"Achoo!"
"Achoo!!"
"Ah, ah, achoo——!"
A room door in the Courtyard was pushed open. Jian Changsheng rubbed his reddened nose, walking out from it with a strange expression.
"It's strange... these two days, why do I keep sneezing non-stop?"
Chu Muyun, who was sunbathing in the Courtyard, glanced at him and spoke leisurely, "What? The injuries from last time left sequelae? Lie down, I'll take a look for you again..."
"No! No need!" Jian Changsheng abruptly took a step back. "It shouldn't be this reason... my injuries have already healed!"
After a few days of recuperation, the bandages on Jian Changsheng's body were pretty much all removed. Under his terrifying self-healing ability, not even a single scar was left behind. Chu Muyun's gaze constantly circulated over Jian Changsheng's body, as if evaluating a living specimen with full interest.
Chu Muyun's gaze made Jian Changsheng somewhat creeped out. Just as he was about to speak and say something, the Courtyard door was pushed open. A figure draped in a blood-stained overcoat appeared in front of the two.
"Didn't do anything, conveniently killed a person." Chen Ling walked straight towards the room. "Still have to go to work later, came back to change clothes."
"???"
Jian Changsheng looked at Chen Ling's departing back figure in astonishment, turning his head to ask Chu Muyun:
"Senior Chu, why does he have both work and missions every day, but I have absolutely nothing?"
Chu Muyun, who was reading the newspaper, didn't even raise his head. "His mission is gathering intelligence, his work is also found by himself... If you feel you have this capability, you can also think of a way to go gather intelligence for the organization."
Jian Changsheng held it in for a long time, but still couldn't think of how he could gather intelligence. Waiting until Chen Ling changed his clothes and came out, he then asked probingly:
"Heart, how do you be this reporter? Can you bring me along?"
"..." Chen Ling evaluated him with a glance. "Although the headquarters of the Stars Chamber of Commerce is gone, the President Yan Shang and his several Outlander subordinates are all still alive... Are you sure you want to go outside and show your face in public?"
Jian Changsheng instantly wilted. Scratching his head, he repeatedly sighed in lament, having a look of sorrow and helplessness of a great man having the ambition to serve the country in vain, but unfortunately born at the wrong time.
"Little Jian, you already don't need to go out and show your face in public..." Right at this time, Chu Muyun suddenly spoke.
Jian Changsheng was stunned. "What do you mean?"
With a strange expression, Chu Muyun placed the newspaper in his hands on the tabletop. "Your great name has already spread throughout the entire Aurora City."
Jian Changsheng picked up the newspaper blankly. This was an evening paper with not much fame, but at this moment on the evening paper's front page headline, a string of bold and blackened large words was currently written——
"Dusk Society Member Reappears in Aurora City! [Six of Spades] Stirs Up a Storm of Blood and Rain!"
The moment he saw this line of words, Jian Changsheng was instantly dumbfounded. He hurriedly continued looking down. This was a report regarding the Meili Hotel massacre case, containing a photo taken at the scene. In the photo, over ten figures collapsed in a pool of blood. [Six of Spades] piled up into a mountain fluttered all over the sky in the dimness like ghosts, extremely bizarre.
"This... this..." Having finished reading the entire article, Jian Changsheng's eyes were deeply blank.
"Is it that his [Six of Spades] is fake, or am I fake... or are you all fake?"
Jian Changsheng suddenly had a sense of unreality. He had clearly been recuperating these past few days, not stepping out the door half a step. How did he "stir up a storm of blood and rain"? And speaking of which, this bizarre and mysterious [Six of Spades] in the article, obviously looked much more like [Six of Spades] than him, this resentful seed who was recuperating at home, idling about all day long...
"Of course the one in the article is fake." Chu Muyun pushed his glasses, speaking with a stern face, "Our Dusk Society is a formal organization. This kind of fraudulent method like 'one card for multiple uses', will not be used."
"Damn it, then who exactly is using my banner, swindling and bluffing outside?" Jian Changsheng gnashed his teeth. "Don't let me catch him, otherwise..."
Chen Ling at the side lowered his head, eyes looking at his nose, nose looking at his heart, quietly not speaking.
"However, putting other things aside, this method of sprinkling Playing Cards, is still quite stylish." Jian Changsheng changed the topic, looking at the photo on the news and feeling somewhat moved again.
"Wait until I find time I'll also go buy a few decks of Playing Cards. It can be put to use next time I go out on a mission."
Chen Ling: ...
...
Han Meng walked alone on the streets of Aurora City, slowly passing through the busy and rapid stream of people.
Ever since entering Aurora City, Han Meng had almost always stayed in the Black Prison. He had no place to settle down, no familiar people. Walking within this city that was countless times larger than District Three, he had a faint bewilderment in his heart.
His gaze landed on White Pigeon Square not far away, subconsciously walking over there.
The long bench in front of the fountain that was originally shattered by him, had already been restored to its original state. Han Meng sat there alone, looking at the coming and going crowd, silent and unmoving like a sculpture.
Perhaps the weather was gradually turning cold, one could no longer see any kites in the sky above White Pigeon Square, nor were there any children around. Han Meng quietly pondered everything that had happened since entering Aurora City, and these two words "Lin Yan" constantly lingered in his mind, refusing to dissipate.
"Is it him? Or..."
Han Meng picked up that newspaper, repeatedly looking at the report on the second page several times. Following which he suddenly stood up, walking towards the newsstand at the park entrance.
"Hello, I want a newspaper."
"Alright."
"Not today's."
"Ah?" The newsstand boss was stunned for a moment. "Then which day's do you want?"
"Where is the column for Aurora Daily? I want to flip through first before deciding."
Under the newsstand boss's guidance, Han Meng walked straight to a stack of newspapers, flipping through them one by one. His gaze swept over name after name, ultimately only pulling out one copy from within.
"Just this one."
Han Meng held that newspaper in his hands. On the front page, was precisely a blockbuster news article: "Overnight, the Stars Chamber of Commerce Tragically Suffers Extermination?"
This was the first news article in the past year of all Aurora Daily issues with "Lin Yan" as the chief writer. Han Meng carefully read this article once, ultimately locking onto the article's publication date...
Closely following, Han Meng seemed to remember something again. He began to swiftly flip through today's Aurora Daily, especially that article exposing the Stars Chamber of Commerce's organ trading.
Han Meng's eyes narrowed slightly. His fingertips paused on a certain column of the transaction record photo on the front page... There, a blurry name leaped into his field of vision.
"Chen Yan."
All the details of the three articles were swiftly pieced together in Han Meng's mind. An answer surged into his heart.
Han Meng stood silently in front of the newsstand for a long time. Waiting until the sun almost set, he then slowly walked into the distance... He casually stuffed the two newspapers into a roadside trash can, his expression incomparably complex.
"I just knew it, you wouldn't die that easily..."
The black Enforcer windbreaker swayed lightly in the cold wind. Han Meng murmured to himself,
"I will find you."