Assessment Team, Arrives

Han Dang coming to Da Teng City was hardly surprising.

This was exactly the sort of thing he would do.

There was no need to think about it. He had definitely come to dig deeper into the Fire Disaster Case, hoping to use the Amnesty Decree to make an issue of it and bring down the teacher who had impeached him.

"He really followed us here. He's a downright dangerous man." Zhong Wei recounted the contents of the call. "Junior Sister said he might visit Gu Shen's residence."

Senior Apprentice Sister Luo nodded.

"Interesting... Han Dang is a famously rabid dog. Anyone he sets his sights on will lose a chunk of flesh even if they don't die." She said blandly, "Yet Gu Shen ran into him and came away completely unscathed. How could there be such a coincidence in this world—such a lucky person?"

Gu Shen was an incredible fellow.

Ever since the A-009 incident, his path had been full of twists and turns. Looking only at the case files, one would get the illusion of How is this kid so lucky? Whenever danger struck, he always managed to escape through sheer dumb luck.

But in truth, there was no such thing as absolute luck.

"Little Gu definitely has secrets," Zhong Wei said softly. "You could tell during special training. The scene of the rooftop Fire Disaster Case didn't look like something he created with a Transcendent Ability."

"Yes. But secrets... who doesn't have them?"

Senior Apprentice Sister Luo smiled, but her gaze remained beyond the umbrella, fixed on the layers of storm clouds. "Anyone who can enter the Adjudication Court, no matter how ordinary they may seem, carries some transcendent secret... at least in this era, isn't that so?"

"Let's put that rabid dog aside for now."

Senior Apprentice Sister Luo drew a light breath and looked up at the sky. "After all this waiting, the most troublesome bunch has finally arrived."

There was still a hard battle to fight tonight.

The distant sky rumbled with the deep roar of rotors.

Lightning flashed through the curtain of rain.

A heavy helicopter cut through the downpour and slowly approached. Its blades tore through clouds and rain like a ferocious beast bathed in lightning. It was three or four times the size of an ordinary civilian helicopter.

"This flight came from Dadu. It really is different," Zhong Wei said as he watched the helicopter slowly descend, his expression blank as he mocked, "Fucking rich."

Someone wiped the thick cabin window.

A person sat by the window, wiping the glass while waving enthusiastically at the two waiting below. The rain was too heavy to make out the person's face.

This surprised Luo Er and Zhong Wei somewhat... logically speaking, this assessment was supposed to be extremely severe.

The meeting to determine the assessment personnel had been combined with the meeting to impeach the teacher. Given the complex factions and power struggles within the East Continent Council, those ultimately selected for the assessment should all have been cold-faced figures renowned for their iron-blooded ruthlessness!

Those close to the teacher, whether through personal ties or shared interests, would likely have been excluded by the Council to avoid suspicion.

Who was this enthusiastic fellow wiping rainwater off the glass?

"Senior Sister... I'm a little nervous."

The helicopter landed.

Watching the cabin door slowly open, Zhong Wei said in a low voice, "What if these people refuse to budge and just ignore us?"

"We'll deal with whatever comes." Luo Er stood perfectly straight and said calmly, "Our task is simple: draw out the Council's assessment direction from their mouths and reduce Gu Shen's obstacles as much as possible. If we can uncover the contents of the final assessment, that'll be a complete victory. Even if they refuse to give us face, would they refuse to give the teacher face? Don't forget... the important figure who issued the Amnesty Decree has been closely watching this matter. His assistant is on the plane too."

Wind and rain howled.

The two stood as straight as pines, fully prepared to receive the iron-blooded Assessment Team.

Yet after the helicopter landed, its blades still roaring and its cabin open, no one emerged for a long time.

No one showed themselves.

Silence filled the air.

"What's going on..."

Luo Er frowned, deeply puzzled.

The cabin was open. Was that signaling for them... to come over?

Zhong Wei stared at the helicopter, his expression growing strange.

The person seated by the cabin window was still waving at them through the glass.

"Senior Sister, look at that person..."

Zhong Wei raised a finger and pointed at the rain-blurred window. "Doesn't he... look a little familiar?"

The interior of the heavy helicopter was spacious enough for several burly men to sit comfortably.

Outside the windows, rain pattered violently.

Inside, soft lighting and lazy jazz music filled the cabin. Several opened bottles of champagne sat on the folding table.

The moment Zhong Wei, who boarded first, saw the scene inside, he was utterly dumbfounded.

He suspected he had been hypnotized.

Zhong Wei could scarcely believe what he was seeing. The people inside were indeed a luxurious, top-tier Assessment Team lineup. At a glance, he spotted two heavyweight figures: one was the Grand Arbiter praised by the people of Yinghai District as the "Duke of Law," while the other was the notoriously cold-blooded Tribunal Head of the Red Cedar District Prison Institute. The two famous figures were glaring murderously at each other... across a small table.

Two bottles of champagne had been placed symbolically on the table, but every other inch was crammed with large glasses of wheat beer. Most were already empty, clearly evidence of several brutal rounds of drinking.

Most unbelievable of all was the man seated at the very center of the cold and ruthless Assessment Team. He wore a plain Zhongshan suit, his hair meticulously slicked back.

"Sit."

Mr. Shu laughed heartily and waved for his beloved disciples to come squeeze in.

"What the fuck... is going on?"

Zhong Wei stood dumbfounded. Why was the teacher here of all places?

Luo Er, who boarded after him, was equally startled by the sight. The legal giants of Eastern Continent, men who upheld the bottom line, were gathered together drinking and playing finger-guessing games. This was completely different from what she had imagined.

"The meeting to impeach me just ended. I happened to catch this convenient flight and made a few new friends along the way." The teacher clenched a huge pipe between his teeth, smoke curling through the cabin and obscuring his face. He laughed in a rough, hearty voice. "Thanks to Mr. Cui's help..."

Only then did Zhong Wei and Luo Er notice that amid the chaos in the cabin, there was one person who seemed utterly out of place. He sat quietly in the most secluded corner, reading a newspaper.

This man was truly inconspicuous. Sitting in that corner, he was like a faint shadow.

Everyone unconsciously overlooked him.

The reason was simple.

His face, features, and bearing were all too ordinary—so ordinary that he could be described as having no distinguishing characteristics whatsoever. This was no exaggeration... perhaps the only memorable thing about his face was the monocle hanging before his right eye.

At most, one could add the humble smile that never faded from the corners of his lips.

The man looked like Embers left behind from a previous era. There was not the slightest hint of anything "new" about him. From his hair to the soles of his shoes, he was impeccably groomed, yet a single glance brought words like old-fashioned and retro to mind... and after looking a little longer, one would feel from the bottom of one's heart that he had to be a very boring person.

But at this moment.

The title Mr. Cui seemed to possess some kind of magic. Several important members of the Assessment Team looked up, and much of the drunkenness in their eyes vanished.

Gazes settled on the rear seats.

"There's no need for you all to look at me like that, nor to be nervous..."

Mr. Cui smiled. He seemed unable to feel those gazes at all, remaining absorbed in his newspaper from beginning to end. Only now did he speak softly. "Thanks to Old Zhao, we have the chance to work together. We're usually scattered across the world, and it isn't easy to meet. Having a few drinks and catching up before handling official business is nothing."

With those words, the atmosphere in the cabin finally relaxed.

"Thanks to Old Zhao..."

Luo Er and Zhong Wei exchanged a glance, seemingly understanding something.

The teacher arriving in Da Teng City alongside the Assessment Team meant that the results of both meetings had already been finalized.

Eastern Continent's nine major districts had a total of twenty Council seats... and everyone who sat in one was a major figure holding power over a region. Yet even among those twenty seats, there were ranks.

The Great Capital District was the Core Area of the South River Four Districts.

And "Old Zhao" was the one standing at the very peak of the Great Capital District.