# 488
Chapter 488 – Fainted
Living room.
Lin Qiye, Cao Yuan, Baili Pangpang, Jialan, and Zhou Ping sat around the table, all wearing grave expressions… except Zhou Ping.
“Sword Saint senior, that Flame-Vein Earth Dragon is beyond our pay-grade, so…” Lin Qiye began carefully.
“I’ll handle it.” Zhou Ping nodded slightly. “But right now I can’t sense its presence anywhere in the city.”
“Could they have already left?” Baili Pangpang couldn’t help asking. “After all, their attack on Team 008 was more than ten days ago. There’s no reason for them to stay in Lintang so long.”
Lin Qiye’s brows knitted. He thought for a long while…
“Unlikely,” he said slowly. “The Believers have never taken the initiative to hit a local Night-Watch team before. Unless it’s absolutely necessary, they won’t provoke the local garrison—especially a top-tier unit like 008.”
“What if they aren’t Believers at all? Maybe what Jiang Er overheard was just a smokescreen?”
“I don’t think they’d bother lying to a bunch of corpses.”
“Fair…”
“If they really are Believers, and they wiped out the local team on purpose, I can only see one explanation.” Lin Qiye’s eyes narrowed. “They’re planning something big, something that Team 008 might discover and report upstairs. They couldn’t allow that, so they sent the First Seat to silently erase 008. Once the team was dead, no one could tip off the higher-ups.
“That assumption leads to more conclusions.
“For instance, the plan has some limitation that forces them to work inside Lintang City. If they had a choice, they could’ve avoided 008 and carried it out in Anta County where the Night-Watch presence is thin. The fact they stayed here under 008’s nose means they have no alternative.
“In other words—they’re probably still in Lintang.”
Realization dawned on everyone’s faces.
“Where do we start looking?” Cao Yuan asked.
Lin Qiye pondered. “Pangpang, go ask Jiang Er if anything odd has happened in Lintang lately.”
Baili Pangpang grunted an affirmative and stepped into the lab.
A minute later he was back.
“Jiang Er says her ability keeps her tethered to her body, so she doesn’t know much about the city. But… Lintang’s been having a lot of small quakes.”
“Earthquakes?”
“Three tremors since 008 was wiped out. All minor, but quakes are rare here, so it’s weird.”
Lin Qiye leaned back, eyes closed, drumming his fingers on the table.
Believers… 008… First Seat… earthquakes…
“Could their target be underground?” he murmured.
If it’s subterranean, that simplifies things—An Qingyu and I can blanket the ground with our nets. But An Qingyu’s rat swarm needs time to build, and it’s daytime; no nocturnal creatures to scout…
“Here’s the plan: Jialan and I will hit the geology bureau for quake data. Cao Yuan, Pangpang, you two hit the streets—ask around for anything else strange besides the tremors.”
“Got it.”
“Sword Saint senior, coming with us to the bureau or roaming with them?” Lin Qiye asked Zhou Ping.
Zhou Ping’s mouth twitched. “I… I think you’ve got it covered. I’ll wait here. If I sense any odd fluctuations, I’ll move instantly.”
“…Works.”
With tasks assigned, Lin Qiye, Jialan, Cao Yuan, and Pangpang split up and left.
…
Lintang City.
Manor.
Underground.
Shen Qingzhu lifted his hands off the grey altar, glanced around, then pressed fingers to his temples and swayed as if drained.
“Xiao Shen, take a break.”
Ninth Seat walked past, face pale, clearly overdrawn as well.
Shen Qingzhu nodded. They climbed the stairs to the yard, basking in long-lost sunlight and exhaling in relief.
For two months they’d done nothing but eat, sleep, and pour mental energy into the altar. Shen Qingzhu had almost concluded the Believers had switched careers to slave-driving.
Of course, he only pretended to give it his all; he never actually fed the altar. The thing was too eerie. Whatever happened when it fully awakened wouldn’t be good. Every ounce he withheld delayed activation—and bought more room for accidents.
What puzzled him was the string of micro-quakes during the altar’s revival; why hadn’t Lintang’s Night-Watch reacted?
He’d tried several times to slip out and pass intel, but he didn’t know where the local garrison was based and had no excuse to leave. For two months Seventh and Ninth Seats had bought supplies once a month; there was simply no pretext for him to step out.
In the yard, Ninth Seat pulled a cigarette pack, took one, offered another to Shen Qingzhu.
Shen Qingzhu snapped his fingers; twin sparks lit both cigarettes.
Ninth Seat inhaled deeply, exhaled slowly. “The altar’s almost saturated. Two, maybe three days and it’ll fully wake. I’m sick of this damn life…”
Shen Qingzhu’s gaze sharpened. He tapped ash and said, “This isn’t living—it’s slavery.”
“Orders from Lord Yiyu. Nothing we can do.” Ninth Seat shook his head.
“Right.” Shen Qingzhu seemed to remember something. “We’re out of food again. We’ll need another run.”
Ninth Seat sighed.
“What?”
“You’ve never gone shopping with that woman Seventh Seat. Going out with her is worse than slaving here.” He stood unsteadily. “I’ll fetch her. Better finish before dark—I’m not stepping out tomorrow.”
“You sure you’re okay? You’re so drained you look ready to faint.”
“…Should be fine.” He waved dismissively.
Shen Qingzhu’s eyes narrowed at the retreating back, hesitating.
Finally he made up his mind and followed.
He reached out, lightly patting Ninth Seat’s back.
A sudden dizzy spell from oxygen lack hit Ninth Seat; his eyes rolled and he toppled backward.
Shen Qingzhu caught him, staring at the pale unconscious face.
“Told you… you were about to faint.”