Receiving Guests

"Chen Miemie, are you admiring the beautiful spider web I wove?" Red's voice came from his pocket.

At first, Red had climbed into Chen Miemie's hair, but her movements kept tickling him. In the end, he made her keep Origami company in his pocket.

Chen Miemie had just been standing at the door thinking about things; he wasn't admiring any spider webs at all.

It would have been fine if Red hadn't mentioned it, but the moment she spoke, Chen Miemie immediately noticed that the 18th-floor hallway, from top to bottom, looked like an abandoned building that hadn't seen a living soul in a century. Give it another two days, and this place would probably turn into a spider demon's lair.

"Red, hurry up and clean out the hallway. There are too many spider webs. If someone walks by, they'll get covered in them."

"Oh."

Under Chen Miemie's supervision, Red retracted most of her silk threads.

As she pulled them back, she secretly peeked at Chen Miemie. In some spots, as long as he didn't indicate that she needed to keep retracting them, she would try to keep as many spider webs as possible.

Chen Miemie didn't tell her to stop until everywhere essentially looked like the entrance to Room 1803.

Weaving webs was a spider's nature, but the hallway was not Chen Miemie's private space. If he didn't intervene today, Red would only escalate tomorrow, covering all the floors in webs and causing a huge scene.

Of course, he didn't care about the inside of his home. He didn't ask her to take down the massive web in his bedroom.

Because he had been woken up in the morning and hadn't slept well at all, he was just about to take an afternoon nap when guests suddenly arrived.

The visitors were Dawn and Cassan.

In the living room.

Cassan's gaze darted back and forth between Chen Miemie and Loop.

This was their first time visiting Chen Miemie's home.

"Well, well, Chen Miemie, you're actually secretly living with such a gorgeous beauty. Tell me, how long has it been?"

Chen Miemie answered honestly, "Less than a month, I think."

"What's your relationship?"

"Good friends, good partners."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"Chen Miemie, you're really lacking in that department. Do you want your master's wife to teach you a few tricks?"

Unlike the carefree Cassan, Dawn had felt something was off the moment she arrived on the 18th floor.

If a Mystery Rank 5 Clown could sense it, there was no way she, a Mystery Rank 6, wouldn't notice.

These spider webs contained the power of anomalies.

Just as Cassan shifted her attention away from Loop, she started a new topic.

"Chen Miemie, your place is so strange. The floor is perfectly neat and sparkling clean, so why are there so many spider webs on the ceiling? How long has it been since you cleaned up?"

"It's the side effect of one of my mystical items," Chen Miemie lied casually.

Whenever something couldn't be explained by conventional logic, blaming it on Mystery instantly made it reasonable.

Dawn vaguely understood in her heart that Chen Miemie's home held secrets. He might even be hiding a new anomalous species from the organization, but she didn't point it out.

"Wow, Chen Miemie, is this the same kind as that endlessly edible roast chicken from last time?" Cassan spotted Bobo on the dining table.

"Yeah, want to have some together? A few new flavors came out recently. There's a cheese flavor that's really good."

"Alright, we came over today to tell you about some of the deployments and arrangements for tomorrow's city battle." Dawn quickly stopped Cassan and Chen Miemie; otherwise, the two of them would have started eating right then and there.

This was indeed something Chen Miemie needed to know. He only knew they were fighting tomorrow, but how, where, and whether it would be during the day or at night, he was completely unsure.

"There are four locations in total for the Four Symbols Seal of Sixiang City. The repair progress varies, but all of them will be completed tomorrow night. We can't pinpoint the exact hour.

What we need to do is guard the perimeters of the four seal points to prevent the enemy from sabotaging them.

The defense point assigned to the Silver Moon Court tomorrow is the seal point in the east of the city.

Except for me. I will be on full mobile defense duty, ready to provide backup.

The south of the city will be guarded by the South Lord Society and five other societies, while the north will be guarded by the Return Journey Society and others.

The city administration's main forces will be placed at the final and most crucial core seal point."

Chen Miemie first nodded to show he understood these arrangements, and then raised a question:

"Having four seal points inevitably scatters the city's forces. Does it mean that if just one is destroyed, we lose everything?"

"Theoretically, yes."

"Then if the enemy just concentrates all their forces to attack one spot, wouldn't we be doomed?"

"That's why the city used its trump card. Officer Sun from the city administration used some undisclosed Mystery to link the outcomes of the four defense points together. This means that if the enemy wants to sabotage them, there can only be two outcomes.

Either they break through all four defense points, or they can't destroy a single one."

"You can actually do that! Doesn't that mean the difficulty for the attackers just went up four times?"

"Of course. Never underestimate the foundation of a city. When it comes to a life-or-death struggle, no matter how great the cost, there are always some formidable methods available."

"What's the cost?" Chen Miemie knew that such a good thing wouldn't come easily.

"If the defense is successful, it will cost a massive amount of resources, which is fine. But if they still manage to break through despite this, then... for the next three years, the seal will be unrepairable."

Cassan's explanation was even more blunt: "That means for the next three years, Sixiang City will revert to being an 'Ownerless City'."

The cowlick on Chen Miemie's head stood up straight. "There are still people living in the city. At worst, we'll just live carefully like we have for the past three weeks. How does that make it ownerless?"

"If a species cannot defend its own city and lets it fall into an 'Ownerless City' state, then all species can openly compete for it once again."

At this point, without needing any further explanation, Chen Miemie understood just how severe the consequences were.

Right now, the alien races were just coming to drag them down and cause sabotage. Their goal was nothing more than to weaken Sixiang City, making it the primary target for the new species of the new era.

But if it became an "Ownerless City," then others could directly send forces to attack and occupy it. The intensity would be on a completely different level, escalating from facing the threat of a single new species to contending with all species.

"Teacher, you sure know a lot."

"Hehe, those bureaucrats are still counting on Dawn to put in a lot of effort tomorrow. Of course they have to make things clear to her."

The group happily enjoyed a meal of pineapple roast chicken, and Chen Miemie saw the two of them out.

Before leaving, Dawn reminded him once more:

"Your situation is special. You must hide well during the day tomorrow. Unless it's a matter of life and death before nightfall, absolutely do not run around."

"Okay, I know."

Before Chen Miemie could even get comfortable and "lie down after eating," a new message arrived.

"Why are so many people looking for me today?" Chen Miemie complained.

When he saw the message, he immediately sat up straight on the sofa.

Time: 17:22

Sender: Loli Teacher

Content: Bishop Jing has been captured. This person's will is exceptionally resolute. Without ironclad evidence, it will be difficult to pry his mouth open.