613: Chapter 613 It was just a phone call.

"Drip, drip."

The sound of dripping water seemed all the more eerie in the night.

The night in the City of Never-Night usually signaled the start of the festivities, which was how it earned its name.

But today, the moon was almost entirely obscured, and the streets were unusually quiet.

"Step, step, step."

A large foot stepped into a puddle, splashing water everywhere.

The droplets splashed onto the wall, and through the reflection of the streetlights, they caught the appearance of the shoe's owner.

This was a man nearing old age, his large aquiline nose clearly revealing his Eastern Region heritage.

Reflected in the droplets, he appeared very nervous; his thick, furry coat seemed unable to provide him any warmth, and his pace grew faster and faster, as if he were trying to shake off something.

"Damn it, damn it, pick up!"

The man tightened his coat, tucking his neck into the collar.

Cold sweat slid down his face, bringing a hint of coolness, though anger seemed to arrive first.

"Damn, who is it!"

"If you've got the guts, come out! I'm not afraid of you!"

Like a wild wolf cornered, the man finally stopped running and bared his fangs.

He turned and drew his gun, but saw no sign of anyone.

"Beep... beep, click."

"Hello, this is the Inspection Bureau. How can I help you?"

Hearing the voice in his ear, the man was like a balloon filled to the point of bursting; he exploded.

"You bunch of trash, vermin, lowly peasants! Taxpayers pay you money, and this is the kind of efficiency you useless wastes provide?"

The operator was completely stunned by the verbal assault. He had heard that at Inspection Bureaus in other regions, crazy people would often call just to curse.

But this was his first time receiving a call from someone daring enough to curse the City of Never-Night's Inspection Bureau. Did they not know that everyone here came from the Wrath Prison and the Miechen Sect?

"Listen, I am Councilor Mars. I suspect I'm being followed. I need your Inspection Bureau to send someone immediately—no, right now! Do you understand?"

Mars was just about to state his location when the communication was cut off due to an unstable signal.

"Damn it, this is the latest Magic Treasure for communication! How dare the people at Lianxing Pavilion sell me defective goods!"

"No, no, no, sir."

A man dressed in a trench coat, his face obscured, walked slowly out of the alley. Clearly, he was the one who had spoken just now.

"Sir, our goods from the Lianxing Pavilion are the most authentic."

"Look, even our own blockade couldn't completely block this signal; it actually routed to the nearest Inspection Bureau."

"If it had been anyone else's blockade, the call would have likely gone through to your private security force."

Through the traces of the opponent's Cultivation Technique, Mars recognized instantly that this was an assassination squad from the Lianxing Pavilion, and he immediately panicked.

Clearly, that phone call had completely drained away the ferocity he had struggled to muster.

"You bastard, do you know who I am? I am a councilor of the Truth Cult. Your leader's leader is the only one on my level!"

While his words were fierce, Mars's footsteps continued to retreat.

The man in the trench coat continued to approach slowly, not hesitating in the slightest because of the other's words.

"You know, if your strength matched your status, then the person coming might actually be my leader's leader."

"After all, the people who want you dead are very willing to pay."

Back at the Inspection Bureau, the operator, who had just been about to curse back, felt a tightness in his chest; he was scared half to death.

"C-C-Councilor, sir, please wait a moment, we are handling it right now."

"Beep... beep... beep."

A series of low beeps followed, clearly indicating that the other party had hung up.

The operator's brain didn't register it for a moment, and his first thought was that this guy must be fake and that he had been bluffed.

"Damn, overtime has made me stupid. Councilors have their own private security forces; who has the time to report to the Inspection Bureau!"

After saying this, he slammed his fist on the desk to vent his anger, drawing the attention of a colleague nearby.

"Yo, Old Zhang, why are you so fired up?"

A young man from the Eastern Region at the next workstation spun his chair over to Old Zhang's side, wanting to see what the commotion was about.

Old Zhang waved his hand with a look of disdain, signaling the young man to go away.

At the same time, his hands flew across the virtual keyboard as he queried the caller's information.

"Damn bastard, don't let me find out who you are, or I'll make you taste the methods of the Wrath Prison!"

He was already annoyed about working overtime late at night, and then to be cursed at and scared by someone like that—did they really think someone from the Wrath Prison was just a freeloader?

But he didn't know until he checked, and once he did, he was shocked.

The communication trace followed the source of the information and actually tracked it to a string of numbers that was terrifying just to look at.

A-8-10012.

"Gulp."

Old Zhang looked at the displayed numbers. He wished more than anything that this line of numbers was just because his eyes were blurry from overtime, but for a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, that seemed rather unlikely.

A represented a Tier 1 city, 8 represented its ranking in the city sequence, and the 10012 meant that the person's administrative rank in that city was 12th.

Old Zhang's hands were trembling now. This position in a Tier 1 city meant that the person either had cultivation reaching Soul Transformation, or their actual power was equivalent to that of a Soul Transformation expert.

One had to know that their Inspection Bureau's director was only at the Soul Transformation stage himself.

"Right, the other party... the other party said, said he was..."

Old Zhang hurriedly flipped to the communication channel, intending to press the button to notify all inspectors as quickly as possible to head to the signal source and rescue him.

A big shot from a Tier 1 city having an incident in the City of Never-Night would be a huge problem.

Not to mention the possibility that the person was at the Soul Transformation level; if a battle of that level broke out in the city, it would be unimaginable. He had to arrange for people to go immediately!

The young man nearby saw Old Zhang suddenly acting like he was possessed and was startled, quietly retreating back to his own workstation.

But just as he wanted to leave, Old Zhang yelled at him with a serious face.

"What are you standing there for? I'll call for people here; you hurry and notify the Director, tell him a major incident has occurred here, go quickly!"

Then, Old Zhang saw the young man pointing behind him with a look of astonishment. At the same time, Old Zhang felt his finger clamped by something; no matter how he tried to press the communication button, he couldn't.

Old Zhang felt the sensation on his finger and knew someone was gripping it to stop him from pressing it. He was just about to turn around and curse, but was stunned by who had arrived.

"Who is it? Don't you know... Dir-Director?"

Old Zhang looked at the dark-skinned young man in front of him, and the curse died in his throat.

What's going on today? Why are there so many big shots? Did I not check the calendar?

"Right, Director, it's good you're here, just now—"

Old Zhang was just about to report what had happened to the Director, but the Director patted him on the shoulder and said.

"Operator 9527... right?"

"Sorry about that. My Junior came to my office to play just now and accidentally called the bureau. I assume you were the one who received it?"

"He didn't say anything strange, did he?"

The Director looked at Old Zhang with a meaningful smile. Old Zhang seemed to finally connect the dots, casting aside the fatigue of overtime, and hurriedly nodded.

"Yes... yes, I received it. I was wondering how someone so young could be so sharp and articulate. I thought he came from a scholarly family; it turns out he's a Junior from the Director's family."

After saying this, Old Zhang felt the finger being gripped loosen, and he quickly pulled it back.

The smile on the Director's face became a bit more sincere.

"Scholarly family, my foot. That brat must have been spouting nonsense and interfering with your work."

"As it happens, I see your overtime schedule has been quite full lately. Go back and take a few days of paid leave. I'll personally approve it as an apology."

After saying this, the Director left with a smile, leaving Old Zhang and the stunned young man behind.

"Old Zhang, you're something else!"

Once the Director left, the young man hurried over and patted Old Zhang on the shoulder, causing him, already slumped in his chair, to slide down a bit further.

"You just handled a prank call and got a few days off for nothing, and paid too!"

"You'll have to treat us to a meal tomorrow."

Old Zhang looked at the young man, managed a forced smile, and nodded.

"Definitely, definitely."

Not receiving the usual joking rebuke, and seeing Old Zhang look like someone who had just survived a disaster, the young man was quite confused.

"You're actually going to treat us? You usually won't even buy a midnight snack. Why so generous today? You couldn't really have been intimidated by the Director's aura, could you?"

"Although I haven't seen the Director much, he seems quite amiable. You couldn't be scared like this just because he's a Soul Transformation Cultivator, right?"

"You're really getting old; you're not as useful as us young people." After saying that, the young man flexed his muscles.

"Screw you, we'll have a good meal tomorrow at noon. Come if you want."

After saying this, Old Zhang couldn't listen to the young man anymore. He was completely immersed in what had just happened, while also realizing that a very big event was likely brewing.

What could it possibly be?

Oh right, the Truth Cult seemed to have said they were going to convene a Truth Council to judge a few sinners.

It seemed the venue was in the City of Never-Night.

Thinking of this, Old Zhang got goosebumps and didn't dare to think about it anymore; after all, he was just an operator.

Meanwhile, the street, which had been empty, was now once again flooded with people. However, Councilor Mars, like his communication information, had vanished without a trace.