Outside the rift—
Bai Jue and Liu Guocheng stepped out together, only to find that a large number of Night Watchers had already arrived. Even Sikong Xi was present.
The moment she saw them, she walked over and asked,
"How did it go? Are you two alright?"
"We're fine," both of them replied, shaking their heads.
Bai Jue and Liu Guocheng removed their monitoring equipment and handed it over to Sikong Xi. These devices would later be reviewed by specialists—both to calculate their mission points and to analyze the situation inside the rift through recorded footage.
In Night Watcher missions, losing this equipment essentially meant the mission counted for nothing.
"What was the situation inside?" Sikong Xi asked.
Bai Jue thought for a moment, then summarized concisely.
"It was a branch world of the White Elves. From what we could tell, they were almost completely wiped out. The culprit is very likely dark entities. The White Elf empress may still be alive—we saw light shielding the royal palace—but we didn't approach to confirm."
Sikong Xi nodded, stroking her chin thoughtfully.
Not long after, Bai Jue and Liu Guocheng left.
There was no reason for them to stay. Captain Sikong would report everything upward, and given the current relationship between the Human Federation and the White Elves, specialists would likely be dispatched to investigate and handle the matter.
Sitting in the passenger seat of the sedan, Bai Jue crossed his arms and gazed at the scenery retreating outside the window. He exhaled slowly, anticipation flickering in his eyes.
"Tch… looks like I should go check in at school soon."
By the time they returned to the city, it was already close to evening.
Time really did pass without anyone noticing.
After returning to the Night Watcher building, Bai Jue parted ways with Liu Guocheng and headed home.
Over the next few days, Bai Jue continued taking on missions—but they were all minor ones, nothing particularly difficult.
A Few Days Later
Linchuan District, Tiankui City
Inside a dim alley—
"AAAAH—!!"
A shrill scream rang out.
Dark yin energy surged around Bai Jue's right hand as he grabbed a vicious wraith by the throat. A cold smile curled his lips as he opened his mouth and devoured it whole.
It dissolved into pure Prayer Power, replenishing him instantly.
Nearby, Liu Guocheng smiled.
"That's the mission done. We can finally head home and sleep."
Then he shook his head with a sigh.
"Honestly, your ability is absurd. I don't even know how many times I've envied you by now."
"There's nothing to envy," Bai Jue said with a laugh.
"Your ability is plenty strong too."
It had been five days since the space-rift mission, and during those five days, Bai Jue had been clearing smaller tasks continuously.
As for the Awakening Crystal…
He hadn't exchanged for one yet.
Recently, the Night Watchers were short-handed. Most personnel had been transferred to deal with the space-rift incident, so point calculations were moving unusually slowly.
"Today should be the day our rift mission points get settled, right?" Bai Jue asked.
"Probably," Liu Guocheng shrugged. He wasn't particularly concerned—he wasn't short on points anyway.
Then he leaned closer and grinned.
"By the way, I heard from the team—people already went into that rift again, and they've even met the White Elf empress."
"She's really alive?" Bai Jue asked in surprise.
"Yeah," Liu Guocheng nodded.
"Barely, though. Sounds like she's just hanging on. Captain Sikong and the others are negotiating with her right now. No idea what kind of deal—but it's got nothing to do with us."
"Fair enough. Let's head back."
The two returned to the Night Watcher building.
The moment Bai Jue arrived, he opened his phone and entered the Black Night app. His eyes lit up instantly.
"Nice—my points finally got calculated."
"Oh?" Liu Guocheng asked curiously.
"How many did you get?"
"Not much. Thirty thousand," Bai Jue replied.
"But it's enough."
Anticipation gleamed in his eyes. After saying goodbye to Liu Guocheng, he headed straight for the Exchange Counter.
This was where Night Watchers traded mission points for resources.
At the moment, Bai Jue didn't need most materials.
There was only one thing he wanted—
An Awakening Crystal.
The exchange clerk was a cute young woman with dimples when she smiled. Bai Jue greeted her politely.
"Hi, could you help me exchange for an Awakening Crystal? And I'd also like to repay the one thousand points I owed earlier."
"An Awakening Crystal?" she reminded him kindly.
"That costs ten thousand points."
"Yes, I know."
"Alright. Please hand me your Night Watcher credentials."
After completing the process, Bai Jue's points dropped sharply—but in his hand now rested a multicolored, diamond-shaped crystal, light flowing within it like a living thing.
This was the Awakening Crystal.
It came with a limitation: only one awakening attempt per day.
Trying again within the same day would cause the crystal to shatter.
Holding it, Bai Jue's eyes shone with excitement as he headed toward a training room.
Now that the crystal was in hand—
He couldn't wait to attempt awakening his second festival.
Inside the training room, he closed the door, took a deep breath, and sat down cross-legged. The Awakening Crystal rested in his palm as he slowly closed his eyes.
With a shift of thought—
A subtle, unseen wave of consciousness was drawn forth and guided toward the crystal.
This was Mid-Autumn's consciousness.
The moment that wave approached the crystal, its light flared brighter—brilliant, dazzling.
This meant Mid-Autumn's consciousness was cooperating with the Awakening Crystal and had successfully attracted the attention of other festivals.
At that instant, Bai Jue vaguely sensed it—
From some unknowable place, multiple gazes were turning toward him, observing him.
[Notice: Qingming is observing you!]
[Notice: Spring Festival is observing you!]
[Notice: Shangyuan is observing you!]
[Notice: Daoism is observing you!]
[…]
The system notifications echoed one after another in his mind—
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