"A Little Polishing"

"Which round of searches is this?"

"Since yesterday morning, the fourth."

"Why don't they just tear up the ground in Yuguang to check?"

"If they could actually do that, they probably would have done it from the start."

Feng Zi replied to Li Wei's grumbling while pouring hot water into a thermos.

They were currently hiding in an old rented room in the 2nd District, not far from the Church.

Li Wei had rented this place before infiltrating the Church, paying for three months upfront, so it didn't stand out too much.

Even so, after the battle in the early hours of yesterday, Tian Yuan, the Police Department superintendent, had rushed back to Yuguang from Yaoguang. He had gone mad, ordering his officers to scour the area as if digging three feet into the earth to find the audacious Li Wei and Feng Zi.

Every time they searched, the officers would barge in without a word. Li Wei would take Feng Zi and pretend the room was empty, hiding with her on the ceiling above the entrance door.

They had hidden like that four times now.

Having just dealt with the latest inspection, Li Wei sprawled out on a chair, picking up a cup of hot water Feng Zi had poured, looking like he wanted to drink it but found it too hot.

But the water in Yuguang had to be boiled before it could be consumed; because it was located at the very downstream of the entire Sun City water system, the water here was far from clean.

The entirety of Yuguang had been turned upside down.

Laborers returning from the Barrier Field District at night had all heard that an accident had occurred at the Church, but no accurate news had leaked out. Only the police officers, plowing through the streets like they were tilling soil, searched over and over again, leaving every district in a state of panic.

Just as Li Wei and Feng Zi were hiding in the rental, waiting for the heat to die down, the Police Department finally held a press conference that afternoon, issuing an announcement to all of Sun City regarding the incident.

Since no one in Yuguang could afford newspapers and the laborers had no time to learn the details, the officers simply distributed notices door-to-door, instructing those who were literate to spread the word about what had happened that night.

Even the rental room where Li Wei and Feng Zi were hiding—which appeared unoccupied—had a notice shoved under the door.

At the time, Li Wei was staring blankly at the rain outside the window, holding his hot water. The game's quest seemed to have hit a dead end; with the path to the Church completely blocked, they seemingly had no way to enter Yaoguang, let alone that White Tower.

Feng Zi was rummaging through a drawer for a needle and thread, attempting to teach herself how to mend their tattered clothes.

They didn't dare go out to buy supplies, but fortunately, they weren't lacking in food or drink. Before being selected for the Choir and entering the Church, Li Wei had purchased some daily necessities just in case, though he hadn't bought clothes at the time.

The arrival of the notice made them both alert.

After waiting for a long while without hearing any movement outside, Li Wei finally set down his teacup and walked to the door to pick up the notice from the floor.

He gave it a cursory glance, let out an expected "tsk," and then casually handed the notice to Feng Zi.

When Feng Zi saw the contents, her face turned ghastly pale.

"How can they twist the facts like this!"

The Police Department's announcement to the public had indeed "embellished" the truth.

To maintain the Church's image, the Bishop's ugly display and the evil deeds he had committed were naturally not disclosed.

In the police announcement, he remained a kind, just, and benevolent Bishop, while all the blame and wrongdoing were shifted onto Li Wei.

This bio-human, escaped from Tian'en Company with the biological patent number 626, was described as rotten to the core!

Not only had he bewitched and abducted the young lady returning from the Central District, but he was also a sadistic killer. The coal mine murders in the Barrier Field District were his doing, and the serial killings in Yuguang over the past year were all his work as well!

Furthermore, he had infiltrated the Church to hollow out the graves in the cemetery, turning himself into a monster through evil biological research!

In the end, the upright and kind Bishop Twilight had discovered the bio-human's true colors, only to be tragically murdered in the Church's backyard on that rainy night!

After reading the notice, which didn't contain a single word of truth, Feng Zi was incensed!

"This is blatant slander! They're dumping all their filth onto you! You only escaped from that laboratory a week ago; how could you have committed these crimes? They don't even care about basic logic, they're just distorting the facts!"

Li Wei, however, remained indifferent and waved his hand.

"It's no big deal, no need to get yourself worked up. It doesn't matter what they say. Didn't the police already issue a notice saying you were abducted by me and eloped? I didn't see you this angry then."

"This is different! Bishop Twilight has a very high reputation in Yuguang; almost all the laborers treat him as the voice of Yuguang! Now that the police are saying you killed him, and pinning the previous murders and the Empty Grave Case on you, it means every laborer in Yuguang is now your enemy! They must hate you to the core!"

Feng Zi's eyes couldn't help but turn red.

"You helped the laborers' families get their compensation, you helped that boy find his eyes, you helped the people of this land clear out the real pests! And now they're all going to curse and hate you!"

Hearing her say this, Li Wei couldn't help but scratch his forehead, wondering to himself, Was I really that great?

He handed an apple to Feng Zi, comforting her.

"Calm down, calm down. It's really not necessary. Good reputation or bad, it doesn't matter to me."

Feng Zi took the apple but remained stubborn.

She pulled the voice recorder she had brought from the Border Market out of her pocket and looked at Li Wei with a serious expression.

"What if I anonymously mail the recording of what Bishop Twilight said that night to the newspaper?"

Li Wei looked at her in surprise.

"You actually recorded it!"

"I started recording the moment he mentioned he was conducting organ fusion. I just thought that if we were caught later, I could use this recording to ask my teacher in the Central District to clear your name and prove you're a good person."

After being handed a "good person" card, Li Wei shook his head nonchalantly.

"It's useless even if you send it to the newspaper. They won't publish the truth."

Feng Zi pursed her lips, saying nothing more about sending the recording to the press. Instead, she lowered her head to fiddle with the audio file, specifically clipping and saving that segment, while whispering to herself.

"They won't be able to hide it forever."