About twenty minutes later.
Shen Heng and Le Gu Nan arrived at the door of the ward carrying several large bags of food.
The door opened, but instead of the expected sound, there was only a muffled silence.
A voice filled with interest came first.
"Oh? Interesting. The hero and his teammates defeated the Demon King and returned with their spoils?"
Shen Heng glanced at Wei Leyang speechlessly, then carried the food inside.
"You're finally back!" Han Ling perked up a little and sat up in bed.
"Yeah, it's been so long, I'm starving!" Wu Cheng chimed in, though his voice sounded weak and listless.
"Who told you to order so many different things? It takes time to go from place to place!" Shen Heng said, carrying the food to Wu Cheng's bedside.
Le Gu Nan carried the food inside; she was responsible for serving breakfast to Wang Hai and Han Ling.
"Isn't that because you said you ate so much?" Wu Cheng said matter-of-factly.
"Let's not talk about that. How are you feeling?" Shen Heng took out the food and placed it on the cabinet next to Wu Cheng's bed.
"It's a little better than when you woke me up last night, but my head still hurts." Wu Cheng sat up in bed, feeling a bit tired.
"Where's the captain?" Shen Heng asked, looking at Wang Hai on the middle bed.
"My head hurts, and my body is trembling." Wang Hai leaned against the headboard, closing his eyes to rest.
Was the trembling caused by the burning sensation, or by enduring the prolonged pain?... Shen Heng was somewhat unsure.
"Should we ask headquarters to send someone to take a look?" Han Ling asked worriedly, looking at Wang Hai on the bed next to her.
His body was trembling; he was the only one among them who was like this.
"Not for now. If it's still like this in a few days, I'll contact you." Wang Hai slowly shook his head.
The food has been distributed.
Having already eaten, Shen Heng and Le Gu Nan sat on the bay window.
For the next few minutes, the only sound in the ward was the quiet sound of chewing.
As the warm soup was consumed, everyone's spirits were somewhat restored.
"By the way, Shen Heng," Han Ling suddenly spoke up, "How did you manage to hold on? Did you just grit your teeth and bear it?"
Upon hearing this, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over with curiosity.
They had all truly experienced that pain, and even now, thinking back on it, they still felt a deep sense of fear.
Even if they were to do it all over again now, they wouldn't dare say they could definitely pull it off.
As it turned out, Shen Heng actually survived the first time he faced it.
Is your willpower strong?
But he used to be just an ordinary high school student!
Shen Heng glanced at everyone, "It wasn't that I was stubbornly holding on; I used a little trick."
"A shortcut? You can take shortcuts in this kind of thing?" Wu Cheng asked, somewhat puzzled.
"Well, I told you before that when I first awakened my ability, I was constantly bothered by the sounds I heard, so I could only concentrate on what I was doing, right?" Shen Heng said.
Everyone nodded.
"So, at that time, as long as I fully activated my abilities and let the sound overwhelm my consciousness, the pain would also be submerged in that sea of sound," Shen Heng continued.
"You can do that?!" Han Ling exclaimed in surprise.
Everyone nodded silently upon hearing this; it was the first time they had ever heard of such a thing.
Wei Leyang seemed to have thought of something and looked at Shen Heng.
"I heard that someone else behind you cut Shadow Erosion into a human... a beast, and you could chop him up however you wanted on the ground?"
"Yes, but mainly because Shadow Erosion has no way to deal with my fighting style, and it knows I can't do anything about it, so that's why it did that," Shen Heng replied calmly.
"That's outrageous. A D-Class ability, yet you can fight such a Calamity Beast all by yourself? Why do I feel like you're more like the protagonist than me?" Wei Leyang rubbed his chin, somewhat annoyed.
"Sure enough, the Sound Wave Perception is too comprehensive. I wish I had that ability," Wu Cheng exclaimed.
"If I gave it to you, then this ability would really just become a reconnaissance ability." Han Ling rolled her eyes.
"That seems like a good idea. That way, I wouldn't have to go to the battlefield; I could just stay in the back," Wu Cheng said with a smile.
Everyone was speechless.
"By the way, Captain, we've brought over the surveillance footage from last night." Shen Heng looked at his captain.
"This..."
Han Ling looked at Wang Hai with some concern.
Wang Hai was silently eating his breakfast, looking rather listless.
"How about we write it again in a couple of days? The captain's in this state right now..."
This time, Wang Hai neither refused nor seconded the motion.
He pondered for a moment, then looked at Shen Heng.
" Shen Heng, you can help write it this time. It's perfect timing; you're the only one who was involved in the whole thing, so you know exactly what happened."
Shen Heng glanced at the captain's condition and nodded.
Two hours later, Shen Heng returned to the Linhai City Supervision Bureau.
He rarely went to the training room; instead, he sat in front of the computer.
A template for a task report was displayed before his eyes.
1. Event Overview
2. Calamity Beast Information
3. Action Process
4. Personnel Status
5. Results and...
It felt like he was back in his previous life, when he was working... Shen Heng looked at the template on his computer and tapped lightly on his desk with his finger.
Event overview, the earliest version...
Seafood market, testing, Martial Arts Association members attacked...
After finishing the idea in his mind, Shen Heng raised his fingers and began to type on the keyboard.
Capital, headquarters of the Supervision Bureau.
Zhao Yonggang sat at his desk, processing document after document.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the open door.
Zhao Yonggang glanced up at his secretary Lü Mingzhe, who was standing at the door.
"Come in."
"Minister, there's a file on a newly appeared Calamity Beast that needs your confirmation." Lü Mingzhe walked in with a document in his hand.
"The Heart Calamity Beast that I need to confirm?" Zhao Yonggang's heart sank.
What he needs to confirm is at least a Near-S-Class Calamity Beast.
When this type of Calamity Beast appears, unless there is an inspector in the area of higher rank than the Calamity Beast, it is quite normal for there to be casualties or even total annihilation.
"Hmm." Lü Mingzhe nodded and handed over the document.
"Where is it from?" Zhao Yonggang took the document.
" Linhai," Lü Mingzhe replied.
"Is this the Linhai had so many martial arts practitioners die a few days ago and was subsequently criticized in a public notice?" Zhao Yonggang frowned.
"Hmm." Lü Mingzhe nodded, then said:
"Speaking of which, this matter is also related to this Calamity Beast."
"Based on the description in the submitted task report."
"The reason so many martial artists died was because one of them colluded with the Calamity Beast Calamity Beast and lured it there, which led to the deaths of so many martial artists."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Yonggang, who had been roughly scanning the mission report, immediately stopped looking.
He suddenly looked up, his brows furrowed as he stared at Lü Mingzhe.
"You mean someone is colluding with the Calamity Beast?"