Approaching Yang Ning and Zhou Chen with a solemn expression on his face, Ye Chen says—
"My squad and I nearly died in that hellhole you call a ruin, no way we're going back into one."
In response to these words, Yang Ning frowns.
Normally, the standard military man should have started going on a rant of nonsense by now; however, Yang Ning seems to have no intentions of doing so.
Being firm with his decision, Ye Chen adds—
"This isn't a matter of money and special privileges, General Yang. You know as well as I do that the appearance of the Ashen River Hall, along with the importance of ruins excavations have started to cause a shift in our society ever since Carps started to be distributed."
"Ai…"
Agreeing with this, Yang Ning raises a sigh. Already there's been signs of Sinners becoming more rebellious—starting with the young, who should still be attending school in specialized institutions.
And as of late, more combat-inexperienced Sinners have started to not attend to their classes. Further investigations show that a great portion of their numbers have already signed a contract with the Ashen River Hall.
"I'm aware that our society's attitude towards Sinners is at the root of all this. Originally, I had wanted to change this attitude over time, but with the hall's sudden appearance in this world, that is no longer an option."
Just as it would seem like Yang Ning is about to go on talking for a while, Long Hua speaks up, and says—
"Sorry, but you mind me just leaving? I've no real interest in your conversation at this point."
Towards Long Hua's words, which had thoroughly destroyed the tense mood, the three twitched their lips.
"Surnamed Long, you…-"
Cutting Ye Chen off, Long Hua says—
"Surnamed Ye, what happens to our office at this point doesn't really matter to me. I'll simply do whatever it is that I want, whenever I want."
As Long Hua gets off the bed, Tian Cheng hands him his storage pouch.
(Did that unpleasant bastard give it to her? …Oh well, not like it matters much—so long as I've gotten it back.)
Receiving the storage pouch, Long Hua heads for the room's exit, with Tian Cheng following after him.
And just as Long Hua is about to reach the door—
"Catch."
Ye Chen tosses something towards him.
"Hm?"
Turning around, Long Hua catches it in his right hand, and taking a look at the item in question, it is revealed to be a smartphone.
"A replacement."
"Thanks."
Accepting the new smartphone, Long Hua leaves the room.
Walking down the hospital's hallway, Long Hua thought—
(Ruins excavations, or the frontlines. Hmm. Going off to the frontlines could allow me to gather more spirit Qi, but spirit Qi right now isn't important. What I need is the power of the five elements—to advance into the Life Manifestation realm. Until then, I'm basically stuck in the Sea Manifestation realm…)
Adjusting his line of thinking from here, Long Hua concludes—
(Powerful magic treasures could contain traces of elemental energy. I guess, I'll have to talk to Zhen-laoban to work something out. Also, pressuring oneself is the best way for a practitioner to grow and gain experience. In that case, ruins excavations will probably be the better route to take, but some preparations need to be made for the sake of safety.)
On the way out of the hospital, Long Hua heads into a restroom to change out of the hospital gown.
As they leave through the hospital's front entrance, Tian Cheng asks—
"Where shall we go now, master?"
Adjusting the cuffs of his black dress shirt, Long Hua answers—
"The Mirrored Moon Café."
Prior to heading into the ruins, Long Hua had stored his bike there.
Now that he could use his storage pouch openly, he no longer has any reason to keep it at the café when it's not in use for prolonged periods of time.
...…
Back in the hospital room, Yang Ning asks—
"Will you not reconsider, Colonel Ye?"
"I don't mind being the sole person to head into those ruins, but I'm not going to force my squad mates in with me."
Towards Ye Chen's reply, Yang Ning says—
"One of your squad mates said—that they wanted to continue excavating the ruins, if there was a chance to find a cure for their little sister's health condition."
"…"
From this alone, Ye Chen can already guess who it is.
"Another said, their family has given them strict orders to continue."
"…"
The only person who could have said this is Qing Yue alone.
As for Li Xue, Ye Chen could already guess her decision, which is—
(That woman is sure to follow after me, since she wants me dead.)
Heaving a heavy sigh, Ye Chen stares up at the ceiling.
Eventually, he says—
"Fine, but my office gets to decide on which jobs to take, and when to complete them—if applicable. The military won't be allowed to give us direct orders to do this and that."
Agreeing to this with a nod, Yang Ning says—
"Your office shall be compensated greatly for this; I've also taken the liberty to get your base of operations renovated."
Hearing this arrangement, Ye Chen twitched an eye. From the looks of it, Yang Ning had already figured that things would turn out this way.
"…Thanks."
Having said this, Ye Chen turns around, and leaves.
"Times have changed. Too fast for the old standards to keep up."
Saying this, Zhou Chen heaves a sigh.
"Indeed, it has, Lao Zhou."
The reason society had developed such a negative attitude towards Sinners was due to the Four Executioners' orders. Experiments have shown that when Sinners are subjected to great pressure—whether that be physical or mental pressure, they will be able to grow at a quicker rate.
In fact, all Sinners capable of Partial-Apotheosis shared the commonality of being close to death when they had obtained this ability.
With the appearance of the Ashen River Hall, however, the Four Executioners no longer sees any more reason for society to maintain this attitude because they expect the Immortals to invade in greater numbers in the future—as a result of the outer and inner domain making contact with one another, far sooner than they had originally anticipated.