"Brother Guan, you... are you not in a good mood today?"

The next morning, Silver Fox, as promised, brought Chen Na out from the base to meet Guan Tong in a park.

Chen Na was very happy to see Guan Tong, but she also quickly sensed his somewhat low spirits.

"Is it because of me..."

Chen Na asked softly, thinking that Guan Tong was disappointed in her because of her argument with her mother.

Guan Tong shook his head: "Some bad things happened, but it has nothing to do with you, Xiao Na."

Silver Fox, standing to the side, asked curiously: "Something that can make you unhappy... it must be serious?"

"It is indeed serious. But that's not what we're here to discuss today."

Guan Tong didn't want to pass his worries onto the two of them. He crouched down to meet Chen Na at eye level: "Xiao Na, I heard from your mom that you want to come and help me?"

"Mm!" Chen Na nodded vigorously.

Seeing this, Silver Fox showed a hint of helplessness on her face; she had clearly tried to persuade her, but Chen Na hadn't changed her mind.

"Brother Guan, my ability can help you."

"Of course, your ability is very powerful, but I don't agree with you following me on missions right now."

Guan Tong had thought for a long time about how to persuade Chen Na. He had considered finding some excuses, but ultimately decided to be direct.

Although Chen Na was young, she wasn't that young. If she were still in school, she'd be a middle schooler already, an age where she can see through some of the hypocrisy of adults.

A direct refusal might make Chen Na sad, but in Guan Tong's view, it was far better than finding excuses to deceive her. He always believed that an adult's refusal wouldn't cause a child much harm; deception and hypocritical excuses were the things that truly hurt children and created distance.

Upon hearing this, Chen Na immediately pouted, her face full of sadness: "Why? Brother Guan, are you worried I'll hold you back?"

"That's one of the reasons."

Silver Fox beside them wore a strange expression, undoubtedly thinking Guan Tong's directness wasn't very good.

"Xiao Na, what you need to do now is learn how to protect yourself, not follow me around everywhere."

"I am learning! There's training at the base every day!"

"She's right," Silver Fox added. "Even though her ability is support-type, she still undergoes combat training daily. This girl might look harmless, but with her current skills, relying only on the physical enhancement from Mind Power without using ability items, she can already take down several ordinary adults barehanded."

"That's still far from enough." Guan Tong didn't take the opportunity to praise her, but instead gave Chen Na a requirement.

"Xiao Na, if you want to act with me, you must meet one condition."

"Hey, hey," Silver Fox interjected. "No matter what your condition is, even if she can meet it, whether the base will release her is another matter."

"I know," Guan Tong said.

Chen Na, however, ignored what Silver Fox said and asked happily: "What condition? Tell me, Brother Guan!"

"You know 'Mind Power Flow', right? It must be a required course for your base to train official Ascendants."

"Mm, we practice that every day!"

"When you can skillfully use it in combat, I'll consider letting you act with me."

"Deal!" Chen Na agreed immediately. "Brother Guan, you can't go back on your word!"

Seeing Guan Tong nod, Chen Na ran off to the side, overjoyed.

Silver Fox crossed her arms in front of her chest and smiled: "Mastering Mind Power Flow for body circulation alone is not easy, let alone using it in complex combat. With Xiao Na's age and learning capacity, it would take at least half a year to a year to achieve that. I didn't expect you to be quite resourceful."

"It's just to give her the ability to protect herself."

In Guan Tong's view, if one's own ability and items aren't suited for combat, then as compensation, one must master that set of combat methods taught by Shi Jingyi.

"Speaking of which, with your protection, does she really need to fight herself?"

"My protection?" Guan Tong gave a self-mocking smile. "My protection isn't that reliable. In the end, everyone still has to rely on themselves."

"... It seems something very serious happened, to make 'Shadow' sigh like this."

Silver Fox didn't probe further. She took out several items from her Storage Box.

"These are from Dr. Zhang, container items for storing flowing Mind Power."

"Thanks."

...

Two days later.

Sakura Prayer Country, Antu City.

A small farewell ceremony was held at the city's only remaining funeral home.

The attendees were basically all Peace Officers who knew Suzuki. Everyone wore black clothes and walked solemnly to the coffin containing the remains, placing the white bouquets they had brought.

Everyone's mood was heavy, because in this era, maintaining relationships between people was difficult. Even associations like colleagues, which were insignificant in peacetime, had become quite precious in this age.

At that moment, a figure entering the room attracted everyone's attention, and the Peace Officers were quite surprised.

It was the current Director of the Sakura Prayer Country Peace Office Headquarters, Yoshino. He should have been working in Bandzhen, yet he had come to attend Suzuki's farewell ceremony.

A Peace Officer stepped forward and asked: "Director, why are you here?"

"Why wouldn't I come? Suzuki was my subordinate."

After saying this, Yoshino walked to the coffin and gazed at Suzuki's remains.

In the corner of the room, Guan Tong and Uenoshi were watching.

"Tomorrow the new rule will be announced. Yoshino, already the Director, still took time to attend a farewell ceremony for a former subordinate. It seems he values relationships," Uenoshi said.

"......"

Guan Tong remained silent.

He had been investigating Suzuki's case these past few days but had hit a dead end.

That short-haired woman who appeared in the surveillance footage, signed as "Wei Huo" — the Countermeasures Research Office hadn't been able to identify her either.

Investigations into her appearance, name, and the fingerprints left when she signed had all come up empty.

Guan Tong didn't think the Countermeasures Research Office would cover anything up. If they couldn't find her, it meant this woman had never been registered.

This was hard to imagine, because after the Blood Plague rule and Beixing entered the wartime state, everyone living in the cities had to register.

Even if this woman, like Guan Tong, chose to leave the city at that time, there was no reason her fingerprints wouldn't have a match — fingerprint records were taken long before the Doomsday Rules began, during peacetime, when individuals processed their identity information.

Could this woman have always been an "unregistered person"? Or perhaps her information was erased.

Whichever it was, it had stalled the investigation, making it difficult to find the person in a short time... but Guan Tong would not give up.

"You two must be the ones who brought Suzuki's remains back. Thank you very much."

After paying his respects to the remains, Yoshino walked up to Guan Tong and Uenoshi and spoke.

"Suzuki bore too much. Choosing to leave this way in the end might have been a release for her," Yoshino sighed. "She was a good Peace Officer, not just because of her Profiling ability, but because she had an empathetic heart that could understand others."

"Yes," Uenoshi said. "Losing her is a loss for all of us."

Yoshino glanced at her. Uenoshi was wearing a mask at the moment but no sunglasses.

He recognized her vertical pupils at a single glance but didn't say anything about it.

"Well then, please excuse me, I must take my leave first."

Watching Yoshino's departing figure, Guan Tong said: "Back when you escaped from the confinement room, the entire Sakura Prayer Country issued a warrant and searched for you... He recognized your identity."

"I know," Uenoshi said. "I plan to stay in Sakura Prayer Country for a while, to investigate here."

"You mean..."

"Suzuki helped us find Yuzawa Jun back then. Even though there was a major purge afterward, it's not impossible that some loyal to the Yuzawa Family survived. If they wanted revenge, Suzuki would naturally be one of the targets. Also, if that short-haired woman is from Sakura Prayer Country, it makes sense that her fingerprints aren't in Beixing's database."

"...Alright."

What Uenoshi said seemed reasonable at first glance, but Guan Tong felt it was unlikely.

Sakura Prayer Country was severely weakened after the last incident and now completely relied on Beixing, with almost no ability to sustain itself. Under these circumstances, for someone to secretly enter Beixing and find the withdrawal center where Suzuki was located would be unlikely without internal assistance.

"Then we'll act separately. You stay in Sakura Prayer Country, I'll be in Beixing. We'll investigate separately and share intelligence regularly. But the new rule will be announced tomorrow, so that should take priority."

"That's what I wanted to say too," Uenoshi looked at Guan Tong. "Troupe Leader, I can tell this matter has made you very angry... Is this the first time someone you know has left?"

"......"

Probably, Guan Tong thought.

Since entering the era of the Doomsday Rules, he had witnessed many deaths, some even caused by his own hands. But the deaths of people he knew, people he was familiar with, were still few.

"Maybe it's better to get used to it sooner," Uenoshi gazed into the distance. "In this era, surviving continuously is an immense stroke of luck. Our luck and the luck of those around us won't always be this good."

Get used to it...

Guan Tong thought to himself, this was something he would never get used to.