Faction!

The bustle gradually died down, and the disciples at the martial arts school's entrance dispersed in twos and threes.

Zhou Chen noticed that some people had already taken the initiative to gather around Jiang Yan and Wan Yingying, lowering their voices as they asked about something. Their faces were full of eagerness, clearly harboring thoughts of defecting to the Four-Family Alliance.

Others surrounded the senior and junior disciples who had already joined the new City Lord's faction. The one leading them was named Chen Feng. They gathered together and conversed in hushed voices, seemingly trying to sound out some information.

The people in the courtyard had faintly split into two groups.

When Jiang Yan and Wan Yingying looked toward the opposite side, their eyes already carried undisguised coldness. In just a few short days, the bonds between fellow disciples had been divided by faction.

"Foolish!"

Seeing this, Zhao Tianhong shook his head without saying much. He merely lamented inwardly that the disciples of the martial arts school were still too immature. Joining a particular clan did not mean they had to sell their lives for it, much less become hostile toward fellow disciples from a different faction because of it.

One could never have too many connections. The bond of having come from the same martial arts school was what truly deserved to be cultivated.

He looked at Zhou Chen and Ye Lingtian again. The two of them were the only people in the martial arts school who had remained neutral. Even those disciples still holding posts with the Lian Household had recently been privately calculating how to resign and seek better opportunities elsewhere. Zhou Chen and Ye Lingtian, on the other hand, had never entertained that thought.

"Continuing to stand with the Lian Household... Junior Brother Zhou and Junior Brother Ye are certainly men of loyalty and righteousness." Zhao Tianhong's favorable impression of the two junior brothers grew a little stronger, but unfortunately, given Zhou Chen and Ye Lingtian's strength, their loyalty and righteousness could not provide the Lian Household with much assistance.

Afterward, he did not linger and hurried back to the Night Patrol Bureau.

Zhou Chen's gaze inadvertently swept over the inner side of the courtyard gate, and only then did he notice that Lian Taoze had somehow already arrived there.

He was not carrying his insect jar as usual, grinning as he sought people out for cricket fights. Instead, he stood there with his gaze fixed on the Lian Household retainers in the courtyard who were enthusiastically chatting with disciples from the other factions.

He said nothing, but his eyes were filled with disappointment.

Then he shifted his gaze toward Zhou Chen and Ye Lingtian. Only then did a trace of a smile appear on his face. He nodded, said nothing, and turned to leave.

Seeing this, Zhou Chen, who had been about to greet him, hesitated and ultimately remained silent. Lian Taoze was probably in a bad mood, so it was better to leave him be.

Afterward, he parted ways with Ye Lingtian. He still had to return to the warehouse for another shift. Today, he had deliberately scheduled his patrol two hours earlier so that he could get home sooner and prepare the things he would need for tomorrow's trip out of the city.

After spending so many years in Black City, he finally had the qualifications to go outside and take a look. As for the so-called world beyond Black City, Zhou Chen was still filled with a measure of curiosity and anticipation.

After finishing his patrol at the warehouse and handing over his shift, Zhou Chen had just been about to leave when he saw Qin Feng hurrying over.

"Big Brother Zhou! A message just came from the main household. They told me to give you a heads-up."

"What is it?"

"I'm being transferred to take turns on duty at another warehouse in a few days."

Zhou Chen froze. "Will a new Martial Warrior be coming to replace you?"

Qin Feng shook his head, a trace of weariness in his voice. "No. From now on, Warehouse No. 2 will have to trouble you, Big Brother Zhou. Too many of the Martial Warriors holding posts with the Lian Household have left recently. Some defected to the Four-Family Alliance, while others went under the new City Lord. We suddenly don't have enough people to rotate through the posts, so they're transferring me away."

"So many left all at once?" Zhou Chen had expected changes, but he had not anticipated them coming so quickly.

"Yeah." Qin Feng gave a bitter smile. "Although the Lian Household raised the monthly allowance to six taels and added fifteen jin of white meat—but do you know how much the Shen Clan is offering now? Ten taels! I heard the Shen Clan received the new City Lord's support and took a share of quite a few industries, which is why they have the confidence to offer that much."

"This is the Shen Clan putting up a banner for everyone to see: if you pledge allegiance to the new City Lord, there'll be meat to eat. Anyone with eyes can tell this is an open scheme, but it's simply too tempting to resist. The Four-Family Alliance isn't willing to fall behind either, and their offer is just as high. Meanwhile, clans like the Lian Household, which neither fights nor competes, have had their industries carved up several times over these past few days."

After hearing this, Zhou Chen said nothing. He merely nodded.

He recalled Shen Ao's spirited face as he walked at the front earlier that day, then thought of Lian Taoze's silent back beneath the corridor just now. It was not difficult to imagine that the Lian Household's situation was no longer as easygoing as before.

After chatting with Qin Feng for a few more sentences, Zhou Chen did not delay any longer. He hurried home while the sky had not yet grown completely dark.

His parents had already prepared the meal. After handing the candied hawthorn skewers he had bought to Zhou Yu, Zhou Chen went to bring over the dishes.

Seeing Zhou Yu happily eating her candied hawthorn skewers, Zhang Fang could not help saying, "Buy fewer of those. How many candied hawthorn skewers have you eaten these past few days? Things aren't easy for you now either. Although you've become a Martial Warrior, you still need money for everything."

Zhou Chen laughed. "It's fine. I have money. No amount of candied hawthorn skewers could eat me out of house and home."

Zhou Yu immediately stuck out her tongue at Zhang Fang, looking spoiled and willful from being doted on.

After the family finished eating around the table, Zhou Chen returned to his room. He spread out the things he had bought that day across the bed and checked them one by one in the lamplight.

While chewing on the tough strip of Blood Deer jerky in his hand, he extended a finger and nudged each item in turn. "One lantern, one flask of lamp oil, fifteen Money Darts, one short knife, one flask of clean water, hemostatic powder, cloth strips, antidote powder, dry rations..." He counted everything one by one. Only after confirming that nothing was missing did he pack the items into a sturdy backpack and place it beside the bed.

Although he only planned to leave the city for a day, Zhou Chen had still made every possible preparation. It could never hurt to prepare a little more for everything.

After putting everything away, he leaned against the headboard, opened the handbook on leaving the city that he had bought at the Night Patrol Bureau that afternoon, and brought it close to the lamp to read carefully.

"At night, the concentration of Black Mist doubles. Martial Warriors leaving the city should return the same day and must not remain overnight."

Zhou Chen read it aloud softly, then turned the page. The following section recorded an illustrated guide to the common Mist Monsters and mutated beasts found outside Black City. Each species was accompanied by a hand-painted colored illustration.

The handbook stated that Mist Monsters and mutated beasts looked similar but were actually different. Mutated beasts were ordinary wild animals that had mutated after being tainted by Black Mist; their flesh and skin could still reveal the outlines of what they had originally been. Mist Monsters, however, were things born directly from Black Mist. Their forms were stranger and more elusive. They did not necessarily resemble beasts. Sometimes they looked like people, sometimes like objects fused with flesh and blood, and they could even be a shadow or a stretch of sound.

After reading the description, Zhou Chen could not help feeling his heart tighten.

These Mist Monsters were truly bizarre beyond compare.

The book also issued a stern reminder: if one failed to find a Mist Monster's weakness and relied on brute force, even someone with superior strength would find the battle extremely difficult. It then gave several typical examples of low-level Mist Monsters whose strength was roughly equivalent to that of a First-Rank Martial Artist.

One of them was called the Crying Man. It had a human form and was completely wrapped in damp spirit money. Its face was a blank mask, beneath which black water constantly flowed. When it walked, it made the sound of a child crying.

If one encountered it, one had to use brute force to tear off its mask before it could be killed.

Another was called the Stove Ghost. It was short and fat like a kitchen stove, with charred-black skin and a boiling iron pot embedded in its back. It would splash people with the "meat soup" in the pot.

To deal with this kind of Mist Monster, one had to grab a handful of filthy objects and throw them into the pot on its back. Once its pot had been fouled, the Stove Ghost would lose three-tenths of its strength, greatly weakening it.

Zhou Chen did not dare to be careless. He committed most of the Mist Monsters recorded in the book to memory. As for mid-level and high-level Mist Monsters, he did not memorize many of them.

Those Mist Monsters were too high-level. Even if one knew their weaknesses, encountering them would still mean certain death. It was better to run away as soon as possible.

Although Mist Monsters were dangerous, killing them also brought enormous benefits. Their various materials could be used to refine weapons and pills. More astonishingly, the flesh of these monsters born from Black Mist was usually clean white meat, which could be sold for an excellent price in the city.

After finishing the handbook, Zhou Chen tucked it into his clothes. He also packed everything away in his bundle. Tomorrow, he could simply set out with the bundle, return in the evening, and then go to Warehouse No. 2 for his shift. There should be enough time.

He turned up the oil lamp, lay down on the bed, and soon fell into a deep sleep.

The next day, when Zhou Chen woke up and had just stepped outside, he saw his mother enter the room with a look of lingering fear. Clutching her chest, her face pale, she said, "Something terrible has happened!"

"What's wrong, Mother?"

Zhou Chen jolted, his drowsiness vanishing without a trace.