# 417
**Chapter 417 – Entering the City**
“Baili Tuming’s team application?”
On the phone, Ye Fan’s voice carried a hint of confusion. “When did you submit Baili Tuming’s application? I didn’t see it when I was reviewing the files.”
Lin Qiye stood by the window, phone in hand. At those words, he froze.
“But I clearly submitted it—together with Cao Yuan and An Qingyu’s applications,” Lin Qiye said after carefully recalling the details.
On the other end of the line, Ye Fan fell silent for a long moment, followed by the rustling of papers.
“I definitely didn’t receive Baili Tuming’s application,” Ye Fan said firmly. “Either the file went missing along the way… or someone deliberately withheld it.”
“Withheld it?” Lin Qiye couldn’t help but ask. “Who would want to block Baili Tuming’s application?”
“Most likely someone inside the Night Watch. Don’t worry about it for now—I’ll handle it,” Ye Fan said after a pause. “Also, remind Baili Tuming to submit another application.”
Lin Qiye nodded. “Got it.”
He hung up and gazed out at the desolate suburban landscape, his brow slightly furrowed.
It was just a missing file, but for some reason, Lin Qiye couldn’t shake a growing sense of unease…
He picked up his phone and dialed Baili Pangpang’s number three times in a row. No answer.
“What did Commander Ye say?” Cao Yuan asked, walking out from the living room.
“He said the file either went missing or was withheld,” Lin Qiye replied honestly. “But I have a feeling this isn’t as simple as it seems…”
Cao Yuan nodded. “What do you want to do?”
Lin Qiye lowered his head in thought. “Check if An Qingyu’s experiment is almost done. If it is, we’ll book flights to Guangzhou-Shenzhen immediately.”
…
Guangzhou-Shenzhen City, highway entrance.
A large truck rumbled to a slow stop at the roadside. The driver pulled the handbrake and stepped out of the cab.
In front of the truck, a few traffic officers carefully inspected the exterior, as if searching for something.
“Hey friend, what are you checking for?” the driver asked, walking up to one of the officers and offering a cigarette with a smile.
The officer glanced at him, waved the cigarette away, and asked, “What’s in your truck?”
The driver blinked. “Just top-quality pigs!”
“Open it up.”
Seeing the driver hesitate, the officer pointed at the cargo hold and repeated, “I said open it!”
“Alright, alright.”
The driver grabbed the door and yanked it open. With a groan of metal, the door swung wide, releasing a wave of stench that made the officers wrinkle their noses.
One of them, covering his nose, swept a flashlight through the dim interior. Dozens of fat, white pigs were crammed inside, grunting softly.
“Move along!” the officer said with disgust, waving the truck off and walking toward the next vehicle.
The driver nodded obsequiously, slammed the door shut, and hurried back to the cab. He released the brake and drove off, the truck disappearing down the road toward the neon-lit skyline of Guangzhou-Shenzhen.
No one noticed the chalk mark suddenly appearing on the roof of the cargo hold, drawing a large circle. The next moment, a section of the thick wall vanished, and a filthy figure crawled out, collapsing on top of the truck, gasping for air.
“Cough cough… damn, that stench almost killed me,” Baili Pangpang wheezed, his face pale.
He looked around, confirming the truck had turned onto a quiet side road with no surveillance cameras, then leapt off the roof.
After rolling a few times to break his fall, he melted into the shadows beside the road and vanished.
Since escaping the woods, Baili Pangpang had randomly flagged down a passing truck and used his Spatial Chalk to hide inside. Unfortunately, it turned out to be loaded with sows. He endured the stench for six long hours.
Before sneaking in, he’d checked the license plate—Guangzhou-Shenzhen registration, heading toward the city. His guess had been right.
At the toll station, sensing something amiss, he’d used the chalk to punch a hole in the roof and hidden on top, avoiding inspection. Once the officers left, he slipped back inside to avoid the cameras.
Exhausted both physically and mentally, Baili Pangpang stood atop a small hill, gazing at the glittering city lights. His grime-covered face showed no emotion, but his fists slowly clenched, his eyes turning sharp.
“Guangzhou-Shenzhen… I’m back,” he muttered.
He stared at the city for a moment longer, then started walking. Entering the city limits didn’t mean safety—here, under the thumb of the Baili family, danger multiplied.
As the largest conglomerate in all of Great Xia, the Baili Group’s influence stretched across the nation like a vast web. Guangzhou-Shenzhen sat at its center, the most tightly controlled zone.
Eyes of the Baili family were everywhere.
Getting home safely meant slipping past every one of them—something he couldn’t do alone. Under their watch, not even a fly could sneak near Baili Group’s territory unnoticed. He needed help…
But the four Forbidden Artifact users he trusted most—Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water—had already betrayed him. Who else could he trust?
Baili Pangpang crouched, wrote a few names in the dirt with a twig, then crossed them out one by one.
Anyone connected to the Baili family was out. He had to look beyond them…
Finally, his gaze stopped on one name.