The Regent King’s appearance triggered the Order Bureau’s highest alert; the entire city immediately entered a state of maximum readiness, yet after several days of strict investigation, the Order Bureau didn’t discover anything abnormal. Not only was there no trace of the Regent King, even Olivia’s whereabouts were the same.

It was as if they had never existed at all, evaporating on the spot without leaving the slightest trace. If Bologue hadn’t personally gone through that night, some people would even have thought this alert was a false alarm.

"The Regent King might leave Oubos, but Olivia absolutely won’t."

After learning the follow-up situation, Bologue explained with firm conviction.

"The moment Olivia took the risk to hide in here, it meant everywhere else was already unsafe. Only this place would make the Regent King hesitate."

"There’s no way she’d leave here... The same goes for the Regent King. He might not be inside the city, but he’ll definitely be roaming along its edges.

The Regent King has boxed Olivia into this city."

After finishing his explanation, Bologue drew in a deep breath. He knew all too well how vast Oubos was, like a bloated giant beast.

As long as Olivia wanted to hide, no one would be able to find her in the short term.

At this moment Bologue could only be grateful the Hesitant Crossroads had already been destroyed. Otherwise, if Olivia hid in that dense fog, there’d be no way to drag her out.

In fact, Bologue also knew how to break this stalemate. It was simple: bring Serey here.

Blood bound every member of the Night Race. With Serey’s blood that was second only to the Night King in purity, finding Olivia’s position through blood would be the easiest thing in the world.

Yet he refused to face any of this.

If Bologue’s guess was correct, then over the long years past, Serey had countless chances to see his own daughter, but he abandoned every one, preferring instead to be a muddled drunk at the Undying Club.

Bologue grew even more curious about what had happened back during the Dawn War.

He gathered his thoughts and focused on the present.

Bologue was currently sitting on the bench in the corridor, waiting for Mamo’s notice.

After several days of waiting, the Sublimation Furnace Core had finished preparations, allowing Bologue to begin the Ruins District exploration operation—finding, within this string of disordered Void Realms, a route leading into the interior of the Holy City.

"Acting alone... Come to think of it, even if I wanted to bring someone along this time, I couldn’t, could I?" Bologue muttered under his breath.

With that thought, Bologue flipped open the thick stack of documents in his hand.

Before this, the Order Bureau had also organized several exploration operations targeting the Ruins District, but each one had ended in failure. As time went by, the Ruins District became like an out-of-control chaotic system, growing ever more lethal. Eventually, the Order Bureau completely sealed it off and stopped all operations there.

The document in Bologue’s hand recorded in detail the experiences of previous expeditions in the Ruins District.

From the file, it was clear that parts of the Ruins District had completely lost the laws of reality: first came spatial distortion, then temporal dislocation. On top of that, all sorts of bizarre Ether materialization phenomena permeated the place, but the deadliest threat still came from the contained objects that had escaped their cells due to the district’s chaos.

Right now the Ruins District was like a chaotic dueling ground without the slightest rule. Even within the Order Bureau, no one truly understood its current state or what kind of threats lay hidden inside.

"Could Belphegor know something about this?"

Such a thought suddenly surfaced in Bologue’s mind. As a parasite clinging to the Cultivation Room, Belphegor was like a voyeur, trying to watch everyone.

No... he can’t do that.

Belphegor’s power was confined within the House of the Rising Sun. The Order Bureau would absolutely prevent him from learning information this important. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Bologue closed the file. He had already done all the mental preparation he could; all that remained was to wait for the operation to begin.

Palmer was in the midst of all sorts of preparations for advancing as a Negative Power User, so this operation would be carried out by Bologue alone.

If everything went smoothly, Bologue might be able to make it back in time for Palmer’s promotion ceremony. But if accidents occurred, Bologue might very well have to stay in the Ruins District for a while... measured on a timescale ranging from several months to several years.

Footsteps sounded at the end of the corridor. Mamo, leaning on his cane, walked briskly toward Bologue. The old man was looking fairly good these days; though aged and worn, there was still a gleam in his eyes.

"Let’s go, Bologue."

Mamo seemed inexplicably excited. At his age, very few things could still put him in this state.

Bologue rose and followed behind Mamo. Mamo immediately asked, "Do you understand the purpose of this trip?"

"To find a safe route through the Ruins District into the Holy City."

The Cultivation Room originated from the Holy City, and their Void Realms were interconnected to a certain extent. Once, this safe passage had been well protected by the Order Bureau—until, during a covert invasion, Overlord Xilin’s power warped the Void Realm, driving parts of it mad and causing that safe passage to vanish into the storm.

Mamo said, "Yes, that’s the primary objective."

"Primary objective—so there are secondary objectives as well?" Bologue couldn’t help asking.

"Mm... you could say that. Some private commissions."

Mamo went on explaining, "You know this already: many departments of the Order Bureau were rebuilt after the secret war—for example, the Sublimation Furnace Core."

Bologue nodded. That much he did know. Back when he first met Belli, she had already tried to get him to explore the Ruins District, to go to the former site of the Sublimation Furnace Core department and retrieve certain things.