35: Chapter 35 Citywide Lockdown! The Entire Family Bosses Flee in a Feigned Escape
No one spoke in the living room.
The news anchor's voice still echoed in the living room, but the five people at the dining table could no longer take it in.
Su Yun's chopsticks paused in mid-air.
Dragnet search.
S-Class Executive.
Citywide lockdown.
He had clearly used the boundary of [black day] last night to completely isolate the entire room from the spatial dimension.
Theoretically, the spiritual energy fluctuations generated by the transformation could not have leaked to the outside world.
But the facts were right before his eyes.
He lowered his head and glanced at his palm.
The rank transition of the growth stage was far beyond his estimation.
The boundary of black day had indeed sealed off most of the leaking energy, but the rank suppression in that instant acted on a conceptual level.
Space can be isolated, but concepts cannot be locked down.
That "click" at four o'clock in the morning last night was the ripple projected from a higher dimension when he shattered his shackles.
Su Yun stuffed the fried dough stick from his chopsticks into his mouth, his expression unchanging.
No panic.
His transformation was already complete, and his spiritual energy signature had completely changed.
Even if an S-Class powerhouse stood in front of him, it would be impossible to correlate him with last night's abnormal fluctuations.
Unless the other party could directly read his memories.
And that, in front of the Lord of Blind Idiot God, was absolutely impossible.
He raised his head and swept his gaze around the dining table.
Interesting.
A circle of people, five faces, four types of panic.
The hand Su Chen was using to hold his porridge bowl had completely frozen.
His expression maintained his standard gentle-as-jade smile, but his left eyelid was twitching crazily.
The Firmament.
Su Chen was very familiar with that codename.
S-Class Executive, codename The Firmament, real name Executive Jiang Xu.
His partner, codename Abyssal Eye, possessed the strongest spiritual energy detection ability currently known, claiming that within a radius of a hundred miles, no spiritual energy fluctuation could escape his notice.
All of the Salvation Society's strongholds, personnel, and communication matrices in Linhai, although they had undergone top-tier concealment processing, were only effective against A-Class detection methods.
If it were the S-Class Abyssal Eye, he had absolutely no confidence.
What was more fatal was that he himself was sitting at this dining table right now.
If they were face-to-face.
There was a possibility he would be discovered.
Su Chen quietly picked up a fried dough stick and put it into his bowl.
His hand didn't shake.
His heart was shaking.
Old Su opposite him was even more panicked than him.
S-Class Executive?
Citywide dragnet search?
Old Su almost spat out the goji berry water in his thermos.
Yesterday, he had a fight with eight old men from the Sanctuary at the quarry, and the Black Flame had burned half a mountain.
With such massive spiritual energy fluctuations, it was impossible for the Investigation Bureau's satellites not to have captured it.
Coupled with the fact that his S-Class spiritual energy signature was already on the official high-priority monitoring list, as long as the search precision was high enough, locking onto his signal was only a matter of time.
Old Su drank a mouthful of porridge with a normal expression.
His brain was already planning an escape route.
Su Qing was practically about to die on the spot.
Yesterday, in broad daylight, she had hijacked a civilian and thrown a person from a high altitude; all the city's citizens had filmed it.
Sister Ye said the Investigation Bureau had already issued an official accountability letter, demanding that The Watchers organization hand over Dark Blade.
Now an S-Class Executive was leading a citywide lockdown?
This must be to catch her, right?
Su Qing secretly pulled her fisherman hat down lower, wishing she could shrink into the hat and disappear entirely.
She was done for.
If she were caught and taken to The Watchers' headquarters interrogation room, that would be fine; Sister Ye could at least bail her out.
But if she were hauled away directly by the authorities, Dark Blade's true identity would be exposed.
By then, her mom and dad would know she had been secretly killing Strange Tales behind the family's back...
Social death would be the mildest outcome.
Physical death wasn't entirely impossible either.
Lin Wanqing was the last to panic, but she panicked the most covertly.
She put down the apple she was half-peeling and let her gaze fall calmly on the TV screen.
The scale of the Sanctuary's personnel assembly in Linhai was indeed a bit too large.
The current Saintess personally bringing twelve ruling Elders to descend into the heart of the Great Xia was, from the perspective of any sovereign nation, enough to constitute a military-level cross-border provocation.
The authorities could not possibly have no reaction to this.
The citywide lockdown was very likely aimed at the Sanctuary.
If they investigated Arbiter Lei Zhen and Arbiter Qin Feng, and then followed the trail to her...
Once the identity of the Former Saintess was exposed, the trouble wouldn't be for her, but for this family.
Everyone's secrets would be strung together because of this line.
Six people, five types of guilt.
Only Su Yao was quietly drinking porridge there.
Of course she wasn't panicked.
She was the one who personally requested the S-Class Executive to be transferred here.
The search target was also very clear: that indescribable monster from her previous life.
It had nothing to do with everyone present.
But Su Yao clearly underestimated the psychological resilience of her own family.
The silence lasted for about five seconds.
Su Jianguo was the first to move.
He put down his thermos, stood up with extreme naturalness, and patted the non-existent dust on his trouser legs.
"Today is a batch of equipment arriving at the company warehouse, I have to go supervise the unloading."
Su Jianguo added as he walked toward the entryway, his tone extremely sincere, "They are all precision instruments, those porters are clumsy, if they break a few, I won't be at ease."
Su Yao put down her chopsticks.
"Dad, the news just said the whole city is on lockdown, not allowing—"
Before she could finish, Su Jianguo had already changed his shoes with an agility that completely contradicted a patient with lower back pain.
"A lockdown isn't a road block; I'll drive through the alley at the back of the residential compound, I'll be there in five minutes."
After dropping this sentence, Old Su opened the security door and almost collided with Lin Wanqing, who was also putting on her shoes.
The two made eye contact at the entryway for a brief moment.
Lin Wanqing spoke first, her voice gentle: "Old Su, be careful on the road."
Su Jianguo nodded: "You too."
Then the two stepped out of the house one after the other with extreme tacit understanding.
Su Yao froze while holding her porridge bowl.
Wait.
Where did Mom go?
She hadn't had time to ask yet.
Lin Wanqing's voice drifted in from the hallway.
"I'm going to the supermarket to buy some groceries; since the whole city is in lockdown, we need to stock up on some things at home."
This reason was impeccable.
But Su Yao always felt something was wrong. That look just now... the speed at which the two of them left...
"Bang."
The security door slammed shut.
Su Yao turned her head.
At the dining table, Su Qing was already gone.
Her bowl and chopsticks were still in their original places, the salted duck egg shell lay lonely in the dish, and only half a cup of unfinished soy milk was still steaming.
Su Yao turned her head to look at the corridor.
The door to Su Qing's bedroom was tightly shut, and a crisp "click" of a lock echoed from under the door gap.
Within fifteen seconds, two of the six people at the dining table had run off, and one had hidden.
Su Yao put down the bowl and slowly scanned the empty living room.
The news anchor on the TV was still repeatedly broadcasting the lockdown order.
Su Yao looked at the table full of dishes that hadn't been cleared away.
Only one thought was in her mind.
I said an S-Class Executive was coming to hunt down Strange Tales, not to check your household registration.
Why are you all running?
What is wrong with this family?
"Sister, is there any more porridge? Give me another half bowl."
Su Yun handed the empty bowl to her.
Su Yao mechanically took the bowl, walked into the kitchen to scoop porridge, and walked back to place it in front of Su Yun.
She sat down opposite Su Yun.
Silence.
Then Su Yao took a deep breath and looked at Su Yun with an extremely serious tone.
"Little Yun, is there something our family is hiding from me?"
Su Yun picked up a pair of chopsticks of pickled vegetables.
"Is there?"
"Is there not?"
Su Yao said seriously, "Is it normal for everyone to run away as soon as they hear about a citywide lockdown?"
Su Chen, who was halfway up from his seat: "..."
Su Yun hesitated for two seconds.
"Maybe they're afraid the supermarket will run out of stock. You know, when Linhai people rush to buy groceries, their combat power is fiercer than Strange Tales."
Su Yao looked at his innocent face.
Forget it.
Asking him was the same as not asking.
Su Yao gave up on questioning and stood up to start clearing the dishes.
Her mind was now full of the search deployment after The Firmament arrived, and she had no extra energy to spare for this overreacting family.
She stacked the bowls and chopsticks and carried them into the kitchen, then turned back to instruct Su Yun.
"I have to go back to the Bureau today. You stay at home, don't go anywhere."
Su Yun nodded obediently.
Su Yao picked up her bag and went out.
Only two people remained in the living room.
Su Yun and Su Chen.
The news on the TV had already started its third cycle.
Su Chen stood up from the sofa, walked to the TV, and pressed the power button.
The screen went dark.
The living room quieted down.
Su Chen turned around.
He stood in the center of the living room with his hands in his jacket pockets, looking at Su Yun who was still sitting at the dining table slowly drinking porridge.
His gaze was no longer that of a gentle-as-jade big brother.
But that of a person who had made a decision.
"Little Yun."
Su Chen's voice lowered by half a degree.
"Hmm?" Su Yun didn't look up.
"Last night, I heard everything you said in the room."