Burnt Rock City, within a spacious room on the top floor of a building.

Clad in casual wear, Gao Qing stood before a massive floor-to-ceiling window, her expression somewhat grim as she looked at the patch-style communicator on the back of her hand.

She had called with good intentions to ask about his situation, but he had retorted sharply before she could even finish speaking.

A similar thing had happened the last time she called him.

Is this kid...getting arrogant after visiting the Crane Sect?

Gao Qing was so annoyed she couldn't help but grind her teeth.

She really wanted to call Lu Yuan right then and there and tell him—

Do you know how much risk I faced to get you this incredibly detailed guide for the assessment? Do you know how much it cost me? I poured months of my salary into it, just hoping you'd do well in the assessment… And this is how you treat me?!

However, despite her anger, Gao Qing calmed herself and continued to worry about Lu Yuan's situation.

It was her own fault. She had been reckless, not thoroughly investigating the changes to this year's new recruit assessment system before hastily submitting the evaluation report.

Losing her bonus was one thing; the main issue was that the disciplinary action would affect her future promotion prospects, not to mention that she had hidden it from Zhou Ling…

If this blew up, not only would their friendship be over, but her reputation within the White Bear Guard would also suffer.

Gao Qing could only try her best to rectify this oversight.

Should I order a set of micro-armor exoskeleton for that kid? His strength must have improved significantly since he just returned from receiving the core inheritance of the Heaven Water Crane Sect. With the exoskeleton's assistance, attaining an S-rank evaluation might not be impossible…

However, unlike New Martial modifications, exoskeletons don't require a long adjustment period, nor would they cause rejection issues like mechanical augmentations… But would such assistive tools even be allowed under the rules?

Gao Qing rested her chin in her hand, pondering this question.

The Yellow Bear's previous action-oriented new recruit assessments didn't prohibit the use of exoskeletons.

Besides connections and personal wealth, a key criterion in the assessment was also new recruits' aptitude for using new types of combat weapons.

It was similar to the old firearms used by the Old City Circle's armed forces.

The same firearm, in different hands, could unleash vastly different levels of power.

Some might only manage to shoot around their targets, while others could become sharpshooters who hit their mark every time.

The assistance an intelligent support system could offer in combat was very limited. Talent and aptitude have always been the primary factors determining the ultimate heights one could reach in any given field.

However, the reformed assessment format seemed to focus more on the baseline abilities of new recruits in their 'unequipped' state.

Existing cybernetic modifications might be permissible, but bringing equipment... that was debatable.

Gao Qing flipped through the guide she had spent a fortune on but couldn't find the answer she was looking for.

She was about to call the person who sold her the guide to ask for clarification when, just then, the door to the room was forcefully pushed open, and two people strode in quickly.

"Chief Gao!"

Gao Qing turned to see two tall men approaching her with serious expressions.

"What's going on?"

"An emergency situation!"

One of the men, with a buzz cut and one eye emitting a dense blue light, spoke gravely, "The mission has changed. The Heavenly Eye just detected an extremely strong Evil Energy Fluctuation approaching us..."

"What?!"

Gao Qing looked startled, then quickly asked, "What's the exact situation? Give me the details."

For the large-scale Crow God Sect civilian massacre and sacrificial ritual in Burnt Rock City, a total of four White Bear Guard teams had been deployed for the cleanup operation.

A small incident occurred midway: Zhou Ling's team suffered heavy losses—they were nearly wiped out—and had returned early to recuperate.

This left the other three teams, including hers, to continue operations in Burnt Rock City.

Everything had been proceeding smoothly. The entire cleanup mission was just about to wrap up with some final sweeping work when this new Evil Energy Fluctuation suddenly appeared, creating unexpected complications.

The man with the buzz cut lightly tapped his temple.

His blue-glowing eye projected a three-dimensional holographic map into the air before the three of them.

It was a real-time map of Burnt Rock City and several nearby cities.

A red blip, clearly visible on the map, was rapidly moving towards Burnt Rock City at a speed discernible to the naked eye.

"...According to the Heavenly Eye monitoring data sent from headquarters, this Evil Energy Fluctuation appeared today at 7:20 AM, which was three and a half hours ago. Its origin point was Tiger Demands District in Pingyao City. In just over three hours, it has traversed nearly seven hundred kilometers and appeared near the mountainous region of Burnt Rock City... Analyzing its trajectory, it is highly probable that it is heading towards the urban area..."

Gao Qing's expression grew slightly tense. "What's the intensity of this Evil Energy Fluctuation?"

The buzz-cut man didn't speak, but the other man, who had shoulder-length hair, replied, "The Heavenly Eye assesses its intensity to be between A and A+. It's most likely... a Divine Envoy-level individual from the Crow God Sect, possibly even... a Strong Divine Envoy."

HISS—

Gao Qing couldn't help but suck in a sharp breath. "A Strong Divine Envoy?! How dare they? Are they not afraid of provoking the Skytop Sword?!"

"That's why we said 'possibly'… we can't be certain."

An A to A+ strength evaluation signified an Evil Divine Envoy, possibly even a Strong Evil Divine Envoy.

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