Chapter 403: Chapter 359: The Bus Exploded

Town Martial Department Headquarters.

An imposing and magnificent office building.

As Lin Yi stepped out of a car,

Meng Die and Yang Biao personally came over to greet him.

"Sister Meng, Brother Biao, I can’t believe you two came to pick me up in person."

Lin Yi said with a smile.

By now, he had a certain understanding of Meng Die and Yang Biao’s status in the Town Martial Department.

They were essentially Elder He’s right-hand man and woman.

They were the ones who personally handled all the important matters.

Their standing was far beyond what Wei Shang and Feng Lei could compare to.

What Lin Yi hadn’t expected was,

not only had Old He sent a private car to pick him up from the hotel,

but even Meng Die and Yang Biao were waiting for him downstairs personally.

Meng Die smiled. "Elder He is still tied up with a few things. Otherwise, he would have come himself!"

"Come on, let’s head up!"

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Lin Yi followed Meng Die and the others upstairs.

Old He’s office was on the sixteenth floor.

The three of them stepped out of the elevator when it reached their floor.

There, they saw several staff members, and upon seeing them,

they all greeted them one by one with broad smiles.

Their gazes also lingered on Lin Yi with a hint of curiosity.

When Meng Die led Lin Yi to the door of Old He’s office,

they could see someone inside reporting to Old He through the window.

"Let’s wait here for a moment."

"Things have been really busy lately. Elder He has to handle everything himself, so he’s completely swamped!"

Lin Yi nodded and walked over to a nearby sofa to sit down.

Soon, a staff member came over carrying three glasses of a mixed beverage.

Lin Yi said his thanks and took the drink.

Fortunately, it wasn’t a long wait—only a few minutes.

The person in the office left.

Only then did Meng Die get up and walk over.

She knocked on the door. After it opened, she went inside and said a few words.

She then came out and said with a smile, "Go on in. Elder He is waiting for you!"

Lin Yi put down his drink, thanked Meng Die, and walked into the office.

As soon as the door closed, Old He said with a laugh, "Work has been just too busy. I haven’t been able to get away. You must have been waiting anxiously, haven’t you?"

After speaking with a kindly smile,

Old He walked out from behind his desk and sat down on the sofa with Lin Yi.

Lin Yi smiled. "It’s fine as long as I didn’t interrupt your work!"

"I came today to ask what it was you wanted to discuss, Elder He. We’ve been in Jingzhao City for several days now. If there’s nothing else, I think it’s about time we headed back."

In truth, Lin Yi had come here today to say his goodbyes.

The only reason he had stayed was because Old He had said there was something he wanted to talk to him about.

But after waiting for two or three days, he hadn’t heard anything from Old He.

And this morning, what Xiaoqi had said left Lin Yi with a strange sense of unease.

’It felt like something was about to happen.’

That was why he had come to find Old He—to check in with him.

And to let him know he was leaving.

Old He nodded. "I’ve taken up too much of your time these past few days."

"Sigh, I just can’t get away from work, really... The truth is, I asked you to stay because I wanted to ask if you’d be willing to work for the Town Martial Department!"

"The Town Martial Department?"

Lin Yi gave Old He a slightly strange look.

After a long moment, he couldn’t help but laugh. "Elder He, I’m a student at Xingwu University. The Demon Hunting Bureau should be the more appropriate career path for me. Besides, your Town Martial Department has strict entry requirements, needing multiple rounds of screening to pass..."

"You’re overthinking it!"

"Anyone else wanting to join the Town Martial Department would naturally have to go through multiple rounds of screening, but you’re different. ree

As long as you’re willing, we can process your enlistment anytime!"

"As you know, the Town Martial Departments in various regions have suffered heavy casualties recently!"

"The situation is not much better than the Demon Hunting Bureau’s. Even Wei Shang and Feng Lei are hospitalized with injuries now!"

"The situation is grim. Those Blood Handprints haven’t been cleared out yet, and time waits for no one!"

"If you were willing to join the Town Martial Department, it would be like gaining another great general!"

"I believe that with you leading the Left and Right Guards, you could certainly intimidate those troublemakers!"

"We could also get rid of all those Blood Handprints sooner!"

As he finished speaking, Old He secretly watched for any change in Lin Yi’s expression.

The next moment, he added with another smile, "Of course, whether you’re willing or not is entirely up to you. I won’t force you or put any pressure on you!"

"Oh, right. Don’t you have a few friends who also stayed behind in Jingzhao City?

You can ask them later. If they’re willing to join the Town Martial Department, they can be enlisted along with you!"

Lin Yi looked up at Old He.

’He could only say that Old He was opening a back door for Wei Nan and Zhou Qi.’

Normally, joining the Town Martial Department required passing through multiple layers of screening.

Things like realm requirements were the most basic.

There were also evaluations of one’s character, morals, and so on.

In short, joining the Town Martial Department wasn’t just about meeting certain hard requirements.

According to the Town Martial Department’s standards, character and morality were even more important.

Wei Nan and Zhou Qi wouldn’t need to pass any of that and could be enlisted directly.

It was all on account of Lin Yi.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t even qualify for the evaluation.

After a moment, Lin Yi nodded. "Alright, I’ll go back and discuss it with them."

"I’ll give you an answer soon!"

Seeing Lin Yi concede, a faint smile crossed Old He’s face.

Then, Lin Yi continued, "Elder He, does the Town Martial Department, or perhaps the Demon Hunting Bureau, have some kind of plan in the works recently?"

"Hm? What do you mean?" Old He asked, startled and confused.

"It’s nothing, just asking. Lately, I’ve been feeling a bit..."

Before Lin Yi could finish his sentence,

suddenly, the office door was thrown open.

Old He’s expression darkened, and he looked up, anger rising in him.

A young Town Martial Department staff member ran in, his face filled with panic.

"What is it?"

Although Old He’s expression was grim,

the people who worked here were all very disciplined.

They would never be so rash unless something urgent had happened.

The man’s face was terrified as he said, breathing heavily, "Elder He, we—we just got news! A bus heading back to school... it—it exploded on Fengming Road!"

"What?"

"A bus heading back to school?"

Both Old He and Lin Yi shot to their feet.

Lin Yi’s expression changed drastically, and he immediately ran outside.

Because just before he came here, his Senior Brother Zhong Yan had called him.

He’d told him they were returning to Dragon Tiger Mountain today.

And they had chosen to take a bus back.

This made Lin Yi’s heart pound with anxiety.

Without waiting for the elevator, he transformed into a streak of golden light and vanished.

Old He, right behind him, also walked out of the office.

Meng Die and Yang Biao, who were looking utterly confused, quickly stood up and said, "Elder He, what happened? I saw Lin Yi..."

"A school bus exploded on Fengming Road! Take some people and go check it out immediately! Find out which school it was!"

"Yes, sir!"

Hearing this, the expressions on Meng Die and Yang Biao’s faces changed dramatically as well.

They hurried into the elevator and headed downstairs.

...

「Fengming Road.」

This was the commercial heart of Jingzhao City.

It was also the most crowded area.

And on a road situated between three shopping malls,

the scene was one of utter devastation, filled with wails of agony.

Many people nearby had been caught in the blast.

In the middle of it all, a burning bus billowed thick black smoke.

The entire bus was engulfed in flames, and the fire showed no signs of diminishing.

It was already nearly burned down to an empty frame.

Inside, there was no sign of anyone struggling...

The first to arrive on the scene was the Public Security Bureau.

They immediately secured the area.

After them, ambulances from the Medical Bureau arrived one after another to treat the injured.

When a golden light appeared on the scene,

and the light faded, Lin Yi stared at the bus, his face a mask of terror.

In that instant, a wave of grief washed over him.

Watching the burning bus, Lin Yi’s eyes gradually turned red.

But he didn’t know what to do.

After a short while, all kinds of sirens began to wail.

Fire trucks, police cars, and Town Martial Department vehicles converged on the location from all directions.

The surrounding crowd of onlookers all backed away,

afraid of a secondary explosion...

["We’re sorry, the number you have dialed is busy. Please try again later..."]

Lin Yi held his phone, dialing Zhong Yan’s number over and over again.

But all he got was the same cold, automated message.

He stared at the burning bus.

For the first time, he felt completely and utterly helpless.

No matter how high his realm was now, he still couldn’t save the people inside that bus...

"What are you doing here?"

Suddenly, a familiar voice sounded from behind Lin Yi.

Lin Yi froze for a second, then whipped his head around.

When he saw the person who had spoken, he glanced back at the burning bus.

"Senior Brother Zhong Yan? You—you weren’t on the bus?"

"Pfft..."

Zhong Yan couldn’t hold it in and burst out laughing.

"What, were you hoping I was on that bus?"

"What goes through your head all day, kid?"

Hearing this, Lin Yi’s emotions seemed to finally break.

He rushed forward and pulled Zhong Yan into a tight hug.

After a moment, Zhong Yan started coughing. "*Cough, cough, cough...* Let—let go of me! You’re gonna strangle me!"

Hearing this, Lin Yi finally let him go.

Zhong Yan caught his breath and then said with a laugh, "Not bad. I guess I didn’t dote on you for nothing. You actually know how to worry about your senior brother now, huh?"

"You could say we got lucky. We were actually supposed to be on that bus!"

"Right after I called you, we had already boarded and were about to leave."

"But then, it seemed like something was wrong with the bus. It wouldn’t start!"

"I saw that and thought, ’This won’t do, it’s too much of a delay,’ so I had everyone get off and we switched to another bus!"

"Who would have thought, not long after we left, it caught up to us and kept trying to cut off our bus!"

"Right when the explosion happened, our bus had just been stopped by a red light, and that one sped on ahead!"

"Just as it got here, the bus exploded!"

"Man, that giant fireball... you weren’t here to see it, but it was spectacular..."

While Zhong Yan was saying all this,

Lin Yi’s brow furrowed deeply. "Senior Brother Zhong Yan, could it be that someone was deliberately targeting you?"

"Targeting us? What do you mean?"

Zhong Yan glanced at Lin Yi.

Although he had already suspected the same thing,

he hadn’t said it out loud because he was afraid of worrying Lin Yi.

It failed to start for no reason, then cut off their new bus for no reason.

And finally, such a massive explosion occurred.

The driver was surely dead, but thankfully, there was no one else in the vehicle.

Although pedestrians and other cars were caught in the blast,

that was unavoidable.

All signs pointed to someone deliberately targeting Dragon Tiger Mountain.

It was just that whoever planned this never imagined Zhong Yan would have his students switch buses.

If he had insisted on waiting on that bus and hadn’t switched,

they might have already reported to the Yellow Springs by now.

"Senior Brother Zhong Yan, have the other universities left yet?"

Suddenly, Lin Yi realized something else.

He quickly turned and asked.

Zhong Yan shook his head. "I don’t know. I don’t think they’ve left yet."

"I think they said they wanted to stay and hang out for a couple more days?"

"We have to stop them..."

Just then, Meng Die and Yang Biao arrived on the scene with their people.

Just as they reached Lin Yi,

he said urgently, "Sister Die, the other universities might be in danger too! Stop them from leaving by bus immediately!"

"What? Okay... wait, slow down! Aren’t you going to take a car...?"

Just as Meng Die processed this and was about to ask Lin Yi to get in a car,

she saw him transform into a streak of golden light and vanish on the spot.

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