Chapter 84: Skies Change
“What’s the situation over there?” Su Chen looked at Yang Yan and Gu Bing. Both of their faces were so grim they could drip water.
“Not only did it verify my guess, but they also discovered the Heituo Statue.” Xia Hanshi said in a deep voice, “Heituo is really preparing to descend as a carrier, and he’s in a hurry.”
“Heituo Statue?” Su Chen showed an inquiring expression. Was this the big thing he had sensed?
Gu Bing explained to him: “Strange God statue, forged with a meteorite iron core, hosting the power of the Strange God.”
“Super-sized Strange Artifact?” Su Chen couldn’t help but say.
“Yes and no.” Gu Bing shook her head. “Although Strange Artifacts also have the power of the Strange God, they are merely power. Though they come with the corrosiveness of the Strange God, their connection to the Strange God is very shallow.”
“This kind of statue is different. It hosts the true consciousness of the Strange God. The Strange God Carrier summons the power of the Strange God’s main body by borrowing this consciousness.”
Su Chen suddenly understood. He became even more certain in his heart that it was probably because the panel had devoured his power, which aroused this guy’s curiosity and made him determined to find him.
Xia Hanshi’s figure flickered and then disappeared.
“Where is Teacher going?”
“He should be going to keep an eye on Zhang Hongbo.” Yang Yan’s expression was complicated. “Your South Wind City… the waters run deep.”
Gu Bing gave him a general account of the matter.
“The City Lord position is just gone like that?” Su Chen was also shocked and couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.
All the things Zhang Hongbo had done before, even secretly targeting him, were to a certain extent to maintain his own power.
But now, he was removed so simply?
“Isn’t it up to Ying Feng to decide?” Su Chen was puzzled. Dealing with a Zhou Xian dragged on, but with Zhang Hongbo, it was faster.
Yang Yan explained: “Special cases get special treatment. This incident is too big. Priests and the Heituo Statue have appeared, and it involves his direct relatives.”
“Of course…” Gu Bing added: “It won’t be announced externally for the time being.”
“If Zhang Hongbo himself was unaware of these matters, he might still get an idle position.”
“That’s Ying Feng’s normal procedure…” Yang Yan nearby took over: “But given Old Xia’s temperament, if Zhang Hongbo makes one wrong move next, his whole family will die.”
His whole family will die… Su Chen thought of the siblings Zhang Hengyu and Zhang Yunqing.
“Additionally…” Gu Bing paused, her expression odd. “Old Xia has already ordered us to summon Yuan Chenyang back. It seems he intends for him to temporarily take the City Lord position.”
“Ah?”
Su Chen found it amusing. Back then, Zhang Hongbo had transferred Yuan Chenyang away and had him temporarily take his Minister of Inspection position.
Now the wheel had turned, and Yuan Chenyang was actually going to temporarily take Zhang Hongbo’s City Lord position.
“This kind of temporary position is generally not canceled.” Gu Bing explained: “Yuan Chenyang has backers above him. Since he’s seized this opportunity, he won’t let it go.”
“Old Xia is blocking the Third Chief Judge’s mouth.”
Su Chen understood too. Old Xia wasn’t really reckless. He knew full well the consequences of his actions but still did it anyway.
Some of that bad reputation was also a way for others to vent their helplessness toward him.
However, thinking of Old Yuan, Su Chen also felt a headache coming on.
Old Yuan had been good to him too. He didn’t know what to say when the time came.
“Don’t have a psychological burden. He will understand.” Seeing this, Gu Bing sighed and couldn’t help comforting him.
Su Chen nodded and took his leave.
“He’s a rare good seedling with benevolence, resilience, and talent in all aspects. Unfortunately, he was spotted by Old Xia first…” Gu Bing watched Su Chen leave, feeling increasingly regretful.
“It was that Yuan Chenyang who discovered him, but who told him he couldn’t protect him.” Yang Yan shook his head. “Old Xia giving him the City Lord position was already beyond my expectation.”
“Besides, he might not necessarily have problems. Old Xia has plenty of students who turned out just fine.”
“What about those three who were lost…” Gu Bing couldn’t help saying.
“No one has seen their corpses. They just vanished…” Yang Yan frowned. “After this contact, Old Xia isn’t quite like I imagined. Don’t believe those rumors.”
……
“Who, who exactly!”
In the underground sewer, the Heituo Priest hid in a crevice, enduring the foul stench around him. The black robe covering his body was now just tattered scraps, and his skin was covered in inch-long burn marks, with waves of stinging pain.
Behind him, the Heituo Statue emitted a dark glow, seeming extremely unstable.
“How could the news have leaked? All those in the know were followers. How could Xia Hanshi head straight here!?”
“Where did he get the news from!” The priest roared lowly in anger. This time, with Xia Hanshi’s sudden attack, he had no choice but to borrow the power of the holy image to escape.
This caused a chain reaction in the subsequent plan. Now, with the holy image’s damaged power, it was hard to support the Heituo Holy Lord’s descent again.
“Exactly… exactly…” The priest suppressed his rage and forced himself to calm down. One name gradually emerged.
Zhou Xian!
Only him, not a follower.
As the first high-level figure he had developed in South Wind City, even if his surface identity was exposed, his familiarity with South Wind City was still useful.
Plus, with his child’s death, even if Zhou Xian was reluctant to become a Heituo Follower, he still maintained considerable trust in him.
But now, after thinking it over, this seemed to be the only possible source of the leak.
“This sudden attack didn’t use anyone from South Wind City at all, but went straight here. Clearly, they had very precise information. It definitely wasn’t a lucky hit.”
The more the priest thought, the more something felt off. He was almost certain Zhou Xian had betrayed them!
“Courting death, courting death!”
………
“What did they say?”
In front of the elevator door, Sun Tai was still waiting anxiously here. Seeing Su Chen return, he hurried over and asked repeatedly.
Su Chen said lowly: “Zhang Hongbo’s City Lord position has already been secretly removed. My teacher… um…”
He thought for a moment and then said: “Teacher Yuan is already on his way back. He’s probably going to temporarily take the City Lord position.”
Visibly, Sun Tai’s pupils slowly dilated, his body swaying as he bumped into the wall. That pie face of his gradually filled with flushed blood color.
The City Lord position was gone because of him!?
Sun Tai’s mind only had this one sentence.
Of course, he knew there were many intricacies involved, but ultimately, he had influence in it.
Not only that, his old superior was going to temporarily take the City Lord position?
Sun Tai was very clear about the unspoken rules here. If Yuan Chenyang had no backers, it would probably just be temporary, but Yuan Chenyang came from the Court of Justice, and Ying Feng had backers too.
That “temporary” would likely be removed soon. At that time, he, the “number one contributor,” wouldn’t he shoot straight to the top?
“Brother Sun…” Su Chen couldn’t help calling out. Sun Tai’s entire face had turned blood red, and he was grinning and chuckling, looking quite scary.
“Oh oh…” Sun Tai came back to his senses, his breathing gradually steadying, his face returning to normal, still very excited: “Little Brother, it’s all thanks to you!”
“This is what you deserve.” Su Chen reminded again: “It’s best not to leak this matter.”
“Understood, understood.” Sun Fatty nodded repeatedly. On the way back, he kept grinning, drawing attention. Even back in the office, he hadn’t fully calmed down.
“This is the Deputy Minister’s room…” Su Chen arrived at the new room. This was almost the highest floor of the Inspection Department.
All the facilities were extremely luxurious. The Gravity Training Room could even go up to ten times. Su Chen tried it briefly and could barely handle it.
“The burden is too heavy. In this state, the training effect actually declines.” Su Chen adjusted the multiplier on the panel to five before adapting.
“So much happened this one night.”
Finally quieting down, Su Chen also felt the rapid changes in the situation were overwhelming.
First the assassination attempt, then Xia Hanshi showing up, and Zhang Hongbo being dismissed—all in a very short time.
“All of this seems to stem from the Strange Artifact that Qi Chuan brought me to find. No… it started even earlier.” From Yang Yan and the others’ words, Su Chen had gradually pieced together the thread.
“According to them, the Heituo Followers and Zhou Xian had their own plan. Normally, it should have been a gradual erosion, harvesting in the end.”
“Without me, Jiang He dies, Qi Chuan gets Jiang Rong’s support, and Qi Chuan is Zhou Xian’s man.”
“And if the Holy Word Stone is lost, Old Yuan can’t escape blame and might be transferred. The successor might even be related to the Cult of the Strange God.”
“But I disrupted it all, then the Strange Artifact had an accident. That Heituo probably wanted to know who ate his power. The Heituo Followers invested more and more, leading to this point.”
Su Chen frowned tightly. Before, caught in the midst, he was bewildered and helpless, with no idea what was going on.
Now, with his position rising and knowing more, he gradually pieced together the truth.
And with the situation developing to this point, it seemed no one was paying attention to why the Strange Artifact was empty anymore.
“I can’t control how things develop.” Su Chen shook his head, deciding not to worry about it. He downed two potions and entered his familiar training rhythm.
“But how to leak the priest’s coordinates to Old Xia.”
………
“Uncle…” Zhang Yunqing opened the door, quite surprised to see the flustered middle-aged man.
Zhang Feng burst in, drenched in sweat. “Hurry, Yunqing, pack your things. Something’s happened. We need to leave South Wind City as soon as possible.”
“Hengyu, Hengyu!” He shouted.
Zhang Hengyu came out from the Gravity Chamber, quite puzzled.
“Hurry, hurry and pack!” Zhang Feng urged repeatedly. Zhang Hengyu looked at his older sister.
“Uncle…” Zhang Yunqing frowned slightly. “What happened?”
“Don’t ask. It’s a matter of life and death. Hurry up.” Zhang Feng looked anxious. “Would I trick you?”
Zhang Hengyu visibly looked bewildered and helpless, but Zhang Yunqing remained calm. “What exactly is it? It won’t make a difference with a few words.”
“Sigh… Your father is connected to the Cult of the Strange God!” Zhang Feng said through gritted teeth.
“What!?” Zhang Hengyu’s pupils shook in disbelief.
Zhang Yunqing’s heart jolted.
“To go this far?” A drawn-out sigh suddenly sounded. Zhang Hongbo stepped out from the shadows, angry, helpless, and with suppressed killing intent.
“Why implicate these two?”
Zhang Feng’s face also flashed with surprise, then gradually turned ferocious. “I’m your brother, yet you secretly investigated me!?”
“You think it was me?”
“If not you secretly investigating, who else? No one in the whole South Wind dares touch the Trade General Warehouse!” Zhang Feng gnashed his teeth. “Such a great situation, ruined by you!”
“What did they promise you?” Zhang Hongbo’s tone was calm. “Isn’t this kind of life enough?”
“It’s because of this kind of life,” Zhang Feng shouted hoarsely, “only enjoying it for a few decades. How is that enough!”
“So it’s lifespan.” Zhang Hongbo wasn’t surprised at all.
Zhang Yunqing looked at Zhang Feng in shock and anger.
“Big Brother!” Zhang Feng turned fawning again. “Join me. With us brothers joining hands, wouldn’t South Wind be in our grasp?”
“Then we can live happily forever. Wouldn’t that be good?”
