A few minutes later, Lin Han hung up the phone.

Chen Shao observed Lin Han’s expression and asked carefully:

“Team Leader Lin, you should understand what the Director means by now, right?”

“I understand.”

Lin Han handed the phone back, his tone perfectly normal.

Chen Shao was visibly relieved.

“Then the reception…”

“There’s no need for that.”

The smile on Chen Shao’s face froze once again, and his amiable expression finally started to crack.

Lin Han didn’t try to say anything more that would provoke a dispute, simply stating:

“Just take us to our accommodation.”

“…Alright.”

For the rest of the way, the atmosphere was somewhat cold.

The hotel arranged by the X City Branch wasn’t bad, and it wasn’t far from the SAVE Branch.

After Chen Shao escorted Lin Han and the others to the hotel, he politely exchanged some pleasantries and then left with his people.

But after the people from X City left, no one returned to their own rooms.

The members of Team 3 stood in the corridor, and Team 7 also looked at Lin Han.

Even Monica had followed them up at some point.

She had originally been standing at the very back of the crowd. It wasn’t until she saw everyone stop that she belatedly realized the atmosphere was a bit off.

“Ah, um…”

Monica scratched her cheek, then pointed at herself.

“Should I leave first?”

“That won’t be necessary. You also have the right to know.”

Lin Han took out his room card and swiped open his door.

Monica froze for a moment.

She wasn’t truly stupid, so she could clearly sense that this external reinforcement named Lin Han, whom she was meeting for the first time, genuinely wanted to help her. In contrast, the local SAVE of X City was repeatedly making excuses for some unknown reason.

However, this was exactly what confused Monica, she couldn’t understand why Lin Han wanted to help her, much less the attitude of the local SAVE.

After hesitating for a moment, Monica followed the SAVE members inside.

The hotel room wasn’t very big; with a group of people crowding in, the space immediately felt a bit cramped.

After entering, before Lin Han could speak, Zhao Chenfeng signaled his team members to inspect the room.

Gu Xinglan and another team member moved quickly, checking the lighting fixtures, electrical outlets, television, curtains, and ventilation ducts.

Zhao Chenfeng quietly watched them finish this before speaking.

“No listening or monitoring devices found.”

Then, Zhao Chenfeng turned around and looked at Lin Han, his tone as steady as ever.

“Before we departed, the Division Chief gave us very clear orders.”

“For this operation, Team 3 will act as the protectors of Team 7, and as combat execution personnel when necessary.”

“We will follow Team Leader Lin’s commands completely, so you can trust us entirely.”

The other members of the Special Operations Division also nodded silently in support of their Captain’s statement.

Only Gu Xinglan, who usually didn’t get along well with Lin Han, felt a bit uncomfortable hearing these words. She shifted in her seat a couple of times but ultimately lowered her head.

At this, Lin Han was genuinely surprised, and even his impression of the Special Operations Division changed as a result.

After all, his past impression of them hadn’t been very good.

Mainly because Gu Xinglan was usually so good at drawing ire, giving him the illusion that everyone in the Special Operations Division looked down their noses at people.

He didn’t expect her Captain to actually be this strictly-by-the-book type with near-military execution skills, it was unexpectedly reliable.

So, Lin Han cleared his throat.

“Since that’s the case, I’ll just jump straight to the conclusion: the X City SAVE Branch probably doesn’t support our operation this time.”

Tang Xiaoman was stunned.

“Huh?”

She clearly hadn’t expected to hear something like that at all.

“W-why?”

After asking, however, Tang Xiaoman realized that the others around her weren’t making a fuss like she was.

Or rather, everyone in the Special Operations Division wore a thoughtful expression.

As for Team 7, Shen Qingshu had a look that said whatever Lin Han said went, while Zhou Ran and Xu Weian were, as always, emptying their minds and completely trusting their team leader.

Monica, on the other hand, was completely stunned, as if she had just heard something unbelievable.

“To briefly summarize the call I just received from the Director of the X City Branch: they were tactfully telling me that we should only investigate what we’re supposed to, and keep our hands off what we shouldn’t.”

“At the same time, the assistance X City can provide will be limited.”

“By ‘limited,’ it most likely means we’ll have to rely entirely on ourselves.”

Monica’s pupils slowly shrank.

She looked as if she didn’t understand, or perhaps didn’t want to understand.

“But… the orphanage was attacked.”

Her voice carried a trace of bewilderment.

“Children were taken away… those Mutants are right here in X City… People are clearly destroying this place and hurting the kids, so why…”

She didn’t finish her sentence.

Because she suddenly realized that the world didn’t always operate the way she thought it did.

In fact, she had learned this truth when she first became a Calamity Hunter: others were not always as friendly as she imagined, nor would they help her selflessly.

It was just that… Miss Phil’s recent help had almost made her forget this…

Lin Han looked at her, sighed softly in his heart, and then began to explain:

“After the outside of the cities was separated by The Wasteland and Calamity, the isolation between cities has long surpassed what it used to be. Every city has its own interest structure, its own Transcendent factions, and its own gray areas.”

“W City is one of the core cities of District 1. SAVE’s power is strong enough there, so many problems can be suppressed by coercive force.”

“But X City is different.”

Lin Han paused, and Monica gradually understood the problem.

“X City’s SAVE is not that strong, at least not strong enough to ignore the demands of all the local factions.”

Tang Xiaoman asked in a low voice:

“Local factions refer to…”

“Local Transcendent families, Calamity Hunter guilds, supernatural enterprises, underground brokers, protected black market organizations… all are possible. As long as benefits can be provided within the cracks of order, people will take root.”

Lin Han shrugged.

Tang Xiaoman still found it hard to believe.

“But the opposing party is the Metamorphosis Society, lunatics who turn ordinary people into Mutants… Even so, do these local factions still collude with them?”

This time, Shen Qingshu calmly answered Tang Xiaoman’s doubts:

“After all, even now, there are still many people dreaming of Transcendents ruling over ordinary people. Perhaps ordinary people aren’t even considered true ‘humans’ in their eyes.”

Monica’s face grew increasingly pale as she listened.

Lin Han continued, “For the Metamorphosis Society to operate in X City for so many years and maintain multiple strongholds, they couldn’t just be hiding in the sewers conducting secret experiments. There might even be people within SAVE providing cover for them.”

The atmosphere in the room gradually became heavier.

Lin Han looked out the window.

The gray sky over X City hung low, and the unfallen rainstorm made the air extremely oppressive.

“The last time Division Chief Bai Yu brought people to X City, she probably caught them off guard with overwhelming force. I think she originally intended to solve the problem in one fell swoop.”

“But then the incident at Qingchuan Public in W City happened, and she had to go back to take charge.”

“Now, we’re here for the second time. Perhaps W City only sending our two teams is the result of discussions with this side.”

“This time, X City is prepared…”