Misunderstanding

"Mr. Yin, are you joking?"

Sun Huai stopped in his tracks, looking at the wreckage strewn across the floor, his expression turning ugly.

"We already exhausted a massive amount of manpower and resources just to find those seven corpses that met the requirements; we even had to search in neighboring countries.

And the medicine you requested—"

He took a deep breath, suppressing the rage in his heart, "Those are even rarer, almost entirely controlled by the government.

The latter can at least be bought with money, but the former truly requires luck.

Birth dates, causes of death—with all these conditions, how could it be possible to gather them again so quickly? Besides, the formation was broken; finding a new location also takes time."

"Hmph!"

Upon hearing this, Mr. Yin let out a cold snort, "That is because you are too slow and timid. In my opinion, wouldn't it be easier to just target the living?"

As he spoke, his gaze shifted toward the trembling servant in the corner, and he raised his hand as if about to strike.

"Mr. Yin!"

Sun Huai's voice spiked instantly, "I told you, you cannot kill people at will here!"

He found it impossible to explain the concept of order to the man before him.

Killing in modern times meant dealing with the various methods of the Public Security Bureau, the Heavenly Eye system, and even that mysterious department that appeared out of thin air, whose name remained unknown.

Killing was simply inviting trouble upon oneself.

Did the man really think everyone on the street was a homeless person whose death no one would care about? Not to mention the specific requirements.

For all they knew, that department might be waiting for them to make a move right now.

"Mr. Yin, I have emphasized this to you repeatedly."

Sun Huai said each word with serious intent, "The government here is different from the one where you come from. Please keep that in mind!"

Spiritual energy had only appeared for a few short years; there were no such things as long-standing, powerful clans in this world.

Where would they get the ability to go head-to-head with the government? Did they have a death wish?

Mr. Yin narrowed his eyes and snorted coldly. Although clearly dissatisfied, he ultimately said nothing more.

"I will handle the matter of the medicine first."

Seeing this, Sun Huai let out a sigh of relief and rubbed his temples, which were throbbing with a headache, "But the issue of the corpses... Mr. Yin, that requires luck."

The safest method now was to search for corpses that met the criteria in neighboring countries.

It was much more chaotic there; why insist on taking risks domestically?

"Wait, and help me investigate which bastard broke my formation while you're at it!" Mr. Yin added.

"Understood."

Sun Huai nodded, though his eyes were filled with helplessness.

Did that even need investigating? It had to be that special department; otherwise, who would be so bored and possess such capability?

But what could be done about it? Was he supposed to seek revenge?

Times were changing. They needed to utilize Mr. Yin's abilities, but he was undeniably a hidden danger.

"Hmph."

Mr. Yin watched Sun Huai's retreating back and shook his head in disdain.

"You are all just too cowardly. The future is an era of individual might; strength is the only truth. What could that so-called government possibly do?"

He walked to the window, gazing at the brightly lit city nightscape in the distance, and suddenly began to laugh.

He knew that with Sun Huai's personality, even if he found out who broke the formation, he would likely hide it. But he hadn't been idle during his six months here.

"Do you really think I have no other options without your Sun Family?"

Beneath the glamorous, shining facade of this city, there was another side.

Meanwhile, at Peace District People's Hospital.

Shen Qing walked out the front door wrapped in bandages. He had several fractured ribs; no matter how strong his recovery ability was, it was impossible to heal in half an hour.

No wonder Xie Chong told him to come here.

It was a hospital that collaborated with the organization; from start to finish, no one was curious about the various abnormalities of his body.

"Tell me, what exactly were you doing, kid?"

Now that there was finally time, Jiang Cheng stood firmly in front of Shen Qing the moment they stepped out the door, his expression grave.

"Don't give me that 'delivering food' nonsense. It's almost midnight and you're still out running around? And you went all the way to the suburbs for just one order?"

Seeing this, Shen Qing simply gave up and spread his hands, even though he looked somewhat comical wrapped in bandages.

He said with an innocent face, "It's for the money, isn't it? Besides, Big Brother, don't look down on this order. Even though it was far, the fee for a single trip was over twenty yuan."

"Guess how much money I made in these two weeks?"

"You? How much could you possibly have made in less than two weeks?"

Jiang Cheng curled his lip; he figured this kid probably hadn't even learned his way around the city yet.

"You're underestimating me, Big Brother."

Shen Qing pulled out his phone, found the text notification for the payment from yesterday's Cinnabar Spirit job, and gave it a shake. "Look, we get paid weekly. This is from last week."

"How about that? Not bad, right? I was running for my life out there."

Jiang Cheng leaned in to take a look.

It wasn't a huge amount—five thousand yuan—but for just one week, and working the same late hours, it was already catching up to ten days of his own wages.

Had food delivery become this lucrative?

Seeing Shen Qing stand his ground, Jiang Cheng had no choice but to let it go, even if he remained suspicious. He felt something was off, but he had no proof.

This kid was being shifty.

If they were still kids, he wouldn't mind pinning the brat against a wall for an interrogation.

"Fine."

Jiang Cheng had to give up on pressing him. "How old are you? Why are you in such a rush to make money? Delivering food in the middle of the night and ending up in this state."

"Don't stay out so late anymore. Let me take you home first."

He hailed a taxi, and it arrived quickly.

In the car, Jiang Cheng quietly opened his chat with Shen Qing and tapped on the transfer button, only for the screen to show insufficient funds.

"Damn it."

He had forgotten that he'd just transferred twenty thousand yuan to Old Wang's wife; he couldn't even scrape together three thousand from his account now.

Taking advantage of the fact that Shen Qing hadn't noticed, Jiang Cheng tucked his phone away, feeling a bit awkward.

The taxi soon reached the entrance of the residential complex. Shen Qing had intended to part ways there, but Jiang Cheng insisted on walking him up.

"What, can't you even spare your big brother a glass of water?"

Shen Qing had no choice but to let him follow. He opened the door to find the living room lights already on.

"You got money now, kid? Leaving the lights on when you aren't even home?"

As Jiang Cheng looked around, the door to the side bedroom, which had been left ajar, suddenly pushed open. A girl wearing Shen Qing's clothes walked out.

"You're back..."

Jiang Cheng and Shen Qingtang both froze simultaneously.

"Wait, you—"

Jiang Cheng looked at Shen Qingtang, then back at Shen Qing. "I get it. Alright, I won't get in your way."

He turned and left, his movements decisive; he didn't even want the water anymore.

"No, she's just a friend of mine, staying here temporarily, Big Brother!"

Shen Qing reached out with his bandage-wrapped hand, watching Jiang Cheng disappear quickly down the stairs. He knew his brother had definitely misunderstood, but if he wanted to misunderstand, so be it.

He was truly too exhausted to move today.

"This..."

Shen Qingtang was still standing at the doorway of the side bedroom, looking a bit uneasy.

Shen Qing closed the door and waved a hand at her. "That was my big brother. Don't worry, he won't pry into this stuff, as long as you don't mind the misunderstanding."

"No," Shen Qingtang shook her head, "I'm worried about whether this will affect you..."

She was only staying here as a guest; she didn't want to cause any trouble.

But generally speaking, a man of this age, especially a Supernaturalist, should have been betrothed long ago...

It would be bad if a misunderstanding arose because of her.

"You should be betrothed, right?" she asked tentatively.

"Heh."

The corner of Shen Qing's mouth twitched. "Yours truly is a pure, card-carrying loner. You're overthinking it. Forget betrothal, I don't even have a girlfriend."

At the word "girlfriend," he subconsciously thought of Gu Jingshi, but a breakup was a breakup.

Even when they were together, they hadn't been particularly clingy like typical couples.

His gaze fell on Shen Qingtang, and he subconsciously began to compare them—not in terms of good or bad, strengths or weaknesses, or looks... he just felt she was a girl entirely different from Gu Jingshi.

Loner, girlfriend?

Shen Qingtang tilted her head slightly, looking confused, though she had understood the word "betrothed."

"..."

For a moment, the room fell quiet. Since it involved personal privacy, Shen Qingtang didn't ask further, instead looking at the bandages covering Shen Qing's body.

"What about these injuries of yours?"

Compared to yesterday, they were even more severe today.

"This, you mean?"

Shen Qing shook his right hand, which was wrapped in layers of bandages. "The demon I encountered today was a bit troublesome to deal with, so I wasted some time, but it's fine; the injuries aren't serious."

Shen Qingtang nodded, then walked toward the kitchen.

Shen Qing watched her retreating figure, feeling his entire body and mind suddenly relax as he slumped directly into the sofa.