Chapter 21: Pingyuan City

Three days later.

“Do you think we lost them?”

“John, why do you always have so many questions?” Scarlett set down her coffee cup and leaned forward over the table. “We flew here, which is definitely faster than that guy. His ship would take at least a week to get here by sea. They’ll definitely land here.” She crossed her arms to show her watch to her partner. “It’s only been three days.”

“But we don’t have enough backup in District Ten. Our small team has to cover this entire city…”

“That’s what we do, John. If you plan to spend decades in the Physical Department, you have to be ready for anything. Especially in a small assessment team like ours—few in number, handling everything ourselves. To deal with that threat entity, the two of us are enough.”

The tacky music in the diner masked their conversation.

To be honest, Scarlett hated District Ten. It sat on the border between the war-torn eastern continent and the central core region—high walls blocked the land border, but the sea was unguarded.

Decades ago, a District Ten official on a whim decided that opening ports in the three coastal cities would boost the economy. Instead, criminals swarmed in.

Now, the entire coastline of District Ten was a gathering place for all sorts of terrible things: arms, drugs, human trafficking… War profiteers from the neighboring districts used every means to smuggle these goods westward. District Ten had become notorious, spreading crime to nearby areas, even attracting worse elements. Ultimately, it had turned into a cancerous tumor.

It was easy to let wolves in, but nearly impossible to drive them out.

Many of her colleagues had paid with their lives in District Ten, and overseeing investigations here was even more difficult.

No member of the Pan-Continental Alliance disliked District Ten more than Scarlett.

“Ugh, the coffee here tastes like mud, and the pizza is like an artifact dug straight from the ground.” Scarlett pushed the pizza away with distaste, sliding her cup far across the table. “You were right—we don’t know the lay of the land in Pingyuan City; we can’t even find a decent restaurant.”

John said, “What if we fail…”

“We won’t—hey, see that rookie journalist squatting outside, counting his money without noticing he’s already being watched? Learn from his tenacity, John. You’re just too pessimistic.”

“How do you know he’s a journalist?”

“Instinct. And the press badge with investigative authority hanging around his neck. I’m done eating. Let’s go.”

Scarlett pushed herself up from the booth.

Her silent, sturdy partner pressed a few bills under the napkin holder and followed.

The tall and short, black and white, but equally muscular partners crossed the gas station and approached the parking lot.

That journalist looked more like a wild man from the mountains—his clothes filthy, shoes caked with mud. He had been squatting by the street, counting the bulging cash in his backpack, thinking he was covering it well, but anyone who glanced could tell he had a lot of money.

Now, he finally looked up from his bag and noticed a few thugs gathering nearby.

He cast pleading glances around, but passersby hurriedly avoided the area.

The thugs’ hands were stuffed in their pockets—guns or knives, who knew—but before they could utter threats, John’s approach caught their attention.

Perhaps wary of the big man, or maybe because of the gun prominently holstered at Scarlett’s waist behind him, the thugs scattered and vanished into the gray street.

Passersby showed mild surprise—helping others wasn’t common here—but within seconds, they resumed their own paths.

John didn’t linger beside the stunned journalist but took a turn to join Scarlett by the car.

“Doing a good deed?” Scarlett teased as she climbed into the passenger seat.

“Good deeds might bring good luck.”

-----

Watching their car speed away, the journalist Shi Rang finally snapped out of his daze.

He had forgotten to thank those two.

He dared not stay any longer. Grabbing his bag packed with essentials, he quickly slipped away.

He moved through the low, crowded houses on the outskirts of Pingyuan City, avoiding alleys filled with voices and quarrels. Counting intersections, he suddenly turned down a side street and disappeared into the darkness.

After a while, the robbers who had been tailing him lost his trail, looked around in frustration, and left.

Security was terrible in District Ten. Pingyuan City was a jungle compared to Yunling City.

Shi Rang had no social ties here; the less time he spent outside, the better.

He listened in the depths of the alley until he confirmed his pursuers had given up, then pressed on.

The alley was narrow, flanked by illegally expanded rooftops. Even daytime light barely penetrated. As he advanced, the walls closed in, his backpack snagging repeatedly, his arms scraping against moss-covered walls.

Shi Rang had taken this path three times before but still felt like a reckless explorer delving into a dangerous cave, moving ever forward on a one-way path, headed for an inevitable dead end.

Before his breathing grew too labored, he kicked something.

Following the clatter of rusted metal, Shi Rang found an iron gate in the darkness. He located the latch and opened it. His next step landed on soft, damp rot. Relieved, he switched on his flashlight, revealing a mountain path—jagged rock walls nearly fused with buildings, leaving a narrow slit for passage deep into the mountains.

Without the information from the central station, God knew how he’d find this path.

The central station’s records were true.

At least, the exploration report was genuine.

[Pingyuan City Mountain Exploration Report]

[After verification, the so-called “Cape Monster,” “Howling Sounds,” and “Mysterious Vortex” are merely natural phenomena occurring during severe weather. No abnormalities were detected offshore during the monitoring period. The area is chaotic with high population mobility; long-term surveillance by special agents is necessary. Below is a safe route discovered in this exploration, leading directly to an abandoned lighthouse atop the cliff. The lighthouse offers a good vantage point and can serve as a long-term observation post.]

[Note: The lighthouse is old and dilapidated, at risk of collapse. Do not climb to the upper levels.]

Shi Rang knew he couldn’t extract any information from the locals. He planned to stake out the smuggling boats directly to find the Greyhound.

Angie’s intelligence mentioned the frequency of their appearances—the next window was this week. To avoid customs inspections, the criminal gang would offload smuggled passengers before docking, ferrying them by small boats to a rocky shore landing, then dispersing them overland into District Ten. The Greyhound was the contact waiting onshore.

The intelligence didn’t specify the landing point or the exact smuggling route—this part was up to him.

If the ship docked at a secret pier, Shi Rang believed he could find it.

…Beyond this faint hope, he had nothing left.

The past three days yielded nothing but glimpses of customs patrol boats rushing out. Today, rushing down the mountain to resupply food and water, he nearly had several cans stolen at the roadside. Luckily, those two had silently come to his aid.

This city was truly dangerous…

It was time to return to the mountain.