Chapter 125: Ji Cheng Has Not Returned

"There are some, though I wouldn't say they are particularly strange."

The butler bowed even lower. "It's just that he speaks less than he used to. As you know, the Speaker has only been back for a short time, and we haven't had much interaction with him."

Yao Lun was notorious for his grim and sinister personality. As an ordinary person, the butler felt visibly uneasy in his presence.

"I am aware of that," Yao Lun frowned, his eyes fixed deeply on the teacup in his hand, as if it contained something of great significance.

Seeing that he remained silent for a long time, the butler was about to offer further explanation when the Councilman suddenly spoke.

"What about a few months ago? Or half a year, a year, or two years ago?"

The butler raised his sweat-drenched head, his hair plastered to his forehead. He pondered for a moment. "If I had to say, ever since he returned from his long trip two years ago, he has refused to let us enter his room to clean."

"Two years ago?" Yao Lun stared at him.

"Yes."

...

The air was dim and heavy, filled with the constant sound of rain. Charcoal hissed as the surroundings were transformed into a sea of fire.

The exquisite manor and the winding landscaped paths had all been razed to the ground. Smoke and ash erupted from the earth toward the sky, and the exposed steel reinforcements within the ruins of the buildings reflected the flickering flames. A thick, twisted sheet of metal was embedded in the ground, also stained crimson by the firelight.

Suddenly, the metal sheet was kicked open with a thunderous bang, as if struck by a powerful force from below.

The flying metal crashed heavily against a nearby wall, sending dust and debris cascading down.

Ji Cheng crawled out from the destroyed elevator shaft and returned to the surface.

His face remained calm and his body moved silently, but his eyes swept rapidly across the environment.

The nearby surface buildings had all been leveled. There wasn't a single intact structure left; everywhere was engulfed in flames, a vast, raging fire.

Black, radioactive raindrops drizzled down, blanketing the entire Emerald District, yet they failed to extinguish the inferno.

"A clean sweep, indeed," Ji Cheng remarked to himself.

This was to be expected. Although Shana and her companion claimed the power of these nuclear warheads was dispersed and neutralized, leveling an area of over ten kilometers was still effortless.

He glanced toward the ruins on the other side, the building Yao Lun had entered earlier.

"Old Yao must still be hunkered down below."

Whether by common knowledge or records in the local database, even for an Awakened, it would take nearly a day to emerge after a nuclear blast.

Ji Cheng took a few cautious steps. Although he hadn't gone far, his shoes were already caked with black mud and charcoal ash, making it feel as though he were walking through a paddy field.

"Time to slip away, time to slip away."

...

A fierce wind slammed against the glass beyond the window shutters, tossing the ring-blade flag—the symbol of the South Port city-state—that hung outside. Leaves danced through the streets, chasing the charcoal ash.

In the pitch-black darkness, Luo Rao lay in the best room of the tactical command center, unable to sleep. She fumbled for the remote control, and the heavily fortified window shutters slid open, letting a sliver of faint light trickle in from outside.

"Ah Cheng has been gone for three days, yet he still hasn't returned."

Luo Rao tossed and turned in her bedding, the sofa beneath her creaking incessantly.

"Councilman Huang said he might be tied up by mutated beasts, but that’s obviously just an excuse."

Perhaps there were many mutated beasts on the road back from the Council Building, but that didn't change one fact: Ji Cheng was a formidable Tier 2 Awakened.

So far, no Gate-level mutated beasts capable of threatening a Tier 2 Awakened had been discovered in the city. If someone claimed Ji Cheng had been delayed by insects or Gray-Canister Hounds, Luo Rao would never believe it.

He could not have met with an accident because of mutated beasts, and he certainly wouldn't get lost.

So, what exactly was going on? Did it have to do with Yao Lun?

Did Ah Cheng go to kill him?

Luo Rao sat up on the sofa-bed, curling into a ball with her arms wrapped around her legs and her chin resting on her knees.

Just yesterday at noon, Councilman Huang had returned with the heavily injured Councilman Zhou.

As for Lu Shangbai, Qiu Ding, Yao Lun, and Ji Cheng—the four of them had yet to return.

Those Awakened seemed to know something, but they remained tight-lipped around her.

At most, they would offer a dismissive, "Don't worry, it's fine."

But judging by their expressions, it was anything but fine.

As for the nuclear explosion, the Awakened’s explanation was that it was to clear out mutated beasts.

That, at least, she was more inclined to believe.

"The Council Building where Ah Cheng went is to the southwest, while the Emerald District where the explosion occurred is in the southeast. It couldn't possibly have hit him, right?"

"Sigh, I miss Ah Cheng so much..."

Clatter.

Luo Rao pulled open the glass behind the shutters.

The sky was gloomy, and the silhouettes of birds circled in the distance; the nearby streets were a scene of utter chaos.

Vaguely, she felt as though she could hear a long, indistinct wailing, mixed with a bizarre and incomprehensible melody.

Then, the gale rushed in.

She closed the window again, fished a popsicle from the room's refrigerator, and stuffed the whole thing into her mouth.

...

It was only four-thirty in the morning, but the lights were already blazing in the somewhat cramped room.

Chen Qian, dressed in her uniform skirt and high heels, logged out of the local database and shut down her wrist-mounted computer. She loosened her hair clip, gave a gentle shake, and her soft, black hair cascaded down.

Her fingers massaged the bridge of her nose, followed by a full three minutes of silence.

She knew Ji Cheng planned to use a nuclear warhead on Yao Lun, but she didn't know why Ji Cheng hadn't returned yet.

Had he encountered danger, or was he delayed by something?

She walked to the window and cracked the shutter open just a sliver. The light from the room swept over her shoulders, spilling onto the street and bathing the few remaining brick storefronts in a pale glow, casting undulating shadows.

Further away lay piles of mutated animal carcasses, their broken teeth bared, their hollow eye sockets staring into the void.

Chen Qian was not as confident as Luo Rao. Ever since the South Port New City was breached, the burden on her heart had grown with each passing day.

The situation of her parents, friends, and colleagues was clearly far from optimistic; crossing out their names would hardly be considered offensive.

She had already cried several times because of this.

And Ji Cheng's situation only added to her burning anxiety.

"Could the boss have gone to the Emerald District..."

Chen Qian's professional expertise and capability were beyond doubt. Compared to those Awakened whose brawn outweighed their brains, she understood Ji Cheng better than anyone.

"He was so confident in setting the nuclear launch time for exactly eight o'clock in the morning; he must have had a way to slow Yao Lun down."

"And now that communication is down, what other way could there be besides going to intercept Yao Lun himself?"

Considering the possibilities, Chen Qian didn't even want to use an honorific for the Councilman, Yao Lun.

For the past few days, she had been relentlessly scouring the computer's stored knowledge on nuclear explosions, studying maps of the Emerald District, and calculating routes, attempting to reconstruct Ji Cheng's plan—though she would never guess just how adept Ji Cheng was at manipulating the data ether.

By now, she had gone without sleep for over twenty consecutive hours.