Chapter 285: with translation of chapter title

Between the ruined walls and broken pillars, scarlet light intertwined eerily.

On the ground, on the walls, and even in the dust floating mid‑air, clusters of bizarre, hard Blood Crystals bloomed everywhere.

Chi Jinan seemed to stand in a Blood Crystal "garden", his crimson hair tips fluttering slightly in the wind, while his pure black eyes shone startlingly, appearing to be in a good mood.

Several warehouses and outposts that originally belonged to the Co‑Absorption outer outposts have now all turned into fertilizer.

Chi Jinan flicked his wrist; dark‑red crystal shards fell from his fingers into the dust on the ground, and his ink‑black pupils scanned the ruins he had just "plowed" through.

"Another empty shell."

"Efficiency is acceptable, but… it's a bit boring."

The resistance at these outposts was even more useless than he expected; not only were the personnel pitifully few, the stockpiled supplies were almost nonexistent, as if they had been emptied in advance.

The Butterfly Speaker stood gracefully on a relatively clean patch of ground a short distance away, twirling a smooth‑edged metal gear of unknown origin in his hand; upon hearing the words, he gave a faint smile, his voice as light as a feather.

"After all, they're just peripheral 'tentacles'; having nothing useful is normal."

It's just a bit too empty.

The Butterfly Speaker also vaguely sensed something amiss; the Undercurrent and the Dome had been meeting privately quite often, and had long been covertly monitoring the Dome's movements, so in any case these outposts shouldn't be completely empty.

Ying Duo kept a little farther away, stepping on ground with fewer Blood Crystals.

The experience log's prompts were sparse; the guard forces in these outposts were pitifully weak, almost all being slain by a single strike from Chi Jinan, leaving him barely any chance to land a follow‑up blow.

His backpack now held a few more scrap materials scavenged from the ruins—better than nothing.

Yang Yixie glanced at the Team Channel in the chat interface; there was no new news from Cai Mao.

"Let's go, the next one."

Chi Jinan seemed unwilling to linger; he waved his hand, and the surrounding Blood Crystals began to slowly disintegrate, turning into blood that flowed into the spatial ring on his finger that stores blood.

The Butterfly Speaker reported another location; this outpost was in Zone Three, so they had to hurry again.

Shen Zexi and Min Tianyou were completely numb; Ying Duo and the Butterfly Speaker, one barely keeping up with the pace and the other leading the way, gave no thought to their feelings.

Considering Ying Duo's injuries hadn't healed, Shen Zexi could only yank Ying Duo—who had been running around with Chi Jinan—back; he had just been killed a second ago, yet Ying Duo still dared to follow people so recklessly.

Should we say he is big‑hearted, or just clueless?

Sure enough, he still needs a brain boost........

Chi Jinan only needs to act as a bulldozer, but our classmate Xiao Ming has to consider many more things.

Although Chi Jinan's Blood Crystals have turned this place into a wreck, one can still roughly see where the original supplies were stacked, which is oddly too clean.

"The Co‑Absorption outposts are spread out and have little direct contact… how could they react so quickly and empty the supplies of multiple outposts?"

Shen Zexi, listening to Min Tianyou, sensed something was off.

"You mean… there's a mole? Someone leaked the Supervision Bureau's cleanup plan early?"

Min Tianyou did not answer immediately; besides a mole, there was another possibility—that the Dome intended to withdraw from Tianmian City, but could that be?

For years the Dome has been driving nails into Tianmian City, persistently; how could it suddenly decide to pull out?

"If it's a mole, his position within Co‑Absorption should be high enough to notify so many outer outposts…"

He paused, took out his communicator, and sent a message to Qi Junyi, who was still on standby in Tianmian City, awaiting the Teleportation Array to replenish Source Crystals.

Ying Duo simply let Shen Zexi carry him, appearing unusually compliant.

Min Tianyou's reasoning had no major flaws; the logic was sound, but the sole—and most fatal—problem was that he was a normal person.

A normal person cannot grasp the thought patterns of special groups, just as he could never guess that this was entirely the result of a sudden illness afflicting a master‑disciple pair.

———————————————

"The cleanup operation is proceeding smoothly, but many Co‑Absorption outposts appear to have transferred supplies early; a major possibility is an information leak, and it is recommended to immediately investigate all informed personnel."

This cleanup targeting Co‑Absorption was conducted with high secrecy; only a handful of people knew about it, so an information leak should not have occurred.

Superiors have long suspected an infiltrator within the Church, but repeated investigations yielded nothing; even traps set specifically for this purpose were uncovered by Co‑Absorption and turned against us.

Qi Junyi had just finished a brief communication with the Heresy Tribunal headquarters; before his brows could relax, he saw Min Tianyou's message and his expression darkened again.

He closed the communication window and irritatedly rubbed his temples.

This morning he first dealt with his incompetent younger brother, then returned to the Heresy Tribunal only to find he had nothing to do, so he went have breakfast, and consequently missed Chi Jinan's forced early first wave teleport to the surface.

Thus now he can only wait here for the Teleportation Array's Source Crystals to refill, wasting time pointlessly.

What made him even more furious was—

"What are you looking at?"

Qi Junyi turned his head irritably, glaring at the figure in the corner who had tried to curl up but was still caught by his glance.

Qi Hengyu was squatting in the shadow of the Teleportation Array's energy isolation barrier, throat stuck out, his reasoning crooked but his spirit fierce.

"Just waiting to see what you'll do? What's the matter, can't even look?"

"This is the Church's encrypted channel; tell me, can you even see it?"

Qi Junyi retorted irritably, "Who would understand? Being tossed onto Tianmian City by Chi Jinan is already infuriating, and then I turn around to see my incompetent brother trying to sneak into the Teleportation Array's location."

The crucial point is that the kid actually managed to slip in; if I hadn't caught him red‑handed, he might have succeeded.

The Supervision Bureau's guards are slacking off even more aggressively than he is?

"In any case, go back to the Academy right now; you haven't even mastered your Aberrant Arts, don't come here to cause trouble."

"I have to go down and find someone!"

Qi Hengyu said defiantly, "Who would understand? I managed to sneak all the way to the Teleportation Array, only to be caught by my own older brother."

When he was scaling the Academy's wall, he ran into Luo Jinyou, who also wanted to come, but because the Mutation was erupting inside Tianmian City, security was especially tight; getting out of the infirmary for a breather was the result of much pleading.

Luo Jinyou even specifically asked him to help locate Ying Duo, but he had no time; when he heard the Air Train had been bombed, he was intent on heading to the Slum to check the situation.

Anyway, Ying Duo couldn't have gone to the surface; as long as he's still in Tianmian City, what could happen?

"Looking for whom? Tell me what's up, I'll handle it on the way. Down there it's a mess, the Mutation contamination hasn't been fully cleared, and countless unknown forces are stirring inside."

Qi Junyi also furrowed his brows tightly, wondering if Qi Hengyu knew that his two teammates had both been taken away by Chi Jinan.