Chapter 50 Do You Know Yuan Tiangang?

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Office Building of the Liangzhou Branch of the Environmental Investigation and Defense Bureau.

Inside an office on the third floor, Lu Zhenhai sat before his computer. The screen displayed the internal system platform of the Environmental Defense Bureau, where a dense mass of messages occupied most of the screen, awaiting his review.

Since the Taohuayuan Incident had been brought under control, combat assignments throughout the city had sharply declined, while the clerical work that followed had multiplied several times over. As soon as his injuries had improved somewhat, he had returned to the bureau, once again facing a mountain of documents and messages.

Lu Zhenhai scrolled through the messages arriving in the system one by one. When he had finished reading the seventh, the system chimed. Two highlighted messages were pinned to the top, with notes indicating that both had come from the Institute of Celestial Observation and Strategic Investigation.

He opened the first message, his brows drawing together slightly.

“A Level Three Recruitment Order from the Institute of Celestial Secrets?”

Within the supernatural system of Huaguo, the major institutions were nominally independent of one another. Yet in the end, the supernatural world was only so large; any two organizations were bound to have dealings and responsibilities that overlapped.

For the sake of communication, the system maintained several forms of mass messaging resembling an all-hands broadcast. Recruitment orders were among the more urgent varieties.

In supernatural terminology, a recruitment order was equivalent to the beacon fires of ancient times: a notice requesting assistance from every supernatural department under the government. Most of the time, such orders sought help locating an important person or uncovering clues concerning a major incident.

However, two years earlier, the Institute of Celestial Secrets had already issued a Level Two Recruitment Order, calling upon supernatural organizations across the nation to find a method of extending life. Since then, it had sent out several similar messages at irregular intervals. Now it had raised the recruitment level to the highest, Level Three, which meant the situation was critical beyond measure.

Lu Zhenhai pondered with a darkened expression before clicking the distribution button and forwarding the message to every operations group.

When the Level Two Recruitment Order had first been issued, the Liangzhou Environmental Defense Bureau had mobilized its network of cultivators. It had even located several cultivators specializing in medicine and put them in contact with the Institute of Celestial Secrets. They had done everything they could.

Now that the order had been raised another level, it was obvious that their previous efforts had achieved no results.

But the branch’s connections were limited. It was impossible for a Level Three Recruitment Order to conjure a miracle-working master out of thin air. All Lu Zhenhai could do was distribute the message according to procedure. The result was beyond the bureau’s control.

After dealing with the Institute of Celestial Secrets’ first message, he opened the second.

This one was addressed directly to him. Its subject read: “Request to Review the Records of the Cultivator Zhou Qing.”

Zhou Qing? Lu Zhenhai paused in surprise. Why was the Yizhou Institute of Celestial Secrets looking for him?

Although the Yizhou Institute of Celestial Secrets and the Liangzhou Environmental Defense Bureau both belonged to the supernatural system, they were separated by both region and jurisdiction and had little interaction under normal circumstances.

Only a few days ago, Lu Zhenhai had reported the relevant information to the capital. Now the Yizhou Institute of Celestial Secrets had sent a request for Zhou Qing’s records. Clearly, the matter was extremely urgent.

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He opened the request. In the column explaining its purpose, a single line was written in unmistakable terms:

“Our institute has preliminarily determined that this individual may be connected to the Guardian Celestial Master. We request further investigation and confirmation.”

The Guardian Celestial Master. Even though Lu Zhenhai did not belong to the Institute of Celestial Secrets’ system, he knew that the title could refer to only one person.

Zhou Qing might have some connection to Yuan Tiangang… Combined with the Recruitment Order that had arrived at the same time…

Could it be that the Institute of Celestial Secrets wanted to ask Zhou Qing to treat Yuan Tiangang?

Lu Zhenhai could not help scratching his head.

If they were asking Zhou Qing to kill someone, he would have had no doubts whatsoever about Zhou Qing’s ability. But turning a living person into a dead one was one thing; bringing the dead back to life was another. Did that great master truly possess such a power?

That was what he thought, but the matter involved two supreme masters, and he did not dare treat it carelessly in the slightest.

After pondering for a moment, he picked up the telephone beside him.

“Is that Li Yulan? Tell that young woman under your command to pass along a message for us…”

…

…

“A Level Three Recruitment Order… Calling upon every organization and department to submit methods of extending life… It’s this again.”

Inside the Supernatural Research Institute of the Huaxia Academy of Sciences, Cheng Xiaomeng stared at the words displayed on her tablet and raised a hand to scratch her temple.

Like the Environmental Defense Bureau, the Supernatural Research Institute was also part of the supernatural system and had naturally received the two messages from the Institute of Celestial Secrets.

“If I remember correctly, the Institute of Celestial Secrets sent out a similar message two years ago… Now they’ve sent it again, and even specified the level. It looks like the previous recruitment order had no effect.”

She was offering her assessment when her words caught the attention of Qin Jiajia nearby.

“Who are they trying to extend the life of?”

As she asked, a name had already surfaced in her mind. Cheng Xiaomeng’s next words confirmed her suspicion.

“The messages came from the Institute of Celestial Secrets, and they sent several of them in succession. The only person important enough to make them go to such lengths should be Yuan Tiangang.”

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Cheng Xiaomeng stroked her chin thoughtfully. “They were desperate enough this time to use a Level Three Recruitment Order. It seems that master’s condition truly isn’t good… If he dies, we’re going to have a serious problem on our hands.”

“What? Yuan Tiangang is going to die?”

A researcher nearby immediately widened his eyes upon hearing this. “We finally managed to find a cultural artifact connected to him, and I was counting on using the results for this year’s outstanding-achievement award… If he dies now, won’t the artifact’s value plummet? Is the award I had practically secured just going to fly away?”

“Stop thinking about your award,” Cheng Xiaomeng said irritably. “It’s all still speculation. But if Yuan Tiangang really passes away, quite a few of those monsters and demons previously suppressed by the state will probably emerge again. When that happens, we’ll certainly be caught up in it too. When the nest collapses, no egg beneath it will remain intact.”

“What can we do, then? When the Institute of Celestial Secrets issued a recruitment order before, didn’t the director personally lead the research into life-extending medicine? In the end, it looks like that wasn’t useful either…”

The group continued their heated discussion. At the neighboring desk, Qin Jiajia was deep in thought as well.

Her understanding of the supernatural system was only rudimentary, and she could not fully comprehend everything the researchers were discussing. Even so, she could sense the gravity underlying their conversation, as though a storm were about to break.

Her phone suddenly began vibrating in her pocket. She glanced at the caller ID and hurried outside before answering.

“Hello, Director Li, I’m listening… What? All right, I understand. I’ll give it a try…”

After ending the call, she opened WeChat and tapped the contact named “Qing.”

During their previous dealings, although Zhou Qing had shown no particular interest in the authorities themselves, he had asked her about the current state of the cultivation world.

His level of interest was scarcely greater than browsing newspaper headlines—he had taken no concrete action and merely listened for amusement. But after discussing the matter, the people at the Environmental Defense Bureau concluded that he was still paying attention to developments in the cultivation world. They decided to use that as a way of maintaining contact with him.

Thus, after their last meeting, whenever she heard any news from the cultivation world, she would casually pass it along to him. On the one hand, she was carrying out the task assigned by her superiors; on the other, she was simply looking after the old man from the cultivation world who had been cut off from the internet.

Now her superior had called specifically to ask her to deliver a message. She did not know the precise reason, but since the notification had been issued so formally, she had to take it seriously.

Qin Jiajia thought for a long while before typing a sentence on the screen.

“Zhou Qing, do you know Yuan Tiangang?”

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