Ji Jue moved a bit.

Then moved again, and another time.

Dodging left and right, helplessly avoiding, he pressed down on the dog's head, "Stop licking, bro, no licking—"

The CEO grinned, his tongue hanging loosely, persistently burrowing his head into Ji Jue's embrace, tenacious as ever, and then repeatedly placed Ji Jue's hand on himself, his tail wagging wildly.

With fur smooth and lustrous, once touched, the hand instinctively began to pet.

From top to bottom.

After getting a pleasant rub, the CEO generously lay on the ground and rolled over, showing his belly, signaling Ji Jue to continue.

Ji Jue sighed with a worried heart, too distracted to focus on petting the dog.

Since last night until now, after pulling an all-nighter, his mind was in disarray—The strange occurrences in Spring City were one thing, but the key issue was his own problem.

After all, even if others didn't notice, could he still be unaware?

How did everything in Spring City that had been going smoothly—murder, arson, robbing workshops—all go well, yet he, out of the blue, suffered the edge of transformation?!

Weren't the files cleanly uninstalled last time?! How could there still be residual files?

He was even getting a bit of a rush out of it...

Although it was quite exhilarating, and he hadn't suffered, his understanding of Embers soared, the problem was that the occasion was all wrong!

Spring city now was rampant with Evil, far from the Superior Sanctuary, essentially a literal Demon Realm.

The last time Zhi Fu barely stuck out his head, he got hacked in the face by Ji Jue and didn't even know how many stitches he got, but he definitely was beneath the vortex, beating his chest and stomping his feet—Damn it, you better not let me catch you!

And before long, he was holding a nail clipper, playing pedicurist for big brother Zhi Fu...

Fortunately, Duden, that crappy little thing, was too disappointing for Zhi Fu to even be concerned with, and didn't care. All Ji Jue could do was pray that big brother Zhi Fu, with his vast empire, wouldn't mind the small loss. God forbid he discovers a clue, in a fit of rage, he might shake down a few vans full of people and then Ji Jue would be dealt with.

Ji Jue let out a long sigh, angrily rubbing the dog's head.

"What's up with this damn Sky Rail anyway?" he muttered. "I'm just a temp, understand, a temp who hasn't even signed a contract...

We should treat horses and oxen well, bro. You guys haven't even paid a day of social security for me, and I even have to cover my work-related injuries. How come suddenly I'm on duty doing inspections?"

The CEO grinned and smiled, licking his one and only employee who might be an idiot, without any disdain.

Ji Jue became even more helpless.

Several times he had wanted to yank off his watch and stuff it into the CEO's vest, urging him to find someone more competent.

But he really couldn't bear parting with the years of affection and bond with his watch buddy; besides, even thinking about cutting ties now was already too late.

Where was he when he needed to act?

From the moment his watch buddy saved his life from under a truck, he had been locked into this whole mess.

Even if Ji Jue didn't want to accept responsibility and was determined to freeload, it was he who sought out the Non-attack.

The Non-attack Matrix originated from Saintly Mercury, Mercury belonged to Mo, and the wristwatch came from the Sky Rail Group, which in turn originated from the Central Empire...

It looked like they were from completely separate sources, possibly even incompatible, but somehow the Non-attack and the wristwatch seamlessly connected, even damn well compatible with the edge of transformation!

Ji Jue even felt that these gadgets might actually be part of one whole set!

Who knows how many bowls of beef noodles those crazy Mo Zhe craftsman slapped up with their genius minds and created something so deadly.

Just thinking about what the ancient alchemists' crafts in history were capable of scared Ji Jue.

Now he was trapped in Spring City, struggling to survive, with life already difficult enough, but right after he freeloaded from the edge of transformation, not long after pulling up his pants, the CEO came knocking again.

You guys can't do this to me!

And the CEO, just smiling, licked at his chin and hands and wagged his tail while lying in his lap.

As if awarding a model employee.

Stay calm, Ji Jue, stay calm!

Affability is just the capitalist's disguise!

The greedy executives will squeeze the last drop of sweat and blood from the workers, unceremoniously discarding them like worn-out shoes—how could he be fooled by such sugar-coated shells?

Even if the CEO suddenly said the next moment, "You, go and take out those You Sui Craftsmen," he wouldn't be surprised.

But its fur really felt so smooth.

Slippery to the touch.

Another pet to soothe his battered soul, calm his nerves.

"You can't cheat me, got it? Otherwise, I'm going to file a labor arbitration with the Central Empire... You hear that? Dogs may be man's best friend, but capitalists sure aren't..."

Ji Jue rambled on, his eyes never leaving the crude Melting Furnace in front of him, silently waiting for the blessing to ascend from the Flame Light, for the miracle to take shape.

Yet, he didn't notice that his teammates had been drifting further and further away at some point.

The large hiding spot was almost completely concentrated in another corner.

Everyone huddled together, craning their necks to look at Ji Jue in the corner, at his pattern of caressing the air and mumbling to himself, the hair on the back of their necks standing on end.

"He's not gone crazy, has he?" Jiang Xuan said worriedly.

"He might have been possessed by something filthy!"

Ji Xue said decisively, "Ji Liu behaved just like that when he went to play on someone's grave during summer vacation as a kid. He came back, tore up all his homework, laughed and cried, and even ate poop crazily. A beating fixed him right up, and he forgot everything after waking up."

"I didn't eat poop!" Ji Liu roared.

Ji Xue spread her hands, even more smug, "See, I told you, a beating solved it, right?"

"You're climbing up on the roof, aren't you!" Ji Liu was furious, reaching to pull her hair as the siblings clashed once again, for the umpteenth time.

After a brief calm, Xu Guan sighed and comforted them, "Alright already, don't make up stories behind people's backs. Nobody's perfect, Ji Jue is so sincere and kind. It's only natural to have a few flaws. We should respect and understand him. Maybe that's just how Embers are."

"What's with our Embers?"

Now it was Lou Feng's turn to glare, "We are very normal. You can't generalize based on one example!"

"Ah yes, yes, that's right."

"Everything's normal, all normal."

"We're all one team, loving each other like family!"

For the first time, Lou Feng felt utterly powerless when faced with slander and prejudice.

He could only watch as the craftsman's scant good reputation was completely tarnished by Ji Jue.

And on the other end, Ji Jue's 'madness' finally seemed to have ended.

He respectfully stood up, nodded and bowed to the air, waved towards the corner, bidding farewell to something that didn't actually exist.

Watching this only made Lou Feng feel increasingly weary.

"What the hell are you doing? Did you take the wrong medicine?"

"This is the workplace."

Ji Jue let out a long sigh, "Work degrades people."

He had given up trying to explain to anyone that "there just was a dog here from the Sky Rail Group, the president came to see me, thought I was an idiot, licked me twice and then troted away"... Reality and rationality wouldn't allow it.

Besides, he would rather it had been just a hallucination.

On one hand, contact with a Mo Zhe was far too dangerous, not something you could just go around talking about. Moreover, reality was already troublesome enough; no need to stir up more chaos for everyone.

Boom!

Outside the temporary spiritual barrier, through the observation window, the distant rumbling sound came again.

It hadn't stopped since last night!

Under the seemingly eternal night sky, there were moments when grating sounds of collapse were heard, residual spirits howled, and evil ran rampant; the whole of Spring City was in complete disarray.

The good news was, there was no need for them to send out any alerts: the Evil Cult had taken the initiative, launching their plan. Now, the whole power of Hai Province, let alone the outpost, was probably converging on Spring City, with the Federation's attention focused here...

The bad news was that the Evil Cult seemed to have gone all in.

After abandoning their usual style of fleeing at the first sign of light, they gathered such a huge force and started a tug-of-war with the Security Bureau within Spring City.

In the continuous seismic activity, both sides were fighting to the bitter end.

This time, they were like barefoot people not afraid of someone with shoes, ready to fight the Security Bureau to the end.

And the lockdown inside Spring City had tightened by more than one layer, all routes were completely jumbled up like a maze. In addition, surveillance and detection were densely arranged, not leaving any gaps, as impenetrable as an iron bucket.

Until the situation became clear, to avoid being casually killed by some passersby belonging to Evil Foolish, they could only quickly hide, squeezing into whatever crannies they could find.

Now was the time for Tong Zhiwu's value to be recognized.

Utilizing telekinesis, he moved an entire ruin away, then dug out a basement underneath. After Jiang Xuan reinforced the structure, Ji Jue and Lou Feng started a temporary workshop to isolate the internal and external spiritual substances. Xu Guan then erased and confused their records and tracks.

Finally, they covered the ruins back as they were.

Thus, they barely cobbled together a hiding place; it wouldn't withstand a meticulous search with a magnifying glass, but it could be a temporary refuge for the time being.

Some rested while others prepared, and rolled-up characters like Ji Jue promptly devoted their time to handling stolen goods, aggressively converting them into cash.

At this moment, Mr. Lou's benefits were again evident. Not only could he lend a hand at critical moments, helping with material processing, but he could also pull out such luxuries as a small, portable Melting Furnace from his pocket, which was even a top-notch device tuned by a master.

Although he warned Ji Jue countless times not to break the furnace, when it was time to come together in adversity, he didn't hesitate.

Now, as the fires subsided and the residual heat dissipated, the entire underground space became increasingly stifling.

But his teammates didn't seem to mind much.

On the contrary, they gathered around the furnace like people enjoying the hustle and bustle, keenly watching the live show of the furnace opening as if watching a streamer open kilns to sell teacups.

Seeing Ji Jue's carefree attitude, and unwilling to explain to others the taboo of his behaviour, Lou Feng, who was dragged into assisting, just gave up.

Just watch, he wanted to see too...

What exactly had Ji Jue come up with after messing around for a whole night?

Amidst the fine sound of steel friction, without any dazzling lights or auspicious qi coming from the east, and not even a hint of special effects, a stream of silver light quietly flowed from the furnace into Ji Jue's toolbox.

If anything, the surface of the Mercury seemed shimmering and lustrous, so glamorous it made one want to whip out their phone for a social media snap.

But immediately after, Lou Feng sensed something was off and instinctively leaned in.

Staring intently.

At rest, Mercury should maintain a mirror-like surface by its own mass; how could it be in such constant motion?

But then, his shoulder was grabbed by Ji Jue.

Gripped tightly.

"Don't move—"

Lou Feng instinctively wanted to struggle, but then his pupils swiftly contracted. Among the shimmering, thousands of strands of light, there seemed to be a thread wavering, floating past right in front of his eyes.

As thin as a spider's web.

So light that even breathing could disrupt it, yet so elongate. It soared under the prop of the warm air above the sanctuary, fluttering ceaselessly.

Under Ji Jue's careful control and restraint, it retracted and returned.

Vanishing from sight.

And in the last moment, as that single strand of silver threaded for the last time lightly crossed in front of Lou Feng, without any sensation.

Disappearing from view.

"Is that it?"

He glanced sidelong at Ji Jue, having sweated through the night, wasting so much material, and even investing a blessing, only to produce this thing?

Ji Jue did not answer.

He simply smiled silently, watching him.

From the quiet, Lou Feng's expression gradually changed.

Right in front of his forehead, a strand of loose hair silently snapped from the middle.

Gently falling.

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