Chapter 143: Dew Realm Level 8

Old Li chattered on for another ten minutes or so, jumping from the disappearance cases to housing prices, then veering off into municipal planning."Anyway..."

Old Li turned the steering wheel into the hotel's front courtyard: "Young man, whatever you do, don't go to the eastern suburbs during this time. That area is extremely dangerous right now, even us veteran drivers don't dare take fares going there."

Su Zhan scanned the code to pay the fare: "Thanks for the warning."

"Of course, of course!"

Old Li helped carry the luggage out, lowering his voice: "If you absolutely must go... it's best to go around noon, just whatever you do, don't go at night."

He pointed toward the hotel entrance: "Xiao Zhang at the front desk is my niece, if you need any help just look for her."

"Thank you."

Su Zhan nodded.

The Yunshan Grand Hotel was brightly lit against the night sky.

Old Li stood by his car watching for a while, only returning to the driver's seat after Su Zhan's figure disappeared behind the glass doors, rubbing his hands together.

"Strange..."

Old Li muttered as he turned the car around, thinking to himself: "Other passengers show some fear in their eyes when I talk about the eastern suburbs, but this young man... his eyes are unfathomable, not a trace of fear at all... and his luggage, just one travel bag, large, seemingly empty, yet very heavy... could it be controlled weapons? But how did that get through the high-speed rail security? Maybe I'm overthinking it?"

He pondered internally.

The taxi soon disappeared around the bend of the mountain road.

Inside the hotel.

Su Zhan looked down at the city through the floor-to-ceiling window.

He opened his black travel bag.

Pulled out a pair of twin blades.

The hilts and scabbards were pitch black like ink.

When drawn from their sheaths, a cold glint flashed.

Old Li's intuition was correct; the bag indeed contained controlled weapons.

As for how they passed security...

With his identity as a Vermilion Bird Academy student on assignment, the security personnel gave him the green light all the way.

Su Zhan weighed the twin blades in his hands.

His previous pair had been nearly destroyed during the battle with the Bone Eroders; these were new weapons he bought for another 3000 credit points.

The description claimed they could cut through the bones of medium-risk level Aberrants.

Of course, it said they *could* cut through, but how much force was required depended entirely on the user's ability.

"Should last me a while."

Su Zhan sheathed the twin blades.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed.

He began silently absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

He had already reached the seventh rank of the Dew Realm two months ago.

Now he could break through to the eighth rank of the Dew Realm at any time.

Better to break through sooner rather than later, to better execute his mission.

Or rather... to better kill the mist creatures.

Su Zhan closed his eyes, the spiritual energy within his body automatically beginning to circulate.

The bottleneck at the seventh rank of the Dew Realm had long been loosened.

After the spiritual energy circulated three times through his meridians, the barrier, thin as paper, broke.

The spiritual energy suddenly became active, surging through his limbs and bones.

Ten minutes later.

Su Zhan opened his eyes, stretched, his joints emitting slight cracking sounds.

The eighth rank of the Dew Realm, achieved.

The entire process was as effortless as taking an afternoon nap.

If not for the denser spiritual energy gathered in his palm compared to before, he might have doubted whether he had truly broken through.

...

The next day.

Eastern suburbs of Yun City.

Noon.

Most of the originally bustling shops had pulled down their rolling shutters.

The few convenience stores still open had red "For Transfer" notices pasted at their entrances.

On the empty bus stop platform.

Several missing person notices fluttered noisily in the wind.

The top one had already yellowed; the photo of the missing person was a grinning baby.

The only place with any sign of life was a hardware store.

The owner was dozing in a rocking chair at the entrance, a skinny local dog lying at his feet.

The dog's ears suddenly pricked up, and it growled lowly toward the bushes across the street.

The owner glanced at the bushes across the street; there was nothing there.

So he patted the yellow dog's head: "Da Huang, stop barking."

Recently, the eastern suburbs had been unsettled.

Even the dogs had become jumpy.

Da Huang seemed to deflate, then suddenly started barking toward another direction.

The owner thought there was probably nothing again, but still turned his head to look.

He saw a young man wearing a black short-sleeved shirt.

The owner frowned deeply.

Yun City's eastern suburbs, as the name implied, were the outskirts east of Yun City. There weren't many people to begin with, so the owner knew almost everyone who lived here.

But he genuinely hadn't seen this young man before.

Daring to come to the eastern suburbs at this time?

Another curious one with no fear of death.

The owner had already mentally labeled this young man.

This young man was precisely Su Zhan.

Carrying a large travel bag on his back.

Along the way, he hadn't seen a single person.

Either they had all left, or they were hiding indoors, too afraid to come out.

Now that he finally encountered a living person.

Su Zhan immediately stepped forward, pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his chest—the kind that cost a hundred per pack—and offered one to the owner: "Boss, can we chat?"

He didn't smoke himself, but had bought them specifically for gathering information.

The owner lay in his recliner, not even moving a hand.

Su Zhan immediately understood the hint and handed over the entire pack of cigarettes.

Seeing this, the owner's eyes lit up slightly as he reached out to take it: "Here to ask about the recent events in the eastern suburbs?"

"Correct."

Su Zhan nodded.

The owner unhurriedly lit one of the cigarettes Su Zhan had given him, and even took another from the pack Su Zhan provided, offering it to Su Zhan.

Su Zhan waved his hand: "I don't smoke, you enjoy them."

The owner didn't insist, took a deep drag, squinted his eyes while sizing up Su Zhan: "Young man, judging by your accent, you're not a local, right? What brings you to the eastern suburbs at a time like this?"

Su Zhan pulled over a small stool and sat down: "I heard some strange things have been happening here, came to take a look."

"Hah!"

The owner blew a smoke ring, pointed with his finger at the row of closed rolling shutters across the street: "See that? This street originally had twelve shops, now including mine, only three are still open.

Last month, Old Liu's hardware store was still open, but then his grandson cried fussily in the middle of the night, and the next morning..."

The yellow dog suddenly started barking frantically toward the alley entrance again.

"Shut up!"

The owner casually picked up a broom beside his feet and threw it, then turned back to Su Zhan: "If you ask me, you youngsters from out of town shouldn't always think about doing exploration live streams."

Su Zhan took a bottle of mineral water from his bag and handed it to the owner: "How long have you been running this shop here?"

"Thirteen years and four months, been here since the eastern suburbs were still wasteland."

The owner twisted open the cap and took a gulp, lowering his voice: "You know what's the weirdest part? In all the homes where people disappeared, the doors and windows were perfectly fine, not even a dog barked."

Su Zhan's eyes flickered: "What about the surveillance footage?"

"Snow! All goddamn snow! Just black and white moving static!"

The owner gestured excitedly: "The Aberrant Purge Division installed three cameras outside my door, but every time something happens, the footage looks like an old TV with no signal for those few minutes."

The yellow dog suddenly tucked its tail and hid under the counter.

"Here it comes again... around noon every day, this beast gets restless."

The owner's expression also changed, he took two quick puffs of his cigarette: "Young man, take my advice, leave while it's still light. The sun here in the eastern suburbs..."

He looked up at the bright, glaring sun: "...doesn't feel warm."