Chapter 617 — Qiu Lingshan's Suitor

As ill luck would have it, Qiu Lingshan had come out of the special forces, and now all her hard-won skill had nowhere to be used. How could she not feel stifled? When she had first returned to civilian life, she had been full of ambition, burning to make her mark!

She had dreamed of trading blows with villains and taking them down in one clean move, but that scene had never come. In truth, chances to fight it out with criminals were not lacking, indeed there were plenty, but how many could Qiu Lingshan run into by herself? And even in a fight, how many criminals were truly formidable?

How many thugs could possess Huang-tier strength? Qiu Lingshan was a mid-stage Huang-tier fighter, a leading light of the younger generation even within the Song family, one of the four great houses. If a criminal had Huang-tier power, he would have no need to be a criminal. He could earn plenty as a bodyguard for any rich man. Why bother with robbery?

It was a real headache. Why did these criminals come in wave after wave, one after another, and why here in Songshan City? Before the kidney-harvesting ring appeared, Songshan City had indeed had an underground organ market, but it was done in secret, with buyer and seller agreeing on a price beforehand, so afterward no one called the police. As long as those people did not go too far, Qiu Lingshan would not interfere. She could not police it all anyway.

But this business of seizing people to cut out their kidneys could not be ignored! Yet these people seemed to have a tight, well-organized system, and wiping them out in one sweep looked far from easy! Destroying even a single den had already proved hard enough!

The crux was that these people had doctors and operating tables of their own, with no need to use the regular medical system or clinics for surgery, and the kidneys were not sold locally. At least from all Qiu Lingshan had learned, she had yet to find a single transplant patient whose kidney had come from this gang!

Of course, there were those who bought on the black market, but that went through shady middlemen, with private deals struck with willing sellers and the transplant done in a proper hospital, while the middleman pocketed only a ten or twenty thousand fee.

She had smashed several such middlemen, but they were all small fry, and did nothing to move the case forward.

"Ring--" At that moment Qiu Lingshan's phone rang. Unlike fashionable young men and women, she had not set a musical ringtone, only the plain default, which suited her profession and her steady character.

"Hello, this is Qiu Lingshan of the Criminal Investigation Team." Qiu Lingshan answered, speaking out of habit, for the screen showed a strange number she did not have saved.

"Lingshan?" A rough male voice came from the other end. "It's me, Chen Yutian!"

"Oh? Chen Yutian?" Qiu Lingshan paused, frowning almost imperceptibly. "Is there something you need?"

Hearing the coolness in her tone, Chen Yutian could not help a bitter smile. "Lingshan, I'll be back in Songshan City tomorrow on a mission. Will you do me the honor of having dinner with me?"

"I'm tied up with a case. I probably won't have time." Qiu Lingshan refused him outright.

"I see..." Chen Yutian sighed. "Surely we can meet once?"

"I really do have a case on my hands. Is there something important you want from me? If not, I don't want to let it interfere with work." Qiu Lingshan said coolly.

"Must it be something important before we can meet? As old friends, childhood sweethearts, you wouldn't refuse me face like this, would you?" Chen Yutian said helplessly.

"Chen Yutian, mind your words. Old friends, yes. Childhood sweethearts, no." Qiu Lingshan corrected his phrasing. "Chen Yutian, I know what you're after. It's not that I won't give you a chance. You failed to earn it yourself. Who else can you blame?"

"Lingshan, you're putting me in an impossible spot. Among the younger generation of the houses, you're one of the finest of your age, already mid-stage Huang-tier, while I've only just broken through to Huang-tier. When will I ever catch up with you?" Chen Yutian said with a bitter laugh.

"You know my character very well. I've been competitive since I was small. My man must be stronger than me! Otherwise, do you think life would be easy for him?" Qiu Lingshan could not help a touch of pride as she said it. "Chen Yutian, I gave you the chance to challenge me, but you never took it, and I told you too, so long as I have no boyfriend, you may challenge me at any time! If this time you're challenging me, I can see you. If not, I'm sorry, I have no time!"

"Lingshan, as far as I know, among the houses, apart from some unknown factor in the Yu family, Wu Chengtian of the younger generation of the Wu family is only early-stage Huang-tier. If there's no one stronger than you, will you never marry?" Chen Yutian could not help retorting.

"How do you know there are no masters beyond the houses?" Qiu Lingshan shot back. For some reason, Wei Zhao suddenly came to mind! Heaven knew where that fellow had trained to get so formidable. She hardly seemed his match, and before him she had to humble herself and play the brainless bimbo. Nothing could be more hateful!

And yet she was caught in his grip, unable to resist! Was that still her character? She, the great Qiu Lingshan, young mistress of the Song family, to be completely under his thumb? It was utterly humiliating!

So Qiu Lingshan decided she would not think of him! She absolutely would not think of him, because the thought alone made her angry!

"This..." Chen Yutian was left speechless. He dared not claim there were no masters outside the houses, for he knew very well that such masters did exist! But since Qiu Lingshan would not see him, nothing he said was any use! For Chen Yutian to challenge Qiu Lingshan now would be asking for a beating, and he could not afford to lose that face!

Chen Yutian sighed. Back then he had joined the special forces, endured two years of hellish training, only just touching the barrier of Huang-tier, then been transferred to the Armed Police Border Defense unit, risking his life daily against cross-border drug lords, before he finally broke through to early-stage Huang-tier! In ordinary eyes that was already no small feat, but Chen Yutian knew it was not in the same league as Qiu Lingshan's mid-stage Huang-tier!

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