Chen Miao didn''t speak, just looked expressionlessly at the seemingly amiable elder in front of him, pausing for a moment before slowly saying, "The mayor is dead, does it mean you be the new mayor as the deputy mayor?"


    "I don''t know."


    The elder shook his head, "I understand what you''re thinking, but it has nothing to do with me. In fact, I''ve always been the mayor''s person. Every time there was a meeting, I would propose ideas that werepletely opposed to the mayor''s — this was all arranged with the mayor."


    "That way, those who opposed the mayor would gather around me."


    "Their Strength would be used for me, and thus controlled by the mayor."


    "Clear divisions are better than not knowing where some stand; it''s much easier to manage. I have no reason, nor any means, to kill a mayor who''s securely sheltered three thousand meters underground."


    "He indeedmitted suicide."


    "The authorities from Jingjiu City have already gone to investigate. The sudden death of someone with the mayor''s status is no small matter; Jingjiu City will definitely find out what happened. Until the situation is resolved, it''s impossible for me to take over. I was one of the first to visit the scene, and what I can confirm is that the mayor killed himself."


    "But..."


    The elder paused before continuing hesitantly, "Have you seen someonemit suicide? No matter the reason, most who do struggle. They leave traces in many ces, such as their socialwork, diaries, and so on."


    "And there would be many abnormal behaviors, like a much higher than usual intake of cigarettes beforemitting suicide, drinking, tear stains on the face, and so on."


    "But based on my observations at the scene, the mayor left no trace before his suicide. The ashtray on the table and his usual cigarette consumption showed no difference; he was even watching a movie before his death, paused halfway through. In what situation would you pause a movie?"


    "To go to the bathroom, right?"


    "Exactly."


    "That''s what the mayor did. He was watching a movie, suddenly paused it, climbed into the bathroom, found a rope, and hanged himself in the living room. The whole process was eerie, not at all seeming like the mayor''s own intention — as if... he was possessed by a ghost."


    The elder''s expression turned grim as he spoke, "The Events Bureau had checked it at the time; there was no residual maic field oscition from any event having urred, nor the birth of any Taboo Item."


    "So... up to this point, we have no idea why the mayormitted suicide."


    "We only know that hisst order before hemitted suicide was for me to find a psychologist named Zhang Liu in Broken Pot City, and thene to Zhenba City to give you psychological counseling."


    Chen Miao quickly noticed the loophole in the elder''s words, "I entered the Hell Bus in Fengtian City. Are you sure the mayor''s order was for you toe to Zhenba City to give me psychological counseling?"


    "Yes, that was his exactmand. I''ve been waiting in Zhenba City for a long time now."


    "Hmm."


    He nodded and said no more. Although the mayor had not mentioned this deputy mayor to him in advance, the elderly man''s words before him didn''t sound false. Excluding the possibility that this person is an old fox capable ofpletely concealing his emotions, might the mayor have indeedmitted suicide?


    But why...


    Why would the mayormit suicide out of the blue?


    Could it be that he foresaw failure, that the end of the world was inevitable and preferred to end his life with dignity rather than dying in the apocalypse?


    Impossible.


    Although he had limited contact with the mayor, Chen Miao had roughly understood what kind of person the mayor was. The mayor was the type who, even if the apocalypse really came, would want to live up to thest moment and see for himself what the end of the world was actually like.


    A person like that couldn''t possiblymit suicide!


    He nced at the chat box with the mayor, which contained no useful information. Thest few messages the mayor sent him were before he entered the dream, specting about the major event called "Sea of Human Suffering."


    It was all normalmunication.


    Wait—


    Chen Miao''s eyes narrowed slightly as he seemed to notice something unusual.


    "All I know is this much, the Blue Star Federation has never experienced the ''Sea of Human Suffering,'' everything is an unknown."


    "With the ''Sea of Human Suffering'' event urring, everyone in the Federation is exploring, but what''s certain is that the ''Sea of Human Suffering'' event has not truly ended. The death of these hundreds of thousands of people is not the end; it''s probably just the beginning."


    "Now many Hell Bus fixed events have started to activate; the Federation hasn''t seen many Hell Buses over the decades, and today I''ve seen enough."


    "They are now sending people to Zhenba City, and you must remember not to let Lord Miao turn into a Resentful Spirit; otherwise, the consequences will be hard to predict."


    "Got it?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    This was hisst conversation with the mayor. At that time, he was sitting on the Hell Bus, and Lord Miao had not yet boarded. But in his intentional observation, he had discovered an obvious acrostic among these passages.


    The first character of each sentencebined to form, "I''ve found him."


    Was this a coincidence, or was it a message that the mayor wanted to convey?


    "I''ve found him"... Found who?


    If there was indeed such important information that must be conveyed, why pass it on to someone else, and not him? He didn''t believe he had that much ability; he didn''t even understand what the sentence meant, nor did he know what use it had.


    But the mayor''s sudden bizarre suicide might be because he discovered something he shouldn''t have, and was forced into death?


    This way of dying, he was actually quite familiar with it.


    Some time ago at Eternal Cemetery, a group of peoplemitted suicide using the same dagger. Those people, as the deputy mayor had described, suddenly began tomit suicide mysteriously and did so with swift decisiveness.


    But the deputy mayor had said that there was no Taboo Item at the scene.


    "..."


    Chen Miao shook his head, deciding not to think about it any longer. After returning, he would see if he could apply to visit the shelter to take a look; perhaps he would discover something.


    ...


    Meanwhile—


    The mayor of Fengtian City sat in a room with walls on all sides painted white, covered with various surveince screens, each disying real-time footage of different corners of the Blue Star Federation, including the scene of Deputy Mayor Chen Miao and his group standing next to a street food stall chatting.


    "..."


    The mayor looked down at his hands with a somewhat dazed expression, then looked up again at the screen showing Chen Miao.


    At that moment, a hoarse mechanical voice came to his ears.


    "You''re quite clever, sent to monitor this, and you yed with consciousness awakening, didn''t you?"


    "All your wages are docked; you''re fired."


    The mayor swallowed slightly, a trace of resignation shing in his eyes, momentarily unsure what to say. All of his memories had returned, and as he had surmised while on Blue Star—