Night Owl

"Gu Jingshi."

Thinking of that familiar figure, Shen Qing shook his head; it seemed he hadn't seen her in half a year.

It didn't matter, though.

For a wealthy young lady like her to take a fancy to an orphan like him had always felt absurd. When they first got together, his roommates even joked that he must have saved the Heavenly River System in his past life.

Thinking back on it now, she was probably just stifled by the strictness of their three years of high school and wanted to try out a relationship once they reached university, using him as a practice run.

They had attended the best high school in Binhai City, so the management was quite strict; even he, a bottom-tier student, had managed to get into a first-tier university.

Was it because the university was close by and they were already high school acquaintances that she chose him?

As for how they met—it was entirely because he was poor and had been running some small side businesses on the side, which was how they grew familiar.

Thinking of those days, Shen Qing couldn't help but let his lips curl upward.

As for the breakup, just as he had said, it was over and done with. There had been no ugly scenes; they had parted ways peacefully. Was he supposed to go out of his way to pester her?

"Time to go."

Shen Qing shook his head, casting those messy thoughts out of his mind as he prepared to head back to the base.

Passing by a commercial street on the way, he looked at the crowds of people moving about and recalled the serious question he had asked Xie Chong earlier.

"The more people there are, the more vibrant the 'human energy'?"

His question, "Do you have family?" hadn't been meant as an insult; he was simply curious about how the other members of Hummingbird arranged for their families.

Xie Chong's solution was to move into densely populated residential areas; the stronger the human energy, the more the demons would be deterred.

The entire anomaly monitoring system in Binhai City was built upon the foundation of human energy, which was why places with many people were safer.

"But how am I supposed to get Big Brother and the others to move?"

Buying a house was definitely unrealistic at the moment, but even renting, especially in a complex with a high occupancy rate, wouldn't be cheap.

Returning to the Underground Base and enduring a lecture from Big Brother and the others for not coming over to eat today, Shen Qing began his training as usual.

"Damn, we've really got to step it up."

Seeing him, the other members felt too embarrassed to slack off. After all, it wasn't the strength of a genius that was scary, but the fact that the genius was also hardworking.

The blow Shen Qing had dealt them during the day was not insignificant.

Xie Chong, a semi-newcomer of less than two months, already possessed strength that surpassed theirs—one could at least attribute that to him coming from Night Owl—but this new recruit, who hadn't even been officially promoted after a week, was even more ridiculous.

They exchanged glances and began their extra training.

Soon, an hour passed.

Shen Qing could clearly feel the spiritual energy entering his body, slowly scouring his 206 bones, starting from his torso, moving to his limbs, and finally reaching his skull.

It felt sour and numb, as if he could perceive his bones becoming denser, heavier, and harder bit by bit.

"Excellent Brother."

Xie Chong, who was exercising beside him, panted slightly. "Can't we take a break? Or maybe just sit and meditate instead?"

Shen Qing rolled his eyes at him.

At F-rank, or what was known as the Ninth Grade, the focus was primarily on tempering the physique. Sitting still was nowhere near as effective as active training, unless one was on the verge of a breakthrough.

"Tap, tap, tap."

Just as Xie Chong was about to say something else, a series of footsteps echoed from the direction of the elevator at the end of the corridor, and a group of figures began walking toward the training ground.

"Is that the Captain and the others back?"

Seeing Xie Chong crane his neck to look, Shen Qing subconsciously turned his head as well.

Aside from the F-rank semi-newcomers like them, the E-rank members who formed the backbone of Hummingbird had all gone out on missions a few days ago.

Leading them was a middle-aged man with an ordinary appearance, Captain Fang Shu, one of the seven captains of the Binhai City Hummingbird branch.

However, only six people returned, and each of them wore a grim, ugly expression. One of them even had his arm wrapped in a bandage.

Following beside them was another group of people; compared to the casual clothes of Hummingbird, they wore uniform dark gray outfits.

"Are those... people from Night Owl?"

Someone frowned, their tone carrying clear resistance.

Everyone present had heard of their reputation; they were an elite department handpicked from all over by headquarters specifically to hunt down demons.

But under normal circumstances, both sides had their own separate duties. Why would they appear in the Hummingbird base?

Captain Fang clapped his hands to signal for silence, then answered the question.

"For the next little while, our friends from Night Owl will be borrowing our lounge to rest and recuperate."

"Borrowing? Why? It's not like they don't have their own base..."

Someone couldn't help but mutter under their breath.

"Why?"

Within the Night Owl team, a youth sneered, "Isn't it because your strength is lacking? Monsters escaped, and you wouldn't have been able to handle it without us."

"What do you mean by that?!"

Behind Captain Fang, the captain with his arm wrapped in bandages saw his expression darken instantly, his voice suppressing a surge of rage.

"This mission was clearly your mistake! It even resulted in one of our members being critically injured and near death. How the hell do you have the face to say our strength is lacking?!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the Hummingbird members present were stunned, and then immediately, members began to deduce who had been injured based on the absent captain.

"Captain Fang, what happened to our captain?!"

Captain Fang raised a hand to interrupt the commotion, his voice heavy as he said, "Captain Li is still receiving treatment at the hospital. As for the specifics... please don't go and disturb him for now."

The leader of the Night Owl team also frowned and glared at the youth, but although the boy shut his mouth, his face still held a look of disapproval.

"My apologies, Captain Wu, and Captain Fang."

The Night Owl leader lowered his head, his voice sincere as he said, "He Ying is still young and doesn't know how to measure his words. Please forgive him. This mission was indeed our mistake..."

"There's no need for apologies."

Captain Fang snorted coldly, cutting him off. "The lounge is this way. I hope you won't wander around unnecessarily to avoid causing any conflicts."

"Rest assured, Captain Fang."

The Night Owl leader nodded and led his people to follow.

Watching the group disappear around the corner of the corridor, the training ground fell silent for a few seconds before a burst of hushed discussion erupted.

"Damn, what kind of attitude does that brat have!"

"Exactly. It was clearly their problem, and Captain Li was critically injured because of it, yet they come here to show off... Hey, at the end of the day, it's because our strength is too weak."

Shen Qing did not join the discussion, but his brows were furrowed.

In a single mission, not only was a captain's arm severed, but another captain was left critically injured and near death.

He had only joined the official organization a week ago, and hearing such news left him feeling unsettled, even though he didn't know the victims personally.

His mindset, which had seemed to drift after his recent growth in strength, was instantly doused with a bucket of cold water.

And then there was Night Owl. Shen Qing looked toward the corner of the corridor.

"Are they always this arrogant?"

Xie Chong said with great displeasure, "How could they not be? In our Hummingbird, E-rankers are the main force, but for them, even the most ordinary member is E-rank, and their captain is even D-rank.

With that kind of strength, their numbers are limited nationwide."

He curled his lip and continued, "The veterans aren't so bad; many of them come from military backgrounds. But those newcomers are more arrogant than the last.

Headquarters selection, skewed resources, impressive combat records... it would be strange if they didn't get cocky."

"Especially that brat. I bet he'll only learn his lesson once he takes a hard fall."

As he spoke, Xie Chong stretched and said with a lack of interest, "Alright, I'm heading out. With them here, I've lost all motivation to train."

Watching Xie Chong's retreating back, Shen Qing said nothing. He turned his head and continued his training, thinking only that where there are people, there will inevitably be conflict.

Strengthening himself was what mattered most.

Since he wasn't going to visit his older brother and sister-in-law, it didn't matter whether he went home or not.

Now that there were fewer people around, he also wanted to find out how far his strength was from reaching E-rank.