Chapter 850: Chapter 850

Lin Chichi’s interview content was not short, encompassing experiences from the Underground Palace incident, to expectations for Newland City-State management, and the reasons behind some policy actions taken by He Ao.

It essentially covered all topics from the Transcendents to people’s livelihoods.

The little girl, while working, put away her previous playful and smiling appearance, and became focused, composed, and serious—many questions were even quite tricky.

Of course, this was a private interview; there was no camera involved and no visual materials would be left behind, so the overall pace was still quite relaxed.

By the time the interview concluded, the bright moon had already risen from the Sea of Heaven, illuminating the junction of land and sea.

"So that’s it for today, thanks so much to Brother Hao Yi for chatting with me for so long."

Lin Chichi stretched a long stretch, then brought her hands together to close her notebook, smiling at He Ao. But even so, the tiredness on her face was hard to conceal.

The interview lasting several hours had only minimally taxed He Ao’s energy, but for an ordinary person like Lin Chichi, it was almost at her limit.

Even so, she managed her expression quite well.

"Did you come here alone?"

He Ao asked with a smile as he watched her put her computer back into her shoulder bag.

"No, I was brought here by a colleague from the Research Institute, who is waiting outside for me."

Lin Chichi blinked her eyes playfully and laughed, "Is Brother Hao Yi trying to see me off?"

He Ao glanced at her, smiled, and stood up, "Let me walk you out."

"Thank you then, Brother Hao Yi."

Lin Chichi didn’t refuse and, smiling, stood next to He Ao with her bag slung over her shoulder.

The two of them walked forward in the chilling moonlight.

"Where are you heading next?"

He Ao glanced at the moonlight on the ground and asked casually.

"I’m off to Core Island to catch a plane," Lin Chichi clasped her hands behind her, paced half a step behind He Ao, lifted her slender legs, and tapped her feet following beside him.

She looked up at the trees in the yard and then at the bright moon in the sky, "The next stop is to do an interview and investigation in Ruodan. They are building a tripartite joint management demonstration area there. It’s under the jurisdiction of Minister He from the Foreign Affairs Department."

"Is your schedule always this packed?"

He Ao asked with a laugh.

Lin Chichi shrugged, "Money is hard to earn. Working people have it tough."

Saying so, she lifted her head and looked sideways at He Ao, "But I’m very happy to see Brother Hao Yi."

He Ao glanced at the girl’s sly eyes under the moonlight.

"I am really happy," the girl’s eyes narrowed, curving like crescent moons, "I feel very safe around Brother Hao Yi, as if all problems could be solved."

"You little minx," He Ao said with a chuckle, shaking his head.

At that moment, they had reached the gate of the courtyard.

He Ao gently raised his hand, and the Shadowless Sword turned into an illusion to push open the gate before they arrived.

A black sedan was parked outside at that moment.

Seeing the courtyard gate open, the well-dressed, fit woman who had been sitting in the driver’s seat got out quickly and greeted He Ao with some restraint, "Mr. Hao Yi."

He Ao smiled and nodded at her.

"This is Sister Song Xiao, who brought me all the way here," Lin Chichi rushed to Song Xiao’s side and smiled at He Ao, "Sister Song Xiao is very impressive. She’s protected me all along the way."

"You’re giving me too much praise, Chichi," Song Xiao quickly reached out to cover Lin Chichi’s mouth, "It’s all part of my job."

Watching them play around, He Ao nodded with a smile, "You’ve worked hard."

"Oh, it’s no trouble at all..."

Song Xiao waved her hands hastily.

"Let’s get in the car."

Lin Chichi circled the sedan, pulled open the passenger door, and waved goodbye to He Ao, "See you, Brother Hao Yi!"

He Ao also waved back with a smile, "Be safe on the road."

"Mm-hmm," Song Xiao nodded hastily, somewhat flustered as she got into the car, "Goodbye, Mr. Hao Yi."

She was about to start the car, then realized it wouldn’t ignite, and it dawned on her that the door wasn’t closed properly. She hurriedly and awkwardly shut the door and finally turned on the ignition, driving the black sedan away.

"Sister Song Xiao, weren’t you quite fierce when you arrived?"

As the surrounding scenery receded, Lin Chichi sitting in the passenger seat playfully pinched Song Xiao’s robust and firm thigh, "Why have you lost your fervor now?"

"You little minx, stop that." Song Xiao reached out to knock away Lin Chichi’s hand, saying with a slightly hasty breath, "That was Mr. Hao Yi, a B-level, didn’t you see the information on the Newland City-State incident? He kills monsters like it’s nothing, that’s someone on the same level as the Director, a top figure in this world."

She glanced at Lin Chichi, "Aren’t you nervous at all?"

"Nervous, sure," Lin Chichi sat in the passenger seat, buckled her safety belt, rubbed her pale hands, then massaged her fair legs under the floral skirt, "I was so nervous I could die."

"I don’t think you look nervous at all."

Song Xiao glanced at the young girl beside her.

"But being nervous is useless, isn’t it? Sometimes a sense of security can override nervousness," the young girl looked up at the bright moon in the sky and laughed, "Brother Hao Yi is really nice. I trust him,"

After all, she had once given up her life for him.

She turned to look at Song Xiao, "And you know, Brother Hao Yi is the second man who’s willing to walk with me under the moon."

Song Xiao was taken aback. She turned her head, puzzled yet a little gossipy, and looked at Lin Chichi, "Who was the first?"

Lin Chichi looked at Song Xiao and blinked her eyes, "It was my dad," she leaned back in the seat, her face losing the ever-present smile, looking at the seawater bathed in moonlight, "In another month, it will be his death anniversary."

He Ao watched as the black sedan disappeared under the moonlight.

The undulating sea lapped against the pebbles, making a soft sound.

He looked down at the content on his phone.

With ’Hao Yi’s’ authority, he could easily access Lin Chichi’s information.

The girl was born in Dongdu, lost her father at a young age, and grew up dependent upon her mother.

A complex upbringing often gives rise to a complex personality.

He Ao exited the information interface and looked toward the chat interface.

His ’friends’ list on the Research Institute software wasn’t extensive—Li Cheng was one, Yang De possibly another, and Wu Lan had added him as well because of the situation in Newland City-State. However, at this moment, these avatars were all dimmed.

The only thing lit up on the entire interface was a "friend request" icon featuring a cartoon bear avatar with the nickname "Dusk Delayed."

This friend request had been sent by Lin Chichi during the interview process.

He Ao reached out to accept the friend request.

Lin Chichi immediately sent over an emoticon,

Followed by a message, [Hao Yi, I’ll send you the draft of the interview once it’s ready.]

He Ao replied with a [Okay].

He also looked up at the bright moon in the sky.

But was this really just "a peaceful day"?

The howling train rolled through under the veil of night.

Ruodan Kingdom·Enke City

"See that guy there? He’s waiting so early here, must be some big shot coming,"

At the top of a small building painted with murals, a portly man, with a big belly protruding, was eyeing a telescope fixed to the ground, looking towards the street not far away.

"Hehe, the boss was right,"

Another man, lean and short like a dwarf bamboo, walked over, lifted his foot onto the edge of the fence, and began peeling a banana,

"As long as we stir things up, they’ll definitely think it’s a C-level supernatural event and ask for support from the capital, Eren City. Then we can set up an ambush here and make a big score!"

The chubby man slapped his belly.

"What a pity though, those ’backups’ were a bit late,"

The skinny bamboo man sighed while eating his banana, "If they had come earlier and the boss had made an impact, the leader wouldn’t have given our piece of the Yika Republic to that what’s-his-name, Hu Wen."

The portly man agreed with a laugh, "Heard that kid set a bunch of rules, too. To mix with him, you have to follow these rules, acting like a real big shot,"

He smacked his lips and continued, "Calls himself a ’Ruthless Bandit’, just a green kid who’s just started out. When we were killing folks in the Western Lands, that kid probably was still in diapers, and now he’s got the nerve to lord over us, why the hell?"

"When we pull off this job, prove our strength to the Leader, we can demand that the Yika Republic be our preserve,"

The skinny bamboo man chuckled too, "Then we can do whatever we want, and no one can interfere."

The portly man slapped his belly excitedly and, after a while, seemed to think of something, bowed his head, and said in a low voice, "Do you think the one coming this time might be that ’He Ao’ from the Research Institute? I heard that kid is incredibly strong, just C-level but already at B-level strength. Can we really beat him?"

"Are you chickening out before we even start?"

The skinny bamboo man scoffed, "If that guy comes, it’ll be perfect; we’ll just kill him, too. Then this whole ’Three Major Organizations co-governing’ led by the Research Institute will be as good as a joke. If we achieve great merit, the Leader will take us seriously."

The portly man still hesitated.

"What are you so worried about?"

The skinny bamboo man slapped the chubby man’s head,

"Think about it with your pig brain. What genius youngster, what C-level hero? Just look at how young that brat seems; could he really be that formidable at his age? If he was, then all our years would have been wasted, right?"

He carelessly tossed the banana peel onto the ground,

"If you ask me, that guy’s probably just a hyped-up figure by the Research Institute for publicity, with no real skill. We don’t even need the boss to make a move; the two of us could take him down.

"Let’s see what this ’heroic figure’ heavily promoted by the Research Institute is really made of, hahaha!"

The portly man also burst into laughter.

"What are you two laughing at?"

A pair of large hands extended from the darkness, gripping the heads of a heavyset and a skinny man, separating them.

A burly man with a cigar in his mouth and hair styled back with mousse, clad in a fur coat, emerged from the shadows. He glanced at his two subordinates and said, "Are you so eager for people to know we’re here?"

The heavyset and the skinny men instantly deflated like balloons losing their air.

The man’s gaze shifted to the fixed telescope on the ground. In the depths of the telescope’s field of view, a sedan was slowly approaching.

"Is that Minister He?"

The car pulled up in front of the hotel arranged by the Research Institute, but before it completely stopped, a man with chestnut curls popped his head out, anxiously inspecting the car’s interior.

He Ao lowered the window and softly called out to the curly-haired man in front of him.

Jemis used to be an employee developed under Li Le, the original intelligence officer for the Research Institute in Ruodan. He was a local from Ruodan, an E-class Transcendent.

After He Ao took over in Ruodan, Li Le served as his deputy for a while.

However, after spending many years abroad, Li Le longed for home and struggled to keep up with the entirety of Ruodan’s affairs, both in energy and capability. Thus, He Ao allowed him to return home and got another person from Li Cheng to come over.

Still, most of the local employees in Ruodan were developed by Li Le before.

He Ao had reviewed these employees’ profiles before and had more or less committed their names to memory.

"Minister He, you know who I am,"

Jemis was clearly surprised that He Ao could call out his name; he carefully opened the car door, "Your coming here truly ’gilds the lily’ for us in Enke City."

The phrase ’gilds the lily’ was in Central Earth language, which he had obviously learned on the spot.

"Don’t worry, you’re doing fine, and there’s no need for all this,"

He Ao pushed open the door and stepped out of the car.

On his way to this place, He Ao had been reading material; Jemis was considered one of the more capable managers in Ruodan.

Hearing this, Jemis became somewhat reserved, "Enke City isn’t a big metropolis, this is the best hotel here. If there’s anything you’re uncomfortable with..."

"Do you have something on your mind?"

He Ao looked at Jemis before him.

Jemis was the honest, down-to-earth, practical type; to be buttering up , he was clearly out of his depth.

Looking up at He Ao, Jemis focused on those profound eyes. After a brief silence, he spoke slowly, "Enke City has had an increasing number of disappearances lately, even one or two murders. If it’s convenient for you..."

He Ao couldn’t help but chuckle softly and said, "I’m here to take care of that."

Jemis’s eyes widened slightly.

It was then that He Ao finally realized what Jemis was worried about.

Normally, in a C-level Transcendent event, the Three Major Organizations, whether it’s the Research Institute, Moonlight, or the World Tree, would deploy a full exploration team and a great deal of support staff for that team.

For He Ao to come alone, it indeed didn’t look like he was here to ’solve the problem.’

He Ao looked at the earnest ’manager’ before him and started speaking slowly,

"Many people in Ruodan are new and still in training, so we’re a bit short-staffed. Besides, for a C-level event,"

He reached out his hand toward the darkness’s shadow.

A portly man emerged from the shadows, his neck firmly gripped, struggling like a fish out of water.

But no matter what, he couldn’t break free from the young man’s grip.

He Ao looked at Jemis and smiled, "I alone am enough."

Under the pitch-black night, the undulating ring of a telephone sounded.