For the past half year or so, Qu Jianlei's whereabouts had remained a mystery. Forget outsiders—even Red Leaf Ridge itself was not fully informed.
Of course, that might have been a smoke grenade Red Leaf Ridge had released, but he truly had rarely shown himself.
As luck would have it, Qu Jianlei appeared the day after Jiang Hui came looking for them.
Upon hearing that the method for expelling Heavenly Demons had completed its trial, he made a special trip to the grand array to ask about it.
Strictly speaking, it was only a phased achievement. It had quite a few prerequisites and was not particularly convenient to use.
But no matter what, it was a crucial step forward for the research project, carrying milestone-like significance.
Qu Jianlei pondered for a while and felt they could give it a try. He also suggested placing the trial site in Central Province.
Jade Forest Matron raised an objection. In her view, the Devil Situation in Central Province was not especially severe at present; North Talisman Province was in worse shape.
That was a fair assessment. Everyone knew the current situation in the five major provinces well, and North Talisman Province's circumstances were the least optimistic.
North Talisman Province had repeatedly asked Central Province for aid, claiming that they were already in a situation comparable to West Ox Embrace Province before its fall.
They had even wanted several times to come to Red Leaf Ridge for help, but Central Province kept a tight watch over the Ship Teams.
Travel between Central Province and Dongsheng was now unrestricted and frequent, but the other provinces faced strict controls if they wanted to pass through Central Province to reach Dongsheng.
Red Leaf Ridge did not care about that. It fell under Central Province's unified administration, and