In a corner of the city stood a shop resembling a coffee house, its orange light spilling through the glass. Above the shop’s signboard was carved the name “Doan,” with a certain significance.
“Ding-a-ling!”
A small, silver-white bell hanging from the beam would chime whenever someone approached the door. And at this moment, the front gate welcomed its first guest of the approaching evening.
“The bar is as comforting as always.”
The young woman stood outside the coffee house, her eyes scanning the familiar scene inside. It felt like a different lifetime, as if she had returned to that day – a thin mist swirling, an encounter with a Siren on the road, and a fierce battle that barely allowed her to reach this bar.
Recalling it now, the entire disaster was perhaps a test. With the Night Watcher’s scale, it wasn’t too difficult to resolve, but no one had expected her to actually infiltrate the special laboratory.
Nor had they expected her to obtain such classified documents.
“Welcome.” The electronic voice chimed again with the wind bell, giving one the feeling of entering a convenience store.
Gently pushing open the door, Su Jiu entered the bar and met several sharp gazes, like those of hawks. But the gazes quickly retracted. After all, in a “bar,” it wasn’t uncommon to see passersby.
She smiled. She wasn’t a regular face to this establishment. She greeted the female attendant who was on guard for Youyou:
“I wanted to ask, is the Old Man in?”
The female attendant looked young, around twenty years old, with a pretty-good appearance and shoulder-length bobbed hair. Upon hearing Su Jiu mention the “Old Man,” her eyebrows rose slightly, and she said indifferently,
“He took the child out for a walk.”
“Alright, I’ll wait for him here then.”
Su Jiu nodded and walked directly into the dark room behind. As she approached the door, she could already smell a hint of a nightclub – a wine cabinet, music, and a DJ booth.
“It’s not open to outsiders. You need to show your identification. I’ve never seen your face before.”
The voice of the female receptionist sounded again. She had come out from behind the counter and was now in front of Su Jiu, appraising her from head to toe. In her eyes, Su Jiu looked no different from a high school student.
The bar sold hot food outside, and the Old Man often appeared outside watching television, familiar with many ordinary people. Therefore, she wasn’t too surprised that Su Jiu knew the Old Man.
“You’re new, aren’t you?”
Hearing this, Su Jiu didn’t say much, merely smiling as she reached for her identification. She remembered that her ID might have gotten damp and moldy, and she wasn’t sure if she could still find it…
However, it seemed her ID was special, containing some notes from “Miss Roland.”
“Bai Linlin, due to a shortage of personnel in Huainan, we were transferred from other regions.”
Hearing the girl’s words, the female attendant seemed to understand something, and her expression relaxed as she began to speak. The most basic requirement for a dispatcher was to be sharp.
With Su Jiu’s tone, she was very likely an internal staff member.
Perhaps a local member who had just started an internship.
As Su Jiu searched, she curiously asked, “Is it because of the recent serial murder cases?”
“Yes, but there are also some other reasons…”
Bai Linlin nodded, and a betel nut appeared in her hand who knows when. She peeled it and chewed, as if people in such stressful professions often had their own ways of relieving stress.
Su Jiu was stunned, paused her mental power detection, and looked over curiously. It seemed that something else had happened in Huainan without her knowledge.
Without making her wait too long, Bai Linlin continued, “A red tide has been quietly spreading from the North Sea region towards the Zhu Sha Group Islands, seemingly caused by someone massively hunting and fishing for underwater monsters. The path along the way looks exceptionally neat, giving the impression of being deliberately arranged. However, the Dragon Hunters have investigated but found no corresponding clues…”
“And because it has severely affected the local fishery, the local government has ordered that the cause be identified as soon as possible. Now, three major forces are involved, and even civilian organizations have been mobilized. As the Night Watcher numbers here are the lowest in the country, we can only deploy personnel from more prosperous regions.”
Su Jiu listened and silently took note of this. Such an orderly layout reminded her of Northern Europe – the Thirteen Cities of Maoxiong.
The Thirteen Cities carried out their arrangements in a similar orderliness, the difference being that they were divided by cities and residents, while here it was not so obvious, and it all happened in uninhabited waters.
But all of this was just speculation without evidence.
The cover of the second volume of the original work was “The Old Man and the Sea,” an oil painting cover with a generally Greek feel. Of course, it might have been inspired by Hemingway’s work, but it could also be hinting at something…
She understood that to know if the two were related, she needed to know where her elder brother-in-law, Bai Ming, was hanging out. This guy really liked to roam around, and it took him a long time to reply to messages.
It gave the impression of having too many fish in the pond and being too lazy to reply.
Without overthinking, Su Jiu continued to search her ring for the ID she had misplaced, even pulling out her student ID with green moss growing on it…
And the Shiyu Order was also nowhere to be found.
“Big… Big Sister?”
Just as Su Jiu’s mouth twitched and she put the student ID back, a slightly mature voice of a young man came from behind her. Turning around, she saw a familiar face. His dark complexion was adorned with a playful smile.
It was her younger brother, Su Xiao Yu, who had always been working by the old man’s side.
“Brother, have you been officially transferred?”
Su Jiu found she had to look up to meet her brother’s gaze. He had grown to be over 1.85 meters tall and was wearing a black trench coat, looking like Sheriff Blake from Jackie Chan Adventures.
Before Su Xiao Yu could answer, Bai Linlin beside him exclaimed in surprise, “You’re Xiao Yu-ge’s sister?”
“Authentic, real sister – Stop laughing!”
Hearing this, Su Jiu rolled her eyes and then pointed her “Great Desolation Prison Heaven Finger” at the smirking younger brother, almost instinctively thinking he had caused trouble again.
“Alright, alright, Big Sister, you guys chat.”
Facing his own elder sister, Su Xiao Yu seemed to be suppressed by his bloodline, instantly shutting up, shrugging, and then quietly pulling out a cigarette from his trench coat pocket and lighting it.
His appearance bore no resemblance to the pathetic child he once was.
Looking at her younger brother, who had changed so much, Su Jiu turned to the attendant Bai Linlin and asked, “What’s going on? Has this brat gotten into trouble again?”
After all, it had never been a time when Su Xiao Yu was involved that she didn’t have to clean up his mess.
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
However, his strength had already reached the Demigod Level before hers?
Although her own bloodline was too powerful and various other things had delayed her cultivation, and she had intentionally suppressed it, resulting in a slight disadvantage, his cultivation speed was still too fast, wasn’t it?
His progress was probably on par with Bai Ming.
Of course, Su Jiu felt that her younger brother’s combat power would at most be able to contend with a Quasi-War God.
“N-no, nothing like that.”
Upon realizing that Su Jiu was Su Xiao Yu’s biological sister, Bai Linlin’s tone suddenly became respectful, even a bit timid. She mumbled quietly, her gaze stealing glances at Su Xiao Yu, with a hint of faint admiration in her eyes.
“Once this red tide is resolved, Xiao Yu-ge will soon become an Elder. You know, an Elder at eighteen years old. Even in Liusu Province where I am from, such a case has never been seen.”
Su Xiao Yu proved with his actions that as long as one became excellent, there was no need to fawn or cater; a hundred flowers would naturally bloom to welcome them.
“Hmph, this brat has been with the Old Man for so long, he should have some skills by now.”
Su Jiu could naturally perceive the admiration in her words. At this moment, she finally realized…
She had only interacted with peak powerhouses, forgetting that her younger brother achieving this level was already a genius among geniuses.
Knowing Su Jiu’s identity as Su Xiao Yu’s sister, the attendant no longer blocked her, instead making way for her, and then quietly returned to the front desk.
Finding that she didn’t need to provide proof, Su Jiu was happy to be leisurely. She found a sofa in a corner and plopped down on it, bouncing a couple of times. Her eyes were slightly narrowed, like a little cat.
“Big Sister, why are you like a child?”
After greeting the attendant Bai Linlin, Su Xiao Yu also sauntered over and sat on a chair a short distance from Su Jiu, feeling genuine reverence in his heart for this sister who looked cute but was actually decisive and fierce.
He remembered finishing training with Old Man Li Er and lying exhausted on the back of a tricycle, gazing at the blue sky. He had curiously asked,
“Mr. Li, you always say that after I unseal my bloodline, I inherit my mother’s blessings and grow very rapidly. But I can barely reach the threshold of the Golden Generation. Is there anyone above me?”
The old man just glanced back at him, then got on his old bicycle. As he pedaled, he said, “There were two people. One was named Tong. After his parents died, the person handling the affairs sent him to me in a subtle way. He is your Senior Brother…”
Su Xiao Yu could see the old man’s thin but resolute face slightly furrow, then a smile welled up, a smile filled with pride, but also a trace of sadness. He understood why…
Over tea and meals, he had incidentally heard that this Senior Brother had betrayed them and become a member of the Ancient God Sect, whom the old man hated the most.
He quickly changed the subject: “What about the other one?”
The old man chuckled, his pedaling speeding up considerably. But the person he named made the young genius gasp in surprise:
“You know her. She is your sister – Su Jiu. She is the true Golden Generation. In terms of character, bloodline, and even courage, she is stronger than you. If she had been born in my era, she would undoubtedly be a leader of some organization.”
“Mr. Li’s era…”
He clicked his tongue, and Su Xiao Yu felt his throat dry. He knew the old man was born in an era where “The Others” ran rampant, a chaotic era where even a War God could not escape the turmoil.
The human and monster leaders within were all heroes who had walked through seas of blood, each with a faith that blocked the sky, wielded their sabers against “The Others,” and stood above all sentient beings.
“Did that girl just say you’re getting promoted to Elder?”
The young woman’s voice broke Su Xiao Yu’s reverie. He looked up slightly, glancing at “Su Kitten” who had curled up into a ball, and scratched his head sheepishly.
“It’s kind of an expedited process the Old Man set up for me. Since it wasn’t dangerous and the mission level was very high, I was allowed to investigate.”
