Chapter 456: Rapid Deterioration (10/10, Autumn Subscription)

At the same moment Fang Yue stepped into the Green Division, somewhere else—

A man in tattered clothes happened to step through the gate of Qingsi County.

His eyes flickered with faint golden light, his expression stern without anger, like a wrathful guardian deity.

The people behind him were cursing him for cutting in line.

The white-clothed Green Guard beside him tried to stop him at the gate.

But the man simply slammed his fist hard into the ground.

Faint golden lines surfaced on his fist.

The next instant…

Boom!!

The marble ground of Qingsi County trembled violently, and amid flying rubble, a huge crater was smashed open.

"I've grasped it… finally grasped it… so this is the price, the price of power!"

Captain Wu clenched his fist, golden threads sinking into the flesh, and walked step by step toward the Green Division.

The people behind him all stared dumbfounded at the scene; none of them dared step forward to block him again.

They only sent a grey-clothed man hurrying off to the Green Division to report the matter.

……

Green Division.

You Sisi watched Fang Yue walk into the room, doing her best to keep a blank expression.

As long as she herself wasn't embarrassed, the embarrassed one would be someone else!

Just yesterday she had been defeated by Fang Yue, leaving a shadow in her heart.

So after returning last night, You Sisi was eager to raise her own strength and realm.

But the successive Possession incidents last night forced her to halt her cultivation plan and start rushing about every corner of Qingsi County, rescuing the common folk.

This is what rights and obligations are.

Enjoying the convenience brought by the Green Garb, one must inevitably give something in return.

If one wants a comfortable cultivation environment, one must maintain the safety of the area under one's jurisdiction.

Precisely because of this, some powerhouses are unwilling to join an official organization like the Green Division.

In their view, wasting their precious time on raising their own strength, idling away the years, helping ordinary people survive—it's truly a boring, life-wasting affair.

So they would rather choose a sect, be enshrined high in the hall, cultivate daily, step out for the sect to deal with rivals, and enjoy abundant cultivation resources and a comfortable cultivation environment.

This is the difference between a sect and the Green Division.

But the Green Division, with its official backing, is ultimately a notch above any sect.

Take Black Crow's threatening words, for instance—drop those on any ordinary sect, and every single one of them would have to back down!

The might and mystery of the Phoenix Organization are not something the sects of a remote region like Heiqing Shanmai can resist.

Even sects like the Extreme Ice Sect or the Blazing Fire Sect would have to think twice before facing the Phoenix Organization.

But the Green Division can go right at their face!

And You Sisi could walk away completely unscathed, continuing her work as a Green Garb, while Black Crow had to back down.

That forceful attitude is simply too satisfying.

Back when Fang Yue was in Mo Cun, Captain Huo and the others wouldn't dare stand up to Black Crow's group; they were deathly wary of the Phoenix Organization.

And that's all because the Guard Station in the village, in a sense, doesn't count as an official organization.

In the earliest days, the Guard Station was an organization the villagers spontaneously set up on their own.

It was established by imitating and simplifying the Green Division's structure.

Later it received official recognition, but its management of the village was very loose. If the village was gone, they'd just send someone to make a record and that was that.

But if a county town like Qingsi County were gone, that wouldn't end with just an investigation—it would truly alarm the colossus that is Qing Guo!

After all, a county town is already counted among the backbone strength of Qing Guo, and with an official organization like the Green Division stationed there, it's basically our people among our people. If something happened, they'd have to step in and handle it.

At the same time, in a village's Guard Team, the Captain can actually be listed on the Government's official roster, qualified to be transferred to work at a county-level Green Division—that counts as an official post; everyone else is just the village amusing itself.

Take the Deputy Captain, for example—in his own village he counts for something, but once in Qingsi County, he's treated as just another villager.

Just as You Sisi was thinking this, Fang Yue had already taken his seat.

Tian Erjun said at this point, "You Sisi, start handing out the materials."

You Sisi distributed the materials she had stayed up all night preparing, gave them to the two to read, and began explaining the situation.

A dozen or so minutes later, Fang Yue roughly understood what was going on.

He frowned at the two people before him, who stood at the very pinnacle of power in Qingsi County, his brows knit tight.

"So, after we captured Black Crow last night, the direction we'd initially assumed was actually completely wrong?"

"Right! When we discussed it, we thought the eerie being was handed off through that 【Fire Pattern Token】 of Black Crow's—that was how the eerie experiment evaded Qingsi County's detection methods.

Slipping into Qingsi County smoothly, then triggering Possession and eerie revival inside the county, causing massive destruction and losses. But now, I'm very certain—this idea, this line of thinking, is completely wrong!"

"Then what's the situation now? Did Black Crow say anything?"

"It has nothing to do with Black Crow—it's what happened last night. I think you must have seen it with your own eyes last night…"

"Sorry, I was cultivating all night last night and didn't actually see anything in person. I only learned what happened after reading the materials you gave me."

"……"

You Sisi's expression faltered, and an urge to hit someone rose in her heart.

What's with this guy? I'm the one who lost, and even I stopped cultivating to busy myself with work.

Yet the one who beat me by a move actually cultivated all night instead.

Shouldn't our experiences last night be the other way around?

You Sisi was a bit speechless, and suddenly hoped that Fang Yue could join the Green Division sooner, so that she could order him around, keep him so busy he couldn't cultivate, and let him know what human hearts were truly treacherous.

Suppressing the little scheme in her heart, You Sisi continued: "In short, just as the records say, last night, many people in Qingsi County exhibited the phenomenon of Possession, and then a bizarre revival. Such a large-scale Possession erupting all at once on a single night — this is simply inconceivable.

And after my thorough, careful investigation, I discovered a common trait among all the possessed — they were all survivors of the Qingluan Lou case.

Combined with the incident of Qiu Xin's bizarre transformation, I have a bold and utterly terrifying guess.

I suspect… the 【Fire Pattern Token】 the bizarre gave to the Black Crow is something akin to a plague. And the phenomenon caused by this plague is Possession! Everyone who went to Qingluan Lou that night may already have been infected by the Fire Pattern Token, becoming potential targets for Possession! Moreover… this phenomenon may also be contagious! At present this is still my speculation, but being cautious is never wrong.

Then, there is one final question. Last night, while our Green Division was busy handling the Possession phenomenon, we discovered that after a certain point in time, all the possessed people suddenly returned to normal, as if the bizarre had died, or been driven away.

But everyone was cheering, thinking the Possession had been suppressed.

Only I, my hands and feet ice-cold, as if fallen into an icy abyss! Because I knew just how detached from reality it was for such a dense crowd of people to all have their Possession suppressed at once!

So… the answer is very likely that the bizarre has the ability to remotely control these people and activate Possession!"

Hearing You Sisi's final words, Fang Yue's pupils contracted sharply.

Anyone who had dealt with Possession knew just how terrifying that last ability was.

Gulp, he swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and Fang Yue asked: "If everything is as you say, then the situation is hurtling in the worst possible direction!"

(End of chapter)