After a while.
Administrative District.
Outside a convenience store.
A pretty young girl was silently waiting in line.
The residents ahead of her all started to panic.
They hurriedly bought their things, then quickly fled from the line in front of Bronya.
They ran to the back to watch from a distance.
What exactly would Bronya, commander of the Silvermane Guards, come to a convenience store to buy?
At last, Bronya reached the counter.
Her eyes were red, as though she had just been crying.
"Um... hello. What would you like to buy?"
Bronya gripped her sleeve, lowered her head, and stammered,
"A pack of... Furong Wang."
From afar, Pela saw Bronya accept a pack of Furong Wang outside the convenience store. As the intelligence officer of the Silvermane Guards, she immediately took off her glasses, wiped them, and put them back on.
"Good lord, was I seeing things? Bronya was buying cigarettes?!"
As Bronya's friend, Pela hurried over.
Hearing footsteps, Bronya looked up and saw Pela running toward her.
"Pela, why are you running so fast?"
"That's not the point. What are you holding?!" Pela pointed at the pack of Furong Wang, her face full of disbelief.
She had thought she was mistaken because she had been too far away, but it really was cigarettes.
"This is Furong Wang, Pela. Haven't you seen it before?" Bronya said casually.
"No, I know it's Furong Wang. What I mean is, why are you buying Furong Wang?!"
Pela's eyes nearly popped out. Bronya had always been known as the perfect good girl, elegant and proper in everything she did. How could she be lining up outside a convenience store to buy Furong Wang?
Had she... gone bad?!
"Pela." Bronya sighed. "Tell me, what exactly has the lockdown brought to the Lower District?"
"Huh?"
Pela pulled Bronya aside and asked in confusion, "Why are you asking that with your status? What would ordinary people think if they heard you?!"
Bronya tucked the Furong Wang into her pocket and sighed. "Just now, I met a reclusive doctor. He left the city when he was very young, and now he plans to return and use his medical skill to help everyone."
At this point, Bronya felt terribly upset.
"Pela, you understand how difficult it is to survive outside the city, don't you?"
Pela nodded.
"I do. The outside has practically been swallowed by the Crack Realm. It's full of monsters."
"Mm." Bronya lowered her head in response.
"In those conditions, a reclusive doctor raised by his master returned to the city today. He said... he used to be a child from a Lower District orphanage. He asked how the Lower District was now. He missed it very much."
Pela: "..."
Bronya: "He also said that, as a member of the Lower District, once he returned, he would repay the City Builders properly. When he entered the city gates, he used his superb medical skill to heal the hidden injuries of a large number of Silvermane Guards, and he did not charge a single credit."
Bronya lowered her head and said softly,
"He also said that his master had passed away in the snowfields. His mentor had loved talking about Furong Wang when he was alive, so he wanted to buy a pack in remembrance of him."
Pela suddenly understood.
"Bronya, so that's why you bought cigarettes? I thought you..."
Bronya looked up and blinked.
"Thought I what?"
Pela: "Ahahaha, nothing."
Bronya continued wistfully,
"Pela, tell me, when someone like him asked what the Lower District was like now, could you imagine how much pressure I felt at that moment?"
Pela nodded and fell silent.
The Lower District had long since been abandoned. Only the furnace-core conveyor belts for Geomarrow and supplies were still operating. The Silvermane Guards had withdrawn to the Upper District more than a decade ago. The situation below was probably already beyond terrible.
"Then... Bronya." Pela raised her head and said earnestly, "Did you tell him about the Lower District's condition?"
Bronya shook her head and laughed bitterly.
"I didn't dare. Even though he came from underground, he still cared only about Belobog. Yet we had long since failed the Lower District. I didn't even know how to face him now."
Pela swallowed. At last, she understood why Bronya had been so uneasy.
If it had been her, she would not have been able to remain calm either.
"Then, then let's go together. We can't let such a respected doctor keep being kept in the dark. This is our responsibility. We should bear it ourselves."
"Mm." Bronya nodded. "Then let's go find him. I hope... that when he learns the answer, he won't be too disappointed in us."
Administrative District.
Plaza.
Yan Huan sprawled across a bench, quietly waiting.
At last, he saw Bronya approaching, with a bespectacled girl beside her.
"Um, Yan Huan, the Furong Wang you wanted... I bought it."
Bronya handed the Furong Wang to Yan Huan. Yan Huan accepted it with a grin and immediately opened the pack.
He handed one cigarette each to Bronya and Pela.
"Thank you, both of you. Have one too, have one. Don't be shy with me."
Bronya and Pela: "..."
The two looked at each other. Neither was embarrassed enough to refuse, so they both accepted a cigarette and tucked it into their respective pockets.
"Thank you for your kindness." Bronya smiled politely.
"Do you know what you plan to do now? Do you have somewhere to stay in the Upper District?" Bronya continued.
Yan Huan shook his head and tucked the Furong Wang into his clothes. "No. I had planned to stay at the Goethe Hotel, but I did some calculations and figured there'd be trouble there these next few days, so I didn't want to stay."
Pela's eyes widened.
"You can tell fortunes too?!"
Yan Huan waved his hand.
"Oh, it's nothing worth mentioning, nothing worth mentioning. I know quite a few things. Healing people, fighting, running away—I know a little about all of them."
Bronya nodded.
She had originally wanted to tell Yan Huan about the lockdown now, but after thinking it over, she decided to let him adjust for a while first. Perhaps that would make it easier for him to accept.
"Um, could you show us your skills?" Bronya suggested. "Ah, I'm not questioning you. I just want to see whether you meet the standards to join the City Builders. Maybe you could even get an official post with us, which would give you somewhere to live."
She continued explaining,
"If possible, I'll introduce you to my mother... uh, the Supreme Guardian. Then your abilities can be put to use."
Yan Huan's eyes immediately lit up.
This was a government position? Something this good existed?
The background story he had made up before seemed like it might actually be useful.
"Of course. Bring it on!"
Kliperburg.
Cocolia looked at Yan Huan below her and asked suspiciously,
"A reclusive doctor? He took on fifty Silvermane Guards alone without even losing his breath, and after beating them, he even healed every one of them?"
Gepard, standing below, nodded respectfully.
"That is correct, Supreme Guardian. I swear upon my honor that intelligence officer Pela and Commander Bronya spoke the truth, because I was there as well."
Even Gepard had been startled by Yan Huan's terrifying combat ability.
As expected of someone who had lived outside the city for years. Not only was his medical skill exceptional, but his fighting prowess was extraordinary as well.
No wonder he was not afraid of Void creatures.
At that moment, Yan Huan stood behind the three of them, the corners of his mouth curling up wildly.
He said calmly,
"It was merely a trivial trick, nothing worth mentioning. Supreme Guardian, don't stand on ceremony either. Have one."
As he spoke, he pulled out a Furong Wang and offered it to Cocolia.
"!!!" All three were stunned.
Before you continue