Upon seeing the new notice, Lu Ren instantly understood why Xu Wenxing had seemed so hesitant just now.
He was probably worried that Lu Ren wouldn’t be able to handle this explosion case or purify the Shadow Beast.
“Relax, it’s just a petty clown. It won’t cause any serious incidents,” Lu Ren said offhandedly.
“…Then, Brother Ren, are you confident you can deal with him before this explosion happens?” Xu Wenxing asked.
“No, I think we’ll have to let him run wild once more before we can settle it.” Lu Ren smiled and shrugged. “But don’t worry—third time’s the charm. The third explosion warning definitely won’t succeed.”
“Since you put it that way, Brother Ren, I guess I have no choice but to believe you.”
Though he didn’t know where Lu Ren’s confidence came from, seeing Lu Ren’s self-assured expression, Xu Wenxing’s worries vanished without a trace.
He believed his all-capable roommate could handle this Monster.
Believe. Only by believing can it become reality.
“Though what you say sounds a little dangerous, thank you for your trust anyway.” Lu Ren handed the phone back to Xu Wenxing. “I’ll stop its plot before the third explosion happens.”
“Mm, with you saying that, Brother Ren, I can rest easy.”
Xu Wenxing took the phone, shoved it back into his pants pocket, and continued walking toward the school with Lu Ren.
Lu Ren, meanwhile, quietly looked up at the twinkling stars overhead, thinking about his next move.
……
In the blink of an eye, both of them had returned to their dorm room.
Xu Wenxing, wearing headphones, continued battling in the gaming world.
Lu Ren, on the other hand, held the phone the authorities had given him, reading a message sent by Sapphire.
“Blazing Flame, Meteor, a new notice has appeared—the target this time is the bumper car attraction at the amusement park.”
“Director Xu just called me. He hopes we can resolve this explosion case as soon as possible, and not let this Shadow Beast cause any more damage.”
“Do you have anything to say? Or any useful intel?”
Within the large chat window, the three messages from Sapphire hung there alone on the left side, with no one replying.
It really was tough for Sapphire and Meteor.
With no leads at all, they still had to grit their teeth and try to handle such a tricky foe.
Lu Ren looked at the blank chat box, thought for a moment, then sent out the intel he’d gotten from Pandora.
The three of them were on the same side now—sharing information would help them resolve the problem more efficiently.
“This Monster’s real target is Saturday’s concert. If we fail to stop the explosion on Friday, the next target will be the concert on Saturday night.”
After sending the message, Lu Ren quickly received a reply from Sapphire.
“Blazing Flame, you’re a huge help! Now I know what this Shadow Beast is planning!”
“It wants to attack the singer on stage in front of a huge crowd, to trigger public panic over the Shadow Beast!”
“Not only this Shadow Beast—other Shadow Beasts have also caused havoc in human cities for this very purpose!”
Reading Sapphire’s message, Lu Ren couldn’t help but chuckle.
As expected of Sapphire—she’d deduced even more useful information from just the one piece of intel he’d provided.
Thankfully, she didn’t ask how he’d gotten it, or Lu Ren would have had to think of a way to explain without arousing suspicion.
“If this Shadow Beast’s target is the concert, then we don’t need to stop Friday’s explosion. Let it happen as planned, so we can gather more intel.”
“Blazing Flame, Meteor. Are you free on Friday? Can you head over to the amusement park?”
Just as Lu Ren was feeling impressed by Sapphire’s deduction, a few more messages from her popped up.
Though he wanted to agree, Lu Ren felt a headache coming on at the thought that he’d already missed the Professor’s class last Friday due to fighting Monsters.
The Professor had already warned him—next class he’d be asked questions, and if he skipped again, it wouldn’t look good.
His public identity was still a university student. For the sake of his credits and GPA, he had to attend class.
It was better to let Sapphire and Meteor investigate the scene.
Lu Ren thought for a moment, then typed a reply.
“Sorry, I have class on Friday. I can’t make it.”
“Understood. Blazing Flame, you haven’t signed the Official Contract with the authorities yet, so you can’t just skip classes. Meteor, what about you? Want to check out the amusement park for clues?”
Sapphire immediately replied to Lu Ren’s message, and at the same time called Meteor in the group chat to ask for her thoughts.
Meteor hung up on the voice call quickly, but didn’t respond for a while.
It was only two minutes later that Meteor finally replied.
“Go to the amusement park to gather intel? Sure! I haven’t been to the amusement park in ages!”
“Alright, Friday morning at 9:30, see you at Bishui Lianhai Amusement Park, Meteor.”
“No problem!”
Once the time was set, Sapphire and Meteor stopped messaging.
Lu Ren put down his phone and stood up to stretch, already mentally prepared.
A Monster who can plant timed bombs, huh? I’ll let you gloat for a few more days.
……
Day turned to night and back again—time flew by.
In the blink of an eye, Friday morning had arrived.
Inside the Chief’s office at the A City Monster Response Department, Xu Panfeng sat in his chair, looking at a message from an old friend.
“Brother Xu, some people are saying you pay too much to special talents, making them misunderstand the actual value of money.”
“They want you to cut part of their wages, and let these special talents earn money through high value-added activities.”
“That way, it’ll both motivate them to work hard and stimulate economic growth. Two birds with one stone.”
“Brother Xu, what do you plan to do?”
Having lived so many years, Xu Panfeng naturally understood his friend’s implication.
Someone wanted him to put pressure on the Magic Girls in the department, forcing them to earn money through idol activities.
Up until now, only Magic Girls could handle Shadow Beasts, yet why did they always want to force Magic Girls to make money as idols?
No matter how tight the economic situation, combat personnel shouldn’t be forced into such roles.
It was a profession that consumed enormous energy.
Dance training, instrument training, singing training…
Every aspect of being an idol required huge time investments for any payoff.
What were they thinking? Did they believe that the capable should work even harder?
Enough already…
The recent thread deletions on the Forum, and the promotion of A City’s Magic Girls’ heroic images, were all building momentum for future idolization activities.
Did they want him, the most crucial piece, to nod and break the taboo, reigniting the former Magic Girl idol era?
They sure were underestimating him.
Xu Panfeng didn’t believe in the kind of world where good people always had guns pointed at them.
If they wanted to revive that old glory, they’d best look elsewhere.
Right now, the explosion case needed urgent attention—he couldn’t let Sapphire and the others be distracted by such things.
Thinking of this, Xu Panfeng couldn’t help but smile.
He took out a “Special Talent Special Operation Application Form” from the drawer and carefully studied the entirely blank mission content and blank departmental comments, as if admiring an Imperial Jade Seal.
Then, smiling, he picked up a black gel pen from the pen holder and casually signed his name under the approval comments.
“Xu Panfeng.”