Chapter 163: At the Center of the Storm

"Everyone, clear back immediately!" a law enforcer shouted, watching Chen Ling with extreme vigilance. He turned to warn the crowd, "This man is a heinous criminal! He's a heretic who infiltrated the law enforcement system! Be careful, he might lash out and hurt someone!"

Hearing this, the expressions of Aurora City's residents instantly changed. They swiftly retreated, their eyes filled with fear and terror as they looked at Chen Ling.

Watching the retreating crowd, Chen Ling's expression remained as calm as still water. His gaze swept over the people, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

"Over a thousand people, huh... What an unexpected bonus."

Before entering the city, Chen Ling had worried that with only law enforcers and officials behind the city walls, they might not gather a "spectator" crowd of a hundred. Now, it seemed his worries were completely groundless; the civilians and law enforcers surrounding him totaled at least a thousand people.

Seeing Chen Ling not only not refute the accusation but instead show a smile, an indescribable sense of eeriness immediately arose in everyone's hearts. It was like a serial killer smiling at the crowd after their identity had been publicly exposed, a truly chilling sight.

"Officer, is there... is there some misunderstanding?" asked the residents from District Three, whom Chen Ling had brought into Aurora City, their eyes full of bewilderment as they stood beside the train.

"How could Officer Chen be a criminal? He saved our lives!"

"That's right... Without Officer Chen, we would have frozen to death on the ice plains long ago..."

"Officer Chen is the best law enforcement officer I've ever seen, and the only one who didn't abandon us... How could he possibly be a heretic?!"

"Impossible! Officer Chen can't be a bad person! You must be mistaken!!"

"Yes, Brother Chen Ling isn't a bad person!!"

The voices of the District Three residents grew louder and louder. They frowned at the law enforcers in front of them, refuting them one after another, their tone filled with unprecedented conviction!

"Foolish!" the law enforcer shouted again in anger, seeing this.

"You've all been deceived by him, and you're defending him?! He saved you only to use you to coerce Aurora City into opening its gates! From beginning to end, you were nothing but his hostages!! Do you understand?!

"This man killed all his companions in the Ancient Military Archive and stole the Dao Core fragments! He's a heretic disguised as a law enforcement officer! And you still believe him?!"

The District Three residents were stunned.

But the next moment, Xu Chongguo spoke up angrily:

"I don't care if he's a heretic or not! Even if he used us, he truly brought us into Aurora City! We're alive because of him! He's more like a law enforcement officer than you officials who abandoned the Seven Districts!"

"Exactly!! When the disaster struck, those law enforcers ran away, and they even killed my father!! Now Officer Chen saved me! And brought us alive into Aurora City! How can he be a heretic?!"

"When Officer Chen was fighting the calamity for us, where were the real law enforcement officers?! What right do you hypocrites, hiding behind the walls, have to speak ill of him!"

"Officer Chen is not a heretic!!"

"Officer Chen is not a heretic!!!"

Xu Chongguo's words galvanized the crowd. They were originally the group abandoned by Aurora City, and now their anger was thoroughly ignited by this inexplicable slander. All the rage and hatred suppressed in their hearts poured out, with Chen Ling as the catalyst!

At this moment, the onlookers from Aurora City were somewhat dazed. They looked blankly at the calm, silent figure in blood-stained clothes standing on the front of the train, unsure for a moment whose words were true.

They couldn't define Chen Ling, nor could they label him as good or bad in their minds. That figure was like an unknown enigma.

In the crowd, Wen Shilin also looked thoughtfully at Chen Ling.

His pen rapidly scribbled, clearly recording every word spoken by both sides. Flashbulbs flared, and his assistant had already immortalized Chen Ling's image on film.

"This is impossible." Han Meng, bound in shackles, immediately shook his head upon seeing this. "Chen Ling couldn't be a heretic."

"Han Meng, you're the chief law enforcement officer of District Three. A heretic lived right under your nose, and you truly didn't notice anything?" A Five-Mark law enforcer sneered. "He's the culprit responsible for the complete annihilation in the Ancient Military Archive. If we hadn't captured a survivor from the archive and performed soul-shattering evidence retrieval, he almost would have slipped away..."

Hearing this, Han Meng's body trembled slightly.

"What's more, we also found evidence in Xi Renjie's soul: this Chen Ling has strange abilities. He can not only change his face but also use illusions to create tricks, and he feeds on calamity... Given all this, is he still not a heretic?"

"What did you say??"

Han Meng suddenly looked up. A mysterious red-robed figure that appeared when he was gravely injured in the Gray Realm flashed through his mind. Before this, Chen Ling had also mentioned the Twilight Society to him. Clues connected one by one in Han Meng's mind, all seemingly confirming his identity.

Han Meng stared blankly at the familiar figure on the front of the train, gradually overlapping with the scarlet opera robe from his memories.

The dispute between District Three and the law enforcers continued unabated, while Chen Ling, the subject of the commotion, listened quietly, as if everything they were arguing about had nothing to do with him.

As two other Five-Mark law enforcers approached, the law enforcers surrounding the train parted to form a path. The two stood before the train, their gazes cold as they looked at Chen Ling, and slowly spoke:

"Heretic Chen Ling, we were wondering how to capture you from outside the city, but you've delivered yourself to us. Since that's the case, come with us."

"Go?" Chen Ling slowly asked. "Where?"

The Five-Mark law enforcer looked at him and answered word by word, "Soul-shattering evidence retrieval!"

"Chen Ling, we know you have many tricks, but now that you've entered Aurora City, even if you have extraordinary abilities, don't think of escaping. No matter your purpose for infiltrating the law enforcement system, as long as we conduct soul-shattering evidence retrieval, everything about you, and everything about the forces behind you, will be completely exposed!"

"Chen Ling, we understand that you frantically tried to flee into Aurora City to save your life during the Gray Realm convergence. As long as you complete the soul-shattering evidence retrieval, you might still live."

"Surrender now. Your ability to enter the Ancient Military Archive indicates you're at most Tier Three. Any further struggle from you will be useless."

The two law enforcers spoke one after another, their Tier Five pressure sweeping out directly. In just a few sentences, they had already sealed off all of Chen Ling's escape routes.

In their eyes, Chen Ling had become a trapped animal!