Rod forcibly suppressed the urge to sneak a peek into the Dream Realm.
The Spirit Car had clearly informed him that the vehicle was under surveillance, and he did not want to risk his life hopping back and forth on the edge of death.
Luckily, his purchase of the flowers did not cause any trouble, no beggars swarmed him, and the little girl wasn’t robbed of her money; she hugged the flowers like a treasure and threw herself into her mother’s arms.
The Spirit Car swiftly left the square.
Rod sighed lightly, feeling that Jinworth Academy was softening him.
Because the Outer City District was so crowded, Rod had to pay an extra six silver coins before the Spirit Car would finally stop at the large square in front of the Defense Department on Iron Cross Street.
The place was no longer the chill and gloomy one from his previous two visits; a fierce flame rose in the center of the square, a red-robed priest stood praying before the fire, with hundreds of silent residents standing around, and the air was filled with faint cries.
Rod did not dare to disturb them and carefully got off the car, entering the Defense Department building of the district.
As soon as he entered, he heard a tremendous roar.
"No way! Absolutely not!"
Then there was the clanging sound of something hitting the wall accompanied by the slaps of a scuffle.
Civil servants were fleeing from the main hall.
Had a fight broken out inside?
Rod peeked in cautiously.
In the hall, two burly men were grappling with each other, one was the district’s Defense Chief with a big scarred face, and the other was Keith, the Defense Chief of the Outer City District.
They were bulging with veins, muscles knotted, one holding the other’s waist and one gripping the other’s neck, wrestling in the hall.
Their hefty grunts resonated throughout the Defense Department.
It was a good thing that their military uniforms were sturdy, or else he might have been blinded.
Rod asked a civil servant standing by, "What’s happening with them?"
The civil servant replied, "The two Chiefs had a disagreement and started arguing."
Are you blind? It’s clear they are fighting.
"Why did they start fighting?"
"Over the pursuit of an escaped Plague Demon, both Chiefs wanted to join the Hunting Squad, so they ended up fighting."
Rod asked puzzledly, "Can’t they join together?"
The civil servant shook his head vigorously, "That won’t do; the Defense Department must have a Chief in command at all times. Today is the first Fire Day in twenty days, and everybody is on the street, it absolutely cannot turn into chaos."
So today was Fire Day... Rod vaguely knew about various holidays and weather conditions but had never bothered to learn the specifics. He had always been in a state of extreme busyness, under such immense pressure that he had no time to care about anything unrelated to survival.
It sounded like Fire Day was the opposite of "Dark Moon Night," which strengthened the powers of darkness and weakened the powers of fire, increasing the number of monsters.
So Fire Day should strengthen the powers of fire and weaken those of darkness.
No wonder it seemed brighter today.
Rod hesitated for a moment; if that was the case, then there probably wasn’t much for him to clean up today.
But he couldn’t bear to just return like that.
Rod decided to try his luck.
He stepped forward and said to the two men who were about to explode in rage, "Defense Chief, Mr. Keith, is the Hunting Squad still short on people? My Spiritual Vision is quite high, and I’m good with a pistol..."
Before he could finish speaking, the two burly men leaped up, each grabbing one of his arms. Beside their massive builds, Rod looked like a child.
They shouted in unison, the heat in their eyes nearly cooking Rod.
In desperation, Rod yelled out,
Keith scratched his head, "Wrestle what? Are you suggesting a wrestling match with me? Lil’ Rod, you’re not cut out for that."
Big Scarface shouted, "Shut up, you brainless idiot! Roger, come and gather, we’re about to set out!"
Keith retorted angrily, "You don’t need to tell me that!"
Turning his head, he bellowed, "Roger! Gather up!"
A young man dressed in tight hunter gear and wearing a tricornered hat walked up from the corner, with a look of helplessness on his face:
"Honorable Chiefs, have you found a scout with high Spiritual Vision? The Plague Demon’s Mist and illusion abilities can’t be seen through with your mere Spirit Vision of forty or fifty, honestly, it would be useless even if you both went. A Plague Demon could play us to death with just a fraction of its soul remaining."
spoke a girl in white robes who was standing behind the youth, "It’s best to enlist a High Rank scout from the Investigation Legion; otherwise, the danger level of this hunt has to be set to ’extremely high,’ and you’ll be paying five times the money."
Keith spat, "Gone crazy for money? You hunters think about nothing but money all day long."
The girl looked visibly upset, "I want money! But I don’t want to die even more! Do you know how dangerous a wounded Plague Demon is? The elite battle group couldn’t stop it! Letting it escape from the sewers was your fault! If it were not for the hunter’s duty, I wouldn’t be here at all, how many people die on Fire Day in the city is none of my concern!"
Keith roared, shaking the entire roof, his fists the size of washbasins clenched, ready to go up and teach her a lesson.
But Big Scarface held him back, taking a long breath and said.
"I’m sorry, Mr. Roger, Miss Eve, my boss is a brainless idiot, and we have already found a high Spiritual Vision scout, so no need to worry, we’ll be setting out shortly."
The youth named Roger looked puzzled, "You’ve found a High Rank scout? I heard there were many small Fog Demon clusters around Star City, as well as a crazed one, so the Investigation Legion dispatched a large number of scouts for support. Currently, there’s a severe shortage of personnel everywhere."