Light Barrier

It was a bright and sunny morning.

Gu Shen sat up, stretched comfortably, and rubbed his eyes.

“Meow~” A certain orange cat was lying obediently on the balcony and let out a plaintive meow for help.

Gu Shen rubbed his eyes again to make sure that he wasn’t seeing things.

To be precise, the orange cat was lying in the arms of the woman in the trench coat on the balcony. It was licking its fur intermittently. Clearly, it couldn’t sit still, but because of the pressure emanating from a certain high-level lifeform, it didn’t dare to leave without permission.

“Big Brother, how did you get in?”

Nan Jin was lying comfortably on a rocking chair. On the round glass table in front of her was an exquisite fried egg on toast and coffee. She was holding newspapers and basking in the warm sunshine and gentle breeze.

The woman in the trench coat countered calmly, her tone as natural as possible, “I pay the rent. Why can’t I come in?”

“…” Gu Shen was speechless.

Nan Jin took a sip of her coffee and suddenly asked, “Where were you last night?”

Gu Shen scratched his head. “I went out to buy something and then fell asleep. These past few days have been exhausting.”

Honestly speaking, what he said was the truth.

These past few days had indeed been exhausting.

After the operation last night, it was already the wee hours of the morning when he returned to the apartment. Perhaps because he had used the Ruler of Truth again, he was physically and mentally drained.

This explanation was flawless. Chu Ling had already helped him erase the entry and exit records of the apartment.

“Hmm…” Nan Jin was just asking casually. Suddenly, she asked, “There’s good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?”

Gu Shen heaved a sigh of relief. “Then… let’s start with the good news.”

“There’s been a breakthrough in the investigation of the fire.” Nan Jin closed the newspaper and turned to look at the young man. “People wanted to destroy the evidence last night, but we caught them.”

“Oh…” Gu Shen looked like he was still half-asleep and asked in puzzlement, “Who’s we?”

“Because of you, Teacher transferred two powerful enforcers from other cities in the Azure River District.”

Gu Shen felt his scalp tingle.

How terrifying were the people whom even Nan Jin called powerful… He had seen the one who chased after someone last night.

And there was another one he didn’t see at all.

Seeing Gu Shen’s reaction, Nan Jin felt very satisfied. She said calmly, “You can also call them… senior brother and senior sister.”

Gu Shen was confused.

“The assessment date of the Adjudication Bureau has been set. It’s in fifteen days.” Nan Jin seemed to be talking about a trivial matter. “Senior Brother and Senior Sister are here to give you special training.”

“Is that so…” Gu Shen immediately understood.

He felt slightly relieved. The special training was a good thing for him. Outsiders might not know, and just by looking at the files, they might think that this young man was exceptionally talented.

But Gu Shen knew very well how much weight his so-called S-grade rating held.

If he participated in the assessment like this…

He was afraid that the outcome would make everyone’s jaws drop.

“In fact, Senior Brother and Senior Sister came to help investigate the fire. Unexpectedly, after reading the files, they both expressed interest in meeting you, the exceptionally talented newbie.” Nan Jin shrugged. “They are both monsters who obtained A-grade ratings in their assessments. They want to see how abnormal you are, the newbie who triggered a pardon order. It’s reasonable, isn’t it?”

“Reasonable…” Gu Shen had a headache.

He could roughly guess why Nan Jin’s attitude toward the ‘assessment’ had suddenly changed overnight.

It wasn’t difficult to see that Mr. Tree’s lineage had an extremely high status in the Adjudication Bureau.

Otherwise, it would have been impossible for the bigwigs of the Parliament to issue a pardon order.

But just as the chief justice of Azure River said, using the pardon order entails pressure… Mr. Tree hasn’t appeared since he bailed me out. The Adjudication Bureau must be dealing with the controversy.

“There’s good news and bad news. What’s the bad news?”

“The bad news is that the Adjudication Bureau held a heavyweight meeting about the pardon order last night,” Nan Jin said solemnly. “Representatives from the various districts in the East Continent condemned Teacher, and someone even initiated impeachment proceedings.”

Sure enough, it’s like I thought! A pardon order isn’t easy to obtain.

“Impeachment?” Gu Shen exclaimed in surprise. “Is it that serious?”

“Actually, impeachment isn’t a big deal. Because of Teacher’s style of doing things, there are impeachments every year.” Nan Jin held her forehead. “But the situation might be more serious this time. After all, it wasn’t easy to find an opportunity. Those fellows from the Adjudication Bureau have mustered all their strength to use the pardon order to cause trouble…

“The heads of the various districts of the Adjudication Bureau unanimously think that using the pardon order on you was inappropriate.” Nan Jin smiled wryly. “But this pressure has nothing to do with us. Instead of worrying about Teacher, it’s better to worry about yourself.”

“Yeah…” Gu Shen muttered in his mind, If I don’t pass the assessment, then the situation will really be bad.

Until now…

He had yet to relax.

Whether it was Chu Ling or Mr. Tree, they both showed that they thought highly of him, but Gu Shen was really unconfident.

Until now, there had been no transcendental awakening!

How could he face the assessment?

“Oh, right, there’s one more thing. It’s about the fire,” Nan Jin said. “This case isn’t that simple.”

Gu Shen asked in puzzlement, “Didn’t you catch the culprits last night? Shouldn’t you solve the case soon?”

“This case is more complicated than we thought.” Nan Jin shook her head.

She stood up, and the orange cat in her arms took the opportunity to slip away. “Gu Shen, I’m afraid you don’t have much time to rest. Come with me to take a look at the situation yourself.”