The King of Black Fog

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Within the video, Zheng Qing only showed her upper body, wearing a new military uniform that concealed any sign of injury.

She raised her hand, pointing at her temple, "Commander Qian Xia, I am from Squad 6, Team 3 of the Special Warfare Bureau's Battle Department—Zheng Qing!"

Commander Qian Xia, a middle-aged officer, returned a salute that was as simple as it was standard, saying, "Thank you for your efforts, begin your report."

"Yes!" Zheng Qing's voice was a bit nervous.

"On the 7th of September, upon receiving orders from my superiors, together with my teammate 'Cat Tail' and the police dog 'Storm', I entered the Value Game at 8 AM..."

"I'll interrupt you there," a man spoke up, "Zheng Qing, time is pressing, so please directly state what you wish to report. The specific experience can be recounted in detail if necessary later."

The man turned his gaze to Commander Qian Xia.

Commander Qian Xia nodded.

Since the emergence of the Value Game, not only did he have to meet with the Military Department and the police, but he also had to discuss new regulations regarding the civil strugglers with another group of people; indeed, he did not have the time to listen to Zheng Qing's account of events.

"Yes!" Zheng Qing straightened her chest and saluted again.

After composing her thoughts, she said:

"During last night's operation, I encountered a pygmy marmoset with the appearance of a human. It was very cute, with brown curly hair, the size of a palm, and capable of speech. Its Instinct was 'Avoid Death and Prolong Life'."

"Did you get its Identity Card?" another attendee asked.

"No, actually..." Zheng Qing hesitated for a moment, "Commander, please allow me to recount the situation as it happened!"

"Granted."

Zheng Qing recounted the appearance of the pygmy marmoset, its escape, its reappearance, and finally how it had led four people to find 'Cat Tail', meticulously detailing the incident.

"'Avoid Death and Prolong Life,' Enlarge and Shrink," one person exclaimed irritably, "All sorts of spells from 'Journey to the West' are bloody showing up."

"Instinct, Skill, and Magic are all essentially the same thing," another person remarked indifferently.

Whether it was irritation or indifference, they all gave Zheng Qing the impression of weariness and annoyance—as if they wanted her to wrap things up quickly.

Of course, these emotions weren't directed at her.

She wasn't yet qualified to evoke such reactions from these individuals.

"A marmoset transforming into a human—another scenario we must guard against regarding infiltration," Commander Qian Xia sighed.

He looked up at Zheng Qing and said, "Very useful, very timely intelligence. Well done, Lieutenant Zheng."

"It's my duty! Commander, regarding the three civilians strugglers I mentioned earlier, there is one more thing I need to report," said Zheng Qing.

The matter concerning the trio, Yang Qinglan and the others, wasn't significant enough to warrant a direct conversation with the commander, but now it could be considered as a minor detail for discussion.

"Please proceed," Commander Qian Xia replied with a hint more courtesy to Zheng Qing.

"Following the regulations of the Special Warfare Bureau, insofar as my own safety was assured, I attempted to persuade them to join the government. They refused, but were willing to cooperate with us on the basis of 'cooperating as much as possible within the game, while committing no evil in reality,' in exchange for equipment and intelligence."

Commander Qian Xia reached for another cigarette, extending his hand before remembering he had already finished them.

Rubbing his temples, he sighed, "The matter of civilian strugglers is currently under discussion, and we will soon reach a conclusion. You and those three people..."

Suddenly, a "bang!" rang out as the conference room was all but violently breached.

Everyone looked in that direction.

"Commander!" The newcomer was dressed in the Special Warfare Bureau's uniform, panting heavily.

"What's happened?" Without reprimanding the interruption, Commander Qian Xia asked with a grave voice.

"Just received news—aside from black 'Identity Cards', there are also white 'Identity Cards', whose holders are code-named 'Doomsday'."

"Doomsday?"

"According to the information, their objective is to annihilate species—to kill all strugglers."

...

...

"Brother."

In Room 501 of the Law building, Li Changzhou took the white plastic bag and a bag of soy milk from his sister, inside the plastic bag were two fried buns, one fried dumpling, and one shumai.

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Li Qianxia walked to the front row, where the animals next to Li Changzhou started cooing, "Bro~" and "Sister~" in affected, whiny voices.

Li Changzhou ignored these guys, opened the plastic bag, gobbled up a shaomai in one bite, and started twisting the cap off the soy milk.

He was too tired, and had it not been for Da Huang waking him up, he would still be lying in bed now.

After swallowing the shaomai and drinking half a bag of soy milk, the criminal law professor walked in.

Li Changzhou flipped open the "International Economic Law" book on the desk.

"International Economic Law"?

He got the wrong book!

But you couldn't blame Li Changzhou, with criminal law, civil law, economic law, international economic law, and history of law, all having red covers, combined with his rush this morning.

Anyway, it didn't matter now—in these times, studying law was like being a tour guide, doomed sooner or later.

It was only the first week, and although the society still looked idyllic, anxiety and tension were spreading like a contagious disease in the shadows.

By the time the virus broke out, calling it the end of days wouldn't be an overstatement.

While munching on fried buns, he scrolled through the forums on his phone.

In the forums, the Aircraft Carrier forum members were still discussing carrier propulsion; the History forum, after yesterday's "How to evaluate Zhu Yuanzhang," had begun "How to assess Li Shimin's military abilities" today; and PS5 was still caught up in the same old "so blurry," "so exquisite," "4399" discussions.

All's well with the world.

After a sip of soy milk, he exited the forums and opened Weibo.

The top trend was two celebrities announcing their marriage, the second was a cosmetics brand nobody knew what it did, the third was a TV series, the fourth was also a TV series, and the fifth was about a male lead in a TV show.

All is joyous and prosperous.

Finally, he typed in the official message board URL for the 549 arena.

Suddenly music started to play.

"It's a clear morning~! The sound of doves whistling along with the wake-up call~!"

Li Changzhou was so startled that his phone slipped like a slippery fish in his hand.

The whole class looked over as the song "When That Day Comes" kept playing.

"But this world is not peaceful!! Even in times of peace, there are surging clouds and storms!!"

"Are you ready? Soldier brothers!"

After grabbing his phone, Li Changzhou hurriedly closed the browser.

The classroom fell silent for three seconds, then erupted in laughter.

Not just because of the song, but also because Li Changzhou was still biting into half a fried dumpling.

Li Qianxia's roommate was whispering something to her with a smile, while Li Qianxia watched her brother embarrass himself with a grin.

"Eating breakfast and listening to military songs, both are good things," chuckled the criminal law professor. "But you should also learn to wake up early."

Li Changzhou quickly finished his dumpling and stood up, "Sorry, teacher, I overslept this morning."

"No problem, are you full now?"

"Yes, I'm full."

"Now that you're full, tell us what you think about the principle of legality."

"Power leads to corruption, and the essence of the principle of legality is to limit the state's power to punish. The legalist text 'Shenzi' states, 'Legal judgments should be the great course of the nation,' teacher, this is my current understanding of the principle of legality."

"Well said, sit down. I won't deduct your participation points," the professor said.

"Classmates, not deducting his points—does it conform to the principle of legality?"

"It does not!" The male students, usually silent during class, were the loudest now.

"Right! Li is eating in class, and according to the school's rules, points should be deducted. But if we disregard the principle of legality, I can choose not to deduct his points. And what does not deducting his points imply? It implies that I can also deduct points from anyone for no reason at all. Unconstrained punitive power is even more terrifying than murder!"

Who knows, in the future, when those working in law recall the principle of legality, if they will also remember Li Changzhou's embarrassing moment today.

On the Law School building wall was ivy, its lush green leaves swaying and dancing gently in the morning breeze. Li Changzhou glanced at the professor and lowered his head to continue sipping his soy milk on the sly.