Chapter 1785: Disappearing Population

"It's very simple." Chen Ling smiled.

"The Lord of Ruoshui is different from the other eight Lords. He is in charge of quantum mechanics. Even if he falls into a deep sleep, he is simultaneously in a superposition of 'life' and 'death' and cannot be observed. Even the most powerful Divination Path practitioner cannot predict his awakening and death time too far in advance."

"Two hours is probably the limit of the time that Wei Chen can predict in advance. Therefore, only by relying on regular repeated predictions can we know the state of the Lord of Ruoshui as early as possible."

"I see..."

A look of understanding appeared in Liu Qingyan’s eyes.

"So, neither us, Ying Fu, nor these [Prophets] in Ruoshui Prison know exactly when the life of the Lord of Ruoshui will come to an end... Everyone can only wait for him to wake up on his own?"

"That's right." Chen Ling placed a black piece unhurriedly. "However, this Wei Chen has some strength... To be able to predict the state of the Lord of Ruoshui two hours in advance, I'm afraid his attainments in divination are the first in hundreds of years."

"He is Ying Fu's man, so does that mean Ying Fu also possesses the same divination attainments as him?"

"Having such ability and being able to exert it are two different things... Activating the power of the Divination Path will consume oneself to some extent. For Ying Fu, lifespan is the most important thing, and he will not use it easily."

Liu Qingyan nodded. "By the way, Wei Chen's behavior is a bit strange. He is clearly alone at home, yet he keeps the door wide open, burns incense constantly, keeps the tea warm, and has preserved fruit on the table..."

"He is waiting for me."

Chen Ling answered calmly.

Liu Qingyan was not surprised by this answer. She paused for a moment and asked: "Then are you going?"

Chen Ling lowered his eyes, placed a piece on the chessboard casually, and then replied faintly with two words:

"Not going."

The figure in the theatrical robe stood up, glanced at the chessboard one last time, and a faint smile curled at the corner of his mouth... He didn't linger, but flicked his sleeves and turned to leave gracefully.

At this moment,

on the other side of the chessboard,

Ghost Heart 10 was hugging her big dog, staring blankly at the five black pieces already connected on the board... It was a long time before she came back to her senses.

The red-haired girl seemed to have broken down. Looking at Chen Ling’s departing back, she stomped her feet and said angrily:

"It's just winning a game of Gomoku, isn't it?!"

"Why are you acting so cool!"

"Damn it! You just wait! Next time I will definitely win it back!!"

……

Chengtian Realm.

Imperial Palace.

Snow fell silently from the sky, covering the cinnabar-like palace walls with a white edge. On the quiet and deep snow, a figure hunched over and hurried through.

At the entrance of the Imperial Study, Eunuch Zuo looked at the series of footprints on the snow that were about to be covered by the heavy snow, and calculated the time in his heart...

"It should be coming."

He muttered to himself.

Sure enough, at the end of the snow, a figure walked over hurriedly.

"Eunuch Zuo." The person stopped in front of Eunuch Zuo, panting. "Two hours have passed, and there is still no movement in Ruoshui Prison..."

"Hmm, thank you for your hard work... Report again in two hours."

"Yes!"

The man wiped the sweat from his forehead and responded respectfully.

Reporting the situation of Ruoshui Prison every two hours was His Majesty's edict... For so many years, he had never heard of His Majesty being so concerned about anything. Therefore, not only the Imperial Palace but all the powerful families in the entire Chengtian Realm were nervously watching the situation in Ruoshui Prison at this moment.

These families didn't know what would happen in Ruoshui Prison; they only knew that there had been frequent Calamity attacks there recently. Some smart people, through these clues, vaguely guessed something...

If the facts were really as they thought, then something big was really going to happen next.

The heavy snow covered the Chengtian Realm, making everything look quiet and peaceful, but only a very few people could feel the undercurrents beneath this calm. Even though the weather was this cold, some people would still nervously break out in a cold sweat.

"Wait a minute." Seeing that the man was about to turn and leave, Eunuch Zuo called out to him. "Take this out. It's His Majesty's own handwriting... You should know what to do."

The man looked down. What Eunuch Zuo handed over was a list. Seeing the obvious large characters in that line, his heart shook.

"His Majesty wants to... change the guard of the inner wall of Ruoshui Prison at this time?"

"Just go and announce it, don't ask about anything else."

Eunuch Zuo’s voice became serious.

"Yes!"

The cold sweat on the man's back increased. He gripped the list tightly and rushed out of the palace walls into the heavy snow again.

Eunuch Zuo looked back at the quiet Imperial Study behind him, then his gaze fell back on the palace in the heavy snow. He stood with his hands behind his back, looking in the direction of Ruoshui Prison, and let out a long, faint sigh...

"Sigh..."

……

"Here, here, here."

Li Shangfeng sat on a park bench, making sounds while scattering the corn kernels in his hand to the white pigeons in the distance.

As the corn kernels hit the ground, a large flock of white pigeons flapped their wings and flew over, like a piece of white silk falling gracefully. The rustling sound made the surrounding children shout in surprise.

"Those are pigeons, not dogs. 'Here, here, here' is useless." Lin Xi, on the other side of the bench, couldn't help but complain.

"Sigh, why be so serious? It's all the same."

Li Shangfeng waved his hand, watched the pigeons finish their feed, leaned lazily against the back of the chair, looked at the few white clouds drifting leisurely overhead, and sighed.

"It's been three days... and there's still no movement. How long do we have to lurk here?"

"Be patient, it's only been three days." Lin Xi flipped through the newspaper in his hand and replied calmly. "Besides... in these three days, haven't you felt that something is wrong?"

Li Shangfeng turned his head instantly. "What's wrong?"

Lin Xi: "..."

"Don't look at me with that look... You're the smart one. Staying with you, I'm too lazy to use my brain." Li Shangfeng nudged him. "Just say it, don't keep me in suspense."

Lin Xi said helplessly, "Haven't you noticed that the number of people in Ruoshui Prison has decreased?"

"...What?"

Li Shangfeng looked back at the square. In this park at the center of Ruoshui Prison, looking around, there were only a few residents taking a walk. The streets in the distance were also quiet, with an indescribable tranquility.

"It does seem a bit less... but when we came, there weren't many people, right?" Li Shangfeng asked suspiciously. "Does Ruoshui Prison not have many people to begin with?"

"A prison always has millions of people. I found it strange the day we arrived... compared to other places, the population here is simply too small." Lin Xi paused for a moment.

"And in these three days, the rate of population loss has been getting faster and faster..."

For some reason, hearing this, Li Shangfeng suddenly felt a chill down his spine:

"Then... where... did everyone go??"