No Blood

"Listen up, everyone," the Chief ordered loudly. "Without my permission, no one is to leak any information regarding the Earth-Shaking Talisman. Everything else can wait until I report to headquarters!"

The lead guard scratched his hair in agony, looking at the Chief with pleading eyes. "Sir, give me one more chance! I can definitely bring back the Earth-Shaking Talisman to prove my innocence!"

"Haven't you embarrassed yourself enough? Get to the office and give a full account of your failures!" The Chief's face darkened as he turned and walked into his office.

Vice Chief Jiang said a few words to the four team members beside him, dismissing them to rest and tend to their injuries, before heading out to catch up with Wang Wen.

He was feeling rather puzzled.

"You know, that Xiao Chen doesn't have the strength to reach the two-hundredth floor at all," Vice Chief Jiang asked as he caught up to walk slowly beside Wang Wen. "Why did you bait him into entering the tower himself?"

Wang Wen had been quite pleased to see the Vice Chief follow him, but his tone flattened upon hearing the topic. "He didn't cherish my friendship."

"So, it was intentional?" the Vice Chief exclaimed. "You wanted him dead??"

Wang Wen stopped, turned his head, and looked at the Vice Chief with a strange expression. "Setting aside whether I even have the ability to make someone die, even if I did, he was the one targeting me from start to finish. Can I not fight back?"

"So your counterattack was to use a piece of precious intelligence to leave him in an indefensible position," the Vice Chief analyzed. "For him, the best-case scenario is that he embezzled the Earth-Shaking Talisman himself and is just acting now to save his loot and his uniform. Otherwise, it means his 'good brother' swiped it, which will destroy their personal relationship while he still has to take the disciplinary action."

"But neither of these is enough to reach the level of what you call a counterattack." He looked up at Wang Wen, voicing a speculation that even frightened himself: "Let me take a bold guess—there was never any Earth-Shaking Talisman in the tower run he was responsible for, was there?"

"Vice Chief Jiang, if you're here to chat, you're very welcome," Wang Wen said calmly, standing next to the portal. "But if you're here to uphold justice or play detective, I'd like to say that as an innocent man who was detained by the Guard Department for eleven days for no reason, I am very tired and would like to go home and rest."

"No, no, no." The Vice Chief suddenly blocked Wang Wen like a petulant child. "You have to tell me first if you intentionally baited him into the tower! Otherwise, I'll die of curiosity!"

Wang Wen said, "He is an adult. Whether he enters the tower or not is his own business; it has nothing to do with me."

"Then, the first time he sent someone into the tower, there really wasn't an Earth-Shaking Talisman inside, right?"

Wang Wen finally lost his patience and waved his hand. "Yes, everything was planned by me, just to ruin his reputation and hopefully cost him his life! Are you satisfied? Go ahead and arrest me for a firing squad!"

The scene fell silent.

After a long while.

The Vice Chief said with genuine respect, "Incredible! You have truly opened my eyes!"

Wang Wen frowned. "What do you mean?"

The Vice Chief laughed, looked back at the Guard Department gate, which was now barely visible in the distance, and said in a relaxed tone, "I mean, well done!"

Facing Wang Wen's odd look, the Vice Chief smiled happily.

He reached out and patted Wang Wen on the shoulder, smiling. "Don't look at me like that. I hate that sycophantic, snobbish guy too. If we weren't colleagues, I might have taught him a lesson even earlier than you!"

Wang Wen was speechless, his shoulders slumping as he didn't know whether to offer congratulations or something else.

He had assumed the seemingly impartial Vice Chief was here to solve a case and arrest him.

He hadn't expected the man to have such a vivid side.

"One last question!" The Vice Chief held up a finger, his face full of curiosity. "As far as I know, you didn't leave the Guard Department at all during these eleven days, nor did you have any contact with the outside world. It felt like you were 'devising strategies within a tent to win a battle a thousand miles away'! How on earth did you do it?"

"You really want to know?" Wang Wen suddenly smiled mysteriously.

The Vice Chief nodded blankly.

"Help me buy some things and have them delivered to the academy, and I'll tell you." Wang Wen pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, shoved it into the Vice Chief's hand, turned, and stepped into the portal, vanishing from sight.

The Vice Chief unfolded the paper in confusion, his expression changing as he read.

A wail echoed by the portal.

"Running errands is one thing, but you didn't even leave any money! Is a light-brain something a regional Vice Chief can afford to buy??"

Returning to the academy, the sky had already darkened. Looking at the familiar scenery, Wang Wen felt a bit dazed.

In this life, given his experience, there was nothing left for the academy teachers to teach him.

Yet, after tasting the bitterness of the world and its schemes, he still habitually returned here.

It was like returning home.

He walked through the night under the shadows of the trees, appreciating the carefree nature of the passing students and enjoying a moment of tranquility.

He didn't get to be greedy for long.

Among two people walking toward him, a girl wearing glasses called out, "Wang Wen? You're out of prison??"

Wang Wen's eye twitched as he looked at the familiar face without speaking.

He remembered her; she was the "best friend" who often hung around Cheng Queyi.

She was the one who had accompanied Cheng Queyi to the lecture hall to find him last time.

While Wang Wen was observing, the man beside the girl with glasses glanced at Wang Wen, then excused himself from the girl and walked off in another direction.

The girl with glasses adjusted her frames and stepped forward, saying apologetically, "Sorry, I spoke too quickly. Not prison—have you been alright during your time at the Guard Department? Xiao Yi is very worried about you."

"I'm perfectly fine, thank you for your concern," Wang Wen nodded, though his mind was busy recalling the man who had just left.

It was normal for the other party not to recognize him.

At this point in time, no one would know who he was.

But Wang Wen had a vague impression of the man's face.

Wang Wen remembered that Tiansheng Group had a special department. Its function was somewhat similar to the Intelligence Department of the First Consortium, but it went by a different name.

Perhaps to distinguish itself from the First Consortium's Intelligence Department, this Tiansheng division was named Mirror.

The name was intimidating, and so were its members.

It was said that every member within possessed two faces, like the two sides of a mirror.

Coincidentally.

In his past life, Wang Wen had seen the two faces of many Mirror members.

This person was exactly one of them.

Why would a member of Tiansheng Group's Mirror appear beside the bespectacled girl?

Wang Wen watched her silently.

From top to bottom.

From outside to inside.

The bespectacled girl suddenly felt as if she had been stripped bare. Frightened, she hurriedly blurted out, "I'm glad you're okay," before turning and running away.

Wang Wen smiled.

He called the skinny boy over to grab a late-night snack together before returning to his room to sleep.

Before bed, he even indulged in a shower with water.

The next morning, he went to the track to exercise just as he had before "entering prison," and as usual, he saw that figure who arrived even earlier than him, sweating as they ran laps.

Both sides maintained a tacit understanding, each doing their own thing without disturbing the other.

Whoever finished training first would leave first.

By the time Wang Wen finished breakfast with the skinny boy, they hadn't even made it to the classroom before being summoned to the academy gate.

The skinny boy was very unhappy, as he felt it had been a long time since he had attended class with Wang Wen.

Also unhappy was another person in the classroom.

After learning that Wang Wen had returned safely, she had waited all night, only to have him intercepted right before class. She felt very displeased as well.

Wang Wen arrived at the academy gate and saw Cheng Queyi, along with the bespectacled girl standing beside her.

He walked up and asked Cheng Queyi curiously: