Wan Qianhong muttered to herself as she looked toward the representative seats.
At this moment, only two seats up there were empty!
Aside from the City Lord, only Bai Feifei was missing.
Beneath the table, her fingers clenched, released, and clenched again.
On her phone screen, she had already dialed Bai Feifei's number four times, and each time, she only got a busy signal.
Had something really happened to her?
A fierce glint flashed in her eyes.
Previously, she found it hard to imagine that anyone would dare to act so brazenly at a time like this, but now...
She looked up, her gaze instinctively drifting toward Liu Yun, who sat diagonally opposite her.
Her mentor sat there with her eyes closed, resting. Her face was as serene as still well water, revealing absolutely nothing.
Wan Qianhong bit her lip.
She didn't understand.
After the incident at the mine, the issue with the potions had been laid bare on the table. Coupled with the massive commotion Bai Feifei had caused at the academy, it was practically certain that the potions carried risks.
She had already begun to connect the dots between the two events, but what was Liu Yun's stance?
“We cannot be certain if it is an issue with the potion itself?”
Wan Qianhong knew her mentor always had her reasons for how she handled things, but this time, she was truly baffled.
At a critical moment like this, was she really not going to speak up for Bai Feifei?
Dawn City's internal factions were complex, but she didn't believe her mentor, the strongest Prophet, would be afraid of anything.
The slight unease in her heart grew sharper under her current anxiety.
On the other side, Ye Yu sat in the spectator seats, looking equally bewildered.
She stared at the empty seat among the representative seats, her brow furrowed tightly.
How could she be late at a time like this?
The Voting Assembly was no joke. With so many eyes watching, even though she knew Bai Feifei had an eccentric personality, she couldn't just mess around like this.
She also pulled out her phone, which showed that none of the dozen or so messages she sent had been replied to.
Ye Yu: ...
Just then, the side door of the hall opened.
A secretary walked in, pushing a wheelchair.
The man sitting in the wheelchair wore a dark gray robe with a dark gold city emblem pinned to his collar. His expression was gentle, and his age was hard to tell.
He nodded to everyone present, his smile warm yet carrying the undeniable authority of a ruler.
Seeing him enter, everyone at the representative seats grew solemn and stood up one after another.
“My apologies, I have arrived right on the dot again. Please, sit down, everyone.”
The City Lord, Liang Shuguang.
The secretary pushed the wheelchair to the head seat of the representative seats and stepped aside to stand at attention.
Liang Shuguang scanned the seats. His gaze lingered on the empty spot for a moment, and a slightly surprised smile appeared on his face.
“Oh? It seems I am not the latest one after all, haha.”
The hall fell silent for a few seconds. Twelve representatives had already arrived—including the City Lord, Liu Yun, the heads of the five major families, and several other special representatives of the city.
The most controversial figure had not arrived!
A glint flashed in Liu Qing's eyes as he stood up from the representative seats.
The Chairman of the Board of United Pharmaceuticals wore a brand-new dark blue formal suit today and looked in high spirits. This was only his second time being qualified as a representative of the Voting Assembly.
He cleared his throat and spoke respectfully to the man in the wheelchair.
“City Lord.”
Liang Shuguang turned his head and looked at him.
“According to the regulations of the Voting Assembly, all representatives should arrive as early as possible.” Liu Qing pointed at the empty seat.
“Starting the live broadcast half an hour before the meeting begins to let the entire city's populace see if the representatives are performing their duties diligently—this is a rule set by you, City Lord.”
“In terms of timing, our meeting should probably begin now.”
He spoke in high-sounding, dignified terms without even mentioning Bai Feifei, but everyone knew exactly what he meant.
Liu Yun opened her eyes, glanced at Liu Qing, and remained silent.
Meanwhile, in every corner of the Inner City.
The citizens of Dawn City were watching this assembly in unprecedented numbers, yet they did not see the person they were expecting.
“Why haven't we seen Bai Feifei yet?”
“Is she late? Can someone really be late for something like this?”
“This is way too eccentric. The City Lord arrives right on the dot every time to show that no one waits for anyone, yet she's making the City Lord wait for her.”
“I only tuned in to see what kind of stunt she'd pull. The meeting hasn't even started, and she's already pulled a major one!”
Similar conversations were happening simultaneously in countless households. From the perspective of spectators looking for entertainment, the air was filled with a jovial atmosphere.
Until someone scratched their head and muttered to themselves at home:
“She's offended so many people. Could she have been taken out by someone?”
Inside the hall, Liu Qing remained standing. He thought that after his speech, the City Lord might get angry with Bai Feifei, which would be a good thing.
However, that did not happen.
Liang Shuguang glanced at him, a faint, barely perceptible smile in his tone as he said:
“Thank you, Chairman Liu. If not for your reminder, I would have forgotten that our meeting has already begun.”
Liu Qing's expression stiffened. He didn't quite understand what those words meant, and for a moment, he felt rather awkward.
Huang Xin, the Head of the Huang family, had been sitting silently at the representative seats. Now, he suddenly spoke up.
“The City Lord has his own plans, so there is no need for Chairman Liu to say more.”
“This vote was originally about how to handle her in the first place.”
His voice wasn't loud. As he spoke, he looked around at everyone present.
“Killing someone in public at the academy with irrefutable evidence, which she herself did not deny—by the rules, she might even have to stand trial if she showed up today.”
“Perhaps she has fled to escape punishment.”
As soon as those words were spoken, the atmosphere in the hall grew slightly tense.
Ye Yu bit her lip so hard it nearly bled, the veins on her clenched fists bulging. If not for the nature of the occasion, she would have stood up to say something.
For the head of such a major family to actively slander a junior was truly shameless.
This desire to see her dead was practically being laid bare for everyone to see!
Just then.
Liang Shuguang suddenly spoke up, chin tilting slightly toward the front.
His tone always carried a strange gentleness, as if he were talking to himself:
“Haha, it seems she has not fled to escape punishment after all.”
“She seems to have arrived. It looks like our meeting this time will be quite different.”
Everyone was stunned.
Everyone turned their heads at the same time.
The doors of the hall had always been kept wide open, facing the street outside. This had been Liang Shuguang's intention back then, symbolizing “speaking with open doors.”
The corridor outside stretched straight ahead. Sunlight poured down from the skylight, reflecting off the polished marble floor.
At the end of that path, right where the light met the shadows, a figure had appeared unnoticed, walking toward the white building—it was indeed Bai Feifei!
On her body, faint traces of blood could still be seen!
...
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