Vindicated, Chronicled into History

The world rift connecting the pocket world to reality hung in midair on the outskirts of Tinghai City, some twenty to thirty meters above the ground. Dense woods stood below, their boughs bending low beneath the torrential rain. This was ordinary Blue Star Tinghai. Having stayed here for a while, Bai Zhou was reasonably familiar with the place. Yet now, emerging beyond the world rift and looking down at the city in the fleeting moment of his descent, he felt an uncanny sense of separation, as if a lifetime had passed. "Hua..." The rain poured in torrents. Hundreds of tactical searchlights pierced the curtain of rain from every direction, their dazzling glare cutting through the dense downpour to weave an inescapable web of light, illuminating the hundred-meter radius around the rift's exit as bright as day. In midair, rotors howled. Over a dozen Night Raider Type-III attack helicopters hovered steadily against the raging tempest, every piece of ordnance primed and loaded, with dense webs of crimson infrared aiming dots crisscrossing through the rain. Farther out in the dense woods, trenches and defensive fortifications had already been dug. Armored combat vehicles mounted with enchanted machine guns sat in defensive perimeter rings, flanking a temporary command post erected in their midst. *Whoosh.* A broom-shaped grappling hook snagged a high bough. Gem Witch, carrying Fang Xiaoxia in her arms, floated gently down onto the tree. On the grass beneath the tree, Bai Zhou landed firmly on both feet with a wet squelch, his boots catching the mud. "Quite the welcome party," Bai Zhou said, blinking twice. "Reminds me of the town hall meetings back where I'm from." "A town hall meeting? Do these people look that friendly to you?" After a brief pause, Bai Zhou retorted with genuine puzzlement, "...Wait, aren't town hall meetings the exact opposite of friendly?" Gem Witch: "?" *Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble—* Abruptly. As the trio emerged from the world rift, nearly twenty beams of light surged skyward from the temporary command post. Every single ascending beam belonged to a formidable extraordinary above Level 6. They hailed from various official authorities—the Anomaly Investigation Bureau, the Special Control Bureau, the Hall of Statutes, and more. Each was an elite on par with Deputy Director Liu, holding at least the rank of deputy director in their respective agencies—the true foundational strength of Tinghai City. Terrifying auras erupted. Layer upon layer of Spirit-Intent Domains unfolded silently and overlapped, locking tightly onto the trio, primed to unleash a thunderous strike at any moment. *Clack-clack, clack-clack...* All around them, from positions seen and unseen, hundreds of enchanted rifles clicked off their safeties. *Hum, hum, hum...* Array after array of nameless rituals blazed to life, their brilliant radiances illuminating the rainy night layer by layer. A sense of lethal peril surged into the hearts of the trio; the extraordinaries had clearly cordoned off this area into an ironclad perimeter. The cordon slowly closed in. The searchlights beat down on the three of them like miniature suns, making them glow more brightly than any star on a stage. "Look on the bright side," Bai Zhou, the center of attention, said with an unruffled expression. "At least they didn't treat us like demons and immediately mince us into paste without asking questions." Gem Witch rolled her eyes. "And whose fault do you think that would have been?" Fang Xiaoxia nervously hugged the plush dolls in her arms tighter. "Are they bad guys too...? Why is it one wave after another? Does it ever end?" Apart from the three of them, not a single person spoke within a two-kilometer radius. Not even a rat or a fly could be heard; every living thing was pinned under the watchful scrutiny of the rituals. There was only the drumming of heavy rain against the tactical helmets of the special forces, on vehicle roofs, and across the puddled ground, accompanied by the howl of helicopter rotors cleaving through the air. Tense eyes remained fixed on Bai Zhou and his companions. At this moment, no matter how powerful the extraordinaries were, or how high-ranking the agency executives, they all scrutinized the trio with suspicion and uncertainty, every gaze converging upon them. Because right now, the trio's appearance was truly out of the ordinary. Gem Witch carried a battered, chipped wand, the mask on her face shattered in half, and her gorgeous gown was soaked in dark red blood. She looked as though she had just emerged from the fiercest of battlefields, every inch of her screaming that she had undoubtedly killed a great many people. As for Bai Zhou, he was on an entirely different level. He was drenched in blood, making it impossible to tell whether it was his own or someone else's. His tattered clothes were frayed beyond recognizing their original color. Yet that blood seemed imbued with some strange vitality, radiating a twisted fluctuation that demanded the utmost vigilance from every powerhouse above Level 6. Only Fang Xiaoxia looked like a normal person. The girl seemed entirely ordinary. Though smeared with a bit of dirt and blood, she clearly had not engaged in any fighting. Her eyes held the bewildered nervousness of a mundane mortal, without the slightest trace of spirituality—and she was even clutching two adorable plush dolls in her arms. Yet to these prominent figures above Level 6, this sheer normalcy was more abnormal than anything else! An ordinary mortal lacking spiritual energy, holding two plush dolls, showing up in the dead of night amidst a torrential downpour, casually strolling out of a world rift as if nothing had happened? What could possibly be more bizarre than that? It was unsettling to the extreme—so eerie that it sent chills down the spines of these dignitaries who prided themselves on having seen it all. In their experience, such people were the most dangerous of all. They appeared harmless, docile, and ordinary on the surface, but behind the scenes they wielded every manner of curse and witchcraft—often the most psychotic and unhinged of all extraordinaries. Evidently, some unbelievable, earth-shaking event must have happened to these three! Some let their imaginations run wild, some were fraught with tension, and some stood ready for battle. The sheer intensity with which everyone watched Bai Zhou and his companions was no less than that of proctors patrolling an exam hall for cheaters. They were restless, coiled like springs, yet seemingly waiting for someone's order... only, for reasons unknown, that command was long in coming. "You..." From the brightly lit command center in the distance, several figures stepped forward, flanked by an entourage. One hunchbacked elder strode forward. With just two casual steps, he had already appeared right before Bai Zhou's group. "Elder Song!" Gem Witch called out in delight, clearly recognizing the newcomer. Only then did she finally breathe a sigh of relief. Elder Song gave her a nod, glanced at Fang Xiaoxia, and ultimately fixed his gaze on Bai Zhou. "Why are you here?" he asked in a deep voice. "What happened... in there?" Noticing the elder's gaze was fixed on him, Bai Zhou weighed his words for a moment before offering an earnest, concise summary: "Luo Tunan was close to ascending to sainthood, but I killed him." He added, "Then, the resurrected demon was kicked clear out of this world by a bunch of remarkable kids." Elder Song froze. Beside him, Director Qi of the Anomaly Investigation Bureau and Commander Qin of the FZDC also stared in disbelief. A resurrected demon? Remarkable kids? What was this young man talking about? Telling a story was always hard, without exception. And if the story happened to be one's own, it was doubly difficult, making it all too easy to say too much in some places and far too little in others. Yet as difficult as it was to explain the story clearly, making people believe it was a far more daunting hurdle. Facing the predatory gazes all around him, Bai Zhou, a wanted fugitive, maintained a placid demeanor on the surface, but the pressure inside him was already at a boiling point. He was contemplating his chances of breaking through the encirclement if the other side suddenly attacked. Fortunately, he wasn't fighting alone. He had a wonderful ally who loved wearing masks, yet commanded far more credibility than the vast majority of high-ranking figures who regularly showed their faces in public. "Actually," Gem Witch turned to Elder Song and took the initiative to speak, "this Bai Zhou is the very person I told you about—the one who told me something was wrong with Longluo Private High School." "He has been bearing false accusations because of Luo Tunan this whole time, hunted endlessly by the authorities, the Art Club, and Luo Tunan's subordinates." Facing the gathered elite of nearly half of Tinghai's official forces, Gem Witch's voice pierced through the downpour, ringing clearly in the ears of every extraordinary: "Yet it was also him who foiled Luo Tunan's conspiracy, allowing this city to pass through tonight in peace." *Bai Zhou? That Class-A wanted criminal from the Special Control Bureau? The one behind the serial bombing cases?* Hearing Gem Witch's words, many dredged up memories of Bai Zhou's profile, matching the face to the name. Elder Song blinked, exchanging bewildered glances with Director Qi and Commander Qin beside him. Looking past Bai Zhou at the world rift that had now vanished without a trace, Elder Song took a slow, deep breath. "Could it be..." "Yes, it is exactly what you think!" With a brisk tap of her heels, Gem Witch stepped forward, then turned slightly aside to reveal Bai Zhou behind her. She cleared her throat with two small coughs, her expression turning solemn: "Allow me the honor of a grand introduction!" "The young man standing before you is the Class-A fugitive of the Special Control Bureau's serial bombing case, the unsung hero who bore false accusations from Luo Tunan yet persevered in investigating the truth, the 'Senior Zhou' who turned the tide and shot down the demon in the Inverted Ruin Realm, the lifelong nemesis of the half-step Saint Luo Tunan, and the slayer of saints and demons personally acknowledged by the school's demon!" "It was he who, witnessed by my own eyes, personally slew both saint and demon, ultimately saving all of Tinghai!" Gem Witch tilted her head slightly, her voice turning cold: "And now, this savior of Tinghai stands right here, with your guns pointed at him!" Silence fell across the field. Dark muzzles gleamed with the eerie blue sheen of runic enchantments in the rain. The silent soldiers stood like dark iron towers in the downpour; no one lowered their weapons, yet no one made an aggressive move either. "..." Bai Zhou stood motionless in place, his silhouette looking particularly enigmatic against the rainy night. His toes curled in his boots. He desperately wished he could turn into a mouse right then and burrow into the dirt. *I asked you to clear my name, not to clear it like this...* *How can someone be this cringe? Are you even human?* Bai Zhou suddenly felt he had approached the wrong person. He should have known better—Gem Witch was someone whose belt shouted "Rejoice!" during combat, someone who would unironically proclaim herself the "Executor of Justice, Darling of Talent, Guide of the Radiance" before transforming on the spot. This eccentric was terminally chuunibyou; she had no sense of shame! Before tonight, Bai Zhou had imagined countless times the moment the truth came to light: he would make a cool, aloof entrance before the entire world, and everyone would gaze upon him with expressions of profound remorse and guilt, while the generous Mr. Savior magnanimously forgave their foolishness and ignorance. The fugitive who had fled to the ends of the earth would finally step into the sunlight. The fugitive would achieve a glorious vindication. People would apologize to him, shower him with gratitude, and crown him with the laurels of justice and righteousness. Some said that upon reaching heaven, you could pick one perfect moment from your past life, turn it into eternity, and live inside it forever... If Bai Zhou had to choose, that eternal moment would definitely have been right now. Until this exact second. Bai Zhou suddenly realized the long-anticipated moment was careening wildly in an unexpected direction, like a runaway tractor barreling down a highway—puffing cheerful black smoke from its exhaust as it went. Yet in truth, the witch's grand introduction proved remarkably effective. "Unsung hero?" Elder Song of the Special Control Bureau raised an eyebrow, mulling over the term. "Senior Zhou?" Commander Qin of the FZDC widened his eyes, never expecting to hear that familiar, unforgettable name here. "Slayer of saints and demons?" Director Qi of the Anomaly Investigation Bureau narrowed his gaze. Surprisingly, every single one of them found something relevant to their own concerns in Gem Witch's introduction. Behind them, the rest of the crowd stood dumbfounded. *Why are you introducing so many titles? Aren't there only three people standing there?* They could hardly fathom how all these titles could belong to a single person. The more one knew about the insider details and rumors, the better one understood the staggering weight behind each of them. By comparison, the seemingly illustrious titles of the Titled Extraordinaries appeared insignificant before the young man introduced by Gem Witch. Yet... "Slaying a saint? Slaying a demon?" An extraordinary above Level 6 hovering in the sky wore a dazed expression. Was that even possible? Then what had all of them been preparing for with such grave solemnity? *How old do you even look? How dare you make such a claim...* A wanted criminal of dubious origins and questionable identity could hardly convince the crowd on his own. Yet if Gem Witch—the renowned solo hero, a friendly collaborator of the authorities, and the good neighbor of Tinghai's citizens—vouched for him... And what if the person who accomplished all this was indeed "Senior Zhou," who had previously saved numerous official extraordinaries and shot down a demon in plain view of everyone? Perhaps that was precisely why Gem Witch had deliberately emphasized those specific identities. In the FZDC ranks, three Titled Extraordinaries exchanged glances. Rusted Silver Knight, Emerald Flame, and Sword of Chilling Winter. Through the fine curtain of rain, they studied Bai Zhou from afar for a long while, finally discerning that unforgettable silhouette from his familiar frame. Then, they lowered their blades. "Perhaps we should investigate thoroughly first," Emerald Flame said, adjusting her platinum-blonde hair, her curvaceous figure clad in dark green armor. "Unless it is confirmed that he is genuinely evil, I cannot draw my sword against my savior," Rusted Silver Knight said, shaking his head with a deep rumble. "It violates my knightly code." Sword of Chilling Winter said nothing, his face expressionless and revealing no stance. Yet among the three, he was the first to lower his frostblade. The choice of these three Titled Extraordinaries significantly swayed the attitude of the entire FZDC formation. The atmosphere turned subtle. Just then, someone hurried over carrying an instrument resembling a laptop and whispered a report to Elder Song: "That world has truly collapsed. The data fluctuations peaked and burst; neither the previously detected holy fluctuations nor the demonic signatures can be found anymore..." Hearing this, Elder Song nodded. He glanced at Gem Witch, then fixed his gaze back onto Bai Zhou, appraising this young man who remained calm and composed even under such a massive encirclement. A glimmer of astonishment and admiration flashed in the depths of his eyes. "We will uncover the truth and verify your words." "If what you said is not false..." Elder Song raised his hand slightly. *Rattle, clatter...* In the direction of the Special Control Bureau's formation, rifle muzzles were raised and holstered, and black boxes were closed shut. The heavy rain seemed to subside. The downwash from the rotors of the Night Raider Type-III attack helicopters set the branches rustling. The flashing lights of tactical vehicles illuminated Bai Zhou's face. Bai Zhou remained impassive, looking aloof, composed, and utterly unfathomable. "..." Then, the cold-faced Bai Zhou raised a hand, quietly wiping away the sweat mingling with rainwater on his forehead. "Though all of this sounds quite unbelievable," Elder Song said, shaking his head, "we cannot entirely rule out the possibility that the legends and miracles whispered of in the mystical world could occur in Tinghai." "The truth will eventually come to light. Everything tonight has truly been too much for an old heart to bear." "However, young man, if you truly are such a hero..." Elder Song stepped forward from the crowd, straightened his suit, and came to a dignified halt before Bai Zhou, making a solemn pledge: "We will apologize to you for the previous warrant, for the Special Control Bureau's oversight, and for all the grievances you have endured." "And we will hold a grand banquet to welcome the hero's triumphant return." By this time, the pitch-black clouds on the horizon were fading to gray, as the first rays of dawn prepared to break through. Daylight had finally arrived. To describe Tinghai tonight as "surging with clouds and winds" would hardly capture the chaotic turmoil that had turned the city on its head. The Anomaly Investigation Bureau archived thirteen special dossiers in a single breath, five of which were classified as top secret, not to be declassified for a decade. The Special Control Bureau deployed fifty-two black boxes all at once, mostly high-tier ones; in recorded history, this was only the third time in the past decade that the Tinghai Black Box Special Control Department had mobilized on such a scale. The FZDC headquarters had been bombed, and the demon's corpse stolen—only for it to be revealed that the demon had replaced Deputy Director Liu and done it with its own hands. The entire FZDC was deeply disgraced, with every high-ranking official receiving a demerit. Tonight, someone had attempted to ascend to sainthood in this city. Tonight, someone had loosed an arrow of thunder atop Egret Mountain, piercing the rainy night. And tonight, someone had ridden a swan and pedaled a tricycle at a lunatic speed of 380 kilometers per hour, fleeing across half of Tinghai in a trail of sparks and lightning, leaving traffic control and pursuers in the dust, unable to even catch a glimpse of his drifting exhaust. A mother who cherished her child conquered her inner demons; a devoted son was sacrificed by his own father; someone's name was cleared and their grievances vindicated; sins reeking of blood were washed clean by the rainy night. A girl who had lost her parents celebrated a one-of-a-kind coming-of-age birthday, and a demon who wholesale-graded exam papers was carried away to the heavens by the children he had once fostered. Official departments entered states of emergency, sirens blaring at headquarters across the city. They had mobilized on a massive scale, scouring all of Tinghai like madmen to find where Luo Tunan's pocket world was hidden, and just when they finally managed to pinpoint it— The pocket world exploded on its own! Three people walked out, making a dazzling entrance before a grand assembly featuring the elite leadership of half of Tinghai. An ordinary person, a Level 5 extraordinary, and a wanted criminal of indeterminate strength—and their very first words were that the demon was dead. Killed by them. Who would believe that? People were shocked, suspicious, and thought it was an utter fantasy. Yet it seemed that this very trio—one man and two women—had slain that overbearing demon right on its own home turf. Thanks to these three, amidst the cognition-twisting "Golden Millet Dream," Tinghai City, hanging by a thread between life and death, had safely made it through the night. Yet a far more profound tremor was spreading across Tinghai at an astonishing speed, rippling outward even beyond the city borders. A massive earthquake! The name Bai Zhou officially landed on the desks of the leaders of every major faction. The moment he emerged, he had raised absolute hell, like the Monkey King wreaking havoc in the heavenly palaces. He had countless stains and infractions to his name, yet he truly seemed to have turned the tide and saved the city, making him an object of dread as well as an enigma. Dossiers and psychological profiles on Bai Zhou piled up by the basketful. He had undeniably become the hottest star and center of attention in the city. Anyone in Tinghai's extraordinary circles who didn't know Bai Zhou was simply irrelevant. Numerous extraordinaries above Level 6 conducted rigorous investigations, and countless technicians worked through the night, all to falsify Bai Zhou's claims or track down traces of the demon. No one dared simply take the word of Bai Zhou and his companions; after all, none of them were fools who smiled blindly at everything. Yet this also kept them on pins and needles, terrified that Luo Tunan had merely gone into hiding to emerge later in his complete form—or worse, that the demon was hidden among Bai Zhou and his group! The crisis was far from over. Many directly regarded the trio as extremely dangerous, and hardliners even argued that a Class-C black box should be used against them as a test. That was essentially equivalent to dropping a hydrogen bomb on someone just to see what happened: if they survived, Bai Zhou was indeed the demon; if they didn't, then the demon had already been vanquished... Yet all debate, vigilance, and wariness came to a halt at a specific moment. Because the scribes of the Ashen Archives had recorded Bai Zhou's tale of slaying the saint and demon into history. That was not the crucial part, however. The crucial part was that Tinghai's "City History" acknowledged this record. If the history penned by the scribes of the Ashen Archives was considered unofficial folklore, Then Bai Zhou had now at least been inscribed into the official city chronicles. Only when a city's civilization sensed a crisis of its own extinction would the City History record the savior who had turned the tide. This proved that everything Bai Zhou and Gem Witch had said—was entirely true! Luo Tunan was truly dead! The demon had resurrected in the pocket world, and it was dead too! Bai Zhou had done it! And so, This city of Tinghai, having survived catastrophe, was like a sea engulfed in roaring flames... It began to boil! *Rustle...* Deep in the woods, an invisible ripple stirred the air. With a light tap of her toes, a petite cloaked figure materialized out of thin air, her movements weightless and devoid of worldly dust. Intricate silver embroidery was woven like constellations, looking vast and profound, shimmering with faint radiance in the rainy darkness. Raindrops vanished into nothingness inches away from her cloak, forming an isolated vacuum. Slender fingertips pressed against the shimmering nib of a quill, leaving lines of elegant, meticulous handwriting upon the yellowed parchment of an ancient tome held in her palm, every stroke flowing with uncanny resonance. [In the year 2030 AD, on the ninth day of September, Luo Tunan sought to ascend to sainthood; Bai Zhou thwarted him.] [The demon inverted, and the saint emerged; the saint fell, and the demon arrived once more.] [At 04:37:08 on the morning of September 9, 2030 AD, Adventurer Bai Zhou slew the demon a second time.] [Slaying the saint and demon, turning the tide from collapse, saving Tinghai from fire and flood.] [Thus recorded in history, for the reference of future generations.] [—Recorded on September 9, 2030 AD, by Scribe No. 006 of the Ashen Archives, on the outskirts of Tinghai City.] The pen stopped. Before the ink could dry, those lines of neat handwriting suddenly trembled, as if waking up. The single thin leaf of yellowed parchment emitted a faint, nearly imperceptible chime, as though resonating with something far away. The scribe blinked. Realizing what had occurred, she looked up. Silver-white hair cascaded down like an ethereal galaxy. Her exquisite, elven face held clear, clean eyes that gazed into the distance toward the neon metropolis shrouded in the curtain of rain. In the young girl's eyes, the distant city standing quietly in the shifting wind and rain seemed to take on a different aura. Something invisible and profound flashed and vanished in the unseen realm, yet she perceived it clearly. In her senses, the city was breathing quietly, but the rhythm of its breath had shifted slightly... like a giant finally awakening from a long nightmare, slowly opening its eyes. Blinking twice, the girl's cool expression shifted slightly, caught between understanding and surprise. Her voice, crisp as melting glacial spring water, murmured softly: "Tinghai's... City History?" *** Inside the Anomaly Investigation Bureau, the data analysis center was a hive of activity. Over a hundred screens tracked different real-time datasets, monitoring every aspect of Tinghai. Unlike the Black Box Special Administration, which was dedicated to safeguarding black boxes, and the FZDC, tasked with disaster prevention and handling major disasters across the Ruin Realm and reality, the Anomaly Investigation Bureau's everyday duty—true to its name—was to monitor, investigate, and handle Tinghai's daily occurrences, from urban legends down below to problematic extraordinary cults, secret societies, and independent extraordinaries up above. Tonight, it was thanks to this data analysis center that the authorities had successfully pinpointed the general area of the hidden pocket world across the city. Among these hundred-odd screens, one displayed a 24-hour real-time waveform monitoring the "Spiritual Energy of Tinghai's Urban Area." *Beep.* An unusual tone caught the technicians' attention. "What happened?" Amidst the warning chimed, the waveform tracking Tinghai's urban spiritual energy surged upward in a sharp spike, as though Tinghai's spiritual activity had abruptly doubled across the entire city. Though the surge was pitifully brief—lasting a mere three seconds. After three seconds, everything returned to normal. Yet across the data analysis center, more than a hundred learned technical elites stared at the screen agape, their hands scrambling across consoles, unable to find the cause of this sudden anomaly. "Why does it feel like..." The head of data analysis, a middle-aged man in a white lab coat, took off his gold-rimmed glasses and rubbed his weary eyes. Why did it feel as though, in those brief three seconds, this city they had protected for so many years— Had briefly awakened? *** At the same time, Bai Zhou and his companions sat impassively inside a vehicle. The spacious armored tactical transport cruised smoothly at 130 kilometers per hour. Inside was a refrigerator stocked with ice and beverages, a liquor cabinet filled with red wine and whiskey, crystal goblets clinking with understated refinement—and an old man and two middle-aged men. Elder Song, Director Qi, and Commander Qin sat on either side of Bai Zhou, sandwiching him in the middle like an escorted prisoner—which, in all likelihood, he practically was. Though probably no one had ever seen such a luxurious prisoner transport. Fang Xiaoxia and Gem Witch sat across from Bai Zhou, exchanging wide-eyed stares with him. At first, Bai Zhou had felt somewhat nervous. After all, though the three men beside him wore genial smiles and chatted with him from time to time, they felt unimaginably terrifying in his senses. Each was like a slumbering primordial behemoth, exerting an overwhelming pressure on him. Not to mention Bai Zhou's current weakened state—even at his peak, if these three harbored ill intent toward him, he would have had no way out alive. So Bai Zhou cast frequent glances out the window. Outside the bulletproof window of the tactical vehicle moving at 130 kilometers per hour, Teacher Crow was hovering with her hands behind her back, maintaining relative stillness with the window, looking completely calm and detached. She even narrowed her eyes slightly, raising a hand to yawn from time to time, as if bored, or perhaps sleepy. This brought Bai Zhou a good deal of comfort. In truth, Major Luo had left behind an enormous mess. Among the "prominent figures" colluding with him, how many had been exposed tonight, and how many remained submerged beneath the surface like unexploded naval mines? How would the Zijing Group react, and what stance would the authorities adopt toward the conglomerate directly tied to Major Luo? All of these were thorny problems. Thus, Bai Zhou needed the backing of the authorities. Or rather, he had finally held out until now, enduring until he could speak face-to-face with trustworthy official higher-ups. No longer having to run for his life, no longer spending anxious nights sleeping atop air conditioning units—looking back, even those hard-won moments felt surprisingly extravagant. So, while sounding out the thoughts and attitudes of the dignitaries beside him through conversation, Bai Zhou also pondered his next steps. Now that Major Luo was dead, the problem of Crow's growing drowsiness remained unresolved. Did Base 36 still conceal secrets he didn't know about? How were the folks back in Wancheng doing? Had they survived Major Luo's devastation? It was also time to put the collection of potion ingredients for advancing from Adventurer to Trialist onto his agenda... Bai Zhou weighed everything carefully and prudently. He had far too many secrets, and an absurd number of extraordinary treasures—including the black box he had lifted from the Special Control Bureau, and the Sky-Thunder Bow that originally belonged to the Anomaly Investigation Bureau... What attitude would the authorities take toward him, and toward these treasures? There were many matters to consider, but one issue sat directly before his eyes— The defensive posture these three maintained against him was in no way inferior to how they would guard against a demon. In fact, Elder Song was cradling two jet-black boxes, one on each side of his lap. Evidently, they were nowhere near as relaxed as their words suggested. Both black boxes clearly bore Class-D designations, looking perilous to the extreme... What kind of old man chats smilingly with a junior while nonchalantly holding two landmines capable of blowing the entire vehicle and everyone inside to kingdom come? This old man praised him with "the younger generation is to be feared" while clutching those two mines in a death grip, clearly prepared to go down in flames together if anything went sideways... He might have even rigged some terrifying mechanism beforehand, like "if spiritual contact with the black boxes lapses for too long, they will automatically detonate." "..." Thinking of this, Bai Zhou pulled a long face. *I'm such a harmless, bright, and cheerful guy. Why do people always look at me like I'm some terrifying supervillain?* Elder Song noticed Bai Zhou's melancholy, and also caught him shooting gloomy glances at the two black boxes in his arms. He offered a somewhat embarrassed, self-deprecating smile: "Rest assured, we will not wrong a good person, nor will we—" "..." Before Elder Song could finish, an unexpected change erupted inside the vehicle. "What...?!" Bai Zhou looked down, stunned to discover that he was glowing! His chest, his shoulders, his fingertips, even every inch of his body—a warm, ancient, extraordinary light seeped from the inside out. At first, the three official titans were startled and moved instinctively to react. Elder Song looked ready to pop the black boxes open on the spot. "Wait! Spare me the box!" Seeing the old man looking primed to pull the pin and ascend to heaven together, Bai Zhou instantly raised both hands in surrender. The three titans quickly noticed that Bai Zhou was just as bewildered, looking down with raised hands in utter confusion, showing no intention of making a move. "This is...?" Only then did the three titans look closely at the white light enveloping Bai Zhou. The mysterious white light warped the air, carrying an exalted aura that was almost sacred and ancient, framing Bai Zhou like a divine descent. As the three titans examined the mysterious halo around Bai Zhou, they hazily saw scene after scene flashing past like a picture scroll. Those images resembled ancient murals, like the hero chronicles and epic poems of gods and demons painted on cave walls by archaeologists using mineral pigments left behind by primitive civilizations. Yet the shifting play of light and shadow deep within the halo seemed strangely familiar to Gem Witch and Fang Xiaoxia... In one scene, a figure pedaled a tricycle, charging into the pitch-black downpour. In another, a figure drew a longbow, aiming an arrow at the boundless sky. And in yet another, someone raised a paper airplane, beneath whose wings thousands of motes of light flowed like a galaxy. "This is...?" This was Bai Zhou's story! The three titans were uncertain at first. So they looked a few times more. More scenes from the murals revealed themselves, until finally all the murals merged into a single image... In the mural, a human figure stepped upon the corpse of a white humanoid form, slaying the monster in the sky. "It's... the City History!" Elder Song finally confirmed it, gasping in a low voice as he instinctively looked at the two men beside him. "Now, it seems there is no need to verify whether their words are true..." "The savior, the slayer of saints and demons..." Director Qi and Commander Qin looked over as well, their expressions a kaleidoscope of emotions, exchanging stunned glances. "This young man..." "He has been recorded into the chronicles!" Recorded into the chronicles? Bai Zhou froze. What did that mean? In the next instant, Bai Zhou felt an ancient, wild, magnificent, and boundless consciousness cast its gaze down upon him. "..." In his ears, he heard the crackle of campfires, the clash of swords and scythes, and ancient, low-pitched songs. Bai Zhou felt a warmth and serenity rising from the depths of his heart, like an infant returning to its mother's embrace. *Swish...* In a daze, an invisible river seemed to flow above Bai Zhou's head. He looked up and saw countless ancestors standing densely along the banks of that transparent river. They turned together, looking toward Bai Zhou struggling within the waters. At this moment, an inexplicable, profound sensation welled up in Bai Zhou's heart. Tinghai was looking at him. The living beings of Tinghai were looking at him. This vast land of Tinghai, and the civilization that had thrived upon this rich soil since the dawn of living creatures and written words—had conveyed its gratitude to him. From this day forth, He, the outsider Bai Zhou, would have his silhouette forever carved into the enduring history of this land. For thousands of autumns and myriads of generations!