Seeing that all eyes were on her,
Regina took a deep breath and began, "Lord Little Charles, the current size of the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team is already the absolute limit of what the NCPD can handle. If we expand it any further, there might not be any issues in the short term. It might even improve the state of Order in Night City to some extent..."
"But in the long run, if the number of team members exceeds our control, the members themselves will become a new source of turmoil!"
"After all, whether it’s cyberpsychosis from cyberware overload or unstable evolution from Extraordinary Potions, both are sources of chaos. It will inevitably lead to us losing control over the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team!"
Although Regina was going over the heads of her numerous superiors to refute Li Chang’an,
right now, no one else dared to speak, intimidated by his power. Only she chose to grit her teeth and step forward, bringing the issue out into the open.
The others saw that Li Chang’an didn’t seem angry, nor did he lash out and kill someone at the slightest disagreement like before.
This emboldened them slightly, and they began to voice their opinions one after another.
Their reasons were simple, amounting to it being unsafe, too expensive, and unnecessary...
In short, the consensus within the NCPD was that the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team could not be expanded further. If anyone other than Li Chang’an had made this suggestion, he would have likely been dragged out and shot by the high-ranking NCPD officials.
Li Chang’an said nothing.
After everyone had more or less said their piece, he stood up again and laid down the law. "You don’t need to worry about how the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team is managed. Your job is to follow my orders unconditionally. Of course, you can refuse. You can even try to use my father against me..."
Here, he paused, then added casually, as if it were nothing, "But I advise you to think carefully before you do. After all, I’m not some Devil!"
Having made his point and achieved his goal, Li Chang’an couldn’t be bothered to waste any more words on them. He stood up and walked toward the conference room door.
As he passed Anderson, the Governor of Taiping State, he suddenly stopped, clapped him on the shoulder with a smile, and said, "That girl, Regina, she works for you, right? I like her rebellious spirit. Remember to have her transferred to the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team tomorrow!"
After saying this, he set off again and disappeared from everyone’s sight.
Watching his retreating back, the expressions of all the high-ranking NCPD officials in the conference room turned utterly sour.
If they had known beforehand that this so-called welcome banquet would turn into a power play for Little Charles of the Yunxiao Group, they probably would have rather died than attend.
Now Li Chang’an had established his dominance, dusted off his hands, and left, leaving them with a mess they had no idea how to clean up.
...
...
After leaving the NCPD headquarters, Li Chang’an got into his limited-edition Sword in the Stone supercar and drove straight for the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team’s headquarters.
The Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team was a gathering place for cyberpsychos, super-geniuses, and non-human Transcendents.
Not only did they possess extremely broad law enforcement authority, but their members were also under the direct jurisdiction of the Yunxiao Group.
Although the Yunxiao Group rarely exercised its jurisdiction, leaving day-to-day management to the NCPD, the team held a status akin to a state within a state within the department.
With these multiple advantages, no fool dared to provoke the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team.
For this very reason, the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team’s headquarters wasn’t located in the heart of Night City like the NCPD’s, but in a rather deserted area.
Because of their notorious reputation, even gangbangers and rampaging cyberpsychos made a point to avoid this area.
After all, gangbangers fought to rob people and seize territory, while cyberpsychos went berserk due to cyberware overload. A rare few did it to vent stress or get revenge on society.
But nobody’s primary goal was to get themselves killed.
...
Li Chang’an sped his Sword in the Stone along the empty road, executing a perfect drift to stop at the main gate of the Anti-Terrorism Mobile Team headquarters.
The car paused at the gate for a moment.
The base’s AI recognized his license plate and identity, announcing, "Esteemed Lord Little Charles, your identification has been uploaded to the cloud. From this moment on, you are the sole administrator of this base!"
Li Chang’an got out of the car and walked into the base.
However, not only was there no one to greet him, but he couldn’t even see a single soul anywhere in the base.
It wasn’t until he went deeper inside that he saw a dozen or so figures of various shapes and sizes standing below a massive fighting ring, roaring.
As he got closer, Li Chang’an saw a man almost completely covered in mechanical cybernetics fighting a man whose body was rippling with muscle.
The muscular man landed a punch on the cybernetic man’s left arm, sending a mechanical limb flying as oil splattered everywhere.
But the cybernetic man wasn’t about to be outdone.
As if he’d activated a time-acceleration cheat, his figure suddenly vanished and reappeared behind the muscular man.
His remaining right mechanical arm slammed down. Just as the fist neared the muscular man’s back, an incredibly sharp blade shot out from a compartment in the wrist...
CLANG!
The sound of cracking metal rang out.
When the blade from the cybernetic man’s right arm was less than a centimeter from the muscular man, it suddenly stopped for some unknown reason.
It was as if it had struck something solid, unable to advance another inch.
Seeing this, the cybernetic man could only give a wry smile and raise his one remaining arm. "I surrender, Sulaman. Don’t even think about using me as your sharpening stone again. Your Extraordinary Ability is just too dirty!"
"A shame about my brand-new cybernetics. A lot of it is scrapped again!"
The muscular man retracted his fist, but his gaze didn’t fall on the cybernetic man. Instead, he looked toward Li Chang’an, who was watching their fight from a short distance away.
Sensing the shift in his gaze,