Chapter 1 A Gloomy Morning

Early morning, the weather was overcast.

Zhang Yuanqing got dressed, pulled open the curtains, and glanced at the sky covered by light gray clouds. It looked like it would rain today. If the cost of the Great Luo Star Plate wasn't so high, he would definitely take it out to confirm. In the living room, his family was sitting neatly around the dining table, enjoying their first meal of the day.

Grandma ladled a bowl of porridge for Zhang Yuanqing and kept rambling on about what happened last night, saying that the young lady came to their house for dinner, but left with a wronged expression. It was the Chen family's poor hospitality, and she hoped that Yuanzi could bring Guan Ya home again next weekend. Grandma would definitely treat her well next time.

Grandma and Grandpa were very particular about appearances. After learning the truth, they felt sorry for Guan Ya and were very ashamed, wanting to make amends. "Okay, Grandma, maybe another time."

Zhang Yuanqing casually brushed her off, thinking, "Your grandson has already compensated her. She left with a face full of rosy cheeks, having nibbled on the tender grass for half an hour, not feeling wronged at all." "Cousin, are you working today?" Zhang Qing looked at the "mature for his age" Chen Yuanjun. Chen Yuanjun hesitated slightly and said, "I'm off on the weekend, but I should go to the Public Security Bureau to keep an eye on the progress of the missing persons case." Grandma frowned deeply upon hearing this.

"You said the day before yesterday that you were feeling weak and uncomfortable. Yuanjun, your health is your capital. You haven't started a family yet, so don't let work ruin your body." To be precise, he didn't even have a girlfriend. Zhang Yuanqing, who felt he was already in love, snidely thought to himself, full of superiority.

His cousin took a sip of porridge, listening to his grandmother's nagging, and frowned deeply, forming a furrow between his brows. "My body is fine. The day before yesterday, I probably caught a cold, so I felt unwell. After my morning run, my body recovered."

After his morning run yesterday, he hadn't felt weak or uncomfortable all day.

While his cousin was talking to his grandmother, Zhang Yuanqing quietly opened his "Star Eyes" and secretly observed him.

The impending bloodshed was still present, but it hadn't intensified, indicating that everything was operating normally according to "fate." It would descend when his cousin carried out the arrest, rather than as a sudden accident. As a Star Official, Zhang Yuanqing silently interpreted this.

He was going to see Fu Qingyang today. To be on the safe side, he would have Bai Lan protect his cousin later. Closing his Star Eyes, Zhang Yuanqing poked his aunt's arm with his elbow and said, "Let's go shopping this afternoon."

His aunt coldly said, "I'm not going. Even if I did, I wouldn't go with you."

Her sweet and well-behaved round face, combined with her alluring beauty mark, made her anger seem harmless. "Please, please!" Zhang Yuanqing said. His aunt thought for a moment and harrumphed, "Then beg me."

"I'm begging you, I'm begging you," Zhang Yuanqing readily complied.

His aunt immediately beamed, her eyes narrowing into crescents as she patted her nephew's head. "Since you insist so much, I'll reluctantly let you accompany me shopping." After breakfast, Zhang Yuanqing summoned Bai Lan and gave her instructions to protect his cousin.

Then he went back to his room to get his phone. Just as he grabbed his phone, as a Star Official, he had a faint feeling, a sudden thought popping into his head: *Check my luck for today*.

This thought was purely a whim, a Star Official's instinct. His instinct told him that he should check his luck for today.

*Well, I told Yuan Ting about the Chu family massacre, which is confidential information that shouldn't be leaked. Elder Gou will definitely punish me.* Zhang Yuanqing analyzed the source of his whim while heading to the mirror.

Staring at himself in the mirror, his eyes displayed stardust, condensed into a brilliant galaxy. The next second, Zhang Yuanqing gasped.

In the mirror, black gas permeated between his eyes, black gas filled the corners of his eyes, and red light surged under his lips. They represented the three phases of "Misfortune," "Affinity," and "Labor." *What an unlucky face,* Zhang Yuanqing thought, gritting his teeth, as he began to interpret.

"The black gas of Misfortune indicates that I will be in danger soon, but it's not a bloody disaster, so my life is not in danger, but I might get hurt… The black gas of Affinity indicates that I have not been involved in marriage, contracts, trade, or litigation recently, and my relationship with Guan Ya is stable, so there won't be any problems for no reason… That only leaves social interactions. I will have problems with social interactions soon…"

"The surging red light of Labor indicates that I will be promoted and get a raise soon, and have many servants… Well, that fits Fu Qingyang's purpose for seeking me out." Zhang Yuanqing hissed, sensing that these recent misfortunes would involve Fu Qingyang and Elder Gou. There were many ways to resolve misfortune, such as avoidance, seeking reinforcements, compromise, etc., and different methods should be adopted depending on the specific situation. For example, the best way to avoid his cousin's impending bloodshed was actually to avoid it. If he gave up investigating the case, he could mostly avoid the bloody disaster.

But Zhang Yuanqing's misfortune could not be avoided, because it came from Fu Qingyang and Elder Gou. You could avoid it for a while, but you couldn't avoid it forever. The correct method was to actively face it and resolve the misfortune. "Elder Gou will punish me, which I can understand. But why is Fu Qingyang targeting me? Could it be that Fu Qingyang found out that I secretly consulted Life Mentor on how to pursue Guan Ya? That's why the Affinity Palace is having problems."

Zhang Yuanqing hesitated for a moment, and finally chose to face the difficulties head-on. The Star Official's intuition told him that this was the correct choice.

Stuffing his phone into his pocket, he strode towards the bedroom door. At that moment, Zhang Yuanqing heard a "buzz" of electricity coming from the desk, followed by the audio from the Cat King speaker: "The weather is so nice, let me keep running fast~"

It wanted to go out and play. Zhang Yuanqing stopped in his tracks. Speaking of which, he hadn't taken the Cat King speaker out for a long time. The last time was when Old Bastard descended, and it was afraid to stay in the room. "You stay at home."

This thing always spoke out of turn, which was embarrassing. Zhang Yuanqing didn't want to take it with him. The Cat King speaker immediately became anxious, emitting a series of "buzzing" sounds, followed by a rapid and high-pitched audio: "When you used to watch the moon with me, you called me 'Sweetie'! Now, new people are better than old people, and you call me 'Old Cow'!" Grandma's voice came from the living room, "Yuanzi, turn down the TV."

…Zhang Yuanqing's mouth twitched. He walked to the desk, opened the drawer, stuffed the Cat King speaker into his waist bag, zipped it up, tied it around his waist, and went out decisively. He was worried that if he angered the Cat King speaker, it would play the audio of the Demon Lord working hard with dripping juice. "Swish~"

Half an hour later, Zhang Yuanqing arrived at Fu Jiawan Villa. At this time, it was raining heavily, pouring down on the steel jungle-like city. The streets were quickly soaked in rainwater, and the wheels rolled past the roadside, splashing misty water.

Songhai was a coastal city and the mouth of a river, so it was easy to get windy when it rained. The phrase "miserable wind and bitter rain" seemed to have been invented for this city. In the midst of the miserable wind and rain, Zhang Yuanqing saw the bunny girl standing gracefully in the heavy rain, holding an umbrella. It was the one who had guided him when he first arrived at Fu Jiawan.

The taxi slowly parked. Before Zhang Yuanqing could open the door, the bunny girl, wearing high heels, trotted over gracefully to block the falling rain for him. "The young master said you definitely wouldn't bring an umbrella and asked me to pick you up at the door," the bunny girl said with a smile.

Zhang Yuanqing nodded and followed her into the gate of the Fu Jiawan villa complex, boarded the business car on the side of the road, and drove towards Fu Qingyang's big villa. Led by the bunny girl, Zhang Yuanqing entered the villa, passed through the garden, and went straight to the training room on the first floor. "The young master is in a meeting inside. He has been waiting for you for a long time." The bunny girl stopped outside the training room, raised her hand, and gently knocked on the door.

The brown wooden door opened automatically. Zhang Yuanqing poked his head inside and widened his eyes in surprise.

The training room was brightly lit, and the clean floor reflected the light. A curly-haired teddy dog was squatting on a soft cushion. Opposite it was Fu Qingyang, dressed in a snow-white suit, sitting cross-legged on the floor. Behind Fu Qingyang were Guan Ya, Li Dongze, Bai Long, Qing Teng, Da Ji Ba, Tang Guoqiang… a total of twelve official Xingzhe. These official Xingzhe were all Fu Qingyang's direct subordinates. Elder Gou turned his head and looked over, saying gently, "Yuanshi is here. Sit down."

Zhang Yuanqing nodded to everyone and walked towards Guan Ya, who was wearing training clothes, and sat cross-legged beside her. The two were very close, their knees touching. Elder Gou's button eyes stared at Zhang Yuanqing and said, "Regarding the rewards for clearing the Killing Instance, headquarters has issued a document. You can check the detailed content of the list later. I mainly want to talk to you about the job transfer." Zhang Yuanqing's spirits lifted and said, "Elder, I don't want to transfer away from Songhai. If there are no vacancies for the Director position in Songhai, then I can wait." He didn't want to leave Songhai yet, he had neither the awareness to leave his hometown nor the desire to separate from Guan Ya at this time. With the Life Mentor teaching him, perhaps he would be able to move into Guan Ya's house soon. Leaving Songhai at this juncture would be abandoning all his previous efforts. Elder Gou didn't answer. Fu Qingyang spoke first, saying, "Li Dongze has already informed me of your request. Headquarters' intention is to transfer Tianxia Guihuo to Songhai to replace my position."

"I will still work in Songhai, serving as the Patrol Elder of Songhai City, responsible for commanding the patrol team of Songhai. You can choose to become a Director in the patrol team, leading a team, or you can continue to stay in Team Two of Kangyang District, obeying the orders of Tianxia Guihuo."

The patrol team and the garrison team are opposite concepts. In the middle and lower levels of the official structure, they can be broadly divided into two major factions: "patrol" and "garrison." The so-called garrison is to work and operate in a fixed city, responsible for the security of the area and solving Xingzhe incidents. Zhang Yuanqing's current colleagues belong to the garrison team.

The patrol team does not have a fixed office location. Their job is to patrol and support several major cities under their jurisdiction, and to pursue fugitives across provinces and cities. This is because the number of Xingzhe is limited, and the number of Saint Realm and Dominator Realm experts is even more limited. Super first-tier metropolises like Songhai have five Elders stationed there. Provincial capitals of each province have at least one Elder.

But small counties and remote cities have very few official Xingzhe, let alone experts.

In order to strengthen control over these cities, and to prevent remote areas from becoming breeding grounds for evil organizations, patrol teams have emerged. Of course, some underdeveloped and unimportant cities are still paradises for evil organizations. Fu Qingyang continued, "The jurisdiction of the Songhai patrol team is Jiangnan Province, Scattered Province, and Jianghuai Province. When necessary, it can radiate to all parts of the country. The patrol team needs to have three months of outdoor patrol records every year, and most of the time, it can still stay in Songhai."

"But this is the normal situation. If a branch within the jurisdiction asks for help, it must go immediately. Yuanshi, the choice is yours." Zhang Yuanqing fell into deep thought. After a few seconds, he looked at Guan Ya, "Sister Guan Ya, what about you?"

Under her cousin's gaze, Guan Ya looked ahead, acting as if Yuanshi Tianzun was just an ordinary colleague, and said, "I have chosen to join the patrol team."

Zhang Yuanqing then said, "Centurion, then I will also choose to join the patrol team."

With the Director position not vacant, there are many benefits to joining the patrol team. First, he can still stay in Songhai, dispelling his worries, it's just that he will be away on business more often.

Fourth, promotion and a raise.

If he stays in Songhai and stays in Team Two, he will become Tianxia Guihuo's subordinate. How could Yuanshi Tianzun be subordinate to others, unless that person was the Money Prince who used virtue to persuade others. Fu Qingyang nodded in satisfaction and said, "Each patrol captain has the power to command ten Level 3 Xingzhe. You can recruit wild rogue cultivators yourself, or you can have headquarters arrange it for you, or you can apply to the organization for the people you want."

Level 3 Xingzhe is the minimum standard for joining the patrol team. In terms of elite status, they are far superior to the garrison team.

*Ten spots, pull in Little Green Tea, pull in the Queen, let me think who else I know who are beauties.* Zhang Yuanqing's thinking was diverging, and he suddenly became a little expectant. At this moment, Fu Qingyang stood up and looked down at Zhang Yuanqing, saying, "Now that the official business is over, let's talk about some private matters."

As he spoke, Fu Qingyang reached out and grabbed a rusty Han Eight-Sided Ancient Sword from the air. He said expressionlessly, "I heard that you broke the record on the Extraordinary Realm leaderboard. Please, Yuanshi Tianzun, who broke the record, give some guidance to this arrogant, shameless, uncultured scoundrel who dares to criticize the Marshal as trash." Zhang Yuanqing.

Outside, it was raining heavily. Inside, Money Prince's eyes were full of murderous intent. "Buzz buzz…"

The audio from the Cat King speaker in his waist bag rang out at the right time: "The rain keeps falling, the atmosphere is not very harmonious…"

Zhang Yuanqing slapped it backhandedly and immediately looked at Elder Gou, hoping that the respected Elder could stop Money Prince's shameless act of bullying the weak. Elder Gou did not disappoint him and said in a deep voice, "Elder Fu, swords have no eyes. How can you use sharp weapons for sparring? Don't be ridiculous." Just as Zhang Yuanqing was about to say that the Elder was wise, he suddenly saw Elder Gou raise his dog paw and "point to the void." The next second, two half-meter-long wooden sticks appeared out of thin air. The wooden sticks were covered with sharp barbs. Elder Gou said happily, "Use these. I've prepared them all." Zhang Yuanqing: "??"

Everyone in the room looked at Yuanshi Tianzun with pity and tacitly took out their phones.

Zhang Yuanqing suddenly understood that the black gas rising in the Misfortune Palace indicated that he was going to get beaten up, and the black gas rising in the Affinity Palace indicated that he was going to suffer social death. The glorious image of Yuanshi Tianzun would be destroyed by these people's phones. ps: Correcting typos after posting.