Quentin Farr finished speaking and left.
Evan Stone stood in place, his mind involuntarily replaying the image of William Young lowering his head, his fists slightly clenched...
William Young lowered his head,
But what about him?
If this were in his past life, Evan Stone might have been no different from William Young—only by lowering his head could he survive in society. But this time...
Evan Stone slowly turned his head, his gaze cold and cutting, looking at the surviving half of Ice Spring Street.
"You want me to lower my head?"
He chuckled softly...
...
District 3.
In the basement.
A cold, gusting wind suddenly swirled from the void and slammed into Charles Moore!
The oil lamp on the floor shook violently and extinguished instantly, plunging the entire basement into pitch-black silence. Charles Moore grunted in pain and fell heavily to the ground!
He looked up in shock, his eyes wide with disbelief!
Just now, when he activated the [Eye of Retrospection], it felt as if he saw pairs of crimson eyes glancing at him from the endless void...
But that single glance was enough to make his path to godhood tremble!
"This... this is..."
Charles Moore stood frozen for a moment, then suddenly snapped back to reality.
He quickly climbed to his feet and rushed up the stairs, back to the small shop!
"What's wrong with you, [Spade 7]?" The woman, noticing Charles Moore's rushed and panicked appearance, raised an eyebrow.
"...I saw it."
"Saw what?"
"'The End of the World.'"
The woman froze, not quite understanding at first.
"That thing is a 'doomsday' disaster!" Charles Moore said with certainty.
"This can't be..." The woman immediately shook her head. "No one can merge with a 'doomsday,' not even the leaders of the Fusionist faction... You must have seen it wrong."
"I didn't see it wrong! Its gaze even made my path to godhood tremble!"
"This..."
"We must notify the Red King and the Gray King immediately."
Charles Moore went to the counter, pulled out some paper and a pen, and quickly began writing.
"If this is true... things could get really bad." The woman immediately realized the gravity of the situation. "Even if the Red King and Gray King arrive, we might not be able to deal with it, unless the Lord of Aurora joins forces with us..."
Charles Moore's fingers paused.
"What's wrong?" The woman asked.
"'Doomsday' level disasters have the power to eradicate an entire human domain." Charles Moore slowly turned his head to look at her, his eyes gleaming with madness, "So, what if we kill it, release the 'doomsday'... and don't have to execute that plan?"
The woman froze.
"That's a 'doomsday' level disaster! Are you crazy?" The woman spoke halfway, then shook her head. "I almost forgot, you formal members are all mad..."
"I was just speaking casually." Charles Moore pushed up his glasses, calmed down, and spoke calmly, "Let's first ask the Red King and Gray King..."
Charles Moore finished writing the letter and handed it to the woman. She glanced at him and said,
"By the way, weren't you supposed to evaluate the absorption of this person? Are you still going ahead with it?"
"...Yes."
"As the recommender, what's your rating for him?"
"S+" Charles Moore's expression became unusually serious,
"Extremely dangerous."
...
Knock—knock—knock—
The sharp knocking sound rang through the room, startling the many enforcers from District 2 who had been leisurely drinking tea. They turned to look at each other, confused.
"Who's coming at this time?"
"I don't know..."
Quentin Farr, speaking as he opened the tea house door, was surprised when he saw who was standing outside.
Evan Stone stood quietly at the door, smiling as he waved to the few enforcers inside.
These enforcers were supposed to be responsible for Ice Spring Street, but instead, they were huddling here drinking tea, leaving all the work to Evan Stone and William Young. This already pointed to something, and now it seemed that William Young had been telling the truth.
This group of enforcers was in cahoots with the people from Ice Spring Street, choosing to do some superficial work by sending only two newcomers to handle things. This way, if Aurora City headquarters came asking, they could claim that there weren't enough people, that Evan Stone and William Young handled everything, shifting the blame while maintaining good relations with the people of Ice Spring Street—killing two birds with one stone.
Seeing Evan Stone, the enforcers lowered their heads, uninterested in engaging with him.
"Is it you? What are you doing here?" Quentin Farr asked, surprised.
"I still have a few questions regarding my assignment that I need clarified by you all."
"What questions?"
"My task is to question the survivors of Ice Spring Street, right? To gather information about the disaster?"
"Yes."
"What if they don't cooperate?"
At the sound of this question, Quentin Farr sneered internally but answered patiently on the surface,
"If they don't cooperate, you just need to make them cooperate... we are enforcers, we have the authority."
"So, can I use force?"
"Of course."
The other enforcers in the room couldn't help but laugh.
"I see." Evan Stone nodded. "If they don't cooperate, I'll drag them over here for you to deal with."
"Glad you understand. Go ahead, your evaluation ends tomorrow. You must finish your task today."
After Evan Stone left, Quentin Farr closed the door, and then several unrestrained laughs filled the air.
"This kid is really stubborn..."
"He's more of a headstrong fool than William Young."
"Did you hear? He even wants to use force... Does he really not know what Ice Spring Street is like?"
"Sigh, he's from a poor place, where does he have the information channels? Let's not laugh at him... let's drink tea."
The faint sound of their laughter filtered through the door crack and reached Evan Stone's ears, but he didn't mind.
Right now, his focus was on the prompt that flashed before his eyes:
[Audience Expectation +1...+1...+1]
"Stone's Directorial Rule, Number 13:"
"When there is already a clear conflict, appropriate emotional climaxes can be added through character relationships, pulling the audience's emotions to enhance the sense of satisfaction when the original conflict erupts, and even setting up post-climax moments of catharsis."
Evan Stone knew he could directly create a scene of chaos on Ice Spring Street, but in doing so, the conflict would be too simple, and the [Audience Expectation] wouldn't increase much...
So, he decided to pull the enforcers into the mix.
Evan Stone walked through the ruins of the first half of Ice Spring Street and came to the place with the most survivors... the Black Axe Tavern.
This was a common gathering spot for the residents of Ice Spring Street, and now, with half the street reduced to ruins, it had become a temporary shelter for some. William Young had suffered his humiliation here yesterday.
But Evan Stone was not him...
He held the investigation form in one hand and pushed open the tavern door with the other. As the door creaked open, the entire tavern fell into dead silence.
Countless cold, ferocious gazes turned toward the door, all focusing on Evan Stone.
"Hello, I am Enforcer Evan Stone..."
"Are you ready to answer my questions?"