Abnormal Rain Mist

Facing the gaze of Shen Qing, Xie Chong's eyes began to drift.

"Uh..."

He fell silent for a moment, scratching his head. "This is something that should only be known by Night Owl members or Hummingbird captains...

But given the current situation, I suppose it needs to be said, though you must not spread this around."

"Do you remember those two rain showers from a few days ago?"

Shen Qing nodded; of course he remembered.

The day before the day before yesterday, right before the second shower, he had killed a demon in a true sense for the first time, and then gotten himself into trouble.

There was also that female caravan leader who had snuck around his residence during that same period, even sparking rumors of a haunting.

Everything had happened all at once.

"It was those two rain showers."

Xie Chong's brows furrowed slightly. "To be precise, it was the thick fog that appeared randomly during the showers. Every time it appeared, it brought along some demons, and occasionally other things."

"The Night Owl team just happened to be unlucky; two fogs appeared in the same location within a short time. The number of demons surged and things turned chaotic, which is what led to their mission failure."

Speaking of this, his tone dropped slightly.

"Even their captain and the others were injured."

Although they didn't get along with the Night Owl, those were just petty squabbles; demons were the enemies they had to face together.

"This village is a place where a fog appeared once two years ago."

Xie Chong suddenly shifted his gaze toward the desolate, abandoned village in the distance.

"According to statistics from the Research Department, once a place has experienced a fog, the probability of it appearing again increases."

"The government spent money to find an excuse to have the villagers move away, claiming that some large pharmaceutical enterprise in the city was going to build a factory here."

"And they really did build one."

Xie Chong tilted his chin. "Right at the edge of the village, there is a branch of the Research Department underneath it, studying drugs that can assist in cultivation."

Seeing Shen Qing's brows knit together, he added another sentence.

"But there's no need to worry too much. It's been two or three years, the fog hasn't appeared many times, and most of it occurs in sparsely populated areas."

Shen Qing nodded, remaining silent for a moment to digest this information.

"So, is it the spiritual energy brought by the fog? Then why is it called the 'Resurgence of Spiritual Energy'?"

Xie Chong shook his head. "I don't know about that."

"Everyone just calls it that. Perhaps there was a period like this in ancient times, like those myths, but the intensity probably wasn't as high as it is now."

He spread his hands with an expression that said, "I don't know much more than you do."

"Alright, the briefing is over."

Xie Chong changed the subject, looking at the half-wrecked off-road vehicle. "So, how are we supposed to get back?"

It had been fun a moment ago, but now the car was totaled.

The two looked at each other and fell silent. In the end, they had to take a logistics vehicle back to the base. As soon as they arrived, Captain Fang Shu was there to greet them.

"Oh crap, did He Ying and his lot report us?"

Xie Chong shrank his neck, his previous cockiness vanishing. He gritted his teeth and said, "Captain, it was all my doing! It has nothing to do with Shen Qing!"

Fang Shu: "?"

"What do you mean 'your doing'? Weren't you two out patrolling the jurisdiction?"

Xie Chong immediately stiffened, realizing he had said too much. Fang Shu frowned. "Speak. What did you do this time?"

"Was it with that kid from the Night Owl again? Are you actually capable of beating him, or what?"

"Hey!"

Upon hearing He Ying mentioned, Xie Chong's expression turned animated, and he waved his hands repeatedly. "Captain, that's where you're wrong. I can't do it, but Shen Qing can."

"You have no idea how pissed off that kid was today."

"Oh?" Hearing this, Fang Shu became interested and glanced at Shen Qing. "Tell me about it."

"If I tell you, you can't make us write self-criticism reports."

Xie Chong began to haggle. Seeing Fang Shu nod, he immediately and happily recounted the previous events in detail, as if he were the one who had done it all.

"So, Captain, that car—"

"It will be deducted from your salary month by month."

"Captain, it was my suggestion..."

Fang Shu looked at Shen Qing and waved his hand. "You moved fast enough. And don't worry about this kid; he has money."

Xie Chong had been wearing a bitter face, but suddenly realized something was wrong. "Captain, aren't you surprised?"

That was an F-rank killing an E-rank demon! It's hard to say if one could even break through its defenses normally; if using firearms, it would take several shots from a rifle.

Fang Shu nodded, "Surprised, yes, but I was somewhat prepared. You still don't know the extent of this kid's current strength, do you?"

Xie Chong looked blank.

The three of them arrived at the training room. At this hour, it was nearly empty, as everyone else was out on patrol or executing missions.

At Fang Shu's signal, Shen Qing walked up to the force tester and threw a fierce punch. Accompanied by the sound of breaking air, numbers appeared on the screen.

1079 kilograms.

"It went up again?" Fang Shu asked.

Shen Qing retracted his fist and nodded, "I used a Blood Qi Pill yesterday."

Beside him, Xie Chong looked at the numbers, then at Shen Qing, stuttering, "What... what do you mean it went up again?"

He grabbed Shen Qing by the collar and shook him violently, "Didn't you only have a punch force of seven hundred kilograms yesterday? Even taking steroids wouldn't make it go this fast, right?"

"I was afraid of scaring you, so I held back."

Shen Qing said calmly, "My innate ability isn't just a simple strength boost. Strength enhancement is only one part; my physique also strengthens. And after my physique strengthens, my strength increases again."

"?"

The corners of Xie Chong's eyes twitched, and it took him a long time to squeeze out a sentence, "Are you exploiting a bug?"

Are physical-type abilities really this outrageous? He wanted one too. "Also, you kid can actually afford Blood Qi Pills now?"

It took him two months to save up thirty contribution points, and he hadn't even dared to exchange them for one.

"Alright, stop putting on an act. This isn't the time when you were in Night Owl and too afraid of the pain to take them, is it?"

Fang Shu waved his hand, directly exposing Xie Chong's past.

"The pill Shen Qing used was one I gave him. If you can also dampen the arrogance of those Night Owl guys, I'll sponsor you too."

Xie Chong instantly quieted down, hiding to the side to make himself as inconspicuous as possible.

Shen Qing looked at Fang Shu, "Captain, you were waiting for us at the elevator door earlier; there must have been something else, right?"

"Right, I almost forgot the main business after getting sidetracked."

Fang Shu glared at Xie Chong and continued, "There's a construction site in your jurisdiction where people have been claiming it's haunted lately. But there isn't a shred of evidence, and we haven't detected any anomalies, yet the boss there knows a bit about our world and keeps reporting it every day. However, there's no rush. There are other demon-related matters in the jurisdiction that are more important. Once those are resolved, you two can go check out the situation when you have time."

Evening.

In a single day, the entire Binhai City special department had mobilized. Some of the clear-cut, urgent missions had already been resolved.

The remaining demons were either still being tracked or their locations remained unconfirmed.

In the suburbs, where the population was sparse and human activity was lacking, detection methods were significantly hindered.

Shen Qing had only managed to resolve one more case all afternoon, and that barely even counted as a demon.

It was a Willow Archer Demon, a willow wood target that had endured countless arrows day after day, barely gaining sentience through obsession and spiritual energy.

[Archery: Yang Youji (White/Mortal): The pinnacle of mortal archery, piercing a willow leaf at a hundred paces.]

After getting off work, Shen Qing stopped by a bookstore on his way home.

Thinking about the situation today, moving his older brother to a new house was an urgent matter, but how to explain it... showing his strength directly was definitely out of the question.

The existence of Supernaturalists had not yet been made public; otherwise, they wouldn't be erasing the memories of ordinary people.

"And there isn't enough money."

He pulled out his phone and checked his balance: thirty-five thousand yuan.

Aside from what his brother had provided, the rest came from the Tree Demon, the Living Corpse, and especially the reward from the Bear Beast this morning. An eighth-grade demon was quite valuable; a single mission had actually paid twenty thousand yuan.

Even if he found a reason, he could only afford to rent a place for now.

As Shen Qing thought this, he subconsciously walked toward the residential complex where his brother lived.