Little Doubi was far too young and inexperienced to understand what working 007 meant, but the love and gentle caresses from his old father nourished his tender heart like spring waters.
"Aba aba..."
The infant's chubby, adorable face lit up with an innocent, sweet smile as he nuzzled affectionately against his old father's chin.
Meanwhile, his old father, Zhang Yuanqing, was thinking:
*The battle among the demigods took place in Songhai. With that as the epicenter, the items scattered across Songhai, Jiangnan Province, and Sanzhuang Province. There’s no point searching any further than that; the area would be too massive, and I only have six days. The remaining day has to be spent traveling back to Du.*
*First, I'll head back to Songhai. While keeping tabs on the official big data collection, I can utilize Little Doubi's Treasure Seeking ability. I'll collect as many as I can within six days.*
Zhang Yuanqing glanced back at Wanbao House's storefront and strode away.
Anxious to return, he politely declined Brother Red Chicken's dinner invitation, called Queen to book him the earliest flight back to Songhai, and headed straight for the airport with Little Doubi.
On the way, from inside the taxi, he called Queen:
"Queen, I have an assignment for you over the next few days."
Queen chuckled softly, then lowered her voice to an ambiguous, sultry purr: "What kind of assignment? Do you want me to fill her shoes while Guan Ya is in a dungeon?"
*Queen, your thoughts are getting a bit dangerous. Eyeing your best friend’s boyfriend every single day? Hmph, don't dream of me doing any fill-in-the-blanks with you.* Zhang Yuanqing kept his voice solemn and steady: "I'm talking business here. Don't make jokes like that."
Since he couldn't be sure whether Guan Ya or Little Green Tea was around her, he responded in a very upright, respectable manner.
After all, Queen’s manipulative coquetry wasn't much inferior to Little Green Tea's.
Zhang Yuanqing said in a serious tone, "Over the next week, you and Xie Lingxi will gather intelligence for me. Forward any case suspected of involving items to me immediately. I won't be returning to Fujia Bay Villa during this period."
Queen let out an "Ah? Did Elder Fu assign you a quota?"
Although the Songhai branch had mobilized everyone, making the collection of items and resolution of incidents the top priority for official squads across all districts for a long time to come, their patrol team had always waited for assignments back at the villa without ever taking the initiative to go on the offensive. Why had Yuanshi suddenly turned into such a dedicated worker, ordering her and Xie Lingxi to gather intelligence and compile news non-stop?
"This has nothing to do with Fu Qingyang." Zhang Yuanqing gazed out the car window.
"Then why...?"
"Because I'm broke!" Zhang Yuanqing sighed and hung up.
Then, tapping on Fu Qingyang's avatar, he sent a message: "Boss, I’d like a summary of the missing items, a list of recovered items, and information on the cases caused by those items."
He needed to know how many items were scattered out there in total, and how many had already been retrieved.
A few minutes later, Fu Qingyang sent him a link.
Zhang Yuanqing clicked the link and logged in with his "Yuanshi Tianzun" account, only to find he lacked sufficient clearance to view it.
Only then did he remember his clearance was that of a bottom-tier regular employee. Left with no choice, he logged in with Guan Ya's account instead.
—The two of them had already exchanged their official account passwords and phone passcodes.
Zhang Yuanqing was quite diligent about deleting messages these days, especially chat logs with female friends like Little Green Tea, Xiao Yuan, Queen, the Palace Master of Halting Slaughter, Annie, and so forth.
Logging in to Guan Ya's account and clicking the link, two spreadsheets popped up:
# Lost Items Summary #
# Recovered Items Summary #
He opened the first spreadsheet and skimmed through it. The total number of lost items this time was ninety-five, listing each item's name, class, and function.
However, the first fifteen items listed only names and classes; their functions were blank.
Zhang Yuanqing noticed that Little Red Riding Hood, which he had newly acquired, was ranked thirteenth.
*A top-grade Saint-stage item is only ranked thirteenth? Does that mean the top twelve are all Dominator-grade? If I could get my hands on even one, wouldn't I reach the pinnacle of life in no time?* He clicked his tongue in wonder, then looked at the top three entries.
The first three were completely blank, showing only their sequence numbers—no name, class, or function.
"They're either top-tier items among Dominator-grade artifacts or rule-based items. That guild president didn't want to disclose the attributes of these three items to the authorities."
Heat flared in Zhang Yuanqing's eyes. Fu Qingyang hadn't been wrong at all: this was both a catastrophe and an opportunity. Acquiring any of the top fifteen items on the list would be enough to turn a loser into a top-tier powerhouse.
As for the eighty items ranked below fifteenth, Saint-grade items accounted for a third of them—a whole twenty-seven items, enough to make even Saints drool with envy.
Next, he opened the "Recovered Items Summary." This spreadsheet was identical to the previous one, listing the ninety-five scattered items, except that certain entries were highlighted in red and stamped with "Recovered."
Of the top fifteen entries, eleven were marked in red. The ones left unhighlighted were Numbers 1, 2, 3, and 9.
Among the subsequent eighty entries, half of the Saint-grade items had been recovered, and a third of the Extraordinary-grade items were reclaimed.
Yet in just a few days, over twenty cases caused by these items had already accumulated across Songhai, Sanzhuang, Jiangnan, and other areas, resulting in casualties of five to six hundred people.
The Songhai branch, Hang City branch, and the various branches in Sanzhuang must be under immense pressure.
"The items still loose in the wild are 13 Saint-grade items, 36 Extraordinary-grade items, plus Numbers 1, 2, 3, and 9—fifty-three in total."
Leaning against the headrest in the taxi, Zhang Yuanqing pondered quietly:
*That president belonged to the Void class and possessed the Treasure Seeking ability. Out of the top fifteen items, apart from Little Red Riding Hood, the rest were probably recovered by him.*
*His next priority will definitely be those four top-tier or even rule-based items. He won't have time to bother with Extraordinary- and Saint-grade items. That's my chance.*
*After the first wave of outbreaks, the flashy and restless items—or their wielders—have all been eliminated. The ones left will surely lay lower and lower.*
Thinking of this, he sent messages to Xiao Yuan and Kou Beiyue in Jinshan City, asking them to keep an eye on Jinshan City's public security lately and notify him immediately if they found any signs of items causing trouble.
"Are you talking about the incident where the demigods fought and a massive number of items were scattered everywhere?" Xiao Yuan replied.
"Yeah. Those scattered items have already caused several egregious incidents, harming over a hundred people. I want to put an end to this as soon as possible." Zhang Yuanqing replied from the moral high ground.
He really didn't have the face to tell Xiao Yuan the truth.
"All right! I'll keep an eye out for you," Xiao Yuan replied.
Zhang Yuanqing replied with a "love you" emoji.
As for Kou Beiyue, his response was:
[I'm busy with work these days. We'll talk when I have time.]
His tone made him sound as though he were a burdened adult bustling about to make a living.
8:00 p.m., Changqiao Airport.
After the plane touched down, Zhang Yuanqing turned off airplane mode and immediately received a message from Queen detailing numerous cases—or suspected cases—triggered by items.
Arson, robbery, theft, homicide... over twenty cases of all sorts.
Due to unclear or broken leads, these cases had temporarily become cold cases.
However, three incidents caught Zhang Yuanqing's keen interest:
One: Songfu University's Love Forest.
Note: Legend has it that as long as you take the person you like into the forest, you will share the passion of Mount Wu with them.
Two: Sand in the Town God Temple.
Note: Sand mounds inexplicably appear inside the Town God Temple every morning.
Three: Midnight Knocks in Jiangbei Residential Compound.
Note: Unclear whether it is a prank or a vengeful spirit. Many residents reported it to property management, but a review of surveillance footage revealed nothing unusual.
Strictly speaking, the three occurrences above weren't cases but urban legends that had recently cropped up. Circulating only within specific areas, they had minimal impact, drew little outside attention, and hadn't even been reported to the police.
According to Queen, these urban legends had been gathered recently by Li Chunfeng using big data, limited to the urban area of Songhai.
Songhai had plenty of similar ghost stories and urban legends, with new ones fabricated almost daily. But since Li Chunfeng had filtered out these three, he surely had his reasons.
Zhang Yuanqing trusted the professional competence of a Scholar.
"Songfu University is nearby. I'll go check that out first." He put away his phone, having found his target.
Chapter 372