He who has never been to the Great Wall is not a true man.

After a moment, Dongfang Shuye came back with a sour expression on his face.

"Got something to do? Then go ahead," Lin Mo said, unconcerned.

Dongfang Shuye just shook his head. "Nothing much. It's just that there's been an update on that earlier matter. Pretty bad fallout, but someone's handling it."

"That's fine then," Lin Mo replied, not pressing further. He had no intention of interfering too much in Yanhuang Awakening's decisions.

On the other hand, Wang Jie and the others looked at Lin Mo and Dongfang with curiosity.

"Did something happen?"

"Nah, just some guild issues in the game. Got raided," Lin Mo said, waving it off.

Dongfang Shuye nodded in agreement.

Lin Mo had actually heard the phone call just now.

Basically, a suspected case had been discovered in Chang'an—something involving the household of a high-ranking official. The entire family of four had been killed, all with corrosive wounds on their throats.

Every single one had died from a single strike.

But the local Yanhuang Awakening team wasn't sure if this was Qin Suishou's ability at work.

So they'd probably need to find someone familiar with Qin Suishou to go check the scene.

Dongfang Shuye didn't dwell on it. He just raised his hand. "Never mind, let's go. We promised to climb the Great Wall, remember?"

The others didn't think much of it and headed toward the entrance.

The Great Wall wasn't as long as they'd imagined—after all, they were only walking a section of it.

There were plenty of tourists waving little flags along the way.

The weather was decent that day. There was no sun, but the smog wasn't too bad either.

Lin Mo's group walked along the wall.

Starting from the North First Tower, there weren't that many tourists around.

Tong Dong leaned against one of the crenellations, gazing at the green mountains beyond, and couldn't help but sigh.

"This is a miracle built over thousands of years."

"True. Almost every dynasty repaired the wall except for the Yuan Dynasty—even the Qing Dynasty did."

"Of course. The Qing were wary of the Mongols making a comeback, so they maintained the wall too."

As for the Yuan, since they were the Mongols themselves, they naturally skipped the repairs.

The group chatted as they walked. By the time they reached the North Fourth Tower, the crowd had thickened.

Some tourists had bought combo tickets that included the slide car, which took them straight to the North Fourth Tower. The number of people suddenly surged.

By the North Seventh Tower, it was even more packed.

"Damn, where did all these people come from all of a sudden?"

Lin Mo pointed toward the cable car station.

"They took the cable car up. That's why there are so many people."

By the North Eighth Tower, the crowd was overwhelming.

Since the North Eighth Tower was the highest point of the Great Wall, a lot of people stopped there to take photos, making it even more congested.

After snapping a few pictures, Lin Mo's group quickly headed downhill.

Since the slide car and cable car tickets were round-trip, not many people chose to walk down.

Leaving the North Eighth Tower, the path downhill became much less crowded again.

When they finally reached the bottom and collected their "Hero Certificate," someone laughed.

"Not that hard after all."

"I used to think climbing the Great Wall would be really tough—you know, 'You're not a hero until you've climbed the Great Wall.' Turns out it's a piece of cake."

"Right? Kind of false advertising, honestly."

"Eh, but it does have a certain vibe, though. After all, it's the Great Wall."

The group chattered among themselves as they walked toward the parking lot outside.

The private car hadn't left.

Throughout the trip, Dongfang Shuye hadn't said much. He'd kept looking at his phone the whole time.

It was clear he was very concerned about the Qin Suishou case.

When the car returned to the training base, everyone went back to their dorms.

Back in their room, Wang Jie casually set down his Hero Certificate and looked at Tong Dong.

"Dongzi, Lin Mo feels different from us somehow."

Tong Dong nodded but didn't respond directly.

"Yeah, and that friend of his seems really capable too—doesn't seem like a..."

"Slacker," another person added.

"Right. Brother Dongfang kept staring at his phone with a serious expression."

"Yeah, I glanced at him a few times. He's got a different kind of presence."

Tong Dong didn't seem bothered. "No matter what, Brother Dongfang is just Lin Mo's friend. We don't need anything from him, so let's just be friends. Aren't you all my friends too?"

Tong Dong's words were genuine.

Most highly intelligent people dislike playing mind games—some find it unnecessary, others think it's a waste of time.

"Yeah, fair enough. We're just here to have fun anyway."

In the other room.

Lin Mo lay on the bed while Dongfang Shuye kept scrolling through his phone.

"If you're that worried, just go."

"I can't. My official assignment right now is to keep an eye on you. If I go to Chang'an, they'd send someone else to watch you. If another person comes, I'm afraid you might kill them."

Dongfang Shuye didn't look up as he spoke.

Over the past few days, he'd gotten to know Lin Mo well enough to understand his personality.

As long as no one provoked or threatened him, things would be fine.

But Dongfang Shuye knew the people at Yanhuang Awakening headquarters well—they were the type to puff up their chests even when they knew they couldn't win.

If they sent someone else, it could cause problems.

That would inevitably strain the relationship between Yanhuang Awakening and Lin Mo.

In the end, Dongfang Shuye decided to leave the rest to his comrades at Yanhuang Awakening.

He hoped they could find the culprits.

But... he wasn't sure...

Dongfang Shuye sat in his chair, glanced at Lin Mo, then back at his phone.

Finally, he asked, "I was wondering... would you be interested in trying some meat buns from Chang'an?"

Seeing Dongfang Shuye hesitating for so long, Lin Mo couldn't help but laugh.

"Fine. But no green peppers in mine. And I want to see which bastard is trying to frame me."

"Great! I'll arrange the flight now!"

Lin Mo waved his hand. Dongfang Shuye had more energy than Liu Zheng.

But he wasn't as thick-skinned as Liu Zheng.

If it were Liu Zheng, he'd have dragged Lin Mo to Chang'an without hesitation.

It was precisely because of Liu Zheng's shamelessness that Lin Mo trusted him to handle investigations.

After all, you scratch my back, I scratch yours—sweet as honey.

On the other side, when Long Tianqi found out that Dongfang Shuye was bringing Lin Mo to Chang'an, she turned to Xu Wendong, who was in her office.

"What the hell is Dongfang Shuye doing?! I told him to keep an eye on Lin Mo, and now he's the one dragging him to Chang'an! Does he think Yanhuang Awakening has no one else, or that they can't handle anything without Lin Mo?!"

This outburst only reinforced Xu Wendong's determination to win Lin Mo over.

So he spoke up.

"Qin Suishou was both Dongfang Shuye's rival and friend. What's happened to Qin Suishou matters a lot to him. For his sake, let it slide. Besides, we already know Lin Mo is innocent."

Xu Wendong's words seemed to be advocating for Dongfang Shuye, but deep down, he just wanted to find out what those people were up to.

During the quiet period, he felt like a deaf man—helpless and unable to tolerate anything beyond his control.