Chapter 122: World 4 【8】 Part 2

November brought the first chills to Sea City. During this period, Wen Ruyue, along with Jing Ke, Sun Lin, and Zhang He, handled two C-rank Tasks, capturing two lesser monsters that had recently come into being.

These lesser monsters hadn’t taken any human lives, nor had they even harmed any humans. Therefore, after some communication and leaving a tracking device on them, the two little monsters were released.

The Special Administration Bureau scheduled tasks according to the Gregorian calendar. So, during November and December, many cultivators who hadn’t completed the mandatory three tasks per year would come to work for the Bureau, which indirectly lightened the load for Consultant Wen Ruyue.

As for Wen Ruyue’s own annual quota of no fewer than ten B-rank Tasks, she had completed it long before even meeting Jing Ke. Any subsequent assistance with Bureau tasks was purely out of Wen Ruyue’s professional dedication.

Of course, after becoming the little cat Jing Ke’s feeder, Wen Ruyue had another reason for taking tasks: earning Points to support her little cat.

This had nothing to do with whether little cat Jing Ke possessed Spirit Stones; it was purely Wen Ruyue’s sense of responsibility surfacing. She couldn’t accept being financially supported by a little cat Jing Ke who had yet to grow up.

One day, while Wen Ruyue was preparing lunch for little cat Jing Ke in the kitchen, the phone lying on the dining table began to vibrate.

Little cat Jing Ke, being closer to the table, jumped up to take a look. Seeing it was a call from the Junior Brother, her first instinct was to hit the red hang-up button.

Jing Ke detested this Junior Brother who was fixated on her, to the point where just seeing him made her want to swipe her claws at him twice.

“Contractor, it’s your Junior Brother,” Jing Ke shouted to Wen Ruyue in the kitchen.

Hearing this, Wen Ruyue put down the ingredients she was handling, wiped the water droplets from her hands, and picked up the still-vibrating phone.

“Hello, it’s me,” Wen Ruyue pressed the answer button. Immediately, Qin Guang’s voice came through the speaker.

“Eldest Senior Sister, are you free right now? Little Senior Sister and I took a mission in East Province City. It was supposed to be just a C-rank Task, but the East Province Special Administration Bureau gave us faulty intelligence. We discovered a mid-stage Foundation Establishment Great Demon disguised as a Qi Condensation Stage lesser monster.”

Qin Guang suddenly lowered his voice. “Eldest Senior Sister, Little Senior Sister used a Spirit Artifact that conceals her aura to follow the Great Demon. But I’m worried the Great Demon might discover her. Can Senior Sister come and help us?”

Wen Ruyue’s brow furrowed. “Did you not notify the East Province City Special Administration Bureau? A mid-stage Foundation Establishment demon would be an A-rank Task. At the very least, it requires the coordination of a Captain.”

“Eldest Senior Sister, the Captain of East Province City is also out on a mission. I can’t reach her right now,” Qin Guang’s speech quickened. “Eldest Senior Sister, I’m sending you the specific coordinates now. Please, Senior Sister, get here as fast as you can. I’m worried something might happen to Junior Sister.”

“The Great Demon seems to have noticed us. I can’t talk anymore. Goodbye, Eldest Senior Sister.” Qin Guang didn’t give Wen Ruyue a chance to ask more questions and quickly hung up the phone.

When Wen Ruyue tried calling back, regardless of whether it was Qin Guang or Zhu Qiuyu, their phones were switched off and couldn’t be reached.

In the end, the only useful clue in Wen Ruyue’s hand was a text message specifying exact longitude and latitude coordinates.

Had something happened? Hadn’t Little Sister and Junior Brother long since completed their three mandatory tasks? Why would they go all the way to East Province City to take a mission?

Wen Ruyue’s frown deepened. However, she didn’t act rashly. Instead, using her internal authority, she found the phone number for the Director of the East Province City Special Administration Branch and called directly to inquire about the situation.

“Hello, Chief Hao, it’s me, Specially-Appointed Advisor Wen Ruyue from Sea City.” Wen Ruyue’s call was quickly answered. She briefly explained the content of the phone call she had just received.

Shortly after, Chief Hao from East Province City quickly pulled up the relevant information in the system. “Yes, Qin Guang and Zhu Qiuyu accepted a C-rank Task online yesterday: to track and investigate a suddenly popular celebrity.”

Chief Hao concisely explained the situation. “This celebrity’s sudden fame was a bit abrupt. After analysis, the Special Administration Bureau suspects they may have employed some unconventional means to borrow fortune. So, we issued a task for professionals to investigate.”

“Our requirement was simply for them to pose as fans and make close-contact observations of the target. The danger level is very low. We’ve already had it professionally checked; the celebrity only possesses a very faint trace of spiritual power fluctuation.”

From the data perspective, Chief Hao explained, this C-rank Task was extremely simple, only requiring surveillance of a human celebrity.

The most challenging part of the task was merely disguising oneself as a fan to detect spiritual power fluctuations. The difficulty lay in concealing one’s identity from the target, not in confronting any real danger.

“Consultant Wen, rest assured, I’ve already pinpointed a probable location using the coordinates. I’ve dispatched the First Action Team to provide support. If it truly is a mid-stage Foundation Establishment Great Demon, we will temporarily revoke the task and issue a new one after re-evaluating its rank,” Chief Hao stated.

“Good. I appreciate your help, Chief Hao. I will also make my way there as quickly as possible.” Having secured Chief Hao’s promise, Wen Ruyue breathed a sigh of relief.

Thinking of her Junior Sister’s and Junior Brother’s Cultivation Bases, Wen Ruyue put down her phone and looked at little cat Jing Ke, seemingly trying to find the right words.

“Put away the unprocessed ingredients. You can make me a big meal after this is done,” Jing Ke spoke first. “I’m not against you going to save your Junior Sister. But you can’t leave me behind.”

“Alright. The location my Junior Brother sent is about three hundred kilometers away. I’ll fly there directly on my sword,” Wen Ruyue said, removing the apron she was wearing.

“Fine. Wear a jacket with a hood. I want to lie in the hood,” Jing Ke didn’t object, merely stating her requirement.

–

Sword Flight was one of the essential skills of the Foundation Establishment Stage. Flight speed varied slightly depending on one’s Cultivation Base. Those with exceptional talent could even learn Sword Flight during the Qi Condensation Stage.

With an unlimited supply of Spiritual Energy, Wen Ruyue would need about an hour to fly three hundred kilometers by sword. If she broke through to the Golden Core Stage, she could probably fly side-by-side with a commercial airliner.

Three minutes later, having changed clothes and checked the inventory in her Storage Bag, Wen Ruyue bent over to let little cat Jing Ke easily hop into her hood.

After plastering a Talisman on herself that could hide her form for three minutes, Wen Ruyue retrieved her specialized long sword for Sword Flight and took off directly from the balcony with a ‘whoosh’.

Once she reached a certain altitude, the form-concealing effect of the Talisman wore off.

However, at the altitude Wen Ruyue was currently at, humans on the ground could no longer spot her with the naked eye. So, whether she was hidden or not didn’t really matter.

Sword Flight was indeed very fast, but its consumption of Spiritual Energy was also immense.

A cultivator flying on a sword not only needed to use Spiritual Energy to propel the sword into the air, but also had to maintain a Spiritual Energy barrier during flight to avoid being thrown off by the intense air resistance.

Seventy minutes later, Wen Ruyue dusted the depleted Spirit Stone powder from her hands, which she had completely drained of Spiritual Energy, and dismounted from her Flying Sword onto a concrete-paved road.

Following the coordinates her Junior Brother had sent before losing contact, Wen Ruyue arrived near a somewhat remote village.

Walking forward a short distance, Wen Ruyue spotted an off-road vehicle with a special license plate.

“Hello, I’m Wen Ruyue from Sea City,” Wen Ruyue recognized the Special Administration Bureau license plate and stepped forward to greet them.

“Consultant Wen, hello. I’m the Captain of East Province City’s First Action Team. You can just call me Old Cheng.” The person greeting Wen Ruyue was a short-haired woman who looked to be around forty.

Captain Cheng was also dressed in full combat gear. Her standard weapon was the same as Wen Ruyue’s: a Tang Saber with a blade length of about one meter.

Wen Ruyue hadn’t worked with this Captain Cheng before, but she could feel a layer of cold, murderous aura emanating from her.

This killing aura wasn’t directed at Wen Ruyue; it was an intrinsic part of Captain Cheng. It was the kind of aura that only existed on someone who had personally executed over a hundred malevolent entities with a blade.

“Captain Cheng, do you have any news of my Junior Sister and Junior Brother?” Wen Ruyue asked.

Captain Cheng shook her head. “We arrived here roughly twenty minutes ago. We only detected very faint traces of Spiritual Power fluctuation. We haven’t sensed any other cultivators, nor have we detected any signs of spirit or monster activity.”

Wen Ruyue’s frown deepened. Before she could begin investigating the surroundings, little cat Jing Ke poked her head out of her hood, then jumped onto the car’s hood via Wen Ruyue’s shoulder.

“Little White, have you found something?” Wen Ruyue asked, a hint of anticipation in her voice.

Jing Ke ran a circle on the car roof, then hopped back into Wen Ruyue’s arms. “There’s definitely the aura of a Great Demon. It should be a Foundation Establishment stage fox.”

Wen Ruyue’s brow furrowed instinctively. “What about my Junior Sister and Junior Brother? Can you detect any traces related to them?”

“The scents are very chaotic and mixed, all belonging to the fox. The other party likely deliberately confused the trails. I can’t determine a specific range,” Jing Ke stated. “You can try using Tracking Spell. It should be able to confirm a general direction.”

With Jing Ke’s reminder, Wen Ruyue quickly retrieved an item from her Storage Bag that her Junior Sister had given her.

“Captain Cheng, I would like to borrow your Tracking Artifact,” Wen Ruyue said.

Captain Cheng gave a thumbs-up and immediately had her team member bring out the Artifact from the vehicle’s trunk to assist Wen Ruyue in extracting the aura from the Jade Token.

Before the Tracking Artifact could produce a concrete result, black smoke billowed out from it first. If that team member hadn’t immediately cut off the Spiritual Energy supply, this expensive Artifact would likely have been scrapped.

“Captain, we only managed to identify a general direction, roughly thirty-seven degrees west-northwest from our position,” the team member reported, struggling to decipher the feedback from the Artifact.

“Pull up the map. See what’s along that thirty-seven degrees west-northwest line,” Captain Cheng ordered.

Wen Ruyue wasn’t idle either; she also took out her phone and mapped the approximate direction.

“Reporting, Captain. At a straight-line distance of three kilometers, there’s a village. At seven kilometers, there’s an Ancient Tomb that was just discovered and reported,” the team member immediately reported back.