"Teacher, witnessing your magnificent verbal duel against the assembled powers — truly admirable." Su Chen strolled in with unabashed flattery.
"Cut the grease." Yuan Chenyang waved him off, though his expression visibly softened. "Finally decided to come out of your cave."
"Just checking in on my teacher." Su Chen feigned casual curiosity. "How did things blow up this big? Because of the Evil God Artifact?"
Yuan Chenyang rubbed his temples. "Why do you ask?"
Su Chen sighed. "I feel like some of my little moves set off a chain reaction that left you surrounded on all sides."
He was referring to draining the Evil God Artifact, but Yuan Chenyang took it as the discovery of the empty shell.
"This has nothing to do with you. Don't put that on yourself." Yuan Chenyang glanced at him, his gaze notably warmer. He stressed the point:
"I don't have much time left. I'll be rotating to the ruins garrison soon. A large-scale investigation was always the plan. If not for the Evil God Artifact you uncovered, today's confrontation would have gone much worse."
"I see..." Su Chen relaxed. He couldn't explain absorbing the artifact's power, and if he'd genuinely landed Old Yuan in hot water, he'd have felt guilty.
As if worried Su Chen might still carry the weight, Yuan Chenyang pressed on. "Besides, discovering an Evil God Artifact — anywhere, under any circumstances — is a legitimate achievement!"
"If you hadn't found it this time, that doesn't mean it didn't exist. Exposing it early is better!"
"True..." Su Chen pondered, then pivoted with a sheepish grin. "Since there's credit involved..."
"I knew it." Yuan Chenyang chuckled. "I've been sitting on the Qi Chuan situation. This particular achievement is complicated — not easy to reward openly. Evil God cultists are still lurking."
"Tell you what — I'll personally supply you with ten more Black Flame Potions and Rejuvenation Potions."
Su Chen had zero objections. Commendations and medals were paper — tangible benefits were what mattered.
"Any chance of upgrading the Rejuvenation Potions to something better?" Su Chen rubbed his hands together.
"You—" Surprise flickered across Yuan Chenyang's face. "Impressive, for a Red Gold talent. We don't keep anything better in stock at the Supervision Department, but I'll figure something out."
Su Chen felt a twinge of guilt but pressed on anyway. "How about... any more Glazed Blood?"
"Hooked already?" Yuan Chenyang asked mildly.
Su Chen nodded. Yuan Chenyang scoffed. "My annual quota barely covers my own needs. You're only 1st-tier and you're already burning through the good stuff."
"It's not like it multiplies just sitting there." Su Chen countered.
"Gone. All gone." Yuan Chenyang waved both hands. Noticing Su Chen still hadn't moved, he read the room. "Something else?"
"The special class I mentioned before..." Su Chen prompted.
"I already gave you the Engineering Apprentice, didn't I?" Yuan Chenyang stuffed the Evil God Artifact back into his desk drawer.
"I meant the kind like Scholar." Su Chen clarified.
"Biting off more than you can chew..." Yuan Chenyang leaned back, rubbing his shiny scalp, and shook his head. "When I was your age, I was the same — fascinated by every class under the sun. Wasted a lot of time."
"Wait until you're my age. You can explore then — if you've still got the energy."
"Besides, do you think special classes grow on trees? Nanfeng City doesn't have many. Yingfeng should though."
"Yingfeng..." Su Chen mused. He wasn't entirely ignorant about the place, but Yingfeng's information lockdown was notoriously airtight.
Nanfeng City's official institutions only had 2nd-tier class data on record — officially, at least.
"Fine." Su Chen backed off. Yuan Chenyang rubbed the bridge of his nose. "How far along is your class development?"
"Around seventy percent." Su Chen gave a vague answer.
"That precise a feeling?" Yuan Chenyang looked pleasantly surprised and nodded with approval. "Not bad at all. I've studied the Void-Rending Warrior closely — it shouldn't conflict with Gale Hunter."
"It probably won't be long before you become a 2nd-tier professional."
Something seemed to cross Yuan Chenyang's mind as he studied Su Chen. His voice turned wistful. "At your age, with that kind of patience — truly rare. I expected those potions to last you at least one or two months."
"Talent matters, but temperament matters more. Perhaps it's because you were once a refugee — you seize every opportunity with everything you have. I've seen plenty of the gifted waste their years away. As they age, even talent fades..."
Beep—
Mid-sentence, his Smart Bracelet chirped. Yuan Chenyang opened it, and his face tightened. A deep furrow creased his brow. "Zhang Hongbo is here. How did he come back so fast?"
"Wait — if he's already back, why did Zhou Xian bring all those people here? That doesn't track."
Yuan Chenyang muttered to himself, then burst out cursing. "That old fox! He wanted to see what cards I was holding! Devious bastard!"
"The City Lord is back?" Su Chen's mind raced. Yuan Chenyang clearly hadn't anticipated this.
Zhang Hongbo must have received word and didn't trust Old Yuan to run the show unsupervised.
"Go. I'll have Old Sun deliver your supplies." Yuan Chenyang waved him away.
"Yes." Su Chen nodded and headed for the door. The elevator arrived just as he reached it.
Ding!
Su Chen stopped in his tracks. Standing inside was Zhang Hongbo himself. "Lord City Lord."
"Just call me Uncle Zhang." Zhang Hongbo's manner was warm. He gave Su Chen a pat on the shoulder.
Su Chen obliged without hesitation.
"Mm..." Zhang Hongbo nodded. "Hengyu is the quiet type. You two should spend more time together. In Yingfeng, you may be able to watch each other's backs."
"We met at the banquet. He carries himself with exceptional poise — very much your bearing, sir." Su Chen replied earnestly.
Zhang Hongbo stared at him for a long moment before breaking into a chuckle and shaking his head. "Get going."
He watched the elevator doors close. Only then did his smile vanish. The instant he stepped into Yuan Chenyang's office, his voice dropped to a frigid register: "Yuan Chenyang, what do you think you're doing!"
"I was gone ten days and you turned the entire city upside down! Would you like to have my job?!"
"Wouldn't dream of it..." Yuan Chenyang met him with cold eyes, inwardly seething. His voice was level: "Lord City Lord, you should already be aware of the situation. It was truly urgent."
"The Supervision Department, the City Patrol, and the Exploration Department — all of them had Evil God Cult members. The Evil God Artifact's power had been entirely drained. We don't know what they've done."
Zhang Hongbo's tone was frigid. "The City Patrol catches small fry every year. I don't know the details of the Supervision Department's case, but the Exploration Department operative was already on a watchlist."
"As for the Evil God Artifact — that is indeed concerning." He paused. "But given that your massive operation turned up nothing, it's likely not as dire as you feared."
Yuan Chenyang felt a vein throb in his temple. He suspected the old fox hadn't just arrived today — that he'd been watching from the shadows to see what the investigation would yield.
Then Zhang Hongbo's tone softened: "Internal affairs have always fallen under the Supervision Department's purview, and you did uncover an Evil God Artifact. But there's public discontent to consider. Certain things are out of my hands."
"Meaning what?" Yuan Chenyang's gaze was steel.
Zhang Hongbo laid it out plainly. "I returned in haste. The ruins are unguarded. The council has decided — you rotate early to garrison the ruins."
"Early rotation?" Yuan Chenyang shot to his feet. Zhang Hongbo's face was a blank wall. "Furthermore, the envoys from Yingfeng have just arrived. They concur."
The words died in Yuan Chenyang's throat. A vein bulged at his temple. It took a long, strained moment before he forced out a single word: "Fine."
"Your heart's in the right place. We all understand that. But there's a right way and a wrong way to do things." Zhang Hongbo consoled. "I'll take temporary command of the Supervision Department. Rest easy."