What? Li Qingshan?

Patrol Bureau staff in uniforms filed out of the stairwell and poured into the lobby.

Li Qingshan glanced at the mech hovering in midair. It remained motionless, showing no sign of replying.

"So aloof?"

Li Qingshan had no choice but to give up on trying to build rapport. He obediently followed the staff back down to the ground.

Along the way, he laid out every detail exactly as it happened.

Of course, the middle-aged man in the suit was excluded.

The staff didn't ask many questions, just recorded everything verbatim and told him they'd contact him if needed, adding that once the information was verified, a reward would be deposited into his account.

Back in the parking lot, as soon as Li Qingshan stepped out of the stairwell, Little Fatty rushed toward him with open arms, excited.

"Coach, are you okay?"

Li Qingshan extended a single finger, pressing it against Cao Shaoyu's forehead, and said with slight disdain:

"Don't you always go on about being a real man? What's with all this hugging and clinging?"

"Uh... I was just worried."

Cao Shaoyu stopped awkwardly, rubbing his chubby hands together.

Not far away, Cheng An was grimacing as he honestly answered a surveyor's questions.

When he spotted Li Qingshan, his eyes lit up. He immediately jogged over and complained:

"Boss, your colleague doesn't play fair. I've already confessed everything about tonight, but he still wants to dig up my past..."

"Ahem!" Li Qingshan coughed twice, glanced at the staff member nearby, straightened his expression, and waved a hand:

"Cooperate fully, and I'll make sure you're fine!"

"Thanks, boss!"

Cheng An's face lit up with joy, and he ran back.

Li Qingshan turned to look at the staff member beside him, who was staring with a strange expression. His demeanor unchanged, he said:

"Desperate times call for desperate measures. I asked him for a lot of help earlier, otherwise it wouldn't have been so easy to uncover the Evil God Cultist's plot, stop the Sacrifice, and save the people from disaster..."

"Got it, got it. I'll handle it right away."

The staff member, looking constipated, quickly cut him off and turned to deal with Cheng An's situation.

Compared to the merits Li Qingshan was claiming, impersonating the Patrol Bureau was nothing. Letting a Chip Runner like Cheng An off the hook was no big deal.

"Coach, my dad's about to arrive. He wants to see you," Cao Shaoyu said from beside him.

"Your dad?" Li Qingshan raised an eyebrow, surprised. "Aren't your parents not coming until tomorrow?"

Cao Shaoyu grimaced and muttered, "My dad somehow got wind of it. As soon as I got up here, I received a call from him."

That fast?

Li Qingshan's mind raced, quickly figuring out the source of Cao Shaoyu's father's information.

The Patrol Bureau!

There had been no leaks about the Silver Glow Hotel incident before. Cao Shaoyu's father couldn't have foreseen that his son would be in danger here.

And the timing of his call to Cao Shaoyu was right after Li Qingshan had sent the tip-off to Wan Keshan.

That meant Cao Shaoyu's father not only knew about the Patrol Bureau's tip-off immediately but had also found out his son was at the Silver Glow Hotel.

Shit! That's some serious background!

Li Qingshan sucked in a sharp breath. Looking at the clueless Little Fatty in front of him, he couldn't help reaching out and ruffling his head.

Before learning the Mizong Step, this kid with his impressive background had been getting beaten up at school every day.

But soon, another question occurred to Li Qingshan.

Cao Shaoyu's father was in the provincial capital, Wu Yi City, a good five hundred kilometers from Luoying.

Even if he got the news instantly, it had only been about twenty minutes.

Twenty minutes, five hundred kilometers? What kind of car could go that fast?

A sonic boom tore through the air, breaking Li Qingshan's train of thought. He looked up, puzzled.

A dark silhouette, trailing layers of airwaves, shot across the night sky from afar.

In just a few seconds, the silhouette reached the sky above the Silver Glow Hotel and came to an abrupt halt.

Between extreme motion and stillness, it seemed to have no inertia at all.

The dark figure slowly descended, revealing a sleek, sci-fi body.

"My dad's here!" Cao Shaoyu waved excitedly. Li Qingshan snapped back to reality and spat out two words flatly.

"Too small."

"This car is small?" Cao Shaoyu looked back in confusion, puzzled.

"Coach, I've ridden in this car before. The space inside is huge."

"I'm not saying the car is small—I'm saying my vision was small."

Li Qingshan watched the descending Hovercar and couldn't help messing up Little Fatty's hair again.

A four-wheeled car couldn't go that fast, but a wheel-less flying car could!

Being able to use a Hovercar in the Old Continent truly lived up to the phrase "shocking background."

The Hovercar was right overhead, and the people on the ground instinctively cleared a ten-meter-square "parking spot."

Soon, the Hovercar landed, and the door opened.

A massive fat man, about two meters tall with a waistline nearly as wide, jumped out of the car.

The ground trembled slightly, and the fat around his waist jiggled, but the big man's expression was calm, as if it took no effort at all.

"Dad!" Cao Shaoyu pulled Li Qingshan forward.

"I brought Coach Li."

"Brat!" The big man first glared at his son, then turned to look at Li Qingshan, beaming.

"Coach Li, I'm Cao Ya, this brat's father. I was planning to thank you in person tomorrow, but tonight's a lucky coincidence."

Li Qingshan carefully studied Cao Ya's smiling face. After confirming he wasn't here to pick a fight, he took the initiative.

"Mr. Cao, you're too kind. Tonight was my fault—I shouldn't have brought him here."

"Coach Li, no need to cover for this brat!" Cao Ya waved his hand and slapped the back of his son's head.

"I've already looked into it. This brat's been sniffing around for news about Silver Glow Hotel lately."

"Good thing Coach Li came along today, or who knows what might've happened!"

Tears welled up from the pain, and Cao Shaoyu looked aggrieved.

"Dad! How can you blame me? Who knew a fighting ring could have Evil God Cultists mixed in?"

"I'll deal with you when we get home tonight!"

Cao Ya shot him a glare, then turned back to Li Qingshan, gesturing sideways in invitation.

"Coach Li, it's hard to get a cab around here. How about taking my car back? We can talk on the way?"

"Then I'll trouble you."

Li Qingshan went along with it, stepping into the Hovercar with curiosity.

There was no driver inside, not even a driver's seat—it seemed entirely controlled by AI.

In the spacious cabin, a circular sofa lined the walls, and behind the sofa's backrest were fully transparent portholes.

Cao Ya brought his son aboard, asked for Li Qingshan's address, made a quick setting on his Communicator, and the Hovercar slowly rose.

Li Qingshan sat on the sofa, looking down through the porthole as the crowd below gradually shrank.

Suddenly, a streak of Crimson Light caught his attention.

The Crimson Light flew from afar toward Silver Glow Hotel. Though it didn't break the sound barrier, it was still fast.

Stranger still, the red light wasn't particularly blinding, but Li Qingshan's eyes couldn't stop stinging, as if he were staring straight at the sun.

As the red light neared the parking lot, the shape within it grew clearer.

Li Qingshan forced himself to endure the discomfort, squinting as he looked down.

The red light was swift—in the blink of an eye, it plunged into the large hole left by the Cold Moon Flying Shuttle.

But in that fleeting glance, Li Qingshan saw it clearly.

It wasn't a mech or any other technological construct. At the center of the red light was only a burly figure.

And what's more, Li Qingshan recognized him.

"Teacher Wan?"

On the third basement level, the surviving spectators had all been carried out, and the remaining staff were combing through clues.

The Silver Mech still hovered in midair, holding the scene.

Suddenly, a burly figure dropped through the hole in the ceiling and slammed heavily onto the floor.

Ash billowed up, swirling around the newcomer.

"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey! These Evil God scumbags still stink to high heaven!"

Wan Keshan waved his arms vigorously, fanning away the dust.

Then, he froze, his nose twitching as he sniffed hard.

"No, this doesn't smell right!"

Wan Keshan's gaze cut like lightning, locking onto the center of the hall.

The arena-turned-lava had already darkened to a deep red, its surface coated in a layer of dark ash.

Wan Keshan's figure flickered, appearing beside the lava. He scooped up a bit of ash with his bare hand, magma sliding off his fingers without even burning his skin.

He rubbed the ash between his fingers, brought it to his nose, and sniffed lightly, his brow gradually furrowing.

"An Evil God Projection?"

"Just a half-finished one." Yu Man drifted down from midair and landed beside Wan Keshan.

"The Evil God Cultists orchestrated this Sacrifice, with over a thousand victims. If they'd succeeded in completing it, they might have actually summoned a Flesh Demon God projection."

An Evil God Projection carried a sliver of the Evil God's will—it was on a completely different level from the half-finished product before them.

If a real Evil God Projection had been summoned, not to mention whether she and Wan Keshan could win, even the shockwaves from the battle alone would be enough to destroy several city blocks, causing countless casualties.

"Heh, good thing your Uncle here is clever, getting you to come over first and disrupt the Sacrifice ahead of time."

Wan Keshan pinched his chin, grinning smugly, then turned to look around.

"Where's Li Qingshan?"

"He's already left. Actually..."

Before Yu Man could finish, Wan Keshan's laughter cut her off.

"Hahaha, I knew it. With that kid's sharp instincts, he'd have bolted long ago."

Wan Keshan laughed heartily, but deep down, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He'd received word earlier and hadn't dared to make contact, afraid that Li Qingshan might be in danger.

When he saw so many survivors outside earlier but no sign of Li Qingshan, his heart had been in his throat.

Good thing he could finally relax now.

"Uncle, Li Qingshan was the last one to leave."

The mech's face was expressionless, but Yu Man's voice carried a note of helplessness.

"What do you mean?" Wan Keshan froze.

"I killed this half-finished product, but the one who disrupted the Sacrifice wasn't me—it was Li Qingshan!"

"What? Li Qingshan?"