The job change is a bizarre and calamity; the nation begs me to tone it down.

Gu Xu didn't think much of it and glanced at Su Qiong and Jiang Shu.

Clearly, both of them saw the caller ID, and their facial expressions changed slightly almost simultaneously.

Su Qiong narrowed her eyes slightly.

Jiang Shu subconsciously stuffed the sausage stick into her pocket and straightened up.

Seeing this, Gu Xu immediately pressed the answer button and held the phone to his ear.

"Old Zhang."

Zhang Daoxuan's voice came from the other end of the phone, slightly urgent: "Gu Xu, where are you now?"

"At the entrance of the job advancement hall, I just finished accepting the fourth job advancement quest."

After this, there was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone: "Your fourth job advancement quest... is it related to Izumo: The Mysterious Realm?"

Upon hearing this, Gu Xu was slightly taken aback, then looked at Su Qiong.

Clearly, Su Qiong's expression was also quite strange.

How did the old man know?

Surely he can't have a system too, right?

"Old Zhang, your information network is too efficient! I just came out here, and you already know? Could it be that you've planted some kind of spy among me?"

Gu Xu made a somewhat strange comment.

"What utter nonsense..."

Zhang Daoxuan's voice came through the microphone, clearly taken aback by Gu Xu's words: "Something's happened in Yunban City; a riot has broken out in the Chuyun Ghost Realm!"

But Gu Xu clearly already had this in mind, so he simply cut to the chase: "Oh? So... what's the situation over there now?"

But he had barely finished speaking.

"Buzz—!!!"

A sound unlike anything any living being on Earth tore through the night sky of Longjing from the distant horizon.

The sound was hard to describe.

You might say it sounds like a scream, but it doesn't have that tearing, ripping feeling of a scream.

You might say it sounds like a whistle, but it's much deeper and more resonant.

In short, it's a sound that makes your scalp tingle from the back of your head all the way to your forehead, your spine ache, and your jaw clench involuntarily.

Gu Xu was stunned. The phone was still pressed against his ear, and Zhang Daoxuan on the other end of the line was also silent.

Then everyone looked up and looked in the same direction.

The eastern horizon of Longjing is far away, but it's already visible—the sky there is changing color.

A dark red mist, like someone had splashed a vat of blood into the clouds, was spreading and diffusing across the sky.

At the very center of the red mist, something hung high in the sky, as large as an upside-down mountain.

Even from such a distance, the phantom of that thing still made one's stomach tighten.

A worm.

An excessively large worm.

Its entire body was dark red, with no eyes or limbs, but the densely packed suckers on its surface were rhythmically wriggling, making it appear particularly... unsettling in the night sky.

Gu Xu stared in that direction for several seconds before slowly moving his phone away from his ear.

"Alright, Mr. Zhang, you don't need to say anymore."

He said into the phone in a nonchalant tone, "I've seen the situation, I'll go handle it."

Without waiting for Zhang Daoxuan's reply, Gu Xu hung up the phone and stuffed his hand into his pocket.

Then he stood there at the bottom of the steps of the job change hall, quietly looked in that direction for a few seconds, and sighed.

"Why."

The sigh made Su Qiong look at him strangely: "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing."

Gu Xu rubbed his chin, looking a little helpless: "It's just my occupational hazard acting up again. Every time I finish a job change mission, related things pop up as if they were planned."

"Last time it was the clash between red and white, this time it's the mysterious realm of Chuyun. So the system knew before I did?"

"..."

Upon hearing this, Su Qiong paused for a moment: "So... are you complaining that you're too strong?"

"no."

Gu Xu walked towards the SUV, saying, "I was just remarking that that thing doesn't look like it'll be easy to deal with."

"You mean that worm?"

Jiang Shu took the sausage stick out of her pocket, looked at it, then put it back in, and followed with her tablet: "I just scanned it with my high-powered perception, and the energy pressure of that thing... even from this distance, I feel a little dizzy."

"normal."

Gu Xu opened the car door and said without turning his head, "I've seen things that are more dizzying than this, one more worm won't make a difference."

"But Commander, that's a demigod-level insect!"

Jiang Shu followed her into the car, slammed her tablet onto her lap, and began rapidly checking data: "And that secret realm is still continuously emitting energy; the energy reading is still rising!"

"It might be about to break through to the [Source] level!"

Hearing this, Gu Xu shrugged and clicked his tongue: "What's so special about it! We've handled source-level units before, it's nothing special..."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Shu immediately rolled her eyes.

Wow... this is truly Versailles!

Su Qiong started the engine and glanced in the rearview mirror: "So... Commander Gu, when do you plan to set off?"

"Now."

Gu Xu agreed without hesitation.

Su Qiong stepped on the gas, and the car started moving: "Now? What about the equipment? What about the supplies? What about the pre-battle analysis? None of that has been done! Are you really just going to go and do it all by yourself?"

"With the equipment on your person, you don't need to resupply. My analysis is based on what you just said."

Gu Xu leaned back in his seat, resting his hand on the car window, looking at the still-lit streets of Longjing outside: "The Cloud Realm was always my target location for my fourth-tier quest, so it doesn't matter whether I go sooner or later!"

"Now that there's another bug causing trouble outside, we might as well take care of it while we're at it."

"smoothly."

Su Qiong repeated the two words, her tone very flat.

Gu Xu sensed the subtle difference in her tone and turned to look at her: "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing."

Su Qiong stared at the road ahead: "I just feel that the catchphrase for you Ancient Lords should be these two words: 'Everything is just a matter of convenience, every BOSS is just a matter of convenience.'"

"Isn't this great?"

Gu Xu curled the corners of his mouth: "Saves time and effort."

Jiang Shu looked up from behind the tablet, her eyes bright, and her tone was serious for the first time since she took office as chief of staff: "Sir, I have two things to report before we set off."

"explain."

"First, according to real-time satellite data, the illusory image of that insect should only be a projection; the real creature is still inside the secret realm of the Cloud Realm!"

"The dimensional barrier hasn't been completely broken yet, so we can only see a shadow at most. The real battlefield is still inside."

"second……"

Jiang Shu lowered her head and tapped the tablet a few times. She looked up and said, "Commander Xu Yunshan has already notified us that his Vajra Indestructible Domain was shattered in one round. He is currently recuperating in the pit and requests that Commander Gu arrive as soon as possible."

Gu Xu paused for a second upon hearing this.

"One round?"

"One round."

Gu Xu nodded: "Okay, then we really need to hurry, otherwise Great Sage Xu will probably be lying in the pit until dawn."