Chapter 63: Chapter 62: "It feels like popping the champagne early.
The wooden stakes not far away were already leaning haphazardly, and the bodies tied to them were already bloodied and indistinct, with even some limbs strewn aside.
It was cold.
The bodies had not yet begun to rot, but they looked unsightly and emitted a strong smell, harboring many bacterial risks, and most importantly, they weren't durable.
Just one night and they'd fallen into this state?
Chen Miao, who had this scene etched into his memory, felt a slight headache coming on. It seemed he needed to move up the plan to buy Hungry Monkey a dummy, but a dummy wasn't cheap, and he didn't have that much money on him.
Right now, he only had 17,720 Star Coins and about a hundred thousand credit points in his pocket.
Just got up and didn't want to think about these troubles.
Chen Miao shook his head and decided not to think about it anymore, when Yuan Buping and others crawled out of their graves nearby, evidently also having just woken up, they quickly washed up and ran over.
"Miao, good morning."
"Hmm, go collect the bodies on those stakes and stuff them back into the coffins," he instructed.
"Got it!"
With a serious look on his face, Yuan Buping nodded, rolled up his sleeves, and ran towards the distant stakes.
...
Not much later.
Hungry Monkey also woke up, and after a groggy wash, he stepped outside the tomb chamber, sat on the steps, lit a cigarette, and took a puff as he gazed into the distance, still half-asleep, murmuring, "Miao, what's the plan for today?"
"Today is the last day,"
Chen Miao stood still, leaning on his cane, and spoke softly, "Tomorrow the big event officially begins. Let's have a good meal today to reward ourselves. Once we get through this event, things will be much easier for us."
"Reward,"
After a pause, Hungry Monkey absentmindedly mused, "Feels like we're popping the champagne early."
At that moment, his wristwatch vibrated slightly. After a glance, he looked at Chen Miao and said, "Miao, the Deputy Director is here, came personally, already at Sankui Wasteland, brought a wristwatch for you, Miao."
"Came personally?"
Chen Miao's eyebrows quirked for a moment, then he nodded thoughtfully before getting up and walking outside with his cane, "I'll go have a look by myself. You guys clean up here, and when I come back, we'll head to the city."
"Okay."
...
He had initially intended to send Yuan Buping to pick it up, but since the Deputy Director had personally delivered it, he guessed there was something he wanted to talk about.
It wasn't long before.
Chen Miao saw a middle-aged man standing on the Sankui Wasteland, a private car parked behind him—not the one he'd seen the night before. This was the man he'd seen in the car that day.
He scanned the surroundings, then walked up close to the man and greeted him with a light chuckle, "Good morning, Director."
"Hmm."
The man was not too surprised by Chen Miao's appearance, merely took a paper bag out of the car and handed it to Chen Miao, "This is your wristwatch. All the information has been entered into it. From now on, your registered residence is in Fengtian City."
"You can have unrestricted access to any public building in Fengtian City."
But after a pause, the Deputy Director spoke again with a slightly complex expression, "Was it you last night?"
Last night's incident did not die down, but instead stirred up quite a commotion in unseen corners of Fengtian City.
He was just a Deputy Director of the Law Enforcement Bureau—whose primary responsibility in Fengtian City was to handle cases and maintain order— and compared to departments like the Events Bureau, he could not access too much information from above. But his political instincts had remained sharp over the years, and he could sense there were quite a few undercurrents surging beneath Fengtian City, with the source being none other than Chen Miao, who had appeared out of nowhere the night before.
"Maybe."
Chen Miao gave a noncommittal and casual answer.
"Up to now, the information I have is that several powers, although they have not found your specific details, have almost confirmed that you are a local from Fengtian City. These powers are all preparing to recruit you, which might not be very good news."
"For these forces, if you refuse their recruitment, it's highly likely they won't let someone with an unfamiliar face rise up again."
"There wasn't enough time yesterday, and the Director also received orders to pull files from the archives to search for the name Chen Miao. Many people were watching me, and I couldn't free up my hands to contact you. For safety's sake, when I entered your information into the household registration, I changed your name to Chen Yishui."
"That way, they temporarily can't find your information in the archives."
"As for other means, I can't manage that, and there's only so much I can do."
The middle-aged man in front of him spoke with a complex expression. The risk involved in this matter was actually quite high, but he had no choice but to take it. If Chen Miao were to be found, the fact that he had taken the 60 "AI Pills" would also be exposed.
Accepting a large bribe + possession of contraband.
The crimes were not minor.
However, in most cases, even if discovered, as long as it didn't cause a public scandal and remained unknown to the citizenry and could be handled internally through certain connections—property confiscation + suspension + at most a few years of probation.
Then the matter would be over.
But now countless big shots in Fengtian City, even including Fengtian City's government team, were searching for Chen Miao. At such a time, once Chen Miao was found, with so many eyes focused here, his slight infraction would stick out sorely.
In Fengtian City.
Whether one would be sentenced to the full extent of the law or have a major issue downplayed depended often on how many people saw your dirty laundry.
"Oh?"
Chen Miao fiddled with the wristwatch he had taken, turned it on to find the household head's name was indeed Chen Yishui, and then looked up at the man before him with a smile, saying, "Thanks, you've been quite thoughtful."
The notice from the previous night had indeed caused him a bit of trouble. Though becoming famous early is good, it's better to keep a low profile before attaining a certain level of strength.
"Mm-hmm."
The middle-aged man took a deep breath and paused for a moment before speaking. "To the common people, the Law Enforcement Bureau is a department with real power, but for beings like you who are supernatural, the Law Enforcement Bureau mostly maintains order at the scene during supernatural events."
"We're now on the same side."
"The position of Deputy Director of the Law Enforcement Bureau is somewhat superfluous and can't offer you much help. I want the position of Deputy Director of the Events Bureau. That position has a lot of real power, and the Deputy Director is also first in line to lead a team during supernatural events, unlike the Director who has more concerns about answering to those above. It will be of great help to you."
"You have to help me."
"I need to move up."
The night before last, even though Chen Miao had a gun to his head in the car, he wasn't very afraid of Chen Miao himself—it was only out of fear for the Chi Family behind Chen Miao.
But now, it was different.
After last night's events, he realized one thing: Chen Miao could become a real pillar of support for him.
In Fengtian City.
A supernatural being with overpowering strength is a very good pillar of support.