Chaos

"Could you hurry up, idiot?!"

Car horns blared continuously along the road, urging everyone onward. Panic filled every face as people ran about like headless flies, and the entire commandery city had fallen into chaos.

Chen Xu casually grabbed an office worker fleeing past him, his gaze sweeping over the street. "What's going on? What happened in Qianshui Commandery?"

"You!" The office worker was about to curse at the stranger who had grabbed him, but when he saw Chen Xu looking down at him, he forcibly swallowed the profanity. Undisguised terror filled his eyes. "A terrorist organization slaughtered nearly all of Qianshui Commandery's upper ranks. Run while you can—this place is far too dangerous."

His left hand gestured frantically. "Have you heard of a corpse mound? It's when bodies are piled up into a mountain.

"It has to be some organization targeting Great Abyss, using the Martial Pavilion to make an example. More than a hundred Martial Pavilion staff members—none of them survived. It's just..."

With that, he tried to break free from Chen Xu's grip on his wrist.

Having roughly understood what had happened in Qianshui Commandery, Chen Xu released him and turned to Nie Mengyin and Ling Youyou. "Looks like we won't have a chance to rest. We need to leave immediately and head for Peace Prefecture City. Once Great Abyss responds, it won't be so easy to get out of Qianshui Commandery."

Qianshui Commandery was in such chaos because no one was currently in charge. It was foreseeable that once someone took command, sealing the city would only be a matter of time.

Before entering the commandery, he had already awakened the two women. After all, carrying two women through the streets would have attracted far too much attention.

"Sir, are you heading to Peace Prefecture City?"

As soon as Chen Xu finished speaking, a man in a cheap suit approached him.

"What a coincidence. We have a vehicle heading directly to Peace Prefecture City, and there are still a few seats left. Would you and the ladies like to consider it?

"If you're interested, please give me an answer quickly, sir. Lots of people are trying to get to Peace Prefecture City. Delay even a little, and the seats might be gone."

The man in the cheap suit brazenly looked Nie Mengyin and Ling Youyou over, a lecherous glint flashing through his eyes.

He did not believe this big idiot would refuse. With nearly everyone trying to flee, vehicles that could provide seats were exceedingly rare.

"Follow me." Chen Xu spoke flatly, completely ignoring the man in the cheap suit.

As the honorary deputy pavilion master of Jinning Commandery, slipping onto a vehicle bound for Peace Prefecture City would be easy for him.

The man in the cheap suit had never expected Chen Xu to refuse so decisively. He hurried forward, intending to grab Nie Mengyin and forcibly secure his passengers.

An invisible pressure pierced the cheap-suited man's mind like needles, brutally forcing its way in.

"Ah..."

Chen Xu no longer paid attention to the man clutching his head and rolling on the ground, tears and snot streaming down his face. He led the two women toward Qianshui Commandery's Martial Pavilion.

"Step back! Do not disrupt public order, or we have the right to arrest you."

More than a dozen Public Security Office officers were doing their best to maintain order, but because they were shorthanded, relatives of the victims often forced their way inside.

Cries, curses, furious roars, and reporters' questions blended into a cacophony. Every so often, there were also the sounds of vomiting from teenage brats who had come to gawk and "broaden their horizons."

Paralyzed—nearly everything in Qianshui Commandery had been paralyzed. The Qianshui Commandery governor, the Martial Pavilion master, the director of the Public Security Office, the military's highest-ranking commander, and nearly all other senior officials had died. This was practically Great Abyss's most vicious incident in the past decade.

"Hey, get out now! Ordinary people aren't allowed in here!"

Upon seeing Chen Xu's towering, muscular frame, the officer could not help taking half a step back. Then irritation flashed across his face. As an officer, he had actually been frightened into retreating slightly by an ordinary person. If his colleagues found out, they would mock him for weeks.

"Call the highest-ranking person here over to see Chen," Chen Xu said, putting on the air of a high-ranking official, carrying an imposing authority without even showing anger.

"Who do you think you are, demanding to see Officer Qi? He's busy right now. Can you stop making trouble?"

The officer stepped forward, preparing to shove Chen Xu out.

"Is this enough to get in?" Chen Xu produced the identity document issued by the Martial Pavilion while pressing the strange girl, who was trying to poke her head out, back into his pocket.

"Deputy Pavilion Master Chen from Jinning Commandery?" The officer's expression shifted. He gave Chen Xu a respectful look, then jogged over to Officer Qi, who was directing medical personnel as they carried away corpses.

"Deputy Pavilion Master Chen?" Officer Qi turned toward Chen Xu. Why had he never heard that Jinning Commandery had appointed a new deputy pavilion master? As neighboring commanderies, news should not have traveled this slowly.

Doubts aside, he did not question Chen Xu's identity. Great Abyss officials' identity documents were extremely difficult to forge. It was said that some special material was used as a marker, and only a tiny group at the very top of Great Abyss knew what that material was.

After inspecting Chen Xu's identification, Qi Jingquan removed his hat and apologized. "Deputy Pavilion Master Chen, please forgive my earlier discourtesy. But Qianshui Commandery is in this state right now, so I hope you understand.

"I am Qi Jingquan, a first-rank public security officer of Qianshui Commandery."

Chen Xu waved a hand generously. "These are extraordinary times; it should be handled this way. Chen rushed here without pause precisely to do his part.

"May I ask about Qianshui Commandery's actual losses?"

At that question, Qi Jingquan's expression darkened. "Aside from the senior officials whose deaths have already been confirmed, only one remaining senior official has contacted me. He is directing matters remotely. I know nothing about the rest.

"The resources and funds in storage have not yet been checked, but the chances of them remaining intact are slim."

"Not checked?" A sharp gleam flashed in Chen Xu's eyes. "Then I'll go in and assess the losses myself."

"Deputy Pavilion Master Chen, should I arrange someone to accompany you?"

"With manpower this scarce, how could we waste it on something like that?" Chen Xu gave Qi Jingquan no chance to object and quickly entered the Martial Pavilion.

"As expected of someone who became a deputy pavilion master. He's far better than those commandery officials who only dare to hide and command from afar. They don't even have the guts to come direct the scene and reassure the people. What kind of officials are they?"

The officer had barely said a few words before Qi Jingquan stopped him with a look.

"Get back to work. You talk too much."

Stepping over corpse after corpse that had yet to be dealt with, Chen Xu arrived before the resource vault of Qianshui Commandery's Martial Pavilion.

The vault's metal doors had been blown outward, revealing a hole roughly the height of a person.

It had clearly been blasted open by a martial arts powerhouse using brute force.

Someone had written the words "Martial Alliance" on the ground in blood. More than half the shelves had been emptied, while everything not taken had been directly destroyed. It was obvious they intended to leave nothing at all for Great Abyss.

The strange girl suddenly crawled out of Chen Xu's pocket and toddled toward a collapsed wooden rack.

"Heave-ho, heave-ho." The strange girl's little face was utterly solemn, as though she were carrying out some sacred task.

She dug out an irregular, cloudy crystal larger than her entire body.

Drool fell from her mouth. The strange girl opened her little mouth to bite it, but bit only air.

When she opened her eyes again, the irregular crystal had already been picked up by Chen Xu, who examined it from top to bottom.