Chen Ling felt the latter possibility was greater. After all, he didn't feel he had any talent in the Theater Dao.
The two of them took the K18 Train and finally rushed back to District Three before dark. Han Meng stood on the desolate platform and glanced at the time.
"It's getting late, go back and rest... It won't be long before your appointment documents should come down."
"Appointment documents?"
"Enforcer." Han Meng replied calmly. "All Law Enforcers who step onto a Divine Path will be appointed as Enforcers by Aurora City. This time, you are the only one who stepped onto a Divine Path... It's impossible for them not to appoint you."
"I offended the Stars Chamber of Commerce, will there be no problem with the appointment?"
"This is an appointment from the highest level of Aurora City. The Stars Chamber of Commerce cannot intervene. If I can become the Commander-in-Chief of the District Three Enforcers, you naturally won't have a problem." Han Meng paused for a moment.
"What's more, the situation in the Aurora Domain is special right now... They need manpower."
Chen Ling nodded, "Okay."
Chen Ling and Han Meng said their goodbyes and Part Ways from the platform.
Chen Ling walked beneath the night sky where the auroras surged, looking at the street outlines drawing continuously closer, deep in thought.
This trip to the Ancient Vault of the Military Path had taken so long. He wondered how things were on Frost Street...
At least, his Peaches should be in place by now, right?
...
Frost Street.
"Hey! Have you guys heard?"
"What?"
"Wasn't there a group of Law Enforcers who went to the Ancient Vault for a trial this time? A friend of mine from Winter Harbor came to restock this afternoon... He told me that whole batch of Law Enforcers are all dead!"
"Ah?!"
On the streets of Frost Street, several residents' ears perked up, and they immediately grabbed their small stools and gathered together.
"Real or fake?"
"Impossible, right? How could it be that dangerous in the Ancient Vault... I heard that in previous years, one or two deaths were the most."
"I heard that Fire-Stealers sneaked in this time, stole something, and then killed everyone! This afternoon, a large group of people from Aurora City came and cordoned off the entire harbor."
"I know about the harbor blockade, I heard about it too... So it was because of this?"
"Did Chen Ling go too?"
"Seems like it. Speaking of which, haven't seen him these past two days..."
"Then doesn't that mean he also... ?!!"
As everyone talked and talked, their eyes suddenly widened. They looked at each other, their eyes full of astonishment!
"Chen Ling is dead?!!" Boss Xu of the tailor shop was the first to stand up. His shocked, loud voice could be heard across almost half the street.
More and more people walked out of their homes, discussing at once. There was doubt, shock, and relief on their faces...
Several bosses gathered together and hurriedly confirmed something. The gloom on their faces instantly dissipated, and the large stone in their hearts finally dropped.
"He's dead? That human-heart-eating monster Law Enforcer is dead?!"
"...These past two days, I couldn't even sleep peacefully. As soon as I closed my eyes, I saw him handing me human hearts. It was truly too terrifying."
"Looks like he won't be coming back... Thank goodness, thank goodness. Everyone won't have to live in fear anymore!"
"..."
Rejoicing surfaced on everyone's faces. They began patting each other's shoulders, consoling one another.
Only Uncle Zhao, who hurried over without knowing the situation, turned pale upon hearing this news.
"Dead?" Uncle Zhao muttered to himself. "Such a good child, how could he just die..."
"Although Chen Ling eats human hearts, he's still a child who grew up on our Frost Street after all. How about... we hold a funeral for him?"
"That makes sense. This way, after he rests in peace, he won't turn into a ghost and come looking for trouble with us."
"Can people really turn into ghosts after they die?"
"Normal people, who knows. But he's a human-heart-eating monster, who knows if he'll come back after death..."
"But we don't even have a corpse, how do we hold a funeral?"
"Just get a Coffin and tie up a Paper Puppet... Boss Xu, aren't you in this business? This shouldn't be hard for you, right?"
"Heh, as long as you don't make me go get human hearts, this is nothing."
Boss Xu waved his large hand and immediately led everyone towards his shop. He picked a large red Coffin that not many people chose, then took a Paper Puppet from the shelf and in a few strokes drew it to resemble Chen Ling about fifty to sixty percent.
"There's no corpse and no clothing, so we'll just have to make do like this."
Boss Xu grabbed a few handfuls of paper money, along with paper-crafted houses, furniture, and such, tossing them all into a bag. Then, he called two strong young men to shoulder the Coffin and headed towards Chen Ling's house.
Other spectating residents, seeing a group of people shouldering a Coffin out the door, were somewhat curious and trailed behind the procession one after another.
Boss Xu stood still in front of Chen Ling's house. Holding the Paper Puppet in one hand, he waved the other at Chen Ling's house, muttering something under his breath... probably words like returning the soul, entering the earth, and resting in peace.
Seeing this scene, the people behind even felt that Boss Xu was performing a ritual. However, regarding this situation of having neither a corpse nor clothing, they truly didn't know what to do.
Boss Xu muttered mysteriously for a while, then placed that Paper Puppet into the Coffin and closed the lid.
Just then, he seemed to have thought of something and spoke a few words to the pork shop boss beside him. Soon, the latter hurried over to the crowd carrying several large bags filled with chicken hearts and pig hearts.
"These were all... Sacrifices originally prepared for Chen Ling. They won't be needed anymore, and keeping them is bad luck. Might as well bury them together as burial objects."
Boss Xu waved his large hand, and had the two young men shoulder the Coffin, walking straight towards the back mountain under the dark night. The crowd closely followed behind.
To be honest, Boss Xu had been doing the dead person business for so many years, but it had never been like today. Using a Paper Puppet to substitute a corpse and calling the soul in front of the house, these were just funeral procedures he casually came up with. After all, a situation like Chen Ling's was truly rare.
But so what?
Ultimately, everyone was just afraid that Chen Ling would come back to trouble them after death. Doing all this was just for peace of mind. Therefore, Boss Xu only needed to casually put on an act. If he really followed the normal funeral procedures, they would probably be tossing about until tomorrow morning.
Because the sky was dark, everyone carried Kerosene Lamps, walking towards the back mountain bit by bit by the light of the fire... Behind the large red Coffin, the bustling crowd followed, like countless moving shadows.
When the crowd gradually walked far away, a figure walked out from the street corner in confusion. Looking at the departing crowd, doubt flashed between his brows.
"So many people in the middle of the night, whose funeral are they going to hold?"
Chen Ling seeing that departing Coffin, muttered to himself.