No Enemy Is Greater Than the Unknown

Who hadn't come through an age of innocence?

Even a powerhouse like Liu Sishan had surely entertained naive thoughts and childish, adorable behaviors when she was young.

With a light wave of her hand, the ice sword instantly melted into pure water, then dissipated into the air.

"You really are... Sister Sisi?" Zhang Ping asked as he looked at Liu Sishan.

Liu Sishan did not remove the icy mask from her face. Looking at Zhang Ping, she said, "Second question. According to our investigation, your ability is Greed Gem. It was rated useless because you couldn't fulfill its activation conditions. So... why has your behavior been so abnormal lately?"

"Because I ate the Greed Gem," Zhang Ping answered honestly.

That was something he could answer. After all, even the evaluators did not know all the effects of a Contract Gem.

Liu Sishan froze, then asked in confusion, "You ate it yourself?"

"That's right. After I ate the Greed Gem, my body and mind came completely under my own control. That was how I discovered two aberrant beasts hidden in the school. At the time, I began to wonder whether Mingzhu City belonged to humans or aberrant beasts, so I started investigating," Zhang Ping said with a nod.

Liu Sishan fell silent. Zhang Ping's answer did make sense, but according to the organization's investigation, there was only one aberrant beast at Pearl Ability School.

They had even hired assassins to test it, but still failed to uncover its true nature.

"Are you saying you can accurately identify every aberrant beast in the city?" Liu Sishan looked at Zhang Ping and asked seriously.

Zhang Ping was taken aback. His squinting eyes opened as he countered, "Don't tell me you still don't know what the aberrant beasts in the city actually are?"

"Answer my question first."

Liu Sishan avoided answering, because she still could not determine whether Zhang Ping was human or an aberrant beast.

Some aberrant beasts could create incredibly sophisticated illusions. Everything within those illusions felt incomparably real, but in truth, it all came from humanity's own imaginings.

If she had also fallen into a similar ability, then every piece of information she provided might be leaked to the enemy.

"According to my investigation, a large number of aberrant beasts are currently hiding in the city. They are all Heavenly Foxes. I suspect an entire clan has invaded Mingzhu City. They generally possess two or three abilities, and their racial innate abilities are Cognitive Distortion and Conventionality Reversal.

"At present, two Heavenly Foxes are hidden in the school. With the school as the center, almost every street has more than thirty Heavenly Foxes hidden on it. Most importantly, the Patrol Team has already been completely occupied by Heavenly Foxes. There are no living humans inside. Anyone who joins the Patrol Team will be eaten by the Heavenly Foxes." Zhang Ping realized that Liu Sishan did not completely trust him. After thinking for a moment, he still chose to provide more information.

Liu Sishan's eyes widened. She knew Mingzhu City was dangerous, with an unknown number of aberrant beasts hidden within, but she had never imagined the situation had become this dire.

If what Zhang Ping said was true, then Mingzhu City had effectively fallen entirely into the hands of aberrant beasts. The whole city was their hunting ground, and every human had become their food.

"I've recorded the identities of some Heavenly Foxes. You can try verifying them. That should prove I'm human, right?" Zhang Ping asked as he looked at Liu Sishan.

Liu Sishan hesitated, then nodded after some deep thought. "Go ahead."

"Leye Street, Wanshang Breakfast Shop. The owner is a Heavenly Fox. Also on Leye Street, Jiu'an Furniture. The owner is a Heavenly Fox. On Dragon Pearl Street, Dragon Spear Polearm Workshop. All three blacksmiths are Heavenly Foxes. Investigate them first. Once you've verified it, we can talk again," Zhang Ping said unhurriedly.

After thinking about it, he added, "To be honest, I originally thought you knew the aberrant beasts were Heavenly Foxes, or at least knew their abilities.

"But from the looks of it, you probably confirmed the existence of aberrant beasts in Mingzhu City through some other means, without knowing the specifics. So if you want to send someone to verify this, you'd better find someone you can trust. I don't know whether aberrant beasts are also hidden within your team or organization."

After Zhang Ping put it that way, Liu Sishan truly could not be sure whether Heavenly Foxes were hidden within the organization.

Cognitive Distortion and Conventionality Reversal. Just from the names alone, one could guess what kind of abilities they were. Combined together, those two abilities were terrifying.

After pondering for a moment, Liu Sishan decided to contact the captain.

She could no longer tell whether Zhang Ping's words were true or false, and the information he had provided was too important. If it was true, it would be crucial intelligence.

"Stay here. Don't move. I'll be back soon," she said after glancing at Zhang Ping.

Zhang Ping shrugged. Looking at Liu Sishan with narrowed eyes, he said helplessly, "Do I look like I'm capable of moving?"

Well.

In truth, he really could break free from the restraint of that liquid bodysuit.

He had only let the strange liquid keep wrapping around him because he did not want to cause misunderstandings. Besides, it was not particularly uncomfortable.

Liu Sishan left the dark room, then took a badge from her clothes.

The badge was only slightly larger than a coin, with a blue pearl embedded in its center.

She lightly pressed the pearl, and an elderly voice came from the badge. "Sisi, I've already heard what happened from Manny. And not only has your Flame of Fortune not gone out, it's burning even more fiercely. Go on, what good news do you have?"

"Captain, I don't know if this counts as good news..." Liu Sishan sighed, then relayed all the information Zhang Ping had provided exactly as it was.

On the other end of the badge, an old man with a head full of silver hair looked up at the others after hearing Liu Sishan's account.

More than a dozen members sat in the meeting room. Every one of them was frowning as they considered the information Liu Sishan had provided.

Though this intelligence differed somewhat from what they had uncovered so far, many details happened to align perfectly.

"Heavenly Foxes. Has anyone heard of this kind of aberrant beast?" The old man lightly tapped the table and asked.

The middle-aged man seated to his right said, "I can confirm that no aberrant beast called a Heavenly Fox has ever appeared near Mingzhu City. However, Cognitive Distortion and Conventionality Reversal have both appeared before. The aberrant beast with Cognitive Distortion was the Heart-Eating Illusion Fox, while the one with Conventionality Reversal was the Peril-Bearing Fox. We cannot rule out the possibility that the two mated and left descendants behind."

"In other words, the information Sisi's young friend provided is very likely true," the old man mused.

At that moment, the burly man seated to the old man's left said, "Since he has provided the exact identities of the aberrant beasts, let me verify it."

"Jin Bo, don't act rashly," the middle-aged man on the right said.

The old man smiled. "If Sisi's young friend is an aberrant beast, then the information he provided must be a trap. But it might also be bait deliberately released to earn our trust. Still, I think we can take the gamble. After all, there is no faking Sisi's Flame of Fortune. Jin Bo, lead a team to verify the information he gave us. If possible, bring back the bodies of the Heavenly Foxes!"

"Yes, Captain!"

Jin Bo answered, then rose and left.

The middle-aged man asked worriedly, "Captain, isn't this too risky?"

"Chen Ming, no enemy is greater than the unknown. Over this period, we have already sacrificed several elites, yet only discovered two aberrant beasts. We can't even determine what the enemy is. Now that we finally have a chance to verify it, shrinking back isn't the Cleanup Team's style," the old man said gravely.

He looked out the window, where Mingzhu City could vaguely be seen in the darkness, and sighed. "Now that the pearl is covered in dust, the Cleanup Team must sweep away that dust and restore its luster. How can we hesitate and cower?"

Leye Street, Wanshang Breakfast Shop.

The structure of this breakfast shop was similar to Iron Soul's, but it only had two floors.

In the master bedroom on the second floor, a fat middle-aged man was sleeping soundly and snoring. Beside him lay a two-meter-tall fox, also asleep. As it inhaled and exhaled, the human skin stuck to its forehead continuously rose and fell.

At that moment, a door appeared at one side of the bedroom.

The instant the door appeared, the fox on the bed abruptly opened its eyes, but it was already too late.

One punch!

The fox's head exploded. Most bizarrely, there was no sound at all, and the fat man sleeping beside it was not awakened in the slightest.

Jin Bo lifted the fox's corpse with one hand and said swiftly, "Move!"

Meanwhile, inside Pearl Ability School, "Luo Shiyu," who had been resting, abruptly opened its eyes. It instantly emerged from the dormitory and looked toward the distant streets.

"Your Highness?"

A Heavenly Fox immediately appeared behind it.

"Luo Shiyu" said, "Yue Jiu is dead. Someone killed Yue Jiu."

After saying that, it pushed off with both legs, its body instantly appearing a hundred meters in the air. It looked down and swept its gaze across the surroundings, when it suddenly sensed another Heavenly Fox being killed.

Location locked!

The next moment, it dived straight down and landed on Leye Street. But then it frowned and looked around. That presence had vanished again.

But soon, the presence appeared once more!

The problem was that it had appeared even farther away. Another Heavenly Fox had died!

"Roar!!!"

It clenched its teeth, its long ears standing upright as it struggled to control its rage.

In the end, it still could not stop itself from roaring. A terrifying blast of air erupted from its body, turning into a fierce wind that spread in every direction.

The Heavenly Foxes around it woke one after another.

They emerged from all directions, countless sheets of human skin fluttering in the wind.

But by then, Jin Bo's team had already left Mingzhu City with the corpses of two Heavenly Foxes.

While inside Mingzhu City, those two corpses had continued to retain human appearances even after death. Jin Bo had hesitated for a second after killing the first Heavenly Fox, but in the end, he had decided to continue.

Better to kill by mistake than let one go.

After they had traveled some distance from Mingzhu City, the corpses suddenly transformed into foxes. The members carrying the bodies were startled, and after seeing the transformation, the entire team became uncertain and alarmed.

Jin Bo glanced back, but instead revealed a savage smile. Killing intent overflowed from him as he said, "This is a good thing. At least we've finally figured out who the enemy is!"

The Cleanup Team had determined that aberrant beasts were hiding in Mingzhu City based on the city's overall fortune.

They had sent elites into Mingzhu City to investigate. Not only had they failed to uncover any results, but of the twenty elites, only eight could still be contacted.

The other twelve members had not only lost contact, but their Flames of Fortune had also gone out completely. That meant they were all dead.

The Cleanup Team was an organization independent of Mingzhu City's official system. Its purpose was simple: to serve as a trump card capable of turning the tide should Mingzhu City ever face a catastrophic disaster.

Most of the team's elites came from the Investigation Team and the Patrol Team. All of them had once been famous geniuses.

These geniuses had voluntarily severed all ties to their pasts through methods such as faking their deaths or disappearances, then moved into the shadows to silently protect Mingzhu City.

No one could bear the sudden loss of twelve members.

But they could not find the enemy.

Everyone could only hold their anger inside.

And now.

They had finally found them!