From Prisoner to Si Chen..

Chapter 316 Eve
It's time for a new day.

After Jilan successfully obtained the "Shenxiang Brand", he was in a very good mood and drove to the Triumph Building in the central area with great enthusiasm.

Because of the miasma natural disaster, I have been very busy with official duties recently. The official empire is like a sophisticated machine, and every department that is a component is operating at overload.

Not only the ordinary departments, but also the two special departments of purification and balance, and even the investigation committee and gravediggers were mobilized.

Almost everyone has a heavy workload.

Jilan's task today is still to escort the "anti-miasma medicine", but the amount of medicine is nearly three times more than yesterday.

Four armored vehicles were filled with sealed wooden boxes. He was accompanied by two groups of soldiers, totaling fifty people.

Everyone was fully armed, carrying guns and helmets, as if they were on wartime alert. Even the two lieutenant-level officers sat in the carriage without saying a word.

There are four destinations in this trip, two in the North Muse and one in the East and West Muse.

As for why there is no South Muse...

It is said that the current miasma is so strong that as long as you leave the house and stay outside for six hours, you will die on the spot.

After the escort mission was completed, it was already evening.

Just as he was speaking, the Chairman suddenly frowned.

"Chairman Parra, is there anything else you can do?"

There are no traces of horse-drawn carriages and cars on the bustling streets of the past. Only a few posters warning people to go out less, and newspapers with various horrifying headlines are left, scrolling and jumping around.

Just as he stood up to leave.

A considerable number of people believe this statement.

Gilan returned to the Triumph Building in an armored vehicle at sunset to resume his life.

But the white-haired old gentleman Paracelsus stopped him:
"Jilan, don't leave in a hurry yet."

However, Gilan knew very well that the current concentration of miasma in the capital had been reduced a lot by various miasma-repelling drugs developed by Chairman Parra, and remained at about 2 Pa.

Even as the Empire works to contain the miasma, the death toll continues to rise.

There was silence.

In such a large-scale mysterious disaster event, even ordinary people who survive will be driven mad step by step under tremendous depression.

"Not bad." Parra praised, her expression full of relief. "very good."

There were almost no people on the street, and the shop doors were all closed. The few pedestrians here and there were still in a hurry, with panic between their brows.

Gilan had just listened to the chatter of the soldiers accompanying him and talked about a rumor that had been spreading more and more fiercely recently.

It’s not that the authorities don’t pay attention to it, but it’s very difficult to carry out the work. The population density of South Muse is too high and the official manpower is limited. They can only avoid the most important and deal with the more critical areas first.

A kind of air current called "restlessness" shuttles through the streets and alleys of Muse City, blowing up a more manic wind called "panic"...

"Not much..." Gillan coughed. "One 'Washer Woman' and a dozen 'Blue Hats'."

Parra looked him up and down and said with a smile:
"Did you get the 'Shenxiang Brand'?"

"what?"

He looked at the street scene outside the car window along the way.

Gilan was in the chairman's office, reporting on today's escort mission.

...

Almost every day, people can see someone getting sick, someone going crazy, someone falling down and dying in front of them...

"Your progress is indeed so fast. It's beyond my expectation..."

As the escort mission progressed, Gilan discovered that although the order in the capital was chaotic, it was still maintained well through various official means.

"Well, yes," he said, nodding. "I sailed to the Dream Sea last night and successfully found the Land of Gods."

...

He looked at Gilan carefully a few more times, his brows furrowed deeper and deeper, and then he said in a deep voice:
"After you arrived at the Land of Gods, how many mysterious creatures in the 'lower' area did you kill there?"

As far as he knew, in areas outside the capital, the miasma concentration had already soared to 4 Pa... That was a restricted area for ordinary people.

It is foreseeable that the casualties among the residents of South Muse will be very high...

Gillan also knows that the reason is very simple, because South Muse is a settlement of the lower class and the environment is complex and harsh.

If you don't have a high-end perfume mixed with mysterious ingredients or an anti-miasma medicine, you'll never want to come back.

Gillan turned around and asked.

It may be the relatives, lovers, and friends you get along with day and night, or it may be the familiar neighbor next door, the clerk downstairs, a child on the block who you can name, etc.

Night falls.

No one will ask this question, and no one will answer it.

Ji Lan raised his brows, and the chairman saw his change at a glance.

And with the work of various departments to drive away and prevent miasma, the situation has improved compared to yesterday... but the atmosphere in the entire Muse City is becoming more and more depressing.

Although the concentration is still higher than in the past, as long as residents adhere to the "mystical dressing method" and receive the official anti-miasma medicine on time, they will basically be fine.

"You...sigh." Parra shook her head and said with some self-blame: "I didn't expect you to find the land of God so quickly, so I didn't have time to warn you not to kill the residents of God's land easily."

"This will cause your 'Shenxiang Brand' to be stained with 'mottled energy'. Although this is not harmful to you, it will attract the attention of the 'inspectors'... The more mottled, the stronger the attraction. "

"From a certain perspective, this will also shorten your stay in the Land of Gods."

Parra pondered for a moment, raised her eyes and said again:
"You have to know that starting from level 4, the further you climb up the original level, the more you need to rely on the land of gods... This will seriously affect your future progress on the 'Road of the Fire Sword'."

"Therefore, the mystics are very taboo about killing the residents of Shenxiang. The best solution is to avoid them as much as possible."

"Thank you for your warning, Chairman Parra."

Ji Lan looked calm and quickly thanked him.

"In the future, I will try my best to avoid this happening."

"Well, you go back and have a good rest."

Seeing Jilan's humbly accepting attitude, Parra was very pleased, nodded and said.

"You are only 4 levels away from the level of Prime before you can climb to the Kusei stage. I look forward to your early advancement... At present, the empire is facing multiple difficulties and is in urgent need of talents. If you encounter any difficulties, you can tell me and I will Try to help you."

"Okay, Chairman, thank you again."

Ji Lan lowered his head slightly and took off his hat.

...

...

Time flies in the blink of an eye, and more than half a month has passed.

It’s December 12th.

After the imperial official's emergency measures and governance during this period, the concentration of miasma in the capital Musixiti has stabilized at around 1.8 Pa.

If you want to lower the concentration, I am afraid it will be difficult to do it in a short time. This is still the result of paying a huge price.

Ji Lan was also very busy during this time.

He got up early in the morning, after his routine practice, he washed up, sat in the living room, ate breakfast, and read the morning newspaper.

He felt a little numb when he looked at the various news about miasma in the newspapers and how many people got sick, went crazy, or even died.

However, on the back page, a whole page was spent promoting the good news of "Christmas is coming", and a lot of content was specially written to celebrate today's "Christmas Eve".

Gillan could see that this might also be an official push. After all, the entire city, and even the entire empire, was enveloped in an atmosphere of depression and despair. Through this festival that symbolizes happiness, perhaps the dark cloud-like atmosphere can be diluted a little.

Similar to previous lives, "Christmas" here also celebrates the "dawn of noon" on the seventh day of the seventh month, which is the birth of God Omer.

His arrival brought hope, dawn and order to mankind. Therefore, "Christmas" can give people some spiritual sustenance in this panic period of miasma outbreak.

After eating breakfast, Gilan drove to the Triumph Building as usual and took the elevator to the 70th floor.

However, the committee hall today is a little different. Because the place is almost full of people, and most of them are elderly men and women.

The youngest ones are all middle-aged.

They were dressed very simply, few spoke loudly, and the atmosphere was indescribably solemn.

Ji Lan looked at the people in the hall with some surprise, feeling the oppression they brought to him.

He quietly turned on his spiritual vision.

Suddenly, Jilan was almost blinded by the dazzling lights of all colors!
'At least half of them are Kuze people...'

Gillan was quite surprised.

'The rest are all level 3 spiritual mystics. Who are these people and why are they here? '

Perhaps it was his spiritual vision that alerted the people in the hall, and all the gray-haired men and women turned to look.

After noticing the blond young man standing at the door, these old guys calmly withdrew their gaze.

But there were also many who cast friendly glances at Ji Lan, and a very few glanced at the ruby ​​ring on his right index finger.

Jilan noticed this small detail, and a guess that surprised him couldn't help but arise in his mind:

'Could he be a member of the ancient secret sect "Midnight Rose"? But why did they come here...'

Soon, his guess was fulfilled.

I saw the white-haired old gentleman holding the white cane, followed by several committee members, walking up to the high platform of the hall.

At this time, Maiev, who was wearing a high-collared black windbreaker, quietly came to Jilan's side and signaled in a low voice:

"Take a seat first. Ms. Teresa and the others are on the left side of the hall, follow me."

"Okay." Gilan replied simply.

Immediately, he followed Maiev from the aisle at the back of the hall, all the way to the lower left corner of the hall seats.

After the two sat down, Gillan noticed that Ms. Teresa, Renault, Muguer, Garnold and Kaya and other gravediggers were present, and turned to smile at him and say hello.

Ji Lan pinched the brim of his hat and nodded in response.

"Everyone is welcome to come."

On the high platform, Chairman Parra, standing upright, spoke. His voice was not amplified by microphones and speakers, but it was extremely loud and resounded throughout the hall, allowing everyone to hear it clearly.

"Everyone present includes some of my personal friends, outstanding craftsmen from the Machinery Guild, and some famous scholars who have researched in many fields such as occultism, medicine, human body, and miasma."

Parra looked around and her tone became solemn:

"The purpose of inviting you here this time is to conduct a secret study on 'miasma natural disasters'. I will give three topics for everyone to discuss countermeasures and see if we can develop a new type of 'anti-miasma medicine' , striving for a longer lasting drug effect, or causing the body to develop resistance on its own..."

The chairman spoke slowly, slowly describing the three issues and writing them on the whiteboard behind him.

At this time, Kaya on one side was quite surprised, covered her mouth and whispered:

"There are so many powerful scholars and craftsmen... There are also some senior Kuze people whom I don't know. Do you know them?"

"Capone, Robles, Mulhert, the three veterans of the Machinery Guild are also here. I heard that they are also the Archbishops of the Mechanicus..."

Maiev tilted her head, pointed at the three white-haired old men in the front row, and whispered.

Several gravediggers also participated in the discussion. Ms. Teresa did not stop them, and occasionally added a few words with a smile, which made everyone gain a lot of knowledge.

Gilan didn't speak, just listened silently.

He followed the direction of Maiev's finger and glanced at the three old men wearing simple work clothes and windbreakers.

'Could it be that the three of them, working together, can monitor a large area? '

Gillan thought to herself.

When he turned on his spiritual vision just now, he observed some clues. The spirituality of these three old men is completely different from others. It is neither the dazzling level 3 "glow" nor the flashing level 4 "fertility"...

It is a kind of strong light that blooms after being restrained to the extreme. That kind of spiritual light even turned into a cover in disguise, blocking all its own characteristics and information, so that Gillan couldn't see anything at all.

'Is he a level 5 "brilliant" powerhouse? '

Ji Lan secretly guessed.

At this time, he noticed that a bald old man on the far right who was also in the first row of seats suddenly turned around and looked at him.

The old man's appearance was ordinary, except for his big nose, which was somewhat impressive.

He held a crooked wooden cane in his hand, raised his other hand, gave Gilan a thumbs up, and made a smile.

Ji Lan was startled.

He judged by the shape of his mouth that the other party said:

"Hello, Blood Owl."

A person suddenly popped into Jilan's mind.

The old man who made the staff...

He had an intuition that this old man was probably the master craftsman who communicated with him in the secret sect "Midnight Rose".

Gillan took off his hat and smiled back at the old man.

...

...

Gilan listened to the entire meeting, but among the second group of gravediggers, except for Muguer who understood a little bit, the rest were completely confused.

After the meeting is over.

Many scholars present held a stack of records and left the scene with solemn expressions.

The old man who greeted Jilan before took the initiative to find him. Upon meeting him, he stood up on tiptoes enthusiastically and patted Jilan on the shoulder.

There is no other reason. The old man is only 1 meters tall, only slightly taller than Kaya.

"First meeting, Blood Owl." The old man smiled kindly. "I am the 'Old Man Who Made the Stick'."

"Nice to meet you, old gentleman."

Gillan said politely.

"There are many members of the esoteric sect present at this meeting, including two young people who have recently joined the Thorns. You can get to know them when you have time."

The old man who made the staff smiled and pointed at the crowd.

Ji Lan turned around and saw a man and a woman. The two sides looked at each other in the distance and said hello silently.

"Okay." He looked back and said softly.

"By the way, tonight is 'Christmas Eve'."

The old man who made the staff suddenly reminded him.

"I suggest you hang a Christmas stocking by your bed, maybe you can receive a gift..."

"Huh?" Ji Lan raised his eyebrows, a little confused.

(End of this chapter)