Sea washes, sea cleanses.
Xu Chuyao found it rather strange that someone would call at this moment, but when she checked the caller ID, it turned out to be Long Feng. With a hint of curiosity, she turned to glance back.
Of course, standing here, she couldn’t see anything, so she answered the call first.
“Director Long, what is it?”
“I noticed things have calmed down on your side,” the Director’s voice came through the phone, “Did you already take care of Wang Li?”
He didn’t bother to hide the fact that he was monitoring the situation from afar.
“Yes, it’s been dealt with,” Xu Chuyao replied, glancing toward the front where nothing was left but ashes. “There won’t even be any scraps left after the tide washes over.”
“That’s good.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he hung up. It wasn’t long before, out at sea, the waves suddenly roared, and several huge waterspouts rose from the surface, sweeping toward the sea monster with overwhelming force.
“It’s Director Tao!” Captain Song Shu, who had retreated to the rear, exclaimed, “Someone from above has made a move!”
That’s right. After the first round of assessment from the special team, it was confirmed that this sea monster was just over fourth rank, but not yet at mid-stage. So, Long Juan, who was at the peak of the fourth rank, intervened. Under the immense pressure of her spiritual power, the sea monster launched a continuous assault of water spouts, but sensing it was outmatched, it let out a few wails before instinctively diving down into the deep sea.
It was gone. The shadow beneath the sea grew fainter and fainter, showing that it was heading for the deep ocean.
The matter was settled.
The monster had fled, the mastermind Wang Li was dead, and her three subordinates hadn’t escaped either. The beach was already in a semi-locked state, and two people who tried to force their way through the entrance were shot down while attempting to break through.
Perhaps it really was over now.
Those who had just survived a brush with death on the beach thought so in their hearts. They raised their hands to rub their aching temples, wiping away the blood flowing from their ears. The sea monster’s howls as it retreated had nearly shattered their eardrums, but the Wind of Revival swept through, and soon everything healed.
For a brief moment, the world had gone silent for them, as if they’d been cut off. But quickly, the connection was restored, leaving them with a feeling beyond words—like standing between two worlds.
In truth, even now, not many people understood what exactly had happened, including Xiao Shao from the support team.
But soon after, he heard someone ahead shouting excitedly.
“Do you guys know where that wind came from? I just found out!”
The dust had settled, though the beach was still a mess and would take time to clean up. But those aftercare matters had nothing to do with Li Qi; they’d already returned to the designated safe zone in the mountains.
Yu Yan, who had contributed the most, had fought from start to finish, so she went back to her room to rest first. Xu Chuyao, meanwhile, received a summons to meet with the leadership in a conference room.
“Shen Ning, wait for me outside for a bit. Long Feng wants to see me alone.”
The young girl obediently sat on the bench outside the door, rummaging through the pocket of her jacket.
A small bag of dried fruit, originally a whole bag, but after splitting it up among the elders after the operation, only this bit was left. No matter, if her teacher needed more next time, she could bring some back. As a girl, she naturally didn’t have to worry about import taxes.
The second thing was half a small biscuit, left in her pocket from several days ago, before she went to the Crystal Stone World. After days passing, and two trips between worlds, this half-opened biscuit naturally couldn’t be eaten anymore.
Shen Ning reluctantly tossed it into the trash beside the bench.
It wasn’t that she couldn’t bear to part with half a biscuit, just that now, besides it, she had no other snacks left.
“Are you Miss Shen?”
A voice suddenly came from beside her. She looked up to see a young man, not too old nor too young, looking at her excitedly.
“And you are?”
“I’m from the support team. Back there on the battlefield… you saved me. We all know it.”
The “we” he referred to came up behind him now, also gazing at the young girl with excitement.
That Wind of Revival had pulled countless people back from the brink of death. Rumor had it that it could bring the dead back to life, with powers that bordered on divine, but everyone who had felt that wind knew those tales were true.
Now, as they finally found the one responsible for summoning that wind, the pure white-haired girl with her serene expression left them at a loss for words.
“Um, Miss Shen, we just wanted to say…”
“We really thank you.”
“We don’t even know how to thank you. If there’s anything you ever need—”
“Is there any more?” the girl asked suddenly.
“Huh?”
Inside the small meeting room, only Long Feng was present. Hearing the door open, he looked up at the woman.
“Come in, sit, close the door first.”
Hearing this, Xu Chuyao immediately understood—the Director likely wanted to talk about something less than official.
Sure enough, as soon as she sat down—before the tea was even poured—his voice drifted over.
“That sea monster you defeated has been designated ‘Ji Gen.’ It has retreated heavily wounded to the deep sea, and is expected to perish in the maw of the Deep Sea Frost Lord. Therefore, the crisis is resolved—this is the official report.”
Xu Chuyao smiled faintly. “And the internal report?”
Long Feng gave her a long look. “The relevant people have filled it in, and I also have a draft. As per the mission orders: Special Operations Group leader Xu Chuyao, together with her three-person team, tracked the criminal Wang Li to the harbor and successfully eliminated her, ensuring that the operation would not be attributed to outside forces.”
“So you waited until we finished off Wang Li before intervening?”
“Yes, and those were instructions from above.”
Long Feng picked up a cigar, but didn’t light it, merely smelling it beneath his nose.
After all, this was an enclosed space and he was in front of a group of students—better to maintain a good image as a superior.
Xu Chuyao rested a hand on her lower abdomen, pondering for a while before slowly speaking: “The sea monster was just a distraction. By making a fuss with the sea monster, all attention was drawn to it, while the real target was quietly dealt with… My mission was the key.”
She understood now—the sea was a grand stage, with everyone acting as unaware performers, and the three-person team she led were the true protagonists.
Killing Wang Li was the most important thing of all.
“You read my mind.” Long Feng put away the cigar. “I just want to know, why did they want you to handle this?”
As the top leader of a department, he understood a simple principle—if something isn’t even disclosed to someone at his level, then he’s not supposed to know. For example, Wang Li’s true identity, or why she had to die so quietly.
But sometimes, he just couldn’t help but wonder—how did this black-haired, straight-laced beauty, whom he’d nurtured personally, get involved in something like this? He couldn’t figure it out.
“Emmmmm, I’m not sure either, but I can make a guess.” Xu Chuyao looked up at the ceiling. “Maybe it’s because it makes sense.”
“How so, makes sense?”
“Yes, it makes sense,” the girl said, counting on her fingers. “Me, my teacher, and Wang Zuo—we three all had a grudge with Wang Li. Back at the Brussels airport, she almost killed us. We got her back for it later—Shen Ke gave her a scar. So, we’d already come to see each other as mortal enemies. If we met again on the high seas, fighting to the death would be the most natural outcome.”
This would allow certain people to believe Wang Li’s death was a personal vendetta, an accident, and not a secret order from above.
She said this only in her heart, not out loud, so Long Feng still didn’t know the real reason. But he thought this reasoning was plausible and could make the whole thing more convincing.
He figured Xu Chuyao herself probably didn’t know, so he didn’t press further, only reaching out a hand to her: “Understood. Go get some rest. Remember, keep everything about this classified.”
“No problem.”
Xu Chuyao left the conference room, closing the door behind her, and looked at her girlfriend waiting outside.
Shen Ning was also craning her neck, humming softly as she sorted through snacks, her cheeks puffed like a little chipmunk.
It wasn’t just her cheeks—her arms were full of snacks, too.
“Where did you get all those?”
“Kind people gave them to me,” the girl blinked her bright eyes, “Want some?”
Xu Chuyao looked over—it seemed to be food, but in fact, most of it was energy supplements: protein bars, peanut and nut bars, things you’d expect busy field operatives to carry around.
Just like the frontline agents from the security departments, or the support team members in this joint operation.
“I’m not eating that stuff. If I do, I won’t be able to eat a proper meal later.”
Xu Chuyao insisted on proper meals—she wanted big meat and fish, not just high-calorie snacks with no protein. Otherwise, how would she have enough nutrition to support her strength?
Shen Ning lowered her head to rummage through the pile of snacks, finally fishing out a box of chocolate milk.
“This is good.”
“Alright, I’ll take this,” Xu Chuyao accepted, “Drinks are basically water, so whatever.”
She inserted the straw and happily drank it down.
“We can rest for a while now, right? Can we take a break?” Shen Ning asked.
“Yeah, I think so. After finishing such a big task, we should at least get to rest until next semester—no classes, no assignments for now.”
“That’s great!”
The girl was very happy, because her Milestone System would be unlocked in a few days. She wondered what the second quest at King level would be, and was looking forward to it.
“By the way, Shen Ning, how did you suddenly reach the fourth rank? What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything, it was your fault.”
“My fault?”
“It was because you weren’t good to me.”
“Huh? How was I not good to you? I even let you… wait, how could I have been bad to you?”
“You used to treat me badly, so it led to this.”
The girl’s voice was calm and serious, as if stating a simple, irrefutable fact.
Xu Chuyao couldn’t help but laugh, both annoyed and amused: “So because I was bad to you before, you broke through to fourth rank?”
What, did she recall all the injustices she suffered when breaking through, and, in a fit of anger, unlocked new power?
Shen Ning realized her girlfriend might have misunderstood, so she thought for a moment and said, “If you’d been good to me before, maybe I’d be fifth rank by now.”
“Yeah right, I bet you just opened some secret cheat and you don’t want to admit it, pushing the blame onto me!”