Chapter 99: Peace Street Neighborhood Office (7) — Infighting

The Peace Street Neighborhood Office had fallen into a sea of cats; spring cats, it seemed, were particularly agitated.

The three Battle Mages who had rushed back into the office lobby froze at the exit of the corridor. Hundreds of cats were baring their fangs with ferocious expressions, their cries sounding somewhat like the wailing of infants; the sound of hundreds of babies crying was heart-wrenching and sent shivers down one's spine. Many cats had already scrambled onto the service counters, and the female Mage who had been on duty in the lobby had long since screamed and fled through the corridor on the other side.

The burly Mage wearing a jacket and a baseball cap was named Chi Yu, the leader of the three-person squad. At this moment, his brows were tightly furrowed. He and his squad had been ordered to capture the notorious Battle Mage Du Zhengyi today. Although they had a Venerable with them, three Level 1 Battle Mages, and two more Battle Mages providing support on the perimeter, he had long prepared himself for a fierce battle. However, this fierce battle was not meant to be against a pack of cats; as things stood, it was increasingly likely to turn into a farce.

"Wen Lin!" he called the female Mage's name in annoyance. "Deal with these cats!"

The long-haired female Mage paused, her delicate brows knitting in impatience as she crossed her arms over her chest. "That's a fine thing to say. How am I supposed to deal with these cats? Why do I have to deal with the cats?"

Chi Yu did not explain; he felt that cats, women, women, and cats were inherently linked.

"Do you expect me to kill hundreds of cats in one go in front of all those humans outside?" Wen Lin said incredulously. "Do you see the phones they're holding up? I'll be the number one internet celebrity in no time—a psycho who abuses cats! Then I'll be summoned by the Qionglin for intentionally drawing human attention. When that happens, am I supposed to tell the Committee that it was you who ordered me to slaughter cats in public?"

Chi Yu was displeased; he had always loathed talkative women, but there was a more important layer of displeasure entwined within him—he felt that Wen Lin had been showing him less and less respect lately. "I meant for you to find a way to drive these cats away. Don't you often watch those boring cat videos on your phone? You should understand what's going on with these cats better than we do."

The woman was practically laughed to anger by him; she had always thought Chi Yu was an idiot who only knew how to strengthen his power. "Even if you've never petted a cat, you've seen them run, right? It's not like you've never seen a cat before; when have you ever seen cats act like this? If you insist on me saying something, maybe it's because Du Zhengyi inside is secreting some kind of hormone that makes spring cats more excited."

Her words carried a sting, and Chi Yu, who had never possessed a sense of humor, disliked anyone joking in front of him; joking in a work setting was something he absolutely could not tolerate. "What do you mean by that?" he asked in a low voice.

Shi Qian, who was posing as a couple with the woman, hurriedly interjected, "Chi Yu, Wen Lin, let's put work first. Venerable Fan Shi is still inside. Let's resolve the problem outside as quickly as possible, all right?"

Chi Yu ignored him, still glaring gloomily at Wen Lin, while Wen Lin looked up at the ceiling and rolled her eyes impatiently. Shi Qian grew anxious; he knew Chi Yu was a violent man whose demands for power and status were no different from a Fei Wang in a troop of baboons. They had been a team for nearly seven years; in private, he and Wen Lin had both complained, but it was only in private. Recently, however, it wasn't just about asking what was wrong—Wen Lin seemed to be losing her temper more and more.

Of the three of them, he was skilled at Calculation—in other words, he was good at strategy—and had always been the one to hold the line. The tall and agile Wen Lin was skilled at Teleportation and was an assassin-like Mage. If the two of them worked together, they could be a highly efficient team with considerable offensive power. But all of this seemed insufficient in the face of Chi Yu, who excelled in power enhancement and possessed a resolute will. Therefore, he had always avoided internal conflicts and, even more, did not want Wen Lin to suffer, but this result seemed to be constantly pushing Wen Lin further away from him.

To Wen Lin, he was too conservative and too mediocre. Before Du Zhengyi was listed as a Mage suspected of high-level rebellion, Wen Lin had even once said that she was sick of the two of them and would rather partner with Du Zhengyi. This was truly too much; he had been too shocked to speak at the time, because back then, Du Zhengyi was notorious for constantly having his partners die. The gossip circles of the Qionglin were practically dying to dig up his birth data; his reputation was essentially that of a widower who cursed his wives.

Today was the first time he had seen Du Zhengyi in person; he had not expected the legendary God of War to be such a young and handsome figure. Even though he was with a strange, hare-lipped old man and treated that hare-lipped man—who was old enough to be his grandfather—with the posture of someone caring for a cub. Despite this, despite such perverted strangeness, Wen Lin's gaze could not stop following him. When she looked at Du Zhengyi, those exceptionally moving eyes shone like stars. He had never felt as dejected as he did today, to the point where everything he realized came after the fact.

"Let's stop worrying about these cats," he said, suppressing the dejection that had been growing in his heart for months, trying his best to focus on the work at hand. "I cannot detect any abnormal force field here; there are no other Mages here. We just need to go and help Venerable Fan Shi finish off Du Zhengyi as soon as possible. Perhaps these cats are just a distraction Du Zhengyi managed to create to confuse our attention."

As he said this, he cautiously watched Wen Lin's expression, terrified that she might truly reveal her concern for Du Zhengyi; his heart was so tense it was almost numb. He had no energy left to guard against Chi Yu's reaction, and caught off guard, Chi Yu shoved him in the shoulder. He staggered from the push and had to take a step back to steady himself.

"Did you leave your brain back at the Qionglin?" that Fei Wang roared temperately. He pointed a thick finger at the door and bellowed in a lowered voice, "Those humans outside are about to come in to watch the show. At least a few dozen people are about to follow the cats into the corridor. If Venerable Fan Shi and Du Zhengyi engage in battle at this moment, there is a high probability that the two of them will break the Barrier. When that happens, dozens of humans will witness supernatural phenomena. We'll have to call up a team of Mind Mages afterward just to wipe their memories! Do you have any idea how much overtime pay that will cost? We will definitely be severely reprimanded by the Committee!"

Shi Qian looked toward the door in a panic; sure enough, those humans had already started tentatively trying to come in to watch the show. In the current situation, as long as one person took the lead, the others would swarm in behind.

"Useless things!" Chi Yu said bitterly, turning around in anger and heading straight for the humans himself.

"Get out, all of you!" he roared. "No photos allowed, phones confiscated!"

First, a human was startled by him, and then someone asked, "You're so burly, are you a city management officer?"

He was stunned, not understanding what the person meant, but the onlookers behind were pushing forward, and the people in front were pushed to the ground. Whether it was a misunderstanding or not, someone in the back suddenly shouted, "The city management is hitting people!"

"Trash!" Wen Lin suddenly cursed in a low voice.

Shi Qian did not understand why, but he immediately realized that the crowd had become agitated and was instead rushing in like a flood.