"The Calamity?!"
"It's her?!"
The Mind Master and the Mighty Warrior cried out in shock at the words, sucking in sharp breaths as they understood why the Red King had such a massive reaction.
They had never seen the Calamity, but they had heard of her name.
She was the organization's forbidden vocabulary; that defection five years ago had left psychological scars on countless people, and mentioning that word triggered a stress response.
Although the name of the Calamity had become taboo, the impact of that defection was simply too great, and even if the organization wanted to cover it up, it could not seal everyone's mouths.
Peripheral personnel like the Mind Master and the Mighty Warrior, who had spent ten years in seclusion deciphering ancient texts and rarely communicated with the outside world, had still heard wind of it from headquarters, let alone other superpowered persons.
She was the most powerful Superpowered Person in history, overturning all research. Her status and abilities were both above the Seven Kings, a truly pinnacle existence.
Ever since her defection five years ago, she seemed to vanish, never to be heard from again, and no one had ever been able to reach the height of the Calamity or surpass the Seven Kings.
The Red King knew more, which was why he was even more terrified than the two Mind Masters.
A superpowered person like him had displayed his talent from the very beginning, gained the professor's attention, and also had to complete missions, accumulate experience, and pass through layers of evaluations before he could become one of the Seven Kings.
The Calamity was different. The professor had overridden all dissenting opinions and directly pushed her status above the Seven Kings.
No matter how much the Seven Kings respected the professor, having someone suddenly placed above their heads still caused dissatisfaction among them. The Red King was the same, and he had not taken the Calamity seriously.
She was merely a teenager, a child who understood nothing at all. Principles of superpowers, the theory of superpower power balance, thermodynamics, wilderness survival skills, combat skills... did she understand any of these?
Later on, the Red King found out that she didn't need to understand them.
"Lord Red King, is it possible that you misidentified her?" the Mind Master asked cautiously. After all, five years had already passed since the Calamity's defection. In other words, the Red King had seen the Calamity when she was at most eleven or twelve years old, and she would have long since changed her appearance.
This was questioning the Red King's authority, which on ordinary days would have provoked thunderous fury.
However, the Red King did not fly into a rage as the Mind Master had imagined, but instead sank into the memory of that defection and couldn't help trembling.
The defection of five years ago was the first and last time the Red King had seen her unleash her ability, and it was also when he finally understood why the professor had given her the codename "Calamity" and why her status was above the Seven Kings.
During that battle, the superpowered personnel of headquarters all turned out, and even the Seven Kings set aside their pride and prejudices to make rare moves.
Yet none of them were her match.
She stood high above, looking down upon all living things as if she were a deity.
The Red King gave a bitter laugh. "How could I misidentify her? Even if I couldn't remember her face, how could I forget those rebellious eyes?"
"My Lord, what should we do now then? Do we still want Humanity's Supreme Treasure?" The Mind Master and the Mighty Warrior realized that when they had sneaked into the school earlier, they had practically had one foot step into the gates of hell, and cold sweat poured down them.
Who could have guessed that the most dangerous person was not the Ghost King Zhenyue, but Zhou You's deskmate.
Clearly it was summer, and clearly he was standing right beside the Red King, yet he felt a sudden chill and shuddered just thinking about it.
"Humanity's Supreme Treasure?" Prompted by the Mind Master, the Red King suddenly remembered that his purpose for this trip was to deal with the Ghost King Zhenyue and obtain Humanity's Supreme Treasure.
The psychological shadow cast upon him by the Calamity was too great, causing him to almost forget the purpose of this trip.
"The Calamity, the Ghost King Zhenyue, Humanity's Supreme Treasure..." The Red King muttered repeatedly, gradually figuring something out.
"That's right, how could it be such a coincidence that the Calamity would appear together with the Ghost King Zhenyue? She came for Humanity's Supreme Treasure as well!"
"You mean, she knows Humanity's Supreme Treasure is here?" The Mighty Warrior was indignant and refused to believe the Red King's conjecture. The two of them had worked day and night to decipher the ancient texts, and that was how they found out the whereabouts of Humanity's Supreme Treasure. What right did the Calamity have to know?
The Red King narrowed his eyes. Just now, he had been too preoccupied with thinking about the Calamity and hadn't noticed these two people's attitude toward him.
"Are you questioning me?"
The Red Sun was released, and the surrounding space grew so scorching hot that it distorted. The Mighty Warrior's legs went weak, and he dropped to his knees with a thud as large beads of sweat dripped down his chin.
"I wouldn't dare."
The Red King gave a cold snort and reined in his ability.
"What is the Calamity's name?" the Red King asked.
"It seems to be Chu something..." The Mind Master racked his brains trying to think. During these past few days, their attention had constantly been on Zhou You and the Ghost King Zhenyue, and they hadn't paid any mind to Chu Xiaoyao.
She was merely someone who played well with Zhou You, so what did it matter?
"Such important intelligence and you didn't even go investigate it! What use do I have for you two!" The Red King raised his brows, a faint sign of him unleashing his ability once more.
"Yes, we'll go investigate her records right now." The Mind Master and the Mighty Warrior fled in a panic to gather Chu Xiaoyao's personal information.
Watching the wretched figures of the two leaving, the Red King inwardly cursed them as a pair of good-for-nothings. If he had known the Calamity was here, he wouldn't have come even if it were the professor's order.
"Wait." The Red King called out to stop the two of them.
"You are not allowed to spread the news that the Calamity is here. If I find out that even a tiny bit of the wind leaks, watch out for your little lives!"
The Mighty Warrior wanted to ask why, but the Mind Master hurriedly pressed down on his head and answered yes.
The Red King had his own considerations.
The Mind Master and the Mighty Warrior were not at headquarters; they had only heard fragments of rumors and didn't truly understand the impact the Calamity had on headquarters.
The reappearance of the Calamity-just this single piece of intelligence-had the power to shake people's hearts. If things got serious, it might even split headquarters apart.
You must know that after witnessing the might of the Calamity, the previous generation of the Seven Kings felt they could never reach that height in this lifetime, grew disheartened, and successively resigned and withdrew from the organization. Only he and another king had remained.
However, an issue as major as the Calamity was something the Red King didn't dare to conceal. Let the professor alone know about the matter of the Calamity.
Near evening, the Mind Master and the Mighty Warrior finally delivered the files.
The Red King frowned as he took the documents. Their speed was so slow that he couldn't even be bothered to scold these two anymore.
"Chu Xiaoyao... adopted, biological parents unknown... experiences before junior high unknown... after entering junior high, the person with the best relationship with her is Zhou You, the two of them from the first year of junior high all the way until now in the third year of senior high..."
"It seems that after leaving the organization, she was adopted by parents in Chang'an City, started attending junior high here, and got to know Zhou You."
The information matched the intelligence the Red King knew.
The Red King closed the files and let out a slight sigh toward the sky. "It really is her."
Actually, there had been a sliver of wishful thinking deep inside his heart, thinking that what if he had just had blurred vision and misidentified her? Then everything would be fine.
The files shattered his last shred of wishful thinking.
He dialed the professor's phone.
The phone rang a few times before the professor's indistinct voice came through: "Red King, have you arrived in Chang'an City?"
The Red King only then remembered that it was still the middle of the night on the professor's end and the professor was still sleeping.
However, with a major matter at hand, he couldn't afford to disturb the professor anymore.
"Professor, the Calamity has appeared."
A loud thud came from the other end of the line, and though it was unclear what had happened, it was followed by a long silence-so long that the Red King thought the professor had hung up the phone.
"Tell me in detail, what's the situation?" The professor's voice was steady and calm, no longer sounding hazy and half-asleep.
Yet the Red King sensed a trace of panic beneath the professor's calm voice.
He reported truthfully what he had witnessed at No. 2 Middle School, followed by another long wait while he waited for the professor to think.
Finally, the professor spoke: "The Calamity appearing at that school means she came to search for Humanity's Supreme Treasure; otherwise, there wouldn't be such a coincidence."
"Don't be rash just yet, though. She hasn't necessarily found Humanity's Supreme Treasure. I've looked up some information regarding the Ghost King Zhenyue here, and it differs somewhat from the white-robed female ghost you described, which means the female ghost you saw is not the protector of the Supreme Treasure."
"Stay there and continue observing to see if you can find any clues about the Supreme Treasure."
"Above all, remember not to let the Calamity discover you."
Before you continue