Inside the surveillance room of the district administration building.
Black Crow, his head wrapped in bandages and his face covered in wounds, was watching playback footage from the various exits.
"Stop!"
He ordered the surveillance staff to pause the playback.
The footage stopped at the previous evening, when Qin Xun and Xu Chao had entered the city.
"They entered the city yesterday afternoon? They were pretty fast. I have to say, if I hadn't ended up in Zone 96 by sheer coincidence, they really would have gotten away."
The noblewoman sat nearby with a cat in her arms. "Who exactly is this Qin Xun you're looking for?"
"The higher-ups only gave us orders, not a reason. But according to the information I saw in Zone 108, he seems to be Qin Ashui's younger brother. Maybe they want to capture him and use him to threaten Qin Ashui."
"Qin Ashui? Who is Qin Ashui?"
"A Shui, Hunter's second-in-command. We only recently learned that his real name was Qin Ashui!"
A glint flashed in the noblewoman's eyes. "I remember now. I met him in Zone 96 before. I even gave him a chance to become the Guard Team's commander-in-chief, but he turned me down."
"Fast-forward all the footage!" Black Crow continued issuing orders.
The surveillance footage sped forward at maximum speed.
Ordinary people couldn't make it out with the naked eye, but Black Crow seemed able to see it clearly.
His eyes darted rapidly between the surveillance feeds.
Two minutes later, he called for them to stop again!
The footage stopped on Qin Xun carrying Qin Ling out of the city on his back the previous night.
Smoker, Glasses, and Song Jie were with them!
"Has that brat already left the city?" Black Crow narrowed his eyes.
The noblewoman stroked the cat in her arms. "If you need them, I can assign two hundred Guard Team members to accompany you outside the zone and help you search. But they must return within three days at most."
"No need. Forget two hundred Guard Team members-even if you gave me eight hundred, it still wouldn't be nearly enough. It's been a full night since they left the city. Even if they ran, they'd already be far from Zone 96. If they drove without stopping, they might have reached Zone 106 by now."
"Then what do you plan to do?"
"That dog owner is still in the city and hasn't been caught. They're in the same group. As long as we catch him, we can definitely force Qin Xun's whereabouts out of him."
"Didn't you catch an accomplice last night? Couldn't you get it out of him?"
"We questioned him for a long time and got nothing. I reckon he doesn't know, but I'm certain this dog owner knows where Qin Xun went!"
Black Crow looked at the noblewoman as he spoke. "District Chief Zhang, I hope you'll hand command of the Guard Team over to me. One day will be enough!"
The reason Qin Xun and the others had gotten away in Zone 108 two days ago was that he hadn't had command of the Guard Team.
If he had been able to take full command of the Guard Team then, he might have caught them that very night!
This time, he absolutely couldn't let this dog owner get away again!
"There's no precedent for handing over command of the Guard Team, but we'll cooperate with you fully!"
"All right. First, assign half the Guard Team to stand guard outside the noble district. No one is to enter without authorization!"
The noblewoman looked at Black Crow in puzzlement. "Why do that?"
"I'm doing this to ensure the nobles' safety!" Having suffered a setback like that once, Black Crow didn't want to suffer a second one.
The noblewoman was surprised. "Captain Black Crow, I didn't expect you to care so much about the safety of Zone 96's nobles. I thank you on their behalf."
"No need to thank me. As a fellow noble, I should look out for the other nobles too."
"And then?"
"Guard every exit. Ideally, don't let a single person leave the city. Deploy every remaining available force to conduct a carpet search of the civilian district! Increase the reward: anyone who provides a lead gets one million magic coins. The Dark Pavilion will pay for it!"
Unlike at night.
The civilian district bustled with life during the day. As far as the eye could see, the streets were packed with crowds.
To make a living, the civilians could only work hard during the day.
Before it was even light, some vendors had already set up stalls by the roadside.
There were also people carrying briefcases on the streets. Most of them worked at companies run by nobles.
Like the Killing Arena.
Or at factories run by nobles.
Besides those, there were jobs in district administration departments, helping nobles handle certain civilian affairs.
Things like marriage and divorce, household registration transfers, civil disputes...
The most sought-after profession was medicine. In the Fallen Zone, injuries and illness were common.
Gangs of a dozen or so young and middle-aged men were a common sight on the streets, each armed with a weapon. They made their living by leaving the city to hunt monsters in the Misty Forest outside.
Many monsters had great practical value.
Some could be eaten, some used to make medicine, and others made into clothing and various tools.
In the Fallen Zone, this was also a fairly sought-after profession.
But the risks were enormous. If they accidentally ran into a powerful monster, they might all end up dead out there.
Other civilians were selected to work on farms, helping grow crops and raise various kinds of livestock.
Those who were a little luckier, or had paid to grease the right palms, could be assigned to work in factories producing all kinds of daily necessities!
The main attractions were good benefits and easy work.
Those with very good luck, the right connections, and decent looks had a chance to work in the noble district.
It had everything: high-end restaurants, high-end entertainment venues, cinemas, swimming pools, amusement parks!
Of course, the civilian district had these places too. They had to give the civilians some hope in life, didn't they?
Otherwise, if all the civilians died, there would be no one left to serve the nobles.
But its facilities were much more basic than those in the noble district.
Qin Xun's parents had previously worked in the noble district.
Since his mother could paint, she worked as a private tutor for a noble family's children.
The family was often generous enough to give them the leftovers they couldn't finish.
His father, having greased the right palms, worked as a kitchen assistant at a restaurant.
The food he brought home every day was plentiful too.
Since Qin Ashui's parents had died young, he had effectively been raised by Qin Xun's parents as well.
Qin Xun was eight when his parents died.
Qin Ling was not yet two.
From then on, Qin Ashui had looked after them.
With Qin Ashui taking care of the siblings, Qin Xun had time to attend school in the civilian district.
Then, when Qin Xun was twelve, Qin Ashui disappeared.
To keep making a living, Qin Xun went to work at a restaurant in the civilian district. A-Liang had introduced him to the job.
His daily tasks were washing dishes and cleaning.
Fortunately, the owner was a genuinely good person and allowed Qin Xun to bring Qin Ling along while he worked.
He felt so sorry for them that he even invited them to sit at the same table and eat with him.
Besides those jobs, there were many other things people could do in the Fallen Zone.
To stay alive, civilians could always rack their brains and come up with all sorts of ways to make money.
Those who truly had no way to work could only rely on relief from the district government, living one day at a time.