Su Qianxue's gaze sharpened.
"What do you mean by that?"
Zhao Cheng smiled. Rather than answer directly, he said, "The young master already knows about that young man named Lin Jin. He isn't angry. He just feels that you should know where to draw the line, Miss Su."
Su Qianxue shot to her feet, her face livid.
"You investigated me?"
"It wasn't an investigation. The young master cares about you." Zhao Cheng's tone remained calm. "You're his fiancée, Miss Su. Naturally, he takes your safety seriously."
"That Lin Jin's background is unknown, and he suddenly appeared at your side. It's only reasonable for the young master to send someone to look into him."
Su Qianxue took a deep breath, struggling to suppress her anger.
"Lin Jin and I are just friends. He's just an ordinary awakener who helped us handle a few supernatural incidents. That's all."
"Is that so?" Zhao Cheng gave her a meaningful look. "Good, then. That's what the young master thought too, so he didn't say much. It's just..."
He paused, a faint hint of warning creeping into his tone.
"The young master hopes you'll remain nothing more than friends. After all, you're the future young mistress of the Zhao Clan, Miss Su. If word got out that you were too close to another man, it wouldn't reflect well on either family."
Su Qianxue trembled with anger.
Staring at Zhao Cheng, she said, stressing every word, "Who I, Su Qianxue, choose to associate with is my own business. The Zhao Clan has no right to tell me what to do."
Zhao Cheng wasn't angry. He merely smiled faintly.
"Don't misunderstand, Miss Su. This is only a friendly reminder. The young master said he trusts you to know where to draw the line." He picked up the sandalwood box again and placed it in front of Su Qianxue.
"The young master still hopes you'll accept this hairpin. If you don't like it, you can throw it away, but he still hopes you'll understand his feelings."
With that, he bowed slightly.
"Now that I've delivered both the gift and the message, I won't disturb your work any longer, Miss Su. Goodbye."
He turned and walked toward the door.
At the doorway, he stopped and glanced back at Su Qianxue.
"Oh, and the young master also said he might visit Jiangcheng in a while to see the situation here for himself. He hopes to meet with you then, Miss Su."
With that, he opened the door and left.
Su Qianxue was left alone in the reception room.
She stood where she was, looking at the sandalwood box on the coffee table, her expression shifting.
After a long time, she slowly sat down and stared at the jade hairpin, complex emotions flashing through her eyes.
There was anger, resentment, helplessness, and a trace of profound exhaustion.
She picked up her phone and found Lin Jin's number. Her finger hovered over the screen as she hesitated for a long time.
In the end, she put it down.
She didn't know what to say.
Warn him to be careful of the Zhao Clan?
With his personality, he wouldn't take it to heart even if I warned him.
Perhaps the Zhao Clan had already contacted Lin Jin before coming to see me.
She leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes, and let out a long sigh.
Su Qianxue sat in the reception room for a long time.
She looked at the sandalwood box on the table.
At last, she reached out and closed the lid.
Then she stood and left the reception room.
"Chen Mo." She stopped her deputy as he passed by.
Chen Mo hurried over. "Team leader?"
"Put this away for me." She handed over the box. "Put it in the cabinet in my office and lock it up."
Chen Mo took the box, a little curious, but had the sense not to ask any questions.
Watching Chen Mo walk away, Su Qianxue took a deep breath and buried those complicated emotions deep inside.
Zhao Ming was coming to Jiangcheng.
Those words lodged in her heart like a thorn.
But she had no time to think about that now.
Reports were still piled on her desk, new abnormal energy fluctuations had been detected in the eastern part of the city, and the Paranormal Bureau was already running short of personnel.
She sat back down at her desk, opened a file, and forced herself to focus on work.
Meanwhile, on Azure Glow Mountain.
The setting sun dyed the entire mountain forest gold and red.
Zhou Yan crouched behind a rock, craning his neck to peer ahead.
"Captain Chen, are you sure it's this way?"
Chen Feng stood beside him, holding a detector whose needle trembled slightly.
"The energy fluctuations are coming from up ahead." He frowned. "And they're strong. At least C-rank or higher."
Zhou Yan swallowed. "It's not like we haven't fought C-ranks before. What's there to be afraid of?"
"The problem is, these fluctuations are erratic. They don't seem like a supernatural entity. More like..." Chen Feng paused. "A demonic beast."
"A demonic beast?" Zhou Yan's eyes lit up. "The kind you can catch and keep as a pet?"
Chen Feng glanced at him. "To keep one as a pet, you have to be able to beat it first."
Zhou Yan chuckled awkwardly.
Since awakening, he had handled several supernatural incidents with the squad and received guidance from Little Lin. He had advanced from the initial phase of the awakening stage to the divine knowledge initial stage, and his confidence had grown considerably along with it.
But a demonic beast...
He really had never seen one before.
"Let's go. Be careful." Chen Feng gestured and handed the detector to Liu Yang. "Liu Yang, keep your senses fully extended. Li Tong, Sun Hao, watch the flanks. Zhou Yan, stay in the middle with me, ready to provide support at any moment."
The five of them crept silently deeper into the mountain forest.
The farther they went, the clearer and stronger the energy fluctuations became.
The detector's needle in Liu Yang's hand jerked wildly, already past the red zone.
"Captain Chen..." His face pale, he lowered his voice. "Something's wrong with these energy fluctuations."
"What rank?"
"At least... at least A-rank."
Everyone stopped in their tracks.
A-rank?!
"A-rank? Wouldn't we just be serving ourselves up to it?" Zhou Yan's eyes widened. "Captain Chen, how about we retreat?"
Chen Feng gritted his teeth and hesitated for a second.
Just then, a low roar came from ahead.
It shook leaves loose from the trees.
Immediately afterward, a massive figure slowly emerged from the woods.
It was a silver-white giant tiger, over four meters long, its body covered in dark blue lightning patterns. A sharp horn rose from its forehead, and its tail forked like lightning, tiny arcs of electricity dancing along it.
Its amber eyes stared down at them.
Zhou Yan's legs went weak, and he nearly dropped to his knees.
"Holy shit... that tiger is huge!"
The Saber-toothed Thunder Tiger looked at the feeble humans before him, a trace of mockery flashing in his eyes.
His master was human too. Killing them would probably displease his master.
But not killing them didn't mean he couldn't scare them.
"Humans," he said, his voice rough and deep. "You've trespassed on my territory."
Chen Feng took a deep breath, struggling to remain calm.
"We... we're from the Paranormal Bureau. We meant no offense. We just detected energy fluctuations and came to take a look. We're leaving now. We're leaving."
As he spoke, he slowly backed away.
The Saber-toothed Thunder Tiger tilted his head, a teasing glint flashing in his eyes.
"Leave? Do you think you can come and go from my territory as you please?"
He stepped forward, each footfall making the ground tremble slightly.
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