As Chen Ling pondered, he walked out the door, and a few snowflakes brushed past his eyes. He was slightly startled and looked up at the sky.
"... Is it snowing?"
Under the azure aurora, snowflakes drifted down like cotton from the sky. Chen Ling reached out and caught one, its octagonal crystal slowly melting in his warmth.
"The aurora region is different from other realms, with no seasons, only winter." Chu Muyun walked out of the house at a leisurely pace, also reaching out to catch a snowflake. He spoke with some doubt, "But, isn't this snowfall rather sudden?"
"Is it very sudden?" Chen Ling asked.
"Just a few days ago, there was a rare heavy rainstorm, and today it suddenly started snowing again... I always feel like the celestial phenomena in the aurora domain are getting more chaotic." Chu Muyun pondered, his brows furrowing tighter.
"Brother, this snow is falling really fast." Chen Yan, wearing a robe, quickly rushed onto the street. He stood amidst the increasingly dense snowflakes, his chestnut-colored eyes full of excitement and anticipation. "At this rate, we'll have enough snowmen by tomorrow!"
Watching the red-clothed youth reaching out to catch snowflakes, a gentle expression appeared in Chen Ling's eyes, and he smiled, "We build snowmen every year, haven't we built enough yet?"
"This time is different." Chen Yan said seriously, "This snow is heavy. Maybe I can build a dozen or more at once... Then we can build a tall platform, and I can perform on it, with the snowmen as my audience."
"Don't I count as an audience for you?"
"Brother, who performs with just one audience every time..." Chen Yan pouted, "If I never have an audience, what will I do when I perform at school?"
"...True." Chen Ling chuckled and looked up at the sky. "It would be nice if this snow could keep falling."
"If it keeps falling, it will turn into a snow disaster." Chu Muyun pushed his glasses up and hesitated for a moment before fetching his wool coat from inside the house. "I need to go out for a while."
Chen Ling and Chen Yan glanced at each other.
"Will you come back for dinner?"
"I will."
As Chu Muyun's figure gradually disappeared at the end of the street, Chen Ling glanced at the time. "I should go too. It's not easy to walk on snowy mountain roads..."
"Wait!" Chen Yan seemed to remember something and quickly ran back into the house, stuffing the cotton coat he had patched up overnight into Chen Ling's hands. "Brother, I've fixed it for you... Be careful going up the mountain today, and don't get into fights again."
Chen Yan's tone was unusually serious.
Chen Ling carefully examined the coat and found almost no traces of damage, as perfect as new, and couldn't help but praise, "Our little Yan is really handy..."
Chen Yan giggled.
"I'm off." Chen Ling waved his hand and headed straight for the second district.
The snow was just as Chen Yan had hoped, falling heavier and heavier. Halfway there, Chen Ling's shoes were already submerged in snow, the icy water seeping into his feet, making him cold from the inside out.
Rubbing his hands together, he pushed forward against the snowflakes, murmuring to himself, “Could it really turn into a snow calamity?”
He walked for a long time, and the pedestrians on the street became increasingly scarce, but the enforcers passing by at high speed increased greatly.
They wore black and red uniforms, hurriedly galloping towards a certain direction, not even sparing a glance at Chen Ling who passed by. Snowflakes stung Chen Ling's face as they swirled in the biting wind. He wiped his face and looked at the direction they were heading with puzzlement.
"What happened?"
Chen Ling didn't know, nor was he interested in investigating. As long as the direction these people were heading wasn't Frost Street, he didn't care where they were going.
Three hours of trudging later, Chen Ling found himself back on familiar ground - Ice Spring Street. The ruins had been mostly cleared, but a desolate half-street remained, hushed under a blanket of white snow.
Just as he decided to seek out Qian Fan and the others for his daily tasks, several figures hurriedly approached, waving enthusiastically at him.
"Brother Chen Ling!"
It was Qian Fan and his crew, their faces etched with relief and joy.
"Mister Qian."
Chen Ling still politely added the suffix "mister", after all, there hadn't been a complete falling out between him and Qian Fan's group. Surface courtesy still needed to be maintained.
"What's today's task?"
"Task? No need for tasks anymore." Qian Fan waved his hand grandly. "Considering your... um, excellent performance yesterday, the higher-ups have decided to allocate you a position as an enforcer. You can go home directly today and report to the headquarters in the third zone tomorrow."
Chen Ling was stunned.
He had imagined ten thousand possibilities on the way, such as being ambushed by a group of people from that Street seeking revenge, or Qian Fan and the others completely tearing their faces apart, or being told directly to forfeit the position of enforcer and go home...
But he never expected to be directly admitted?
Impossible... Could it be that Ma Zhong really recognized his strength and wanted to recruit him?
Chen Ling had only seen Ma Zhong once and didn't know much about him. For a moment, he couldn't figure out what the other party's intentions were.
"In the future, we're colleagues." Qian Fan smiled and patted Chen Ling's shoulder, as if the two were long-time close friends. "There may have been some misunderstandings between us before, Brother Chen Ling, please don't mind?"
"Yeah, Brother Chen Ling, in the future, feel free to come to Zone Two to play cards with us whenever you're free. We're always welcome."
"I almost forgot, there's this..." Qian Fan handed a small tube of oil paper to Chen Ling, who took it in surprise and glanced inside a corner.
Ten silver coins.
Chen Ling was astonished.
Chen Ling stared at the small tube of oil paper in his hand. Inside were silver coins, a fortune in this world. In his previous life, it would be the equivalent of 2500 yuan - a decent amount, but not life-changing. Yet, for someone who had only worked for two days, it felt like a windfall.
He couldn't help but compare his situation to Zhao Yi's. Zhao Yi, helping the Road Bureau melt frost, worked hard all day, and the two of them were only able to earn a measly 20 copper coins - a pittance compared to the reserves Chen Ling received just as a trainee Enforcer. If this was how much he got as a trainee Enforcer, what about the salary of a formal enforcer?
Chen Ling looked deeply at them, couldn't help but feel, sometimes respect and courtesy were truly reserved for the strong...
Yesterday, they had just driven away Wu Youdong. If he didn't possess the "Slaughter Dance", he would probably not have escaped the same fate. And now, they could only smile at him, because now he had the qualification to be on par with them.
Chen Ling considered himself not to be the kind of protagonist in those exhilarating novels, who could say, "If you provoke me, I'll beat you to death!" and kill these hypocritical people on the spot. Doing so would be tantamount to declaring war on the entire enforcement system of the Aurora Domain.
His family was still on Frost Street, he had a younger brother about to return to school, and he still needed the identity of an enforcer to pursue the "Warrior Divine Path". No matter from which angle, he should go with the flow and let this matter end here.
"Then I'll thank you all." Chen Ling replied indifferently without even raising his head.
"Brother Chen Ling, the road is slippery in heavy snow, so be careful on your way back." Qian Fan's smile didn't diminish. "The list of reserve enforcers who are being promoted should be announced this noon. You can pay attention on your way back. We might meet again someday."
Chen Ling responded lukewarmly and then turned and walked towards home.
As Chen Ling walked away, the warm smiles on Qian Fan and the others gradually faded, replaced by coldness and disdain.
"This Chen Ling really has no shame." A law enforcer sneered.
"When things settle down on Ma Ge's side, the Third District will change... By then, let's see where he can run."
"Any news from Ma Ge's side?"
"I don't know..."
"It should be soon."
Just as they were speaking, a figure hurriedly ran from a distance, slipping in the heavy snow and almost falling.
"What's wrong...?"
"What's wrong?"
"The Chief Enforcer of Zone threet, Han Meng, is dead!!" He stood up, shouting loudly. "News came from Zone three saying he fought two calamities alone and perished in the end!"
"Enforcer Ma Zhong has temporarily taken over as the chief, and he has ordered the immediate lifting of the lockdown in the Third Zone.. The Second Zone is also about to be lifted!"
Upon hearing this news, everyone's eyes lit up!
"It's done!!"
"Is it confirmed? Did Han Meng really die?" Qian Fan asked again.
"The news from the Third Zone said so, and it was a message personally sent by Ma Ge's confidant."
Qian Fan immediately felt relieved and smiled happily.
"With the downfall of Han Meng, our days will be better."
"The business in Ice Spring Street can finally operate... Go, gather the people from Bone Blade and find more dancers and prostitutes. Good wine, good food, let's celebrate!
Let them know who they should follow in the future."
"Okay, Fan Ge!"