Today in Tinghai, streets that should have been bustling had become restricted zones cleared of bystanders. Fighting spread from the commercial heart of Upper City to the barren reaches of Lower City.
At one battlefield on the city's outskirts, where a Blood Worship Cult branch was being intercepted, a three-person team had joined the Bureau of Anomalous Investigation's ranks. Their leader looked like a sporty college student in her early twenties, with a single ponytail, a tall figure, and energy to spare.
Two lackeys trailed behind her. One was a burly man in work pants, six-foot-three, with a crew cut and square face. An enormous backpack hung from his shoulders, packed with unidentified tools that clanked as he walked.
The other was a chubby young man with thick glasses and messy hair, following nervously behind their boss.
The three had once followed Bai Zhou into a Minor Secret Realm at Ruins Realm Middle School. Of the independent Transcendents who answered the call, their team had contributed the most. Thanks to Bai Zhou, they had joined the Bureau of Anomalous Investigation and become full-fledged employees.
They had only recently finished the bureau's training and been assigned to a frontline department. Now they had been hurried onto a real battlefield, a rarity Tinghai had not seen in ten years, to fight the notoriously vicious Blood Worship Cult head-on!
It was also the first time in ages they had heard news of "Senior Student Zhou."
"Just what I'd expect from him!" The Sporty Girl's eyes sparkled with infatuation. "The moment he makes a move, it's earthshaking news!"
"If people knew Tinghai's Savior once fought beside us and helped us cut through that Minor Secret Realm at Tinghai Middle School—the one hiding the Quasi King of Lustful Evils—our new coworkers would be green with