Mu Gongzi fell silent. He understood that Fang Ming's words were not without merit. The current head of the Liu family held the reins of the entire Liu clan, and finding the painter was merely a matter of time. In fact, the Liu family head could even slaughter all living beings in the world to force the painter's appearance!
"Think about it carefully." Fang Ming patted Mu Gongzi's shoulder and walked past him, returning to their original resting place.
"Director? You're back?" Suddenly, surprised voices from the members of the Evil Extermination Division rang out from another corner of the room. Fang Ming heard the sound and walked over, seeing Gu Cheng with a joyful expression.
"Brother Fang, you're here." Gu Cheng said with a smile.
"Brother Gu, why did I not see you just now?" Fang Ming asked in confusion.
"Alas, it seems I touched something, and was teleported to an empty room. I spent a lot of effort to find the mechanism to get back." Gu Cheng explained, "And I overheard the Liu family members next door in that room. It seems the search outside has ended."
"Oh?" Fang Ming was slightly surprised, marveled at the Liu family's various designs.
"Then can we go out now?" A member of the Evil Extermination Division exclaimed in delight.
"It should be possible. We can send two people out first to scout the situation," Gu Cheng suggested.
Mu Gongzi also walked over at this moment and heard Gu Cheng's words. His brow twitched almost imperceptibly. He knew his own rooms better than anyone; there was no mechanism capable of teleporting people out of here!
This Gu Cheng was lying!
However, he did not expose him. Instead, he smiled and approached Gu Cheng, saying, "I'll go take a look. If the Liu family is no longer searching, I'll bring you out."
"Thank you for your trouble, Young Master Liu." Gu Cheng quickly expressed his gratitude upon hearing this.
"It's just a small matter." Mu Gongzi waved his hand courteously, "I'll await your news."
After speaking, his form transformed into a fierce beast, though only the size of a pigeon. He flew out through the window.
"Fang Ming, Fang Ming." Nannan quietly tugged at Fang Ming's sleeve and whispered.
"What is it?" Fang Ming lowered his head and asked softly.
"Come with me." Nannan pulled Fang Ming and walked away. Fang Ming gave Gu Cheng an apologetic smile and followed Nannan, temporarily leaving the group.
Gu Cheng returned a smile, watching Fang Ming's retreating figure. The expression in his eyes involuntarily turned somber.
They arrived at a secluded spot. Nannan set up a barrier to isolate them from the outside world, and then said, "That Gu Cheng, there's a fluctuation of resentment within him."
"What?!" Fang Ming exclaimed in disbelief. "That's impossible! How could there be resentment fluctuations within him?"
"It's absolutely certain, it's resentment fluctuations, and it's hidden very subtly. I can only sense it vaguely. This means the source of the resentment within him is at least a Nether Fiend!"
"Nether Fiend..." Fang Ming's heart sank upon hearing this. There were only three known Nether Fiends in this world: Nannan, the Liu family head, and the painter. The painter was missing, and Nannan had been with him, so it could only be the Liu family head.
Combined with Gu Cheng's sudden disappearance, it was likely only the Liu family head who possessed such means!
"Don't alert them for now. We'll wait and see." Fang Ming instructed. He wanted to see what exactly the Liu family head was up to, to have even convinced Gu Cheng to betray humanity.
"Alright, Fang Ming." Nannan nodded obediently.
Half an hour later, Mu Gongzi, who had transformed into a monstrous bird, flew back from outside and reverted to his human form upon landing.
Everyone looked at him, awaiting his news.
"Two pieces of news," Mu Gongzi said.
"Isn't it one good and one bad?" Gu Cheng quipped.
Mu Gongzi smiled slightly, "Let's consider them both good news."
"Oh? Tell us." Fang Ming was curious.
"First, the search outside has ended, and we can leave here. Second, the Cloud Immortal Poetry Gathering will proceed as scheduled, and the rewards have been increased tenfold!"
"The Cloud Immortal Poetry Gathering will proceed as scheduled?" Everyone exchanged glances. It was widely known that the Cloud Immortal Poetry Gathering was hosted by Mu Gongzi. But now that Mu Gongzi had defected from the Liu family, why would the Liu family continue to host this purely money-consuming event?
Fang Ming understood some of the Liu family head's intentions. He wanted to continue using Mu Gongzi's methods, even increasing the stakes to attract more scholars to the Cloud Immortal Poetry Gathering, thereby attracting the painter!
After all, with the Liu family's strength, increasing the rewards tenfold, let alone a hundredfold, was a trivial matter. Moreover, after the Cloud Immortal Poetry Gathering concluded, the world would return to its cycle, and no amount of money spent would be considered a waste.
The Cloud Immortal Poetry Gathering was something Fang Ming had to attend!
"Let's leave here first. We'll discuss the specifics after we get out," Gu Cheng suggested.
"Okay, no problem." Everyone agreed. This was indeed not a place to linger.
Mu Gongzi conjured a strong gust of wind again. The members of the Evil Extermination Division, having learned from their first experience, ascended smoothly this time. Fang Ming followed closely, and soon they were back under the ancient tree outside the city.
As soon as they landed, Gu Cheng began deploying the members of the Evil Extermination Division for their next tasks.
"Team Sky, you will be responsible for monitoring the area around Cloud Immortal Lake. Team Earth will be responsible for surveilling the main Liu family establishments within the city. The remaining two teams will investigate for intelligence within the city. Report any abnormalities to me immediately. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Director." The members of the Evil Extermination Division took their orders and then dispersed in an orderly fashion.
After the members of the Evil Extermination Division left, only Gu Cheng, Mu Gongzi, and Fang Ming remained.
"We can't go back to the inn for now. We need to find a new place to stay," Fang Ming said. "Do either of you have any recommendations?"
"I have a place where we can temporarily hide," Mu Gongzi said. "It's a small courtyard I bought on a whim before. The Liu family doesn't know about it."
"Brother Gu, what do you think?" Fang Ming turned to ask Gu Cheng.
"Me? I have no issues. As long as you two feel safe." Gu Cheng smiled.
"Alright, then let's go to the place Young Master Liu mentioned. We'll hide there for now and attend the Cloud Immortal Poetry Gathering when it opens," Fang Ming finalized their plan. No one objected.
About fifteen minutes later, Mu Gongzi led them to a secluded small courtyard in the city. The surroundings were tranquil, with a small river flowing behind the courtyard. A patch of green bamboo was planted in the courtyard, along with a stone table and stone benches.
However, there were also many weeds growing, indicating it had been uninhabited for a long time.
"I've only been here twice. If you hadn't brought it up, I would have forgotten about this place," Mu Gongzi said apologetically. "I haven't maintained it. Please wait a moment."
With that, he raised his right hand, and a ball of strong wind condensed in his palm, emitting a sharp sonic boom.
"Break!" Mu Gongzi threw the ball of wind forward. Upon release, the wind ball immediately transformed into countless sharp blades, rampaging through the entire courtyard. Weeds were precisely cut down, and in a short while, all the overgrown weeds in the courtyard lay on the ground. Mu Gongzi waved his hand again, and a gentle breeze swept all the weeds together, condensing into a ball. With a strong grab, he formed a clump of grass and piled it in a corner.
The entire courtyard became clean and tidy within two minutes.
Gu Cheng watched in astonishment. As expected of an old fierce beast of the Liu family, his control over his talent was terrifying!
Fang Ming was also slightly surprised, but having seen fierce beasts of Nannan's caliber, Mu Gongzi's display was nothing more than a drizzle to him. What kind of grand scenes hadn't he witnessed?
"Let's go. We just need to clean up the inside. We can each choose a room to stay in for now," Mu Gongzi invited politely.
The group entered the courtyard and settled in. Fang Ming, still concerned about his bookboy, informed Mu Gongzi and Gu Cheng, and then left the courtyard with Nannan to head back to the inn.
Soon, Fang Ming and Nannan returned to the inn. He knocked on Xiao Nuan's door, found she wasn't there, and went to the front desk to inquire about her whereabouts.
"Innkeeper, have you seen the woman who was staying with me before?" Fang Ming asked the front desk.
The innkeeper remembered Fang Ming and knew he was asking about Xiao Nuan. After a moment of thought, he said, "She went out about two hours ago, probably to buy something. She hasn't returned yet, but she should be back soon. She leaves around this time for the past two days and returns in two or three hours."
"She goes out every day?" Fang Ming asked in confusion.
"Yes, she has been for the past two days," the innkeeper replied.
"Is that so..." Fang Ming was puzzled. Xiao Nuan shouldn't have any relatives or anything, so why would she go out for two or three hours every day? He checked the time. Xiao Nuan should be back soon, so he found an empty seat in the lobby and sat down, planning to go to the courtyard with Xiao Nuan once she returned.
...
Mine.
"The fully enclosed high-voltage power grid has been deployed."
"Ten thousand surveillance cameras have been installed."
"Security forces are in position."
"Special weapons have been inspected and are undamaged."
...
A group of soldiers in special combat uniforms gathered at the foot of the mine. The commander, holding a walkie-talkie, listened to the reports coming from the mountain.
There were about a thousand of these soldiers, and ten such teams surrounded the entire mine. This meant that H City had mobilized over ten thousand security personnel to encircle the mine!
The reason for this was that a few days ago, several strangely behaving humans had suddenly run down from the mine. They bit anyone they saw, their bodies were decaying, much like zombies in movies. Moreover, people bitten by them would become infected within a short period and turn into lunatics like them within three days!
When H City received the news, two villages at the foot of the mine had already fallen. One to two thousand "zombies" had instantly overwhelmed the local security forces, forcing them to notify the city. H City quickly dispatched a large number of security personnel, and it took them a day and a night to eliminate all the zombies.
Following the clues, they traced the origin to this mine, which had been sealed for several years. They immediately sent people to investigate the mine.
The investigation turned out to be a major discovery. The entire mine harbored at least hundreds of "zombie" primary infected. Professor Liu Chen, who researched resentful fiends, quickly determined after obtaining "zombie" samples that this was an infected entity of some kind of fiend, meaning there was a resentful fiend with very strange abilities in the mine!
Upon receiving this news, Mayor Huang immediately dispatched a large number of security forces to seal off the entire mine. At the same time, he ordered the security forces to carry Professor Liu's equipment, preparing to capture this resentful fiend.
"Report to the Commander-in-Chief, all preliminary work is complete. We can depart at any time!"
"Depart! Conduct a thorough search of the entire mine."
"Roger!" "Roger!"...