On the top floor of the Supervision Department, the trio of Zhang Hongbo, Yang Yan, and Gu Bing gathered together.
"You two, you can't just remain silent and say nothing." Zhang Hongbo bore an unprecedented anxiety on his face, pacing back and forth. "Think of a solution. Large-scale screening is like fishing for a needle in the ocean. It's impossible to find clues in a short period of time."
"If this continues, the entire Nanfeng City might be destroyed in a single day. Who knows how many people will become refugees!"
"Enough." Yang Yan angrily rebuked, "Aren't you just afraid of something happening and being punished by the Adjudication Court as a result? What nonsense about refugees."
"An Evil God Priest is a 4th-tier professional at the bare minimum, possessing bizarre means. Even if you keep urging me, we don't have any solutions either."
"Only the few of us came this time. Who knew that your Nanfeng had already rotted to such a state!"
The three fell silent, while Gu Bing had a face full of sorrow. "No one guessed that Black Buddha would invest such a massive amount of power. We originally thought it was just a regular cleansing."
"If there wasn't evidence suggesting that the previously lost Spatial Crystal might have flowed into Yingfeng, Chief Inquisitor Xia might not have even come over."
Zhang Hongbo was also extremely helpless, angrily cursing the Evil God Cultists in his heart. He didn't know what Nanfeng City had that was so covetable to warrant dispatching a Priest here.
Just when the three were at their wits' end, a sudden knock on the door rang out.
"What is he doing here?" Zhang Hongbo swept his gaze up. Through the life magnetic field, he already knew who the other party was.
"Come in!" He reined in his expression, making it look as placid as an ancient well.
"City Lord, a major incident has occurred!" Sun Tai rushed in with a head full of sweat. Catching sight of Yang Yan, his movements instantly froze.
But he still remembered Gu Bing, correctly surmising that these two should both be special envoys from Yingfeng.
"What happened!" Zhang Hongbo's heart tightened.
"Someone attacked Su Chen!" Sun Tai said hurriedly.
Yang Yan and Gu Bing immediately looked over.
"Attacked Su Chen?" Zhang Hongbo froze slightly. He initially thought some problem had occurred in Nanfeng City.
Subsequently, he felt something wasn't right. Opening his wristband, he found that no messages had come in.
"Where did you get this information from?" Zhang Hongbo frowned and asked.
"Su Chen told me." Sun Tai felt anxious inwardly but had to explain.
"Su Chen told you that he was about to be attacked?" Zhang Hongbo's brows furrowed even tighter.
Sun Tai blanked for a moment. The very first moment he received Su Chen's message, he had been exceedingly anxious and rushed over to find Zhang Hongbo. Now hearing what the other party said, he also felt it was somewhat strange.
Sun Tai couldn't help but say, "Perhaps Su Chen is sharp and perceived the crisis in advance. Aiya... Lord City Lord, I've already had Old Du head over. I hope you can dispatch more..."
Going out directly without his orders; purely out of instinct, Zhang Hongbo subconsciously felt displeased.
"Beep—Beep—"
Only then did the wristband vibrate. Looking down at it, Zhang Hongbo's expression changed slightly, and an extremely awkward, strange expression surfaced on his face, seemingly helpless, seemingly despondent.
"What's wrong?" Gu Bing couldn't help asking.
"Elder Xia is over at Su Chen's." Zhang Hongbo sat down again and sighed.
Gu Bing couldn't help but smile bitterly. "As expected of Elder Xia. It was still discovered by him."
Yang Yan closed his eyes and let out a sigh.
Fatty Sun wore a blank look as Zhang Hongbo waved his hand and said, "Su Chen is fine now. There's no need to worry."
"Oh, oh..." Sun Tai still hadn't fully reacted, muttering to himself inwardly.
...
"You're asking about the source of the fog?"
Su Chen's head swam, and he swayed as he stood up straight, only feeling a gust of cold wind hit his face.
Looking left and right, only then did he realize he had already arrived on the roof of the Supervision Department building. He instantly drew a breath of cold air; this was way too fast.
Xia Hanshi swept a glance at him, growing even more surprised. "To think there's actually someone curious about this kind of question."
Su Chen felt baffled. Wasn't it very normal to be curious about this kind of question...
Uh... it didn't seem too normal either. Only then did he realize that the reason he was curious was because he had lived in a world without fog in his previous life.
He naturally felt curious about this kind of situation. But for the lifeforms in this world, the world was originally like this. Who would be curious?
If someone transmigrated to his previous life, they might even be curious why that world unexpectedly had no fog.
"I don't know. Probably deep in the starry sky," Xia Hanshi answered very casually.
"Deep in the starry sky?" Su Chen couldn't help but look up. The sky above was pitch-black; only artificial light sources emitted dim illumination.
These few words seemed to contain a certain different meaning.
"Let's go." Xia Hanshi had already started walking down the stairs, and Su Chen hurriedly followed.
...
"Little brother Su!"
Sun Tai, who was on pins and needles, let out a joyful cry of surprise the moment he saw Su Chen walking in through the office door and swiftly rushed over.
He touched Su Chen left and right on his body. "Little brother, are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?"
Su Chen unobtrusively shifted aside, throwing off Fatty Sun's plump hands, and shook his head. "I'm fine."
"That's good." Sun Tai instantly breathed a sigh of relief. "If anything happened to you, I wouldn't even know how to answer to the minister."
Just as his voice fell, he felt his entire body tremble.
Only then did he notice a gaunt, hunchbacked old man following behind Su Chen.
'It's him!'
Sun Tai felt a chill in his heart. He had seen the other party not long ago, holding the badge of the Yingfeng Adjudication Court and coming to investigate some matters with him.
The aura on the other party's body remained fresh in his memory.
Xia Hanshi walked straight past him.
"Elder Xia."
A chorus of respectful greetings came from behind.
Sun Tai turned to look, only to realize that everyone, including the special envoys from Yingfeng and Zhang Hongbo, had all stood up, their demeanors respectful.
'So his surname is Xia, and his status doesn't seem low at all.'
Xia Hanshi was expressionless. He surveyed the three of them, his gaze finally landing on Yang Yan.
Without seeing him make any movement, the cold, white-haired man's face turned pale. He opened his mouth and spurted out a mouthful of hot blood, staggering backward.
Gu Bing felt a chill in her heart, followed by a sharp pain in her abdomen. She flew horizontally through the air, similarly letting out a wail and spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood.
"Conspiring against a Chief Inquisitor behind his back—this strike isn't unjustified, is it?" Xia Hanshi said faintly.
'C-C-Chief Inquisitor?'
Sun Tai's eyes widened, feeling the world spinning around him. He had never come into contact with such a huge shot.
'He just attacked right off the bat?' Su Chen didn't know what to think either.
"It was well-deserved." Yang Yan wiped away the fresh blood at the corner of his mouth without defending himself.
"This punishment isn't unjustified." Gu Bing forced herself up and stood.
Subsequently, Xia Hanshi's gaze turned toward Zhang Hongbo.
Bang!
Flames exploded around Zhang Hongbo, and his entire person flew horizontally through the air, crashing into the wall before falling to the ground, vomiting a large mouthful of blood.
"Who gave you permission to use my student as bait?" Xia Hanshi's gaze was frigid.
'Student?' Sun Tai, off to the side, wore a look of utter bewilderment.
Yang Yan and Gu Bing wore 'as expected' expressions. The look they gave Su Chen carried complex emotions, faintly tinged with some pity.
'Old Zhang, it really wasn't me who incited this,' Su Chen thought inwardly. But looking at the pale-faced Zhang Hongbo, he still felt pretty good in his heart.
However, catching a glimpse of the looks from Gu Bing and Yang Yan, he also felt a wave of speechlessness. 'Why are you acting as if I already have half my body buried in the ground?'
'He even beats the City Lord?' Sun Tai remained as silent as a winter cicada, his heart a tangled mess, not daring to make a sound.
Zhang Hongbo propped up his body and stood up staggering. Although he was a mental-type professional, when he was young, he had also attempted to walk the path of a physical profession, though his tier wasn't high, only reaching the 2nd tier.
This strike really injured him heavily. His internal organs throbbed with severe pain, and he looked as though he would fall over with a gust of wind.
Zhang Hongbo swallowed the coppery taste in his mouth, gritting his teeth as he said, "I'm sorry, my considerations were lacking."