A Time of Troubles

Having secured the rope, Lu Chengchuan and Zhou Yaning prepared to descend.

He hadn't practiced this kind of technical work, so when Zhou Yaning was about to enter the Black Mist, he jumped straight from the helicopter.

He plummeted downwards, rope in hand, a sight that didn't faze the others in the least, as they weren't worried about him getting into trouble. Zhou Yaning, seeing his decisiveness, also sped up her descent.

Lu Chengchuan landed on his feet in an instant, scanning his surroundings within the Black Mist, but there was nothing to see.

A few seconds later, Zhou Yaning landed beside him. They didn't speak as they met, but instead surveyed their surroundings. After a moment, they started walking forward.

Ahead lay the fractured meteorite, its crater unchanged.

They advanced and soon saw the split meteorite, from which the Black Mist was continuously pouring out.

"It hasn't stopped. Do you know what's going on?"

The Black Mist continued to gush out, and Zhou Yaning's expression was grim. If the Black Mist continued to spread, Anyang City would be threatened.

They didn't know what dangers lurked within the Black Mist, but they were certain that nothing good would come of it.

"I really don't know anything about this damn thing..."

Lu Chengchuan could only shake his head at Zhou Yaning's question. He wasn't an encyclopedia, nothing inside the Black Mist was calling out to him, and the System wasn't reacting either.

"Captain Zhou, I don't know everything," Lu Chengchuan replied softly.

They walked to the meteorite. When they had left last night, it had only been broken into a few large pieces, but now the upper part of the meteorite was completely shattered, with only a few fragments of the lower part remaining intact.

The Black Mist emanated from the center of the meteorite. Zhou Yaning approached and observed for a moment before reaching out her hand.

She was going to touch the center of the Black Mist, and it was unknown if it would be dangerous. Lu Chengchuan watched from the side, not stopping her, because he also wanted to know if something would happen...

Her slender fingers touched the Black Mist, and Zhou Yaning felt a slight chill. She continued to reach out, placing her palm over the center from which the Black Mist was pouring.

"What does it feel like?" Lu Chengchuan asked as he approached.

Zhou Yaning frowned and thought carefully before saying, "It doesn't feel like anything..."

It just felt like nothing. The Black Mist was similar to ordinary mist, except that it blocked signals.

Thinking this, Zhou Yaning put her hand directly on the stone, covering the place where the mist was flowing out, to see if she could block the mist inside the stone.

The moment her hand touched it, countless wisps of mist surged outward through her palm.

The chill Zhou Yaning felt intensified slightly, but other than that, nothing special happened.

She withdrew her hand and then circled around the meteorite. Lu Chengchuan followed her, and after a few laps, they stopped again. Zhou Yaning suddenly turned around.

"Could you move a piece away?"

She was worried that one piece of stone wouldn't be enough for research and wanted Lu Chengchuan to take another piece back.

Lu Chengchuan went over, found the largest fragment, and slowly lifted it.

"You go up first, and have the helicopter pull me up."

After lifting the stone, Lu Chengchuan told the others to go up first. He was holding the stone in his hands and couldn't climb into the helicopter, so he could only have the helicopter pull him up.

The weight of the stone was light for him, but the shape was awkward, and he had to hold it with both hands.

Zhou Yaning quickly climbed out of the Black Mist. The people in the helicopter were staring below. Qian Xiaoling and the others saw their captain come out and surrounded her. Seeing the hand gestures their captain was making, Qian Xiaoling immediately shouted to the pilot, "Fly up, fly slowly."

The pilot slowly flew the helicopter upwards. After a while, Lu Chengchuan was also pulled out of the Black Mist.

Zhou Yaning looked down to make sure that Lu Chengchuan was out of the Black Mist, and she gestured to those above again.

"Leave here and find a place to stop."

The helicopter flew out of the Black Mist area with two people suspended below, so he didn't dare to fly too fast. After about ten minutes, he flew out of the Black Mist area and then found a place to land.

The helicopter landed, and Lu Chengchuan carried the meteorite up. After securing the meteorite, the helicopter took off again.

Carrying another meteorite fragment, the helicopter returned to the Armed Forces Department. The meteorite was transported to an armored vehicle. This stone would be sent to the research institute for research, after which Lu Chengchuan had nothing to do with it.

"Let's go, I'll treat you to a meal."

At noon, Zhou Yaning found him after dealing with various matters, saying that she wanted to treat him to a meal, just the two of them.

Lu Chengchuan began to guess what she wanted to do. After thinking about it, he nodded and agreed. It was just a meal, and he wouldn't lose anything.

"Let's go."

Zhou Yaning drove, and the two left the Armed Forces Department and went to the nearest large restaurant.

Ming Residence Restaurant. The name didn't sound like a restaurant. The private room had already been reserved. Zhou Yaning led him in, and a waiter came up to ask a question, then led them to the private room.

They sat down, and the waiter asked if they wanted to start serving the dishes. After receiving a response, he left the private room.

"Captain Zhou, why are you suddenly treating me to a meal?"

After the waiter left, Lu Chengchuan asked her why she was treating him to a meal.

"It's nothing." Zhou Yaning shook her head and said softly, "You've helped me a lot. It just so happens that it's lunchtime, so I'm treating you to a meal and thanking you at the same time."

"Is that really it?" Lu Chengchuan didn't believe it.

"You'll believe it after we finish eating. Don't worry, if there's really something, I'll tell you directly. There's no need to go through all this."

Even though Lu Chengchuan had participated in many important events, their relationship wasn't that close. Many things couldn't be solved just by treating someone to a meal.

Lu Chengchuan was skeptical. After seven or eight minutes, the door to the private room was opened, and a waiter came in pushing a cart to serve the dishes.

After the dishes were served, Zhou Yaning immediately started eating. Seeing her eating with gusto, Lu Chengchuan also began to eat.

A few minutes later, the waiter came again to serve dishes, and this happened three times in a row, bringing a total of eight dishes and a soup. After serving the dishes, no more waiters came.

Halfway through the meal, Zhou Yaning took a sip of tea, then suddenly put down her chopsticks and looked at him with a serious expression. "There's something I want to ask you."

Lu Chengchuan rolled his eyes. So, there was something after all.

"Go ahead, Captain Zhou, what's the matter?" Lu Chengchuan also put down his chopsticks.

"The Director asked me to ask you if you've considered joining the Investigation Bureau."

"I remember we talked about this last time, and I answered." This had been mentioned before, and he had said he didn't want to join. Why were they asking again now?

He refused very directly. Zhou Yaning asked, "Why don't you want to join? Don't you like the Investigation Bureau?"

"There's no why, and it's not that I don't like it, I just simply don't want to join." Lu Chengchuan shook his head, using the same excuse as before.

He didn't like being managed too much; it was better the way things were now.

"I really don't know what you're thinking. If you join the Investigation Bureau, you'll definitely get promoted quickly..."

Not letting Zhou Yaning finish, Lu Chengchuan tapped some plates. "Captain Zhou, you don't need to tell me these things. Let's eat. If there's nothing else later, I'll go home first."

After speaking, Lu Chengchuan picked up his chopsticks and lowered his head to eat. Seeing him with his head down, looking like he couldn't hear anything, Zhou Yaning couldn't continue speaking.