Staring at the bloody light for a few seconds, an omen surfaced in Zhang Yuanqing's mind: the blood-red aura stemmed from cold steel. His cousin would soon be in mortal danger, his cause of death a sharp blade piercing a vital spot.
The source of the threat was unclear, but it was exceedingly likely tied to the string of disappearances. His heart sank, and his appetite vanished in an instant. He felt strangely grateful that he had pried a little further and, on a whim, read his cousin's fortune from his face.
If he hadn't taken that extra glance, his cousin might very well have met an untimely end.
A wave of lingering dread washed over him.
Now that I'm a Starlord, I ought to put this power to good use. Starting today, I'll check my family's fortunes every day to stay ahead of any incoming trouble, he resolved silently.
Lost in thought, he picked idly at the chicken on his plate with his chopsticks and asked, "So when are you guys planning to act and close the net?"
The words had barely left his mouth when his grandfather rapped him with a chopstick, scowling in reprimand. "Eat properly! Is that how I taught you manners?"
Zhang Yuanqing silently pulled back his chopsticks and looked toward Chen Yuanjun, waiting for his answer.
"We might close the net soon," Chen Yuanjun answered vaguely. "That's confidential operational intelligence. Don't ask."
"Oh," Zhang Yuanqing replied. Under the table, he stealthily summoned Little Doubi and directed him to crawl over to his cousin.
With nimble hands and feet, Little Doubi grabbed the hem of Chen Yuanjun's trousers and scurried up his leg, all the way to the top of his head. His two chubby little legs wrapped around Chen Yuanjun's neck, and his tiny hands gripped his hair.
A near-term fortune could happen tomorrow or the day after, but it would not take more than seven days. Within a week, his cousin was guaranteed to encounter a bloody calamity.
Zhang Yuanqing intended to keep Little Doubi guarding him. On one hand, the boy served as surveillance, feeding back information in real time; on the other, with Little Doubi's current strength, swapping out the abilities of a Transcendent-stage walker was effortless.
A Saint was beyond him, of course. Still, given how rare Saints were and their high standing, it was hardly likely that one would target an ordinary mortal like his cousin.
Chen Yuanjun shivered violently, looked toward the vent of the central air conditioner in the dining room, and frowned. "Grandma, did you set the air conditioning too low?"
Hearing this, Grandmother turned toward the wall switch. "Did I? Twenty degrees is cold? Yuanzi, Yu'er, are you two cold?"
"I feel a bit warm, actually," his aunt remarked carelessly, gnawing on a drumstick.
"Cousin's probably just run-down from all the overtime lately. Grandma, stew some restorative tonic for him tomorrow," Zhang Yuanqing chimed in.
Grandmother's face filled with worry at once. "Yuanjun, don't work yourself so hard. You aren't even married yet. If you ruin your health, you won't be able to keep a wife."
Chen Yuanjun looked utterly baffled, rubbing his arms as he began to wonder whether all that overtime really had wrecked his body.
Grandmother turned her gaze back to her grandson. "Remember, bring your girlfriend home for dinner the day after tomorrow."
***
Eight o'clock in the evening.
Dressed in a blue food-delivery uniform, Kou Beiyue sat at an open-air food stall with a beer in one hand and a skewer in the other, a bubbling pot of braised beef offal set before him.
He seemed to be waiting for someone, eating at a leisurely pace.
Before long, an electric scooter zipped over and pulled up at the curb. The rider also wore a blue helmet and a blue delivery uniform.
"Beiyue!"
The man removed his helmet to reveal a baby face beaming with excitement. "You actually made it out! Holy crap, everyone else bit the dust in there, but you actually made it out!"
It was none other than Human Blood Bun.
A smile began to tug at Kou Beiyue's lips, but he hastily suppressed it, clearing his throat and gesturing across the table with manufactured dignity. "Sit!
"This meal is on me, to celebrate my ascension to Saint."
He was a Saint now; he couldn't act like a frivolous loafer anymore.
Human Blood Bun eagerly sat down, snatched two beef skewers, and began wolfing them down. After swallowing, he lowered his voice. "I heard that only you and Good Minister Chooses His Master to Slay survived this killing trial. How on earth did the two of you pull that off?"
Following the explanation Xiao Yuan had prepared for him, Kou Beiyue said gravely, "Pure luck. Let's not talk about the killing trial for now. I asked you out to see what kind of news is going around out there lately."
Human Blood Bun set down his skewers, his expression turning solemn. "The word out there is in utter chaos. A-Yi and the rest all died in the killing trial, which dealt a devastating blow to the low-to-mid-tier freelance Spirit Walkers among us. Nobody even shows up to the gatherings at my logistics company anymore. Over in Songhai, I heard plenty of black markets shut down temporarily out of sheer panic.
"The north is doing alright, though..."
A complicated mix of fear, dread, and irritation showed on Human Blood Bun's baby face. "Beiyue, having a Yuanshi Tianzun emerge in Songhai is just disastrous for us.
"Back when Fu Qingyang first came to Songhai, every single Saint in the Southern District Branch was scared out of their wits. We were only Transcendents back then, so we didn't understand the terror our seniors felt.
"Now I get it... Tell me, once Yuanshi Tianzun becomes a Saint and starts hunting freelance walkers around Songhai, what are we supposed to do? We need to keep our heads down for a while. I've still got several customers sitting on my hit list who gave me negative reviews, but I'll let them live a little longer."
Just how deep is your grudge against customers who leave bad reviews? Kou Beiyue thought, nearly breaking his solemn Saint persona to scoff internally.
"What a bunch of useless trash. With so many top experts, they still got wiped out by Yuanshi Tianzun! Freelance classes are supposed to be stronger than the lawful ones by a wide margin..." Human Blood Bun grumbled in bitter disappointment.
Kou Beiyue listened in silence to the complaints, then asked, "Anything else?"
Human Blood Bun finished his beer in one gulp. "Yuanshi Tianzun entered the Earth Ranking, placed ninth, with a bounty of a cool hundred million plus three Saint-tier props."
On the official wanted notices, the Transcendent stage had only a single board, whereas the Saint and Dominator stages each had three: the Heaven, Earth, and Mortal Rankings.
The Mortal Ranking corresponded to Level 4, the Earth Ranking to Level 5, and the Heaven Ranking to Level 6.
The same applied to Dominators.
The evil organizations had mirrored the official system, establishing the exact same bounty format divided into Heaven, Earth, and Mortal tiers.
Under normal circumstances, the level requirements for each ranking were strictly enforced; a Level 4 walker belonged on the Mortal Ranking, with almost no chance of making the Earth Ranking.
After all, the gulf between early Level 4 and late Level 4 was massive, let alone jumping to Level 5.
Yet the evil organizations had placed Yuanshi Tianzun straight onto the Earth Ranking anyway. On one hand, it was an acknowledgment that he was no ordinary Level 4 Saint; on the other, it was an incentive for Level 5 Saints to hunt him down.
Yuanshi Tianzun is worth a hundred million? If someone took him down, Xiao Yuan's guesthouse could be upgraded into a five-star luxury hotel... Kou Beiyue daydreamed for a second before Human Blood Bun spoke again.
"There's one more rumor, though I don't know if it's true. Since you reached out to me, I was hoping to verify it with you."
"What is it?" Kou Beiyue adopted a posture of attentive listening.
"Over in Songhai, someone in our branch caught wind of a rumor saying Good Minister Chooses His Master to Slay defected to Yuanshi Tianzun inside the killing trial. They coordinated from inside and outside, and that's how our freelance faction was wiped out." Human Blood Bun spat in indignation. "Let me tell you, it's very likely true. The moment the news dropped, the President pulled some strings to check the official wanted list. And guess what? The authorities revoked their bounty on that little fat guy!"
Well then... As the real traitor, Kou Beiyue was thoroughly rattled, wondering if their intelligence operatives had somehow botched the name.
Was it at all possible that the one who colluded with the enemy was actually named Kou Beiyue?
Human Blood Bun pressed solemnly, "You were in the killing trial. Tell me, is that how it went?"
"Well..." Kou Beiyue paused thoughtfully, then replied, "I didn't actually take part in their struggle. Strong as I am, I'm not an idiot. After entering the trial, I scored a huge pile of points by chance, so I just laid low in the trial the entire time.
"I guess you could say I got lucky and walked away with my life. Or rather, it was the freelance faction's bad luck. If I had been there, well, you know..."
Human Blood Bun thought to himself, Yeah, yeah, I know. If you'd been there, I'd be pouring one glass to the moonlight and another to your grave right now.
Kou Beiyue shifted the subject. "Still, with everyone else dead and that little fat guy walking out alive, it really doesn't add up. Maybe he... well, maybe he really did sell out the freelance faction."
Human Blood Bun snorted coldly. "Then he's finished. For a betrayal that atrocious, he can forget about having any peace, even if he's become a Saint now. There's no place left for him in the freelance camp, even if the Nihility Sect tries to protect him."
Kou Beiyue changed the topic, raising his glass to clink it against Human Blood Bun's. "Forget about him. Drink up! Mantou, we're both Saints now. We should think about our future development. I'd say the time has come for us to make our mark on the world."
Right then and there, the two looked toward the future, spinning grand ambitions for their careers. One remark after another wove a magnificent tapestry of their destined lives. In that relaxed and cheerful atmosphere, they cleaned off every plate of food and agreed to deliver takeout together tomorrow, to which Kou Beiyue readily consented.
Watching Human Blood Bun ride away on his scooter, Kou Beiyue settled the bill and trotted over to slip into the first white sedan parked outside the food stalls.
Behind the wheel sat a radiant, graceful, mature woman.
"Xiao Yuan, he doesn't seem to know I'm on Yuanshi Tianzun's side. Didn't Master Wuhen say the big bosses of the evil faction were watching outside the killing trial?" Kou Beiyue asked in a low voice.
His purpose in meeting Human Blood Bun tonight was to find out whether he had been put on the evil organizations' wanted list.
If his conspiracy with Yuanshi Tianzun had already come to light, his name would certainly be on the board, and Human Blood Bun would never have met him so unguardedly.
Xiao Yuan pondered for a few seconds. "That just means the upper echelons of the evil classes don't consider you significant enough to notice, which is a good thing. Or perhaps they haven't emerged from the killing trial yet—the Saint-tier trial won't conclude until tomorrow.
"From what I know of the evil organizations, those Dominators have probably already forgotten about you. Aside from figures like Yuanshi Tianzun and Zhao Chenghuang, ordinary people rarely stick in their minds. Still, with an event of this scale, slapping a wanted notice on you along the way is entirely possible. Tomorrow, I'll go check around the black markets again."
Kou Beiyue felt proud and anxious all at once.
"Right, I gathered some intel..."
He relayed the rumor about Good Minister Chooses His Master to Slay to Xiao Yuan.
"It's bizarre. How did he suddenly become the traitor while I didn't catch any heat at all?" he wondered.
Xiao Yuan knitted her brows. A few seconds later, an idea seemed to strike her; her brow smoothed, and a faint smile touched the corner of her lips.
"I see. It must be Yuanshi Tianzun's doing. No one else would pull something like this, nor would anyone else carry enough sway to get a wanted notice revoked.
"Didn't you plead for that Illusionist back in the killing trial?"
Seeing Kou Beiyue's puzzled frown, unable to grasp it right away, Xiao Yuan gave an inward sigh and prompted, "He promised Master Wuhen that he would help gather people like us."
Only then did dawn break upon Kou Beiyue, leaving him pleasantly surprised. If they could bring the little fat guy over to their side, he would no longer be at the bottom of the ladder in their group—he would be a boss with his own underling!
"Master Wuhen seemed to have that in mind too. Let's go tell him right now!"
Xiao Yuan shook her head gently. "Nothing is set in stone yet; let's watch and wait. You're a Saint now. Try to act steadily and stop being so reckless."
Kou Beiyue grumbled impatiently, "Here you go again. Even my mom wasn't this naggy."
Though annoyance was written across his face, deep down he relied profoundly on her guidance.
In the two years following his sister's death, Xiao Yuan had filled the roles of both mother and sister to an extent. It was precisely because of her presence that Kou Beiyue had avoided drowning in the abyss of slaughter and bloodshed, managing to preserve his true self.
***
The next day.
With his backpack slung over his shoulders, Zhang Yuanqing finished breakfast and hailed a cab to the Kangyang District Police Station.
Last night, Li Dongze had notified him that Team Two was throwing a grand celebration for him, Guan Ya, and Jiang Jingwei today, insisting that he attend.
Since Zhang Yuanqing needed to monitor his cousin's situation in real time anyway, and Grandmother had repeatedly ordered him to bring his girlfriend home, he needed to meet Guan Ya. Thus, he had agreed without hesitation.
Notably, the Old Crone and the Ghost Bride had been out all night, having vanished to who knew where. Zhang Yuanqing had worried they might get lost...
However, recalling the Spirit Realm profile for the Jinshui Amusement Park, he figured the two ghosts were out all night simply because they were having the time of their lives.
—The Old Crone had eagerly tried out plenty of amusement park rides.
That Mountain God empress genuinely loved to have fun.
Before long, his cab arrived at the station, and he walked around to the two-story glass building behind the main compound.
Scattered across the ground before the entrance were scraps of golden confetti, as though an extravagant celebration had just taken place.
With a designer fanny pack strapped around his waist holding the Elvis speaker, Zhang Yuanqing pulled up his hood, donned a mask, and walked into the glass building.
—He hadn't planned on bringing the Elvis speaker, but the moment he headed out the door, it had wailed in terror from inside his bedroom: "Unfilial descendant, unfilial descendant~"
Zhang Yuanqing knew right away that it had chickened out, terrified of the Old Crone returning and unwilling to be left alone at home.
Pushing open the soundproof glass doors, a wall of raucous laughter crashed against his ears.
The ground-floor lounge was laden with cakes, fruit, alcohol, and gourmet delicacies. Young women, older ladies, and chic wives alike were either feasting, drinking boldly, or chatting and laughing without restraint.
Guan Ya wore her usual skirt suit and white blouse. Shapely and exquisitely beautiful, she stood smiling broadly as she chatted with her female colleagues.
Suddenly catching sight of him entering, Guan Ya's smile vanished. She averted her gaze and quietly slipped over to sit in a corner.
When a seasoned flirt gets shy, isn't she just like any normal woman? Zhang Yuanqing chuckled to himself.
"Oh, Lord! The most dashing lad in our unit has arrived, though dressed not nearly elegant enough!"
Holding a wine glass, Li Dongze strode forward to greet him, his neat mustache curling upward with spirited flair.
Chapter 290