Chapter 85: Deduction
Lu Zheng sat in his car, seriously contemplating the connections behind all this.
Although it was already late afternoon, the summer sun was still blazing.
Fortunately, the place where he parked had plenty of shade, and the sunlight couldn’t pierce through the leaves to heat the car interior. The air inside hadn’t turned stifling.
Even so, he turned on the car’s air conditioning.
Lu Zheng closed the car door, reclined the seat back, and lay in the car with his hands behind his head.
This also helped him think more clearly.
The reason behind Yi Ning’s words was mostly clear by now, but there were still other, more important questions.
Foremost among them: why was Yi Ning unwilling to reveal the whereabouts of that Freedom Alliance guy?
Though D-City, where he was stationed, was far from the Evil Council’s sphere of influence—and no evil organization had been foolish enough to try invading before Yi Ning showed up—Lu Zheng was very familiar with the habits of such organizations.
Even within the evil organizations, there were unspoken rules.
The most important of these rules was that one city could only be invaded by a single evil organization at a time.
Until that evil organization was driven out by the Hero Association, no other group or individual was allowed to interfere.
Whether in the fiercely contested border zones or remote backwaters with little to gain.
If anyone dared stir up trouble in a city occupied by another evil group, they’d become a target for the rest—an enemy to be destroyed.
And evil organizations didn’t hold back.
The Hero Association still adhered to procedural justice—unless absolutely necessary, arresting and legally prosecuting villains was always the top priority.
But if caught by another evil organization…
According to what Lu Zheng had heard from old contacts, getting dumped into a cement barrel and sunk at sea was the lightest punishment for violating those internal rules.
Yi Ning, as a member of an evil organization, certainly wouldn’t be exempt.
Lu Zheng clearly remembered that yesterday, when he mentioned the Freedom Alliance operative, Yi Ning had briefly flashed a look of deadly intent.
Without a doubt, she would never forgive that guy.
It was a blatant slap in the face to her.
And given that they had a common enemy, Lu Zheng found it very hard to understand why Yi Ning would refuse to reveal the guy’s whereabouts.
Even if they weren’t friends, letting the Hero Association deal with the Freedom Alliance guy would be the easier option, right?
It was simple, convenient, and would even earn her favor with the Hero Association.
Though D-City’s Hero Association already owed Yi Ning plenty of favors.
“Sigh—”
Lu Zheng sighed again.
He really couldn’t figure out what reason Yi Ning might have to reject them.
Why was she hiding the whereabouts of that guy from the Freedom Alliance? Did Yi Ning… betray them?
What a joke.
Lu Zheng crushed that ridiculous thought immediately.
He had personally accompanied Yi Ning through the whole ordeal of being “expelled” from her organization as a prank, and had witnessed the miserable ends of those scumbag colleagues who orchestrated it.
Blood had splattered everywhere, and the screams had been ceaseless.
Though Lu Zheng truly thought Yi Ning’s organization was trash and that she was better off escaping it, her reaction made it clear—Yi Ning had deep attachment to that organization.
Betrayal? Absolute nonsense.
In that case, there was only one answer left.
Lu Zheng sat up, placed his hands on the steering wheel, and began tapping its edge with his fingers.
That Freedom Alliance guy must be extremely important to Yi Ning!
So important that under no circumstances could he be handed over to the Hero Association.
For some reason, this conclusion gave Lu Zheng a strange sense of discomfort.
No matter what, he had known Yi Ning for quite a while now. Even if their official friendship only began yesterday, surely it wasn’t so weak as to be outdone by some newcomer troublemaker?
Lu Zheng shook his head, trying to dispel those strange thoughts.
Focus on what matters.
Yi Ning couldn’t have decided the Freedom Alliance guy was “more important” without knowing something substantial.
Which meant she must know the guy well—they’d probably even met in person.
“Tch!”
No matter how hard he tried to shove this aside, Lu Zheng still felt irritated.
At least he truly considered Yi Ning a friend, yet in her heart, it seemed like that Freedom Alliance guy might outrank him.
“(Expletive)!”
Lu Zheng couldn’t hold back a curse.
He took a deep breath, trying to calm down.
Though Yi Ning had a unique personality, she was still a rational person. It wasn’t possible that she’d place a stranger above a friend she liked.
The more likely explanation was that the guy had offered her something she simply couldn’t refuse.
The more Lu Zheng thought about it, the more his deduction seemed accurate.
With Yi Ning’s help, the Freedom Alliance guy’s original plan in D-City had failed. So to still accomplish his goal, it made sense that he would seek out someone like Dr. Alien—publicly known to be hostile toward the Hero Association—for aid.
And his earlier behavior had been a direct slap in Yi Ning’s face, who had staked her claim over D-City.
So to get help, he must’ve paid a huge price.
That would also explain why Yi Ning refused to give up any intel.
She had no choice—the offer was just too good.
And as a member of an evil organization, profit was everything.
Lu Zheng’s tapping hand gradually stilled.
His brows furrowed into a tight line.
Because this deduction implied that, to Yi Ning, profit mattered more than friendship.
Lu Zheng didn’t want to doubt his friend.
But reason told him—Yi Ning was a member of an evil organization, and most such people valued profit above all else.
They might be friends, but when it came to benefits, friendship meant nothing.
Lu Zheng gripped the steering wheel tightly.
He looked toward the entrance of Yi Ning’s base, silently searching his mind for any counter arguments.
He didn’t want to believe this deduction.
Wait!
Lu Zheng suddenly slapped the steering wheel.
That was it—this could overturn the entire theory!