Night Watchmen

Lin Qiye's expression as he looked at Wen Qimo gradually turned strange.

Wen Qimo chuckled. "I was just joking with you. You looked too depressed in there, so I wanted you to relax a little."

He looked into Lin Qiye's eyes, his gaze gradually softening. "After all, no one could easily move on after witnessing such a brutal battle—let alone a high school student like you."

Lin Qiye froze.

He pressed his lips together and remained silent.

Wen Qimo was right. Even Lin Qiye himself had not realized just how bad his mental state had become.

He had watched Zhao Kongcheng die in battle, then fought desperately against the Ghost-faced King alone. He had left the shabby little harbor where he had lived for over a decade and joined the unfamiliar, dangerous Night Watchmen by himself...

Though he was relatively mature, at his core, he was still just a teenager.

Amid such enormous changes, the pressure on his shoulders had nearly crushed the breath from him.

"When we were sitting there just now, I could tell you were in terrible shape. And it wasn't just me—Hong Ying saw it too. Otherwise, she wouldn't have invited you to stay at her place, nor would she have held back her own grief and smiled while bickering with the captain and vice-captain.

"You've only just arrived, so you don't know her well yet. But once you do, you'll realize...

"She's far too kind."

Lin Qiye was taken aback. He still remembered Hong Ying sobbing her heart out when he had emerged from the rain carrying Zhao Kongcheng. Thinking back to her faint smile just now, it seemed to conceal a deep sorrow as well.

But... if she was already so heartbroken, why did she still care about how I felt?

"Actually, aside from that one-track-minded Xiang Nan and the ice-man Leng Xuan, everyone there could tell—not just Hong Ying and me. The captain is a little tsundere, though, so he could only secretly rely on Hong Ying to liven up the atmosphere. Xiao Nan is just too shy to say anything."

Wen Qimo turned around and continued down the stairs, speaking leisurely.

"Before you came here, maybe you thought the Night Watchmen were a group of cold, mechanical killing machines. But after you've stayed here long enough, you'll find that isn't really the case..."

Lin Qiye followed Wen Qimo to the first floor, passed through the agency lobby used as a cover, and pushed open the door.

By then, it was already late at night.

The bustling, prosperous Heping Bridge was quiet and deserted. Rainwater still lingered on the pavement from the recent rain, and on the entire Heping Bridge street, only the Heping Agency was still open.

"Before I came here, I thought the Night Watchmen were a huge organization based in some remote military restricted zone, with planes and tanks parked inside, the kind of place that held military drills all the time." Lin Qiye looked at the silent street and spoke slowly.

Wen Qimo froze, then turned to look at Lin Qiye and burst out laughing. "What a coincidence. Before I joined the Night Watchmen, I thought the same thing. Isn't that how all those sci-fi movies portray it?"

He raised his head and looked at the hazy moonlight in the sky. "Still, even without a military restricted zone, planes, or tanks, the Night Watchmen are indeed a very large organization."

"Why are there only six people here?"

"The Night Watchmen are different from the military." Wen Qimo shook his head. "The centralized management you mentioned, like in military restricted zones, is easy to manage and highly efficient—but it has one fatal flaw... its mobility is too low.

"Say a Mythical Creature appears in Cangnan City today. After the local police confirm it, they send a report to the base in Shangjing City. The base reviews it, then sends people to Cangnan City to investigate. At the very fastest, the investigation would only begin two days later.

"And in those two days, a lot of people might die.

"So the best solution is to station a Night Watchmen team in every city. Whenever traces of a suspected Mythical Creature are found within the city, the stationed team goes directly to investigate and deal with it.

"And we are the Night Watchmen team stationed in Cangnan City."

Lin Qiye seemed to understand. "No wonder the roles among you are so clearly divided. Each of you has your own specialty."

"That's right. From the main combat power, to combat support, to long-range support, to overall command... everyone has their own strengths, and they can coordinate with one another. This is the standard model for every stationed team."

"What if a Mythical Creature appears in a city that the local Night Watchmen team can't handle?"

"Then they apply to their superiors for support from a Special Squad." Wen Qimo held up four fingers. "In Great Xia, besides the Night Watchmen stationed in every city, there are also four Special Squads. They aren't stationed in any particular city, but whenever a city faces a crisis that its local Night Watchmen can't resolve, they go there.

"They don't have team numbers, only their own codenames. That is the glory unique to Special Squads."

"Special Squads..." Lin Qiye asked curiously, "Have you seen one?"

"Not in person. But two years ago, three 'Sea' realm Mythical Creatures appeared in neighboring Huaihai City at the same time, nearly causing a major disaster.

"Later, the six-person Special Squad codenamed Mask suddenly appeared and wiped them all out in just one night!"

A hint of longing appeared in Wen Qimo's eyes. "They say that when the sun rose the next day, the blood of the Mythical Creatures had stained the bay red, while the Mask squad had already quietly departed for the next city."

"That sounds kind of cool."

"Right?"

"What are the requirements for joining them?"

"Of course there are requirements, and they're harsh." Wen Qimo sighed. "First of all, members of a Special Squad must be at least at the peak of the 'Chuan' realm."

"The peak of the 'Chuan' realm... Then what's the highest realm among the six of you?"

"The captain. He's also in the 'Chuan' realm, but he's still a long way from the peak." Wen Qimo continued, "And if you want to join a Special Squad, having the realm alone isn't enough. You also need 'something special.'"

"What kind of special?"

"Something that sets you apart from other Night Watchmen. For example, possessing an extremely dangerous Forbidden Zone sequence, something in the top eighty; or reaching the pinnacle in a particular field, like being a grandmaster of the blade or the sword; or... being a God's Agent."

"God's Agent? That counts as something special?"

"...What kind of outrageous thing is that to say?" Wen Qimo shot Lin Qiye a glance, his eyes filled with envy. "You're an Agent of the Seraph, so do you think God's Agents are as common as cabbages growing all over the streets?"

"Aren't they?" Lin Qiye asked blankly.

"Of course not!!" Wen Qimo had never seen someone so shameless. "Agents of gods who stand on humanity's side are an extremely rare species. There are only eight or nine in the entire Night Watchmen organization, and they're basically all assigned to various Special Squads or serve as the commander of the Night Watchmen in some major city. They're incredibly important figures!

"Damn it, I'm really jealous of you, kid."

Wen Qimo swore unusually, then sighed helplessly. "You have enormous potential—enormous. Once you grow up, this little city of Cangnan won't be able to contain you...

"Maybe someday, you'll become the Night Watchmen captain stationed in Shangjing City, or join a Special Squad and travel all over the world. It's not impossible that you could even become the captain of a Special Squad.

"In short, your future is limitless."