Chapter 25: Lowering the Head

"Spade Seven, what is your request?"

"I need a quiet room."

"Reason?"

"I've discovered a suspected fusionist, and I need to conduct a Calamity Level assessment."

"A fusionist?" The woman raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Is there a chance to recruit him?"

"The target can be ruled out as a member of the Fusion Faction, but he shows an inclination to join the enforcers. Whether he's worth recruiting depends on the results of my assessment."

"Understood."

The woman pulled a key from the bottom of the cabinet. "The quiet room is on the second basement level."

Chu Muyun took the key, opened the hidden basement door, and vanished in a flash.

The woman stepped out from behind the counter, subtly scanned the surroundings from the doorway, then flipped the "Open" sign to "Closed" and shut the door.

In the darkness, Chu Muyun lit a kerosene lamp and slowly descended the narrow staircase.

The dim, yellow light slowly descended with him. At the bottom of the stairs was a space about ten square meters. Chu Muyun bent down, placed the kerosene lamp in the center of the floor, then took out a small brown bottle and poured its contents out.

Chu Muyun removed his glasses. A brilliant blue light glowed from his eyes, and a formidable aura transformed into a whirlwind, swirling through the space!

"Diagnosis... beginning."

Ice Spring Street.

Chen Ling moved through the shattered ruins, searching meticulously.

He was incredibly grateful now that he had been assigned to this area and given the task of finding clues... If Chen Yan had left any clues here, he would be the first to know and the first to eliminate them.

If he hadn't found the safety charm yesterday, and it had fallen into the hands of other enforcers, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

But as it turned out, Chen Yan had left nothing else behind.

Chen Ling spent the entire morning turning over the ruins of Ice Spring Street. Aside from various bloodied limbs and fragments, he found nothing else, not even a trace of the "Calamity Domain" that Qian Fan had mentioned.

Chen Ling couldn't help but wonder what kind of power the calamity within Chen Yan truly possessed.

As he pondered, a figure approached from a distance.

"Wu Youdong?" Chen Ling recognized the approaching person and was slightly surprised.

Wu Youdong being on Ice Spring Street wasn't unexpected, but the problem was that he was now leaning on metal crutches, one leg was in a cast, and his body was covered in wounds and bandages. His left eye was black and bruised, and he looked as dirty as if he had just crawled out of a trench.

Hearing Chen Ling's voice, Wu Youdong, who had been staring at the ground, finally showed a faint glimmer in his eyes.

"Chen Ling." Wu Youdong gave a bitter smile. "I thought I wouldn't live to see you again..."

"What happened to you..."

"I'm not going to be an enforcer anymore."

Wu Youdong looked up at the distant aurora, a flicker of sadness and desolation in his bruised eyes.

"What happened?" Chen Ling clearly remembered that yesterday, when he left, Wu Youdong was full of anticipation for his mission. How did he end up like this today?

"Enforcers... Ice Spring Street... none of them are any good."

"Chen Ling, do you know what kind of people live on this street?"

"Debt collectors! Cultists! Wanted criminals! This place is full of illegal gun deals, drug deals, organ trafficking... Yesterday, I went to collect information from the survivors on this street, and they just mocked and insulted me!"

"They kicked me into the restroom! They told me to clean their toilets! When I refused, they broke my leg!"

Wu Youdong's voice trembled more and more. He seemed to recall some painful memory, and veins bulged on his neck.

"They did it on purpose!!"

"The enforcers from District Two know what kind of place this street is! None of them wanted to come, so they asked District Three for help! I don't know what deal they made with Ma Zhong, but Ma Zhong pulled people from District Three's reserves!"

"He knew we were new, poor, and had no connections! Who else would he send but us??"

"To put it nicely, we're here to provide support. To put it bluntly, we're just sacrificial lambs for the high-ranking enforcers! I swear on my life! The enforcer high command must be connected to the illegal dealings on Ice Spring Street!"

"Why us?!"

"My parents sold everything they had to send me to school! I passed the enforcer exam based on my own abilities!"

"How dare they humiliate me like this?!"

Wu Youdong growled in anger, his eyes bloodshot, but even at this point, he still dared not speak too loudly... because the enforcers from District Two were not far away.

Under the gaze of a lion, an ant, no matter how furious, can only suppress its rage and remain silent.

Wu Youdong's chest heaved violently, as if he was about to challenge Ice Spring Street or the enforcers to a fight any second. But as a voice rang out, his body tensed again.

"Wu Youdong, Chen Ling? What are you two talking about?"

Qian Fan, dressed in a black and red uniform, approached from a distance with his arms crossed, asking curiously.

Wu Youdong's face immediately turned deathly pale.

"Wu Youdong, didn't you say you weren't going to be an enforcer anymore?" Qian Fan spoke again. "Voluntarily withdrawing from the enforcer exam means there's no turning back... For people like you, this should be a chance to change your destiny. Are you really sure about this?

"Or... if you feel that the enforcers aren't doing something adequately, you can bring it up, and we can discuss it further..."

Wu Youdong's expression shifted repeatedly, and he started to speak several times, then stopped... But under Qian Fan's gaze, he ultimately just shook his head.

"No, no... I'm withdrawing voluntarily."

"What a pity."

Chen Ling looked at Wu Youdong before him, his emotions suddenly complex.

Wu Youdong dared to pour out his accusations against the enforcers to Chen Ling, but in front of an actual enforcer, he didn't dare say a single word.

But Chen Ling couldn't call Wu Youdong a coward, because even if Wu Youdong didn't become an enforcer, he would still have to live in District Three, or one of the other major districts in the Aurora Domain. And no matter where he went, there would always be enforcers...

For everyone living in the Aurora Domain, the enforcers were akin to heaven itself.

Wu Youdong gave Chen Ling a deep look, then lowered his head again... He struggled to lean on his cheap crutches, gritted his teeth, and limped away towards District Three.

His figure slowly diminished as he walked away, until he was just a tiny speck of fine sand, blown away to the end of the road.

Chen Ling knew that from now on... Wu Youdong might never be able to hold his head up again.

"Ah, I actually thought he was pretty good – hardworking, with decent potential." Qian Fan watched Wu Youdong's retreating back and sighed.

"Oh, by the way, with Wu Youdong gone, his work needs to be done by someone... From today on, you'll take over his duties."

Chen Ling froze, then turned to look at Qian Fan.

Qian Fan smiled back at him, his smile in the sunlight like that of a demon.