Du Yuying walked out of the kitchen, wiped her hands on her apron, and said, "Xiaorui, have a seat, dinner will be ready in half an hour."
"Okay, Auntie."
Li Rui forced a smile, then spoke to Wang Jia, who seemed to want to stay in the living room but couldn't find a good excuse, "There's still a bit of time, you should hurry up and study."
"..."
Wang Jia's resentment +1.
The young girl, shy about insisting on staying outside, turned and went into her room.
Li Rui walked to the balcony, pushed the glass door shut, and took out his phone.
"Hey, Brother Wu, it's Li Rui."
"What's up?"
"I remember the Prophet predicted that the real-world overlap is happening at Celestial King Town, right?"
"Yeah, what's wrong?"
"When is it happening?"
"Tonight or tomorrow, the exact time isn't certain for this overlap. The task is assigned to Group One, I'm not really sure. Stop digging around, you can't go if you're not level 10; it's the rule."
"Thanks, Brother Wu, you take care, then. I'll swing by Guotong Mansion in a couple of days."
Li Rui hung up the phone, his brows furrowing.
He pondered on the balcony for a while but eventually walked into the kitchen: "Auntie, I just got a call, there's an urgent matter, I have to leave, sorry."
Du Yuying was taken aback, slightly annoyed, and said, "What urgent matter could you have? What's the big deal about eating first before you leave?"
Li Rui's mind was preoccupied with Wang Huai, yet due to the confidentiality agreement, he couldn't disclose anything and had to make up a reason about college matters affecting graduation.
Du Yuying, having only attended an electronics college, was not familiar with modern universities. Hearing about graduation impacts, she stopped saying much: "I'll pack you some buns."
Finally, Li Rui left with a bag of buns.
The door closed with a thud, and Wang Jia immediately came out with an empty cup, fetching water while pretending to ask casually, "Where's Brother Rui?"
"He had something to take care of, seems like a school matter, pretty urgent."
"Oh." The young girl returned to her room, slamming the bedroom door as if in frustration.
.....
At that moment, Li Rui wasted no time and hailed a cab straight to Celestial King Town.
That place was under the jurisdiction of Huangliang City, nearly a hundred kilometers away. Even without traffic, it would take over an hour by cab.
Ever since linking Celestial King Town with the real-world overlap, he's felt uneasy, a feeling he valued deeply as someone who's battled danger since childhood.
"I'm not going to be involved, just need to make sure Uncle Wang is safe."
He thought this to himself while dialing Wang Huai's number: "Hey, Uncle, where are you? I know Celestial King Town; I have a classmate who lives there, going to hang out, check on you, oh, Huang Village Group Five, got it."
Li Rui hung up, thinking he'd ask casually when he got there, and would return once confirmed there was no danger.
He glanced at the back of his left hand, where Wen Yan had applied extraction liquid produced in the dungeon, hiding the marks, invisible to ordinary folk.
Having gone through the ten-star Dungeon Demon Wind Temple, the Secret Realm had entered a calm period, with no immediate plans for another entry, leaving Li Rui with nothing much to do.
While he was thinking, suddenly the car vibrated inexplicably, followed by the driver cursing and slowing down, eventually pulling to the roadside and the car broke down.
Li Rui cursed under his breath, thinking his bad luck was activating at a crucial moment, just his doggone luck.
Fortunately, he hadn't gotten on the highway yet, otherwise getting another cab would have been troublesome.
After a bit of hassle, an hour and a half later, Li Rui finally got off the cab a few kilometers away from Huang Village Group Five near Celestial King Town. When the driver turned around and left, he glanced around, found it deserted, then sprinted straight to the mapped location.
As a Secret Realm agent far beyond the ordinary human realm, Li Rui's running speed could easily break world records, though there were restrictions; participating in sports among ordinary folks was not allowed due to unfairness and the risk of exposing Extraordinary Power.
Soon, Li Rui arrived at the place where Wang Huai was stationed, and immediately upon stopping, he sensed something unusual, reminiscent of the feeling before all the demons in the Demon Wind Temple were activated.
This was a rural area, without police stations or anything like that, so Li Rui could only gather information by asking around.
Coincidentally, a snot-nosed kid with a backpack happened by.
"Hey, little brother, have you seen Uncle Police around the village lately?"
The kid glanced at him dismissively, eyeing the remaining buns in his pocket.
Li Rui resisted the urge to give the kid a big sackful, handing over the buns instead.
"Seen him, just under Bull Head Mountain, guarding the mountain entrance every day, said they don't allow anyone to go up there lately."
The kid, savvy in exchange for benefits, spoke freely, "Our classmates say there are ghosts in the mountain, but I think they're naive. There can't be ghosts in this world."
Li Rui chuckled, "What do you think is the reason, then?"
"There's Ultraman in the mountain."
".....You're quite mature."
Li Rui got the specifics of the checkpoint set up at Huang Village Group Five, sent off the kid, and ran alone down a village path to the destination, hoping to find Wang Huai at the mountain base.
.....
Wang Huai had originally served in the city and suddenly found himself inexplicably transferred to Celestial King Town, which was indeed unjust. Just because he was born there, the superior's office, familiar with his situation, listed his name.
However, in reality, he had grown up in the town and was unfamiliar with Huang Village Group Five. But with the decision made by the office chief, there was no room for dissent, so he ended up feeding mosquitoes for several days.
Now, he and a local village official were crouched by the roadside eating watermelon, their duty being to guard the road leading into the mountain, preventing residents from entering without permission.
"Officer Wang, just what's going on?" The village official, named Li Lu, was merely an accountant, arranged there due to his genuine familiarity with local conditions.
Wang Huai took a bite of watermelon, "No idea, orders are orders, stop poking around."
Li Lu scratched his head, "We're scared, the village elders say, it's... it's like there's ghost trouble in the mountain?"
"Tch, impossible!"
Wang Huai glanced at him, "We have so many police here, you've seen the special forces even; if there were ghost trouble, they'd deal with it. Saying there are ghosts is like claiming there's Ultraman in the mountain."
Li Lu giggled dumbly, thinking that made sense.
The two weren't particularly acquainted, having different living environments and little common language; after exchanging a few words, they silently continued eating watermelon.
At this moment, as the sun set, the blood-red dusk, looking from the slope into the village, was indeed beautiful.
While the two were immersed in the scene, a burst of laughter suddenly reached their ears.
Wang Huai jolted awake instantly, turning back to see the silhouettes of several kids darting up the mountain, vanishing into the woods.
"Not good! Someone's gone up!"
He abandoned the watermelon, sprinted frantically.
He wasn't sure what was in the mountain, but he knew the scale of the operation was significant, mobilizing police forces from surrounding areas to assist.
Thus, with several kids intruding into the restricted area, he had to stop them; the only puzzle being, how those children, appearing no older than seven or eight, managed to bypass all pathways visible from there.
He hadn't time to ponder that, only shouting into the walkie-talkie as he ran: "Zone 17, Zone 17 has villagers intruding, a group of kids."
After speaking, he continued chasing alongside Li Lu, unaware that the walkie-talkie signal had been disrupted by some force.