Before Chu Ran could get up, she heard frantic knocking at the door. "Chu Ran! Chu Ran! Are you okay?!" Jian called out anxiously from outside. Chu Ran opened the door, and Jian rushed in like a cannonball. Chu Ran quickly sidestepped. "I'm fine." Jian's eyes were red-rimmed and tearful, like a fluffy rabbit. "I'm so glad you're okay... I was scared to death." Chu Ran sighed and patted her head. "It's okay, it's over." Jian hugged her, sobbing. "The news said you saved everyone. Thank you." Chu Ran patted Jian's back with one hand and tapped open the Light Brain news feed with the other. "Seventh Sub-Star Spiritist Preliminaries Shocked by S-Class Zerg Soul Butterfly—Chu Ran Saves the Public Again!" The news page featured a huge photo of Chu Ran, with articles full of praise, wrapping her layer after layer in a glamorous cloak, as if lifting her to the highest throne. The comments below were overwhelmingly positive, and some subtly put down Edwood and others, saying that the Legion Commander, the second-in-command of the government, and the President of the Spiritist Association had repeatedly let someone who was only E-rank a year ago save the day, calling them worse than useless. Others cursed He Qishen, claiming it was all a conspiracy by the God Summoning Society, and that He Qishen was the traitor who deserved to be executed live. Chu Ran raised an eyebrow slightly, noting the news outlets' names—none familiar. She immediately called Wang Facai. "Isn't it a bit unethical to push me out like this?" Wang Facai was in a dim place, barely visible. "It wasn't Gao Yuan's people. Edwood is on his way. He'll explain." Before Chu Ran could respond, Wang Facai hung up. "You have to handle the aftermath, right?" Jian lifted her head from Chu Ran's embrace, wiping her tears. "Then I'll go back. Call me if you need anything." Chu Ran handed Jian a tissue. "Get some rest. I saw you struggled against that invading force for a long time." "Mm..." Jian wiped her nose, looking a bit dejected and confused, like a pitiful rabbit drenched in rain. "I wanted to invite a god, but I still couldn't..." Chu Ran patted her shoulder. "Nothing happens overnight." "Maybe I need more training," Jian said after a moment of silence, forcing herself to cheer up. "Even if it's just a sliver of hope to invite a god, that's a miracle I've longed for. How can I give up so easily!" "Keep it up," Chu Ran encouraged. Jian made a fighting gesture and obediently returned to her room. Chu Ran watched the door close considerately and sighed. She had been wrong... She had thought that thread of faith from Jian was a plea for a chance to live. If she saved her, Jian might become her believer. But it turned out that thread was unwillingness—unwillingness to remain trapped in weakness. Chu Ran touched her chest. She had a feeling that neither Jian nor that new person counted as true believers. At best, they were reserve candidates for believer candidacy. Chu Ran shrugged to herself. So this was how hard it was to find the opportunity to become a god. Before she could think further, there was a knock at the door. She opened it to find Edwood. He was still hidden in his black cloak, but he limped slightly, exuding an aura of death. "Did you lose the fight?" Chu Ran led him into her room and couldn't help asking. Through recent training, she had keenly realized that Edwood was stronger than the public knew. If the Special Squad could overpower him, that would be bad news for her. "Forty-sixty," Edwood replied coldly. Chu Ran tactfully didn't ask who was forty and who was sixty. "This time..." Edwood paused. "We underestimated them. Those Central Star bastards underestimated them too." Chu Ran sat on the sofa. "What can I ask about?" "The Special Squad came to the Seventh Sub-Star for the Divine Ruins Key," Edwood said, sitting across from her. "According to Lin Shenyin, she got close to Chu Heng because the God Summoning Society found out that your mother has the Divine Ruins Key." "Wait," Chu Ran was startled. "The Divine Ruins Key? Not just a clue to it?" Edwood let out a cold snort from under his hood. "If it were just a clue, would the God Summoning Society have spent so long setting this up?" "It's been at least thirteen years since Lin Shenyin approached Chu Heng. In those thirteen years, I've found two leads to the Divine Ruins Key in the Divine Tombs. The God Summoning Society has only more." Chu Ran's expression shifted. "What about the Seventh Divine Tomb..." "The Seventh Divine Tomb is the most explored one, but no one has ever found the Divine Ruins Key there," Edwood said, pausing. "I suspect that if there ever was a key in the Seventh Divine Tomb, it was taken away." Chu Ran was shocked by this speculation. After a moment, she asked, "But what does that have to do with my mother? She only explored the tombs on military orders. She couldn't have hidden anything." Edwood was silent for a long time. "It wasn't that your mother took it. Someone took it and left it with her." "But she was an orphan!" Chu Ran found it absurd. "Her belongings were thoroughly searched, weren't they?" Orphanages had no privacy. "So those bastards definitely hid important information," Edwood said, barely containing his anger. "From the release of the Third Prison—no, maybe they knew the Spiritist Association had Zerg spies all along, just not who!" The last words were forced through his clenched teeth. Those disgusting Central Star bastards... Edwood's black cloak began to flutter, and the windows in the room vibrated slightly. Chu Ran quickly interrupted, "Don't vent your anger in my room!" Edwood's slightly out-of-control Spiritual Power came to an abrupt halt. After a long silence, he finally suppressed his fury at being toyed with. "They found out about the Divine Ruins Key much later than the God Summoning Society. And Lin Shenyin isn't an important figure in the Society," Edwood said gravely. "After Chu Zhenzhen was born, Lin Shenyin deliberately tried to distance herself from the God Summoning Society. Perhaps sensing this, the Society stopped giving her orders. She doesn't know if they've obtained the key." "Lin Shenyin is a dead piece." Chu Ran rubbed her chin. "That's not right. If she were a dead piece, she wouldn't have lived long enough to tell you everything." The dead kept secrets best. Edwood said flatly, "Two possibilities: one, the God Summoning Society hasn't gotten the key and is waiting for an opportunity; two, they have the key but the Chu family still has something they want." Chu Ran thought it over. "So this 'accident' involved both the God Summoning Society and Central Star, using me and He Qishen as bait. And the current news reports..." "Those have nothing to do with the Divine Ruins Key," Edwood said mockingly. "Those bastards screwed up and had to divert public attention. They planned to use He Qishen as a scapegoat, saying it was all a God Summoning Society conspiracy. But someone inside the Huang family defected." "Huang Changying should have seen this coming when he left Commander Huang to die." Chu Ran pieced the information together. "So now everyone's focus is on who has the Divine Ruins Key?" "Yes." No. Chu Ran lowered her gaze, dismissing it. The third party represented by Professor Hu wasn't after the Divine Ruins Key. She seemed more intent on the original owner. But the Special Squad and the God Summoning Society didn't seem to realize that.