In the hallway, Fang Xiu overheard their chatter and chose not to stick around any longer; they were just gossiping, anyway. These two folks seemed like clerical workers, so they had some free time at the moment, even enough to chat about rumors.
He kept wandering through the Investigation Bureau, collecting more information.
"Hurry, get to the meeting room, Director Wang is holding an urgent meeting," someone shouted.
Upon hearing about the meeting, Fang Xiu swiftly joined the others. He headed to the meeting room with them.
In the meeting room, the long table was packed with people, both men and women, most of them quite young. Notably, almost no one was in black work uniforms. Instead, the majority were in unique and special clothes, full of character.
However, on both sides of the table stood many staff members, dressed in their regular work clothes.
Fang Xiu stood with the other employees, leaning against the wall. He quietly watched the people at the table.
It was obvious that these folks were psychics. As the main fighters against the Specters, they naturally held a higher status compared to regular people, which earned them a spot at the table.
At the top of the table was a stern-looking Wang Dehai. Strangely, there were empty chairs on both sides of him.
'Two open chairs?'
Fang Xiu guessed that these spots were probably meant for Yang Ming and Bai Qi.
'It makes sense for Bai Qi's chair to be empty because he passed away, but what about Yang Ming? Is he still looking into the Specters?'
Suddenly, he noticed a strong whiff of cigarette smoke.
'Someone's smoking during this urgent meeting?'
Following the scent, Fang Xiu spotted a sad-looking man in his late twenties, hunched over and smoking in a corner behind Wang Dehai.
The man had a prominent brow and large eyes, and his face was square with a wide nose. Although he wasn't extremely handsome, he had a lively and decent appearance. However, he looked really down at the moment, with dull eyes and a five o'clock shadow beginning to darken his face.
He was just staring at nothing ahead of him. If he wasn't occasionally taking a drag on his cigarette, he could be mistaken for a statue.
The others in the room seemed to deliberately overlook this man, letting him sit there and smoke. Seeing this, Fang Xiu had a hunch.
Though dressed oddly and showing strong personalities, the psychics in the room were following basic rules during the meeting, sitting quietly in their places. The way this man was behaving, without anyone commenting and even Wang Dehai letting it be, hinted that this guy must hold a significant role.
Putting this together with the empty chairs, it wasn't hard to figure out that this smoking guy was likely Yang Ming.
At that moment, Wang Dehai began the meeting. During this critical time, he didn't beat around the bush and got straight to the point.
"We've verified through field checks by the investigation team that Vice-Captain Bai Qi has been killed while on duty." Wang Dehai's serious voice echoed in the room.
The room fell completely silent. Some had blank faces, others seemed not to care, while a few looked genuinely upset; a mix of emotions was on display. The man who was probably Yang Ming still looked lost, but his hand holding the cigarette seemed to tremble.
The quiet was broken by Wang Dehai's deep voice ringing out again.
"Bai was attacked by a Specter who manipulates shadows," he declared.
A fuzzy image popped up on the big screen in the room, showing a shadow that looked human. But unlike normal shadows, this one had depth and wasn't flat. It looked like someone wearing a skin-tight black suit that covered even their eyes and nose.
It was pitch-black, as if a human shadow had sprung to life, becoming tangible and physical.
"This Specter is labeled as 'Shadow.' What we know so far is that it can disappear into shadows. When Bai was confronting another Specter called 'Human Head,' Shadow came out from his own shadow, catching him off guard and hurting him badly, which led to his death by Human Head," Wang Dehai explained further.
Everyone stared at Shadow in the picture, their faces grim. This sudden attack was almost impossible to avoid, catching anyone unawares easily. Even the powerful Bai Qi was caught and badly hurt; the other psychics doubted they would fare any better.
"Right now, we don't know where Shadow is. But Yang Ming took care of Human Head. So, our next move is to put all our energy into tracking down Shadow, finding it, and putting an end to this whole issue. And also…" Wang Dehai stopped, inhaling deeply before he solemnly added, "to get justice for Vice-Captain Bai Qi."
The mood in the room turned even grimmer instantly.
Maybe noticing the heavy mood, Wang Dehai suddenly forced a small smile and announced, "Despite the grim circumstances, I do have a bit of happy news to tell you all."
_'Happy news?'_People were briefly confused.
'Bai just died; what good news can there be?'
"Well, Captain Yang Ming, having dealt with Human Head, has moved up to become a third-tier psychic, joining the highest ranks of psychics!"
Upon hearing this, there was a sudden uproar in the room, and all attention immediately shifted to the man smoking in the corner.
This man, who was indeed Yang Ming, didn't seem to have heard anything, his face unchanged. He simply tossed away the cigarette butt he was holding and reached into his pocket for a new pack. He planned to light another one. A few cigarette butts lay on the floor near his feet, circling him.
Opening the pack, Yang Ming found it was empty. Without a care, he crumpled it up and tossed it aside, raising his lifeless eyes to glance at the people around him.
"Hey, anyone got a cigarette?" he rasped, his voice rough and showing signs of tiredness.
A hushed silence settled over the crowd, with no one answering him.
Seeing this, a flash of disappointment appeared in Wang Dehai's eyes. But he still scolded sternly, "Yang Ming, snap out of it. You're a third-tier psychic now. The future safety of Greenvine City is in your hands. Plus, don't you want to get back at the ones who took Bai Qi from us?"
Despite Wang Dehai's chastising, Yang Ming looked totally unaffected, his expression dull. He slowly rose from the corner, his hands stuffed in his pocket.
"Guess I'll just go buy a pack myself," he muttered.
With those words, he seemed to really plan on leaving the meeting room to get cigarettes. As he walked, he kept grumbling, "Revenge, huh? Will getting revenge bring Bai Qi back?"
"Hold it right there!" Wang Dehai shouted in fury, but Yang Ming continued walking. He didn't seem to have heard him at all.
Frustrated, Wang Dehai reluctantly pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, calling out, "I have cigarettes right here!"
Yang Ming stopped dead in his tracks, looking irritated, "Why didn't you mention that earlier?"
Wang Dehai threw the pack to Yang Ming and spun around to resume the meeting, not wanting to waste any more time on meaningless chatter.
Yang Ming retreated to his earlier spot in the corner, lighting up a cigarette and saying, "Man, Director Wang must be from a rich family, smoking these high-end cigarettes every day, huh?"
Annoyance etched across Wang Dehai's face, but he held back his anger. He was ready to move forward with the meeting.
But just then, the conference room door slammed open with a loud bang.
Wang Dehai's anger burst forth immediately, "Show some respect! Have some order! How many times do I have to say—"
But the staff member who burst in didn't let him finish, blurting out anxiously instead, "Director Wang, this is bad, the guy you told me to escort has vanished! He knocked me down and escaped!"
"What?! Are you telling me Fang Xiu has escaped?" Wang Dehai's face was a picture of shock and rage.
Among the crowd, Fang Xiu heaved a quiet sigh. It seemed his skills weren't quite up to par yet. He didn't expect the guy he knocked out would wake up so quickly.
Though Fang Xiu had developed psychic abilities, possessing power much beyond a regular person, he'd never attempted to knock someone out before and wasn't sure how much force was needed.
"Fang Xiu! You're actually here!" A female voice called out amidst the crowd.
It was Shen Lingxue.
Shen Lingxue jumped to her feet, her face a mask of astonishment as she pointed at Fang Xiu in the crowd.
For a beat, all attention in the room centered on Fang Xiu, except for Yang Ming, who was in how own world as he smoke his cigarette.