Ark, after I died, the operators started to love me.

The office was filled with a thick black fog that drove away the light and seemed about to engulf the corner where Swire was.

hot!

So hot!

Hot, hot, hot!

Swire felt a sudden rise in temperature in a certain part of her body, which made her shudder, and she quickly reached out to touch it.

This is……

She touched something that she had been carrying around for a long time without noticing.

"Chief, how... I..."

The little tiger held a crumpled piece of paper, unfolded it, and found several formulas written on it.

The item that Ansuo had obtained from Mike Ann's house now shone with a dazzling golden light, like a small sun rising from the horizon. Its golden light pierced through the black mist like a sharp sword, tearing it to pieces.

The civilian staff member was too close and was hit head-on by a burst of golden light, immediately collapsing to the ground unconscious.

The important thing is that her face has recovered.

The little girl was pale, clenching her teeth tightly, her body convulsing, looking like she was about to suffocate.

The papers in Swire's hand weren't as hot as they had been at the beginning. The little tiger could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He hadn't even known when the Guard Bureau had been contaminated. Thankfully...

Who exactly is Mike Ann?

Jingle bell bell—

The phone on the desk finally rang, and the operator's urgent voice came through the other end: "Director! Director! What's going on in your office! I couldn't get through to you at all, and I couldn't open the door!"

"It's alright now. Get the emergency medical team here; someone needs immediate medical attention!"

Swire roared twice, flipped over the desk, and carefully examined the unconscious clerk. She was enveloped in golden light, her body constantly emitting black energy, and her breathing became calm.

boom!

The office door was kicked open from the outside. The newcomer strode in with a sharp gaze, and after scanning the room, his eyes landed on Swire.

"Is it serious?"

"Governor Wei... Thank you, Lord Wei. It's alright, everything is fine."

The man in the black coat scrutinized Swire, and after confirming that the little tiger was safe, he nodded: "That's good. You settle things, I still need to go to the outer ring."

Swire quickly said, "Lord Wei, this matter..."

"No need for further words. I will tell you once things have calmed down."

The assault team finally broke through the corridor and arrived late. As soon as they entered, they saw Governor Wei talking to the bureau chief and were so frightened that they stood at the door and dared not make a sound.

Only after Wei Yanwu left did someone whisper, "Director, are we not late?"

“No, you’ve come at the perfect time,” Swire said, pointing outside. “Go open all the passageways and make sure there are no hidden blind spots on this floor of the Guard Bureau.”

With the bureau chief's assurance, everyone felt relieved and focused on avoiding mistakes rather than seeking merit.

……

Outer ring road of Longmen.

The Ursus guard walked toward the bakery, his fingers resting on the military knife hanging at his waist. The instant he entered, the knife was drawn, flashing a dark red light, and the bakery door was instantly shattered by his blade.

Fiamet muttered to herself, "How is this any different from my previous method?"

Mike stood behind Kal'tsit watching this scene, pondering to himself that the Ursus people were much as he had imagined: they would never use words if they could use their hands, and their attacks were swift and ruthless, using force to overcome skill.

But an unexpected scene unfolded: after the slash, the facade shattered, revealing the charred interior, but the illusion remained unchanged.

Kal'tsit couldn't immediately determine the exact situation, so she said, "The bakery is the core of the entire illusion. Attacking it should theoretically alleviate the occurrence of nothingness, so why is there no change?"

"The core of the distortion is people, not the environment. The bakery is just a vehicle; the source of the distortion has not yet emerged."

"Could it be that little girl?"

I didn't see her there.

The bakery doors were wide open, and everyone could see clearly that there was nothing inside. Ursus guards even poked at the charred marks with their sabers.

A questioning voice came from beneath his mask: "There are two corpses here, both adults, burned to a crisp, their age and gender indistinguishable. There are no distortion warnings here either. You can come in and take a look together."

Mostima turned to Mike: "Can he answer the questions I asked him normally?"

Kal'tsit glanced at Mike.

Mike asked calmly, "What do you want to ask?"

"How did you get beaten up in the bakery?"

"I heard a sharp shriek, I don't know where it came from, it was like a shockwave, and then I was thrown out."

The fallen angel then asked, "Suppose the source of the distortion is in the bakery, and must be hidden somewhere. What would happen if we found it?"

Mike replied seriously, "If you confront the source of the distortion head-on without proper countermeasures, you can easily be assimilated into a distorted monster."

9. The Missing Mike

Mostima continued, "Like Lady Rose, whom we met on the outer ring road?"

"You've seen Lady Rose?"

Mostima's words piqued the curiosity of the interior defenders.

“We not only saw her, but we also killed her. Lady Rose was just like the charred remains you see now. Once you break through the false exterior, what you see is a burnt corpse.”

The guards made no attempt to hide it: "It seems you did see her. Lady Rose died in a fire."

“You know very well,” Kal'tsit said, arms crossed. “It seems Ursus is fully aware of the incident that happened at Lungmen back then.”

"After all, many nobles died, and the empire has no reason not to investigate, even if the city falls into the hands of the Yan people."

The Ursus guard paused here: "This is a matter of great importance, we must be careful. How long are you going to wait?"

Fiameta shook her head: "I'm not going in."

The grenade launcher in her hand needed range, but the cramped environment inside the bakery wasn't suitable for it.

Kal'tsit said calmly, "If you're too busy, I can help."

M3 stood by, eager to try, ready to rush in at its owner's command.

"Let the doctor give it a try. Anyway, he doesn't have a physical form, so he won't suffer any loss."

The fallen angel's words silenced Kal'tsit.

Before the lynx could even speak, Mike had already walked towards the bakery.

He was inexplicably expelled before, and now he wants to find out what happened. The key point is that he is the only person besides the internal guards who can effectively damage the source of the distortion.

If the Lateran duo can come up with even more equipment, then they can give it a try.

Therefore, Mike's actions appeared to be with Kal'tsit's tacit approval, as he entered the bakery under her control.

The man had his hands in his coat pockets, his expression unchanged. The moment he entered the bakery, the unbearable shriek seemed to echo in his ears again.

Last time he was caught off guard, but this time it's different.

The Ursus guard stared at the man, noticing his composed and seemingly oblivious demeanor, and whispered, "You didn't sense anything?"

"What should I feel?"

Mike suspected that what he saw was not the same as what the guard saw.

Time seemed to have turned back to a certain day in 1064.

What are you buying?

A slightly hoarse female voice came from behind.

Without even turning around, Mike knew who it was. He blinked, looked at the bread sprinkled with icing sugar in the cupboard, pointed to one of them, and said, "I'll take this one."

He happened to have enough Ursus rubles in his pocket.

"Okay, please wait a moment."

The girl, wearing shoes a size too big, tied on an apron and skillfully packed bread for Mike with a fork.

Taking advantage of the gap, Mike looked back, but there was nothing behind him; Kal'tsit and the others had all disappeared.

No, to be precise, the person who disappeared should be him.

"Could I have a cup of coffee, instant is fine, I want to rest for a while."

Since Mike bought bread and was also willing to pay for a cup of coffee, the bakery girl had no reason to refuse him.

After all, it's not peak season yet, and it's quite boring to be alone in the store.

A few minutes later.

Mike sat at a table near the outside of the bakery, holding his coffee, and carefully blew on the steaming cup.

He casually asked, "Madam, do you own this shop?"

"No, sir, I am not the boss's wife. I am just an employee. The boss and his wife have gone out to deliver goods and are not here at the moment."

Elsa found it strange. The thin young man in front of her looked odd. He seemed like a Yan countryman, but not quite, because he could speak Ursus language and had a pretty good accent.

Most of the Ursus people she knew didn't have proper accents; they all had some dialect, and some even mixed in Yan dialect.

"Feel sorry."

Mike said something and turned to look outside again. The street was deserted and eerily quiet.

I didn't see so few people when I passed by here last time.

wrong.

Something is definitely going to happen.

Just as the man raised his coffee cup, a civilian pack animal cart suddenly stopped in front of the shop. A fat middle-aged man rushed in from outside, immediately spotting the girl standing behind the counter, but ignoring Mike, who was also sitting in a prominent position.

"Elsa, hide! Quick!"

It's easy to guess that this person is the bakery owner, and his relationship with the helper girl isn't as distant as she claims.