Chaos was the best cover.
Under the cover of the crowd, Shi Lei, carrying the unconscious Auntie Wang and leading the two terrified children, followed Ling Feng's guidance and slipped into the long-abandoned underground pipe network.
They didn't return to their own shelter. Although safe, it wasn't suitable for housing ordinary people.
Shi Lei's knowledge of the area once again played a crucial role. He led the group through the labyrinthine underground passages for nearly half an hour, finally arriving at a hidden location deep within an abandoned subway station.
Here, there was a small, underground clinic.
An old doctor with white hair and a beard, wearing an old-fashioned monocle and perpetually smelling of a mixture of herbs and disinfectant, received them.
People called him "Pops." No one knew his real name, only that he had once been a surgeon in the civilian district and was forced into exile in the Rust Belt after offending some powerful figure from the upper districts. He was one of the very few people in this land who dared to openly defy the rules of the Iron Fist Gang.
"...Concussion, plus extreme fright, and a bit of malnutrition."
Pops, with his hands full of wrinkles and scars, carefully examined Auntie Wang and said in a hoarse voice, "She'll live. Let her sleep here for a day, drink some of my medicine, and she'll be fine."
He then looked at the two children huddled in the corner, secretly watching Ling Feng and Shi Lei with a mixture of fear and admiration.
"As for these two little ones," Pops sighed, "their bodies are fine, but the wounds in their hearts might take a lifetime to heal."
Shi Lei took out a whole box of expensive, military-grade regenerative gel that he had "confiscated" from Warehouse B and placed it on the table.
"Pops, this is for the medical fees, and for their food."
Pops glanced at the valuable medicine, then raised his single eye and looked deeply at Ling Feng.
"I heard about what happened at the square," he said, his tone unreadable, neither praise nor worry. "You've stirred up a hornet's nest. I know Buck better than you do. He won't let this go."
"We know," Ling Feng replied calmly.
Pops was silent for a moment, then nodded.
"Leave them with me for now. Buck's hand doesn't dare to reach this far," he said, taking the medicine. "But you two, you need to disappear, and fast. There's only hope if you stay alive.".
...
When Ling Feng and Shi Lei returned to their own shelter, they were physically and mentally exhausted.
Especially Ling Feng. The earth-shattering "steel storm" had drained almost all of his spiritual energy, leaving his brain feeling hollowed out.
But he couldn't afford to rest.
He immediately sat down cross-legged, held an energy lattice, and began to circulate the "Stellar Transformation" technique to repair and nourish his damaged mental sea.
Shi Lei, on the other hand, was in charge of keeping watch, and... digesting everything that had happened that day.
Meanwhile, the fire they had lit in the square was spreading throughout the Rust Belt at an unimaginable speed.
That night, in every underground bar in the Rust Belt that still served drinks, the myth-like story of what had happened at noon was being told.
There were many versions of the story.
Some said that an ancient god of steel lived beneath the Rust Belt and, unable to tolerate the Iron Fist Gang's tyranny, had sent down divine punishment.
Others said it wasn't a god, but a mysterious hero from the upper districts with powerful awakened abilities, who had come specifically to punish evil.
Some even swore that it was a metal-manipulating ghost from outer space.
But no matter the version, all the legends shared a common name.
They didn't know Ling Feng, and they didn't know Shi Lei.
They called the mysterious entity that had unleashed the steel storm in the square and issued a judgment-like declaration—
"The Soul of Rust."
For a time, this name became the word that all the residents of the Rust Belt privately repeated with a mixture of awe and excitement.
It was like a stone thrown into stagnant water, creating ripples in the hearts of countless people who had long been numb.
While they feared the Iron Fist Gang's crazed retaliation, for the first time, a tiny seed of "hope" was planted in their hearts.
Iron Fist Gang Headquarters.
The atmosphere in Buck's office was as oppressive as a tomb.
"Butcher" Hake knelt on one knee, not daring to breathe. He was still wounded, and the gash on his face from the debris made him look even more ferocious.
Buck was still slowly, methodically polishing his alloy fists.
He wasn't angry; he didn't even look at Hake.
"A spiritual energy wielder..." Buck said softly, as if to himself. "Able to trigger a large-scale physical collapse, precisely interfere with human movement, and conjure up that... steel storm. This is not something an ordinary awakened person can do."
He turned his head, his gaze behind the gold-rimmed glasses as cold as ice.
"Brute Bull is awake. He said the opponent's spiritual energy was like an incomparably sharp 'sting.' In just one encounter, the opponent used an unbelievable method to detonate the energy lattices around him."
"Boss, it was my incompetence!" Hake kowtowed heavily on the floor.
"No, it's not that you're incompetent," Buck shook his head. "It's that we've encountered a new, never-before-seen 'species'."
He stood up and walked to the window, looking down at the steel kingdom he ruled, which was now turbulent with undercurrents.
"Send out my orders."
"First, block all supply channels to the civilian district. I want the entire Rust Belt to starve. I want to see if their bones are harder than their stomachs, or if their so-called 'Soul of Rust' can conjure bread out of thin air."
"Second, go to the black market and contact the 'Cleaners.' Tell them I have a big job for them, worth a hundred thousand credit points. The target is a... wild, extremely dangerous spiritual ghost."
A cruel, cold smile appeared on Buck's lips.
"Since the rules of the underworld don't work anymore,"
"Then I'll use more professional, more expensive rules to... have some fun with him."