Chapter 56

"Without you, I am nothing..."

"Brother, don't lower your head; the crown will fall, the scum will laugh, and you aren't as humble as you imagine. At the very least, being a braised chicken is no problem."

"B... Braised chicken?"

"Yellow, stifled, and trash."

Wu Wang, with a kindly smile, comforted a certain unlucky soul who had just been coldly rejected by a goddess in public and was now squatting by the roadside sobbing.

The other party, moved to tears by such heart-piercing comfort, clenched his fist and raised his hand to high-five him in celebration.

But Wu Wang had already stood up and walked far away.

Doing good deeds without leaving a name; after the matter is done, brush off your clothes and depart.

He turned into an alley where there were no surveillance cameras.

When he walked out again.

Wu Wang's appearance and physique were completely identical to that disheartened youth from just now.

【Fake Smile Mask】!

In his hand, he still held the wallet the youth hadn't tucked away properly while Wu Wang was comforting him, containing the youth's ID card, driver's license, and other items.

From now on, I am... what was it again?

Wu Wang looked down at the ID card.

Oh, I am Zhang Wei.

"As repayment for the comfort, lend your identity to your brother for two days." Wu Wang smiled and walked toward the distance.

Since arriving in Ancheng.

The 【Laughing River Broken Sword】 in his hand has been guiding him toward a certain direction; barring unexpected events, that must be the real-world location of Yin Yuan Village.

But along the way, Wu Wang also discovered an anomaly—

The level of security in Ancheng seems far too high.

Basically, every few minutes one could encounter police officers patrolling, and occasionally one could see a few people in red-and-black uniforms, unclear which department they belong to, conversing with the police officers.

From these people, Wu Wang felt a sense of familiarity.

They are Spirit Disaster players!

Barring unexpected events, they should be members of the Bureau of Abnormal Affairs.

But they shouldn't appear so ostentatiously unless some operation is currently underway here.

"Has the matter of Yin Yuan Village been exposed?"

After discovering the anomaly, Wu Wang became alert.

Fortunately, from the very beginning he hadn't used his true appearance here; even when buying high-speed rail tickets, he used a fake identity and fake appearance.

Otherwise, at the very beginning on the high-speed train, he wouldn't have been the thin, scholarly scholar wearing glasses.

In fact, he had several sets of backup fake identities.

This all stemmed from three years ago, after watching a gangster movie, when Wu Wang wanted to see if a gun could kill him.

So he spent more than half a month finding the place in Mingyang City that held underground black-market boxing matches, got to know a few people from the underworld, and tried to get a handgun from them to commit suicide for fun.

The fake identities were also made casually back then.

After all, one always needs a reason to approach them.

The reason Wu Wang used was that he had committed a crime and planned to get some fake identities to run away.

He didn't expect these fake identities to actually come in handy now.

"Road collapse ahead, please take a detour."

After arriving at the passenger station by changing various identities.

Sitting on a bus heading toward a certain county town under Ancheng, the bus Wu Wang was on was intercepted.

Looking closely, it was again members of the Bureau of Abnormal Affairs in red-and-black uniforms.

They seemed to be deliberately blocking the road leading to the deep mountains where Yin Yuan Village is located?

After the bus turned around and left the sight of the Bureau of Abnormal Affairs members, Wu Wang casually made up a reason that he needed to take a shit and asked the driver to let him off halfway.

He stealthily followed the mountain path back to the checkpoint just now.

He happened to see a black sedan driving in from another road.

Before the Bureau of Abnormal Affairs members could go up to stop them, the other party stopped voluntarily and rolled down the window.

A familiar face, bearded, scarred, and with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, appeared before Wu Wang.

"Hello, I am Chen Baili from the Mingyang City branch. Regarding the request for aid from the Pig-Head Ghost of Yin Yuan Village, at this stage, it is me and the Minister coming to support you."

Having spoken, the Minister of Mingyang City sitting in the back row also slowly lowered his window.

He nodded slightly to the two people outside.

The other party also recognized this Minister.

They immediately nodded to let them pass and even asked if the Minister needed rest after traveling such a long distance.

After the car drove away.

These two members began to discuss.

The shorter one among them asked curiously:

"Is that the Mingyang City Minister known as the 'Judge'—Old Xiezhi? Didn't they say last year that this big shot was going to be transferred to Kyoto? Why is he still the branch Minister in Mingyang City?"

The other party was also famous within the circle.

Because he is skilled at dealing with spiritual entities and such existences.

So in the supernatural dungeons of the Spirit Disaster game where there are basically ghosts, he is like a fish in water.

He himself is a former soldier.

Having just become a player, he was transferred from the unit to the Bureau of Anomalies, breaking several dungeon-clear records at an astonishing pace, and within just one year he was eligible for promotion to captain of a brigade at the Kyoto headquarters.

But no one expected that, when everyone assumed he would stay in Kyoto and take up some position.

A single document from above reassigned him to Mingyang City, far from Kyoto.

The position of branch chief of the Mingyang City division.

Although on the surface it seemed quite a bit higher than brigade captain.

In reality, for a frontline talent like him, it was basically tantamount to exile.

And he sat there for two whole years.

Occasionally there were rumors he would be transferred back to Kyoto, but no substantial progress was ever seen.

Quite a few Bureau of Anomalies members felt it was a real shame.

Especially those who had worked with him in Kyoto — they rated him extremely highly, saying he was a teammate worth trusting.

"Transferred back to Kyoto? …Being able to serve as chief of Mingyang City already shows that big shot's own ability is solid enough." Another tall, lanky member seemed to know a bit of inside information.

He continued in a lowered voice: "A buddy of mine who works in Kyoto told me — the reason Old Xiezhi was reassigned seems to be that he offended some high-ranking official at headquarters."

"That guy's son apparently got into some trouble, and asked him to turn a blind eye to it."

"But Old Xiezhi took it literally — he closed one eye and arrested the guy, and even showed up in court to testify, getting the young master sentenced to two years."

The short companion showed a look of astonishment.

He hadn't expected there was such a shady backstory.

So Old Xiezhi, that big shot, had been sidelined until now because of something like this?

"Heh heh, that's not all — the other side played hardball and bailed the young master out in half a month. They say as long as Old Xiezhi is willing to bow his head and admit fault, they could turn hostility into friendship and transfer him back to Kyoto right away."

"And then?" the short one asked, curious.

The tall, lanky companion shook his head, shrugged helplessly: "And then? Isn't it obvious? He's still the chief of Mingyang City, served the whole two years."

The two sighed together:

"Upright and unbending…"

Chatting as they went, the short one's expression grew a bit uneasy.

He felt his pocket, found he still had tissues, and laughed sheepishly at his companion: "You keep watch, I'm gonna go relieve myself — ate way too much on the way here."

"Go on, go on — it's all Lin Zi around here, watch out a snake doesn't bite your ass, hahaha."

Watching the short one duck into Lin Zi.

The tall, lanky companion continued his patrol.

Little did he know, the short one had barely entered Lin Zi.

The moment he squatted down, his vision went black and he passed out.

A boy wearing a strange mushroom hat stood up in front of him, his expression extremely awkward: "You little bastard, were you planning to shit on my head?"

Have to say, the spot this guy picked couldn't have been more perfectly chosen.

It was practically forcing Wu Wang to knock him out.

Otherwise, it really would have been shit raining down on his head.

Skillfully stripping off the uniform from the man's body, Wu Wang's build and features gradually shifted.

Now, I am a member of the Bureau of Anomalies!

"The boar-head ghost from Yin Yuan Village… isn't that the Yin Yuan great god? That guy broke free? Damn that black-hearted Penguin! Can't they make the seal a bit sturdier?" Wu Wang complained.

【Laughing River Broken Sword】 explicitly states — the sword spirit to be devoured must be a spirit body unable to resist.

Looking at it now, that's a big problem.

Luckily someone stepped up to help him deal with this trouble — first let Chen Baili and the others clash with the Yin Yuan great god, so he could observe how much of its power had recovered after breaking free.

If it's already like inside the dungeon, with heaven-thundering strikes at every turn, then forget it.

He's just passing through.

If its recovery isn't great, and the two sides are evenly matched — even if the Yin Yuan great god is only a sliver stronger — then he's sorry about that.

The mantis stalks the cicada, the oriole behind!

Today you will definitely become my sword spirit!

Grab it in one go! Refine it in an instant!

————

Inside the black sedan.

Bai Li Dao gripped the steering wheel, a little worried: "Boss, that boar-head ghost calls itself the Yin Yuan great god — it seems to be a higher-level consciousness descending to possess a body, not a simple spirit body."

"Oh, got it." Old Xiezhi pulled a piece of gum from his pocket and tossed it into his mouth.

His attitude left Bai Li Dao puzzled.

"You can take it on? It's a god…"

Old Xiezhi cut him off: "If the opponent were a god, it might be a bit tricky, but it can't possibly be a god — at most it's a special spirit body."

"Don't worry, we'll win."

There was something Bai Li Dao didn't dare say —

He couldn't shake the feeling that the boss was right now setting up some terrifying flag…