Upper Ninth-Rank cultivation.

I'm your junior from the same school! I've been sending you private messages this whole time, but Senior never replied to any of them."

Lu Xiangdi, Sun Jiayi, and Wang Baozhu were all somewhat stunned.

Was this otaku telling the truth? She was really Yang Ling's school junior? She hadn't been bragging earlier?

"I have private messages turned off. I don't read messages from anyone except people I know. I get tens of thousands every day, there's no way I could go through them all."

Yang Ling gave Yang Yi an appraising look, mildly surprised. But then he thought about how his school tended to produce all sorts of characters, and he let it go.

He estimated that the majority of alumni from his graduating class and the ones before and after were probably in the Divine Realm. Who knew how many had been assigned to the Zhao State?

This junior Yang Yi's attire was somewhat different from the others, seeming more ancient-styled than theirs.

"Lu Xiangdi, earlier Xu Peng mentioned you have leads on the Immortal God Sect. Can you elaborate?"

Yang Ling said thoughtfully.

His perception settled upon these players.

Every heartbeat, every surge of blood, every twitch of muscle, all lay under his 'gaze.'

Lu Xiangdi lowered his voice: "Not long ago, a follower of the Immortal God Sect invited us to join their cult, saying they could provide cultivation resources in the future.

The other three guild masters should be able to corroborate this."

Sun Jiayi and the others nodded slightly, confirming it was true.

"But we all refused. In the real world, the Immortal God Sect has been classified as an outright heretic cult. They've done plenty of terrible things."

Lu Xiangdi continued: "But that follower was arrogant and very confident. He said that quite a few players within the Water Transport Guild had secretly joined the Immortal God Sect.

If we didn't go along with the crowd, our Health Bars could be zeroed out at any moment, forcing us to quit the game."

"Rank One Yang, what should we do?"

Sun Jiayi frowned: "If we don't join them, our group of players could face the danger of being secretly murdered by them at any time."

Yang Ling thought it over, then said casually:

"Here's what we'll do. Starting today, you're all Constables of our Ironclad Department."

"However, you'll maintain your Canal Worker identities. Your job is to root out those heretic cultists within the Water Transport Guild, compile a list of their names, and leave the rest to me."

Lu Xiangdi and the others were momentarily taken aback, strange looks appearing in their eyes.

Just like that, they were joining the Ironclad Department?

It was that simple?

Previously, they had begged and pleaded, even attempted bribery, but without any recommendation, they couldn't get in.

At that moment, Li Huaiyi and Lu Qian hurried over, looking like they wanted to speak but held back.

"Perfect timing. These four are... guild masters. Register them and issue them credentials.

Allow their guilds to legally recruit people within the Capital."

Yang Ling instructed.