CHAPTER 55: CHAPTER 54: SCHEMES? OPEN PLOTS!

"Minister Long, please... please calm down. His mental state isn’t very good lately, he just has a reckless mouth..."

Another person in a white coat hurriedly stepped forward to soothe Minister Long’s emotions, sending a pleading look towards Sister Yang standing beside them.

They only received a disdainful eye roll from Sister Yang and her mocking words, "Why are you looking at me? Aren’t I also what you guys call a Polluter? Are you going to take me for research too?"

No one dared to respond to that!

They could only quickly deny, "No, no, no, we would never think of the official Zodiac Department like that, it’s a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding!"

"We still have something to do at the research institute, so we’ll be leaving now, sorry, sorry...

With that, he glared fiercely at his colleague who had misspoken earlier, hurriedly gathering all the information on Wu Liang and Wu Ming from the table.

They bowed apologetically as they walked out.

Not until they completely left the blue building did

the two finally breathe a sigh of relief, muttering indignantly, "What arrogance! Not like they have many years left anyway!"

......

Watching the backs of the two leaving the interrogation room, Minister Long and Sister Yang’s expressions grew increasingly grim.

The researchers at the institute had never viewed them as "people." They only wanted to study the real reason behind the coexistence of humans and Fierce Ghosts, even secretly calling them "Polluters."

People polluted by Fierce Ghosts.

What an detestable term.

This term clearly set them apart from living people, making it seem like they were on the same side as the Fierce Ghosts.

"Ahem, ahem, ahem, I know the two leaders are upset right now, and it’s not appropriate to interrupt, but is feeding me glass shards not a bit inhumane? Even though I am really hungry right now."

A helpless voice sounded from the center chair, momentarily stunning Minister Long and Sister Yang.

Turning around, they finally saw Wu Liang, who had been restrained to the chair, his face covered in shattered glass, his sullen face resembling that of a resentful woman full of grievance.

"Ah, sorry, sorry! Brother Wu, I was too agitated just now!" Minister Long quickly took a step forward.

The magic cube filled with eerie eyes in his hand spontaneously rotated, instantly restoring the magic cube.

Simultaneously, the shattered one-way glass of the interrogation room miraculously floated back into place, even the glass shards on Wu Liang’s face retraced their path as if time had reversed.

In an instant, the intact one-way glass interrogation room was restored to its original state, as if nothing had happened.

Wu Liang couldn’t help but marvel in his heart, "What a skill!"

He was then freed from the chair by Sister Yang.

The three of them left the blue single-story building and saw "Wu Ming" standing outside the door, with Minister Long pulling him along to the base’s cafeteria.

Sitting in the spacious cafeteria, the meals for Sister Yang and Minister Long were no different from those given to Wu Liang and his brother, the four of them sat across from each other silently eating.

After a long while, seeing the atmosphere grow a bit awkward,

Minister Long put down his chopsticks, hands placed on the table with fingers intertwined in front of him, narrowing his eyes as he asked Wu Liang, "Do you two brothers know about the hierarchy of Fierce Ghosts?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Liang almost wanted to pull out the Ghost Compendium and flip through it in front of him.

What hierarchy?

It’s not written here!

Seeing them remain silent, Minister Long extended five fingers and said in detail, "Based on current official research, Fierce Ghosts are roughly divided into five categories."

"First, Residual Thoughts, these are not technically Fierce Ghosts, just some objects with supernatural properties. They don’t possess the consciousness to deliberately kill living beings, and quite a few can even be used by humans, like the sword used by Liuyun in your team."

At this, Wu Liang suddenly understood.

No wonder Liuyun always carried her sword with her, even after losing it during the Puppet Ghost incident, she immediately went to retrieve it upon waking up.

"Second, Fierce Ghosts, the kind most commonly encountered in everyday supernatural events, which I won’t elaborate on."

But then Minister Long’s expression turned serious, raising three fingers as he continued:

"Third, the Red Robe, the harm caused by these ghosts generally measures in the hundreds as a standard basis, considered major supernatural events, like the Wangsheng Village incident."

Before he could finish his sentence, Sister Yang, her words muffled with food, added, "Red Robe is characterized by an inherent bright red on the Fierce Ghost’s body, even the red dot on the Statue of Guanyin in Wangsheng Village counts."

At this, Wu Liang couldn’t help but twitch his mouth.

Think about it...

The Nightmare, Oil Paper Umbrella, and Kitchen Knife Ghosts under me all seem to be Red Robe level, right? They all have bright red on their bodies.

Turns out I’m so impressive!

"The last two, the fourth and fifth, are ghosts capable of destroying cities and countries, levels that didn’t even appear during the entire calamity," Minister Long spoke with a hint of melancholy.

Clearly, his "didn’t appear" suggests that they actually did surface.

And they must have brought severe consequences, so much so that he didn’t want to elaborate further.

Yet Wu Liang was still puzzled as to why Minister Long was personally telling them these things now, information that could have been easily conveyed by He Zhan.

Besides, ever since joining the officials, Wu Liang always felt that Minister Long seemed to deliberately approach him.

What was his purpose?

In the midst of contemplation, Minister Long pointed to himself and Sister Yang, who was devouring her meal, and said, "The Official Awakened form small teams to handle ordinary Fierce Ghosts and some Red Robe ones, not us."

"We deal with more significant threats."

At this moment, Wu Liang squinted his eyes, allowing his mind to operate at high speed. Within seconds, he deciphered what Minister Long implied.

"Do you mean to say there’s a City-Destroying Level ghost in Chengyang City?!"

Snap—

Upon hearing this, Minister Long smiled contentedly and snapped his fingers.

"Correct, so clever, it’s a pity you’re not an Awakened, Brother Wu," he said, then quietly watched Wu Liang, curious about how he would react upon this revelation.

Panic? Disorientation?

Or calm composure?

This decision to inform them came after evaluating the two brothers’ psychological assessments, hoping their reaction wouldn’t disappoint him!

Contrary to his expectation, Wu Liang began to speak unconcernedly, reasoning through what was to come —

"Then why inform us of this? Seeking combat assistance?"

"With your skills, it surely doesn’t seem necessary, especially since I’m just an ordinary person."

"So it must involve something only a regular person can accomplish but requires auxiliary strength from someone as strong as my brother."

"Let me guess — you know of this ghost’s existence but have no idea where it is, and can’t spread this information or publicly investigate due to the potential for widespread public panic, so you can only delegate few personnel for a covert investigation?"

The interlocking logic left even Sister Yang, who was devouring her meal, dumbstruck.

She mumbled through her meal, "See... I told you this kid is a freak..."

Apart from surprise, Minister Long’s eyes were filled with satisfaction.

In his vision, Wu Liang should be as smart as possible as a normal person, crucially lacking powerful capabilities on his own, thus needing his brother’s support.

The fewer people aware of his and Sister Yang’s investigation, the better.

The small groups formed within the officials’ Awakened were excessively fractured, making them reluctant to entirely hand matters over to the Awakened.

But Wu Ming! Newly joined, clean background, a sharp, powerful blade!

His brother is also incredibly clever!

A blade and one who wields it.

It’s just too perfect...