After leaving Yixuan Tower, Lu Shuai didn’t look back. He removed his bow tie, hailed a carriage, and leaned inside to gaze at the street view outside. Ever since arriving in Dragon Capital, he found himself in such situations often. It was not entirely about saving face; he knew staying wouldn’t mean anything. Even if he sold himself, he’d have to find someone willing to pay a decent price. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The Celestial Principle School had opted for silence. At present, Patir felt the worst, as she was vying with Feili for the position of Vice President. If this doesn’t get handled well, she feared she would fall far behind her cousin.

The opponent surely wouldn’t let this pass; Lu Shuai was contemplating gaining something from it. The fact that Hong Yan was pursuing Patir was no secret within the Canon Law School, and it was expected that he would stand up. Still, he felt somewhat let down by Hong Yan’s attitude toward him.

Yixuan Tower plunged into a new wave of merriment. The men present lost their initial reserve. A soft, fair-skinned girl sat next to Sima Mu, delicately giving him a drink with her slender fingers.

"He wants to join you, Old Hong. Why not recruit him?" asked Patir.

Hong Yan curled his lips, "If Nalan doesn’t want him, neither do I."

Patir chuckled, her seductive beauty mark twitching, "I think he’s quite interesting."

"Why bother with such rubbish, come, I toast you. This is the finest wine here," Hong Yan wasn’t really jealous over someone of Lu Shuai’s caliber.

"What, trying to get me drunk?" Patir didn’t refuse and clinked glasses with Hong Yan, producing a crisp sound.

"No, I’m not that kind," Hong Ban laughed awkwardly and drank up quickly.

Sima Mu smiled without speaking; he knew Patir could drink everyone here under the table. Hong Ban had tried before, ending up asleep for two days and nights. Actually, Lu Shuai wasn’t too bad. The real reason for not using him was quite universal. Over the years, the ruling class in Dragon Capital had been engaged in "de-Luthoring" openly. In such a context, who would employ him...

The next few days, the Celestial Principle School experienced no turmoil. Meanwhile, the Citizen Daily’s beauty contest became a sensation. The Citizen Daily invested heavily in offline selections and promotions. Initially, it was seen as a joke; many industry insiders assumed the Citizen Daily had abandoned competing with the Justice Daily and was instead following the Flying Bird Daily’s path. But they all sneered at this notion, believing that the beauties were from wealthy families — who would participate in such a thing without losing face? To start with, this proved true. Yet with the Canon Law School’s endorsement, female students began joining in, creating remarkably good effects, quickly generating momentum.

The girls reluctant to participate were few; most wanted to try it out even just for participation. One wouldn’t actually believe girls only like staying home without wanting to showcase their beauty and talents, would they? Just hampered by traditional constraints, used to be the norm, and the Canon Law School’s role was to break those barriers.

The event’s explosion was destined. Citizen Daily sales kept climbing. The beauty contest was more than mere aesthetics. Inspired by Li Xin’s suggestion, Lin Fei always presented very valuable themes every issue. This is about women’s independence, freedom, and liberation. Once the trend took off, anyone opposing it would only be resisting the inevitable, considering half the world is female.

All the Citizen Daily staff mobilized, working overtime to gather reader feedback while constantly discussing updates for each issue’s characteristics. This beauty contest is neither refined nor vulgar — it’s about "self-display" and "self-worth." That’s precisely Citizen Daily’s differentiation from Justice Daily and Flying Bird Daily: innovation!

Seeing Citizen Daily gaining momentum caused distress for Justice Daily and Flying Bird Daily, especially the former. Internal assessments showed that Citizen Daily might surpass their sales, leading both newspapers to simultaneously start criticizing the beauty contest: vulgar, against tradition, it’s a moral decline, etc.

After all, slander doesn’t require truth, and they were certainly some people reveling in excitement.

Meanwhile, the Divine Revelation Canon Law School took this opportunity to reconnect with the Celestial Principle School. How could a "vulgar advocating" Canon Law School match the elegant Celestial Principle School?

The Divine Revelation side actually had quite a bit of confidence because they couldn’t find absolute reasons for the counterpart’s choice of Serene rather than Divine Revelation. Those unalterable reasons, as long as offered a suitable step down, the Celestial Principle School would step down.

However, after several communications, not much progress was made, leaving Patir quite troubled. Could it be that the Celestial Principle School didn’t care about face? This completely overturned her thought logic.

No matter what, she had to prevent it, even if it meant sabotaging this presentation, ensuring it wouldn’t be held in Serene.

As for the beauty contest, she was indeed very tempted; after all, who could be the most beautiful woman in Dragon Capital but her?

Li Xin hadn’t been idle these days. Although that case was closed, no word came from Jiang Jinxiao. He and Qi Badao targeted some case-related personnel for investigation, attempting to gather a few threads. Li Xin believed this likely had some connection with the Death Church. From many perspectives, a Deity like Death wouldn’t easily resurrect in a small place. Moreover, various signs pointed that way.

Meanwhile, wandering around with Qi Badao helped him understand Dragon Capital’s current state better. This great city known for freedom bore traces of Grand Governor Luthor everywhere. Despite certain persistent flaws, this city truly changed and nurtured many people.

During the investigation, Qi Badao also brought along five key staff. He had arranged for them to be granted Night Patrol identities, with two formerly from Celestial Capital and three from Dragon Capital — all skilled hands.

Li Xin observed them; their combat power was average, but they were organised systematically, carefully investigating cases, calm and composed. It was Old Dao after all; his eye for selecting personnel was spot on.

After several days of inspection, Li Xin could only say the counterpart had done the work very cleanly, leaving no traces behind. Even though Qi Badao felt the case hardly worth wasting so much effort, as long as Li Xin wanted it investigated, he adhered to one principle: if it’s not understandable, don’t bother thinking, just earnestly work.

In the evening, Li Xin finally received the second batch of Magic Potion Materials from Miss Aries — "blood of the flaming beetle."

The proud Chris arrived, ... It was an ideal match for Mr. Cancer.

Miss Aries might not need payment, but he couldn’t let Chris leave empty-handed. So, while investigating the case these days, Li Xin paid attention to Dragon Capital’s characteristic specialty products. Though not expensive, the variety in foods and fun made sense. He imagined Miss Aries could entertain herself with these upon receiving.

Chris finished six red-spotted fish with satisfaction. Previously, they’d always used tasteless carp to fool her, cocking her neck at this ordinary man’s strange "gift package," and then it vanished in a flash. The former Li Xin hadn’t seen much of the world; now he knew Chris carried Yazama Karashi. Sometimes humans really couldn’t compare to pets.

Chris flew away, and Li Xin played with the small bottle but didn’t open it. Chris could telepathically communicate with humans; she’d already warned about usage taboos. When he thought about his Justin, alas, if it could only grow wings... The Immortal may have the prestige, but it was too expensive, making him want to work as a Messenger.