Chapter 69 Closure "How could I possibly stand idly by?"...
This remote voice companionship is definitely not what Shuqing meant by "a little while".
When the voice call was first connected, Shu Qing couldn't hear any breathing or heartbeat. She could only hear a sound in the treatment pod that resembled flowing water or a gentle breeze—somewhat like the soft white noise of modern times. It sounded unfamiliar at first, but a sense of familiarity welled up from her soul. She guessed it was the sound of spiritual energy flowing.
For the first hour, Shu Qing could only hear the background noise on the other end of the call; then she heard muffled voices and footsteps, as if there was a layer between them, and she couldn't hear them clearly.
Then came the heavy sounds of moving things, the sound of something heavy hitting the ground. Shu Qing guessed that the treatment pod was being loaded onto the plane, and they were now heading back to the capital.
She smiled silently.
Although she couldn't see what Jiu Su looked like now, it was nice to be able to hear the sounds around him from afar, as if he were sleeping right next to her.
She listened as they changed Jiu Su's treatment pod. Jin Wanli must have given instructions, because the person changing the pod didn't ask any questions and put Jiu Su's phone in the new pod as well.
Just by hearing, she could tell that the treatment room in the capital was more effective than the one in City B—the sound of the spiritual energy flowing was clearer, and she could vaguely hear something like the eye of a storm or a vortex, indicating that the spiritual energy was gathering.
Four or five hours later, just before going to sleep, Shu Qing finally heard soft breathing coming from the other side. The sound was extremely light and faint; if it weren't for its irregularity, it would almost have been drowned out by the sounds of spiritual energy.
She listened to the phone for a while, imagining that Jiu Su should have regained his human form by now, and the phone was probably next to his head. He must not be sleeping soundly; his injuries hadn't healed, and he might not be conscious, but she still wanted to say something to him.
Shu Qing cupped her hand to her mouth and whispered to him, "Xiao Hong, goodnight."
The next morning, she was awakened by a shrill alarm on the receiver.
Once it starts, it weakens; once it starts, it weakens; and finally it's exhausted. When Shu Qing heard the alarm again, she no longer felt fear. Her mindset at this moment was almost like that of someone who had finally let loose after the final exams and received their scores—though things didn't go as planned, they had expected it.
Her first thought was, "Oh, here we go again."
Shu Qing didn't even want to get out of bed. She turned over as the alarm sounded, pricked up her ears, and listened for a while.
Jiu Su's breathing was more noticeable than yesterday, but he still didn't wake up. Whether startled by the alarm or still subconsciously reacting to the sound, his breathing became rapid and erratic, as if he was agitated or struggling to wake up.
"This is none of your business," Shu Qing said softly. "Don't worry about anything, just keep sleeping."
It's hard to say whether her reassurance worked or whether the collar Jiu Su was wearing responded to the command from over a thousand kilometers away. In any case, Jiu Su's breathing gradually calmed down, and she fell asleep again amidst the endless alarms, this time sleeping peacefully.
As Shu Qing listened to his calm breathing and the chaotic footsteps and voices gradually fading away, she knew that the Supermarket Management Bureau must have started operating at high speed again.
I don't know what's going on this time. The one that started the fire was level 7, and the one that Jiu Su held down was level 8. Surely a level 9 one won't appear today?
She thought aimlessly: The first incident happened mainly because the traffic management bureau didn't react in time. Now that they're prepared, there shouldn't be any problems, right?
However, it turns out that this was just a beautiful illusion.
Less than two hours later, she saw the results on the news: a supernatural being of magnitude 7.6 went out of control in a residential area of S City, triggering a small earthquake that caused houses to collapse and resulted in hundreds of casualties.
This time, the Superpower Management Bureau couldn't outrun the speed at which the supernatural beings went out of control. The entire network shook along with City S, with doubts, fear, and anger quickly sweeping across every corner of sight.
Shu Qing took off a rose pendant that had turned pitch black from her neck and put on another one that was still white and beautiful. Jiu Su had made several of these easily consumable and important items in advance and stored them in her bedside table. It was unclear whether he was hoarding or had already foreseen everything that might happen.
She opened her short video platform and found that there were two sources of pollution: a group of anthropocentrics were indiscriminately attacking all the monster-raising content creators, and she, as a top content creator who cooperated with the official, was the first to be affected; the other was people who were frightened by earthquakes and fires and wanted to get some comfort from her, which spread a wave of anxiety invisibly.
Shu Qing watched for a while, then turned it off. At this moment, she felt that saying anything or saying nothing would be irresponsible, so she simply chose the easiest option among all the "irresponsible" choices.
Information online can be forcibly blocked with the white rose pendant of Jiu Su, but things in reality cannot be blocked and must be faced.
Yesterday, Jiu Su forcibly suppressed the riotous supernatural creature in City B. This gave her and Qi Yun a bit of wishful thinking, so they didn't announce the closure of the store or take any emergency measures.
When the news came out, Shu Qing's reaction was already quite fast. She rushed to the studio immediately, announced that the business would be temporarily closed for the day, saw off the morning's customers, and prepared to send the little monsters back to the Super Management Bureau for care.
Even so, her worst fears came true. First, the shopkeepers next to her studio pointed and whispered, "They've got a bunch of monsters living here! I'm constantly on edge, worried something's going to happen. Sigh, how can a human live with monsters like that? They should get rid of them as soon as possible. They're like ticking time bombs, terrifying!"
Once the first person spoke, many others chimed in, "That's right, if we don't deal with them soon, won't they go crazy?"
"How terrifying! There's a monster's den right next to my workplace..."
"Young people these days value fame and money above all else, they're willing to risk their lives!"
"You can do whatever you want, but don't gamble with public safety!"
Shu Qing gritted her teeth, gulped down a mouthful of ice water, and instinctively learned how to suppress the surging anger in her heart and shut her mouth. She hurriedly sent the little monsters to the car outside.
Fortunately, this was the time when people were most afraid of supernatural beings, and no one dared to lay a hand on them; at most, they just stood around and talked.
Instead, the Super Management Bureau employee who came to pick up the little monsters couldn't stand it anymore. He slammed the car door open and shouted, "That's enough! These little monsters, all level 1 or 2, aren't much stronger than ordinary small animals. They can't eat people!"
"Tch," people were already dissatisfied with the Supermarket Management Bureau for failing to contain these two disasters, and its official status had lost its authority. One person in the crowd shouted, "Wait until they devour people, then it will be too late! You take taxpayers' money and all you do is tell everyone to 'treat us well,' 'treat us well.' Now that something has happened, you all cower in the shadows, unable to do anything, and you still try to show off to us?"
"Exactly! Are you protecting the people, or just supernatural beings?"
"So many people are suffering in the news, what have you done?"
"Inaction!"
There was also a young man around twenty years old who squeezed to the front of the crowd and threw something forcefully in this direction.
Shu Qing initially thought it was some kind of rotten rock or egg and was about to dodge it when she noticed out of the corner of her eye that the numbers on the energy meter on her wrist were jumping. She caught the thing in her hand; it was a small, fluffy object, actually a baby auspicious bird.
Half of its beautiful five-colored feathers had fallen out, and its beady black eyes were filled with fear. Perhaps it sensed something reassuring from Shu Qing, because it whimpered and buried itself in her palm.
She thought to herself, "You guys weren't there when it came to solving problems, but now you're all doing a great job bullying little monster cubs!"
Shu Qing glared at the group, turned around, got into the car, closed the door, and treated them to a sumptuous meal of exhaust fumes.
The glares and curses were left behind. Qi Yun, a young lady of high birth, was experiencing such humiliation for the first time in her life, and she sat in the back seat grumbling and cursing.
The Supernatural Affairs Bureau employee who came to pick them up was driving while suppressing his anger. Shu Qing lowered her head to comfort the little auspicious bird and asked, "Have you investigated why so many monsters have gone out of control?"
"No, not yet." The employee of the Supermarket Management Bureau shook his head and sighed. "Director Yang and Professor Xie are both investigating and have their own guesses, but they can't draw any conclusions. If Director Yang hadn't been busy investigating the cause, he could have personally led the team to the site, and things might not have turned out like this. Sigh."
Shu Qing remained silent and took out her earphones. She hadn't hung up the voice call yet, originally just wanting to hear Jiu Su's breathing again, but as soon as she put on the earphones, she heard Jiu Su softly call her: "Ah Shu".
Shu Qing's gloomy mood vanished instantly, and she exclaimed with delight, "Xiao Hong!"
"When Youling Studio had that accident last time... you were still frantically calculating money, not daring to spend a single penny more on food, clothing, or daily necessities." Jiu Su's voice was still very weak, but she teased her with a smile, "Not this time? You've been on voice calls for a whole day and night... Aren't you worried about the data usage?"
Shu Qing paused for a moment, then asked, "Did you hear that?"
"Mmm," Jiu Su said softly, "I heard everything. I'm sorry... I can't be with you at a time like this."
"What are you saying? You're still injured. How are you now? Are you feeling better?"
"It's alright," Jiu Su said nonchalantly, subtly tucking the diagnosis report that read "Severe depletion of demonic power, requires immediate infusion of spiritual energy" under her pillow in case Shu Qing suddenly decided to video chat later. "I'll be fine after a few more days of sleep... Don't worry."
Shu Qing said "Oh," accepting his explanation with some skepticism. Then she heard him say, "Why don't you stay home for the next couple of days? I've set up defensive formations at home, so it's safe for now. And unless absolutely necessary, please don't go to the Super Management Bureau..."
"I know." Shu Qing heard his voice getting weaker and weaker, and her heart jumped again. She didn't want to talk about anything else at this time, so she just went along with him and said, "I'm not going anywhere. I'll stay at home with my parents, and I won't let them go out either."
Jiu Su gave a soft "hmm".
Shu Qing said gently, "Go back to sleep."
Another very soft "hmm" was heard, and slowly, the breathing on the other end of the receiver calmed down again.
Shu Qing leaned her head back against the car seat, gazing at the scenery rushing past the window, silently thinking about the recent incidents of monsters going out of control.
The person behind the scenes remained unhurried, seemingly having enough interest and patience to observe how things unfolded. The Super Management Bureau resolved one incident of a monster going out of control, and the very next day, he released another one, ordering the people in the Super Management Bureau to use the alarm as their daily ringtone, much like a game planner methodically releasing new levels.
She's a player who loves to explore on her own and creates her own guides. Waiting for others to figure things out and relying on them to solve the puzzles is not her style—especially since the fire has already spread to her in the last few days. Relying on others is clearly unreliable.
"Silly Little Red," Shu Qing thought to herself, "how could I possibly stand idly by?"
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