The voice on the phone urged Xue Se to return. The truth could not stay hidden forever; someone had finally spilled the details of what happened last night.
If he wanted to keep his job, Xue Se had to shift the blame onto someone else. The missing Doctor Bu was clearly a good choice. Besides, the police and the Ethics Oversight Group had never gotten along.
"Officer Xue, whether Doctor Bu's plan succeeded or not, the Ethics Oversight Group has reached the point where it must be reined in. They're your true enemy—a bunch of lunatics trying to use a new morality to redefine Xinhu's rules. They're gathering power by any means necessary. Once they truly control the Forest, you won't be able to touch them anymore." Doctor Gao did his best to persuade him, but Officer Xue had his own considerations.
"Stay here and wait for word from me." Xue Se left the dilapidated building and walked through the filthy Residential Management Zone, scrolling through the messages on his phone.
He was not a good cop in the purest sense, nor was he an entirely bad man. He insisted on following the rules he believed in. He could defend what he considered justice regardless of the cost, and he would also use any means necessary to achieve his goals.
His memories of the past were somewhat hazy. Xue Se only vaguely remembered living somewhere a hundred times worse than the Residential Management Zone when he was young. To survive, they had devoured one another. Even the faintest candlelight could spark a fight. In the end, only thirteen households remained. They established rules, and only then were their family lines able to continue.
"Even if we're all descended from cannibals, as long as we follow the rules, we can still