[No survivors were found at the scene. When we arrived, there were only corpses, and no Spirit Power Users outside the list were discovered. The preliminary assessment indicates that internal infighting led to this result, and the final judgment is also attributed to internal strife.]
After driving back to The Spire in a daze, Xu Chuyao wrote this report, sent it to Wen Shengqing, and then curled up in her room, refusing to move.
“Head Teacher, don’t pay attention to anyone who comes looking for me, and don’t pick up any calls.”
After calling Yu Jing to leave those instructions, Chuyao stopped checking the messages on her phone.
About a few minutes later, Peter Mo sent a message, urgently asking her to come to the tea room.
Xu Chuyao saw it and intentionally let the message status change to “read,” but she simply didn’t reply.
10 minutes later —
[Peter Mo: Miss Xu, has something delayed you? We are all waiting for you. Please come to the tea room as soon as possible!]
Xu Chuyao curled her lip, thinking to herself, ‘He even used an exclamation mark. What, is he getting impatient with me?’
Being anxious wouldn’t help him; she continued to act as if she hadn’t seen it.
Another 10 minutes passed, and another message arrived, though it was from someone else this time —
[Wen Shengqing: Miss Xu, the message you sent is very important. I must discuss it immediately.]
It was clear he was on the verge of losing his composure.
But so what? It didn’t matter how anxious he was.
Xu Chuyao slowly typed a reply:
[The scene was too tragic; I need to rest for a while to recover. Furthermore, since the Supreme Society remnants are dead, my mission is complete.]
‘Strictly business, Marshal Wen.’
She pressed send, tossed her phone aside, and continued to lean back on the sofa with her eyes closed to rest.
Right now, she only wanted to bring Shen Ning back quickly. However, the summoning had failed, which meant the other girl was currently in the Mortal World. She wondered if Shen Ning was accompanying some “minister” to visit relatives again.
After a while, the phone buzzed again.
[Wen Shengqing: Miss Xu, there is something you don’t know. Actually, there is still one last survivor of the Supreme Society remnants.]
Xu Chuyao laughed out of spite and simply turned off her phone, refusing to look at it again.
‘That’s enough. You want to pin Chu Cang on me too? Do you think I’m stupid?’
***
A while later, a sigh echoed in the tea room.
“She won’t reply,” Wen Shengqing said, his face tinged with regret. “She has also chosen to pick a side again.”
No matter how refined he appeared, he had held a high position for decades; he possessed both political acumen and wisdom.
He knew that when Xu Chuyao had gained the support of the Old Speaker and established herself as a third-party force, she had initially chosen to help him because the power balance was uneven — Chu Cang’s side had six Stage 4 outlaws.
But now, those outlaws were all dead, and the scales had returned to equilibrium. As long as Xu Chuyao stepped off the tray, the two sides were indeed balanced.
The snipe and the clam fight while the fisherman watches — two sides fight while a third watches from the mountain top. Chuyao had said it a few days ago. She truly was an honest girl.
“Marshal, I think we can send people to investigate the reason why the Ghost Party was wiped out by internal strife,” Peter Mo suggested.
He was observant and could hear that Wen Shengqing was already at his wit’s end regarding Xu Chuyao and didn’t plan to waste more effort on her for the time being. Thus, he turned to more practical matters.
“I have already sent people,” a nearby councilor said. “There will be an answer soon.”
He spoke with great confidence because they had already contacted the local communications department to track the calls those people had made before they died. Tracing them would make everything clear.
If they were separated by more than half of the Eurasian continent, the subsequent steps would indeed be quite troublesome.
Compared to Wen Shengqing’s team, who were frantically mobilizing cross-continental personnel, Chu Cang’s side had actually figured out some of the reasons first. After all, he already knew where to look.
But the result left him with a breath of frustration stuck in his chest, unable to release it for a long time.
“It has nothing to do with me; it was a pure accident,” he told Zhou Tian and the others. “If nothing else, what would be the point of me doing such a thing?”
Huang Yu had called him before he died, speaking about something happening to his family. Chu Cang immediately contacted his people in Northern Europe to ask for the full story.
And the result of the investigation was — an accident.
A rampaging heavy truck had struck and killed Huang Yu’s entire family. When the driver was apprehended, he was still shouting excuses about “speed bumps” and “insurance.” But after careful interrogation, they found… it really was just an accident.
As for the soulstone issue mentioned over the phone, it had indeed happened, but it was earlier and had no direct connection to Huang Yu’s family. That incident had occurred on a highway over 10 kilometers away from them. A cargo truck had braked suddenly, causing the soulstones inside the container to activate due to inertial impact, resulting in a minor accident.
Normally, if a Soulstone Burst of that scale occurred, hundreds or thousands of ordinary people would lose their lives. But this time, first, it happened on a highway, and second, among the dozens of Aberrant Variants summoned, nearly half were different from the rest —
They weren’t mindless Aberrant Variants.
Not only were they rational, but they also held the upper hand. They were even organized and disciplined, actively suppressing the chaos.
“Actually, it’s not entirely unrelated,” Zhou Tian said, looking at the data in his hand. “Precisely because of that small accident, cargo trucks haven’t dared to brake suddenly these past few days, so…”
Chu Cang remained silent for a long time before suddenly asking, “Why would Hashi Town have a soulstone transportation business?”
The location for settling the Ghost Party’s families had been carefully selected. Hashi Town, as a small Northern European town, was elegant and picturesque. Being in a high-latitude region, there were no strange native animals, and both comfort and stability were excellent.
How did soulstones get involved?
Zhou Tian didn’t know the answer to that either. He picked up his phone to contact the local people, only understanding the situation after several inquiries.
As it turned out, 90 kilometers away from Hashi Town, there was a mine ruin belonging to the Rockmorgan Family. Since the Hearing Incident, most mines around the world had faced restructuring. Some places could continue to operate after some changes, but others were shut down directly; this was one of the latter.
However, a few days ago, people from the Holmes Family began buying up ore everywhere, and in the last few days, they had increased their investment — the goods had arrived here just a few days ago.
The shuttered mine had been reopened. Although it wasn’t exactly back in production, the inventory that had been mined previously could be brought out for sale.
“So, it really was an accident,” Zhou Tian concluded after reading through the report several times. “An ordinary car crash. Huang Yu…”
Many car accidents happened every day across the world. Huang Yu’s family was simply one of them.
This seemed to be the final conclusion.
Chu Cang took the investigation file, scanned it quickly, and remained silent.
‘Why does it always feel so strange? Something doesn’t feel right.’
***
“I’m back.”
“Welcome back? Did you think I would say that?” Xu Chuyao stood with her hands on her hips, her beautiful eyes glaring. “You finally decided to come back!”
Shen Ning, who had just been summoned back from the Crystal Stone World, blinked her eyes, her pretty face the picture of innocence.
Even more innocent was Li Xueli. She looked up at the unfamiliar ceiling and asked cautiously, “Um, Xu Chuyao, where are we?”
“Council Headquarters,” the girl answered directly.
“Which council?”
“The Council of Pacifiers!”
Watching Teacher Li shrink back and tremble in the corner, the mischievous Chuyao gave a proud “un-huh” before turning her gaze back to her own “wife.”
“And you? Do you have anything to explain?”
Shen Ning fumbled in her pocket for a moment and pulled out a small Jade Peace Buckle, handing it over. “For you.”
“Pure ice type? It’s quite pretty… Wait, that’s not what I was asking.”
Xu Chuyao tucked away the buckle and continued to glare at her. “I’m asking you, what kind of good deed did you do? Why is the Ghost Party completely dead?”
It wasn’t sarcasm; it really was a good thing.
Upon hearing the news that the Ghost Party was entirely wiped out, Shen Ning was extremely surprised. “They’re really all dead?”
“Really dead.”
“Then… could it be that I have the power to make wishes come true?”
‘Then the only truth is…’
“You don’t, so stop dreaming,” Xu Chuyao said, pulling the girl back from her fantasies. “You’re not that amazing.”
Shen Ning twitched her lips, looking a bit unconvinced. “Actually, occasionally, I can burst out with power much stronger than what I have now. It happened before. Do you remember when we fought that furry woman?”
“Furry woman? Do you mean Wang Li, who wore so many layers of cotton jackets?”
“I know, but you’re just not that amazing,” Xu Chuyao said solemnly. “And you won’t be in the future, either.”
‘The original novel didn’t even give you reality-warping powers at the grand finale, so don’t think about such nice things.’
Sitting down to relax, Xu Chuyao asked her again, “What did you do these past few days?”
“Just making wishes…”
“I’m asking for more specific details!”
“I didn’t, I didn’t do anything.”
Initially, she truly hadn’t done much, but intimidated by her “wife’s” aura, a guilty Shen Ning lowered her head and carefully recalled her actions over the last few days.
“I just accompanied the others to visit their relatives and made a few extra trips. Then, I used the method you told me to open the stone slabs in the Fossil Corridor… Also, I asked the people from Mellon’s family to help collect more soulstones. They might be useful later.”
Xu Chuyao thought to herself. Since she had opened the stone slabs, it meant there was progress, and she should have gained new abilities.
“But I really did make a wish earlier,” Shen Ning said earnestly after recovering her composure. “The wish was for me to help you get rid of the Ghost Party, and then today…”
The timing was so close that it was hard to believe there was no connection; the question was how it had been done.
As Xu Chuyao pondered, she looked out the window. A few butterflies were fluttering around the flower beds, reminding her of the discussion she’d had with the Head Teacher nine days ago.
“Hmm…” she hummed softly.
“Emmm, this actually might really have something to do with the Wind Element…”
“I think I know what your new ability is. Can you use it again?”
As for how it had actually led to the Ghost Party’s internal destruction, Chuyao no longer wanted to trace it.
Who knew which butterfly had flapped its wings to cause the storm that swept through Council City?
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