Chapter 1468: Newspaper

"Extra, extra! Read all about it!!"

"Lord Tian-Shu uses his body as a shield to knock back the Red Star!!"

"Lord Xuan-Yu banishes the Calamity of Breath, standing tall even in death on the battlefield!!"

"Lord Ling-Xu strikes with world-shaking power, sealing the Calamity of Delusion outside the realm! Lord Red Dust repels the Calamity of Turbidity single-handedly!"

"World-ending Calamity Chen Ling hunts for thousands of miles, finally slaying the Calamity of Thought in the ruins of Aurora!!"

"The Great War of World Destruction comes to an end! Detailed summary and exclusive photos from the scene! All in the *Tian-Shu Daily*!!"

"Extra, extra..."

On the busy street, a boy in a tattered jacket, carrying a large bag of newspapers, shouted as he sprinted past.

On both sides of the street, around the buildings currently under reconstruction, figures drenched in sweat looked toward the boy at the same time. After a brief exchange, they pooled some spare change and gathered around.

"Kid, how much for a paper?"

The boy looked at these men in dirty work clothes, shook his head, and directly pulled out several newspapers, stuffing them into their hands.

"It's free."

"Huh?"

"The government said that for all workers involved in post-disaster reconstruction, they are distributed for free."

Without waiting for the men to say anything, the boy waved his hand, shouldered his bag, and continued running hurriedly toward the street ahead. His expression was earnest and determined, like a vibrant white carrier pigeon weaving through the ruins.

Seeing that he had left, the men gathered together to flip through the newspapers, pointing at the headlines and photos from the scene, seemingly astonished.

"Extra, extra..."

"Give me one." Just as the boy finished half his shout, a girl with curly red hair and a black dog beckoned to him from the side of the street.

The boy scanned the girl, whose clothes were clean and neat. "One copper coin per copy."

The red-haired girl didn't hesitate at all, flicking a copper coin from her fingertip while taking the newspaper with her other hand.

As she flipped through the paper, the red-haired girl wove through the messy street. Her gaze fell on the page about "Chen Ling Slaying the Calamity of Thought." She read it several times, unable to stop herself from clicking her tongue.

"Did these realm media outlets find their conscience? They actually exposed this truthfully..."

"Woof—" the black dog beside her barked.

"True, the death of the Calamity of Thought is a major event that shocked all human realms; even if they wanted to cover it up, they couldn't... But this article is much more objective than I imagined. They didn't even throw any mud at him?" The red-haired girl rubbed her chin.

"Do you think this counts as some kind of signal? Is our Twilight Society actually going to be cleared of its name?"

"Woof, woof—"

While the girl and the dog were communicating, the red-haired girl had already arrived at the door of a dilapidated bar. After checking that no one was around, she pushed the door open and entered.

*Ding-dong—*

The rusty bell at the door rang.

At this moment, there were no customers in the bar at all, only a figure who looked like the owner was wiping the table. The red-haired girl sat down directly at the bar counter:

"I want to buy a glimmer of hope."

The owner seemed very familiar with this girl. After the two went through the secret code according to the procedure, he said helplessly:

"You've run to me ten times in the last half month... This is a secret stronghold, not a real bar. Besides, can you really drink that swill I mix?"

"Who said I came to drink? I'm not a drunkard like Jack of Diamonds." The red-haired girl shrugged.

"...Oh, I was talking to Spades."

The owner’s gaze turned to the large black dog beside the Ten of Hearts. The latter was already drooling, nudging the wine glass beside it with an impatient look:

"—Woof!!"

"He’s the one here to drink, not me." The red-haired girl leaned on the bar counter, full of anticipation. "So? Does the new Red King have any instructions? A new official taking office should at least have a team-building event, right? Even holding a meeting would be fine!"

"...Why? Are you that curious about this new Red King?" The owner asked leisurely while mixing a drink.

"It’s not just me, everyone is!" the red-haired girl said earnestly.

"You say this new Red King—he’s been in office for over half a month, and there hasn't been a single piece of news... No tasks assigned, no meeting with everyone, and he hasn't passed any information to us..."

"Except for tripling everyone’s salary, he seems to have done nothing!"

"Tell me, where is there such a Red King?"

Facing the red-haired girl’s barrage of questions, the owner was unimpressed:

"Isn't it normal for the Red King to be mysterious? Do you really think the Twilight Society is a normal company where a new boss holds a team-building event? He must have more important things to do."

"Well, he could at least show his face... The Gray King’s message didn't reveal his identity at all. Now everyone doesn't even know who their direct superior is... Some guess it’s someone from outside the Twilight Society who took over as Red King, some guess the Gray King is now the Red King, and others guess it’s one of our internal members who was promoted... All sorts of messy news are flying everywhere!"

The owner looked at her and asked with interest:

"And you? Who do you think... he is?"

Ten of Hearts smiled mysteriously and threw the newspaper in her hand onto the bar counter—it was the page about Chen Ling slaying the Calamity of Thought.

"Oh? You guess it’s him?"

"It’s not me, it’s the seniors of the J and Q ranks." The red-haired girl’s eyes lit up. "Tell me, besides this monster who can solo a world-ending threat, who else has the strength to take over the Red King’s position? And he’s the disciple of the original Red King—a total case of nepotism!"

"Of course, the most important evidence..."

"Tripling everyone’s salary is something only our God of Wealth could do!!"

"..." The owner was silent.

He silently put down the mixed drink and beckoned to the large black dog. The latter seemed completely uninterested in the new Red King, instead drooling over the glass in front of the owner. Without a second thought, it rushed forward and drank greedily, biting the rim of the glass.

"If the Red King really is Chen Ling, what then?" the owner asked Ten of Hearts.

The red-haired girl thought for a moment. "I did see him when I was in the Wuji Realm, but there were too many people, and I didn't have a chance to talk... No, he might not have even noticed me..."

"But I feel like he’s quite interesting. And you can't find such a generous boss anywhere else, right?"

"Your standards aren't very high." The owner couldn't help but laugh.

"But don't forget, he is a world-ending Calamity."

"So what if he’s a world-ending Calamity?" The red-haired girl didn't care, her gaze glancing at the Ten of Spades drinking away nearby. "Our Twilight Society isn't without Calamities, and he was our companion to begin with...

Besides, even if he is a world-ending Calamity, he’s more human than some humans."