In a tall building in Cangnan City.
Creeeak.
The door slowly opened, and Zhao Kongcheng dragged his tired body inside, sighing every few steps.
"Old Zhao, what's wrong with you?"
The five people sitting in the room looked at him, puzzled.
"Did you get hurt last night?"
"From the looks of it, it's probably a breakup…"
"Shit, Old Zhao, don't tell me your wife's leaving you?"
"Stop talking nonsense."
The group of five started throwing out guesses, but after a while, Zhao Kongcheng finally sighed deeply.
"Am I really... so unattractive?"
"..."
The others rolled their eyes in unison, pretending not to hear. They each continued their tasks—some sharpening knives, others polishing guns, some scrolling through their phones, and others catching up on sleep.
"No, I'm really asking you all seriously!" Zhao Kongcheng grew desperate.
After a long silence, Hong Ying, who had been cleaning the guns, sighed and asked, "Are you upset, Kongcheng?"
"Sort of," Zhao Kongcheng paused, "I ran into the owner of that Golden Forbidden Abyss last night."
At this, everyone suddenly sat up straight, their eyes lighting up with interest.
"That possible agent of the Seraph?"
"Yeah."
"Is he strong? Who is he?"
"You're overthinking," Zhao Kongcheng shook his head. "He's just a regular high school student. That 'Klein' level energy fluctuation was probably just some residual power left over from the Seraph. He's still a rookie, just at the 'Lan' level."
The others' faces fell a little.
"We thought a 'Klein' level powerhouse had come to Cangnan City…"
"Well, if that incredibly dangerous god had chosen an agent, and they had grown to 'Klein' level, the higher-ups would have known about it."
The man sitting on the sofa narrowed his eyes. "Anyway, the fact that the Seraph chose an agent and granted them a divine abyss is a big deal. We need to report it to the higher-ups quickly."
"By the way, Old Zhao, since you met him, where is he now? Such an important person, you didn't bring him back?"
"He ran away…" Zhao Kongcheng sighed. "He told me he was going to grab his backpack, and while I wasn't paying attention, he slipped away."
"..."
As everyone was about to start teasing him, the door to the room suddenly opened again.
A man wearing a dark red cloak walked in, his face stained with blood. His steps were heavy, like he was carrying lead in his legs.
Upon seeing this man, everyone, including Zhao Kongcheng, immediately stood up.
"Captain!"
"Captain, are you alright?"
The captain waved his hand and shrugged off his bloodied cloak, sitting heavily on a small stool by the door. His brows furrowed with exhaustion.
"I'm fine, but... the Ghost Face King ran away."
Everyone's faces immediately became serious.
The captain continued, "I chased the Ghost Face King all the way to the suburbs north of the city last night and fought it. It got severely injured, but it forcibly wounded itself to escape."
"So, does this mean the Ghost Face King has likely escaped Cangnan City?"
"No, not necessarily." A man sitting on the sofa suddenly spoke up.
Everyone turned their attention to him. The captain raised an eyebrow.
"Speak up, Xiangnan."
Wu Xiangnan slowly stood up and pulled out a map of Cangnan City from beneath the sofa. He spread it out on the floor.
"Cangnan City is in a relatively isolated area, and it's far from neighboring cities. The fight with the Ghost Face King happened in the northern suburbs, and the nearest city is dozens of kilometers away." Wu Xiangnan circled an area on the map.
"So what?" Hong Ying asked, confused.
At this point, the captain's eyes began to shine. "The Ghost Face King was severely injured, and before it recovers, it won't be able to cross such a large distance."
Wu Xiangnan continued, "And if the Ghost Face King wants to recover, it has to feed on people, meaning..."
"It's bound to return to Cangnan City?"
"Exactly."
Zhao Kongcheng frowned. "But Cangnan City is so large. We have no idea where it will appear."
"The sewers." Wu Xiangnan adjusted his glasses and used a red pen to mark a curved line on the map. "The Ghost Face King has a habit of hiding in sewers. It escaped through the sewers before, and the only sewer system that connects the northern suburbs is this one. So, the Ghost Face King will most likely appear somewhere along this sewer line."
"Send people to search along this route immediately. We can't let it escape again!" The captain's eyes flashed with cold determination as he gave the order.
"Understood!"
"Also, one more thing." Wu Xiangnan turned to Zhao Kongcheng. "We absolutely need to bring back the Seraph's agent. His potential is too great to fall into the hands of the Ancient God Church. In some ways, this task is even more important than dealing with the Ghost Face King."
Zhao Kongcheng immediately stood tall. "Leave it to me. I'll personally capture that kid and bring him back!"
"He ran away, though. Do you think you can find him?" Hong Ying murmured.
"He's wearing a No. 2 High School uniform. I'll wait by the school gate today. I don't believe I won't find him!" Zhao Kongcheng's lips curled into a confident smile.
"Hey, why aren't you going to school today?"
Yang Jin looked at Lin Qiye, who wasn't wearing his school uniform or carrying his backpack, with curiosity.
"I've got something to do, so I'm skipping today," Lin Qiye replied as he put on his shoes and opened the door. "Is Aunt still asleep?"
"She just came back an hour ago."
"Got it. I'll head out early for school later. Don't follow my example."
"Alright."
Lin Qiye closed the door and silently removed the black satin cloth from his eyes, placing it in his pocket.
His eyes had returned, but he hadn't told Aunt or Yang Jin yet. One reason was that Aunt had been working the night shift, and they hadn't seen each other.
The other reason was that Lin Qiye had only recently gained these eyes and still couldn't fully control the power within them. Occasionally, the golden light would flicker in his eyes. While it wasn't too obvious, if Aunt or Yang Jin saw it, they'd probably insist on having him get them checked, which would be a waste of money. He wanted to wait until he could fully control the eyes before telling them.
Since he was already out, Lin Qiye saw no need to wear the black satin. It would attract too much attention. He took out the sunglasses Yang Jin had bought for him and put them on before striding towards the bus stop.
After over an hour of bumpy travel, Lin Qiye finally arrived at his destination.
Sunshine Mental Hospital.
The last time Lin Qiye had visited, it had been ten years ago.
In those ten years, both he and the hospital had changed greatly.
All the old walls had been renovated, and the gate was now twice as wide as before. Two modern high-rise buildings had replaced the original three-story building. Even the six large characters spelling "Sunshine Mental Hospital" had been replaced with golden embossed letters!
Standing at the entrance, Lin Qiye could no longer associate the modern hospital before him with the small building in his memories.
The only thing that hadn't changed, perhaps, was the old man at the gate.
He had become more hunched and his hair had turned gray, but his demeanor remained the same.
The old man seemed to spot Lin Qiye, squinting at him and raising his right hand to point.
Just when Lin Qiye thought the old man remembered him and was about to greet him, the old man shouted,
"Hey, you! Move out of the way, you're blocking the cars!"