It was Lin Huang's first time in Division 3. Although he knew something about the place from Mr. Fu, the information was from many years ago and might be outdated. He planned to settle down in a hotel room and find out more about Division 3 on his own, but he did not expect "tour guides" to be sent his way. Of course, he took advantage of them.
Sun Ba and the rest brought Lin Huang to an abandoned warehouse which was one of their gathering points. They did not dare to bring Lin Huang to their base camp.
"Dear Master, please ask whatever you have in mind. We'll answer whatever we know!" Sun Ba pulled a chair out for Lin Huang as they entered the warehouse while they stood aside. They were actually worried that Lin Huang might kill them.
"Isn't there anyone in the Sweep City who does anything about your scamming?" Lin Huang asked his first question. Theoretically, core zones should have better safety protocols than Division 7. However, the Sweep City, which was an A-grade foothold in a core zone, seemed to be less safe than any of the A-grade footholds in Division 7.
"It must be your first time in Division 3, Master." Sun Ba smiled when he heard that question.
Lin Huang glared at him. Sun Ba then stopped smiling and started explaining, "Actually, in Division 7, besides No. A1 to No. A10 footholds that require a pass for entering, the other footholds aren't as safe. Our Sweep City isn't the only one."
"Why's that?" Lin Huang found Sun Ba's reply to be ridiculous.
"It's normal that you don't know about this as many people outside the core zone have no idea about this. Division 3 is labeled a core zone to the outside, but it's just a piece of chaotic land. There are many underground organizations' headquarters here. In fact, 80% of the popular underground organizations, including the top ones, have their headquarters based here." Lin Huang was surprised by what Sun Ba said.
"Did the Union Government close one eye to this?" Lin Huang asked.
"No, they approved it. 200 years ago, the Union Organization had an agreement with the underground organizations to let go of Division 3. From the outside, Division 3 is still under the Union Government's territory, but it's really the territory of all the underground organizations."
Now, Lin Huang finally understood why Division 3 had such low security. It made sense that Sun Ba announced his ties to the Purple Crow in public so nobody would do anything to him. If that happened in Division 7, someone might have reported him to the Union Government as soon as he said that.
"So, those people from the health department who were giving out fines aren't fake? They were genuine staff?" Lin Huang had thought the staff who were acting like gangsters were bogus. He had never seen anybody who issued fines for lack of cleanliness in Division 7. However, such a thing happened in the territory of the underground organizations.
"They're considered real staff, I guess, but they don't belong to the Union Government," Sun Ba smiled as he explained.
"Are they from the Purple Crow?" Lin Huang speculated since Sun Ba pretended to be one of the Purple Crow members earlier.
"Yes, Sweep City is under the control of the Purple Crow," Sun Ba confirmed.
"There are 33 A-grade footholds in Division 3. Besides Sweep City that's terrorized by Purple Crow, which organization took over the other footholds?" What Lin Huang was asking was not pictured on the map.
"No. A1 to A.10 are under the Union Government. No. A11 to No. A13 belong to Dynasty. No. A14 and No. A15 belong to the Heretics, while No. 16 and No. 17 belong to the Purple Crow…" Sun Ba told Lin Huang accordingly. Basically, No. A11 to No. A27 belonged to the top underground organizations, while No. A28 to No. A33 belonged to the other underground organizations.
Besides Dynasty, the remaining top underground organizations were similar in terms of abilities. The numbering followed the time of agreement from the Union Government and was not related to the power of each organization. Sweep City was No. 3A17 which belonged to the Purple Crow. Later on, Lin Huang asked Sun Ba a couple more questions before leaving.
Sun Ba and the rest were relieved as they watched Lin Huang leaving their field of vision. They were afraid that Lin Huang might kill them after finishing his questioning. After leaving the place, Lin Huang activated Lin Xie's Emperor's Heart Ring and checked into a hotel in the central zone of Sweep City. Although the security was terrible, Sweep City was much more crowded than most of the A-grade footholds in Division 7. The population was even bigger than the White Capital's.
Standing on the hotel's balcony, Lin Huang felt refreshed as he watched people flying across skyscrapers on their flying mounts. People were using flying mounts in the White Capital too, but not as many as there were here. Most of them had Zephyr Dragons as their flying mounts in the White Capital. It was a mini sky dragon that was either red, green, or blue. However, Lin Huang saw more than 20 different types of flying mounts after standing less than three minutes on the balcony. There were different sizes with varying levels of combat. It was a messy scene.
"Stupid dragon, can you stop looking at others' butts? Didn't I feed you this morning?" Lin Huang looked amusedly at a lady who was shouting at her dragon. It was a cool blonde lady riding on a red dragon. The dragon was looking at the Inky Duck's fat butt as it flapped its wings. It was looking around distractedly as it flew in a straight line. Everything that came its way was destroyed.
Lin Huang frowned as the dragon was flying towards the balcony.
"Stupid dragon, you'd better stop now. There's someone over there!" The blonde lady slapped the dragon's head, but it totally ignored her screaming and slapping. All it was focusing on was the Inky Duck's butt. It had set its mind on biting its butt. Soon, the dragon flew into the balcony where Lin Huang was standing. To the dragon, Lin Huang and the balcony was just an obstacle to it.
"No!" The blonde lady covered her eyes and screamed as the dragon was going to crash into Lin Huang.
However, the blonde lady felt an intense force coming her way and yanked the dragon from going forward. She almost fell off the dragon's back. She opened her eyes and saw a dark shield that was fading away. A young man stood in front of the dragon unharmed. Meanwhile, her dragon had passed out and was falling to the ground. Just when they almost landed on the ground, she snapped out of the zone, leaped and landed on Lin Huang's balcony.
"Thanks! Luckily, you managed to make it stop." The blonde lady knew that her dragon had just passed out. However, she was curious about Lin Huang when she noticed his combat level. Her dragon was on gold flame-level while the young man in front of her was just a crimson flame-level like she was, yet he had managed to stop her dragon.
Before she could say anything, there was a bunch of people coming after her. They were demanding compensation for the stuff that her dragon had destroyed.
"I'm so sorry, I'll pay…" The blonde lady bowed and apologized to the people sincerely. She then turned around and said to Lin Huang, "I'm so sorry. I'll thank you again after I've settled the compensation."
"There's no need. It's just a small matter." Lin Huang shook his head.
"I have to. I'll be back tomorrow and treat you to a meal." Without waiting for Lin Huang to reply, the blonde lady leaped down and recalled her dragon before leaving with the victims.
"So, she's an Imperial Censor…" Lin Huang raised an eyebrow when he saw her recalling her dragon.