"I have one more question."
Zhou Chen organized his thoughts. "If it really was Eternal Fire, why would they make such a scene in the warehouse? If it weren't for the Fire Slaves, they might not have been exposed so quickly."
"There are two possibilities."
Jiang Che said coolly, "One, someone wanted to frame Eternal Fire and divert the blame, buying themselves time. But with that Fanatic named Shen Xi present, that theory falls apart."
"Two, Eternal Fire did it on purpose."
"On purpose?"
"What kind of organization do you think Eternal Fire is?" Jiang Che asked.
'How would I know? I don't even know what the Abyss is...' Zhou Chen simply shook his head, indicating he didn't know.
Jiang Che took back her tablet. While approving various files that popped up, she explained:
"Eternal Fire is an Abyssal Sect formed by humans who worship the King of Chaos. To put it simply, they're an anti-social, anti-human Cult. They're all a bunch of unhinged Fanatics, so it would be logical for them to do something crazy. If this was a deliberate provocation on their part, it would make sense.
Besides, they weren't just provoking the Star Association; they were also provoking Xi Feng."
Zhou Chen scratched his head. He pretty much got it now. 'They're a bunch of anti-human Cultists, all completely obsessed. It's true that nothing they do should be surprising.'
"As for the Abyss—"
Jiang Che paused. "You can think of it as Hell. A Hell that embodies all Darkness, and the greatest threat humanity faces."
"Then what about the King of Chaos?" Zhou Chen asked, unafraid to show his ignorance. 'With a badass name like that, it must be powerful, right?'
"It is one of the seven Abyssal Kings currently known to humanity."
Jiang Che's tone grew a little solemn. "A long time ago, the Star Association's Abyss monitors detected traces of its activity.
Its first appearance in this World was on August 19th, Year 112 of the New Calendar. A group of Eternal Fire Fanatics held a sacrificial ritual in a North American city of 600,000 people. The King of Chaos answered the call and descended as a projection. The entire city was annihilated in an instant. None of the 600,000 people survived. To this day, death flames still burn there.
From then on, Eternal Fire's infamy reached its peak, making it one of the most notorious Abyssal Sects in the World. It remains a major headache for the Star Association, causing countless losses every year."
Zhou Chen was stunned. "Then isn't Jinzhu in great danger right now?"
'It'll be a disaster if that group of Fanatics decides to hold some kind of ritual again. Even if they don't perform a sacrifice, just stirring up trouble could probably cause enormous damage.'
"When has this World ever not been dangerous?"
Jiang Che said calmly, "Eternal Fire has been lying low for a long time. Now that they've surfaced for Xi Feng's shipment, the Star Association won't let this rare opportunity go. You should get some rest. There will be new missions soon."
As she spoke, she took a special tablet out of her bag.
"This is your office equipment."
Zhou Chen froze for a second, then quickly said, "Wait, am I going to be doing both fieldwork and internal affairs?"
'Even a commune's donkey wouldn't be worked this hard!'
"As my subordinate, is there a problem with helping me share my workload when you're not on a field mission?" Jiang Che asked, her face expressionless.
Zhou Chen felt a chill from her stare and could only reply weakly, "No problem..."
"The things I'm having you handle are simple, like compiling, archiving, and uploading the personal information and assessment data for the new recruits. That shouldn't be too difficult for a university student, right? If you really can't manage, there's a fool-proof mode."
"Ah... In that case, it's fine."
"Also, that chainsaw—" Jiang Che pointed to the head of the bed. "It's yours now. I'll send you a link with the relevant information. Make sure you take good care of it."
"Thank you," Zhou Chen said sincerely.
'A Forbidden Object isn't something you can just give away casually.'
The Star Association had always been extremely strict about the containment and management of Forbidden Objects. Although he was now Soul-bound to the chainsaw, who knew if the Star Association had the technology to unbind them.
Even if they didn't unbind it, there would have been no shortage of necessary reviews and interrogations before they'd let him use the chainsaw as a spoil of war.
But thanks to Jiang Che's maneuvering, all the reviews and interrogations were waived, and the Bloodthirsty Chainsaw naturally became his.
Without Jiang Che stepping in, none of this would have gone so smoothly.
Jiang Che nodded slightly and stood up. "If you really want to thank me, then work hard for me."
With that, she turned and left.
Leaving Zhou Chen alone on the hospital bed.
He leaned against the headboard and looked at the Wish Bottle deep within his Soul. Two specks of Star Dust floated inside. One was obtained from Yang after killing the Fire Slave, and the other probably came from Jiang Che. 'She must have had a wish for me to complete the mission.'
'It's too little... far too little...' Zhou Chen couldn't help but sigh.
He had a hunch that, in gaming terms, these wish points, as minuscule as specks of Star Dust, could probably only be called "fragments." They wouldn't even count as one full wish point.
In other words, he hadn't even managed to accumulate a single basic unit of wish points yet.
Zhou Chen scratched his head in frustration. 'At this rate, how long will it take to save up enough wish points to wish for my Soul to be made whole?'
'Looks like preparing a backup plan was a wise choice after all.'
But he quickly felt relieved. Although he hadn't collected many wish points on this mission, he had obtained a Forbidden Object and Fire Slave Crystals that could be sold for over 400,000. No matter how he looked at it, it wasn't a loss.
No, he'd actually made a huge profit.
After taking stock of his gains, Zhou Chen picked up the tablet and began organizing the data.
He was someone with a mild case of both OCD and procrastination. How to put it... If a simple task was placed in front of him, he would definitely force himself to finish it as soon as possible.
Then slack off.
But if it was a complicated task, he would take his sweet time, slacking off while he worked, and finish it just before the deadline.
Then continue slacking off.
"Chen Shu, twenty-two years old. After seeing the Goddess he had a crush on appear in a domestic porn video, he was overcome with grief and unexpectedly awakened. He has since become a regular at various nightclubs, living a debauched private life... What the hell is this? How can someone awaken like that?!"
Zhou Chen was utterly shocked. He continued to flip through the other files.
"Wang Hai, twenty-three. Worked as a food delivery driver after graduating from university. Got into a car accident this March. Before passing out, he forced himself to stay conscious long enough to format his phone, awakening on the verge of his limit..."
Zhou Chen was at a loss for words. 'This reason for awakening is so weird too.'
"Xu Yixin, nineteen. Impetuous and aggressive since childhood. A year ago, got into an argument while playing basketball at school and agreed to a fight. After arriving at the arranged location that night, he was ambushed by the other party and their friends. In a moment of desperation, he awakened his Ability and sent all nineteen of them to the hospital."
Compared to the first two, this reason for awakening was much more normal.
But after seeing the next person's file, he couldn't hold it in any longer.
"Zhengbei, twenty-one. Had an affair with his female advisor. Accidentally awakened while being caught in the act..."
'Are you fucking kidding me...?' Zhou Chen felt numb. 'Thinking about my own near-death experience during my awakening experiment, the World feels so unfair. How can other people awaken so easily... Oh, wait, my awakening was pretty easy too. Never mind then.'
After reading through the files of these six new recruits, Zhou Chen finally understood why Jiang Che would choose a "Level 10 Disability" like him as her subordinate.
It was purely a case of picking the tallest of the dwarfs; there was truly no one else to choose from.
Compared to those six, he was undoubtedly much more normal in every aspect.
A dozen or so minutes later, Zhou Chen finished compiling, uploading, and archiving the data. Then, he clicked on a link Jiang Che had sent, one that could only be opened within the Star Association's internal app.
The file for Forbidden Object C-220 Bloodthirsty Chainsaw Sword!