Senior sister, stop working and go home for dinner.

Chapter 181 Silent Questioning, Disaster Shadow Spreads Across the Azure Dragon

The SUV sped along the highway, but a subtle silence fell inside the cabin because of Su Wan's abrupt whisper.

Feng Changyuan's hand on the steering wheel paused slightly, and he quickly glanced at the back seat through the rearview mirror. Feng Lie also turned his head, his face showing obvious confusion. Qi Lan's low-brimmed hat brim lifted, and her amber vertical pupils fixed on Su Wan.

Chen Anran was startled and turned to look at her senior sister beside her.

Su Wan seemed unaware of how attention-grabbing her words had been. She continued to gaze out the window, her eyes fixed on the gradually emerging mountain silhouettes in the distance, her expression as calm as if her words were merely a hallucination caused by the wind.

But Chen Anran knew that it wasn't a hallucination.

"Senior Sister?" he called softly.

Su Wan snapped out of her daze, turned her face, and her eyes regained their usual gentle and kind expression. "What's wrong?"

"You just said..." Chen Anran carefully chose her words, "'Do those who have no power deserve to die?'"

Su Wan was slightly taken aback, then gave an apologetic smile: "Sorry, I was lost in thought just now. Seeing the people suffering from the disaster in the news, and thinking about that evil cultivator who stirred up the earth dragon... I was a little emotional."

This explanation makes perfect sense. Upon hearing this, Feng Changyuan and Feng Lie both relaxed. Qi Lan also lowered the brim of her hat again, seemingly accepting the explanation.

Only Chen Anran was not completely convinced.

He knew Su Wan too well. The eldest sister was calm and reserved, rarely revealing such emotional outbursts in front of outsiders, let alone such a question laced with clear personal bias and emotion. That last sentence, rather than a sigh, was more like a long-suppressed interrogation that inadvertently leaked from the depths of her heart.

But now is clearly not the time to delve into it.

Chen Anran temporarily suppressed his doubts and followed Su Wan's words, saying, "Evil cultivators only care about their own interests and don't care about the lives of others. That's why we must stop them."

Su Wan nodded gently and said nothing more.

The carriage returned to silence, with only the roar of the engine and the noise of the wind outside the window echoing in the ears.

After driving for about half an hour, Feng Changyuan suddenly slowed down and frowned as he looked ahead: "There seems to be a checkpoint ahead."

Following the sound, everyone looked and saw a temporary roadblock set up about one kilometer ahead on the highway, where several workers wearing fluorescent vests were directing traffic. Further away, the roof lights of several police cars and ambulances could be seen flashing.

"We should have entered the earthquake zone control area," Feng Changyuan said, driving the car into the right lane and slowly following the car in front.

The closer you get to the checkpoint, the more vehicles there are on the road, mostly rescue vehicles, engineering vehicles, and media vehicles with license plates from various places. A tense and busy atmosphere permeates the air.

After waiting in line for nearly twenty minutes, the SUV finally slowly moved to the checkpoint. A police officer in his thirties, with a tired face but sharp eyes, stepped forward and knocked on the driver's side window.

Feng Changyuan rolled down the car window, revealing a gentle smile: "Officer, thank you for your hard work. We are volunteers and want to go to Qinglong Town to help out."

The officer glanced at everyone in the car. "Only rescue vehicles and vehicles with special permits are currently allowed to enter the Qinglong Town direction. Do you have the relevant permits?"

Feng Changyuan was prepared; he took out a small black-covered booklet from his pocket and handed it over. The officer took it and opened it; inside was a pass with a special emblem and identification from a charitable foundation affiliated with the Feng family in the secular world. After carefully verifying the documents, he handed the booklet back and stepped aside: "Go on. The road ahead is complicated; be careful and follow instructions."

"Thank you." Feng Changyuan nodded, rolled up the car window, and drove slowly through the checkpoint.

As we drove past the roadblocks, the scenery gradually changed. Scattered signs of landslides began to appear on both sides of the highway, with rubble and broken logs piled up in the emergency lanes. In the distance, among the mountains, the wreckage of several collapsed houses could be vaguely seen.

At that moment, Chen Anran's phone vibrated. It was a text message from Zhao Mengmeng, asking if the opening of the resort needed to be postponed until he and Su Wan returned for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Upon seeing this, Chen Anran typed a reply saying that there was no need to wait for them to return, and that development down the mountain should proceed as usual.

The closer you get to Qinglong Town, the more shocking the scenery becomes on both sides of the road.

Some old brick and tile houses built on the hillside have developed cracks of varying degrees, and some have even collapsed completely, exposing twisted steel bars and broken furniture inside.

Rescue workers, dressed in orange or blue uniforms, busily moved through the ruins, the roar of excavators, shouts from workers, and the occasional sirens of ambulances mingling together.

Feng Changyuan had to reduce his speed to below 40 mph, carefully avoiding obstacles and passing rescue vehicles on the road.

With a grave expression, he looked in the rearview mirror and said to Chen Anran and the others, "It seems the damage is more severe than reported in the news. These old houses are too weak against earthquakes."

Su Wan's gaze fell through the car window onto a temporary resettlement site by the roadside. Rows of makeshift tents stretched out, and some disaster victims, wrapped in distributed blankets, sat outside the tents, their faces showing bewilderment and exhaustion.

Several children were chasing each other in the open space, seemingly not fully understanding what was happening, but their running figures looked particularly thin against the gray background.

The off-road vehicle finally entered the territory of Qinglong Town.

A stricter control point was set up at the town entrance, staffed not only by police and armed police, but also by several monks dressed in various styles who were helping to maintain order. One of them, with the Dragon Tiger Mountain cloud pattern embroidered on his sleeve, was holding a compass and monitoring something.

Feng Changyuan stopped the car, and as soon as everyone got out, a strange smell mixed with dust, a faint gloomy aura, and the smell of disinfectant hit them.

Qinglong Town, nestled against the mountainside, is now a scene of devastation. Many houses along the main street are damaged, tiles scattered everywhere, and several old wooden structures have completely collapsed. Rescue workers and volunteers are busy at work, queues form at the makeshift medical station, and the faint sounds of children crying can be heard.

But what bothered Chen Anran even more was the faint "turbid air" permeating the air. It wasn't just the smell of dust or the chaos after a disaster, but a viscous, cold, and persistent negative energy that seemed to seep into one's very bones.

If ordinary people stay in such an environment for a long time, they may experience restlessness and physical weakness, or even hallucinations and be overwhelmed by negative emotions.

"The yin energy is stronger than expected." Qi Lan wrinkled her nose. "It's already starting to erode the aura of ordinary people."

Su Wan quietly surveyed her surroundings, her gaze lingering for a moment on the faces of the disaster victims, some filled with fear and others with numbness. Then she turned to Chen Anran and said, "Anran, go and meet up with Zhang Tianshi and the others first."

Chen Anran was slightly taken aback. "And what about you?"