After the dinner, everyone dispersed.

Ruan Xing felt that Bai Xu had something to say, so he deliberately stopped and turned his head to look at him. The crystal chandelier cast a beautiful play of light and shadow on his side profile.

However, Bai Xu looked completely nonchalant. "Huh? Talk to you? No, you're imagining things. Don't flatter yourself. My place is far, so I'm heading back first." He waved, shoved both hands into his pockets, and left.

One of his pockets bulged oddly, as if something was inside.

Fu Gui shook his head and sighed. [In the past, I walked around with my hands in my pockets, not knowing what love was. Kid, you're still too young.]

After returning home, Fu Zhi informed Ruan Xing that Chen Yihang had already resolved the previous housing issue.

Because of the "death" of the original Ruan Xing, his small apartment had almost been reclaimed. It was only because Fu Zhi said he would handle it that it was resolved, and now there was finally an answer.

Ruan Xing asked, "Can we go to the house now?"

Fu Zhi said, "Yes. The apartment is now under my name. You can go back anytime. I haven't touched anything inside."

Ruan Xing's eyes lit up. Wasn't Fu Zhi's property his property too? Rounding it up, even this apartment was basically his now. His mood instantly improved.

Fu Gui carried his little blanket out of the bedroom earlier. He didn't want to see this couple flaunting their affection in front of him.

Ruan Xing still kept Lloyd's matter in mind.

After telling Fu Zhi, the other agreed to go check the situation with him. Of course, they also brought Ming Zhi, since she still had part of his belongings. This was the perfect time to hand them over.

Ming Zhi had been waiting there since early in the morning. When she saw them from afar, she waved in greeting.

As they got closer, she smiled. "We meet again, Major."

Fu Zhi also remembered this woman. He had once seen her in the Tower, so he nodded politely. "Hello, we meet again."

The three waited together at the warehouse entrance. Fu Zhi was on the phone with someone, and before long, the rolling shutter door was pulled open again.

"Major Fu." A strange-looking man appeared, wearing a mask. Ruan Xing noticed that his two eyes seemed misaligned, and he stared straight at him.

Fu Zhi stepped in front of him and nodded slightly. "Mr. Chen."

Chen Fu smiled, making his face look even more terrifying. Luckily, everyone present was well-traveled and did not react too much.

Chen Fu said, "This must be Mr. Ruan?"

Ruan Xing admitted, "I'm Ruan Xing."

Chen Fu's eyes lit up. "Mr. Ruan, I've heard so much about you! This time, I'll go with you to Mist City."

Ruan Xing instinctively looked at Fu Zhi, who explained, "Mr. Chen is currently in charge of the 'Cleanup Plan.'"

Ruan Xing understood.

As the name suggests, the Cleanup Plan was a project aimed at eliminating pollution.

It was an organization composed mainly of individuals who had once survived in polluted zones.

In terms of understanding pollution, if the Tower ranked first, then the members of this organization could be considered second.

However, in recent years, the Cleanup Plan's focus had shifted, and the reason was the man standing before him.

Chen Fu claimed to have escaped from the Tower. He had once worked there and nearly died in an experimental accident. After escaping, he joined the Cleanup Plan and submitted a series of documents about the Tower to the Enforcement Division.

These documents covered the Tower's research over the years.

Of course, none of it was pleasant.

The Enforcement Division claimed to investigate strictly, but they didn't move against Chen Fu. On the contrary, they allowed him to operate right under their noses.

That alone revealed their true stance.

Fu Gui sneered. [The actual ruler of the country is the Prime Minister. You think he would allow some figurehead king to share authority?]

It was a fitting analogy. The king did no work, didn't handle state affairs, yet enjoyed the admiration of the masses and the highest privileges. The Prime Minister supposedly held the highest authority, but was actually constrained in reality.

Who would accept that?

Ruan Xing was intrigued. Perhaps the Tower was unaware of the Cleanup Plan, or perhaps it simply didn't consider its position to be threatened.

The organization's aim was to unite all useful people. This trip to Mist City might have been partly for that reason. After all, both Ruan Xing's attitude and his abilities were worth approaching.

Since Fu Zhi vouched for him, Ruan Xing wasn't worried about Chen Fu causing trouble. He withdrew his gaze and stepped into the teleportation array first.

"Let's go."

Chen Fu was a little excited. He knew Fu Zhi was strong. Although Fu Zhi didn't join the Cleanup Plan, he had recently started contacting them frequently and had provided solid information, which meant he was quite supportive.

The sudden appearance of Ruan Xing was also promising. But what Chen Fu looked forward to most was that Mist City contained an entire city's worth of pollutants. And what was that? Proof!

According to rumors, these pollutants actually obeyed Ruan Xing.

That would be an incredibly powerful force that required no sympathy, just disposable soldiers.

They could be sent straight to their deaths.

Chen Fu's eyes reddened.

The thought of toppling the Tower filled him with fanaticism. He would stop at nothing to achieve that goal.

Light appeared before Chen Fu's eyes, and then he found himself standing on a dark platform.

Where was this?

He felt confused, but his expression quickly changed as the heavy scent of blood filled his nose.

Ruan Xing's face darkened as well. The stench of blood was strong.

He had moved the entire teleportation array to the tournament platform. In an open-air environment, there was no way the smell could be this heavy.

He tried calling for Lloyd, but there was no response. Even the guards who should have been here were gone.

He exchanged a look with Fu Zhi.

Both saw the same seriousness in each other's eyes.

After leaving the arena and stepping onto the street, the scene before them made even Ming Zhi cover her mouth.

What did she see?!

The streets were already a mess. All around were the corpses of pollutants, their blood splattered across the road. Cars had been abandoned in the middle of the street with smoke rising from their hoods.

There was no sound, not even birds' chirps. The entire city was completely dead.

Some heads had rolled to the side, faces still frozen in smiles, showing they had been killed before they could react.

Because this was an artificially created polluted zone, there were no pollution rules in place. Even sandification couldn't occur, leaving the bodies sprawled everywhere like trash.

Fu Zhi crouched down, inspecting the corpses for a moment before saying, "They have been dead for no more than two days."

This meant the attack had occurred before Ruan Xing met Ming Zhi.

As they headed toward Lloyd's castle, the few pollutants left began showing signs of fleeing. It seemed that the residents had realized what was happening, but it was useless. What was coming had already come.

Inside the castle, the white-haired driver and servants Ruan Xing had seen before lay peacefully on the ground as if asleep, but they had no breath left. Stranger still, there were no wounds on their bodies.

Lloyd's body was in a prominent spot in the main hall, still clutching a black-haired, green-eyed doll.

He, too, had no wounds, as if in a deep sleep.

Chen Fu placed his hand on the wounds of some other pollutants and said slowly, "Wind ability."

Ruan Xing thought of Pei Ye, who also had a wind ability. It could kill without a trace. No weapon was needed. Where there was air, there could be wind blades.

They searched a few more places, and their expressions grew darker.

The intruders had slaughtered the city's entire pollutant population.

All the wounds had been made within the past three days.

To wipe out a whole city in less than three days… even "insane" felt too mild to describe it.

They found one pollutant that was still alive, an eight-armed creature. All eight arms had been cut off, its neck barely attached, and it was hanging on by a thread.

From its mouth, they learned that the culprits were just two humans.

Perhaps one of them had shown a trace of mercy in the end, leaving it barely alive. But after speaking, its head slumped, and it died anyway.

"You and Mr. Chen go check if anyone else is alive. Ming Zhi and I will go to the Tower first," Ruan Xing said.

Chen Fu wanted to follow Ruan Xing but was refused. He had no choice but to go with Fu Zhi.

Ruan Xing and Ming Zhi headed for the Mage Tower.

He felt relieved to see that his preparations before leaving hadn't been in vain. There were indeed signs of a violent break-in, but the intruder failed.

"I'll take the items out now," Ming Zhi said.

Ruan Xing found an empty room and watched as Ming Zhi pulled out familiar materials from the void one after another, until the small room was half-filled.

After Ruan Xing put a seal on the door, they wasted no time leaving.

Before going, Ruan Xing thought of the stone cave.

He told Lloyd to resettle those people, creating a separate space for them. The idea was to correct their human instincts first, then gradually socialize them to see if they could adapt to a normal living environment.

But when he and Ming Zhi arrived, the cave was completely empty.

Even the bodies that had been in the deep pit were gone.

It was as if something had swallowed them whole.

When they entered the teleportation array, everyone had different thoughts. But when they came out, none of their expressions were pleasant.

Whether it was the tragic sight they had seen or the fact that two people could slaughter an entire city of pollutants, it was clear these two were not ordinary.

After coming out, Chen Fu quickly found an excuse to leave. Ming Zhi said her goodbyes, leaving only Ruan Xing and Fu Zhi.

"Who could it be?" Ruan Xing asked.

Fu Zhi looked toward the distant Tower. In the sunlight, its white exterior reflected a blinding light.

Ruan Xing instantly understood the unspoken words. After a moment of silence, he chuckled. "What should we do? Now I just want to blow up the Tower."

Fu Gui was shocked. "Bro! Calm down! Think of the innocent people around it!"

Ruan Xing had also thought about the innocent people nearby, but he quickly pushed that thought aside.

Looking at the thin, yellow-faced man ahead, Ruan Xing's expression turned strange.

It truly was "sallow and emaciated." His cheeks were so sunken that his cheekbones could probably open a bottle cap. His skin was a waxy yellow, as if dusted with cornmeal, and flakes would fall at the slightest movement, like some kind of grain-processing machine.

His eyes were lifeless, and the whites were tinged with a yellow hue. His lips had shriveled away, and the edges of his mouth had disappeared, leaving a black hole the size of a fist. Inside, something yellow writhed.

Fu Gui craned his neck to look. It was the segmented, conical tail of a pupa.