Seeing the three nod their agreement, the Gongsun brothers turned and got into their own car, just missing Lan Lan who arrived to be the temporary driver.
"Master Ran Xi, I am here."
Lan Lan came up to the RV beaming.
Yunxi nodded. "Lan Lan, perfect timing. I need to go handle something. Drive and follow that silver-gray car in front. They will lead the way."
"Alright, no problem."
Lan Lan agreed at once, stealing a couple of extra glances at the man and woman beside Master Ran Xi. She felt the two were the same kind as Master Ran Xi, eye-catching and unforgettable.
She slid into the driver's seat, started the RV, and tailed the Gongsun brothers' car toward the skyscraper where the special department was located, a place Yunxi had visited before.
Captain Chen's team, who had come with Han Lian, also started their vehicles and fell in behind Yunxi's RV, heading for the same destination.
Inside the RV, the three did not continue meditating but spoke in low voices.
"How did Yun Chen end up in the hands of the special department? With his ability, that should not happen."
Han Lian arched a brow. From what she knew of Yun Chen, he only looked easygoing on the surface.
Yunxi spread her hands. "We will only know when we see him. Knowing Yun Chen's temperament and that compassionate heart, most likely he did not want to clash with people here and chose to go along with them."
Xun Kun nodded. "My guess is he ran into 'Soul Chaser' collecting souls. That violates the path he cultivates. Once he realized this was not the Weiyu Realm, he would try to find us while investigating the facts."
It had to be said, their guesses were very close to the truth.
At that moment, Lan Lan, driving the RV, frowned slightly at the route the car ahead was taking. She asked nothing and kept up as a good driver.
But the tiny shift in her expression was perfectly clear to Yunxi's divine sense. Yunxi asked nothing either. She calmly stroked Li Li's head and sent him two brief voice transmissions.
When the Gongsun brothers' car pulled into the skyscraper's underground garage, the line of vehicles behind also entered the garage.
Once parked, the three stepped out. Lan Lan did not, saying she would wait in the RV. Yunxi smiled.
"Lan Lan, this might take a while. It is not right to make you wait in the car. Come with me to their office and wait there. Keep Li Li company."
Lan Lan hesitated, but one look at the red panda in Yunxi's arms, tail swishing and winking at her, and she was nodding like a pecking bird and hopped down at once.
Captain Chen came up then and said to the Gongsun brothers, "We are under orders to protect Ms. Han Lian. Not all guards need to enter the special department office, but I and my deputy must accompany her."
As he said this, Captain Chen deliberately ignored Han Lian's look and, in all seriousness, represented the military in negotiating with the special department.
Yunxi could not hold back and chuckled, then sent Han Lian a voice transmission: "Listen to Captain Chen. I fear only he believes those words."
Han Lian shook her head helplessly. "Let him be. He has his mission. We should not make it hard on him."
Only Lan Lan was confused, but that did not stop her from enjoying the drama. She even moved to stand by Ran Xi and cradled Li Li contentedly, following the three into a private elevator.
The elevator rose straight to the top floor without stopping. As the doors opened, the three saw Yun Chen sitting ramrod straight.
"Yun Chen."
"Amitabha. Han Lian, Ran Xi, Xun Kun, it is good to finally see you."
Yun Chen stood to greet them, his mood brightening. He had thought it would take a long time to find his companions, yet here they were, reunited so quickly.
Deputy Minister Ruo Bai looked at the familiar ease among the four and felt a faint surge of hope. He drew a deep breath, stepped forward, and said, "Everyone, please sit. Now we can speak properly."
Only then did Yunxi look at the special department's deputy minister and smile. "So the minister can answer the questions I asked before."
"Yes."
"Good. Then let us speak frankly."
She took a seat first, with Han Lian, Xun Kun, and Yun Chen sitting in turn.
Ruo Bai looked around the office, ready to have the Gongsun brothers, Captain Chen and his deputy, and the woman holding the red panda step out. The conversation to come concerned Azure Star's highest secrets. Too many could not be allowed to hear.
Before he could speak, Yunxi said first, "Lan Lan must look after my pet. She stays."
"But…"
Ruo Bai was troubled. He glanced at Lan Lan, clearly not wanting the young woman to remain.
Lan Lan, basking in peak happiness with the red panda in her arms, looked up and said, "Minister, I only listen to Master Ran Xi. You have no right to remove me."
She even pulled out her citizen ID for him to check.
Seeing Lan Lan's surname, Ruo Bai's eyes flickered. In the end he allowed her to stay. The Gongsun brothers and Captain Chen with his deputy were still asked to leave, but all four stood guard outside the office door.
Once the door was closed, Ruo Bai got straight to the point. "Elder Nan is the highest person in charge of reincarnation within the special department. It is thanks to his presence that the Reincarnation Division can operate smoothly.
But in the last twenty years, problems have arisen. More and more souls have issues after reincarnation. They fail to integrate with the body, leading to soul dissolution or separation, which has made spiritual incidents increasingly common across Azure Star. The special department has been handling these cases…"
Xun Kun cut him off, impatient. "We know your Reincarnation Division is in trouble, and we know it will only get worse. That much is obvious.
What we want to know is how you came to grasp the laws of reincarnation, how you appoint 'Soul Chaser', how you purify the souls you collect, and when Azure Star began to control life and death."
Hearing this, Ruo Bai realized these four knew far more than he had expected. He could only sigh."These events date back to Azure Star's third technological revolution. A scientist surnamed Xie, wishing for his deceased wife to remain by his side, guided her soul into a cloned body, achieving the first man-made reincarnation.
His wife truly returned with her memories and lived with him again. To match his newly young wife, the scientist also gave himself a new body.
But before long, their new lives went wrong. The wife went mad first. She could not distinguish between who she was now and the memories of before. Her health worsened and she finally died in despair.
The scientist planned to repeat the trick and give her yet another body, but discovered that his wife's soul had already vanished.
He could not find his beloved. His own mind broke. Not long after his second wife died, he went mad as well."