“This lady is an S-rank Martial Artist. With her presence, the danger level of the upcoming Gray Mist Tides will be significantly reduced.”
Mayor Chen spoke, and as a gust of wind blew, a mysterious figure wearing a black cloak appeared on the high platform, her face obscured.
Ling Feng usually wore this cloak for high-profile appearances; it was a tradition for a Witch.
The crowd was stunned by her eerie appearance for a moment.
A few of them stared intently at the cloak she wore.
At that moment, someone in the crowd suddenly spoke up, “Could she be… a Witch?”
“A Witch?”
At those words, many people looked confused.
“What is a Witch?”
“It doesn’t sound like a good term.”
“Hey, hey, hey, it’s probably not a good idea to discuss this right in front of her, is it?”
“Her strength is…”
Whispers erupted among the crowd. On the stage, Mayor Chen looked at Ling Feng with a hint of embarrassment.
Before he could whisper an explanation, Ling Feng spoke first, her tone completely indifferent. “Their discussion is fine. Our public image is indeed not very good.”
Mayor Chen was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he heard Ling Feng poke fun at herself. “After all, I am a profiteer myself.”
Mayor Chen almost choked on his breath at her words. Meanwhile, he grumbled inwardly.
‘She’s still holding a grudge. Who calls themselves a profiteer!’
……
The appearance of an S-rank Martial Artist finally helped stabilize public morale.
However, just as the people below were beginning to relax, one of Mayor Chen’s secretaries approached him with an anxious expression.
The secretary lowered his voice and said urgently, “Mayor, something has happened!”
Mayor Chen immediately realized the gravity of the situation.
He spoke up loudly at once, “Alright, everyone, my speech ends here. Please keep the contents of this speech confidential and strictly forbidden from leaking. Please excuse me.”
He didn’t forget to glance at Ling Feng before they left the platform together.
The Mayor’s speech ended abruptly, leaving the crowd in the hall behind.
Perhaps it was because of the Mayor’s anxious expression before he left, everyone began to feel more or less panicked.
Just as people in the crowd tried to take out their phones to make calls, they suddenly realized there was no signal at all.
Not only that, but entry and exit were strictly prohibited.
They seemed to have been placed under ‘house arrest.’
As Su Aoxue looked at the atmosphere in the hall with a thoughtful expression, he felt a tug on his clothes. “Brother…”
Su Aoxue looked down and saw his younger sister pulling at the corner of his jacket, her eyes filled with worry.
It seemed the sudden gloom in the air had affected Su Muqing.
She instinctively looked toward her mother, only to see Su’s Mother give her a helpless look.
Su Aoxue knelt down and took Su Muqing’s hand into his own. “Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.”
As he spoke, Su Aoxue looked at his mother standing behind the wheelchair. “Right, Mom?”
“Yes, our family will survive this together,” Su’s Mother said as she reached out and stroked Su Muqing’s head.
However, when Su Aoxue looked at his sister again, he was surprised to see a fleeting flash of pinkish-purple in her eyes.
Before he could see it clearly, it vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed. His sister appeared perfectly normal, without any abnormality.
Su Aoxue couldn’t help but doubt himself.
‘Did I see that wrong?’
Feeling comforted by her family, Su Muqing’s emotions gradually stabilized. “Mhm…”
However, facing Su Aoxue’s direct gaze, Su Muqing turned her head away in embarrassment. “Brother, I made you worry.”
At the same time, Su Muqing suddenly realized that her brother’s hands seemed… soft?
Before she could feel them carefully, Su Aoxue let go of her hand and gently ruffled her hair. “It’s nothing. We’re family. If you have feelings, you can express them. Don’t keep them bottled up.”
While he offered words of comfort, Su Aoxue was still thinking about the scene he had just witnessed.
The sudden warm moment within their family formed a stark contrast to the surrounding gloom and chaos.
“Xiao Xue! So this is where you were.”
A voice came from behind Su Aoxue. He didn’t even need to turn around to know it was Shen Yan.
But he still turned back toward Shen Yan and complained with dissatisfaction, “I was going to say the same to you! Where did you go? We didn’t see you when we arrived at the rest hall!”
After failing to find Shen Yan’s family, Su Aoxue’s family had quietly sat down in the corner of the hall.
After all, they didn’t know anyone else there. Mother and son shared the same personality; they weren’t the type to strike up conversations with strangers, so they had no intention of talking to others.
In contrast to Su Aoxue’s annoyance, his sister’s eyes lit up. “Brother Shen!”
“Sister Min, you and your family were in this corner. It really took us a while to find you.”
Shen Yan’s mother spoke as she took Su’s Mother’s hands.
The two mothers stood close together and began to whisper to each other.
As for Shen Yan’s father, he walked up to the two siblings and flashed a brilliant smile. “Xiao Xue, Muqing, it’s been a long time.”
Feeling the pressure and the eager gaze of their elder, the siblings said awkwardly, “Hello, Uncle.”
“Yes, good, good.”
Shen Yan watched the wrinkles on his father’s face as he smiled and saw the way he looked at Su Muqing.
Suddenly remembering something, his expression turned awkward.
‘I almost forgot that my father once tried to match Muqing and me…’
Back when Su Aoxue’s father was still around, the two families lived across from each other and were neighbors.
But after Su Aoxue’s father went missing and his sister fell seriously ill, they were forced to sell their house and move to the Semi-Abandoned District.
Since both families were very busy, they rarely had time to gather.
However, Shen Yan’s father was sentimental, and Su Aoxue’s father had once saved his life.
Therefore, he had tried his best to encourage Shen Yan to marry Su Muqing in the name of repaying a debt.
Of course, given the father’s personality, if Su Aoxue weren’t a boy, he would have tried to match Shen Yan with Su Aoxue instead, as childhood friends had a higher chance of success.
Not only that, in his past life, when Su Aoxue misunderstood that he was trying to ‘woo’ Su Muqing, Shen Yan had been beaten up by him in the name of being an ‘older brother.’
Knowing he was in the wrong, Shen Yan hadn’t dared to fight back and was forced to take the beating.
Thinking of this, Shen Yan whispered a reminder in his father’s ear, “Dad, take it easy.”
Shen’s Father looked back at his son in confusion. “Huh?”
Then, he turned back to Su Aoxue and Su Muqing to continue their conversation.
He seemed to treat Shen Yan as if he were invisible.
Seeing this, Shen Yan stepped aside and pressed his forehead. ‘What a headache.’
……
After the two families finished catching up, they began to discuss serious matters.
Su Aoxue and Shen Yan stood side by side while Su Muqing sat in front of them, silently watching the parents of both families.
“Sister Min, where does your family plan to go after this crisis is over?”
Both families knew that once this City-Destroying Crisis broke out, there would be no chance to rebuild this Base City. It would be difficult to return.
They could only go elsewhere to develop.
“Likely 3rd Base City.”