Emergency

"Sheng Qingqiao's situation is even more special; he has mysteriously resurrected. The impact of his case is too great. Even if you can find a way to revive him, without the approval of the higher-ups, it's still uncertain whether he can be revived."

"We have already reported this situation, but we haven't received a definite reply from above yet. None of us can act rashly right now."

Seeing the tense atmosphere among them, Director Chen said no more, "You should go back and get some rest."

After leaving Director Chen's office, Tao Yuan and the others silently returned to the conference room. As soon as they pushed open the door, Wang Ding was inside, confronting a mountain of documents.

"Tang Pin Bai Ao, and Luo Jiayu have all gone back to look up their Family Clan records." Wang Ding turned around upon hearing this and asked, "What did Director Chen say?"

An Ying briefly explained the situation to him.

Tao Yuan's fingertips unconsciously dug into the edge of the table, her voice full of worry. "We understand Director Chen's meaning. The Authorities can't help us Bright Side, and it's not easy to transfer people from other cities. I'm worried..."

Wang Ding lowered his head, adjusted his glasses, and then looked up with a reassuring smile, saying, "Don't worry, even if we don't get direct support from the Authorities, Tang Pin comes from the Healing Family, and Bai Ao can ask around through the Family Clan he knows."

"As for Luo Jiayu, the place she's in is an area we rarely explore. That Deep Sea holds many special abilities that we haven't been able to reach or understand; perhaps we can find clues there."

An Ying nodded, then turned to Tao Yuan and said, "You go home and rest first. Mi Chuchu and I will keep an eye on things here."

Tao Yuan tried to shake her head, but Mi Chuchu took out her Holy Staff and gently tapped her on the back of the shoulder with the end of the staff, forcibly knocking her unconscious.

"I'll take her back to rest." Mi Chuchu steadily supported Tao Yuan and instructed them, "Please take care of Qin Rang and Sheng Qingqiao for now."

"Rest assured."

Watching the two leave, An Ying stood up. "I'm going to Yangcheng."

Wang Ding's heart tightened, and he hurriedly called out to him, "What are you doing?"

"Waiting for Tang Pin and Luo Jiayu is too slow, I'm going to find that Saintess."

"It's too late, she's no longer there." Wang Ding thought for a moment and said, "We have some Request Cards from our organization that we haven't used yet; perhaps we can use them now."

An Ying frowned slightly, her voice tinged with hesitation. "But we're not in the Instance now, can we still use it?"

Wang Ding said, "I can vouch for it. Go ahead and use it. They gave us Request Cards, but there's no rule about when we have to use them."

"Good."

"But it's too late today, and the organizers need to rest too. We'll act together tomorrow."

Hearing this, An Ying felt a little relieved and nodded in agreement.

The next morning, the snow had not stopped, and the sky was covered with a layer of light gray.

Lin Nieran yawned as he slowly pushed open the door, only to find that the shops across the street were all locked.

He casually stopped a group of Purger on their way to a mission, pointed across the street, and asked, "What's going on with those shops? Have they abandoned them?"

The Purger were stopped laughed and joked, "Boss Lin, you're so lazy. Don't you even know how to gossip? It's almost Chinese New Year, people need to close up shop and have their reunion dinner too."

"Chinese New Year?" Lin Nieran was unfamiliar with the term, and belatedly nodded, "Judging by the time, it seems to be coming soon."

"Yes, there aren't many days left. The Authorities statement said that there was a lot of snow this winter, and many people have commented that it feels like winter, so we haven't turned on the Constant-Temperature Weird Object."

"I also feel that celebrating the New Year this way is just like before!" exclaimed the oldest middle-aged man in the group. "I remember when I was a child, my family and I would look forward to snow for the New Year, buying delicious food and fun toys. So many years have passed in the blink of an eye."

Another person said, "When I was a child, it snowed heavily every winter, so I became immune to snow. I didn't expect to feel a little nostalgic seeing snow this year."

The rest of the people shrugged. "Don't laugh at me, but I basically never saw snow when I was a kid."

Lin Nieran recalled that when he was a child, he spent the New Year alone and had no memory of the word "New Year".

"Boss Lin, you're all alone every day, why don't you spend the New Year with us?" the team leader invited with a smile. "We've already booked a table in advance, just waiting to come back from this Instance so we can have a reunion dinner together."

Lin Nieran's expression was complicated. "What you said is unlucky. Don't say that before you leave."

"Haha, Boss Lin, you actually believe in this?"

After exchanging a few jokes, Lin Nieran took out a few candies from his pocket. "I won't go for dinner, I'm used to being alone. Here are some candies for you, wishing you a safe return."

The Purger waved goodbye without giving the candy much thought, but Lin Nieran remembered this day.

Back at the shop, there were hardly any customers early in the morning. He turned on the radio and listened for a while. The Authorities reports were still broadcasting information about various Danger Zone and Weird Zone, and the message coming in was that everything was fine.

It's an old tradition to only report good news and not bad.

If he had actually believed what was said on the radio, the strange phenomenon would have been completely eradicated long ago; what would he have to do with it then?

He listened to the intelligence report over and over again until Lin Yi got tired of it and waved her hand in front of him.

Lin Nieran ignored him and continued to stare blankly.

It wasn't until Lin Yi took out the dagger and waved it at his face that this happened.

"What are you doing?" Lin Nieran glared at him.

"What are you doing? What are you spacing out for?" Lin Yi said impatiently. "Turn this damn thing off, it's giving me a headache."

"You can just ignore it."

Although Lin Nieran said that, he still reached out to turn it off.

But then, the radio that was playing on a loop suddenly changed stations.

"The following is an urgent announcement--"

Lin Nieran paused, but did not press down.

[Urgent report from the Cloud City Lily Danger Zone: Jiang City Authorities notice: The A-Rank Instance Chocolate Orphanage has shown signs of expansion recently. All those Purger are advised to stay away from the Weird Zone and take all necessary precautions...]

Chocolate Orphanage?

Lin Nieran frowned and forcibly shut down the broadcast before the next announcement could take place.

Feeling that this place was somewhat familiar, Lin Yi asked, "Why did you stop listening? It's not over yet."

I don't want to listen anymore.

Lin Yi raised an eyebrow and stared at him for a while, Lin Nieran glanced sideways, avoiding his gaze.

Lin Yi said confidently, "You know this place? You've been there before? How come I don't know?"

Lin Nieran reclined back in her chair, annoyed, and closed her eyes. "What do you know?"

"007, are you there?"

A black and white ball immediately floated over: [Host, do you want to participate in a lottery or buy something? The new limited-time shop has opened, would you like to take a look?]

"Open the store."

Seeing that Lin Nieran ignored him, Lin Yi snorted coldly, twirling the dagger between his fingers, looking like he wanted to stab him.

Lin Nieran browsed through the system's shop. The items weren't anything new. He had recently spent 1 million Points to buy the Dimensional Pocket, which was finally available again at a 90% discount. He really didn't want to buy anything now.

"System, do you have any of the delicacies from Blue Star in the past?" Lin Nieran asked.

[Is the host craving something sweet?]

"The Lunar New Year is just around the corner, it would be good to invite them all back for a family reunion dinner."

He used to celebrate the Lunar New Year alone, but this year there are more people, and he wants to join in the fun.