Everyone Is Satisfied... and So Am I

"In the past hour alone, across the city's eighteen taverns, a total of... seventy-three bounties concerning 'Senior Zhou' have been posted?!" Inside a quiet office, an elderly man in a suit—a badge bearing the emblem of a cross bound by chains pinned to his chest—gazed at the report in his hands, struck dumb. Though his hair was stark white, he looked remarkably hale. Before him on the desk sat a cup of hot coffee, wafting delicate aromas of hazelnut, cream, and caramel. "Tinghai really is too small..." Setting down the paper report, he chuckled in an aged voice. "Small enough that at the slightest rustle of wind, every faction, demon, and monster in Tinghai City catches the scent and swarms in all at once." "This can hardly be called minor." A middle-aged secretary in a white shirt replied softly, "The last time Tinghai saw something on this scale was when the Black Calamity nearly broke out of containment. "Right now, on the bounty boards of every tavern, the asking prices for Senior Zhou's identity and ability profile are skyrocketing by the minute, yet not a single person has dared to accept the mark." Hearing that, the old man in the suit scratched his white hair. "Relying on those people to accomplish anything is worse than counting on the rooster I keep at home to lay an egg—just the other day, that bird nearly stole a sip of the potion I left on my desk! "However..." The old man paused, his eyes blinking twice at his secretary. "Every snake knows its hole, and every rat knows its run. Who's to say these people won't bring us a pleasant surprise or two? "Send a few operatives out to keep an eye on the bounty boards at several of the larger taverns over the next few days. If anyone takes the contract, report back at once." "Understood," the secretary replied without hesitation, bowing slightly. "In fact, I already dispatched people to handle that moments ago." "Good. You always save me the worry." The old man nodded, picked up his coffee, and waved his hand. Catching the cue, the secretary opened the binder in his hands, pages rustling softly. While the old man sipped his coffee, he read aloud the next report: "To eradicate the problem at its roots, the FZDC has petitioned you for a Rank C Black Box to execute the demon's remains. In exchange, they agree to let the Special Control Bureau jointly study the corpse and share any research breakthroughs." "A joint study?" The old man lowered his head and took another sip of the steaming coffee. "The terms are acceptable. But requesting a Rank C Black Box is no trivial matter; the Special Control Bureau will need a day to prepare." "I will relay your response." The middle-aged secretary nodded and closed the folder. After a moment's hesitation, the secretary seemed on the verge of speaking, but held back. "What is it?" The old man raised his eyes slightly, appearing completely composed. "Regarding 'Senior Zhou,' what is your view?" the middle-aged secretary asked. "All factions are paying close attention to this individual. Should the Special Control Bureau take action?" The old man's expression gradually grew solemn, his spine straightening slightly, as though an overwhelming presence suddenly unfurled around him. "As for this 'Senior Zhou,' an investigation is naturally necessary. It must be conducted with extreme caution and discretion, lest we give the impression that our intentions are unfriendly. "—However, the demon requires an even deeper investigation! "It isn't as though everything settles into peace just because the demon died. Who orchestrated it? Why did they do it? And what are the culprits doing at this very moment? "These questions are equally vital!" A chill glinted in the old man's eyes. "I truly wish to know who among us has the nerve to defy all prohibitions and dabble in the taboos of Hell in this day and age!" "H-Hell—" The secretary seemed to shiver. When mentioning that name, his voice dropped to a near whisper, cutting himself off halfway as though terrified of disturbing something terrible. "A demon bearing an honorific name... Demon worship and demonic summonings require an explicit, precise target. Ordinary people wouldn't know of such things, much less secretly complete such intricate ritual preparations!" The old man shook his head. "In the world of Extraordinaries, myths never arise from nothing. Either they once possessed real-world archetypes, or they refer to places that are suspected to be real yet remain unknowable." After all, even Extraordinaries who could command thunder and lightning truly walked the earth—how could humanity, with its limited understanding of Blue Star, dare to flatly deny the existence of mythology? At the very least, certain entities were indeed indistinguishable from gods in human eyes. Because humanity could not fathom their forms of existence or incredible life structures, it crowned them with the title of deities. "And Hell is the most terrifying among them," the old man murmured. Humanity knew very little about Hell and demons. Yet Extraordinaries universally agreed that it was by no means merely some superficial place burning with brimstone and fire as portrayed in folklore, but rather an independent, esoteric domain existing outside both Earth and the Reflected Ruin Realm. Some scholars posited that Hell might be linked to the depths of the vast, mysterious starry cosmos. This was precisely why humanity persistently poured resources into aerospace exploration, yet maintained absolute secrecy regarding what astronauts witnessed out in the void. Throughout history, countless Extraordinaries across both the Western and Eastern Federations had sought to summon demons. After all, compared to Heaven or various pantheons of myth, chaotic Hell was notoriously far more generous. Although genuine demon summonings had been exceedingly rare, the few successful or semi-successful cases had wrought catastrophic impacts upon human history, nearly strangling civilization halfway through its infancy. Legend had it that at the farthest edge of Antarctica lay a Gate of Hell, heavily guarded year-round by an endless influx of elite troops deployed by the Western Federation, where unfathomable Extraordinaries waged unending war. Thus, by the modern era, both the Eastern and Western Federations had formed a tacit consensus, classifying demon worship and demonic summoning as inviolable taboos. Official agencies joined hands to ruthlessly suppress such practices, imposing severe, uncompromising punishment the moment any were uncovered! People scarcely dared even speak the name "Hell," fearful of drawing the attention of ancient, sleeping rituals. The old man was a rare exception. "Regardless of what other departments think, we cannot simply brush this matter aside, leaving a greater catastrophe for tomorrow!" The old man leaned slowly back into his plush office chair, slipping back into his indolent posture. Yet his gaze remained sharp and commanding, carrying a frightening weight of authority. "Senior Brother is away. As the deputy director of the Special Control Bureau—and his most trusted junior brother—I can hardly allow him to return only to find Tinghai turned into a demonic realm or our bureau reduced to rubble, can I?" "You speak too harshly, sir." The middle-aged secretary wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. "I will begin the investigation at once!" "Put Xiao Shi on it," the old man said. "He's our best elite. Entrusting this matter to him will put my mind at ease." "Yes, sir." "Oh, right—" The old man looked up as if recalling something, his voice dropping into a solemn murmur. "Is it certain that the demon is truly dead? You know what I mean." "There should be no doubt." The secretary nodded, stepping closer, and replied in a low, steady voice, "Word from the Grand Instructor confirms that the vessel carrying the demon has been destroyed. "Because the carrier serving as an embryo had not yet severed itself from the womb, the demon had no time to form a cocoon. It has lost any possibility of resurrection." The secretary drew a photograph from his binder and presented it. "Here is the photograph of the demon transmitted from the scene." "That is good." The old man breathed a sigh of relief. "A demon's descent is terrible, but what is far worse is having its cocoon repeatedly manifest across this land, ready to return whenever an opportunity arises, making it nearly impossible to permanently kill. "—We must never leave such an enduring scourge to future generations!" Some demons bore names humanity had never heard, yet legends of other demons resurfaced continuously across different eras. The difference lay precisely here: certain demons had never truly "departed." A single calamity could be endured, but every demon was like a cockroach, embodying the words 'infinite future peril' to perfection. Fortunately— "It is a blessing that our paths crossed this time, that we met the right person in 'Senior Zhou' at the most opportune moment, sending our demonic guest back to its maker before it could spin a cocoon." Chuckling, the old man took the photograph from the secretary and examined the pale figure in the red dress, who looked as if she were merely asleep. Between that figure and the massive mounds of mangled flesh surrounding her, a twisted, blood-red sinew still hung. The sole blemish was that the photograph appeared tainted by some occult power; freshly printed, it was already yellowing, its white borders overrun with dense crimson threads creeping outward like spiderwebs. Stare at it for too long, and one would swear that countless eyes were opening across the red dress in the photograph to glare back, or that the picture itself was coming alive, turning into a writhing crimson spider crawling across one's hand. "Regrettably, to ensure the demon retained no trace of life, the Grand Instructor and his men severed the umbilical cord linking the flesh-womb to the demon—the sinew visible in the picture," the secretary explained. "Once the cord was cut, the mass of flesh on the ground rapidly lost its vitality, and the pi symbol on the School Demon's forehead vanished, like washed-out paint. Otherwise, the demon would have held far greater research value." "When the true name vanishes, it signifies the demon has departed. That is completely normal," the old man replied, shaking his head. "Throughout history, humanity has managed to capture a demon's true name only a handful of times. We must not be greedy." With that, the old man set down the photograph, whose surface seemed almost ready to squirm as the red lines grew increasingly vivid. "Mmh... Leave this photograph around for another couple of days, and it'll qualify for containment in a Rank F Black Box." "I will dispose of it." The secretary swiftly took the picture and slipped it back into the binder without a word. "In any case, for such a storm to subside like this, with almost no casualties... I must say, I am quite surprised." The old man put down his coffee, his cloudy eyes blinking as he turned to gaze toward the windowsill. The silver-edged spider plant on the sill was thriving, glistening with beads of dew in the late night. After observing it for a moment, the old man lazily turned his head back. "Surprised, but it is well worth celebrating. "Have Xiao Ba clear some time to follow up on this young Destined who caused such an enormous stir. If necessary, appropriate contact may be made. "I really am rather curious to know... just who this 'Zhou' actually is." With that, the old man looked at the middle-aged secretary standing solemnly before him, raised a hand to point at the hot coffee, and smiled. "Xiao Wang, don't always look so grim. Relax a bit—care to try a new blend? "These are fresh beans flown in just this morning from Hawaii in the Western Federation, grown along the slopes of the Mauna Loa volcano. Truly not interested in a cup?" *** Around the same time, inside a spacious underground office, a furious roar suddenly erupted. "What?! The president of Zijing Group was visiting the director of the Statute Hall, and both of them learned of Liu Yisheng's death together?!" "What do you mean, 'Liu Yisheng enthusiastically provided aid to the authorities, only to perish within our jurisdiction while the top official ranks suffered zero casualties'?! "And Zijing Group actually wants to have a talk with me?! "—They can negotiate with a spiraling sow for all I care!" A man clad in a white trench coat slammed his hands onto the desk, bellowing, his wild hair as unkempt as a bird's nest. "Boss, don't get worked up! Please, whatever you do, don't lose your temper!" A male secretary stood beside him, clutching an empty syringe while desperately trying to restrain the man. "Your hormone levels are spiking abnormally again! This is already your third sedative tonight!" Paying no heed, the man hammered the desk in pure irritation. "Why didn't they go to the Special Control Bureau? Why didn't they go to the Anomaly Investigation Bureau? Both agencies had people on the scene, so why come looking for us of all people?! "Isn't it just because the Special Control Bureau and the Anomaly Investigation Bureau are municipal tier-one agencies, while my FZDC and the Armory are merely tier-two? Zijing Group simply doesn't dare to stroke the fur of those major departments!" Mid-sentence, the man's eyes widened. "Wait... did Zijing Group approach the Armory?" "Apparently not," the secretary replied gingerly. "The matter truly has little to do with the Armory. Besides, their former second-in-command has just returned, and the entire department is in an absolute frenzy of excitement..." At those words, the man in the white coat understood. It seemed that the Armory's old fossil stepping back into the open had frightened quite a few people. Building an official Extraordinary agency from the ground up was never a smooth journey. That decrepit old wizard, now ancient beyond belief, had once been a notorious terror who slaughtered his way through Tinghai until no one dared utter a peep, uprooting cults and secret societies one after another back when the city was still lawless. As both a ritual master and a potion master, his disciples and old acquaintances were scattered across every corner of Tinghai. Who would dare cross him? "To put it bluntly, they're just picking on the softest target!" The man fumed. "Isn't this just—" "Aren't they just bullying honest folks?!" So what if they were a tier-two agency? Was being well-acquainted with the bureau director such a big deal? Granted, having only one of their Rank 5 executives die did sound a bit suspicious, and on paper Zijing Group had indeed been assisting the authorities with the case... but in all that chaos, who had time to babysit you? An explanation? Out of the question. Compensation? Absolutely not. If Zijing Group held a grudge over this... At worst, the FZDC would simply refuse Zijing Group's sponsorship in the future! The man sneered coldly. "At worst, we'll blast Tinghai into the sea!" "No, no—Boss, you've misunderstood!" Wiping away his sweat, the secretary scrambled to stop his hot-headed superior from continuing his tirade. "In truth, Zijing Group expressed deep regret that their supervisor caused trouble for the agency. They wish to discuss concrete compensation with you, as well as broader economic cooperation moving forward." The man in the white trench coat blinked. "?" His flushed face seemed to freeze. After sputtering for a long while, he finally choked out, "Is the president of Zijing Group a masochist?" "..." The secretary was struck speechless. After a moment of silence, he quietly reminded him, "I believe they merely want a pretext to establish contact with you, so they can wedge their way into the upcoming research project on the demon's corpse." "Corpse research?" The moment real business was mentioned, the man instantly turned solemn. His gaze grew extraordinarily calm, as if he were an entirely different person—a complete psychological turnaround. "Ignore Zijing Group for now. Keep them dangling; give them no reply. "The urgent priority is to fully assist the military on-site in safely transporting the demon's remains back. Under no circumstances can contamination be permitted to leak—at all costs!" Taking a slow, deep breath, the man's flushed complexion gradually faded back to an unhealthy pallor. His fingers tapped incessantly against the desk as he muttered under his breath, "Whether the FZDC can seize this opportunity to leap into a tier-one agency and completely shed our former awkward status... "All rides on this single stroke!" *** Meanwhile, within the Anomaly Investigation Bureau, debates regarding Bai Zhou were equally heated. "Senior Zhou? The Thunderous Heavenly Bow?" "We must uncover his identity! We have to find him before anyone else—even if it means bringing in a diviner! "That Thunderous Heavenly Bow is crucial property of our bureau!" "Never mind that no one knows his origins; even if he hails from Tianjing, even if he's from the Central Investigation Bureau—" Seated at the very head of the long conference table, the speaker's face twitched slightly. At the mention of the Central Investigation Bureau, he silently took the cigar from his mouth, his tone unconsciously dropping a few notches. "...They still have no right to pocket our property, wouldn't you all agree?" *** Zijing Building. A middle-aged man with a square jaw sat behind his desk, an arm wrapped around a handsome male secretary, his brow furrowed in doubt. "Liu Yisheng... what was he doing at Yuanmeng Middle School at a time like this? I don't believe for a second this was a coincidence!" The male secretary leaned in, breathing soft murmurs into his ear like an intimate nibble. "Word has it that the Third Young Master's shadow was behind this." "Number Three again!" The man's face darkened. "What on earth... is he trying to pull?! "The last warning didn't smart enough to make him behave? Does he truly wish to alarm the Old Master?! "—Furthermore, this 'Senior Zhou.'" The man turned to look at the attractive secretary right beside him, his expression softening slightly as he gave firm instructions: "Before we ascertain his identity, under no circumstances must we clash with him. Try every possible avenue to reconcile, and make it abundantly clear that this was all a misunderstanding. "If we truly cannot win him over..." A cruel gleam flickered in his eyes. "Then we will discuss other measures!" *** Where there was joy, there was sorrow. Some were astonished by Senior Zhou's sudden, dramatic emergence; others eyed the immense interests embodied by the demon's corpse with ravenous greed. To the hidden world lying beneath Tinghai's surface, the remains of a demon were more than enough to upend a power balance that had remained static for years! Yet by that same logic, the man capable of slaying a demon—that young Destined whose whereabouts and origins were completely unknown... Securing his friendship, or simply securing the man himself, might just be enough to leverage the entire board of Tinghai! Overnight, Bai Zhou had sparked a citywide fervor to "find Senior Zhou." A storm swept the entire city! Yet at the very center of the tempest, the man who was both the wind and the rain remained blissfully unaware of it all. Supported by Crow, he was currently limping forward step by slow step. To any passerby who couldn't see Crow, his posture would have looked utterly bizarre. At a glance, it looked as though a mother hen were propping up a chick that was flapping its wings and clucking while learning to waddle—except there was no mother hen beside him. "Sometimes I really think the Reflected Ruin Realm got cheated by letting you drop in whenever you please; it ought to charge you admission." This was Crow's greatest lament after hearing the full account of Bai Zhou's exploits tonight. "If the Reflected Ruin Realm didn't have that twelve-hour limit, but let you stay for twenty-four or thirty-six hours at a stretch..." Crow wore an exceedingly conflicted expression. "Wouldn't you advance to Rank 6 Titled the next time you came out, and complete a major stage advancement the time after that, soaring straight above Rank 6 and into the heavens?" "No time limit?" Bai Zhou tried to imagine the possibility, but immediately shivered. He had already endured more than enough tonight, barely managing to limp back in this frail, battered state. If he had stayed in the Reflected Ruin Realm any longer... he truly would have remained there forever, turned into a tireless 'Senior Zhou' roaming the realm! "Twelve hours is plenty. Any more and I'd end up like a perpetual-motion Troy drifting beyond the world," Bai Zhou said, using an analogy only he understood and Crow couldn't begin to fathom. "Even though this place is full of pollution, the air quality is terrible, and there's the Major's endless hunting..." Bai Zhou turned to look at Crow beside him, suddenly wearing a wistful, earnest expression that made Crow blink twice, tilting her head in puzzled bewilderment. "Still, reality is better!" It felt much more like the security of home... Supported by Crow, Bai Zhou murmured softly in his heart. *** The moon was bright, the stars sparse; the night sky was clear and dark. The waves of turmoil gradually receded beneath the surface into the shadows. Though wind and rain swept through Tinghai this night, carrying wild rumors everywhere... above the churning undercurrents, the most perilous crisis had passed. The demon had been slain, and even its remains were already in transit. Tomorrow, when the citizens of Tinghai woke up, those who had school would go to school, and those who had work would go to work. The sun would rise as usual—bright and warm, heralding another peaceful and beautiful day. *** "Even though a meddler leaped out from who-knows-where..." "Still, the winding stream ultimately empties into the sea. Everything proceeded smoothly." Inside the Reflected Ruin Realm, at Yuanmeng Middle School where mist surged and crowds bustled. In an untended corner among the battlefield ruins, a cloaked figure quietly materialized. The wind caught his hood, and the man raised his head slightly, revealing the hard, cold contours of Major Luo's face. Though windblown and visibly exhausted, the man's eyes were exceptionally bright. Whoosh— A gust swept past, stirring the grayish-white fog and blurring the man's silhouette. In the distance stood the hazy, bustling outlines of soldiers, whistles and shouts echoing from time to time. The people seemed to completely disregard the Major's presence here. Nearby, right at Major Luo's feet, lay a bloody, severed arm. Upon the black sleeve of that arm was an embroidered, blossoming bauhinia flower. The Major kicked the arm aside with casual ease. Its tightly clenched palm fell open, revealing a thin spread of black cinders arranged in an intricate ritual symbol. Then, the Major slowly crouched down, placing the jade pendant in his hand onto the symbol in the severed arm's palm. Buzz! Immediately after, the jade pendant emitted a faint glow. As though a certain glyph were being forcefully carved into it, the shape of the pendant began to shift. After a moment, the pendant finally settled, its radiance dimming. Now hollowed out, the symbol displayed by the pendant was identical to the 'pi' marked upon the demon's brow! "The demon was excised from the womb; the vessel bearing the demon fell under the gaze of thousands. "The hero bathes in glory beneath the praise of the masses; the authorities secured the demon's corpse; the victims were appeased; and the lives of the populace carry on as usual... "—Truly a story where all ends well." The Major picked up the jade pendant from the pile of cinders. The ash in the severed arm's palm drifted away on the wind, dissolving into nothingness thread by thread. The composed man looked up toward the shattered battlefield in the distance and the bottomless demonic pit, the chilling wind fluttering his sleeves. Before pulling the invisible cloaked hood back over his head, the Major lowered his head, his eyes downcast, a meaningful smile curling slowly across his lips. "In this undeniable comedy, everyone has an ending worth celebrating. "Everyone got what they wanted; everyone is satisfied. "—Naturally, so am I."