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Chapter 124 Brother Xi, I want to eat ice cream

We got off the Ferris wheel gondola.

Chu Nai walked a little unsteadily.

Her face was flushed, and sweat was beading on her forehead. Wang Xi could even see steam rising from the top of her head.

I was taken aback.

I just hit a simple straight ball, how did it daz this girl, with smoke coming out of her head?

"Xiao Nai, are you alright?"

Wang Xi asked with concern.

"No, it's okay..."

Chu Nai brushed her slightly damp silver hair aside, revealing the "sacred mark" behind her ear—which was shimmering with a golden light.

She forced a smile and said apologetically:

"Brother Xi, I'm just a little hot."

Wang Xi stared intently.

He hadn't noticed it before when it wasn't glowing, but now he could see clearly that the scar-like "holy mark" was crescent-shaped with a smaller ring in the center.

—"The Eye of the Sacrifice"

This is a brand, a very high-grade brand.

It even surpassed Li Xingduan's "Phoenix and Jade" and "Dancing Clouds in Colorful Robes," and even Caius couldn't find out much specific information about it.

This is actually related to Wang Xi's own strength. Caius's investigation seems to be based on this as a reference, and he was unable to detect forces that were much stronger than him.

"Chuna (Friendly/Skeleton/Hero)"

A silver-framed entry appears above the silver-haired girl's head.

Wang Xi underestimated his childhood sweetheart's abilities.

From the beginning, he felt that Chu Nai was not simple, but as his own strength increased, he became even more unable to see through her.

She transcended "being in a higher position" and entered an unknown new realm—just like the Snow Queen Isabella.

"I'll go buy you a bottle of water."

Wang Xi didn't know what was wrong with the girl, and didn't dare to use ice magic to cool her down rashly, so he suggested...

"I don't want to drink it." Chu Nai shook her head, then raised her eyes and said, "Brother Xi, I want to eat ice cream, watermelon flavor, okay?"

Wang Xi naturally wouldn't refuse.

He let Chu Nai rest on the bench for a while, then turned around and walked quickly towards the small shop in the distance.

When he returned after buying ice cream, he saw Chu Nai sitting on a bench making a phone call under the night sky and streetlights.

Her delicate brows were slightly furrowed, and her eyes were cool and aloof.

Is it work-related trouble...?

Wang Xi said secretly.

Chu Nai's phone rang more than once today, but apart from glancing at it at the carousel at the beginning, she pretended not to hear it afterward.

It seemed she didn't want to disrupt her date today.

Wang Xi thought for a moment, then quietly activated the "Mud-Howling Dark Frog," silently moving closer, and vaguely heard Chu Nai's calm voice:
"...Century Commercial Plaza, right?"

"Business center, Black Steel Building... Okay, when to move in?"

"Well, I see."

"Tell your men not to alert them. I'll go there first thing on the morning of the 25th... It's alright, I have a plan."

"Thank you for your information, Inspector Yu."

After hanging up the phone, Chu Nai put away her phone and sat there in a daze, lost in thought.

Wang Xi deliberately waited a few more minutes before walking over.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Xiao Nai."

He handed the ice cream over.

The weather was hot, especially at night when the air was quite stuffy. To prevent the ice cream in his hand from melting, Wang Xi had already used ice magic to cool it down, making it look just as it had when he bought it.

Therefore, Chu Nai did not suspect anything.

"Thank you." She smiled sweetly, thanked him, took the ice cream, and ate it in small bites. "Why did Brother Xi take so long?"

"There were a lot of people at night, so I had to wait in line for a while."

Wang Xi made up a reason.

Click...

The sound of gears turning filled the air.

"You lied."

Experience Points +50

A sharp, agonizing pain shot through Wang Xi, causing her to catch her breath. Yet, she stubbornly maintained her composure, perfectly controlling her facial expression with the "life is like a play" motto, and kept smiling.

This was the second time he had used "Pinocchio's Heart" today. Even such a trivial lie could earn him 50 experience points from Chunai.

This shows just how terrifying her strength is.

"The gear brand has been corrupted!"

Current corruption progress: 2/100

Wang Xi lied twice today, gaining a total of 100 experience points.

'It seems the upper limit for turning evil is around 5000 experience points. If someone tells a huge lie and gains more than that amount of experience points at once, it could trigger instant death, killing them on the spot.'

Wang Xi endured the excruciating pain and thought to himself.

Having discovered this crucial information, he finally felt more confident. At the same time, he secretly warned himself not to be too greedy, lest he cause a major disaster and regret it too late.

He was so painful from angina that he could barely stand, so he sat down on the bench as gently and naturally as possible.

Silently enduring the pain, waiting for it to subside on its own. 'Was Chu Nai just on the phone with Yu Zizi? Was it during the joint operation between the Bureau of Investigation and the Public Security Department?'

Wang Xi said secretly.

'On the 25th, which is the day after tomorrow, at the Century Commercial Plaza in the central area, at the Black Steel Building…'

He remembered this information and planned to go there later to see if he could help Chu Nai.

Wang Xi wasn't one to meddle, but as an active "professional four-star" hero, assisting official operations was his duty and perfectly reasonable.

He is quite confident in his current abilities; at least, he won't do anything to make things worse.

Just as he was deep in thought.

Suddenly I felt a slight weight on my shoulder.

Turning his head, he saw that Chu Nai had finished her ice cream and gently rested her head on his shoulder.

"Thank you, Brother Xi." The silver-haired girl spoke softly with her eyes closed. "I feel much better."

Click...

"The gear-shaped brand has been cured!"

Current corruption progress: 0/100

...

...

Gucheng Central District.

Century Commercial Plaza, Black Steel Building.

The top floor is the 30th floor.

Behind a partition wall inside the office lies a spacious, dark hallway. The baseboards of the stairs and the huge, hanging floral chandelier cast a dreamy, dim light, barely illuminating the space.

In the center of the hall stood a glass coffee table and a red leather sofa, where a dozen imposing figures sat or stood, all their eyes fixed on the burly figure standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window.

"leader."

A short-haired young man spoke in a deep voice beside the sofa.

"Two days ago, Jevon, Lindsay, and Number Sixteen were surrounded and killed by the police... This is the third loss this month. If this continues, our manpower will eventually run out, and the mission may be canceled."

His open, peak-lapel black suit was unlined, revealing his bare chest, with only a few implant interfaces and prosthetic circuitry glowing blue in the shadows.

On its bare neck is a mesh skull tattoo, with the number "9" in the skull's open mouth.

"I know."

The long-haired middle-aged man, known as the leader, wore a black and white striped coat, his hands in his pockets, and looked out at the night view with a calm expression.

“In the past month, the police department has been conducting increasingly thorough investigations and crackdowns on us, and the ‘Ghost Grid’ has lost more than a third of its members.”

He sighed, then sneered.

“Yu Zizi is a smart woman. She knows we are outlaws with a conglomerate backing us, so she has never dared to go too far... But this time is different. The newly transferred Section Chief Chu from Gucheng has emboldened her, and now she’s become quite assertive.”

"Overlooking the Bureau's Demystification Division, Section Chief Chu Nai."

The man murmured, his tone grave.

Through his intelligence network and with the help of the financial group behind him, he accessed some law enforcement videos, in which nine members had died at the hands of this young section chief.

Each time, it was a fatal blow.

Even with the video slowed down tenfold, one could barely make out the trajectory of the opponent's attack—simply raising a finger caused a blinding golden light to flash from its tip, instantly killing all the elite members of the organization.

The head was erased by light, and the severed neck was charred black.

"This person is not someone you can defeat by force."

The man turned around, took out a cigarette from his leather cigarette case, lit it, took a deep drag, and slowly exhaled the smoke. He said in a deep voice:
"They're keeping a close watch on us lately. You all need to retreat outside the high walls to avoid trouble. While you're at it, move the tasks the 'Priest' assigned you to outside the city—setting up the 'holy symbols' inside the city is troublesome enough, and now the police are relentlessly pursuing us like mad dogs. If we delay the higher-ups' grand plan, none of us will survive!"

Upon hearing this, the expressions of all the "Ghost Grid" members present changed slightly.

The "priest" mentioned by the leader was clearly a terrifying figure. Even this group of lawless outlaws would unconsciously tense up whenever they heard this name.

A name steeped in bloodshed simultaneously surfaced in their minds—a mysterious society renowned throughout the Mountain and Sea Federation, and even among the world's five great nations.

"Etching Holy Mark Society"

The word "etching" here has a double metaphor.

It can refer to the act of placing a sacred mark by some mysterious means, artificially increasing the distortion of reality, causing disasters and destroying cities... or it can refer to the moment of a solar eclipse that symbolizes the end of the world.

no doubt.

This group is an extreme terrorist organization.

According to reliable intelligence, they have directly participated in the destruction of more than ten urban settlements, and if suspected related cases are included, the number affected is as high as dozens.

The five major powers have designated the "Etching Holy Symbols Society" as a Class S most wanted target, recognizing it as an enemy of all mankind.

The "priest" was a member of the organization and also the superior contact of the "Ghost Grid".

Everyone present had received orders from their leader to set up the "Holy Mark" in Gucheng.

The underlying meaning is self-evident.

Destroy Valley City!

Before that, the "pastor" did something else.

He erased the fixed entrance to the Mysterious Series A of Clubs "Qilin'er" maze near Gucheng!

In this way, the Overlook Bureau completely lost its monitoring of it. Once the "Holy Mark" is completed and the reality distortion continues to rise, exceeding the power tower's suppression threshold, it will most likely trigger the orange disaster in the "Kirin's Child" maze, and may even escalate into a red catastrophe capable of destroying Valley City!
The Bureau of Investigation has now tracked down leads and is making every effort to apprehend "The Priest." This is also part of "The Priest's" plan: to draw official attention to "Ghost Grid," giving them time and opportunity to set up the "Holy Mark"...

However, unexpectedly, at this critical juncture, Chief Chu of the Exorcism Division would step in to assist the Public Security Bureau in cracking down on the "Ghost Grid," leaving them unable to protect themselves and thus unable to spare any resources to carry out their duties.

"I will ask Mr. An of the Shining Group for help and ask him to help you get out of the city."

The leader exhaled smoke and said in a deep voice.

"President An also knows Mr. Tao from the Gucheng Council. If we can get this councilor's help to impeach Section Chief Chu for cross-departmental law enforcement, it might alleviate our current predicament."

(End of this chapter)