Everyone quieted down.
Lin Yu and Lin Ran could also see the strangeness of Chu Tian and the other four.
Although they still eagerly wanted more money.
They both wisely shut their mouths.
The entire compound fell silent.
After a while, Chu Tian was the first to break the silence.
"Why are you so afraid of the Ninth Office?"
When Chu Tian asked this question, the three Lin siblings looked at Chu Tian in astonishment.
Finally, Lin Ran shook his head and walked out of the room.
Lin Yu pouted and stopped looking at him.
Lin Chi hesitated for a moment and tentatively asked, "You guys… you just joined the Ninth Office, didn't you?"
At this, all four of Chu Tian's group looked embarrassed and slowly nodded.
Lin Chi revealed a "I knew it" expression, then spoke haltingly.
Chu Tian and the others were all waiting for him to speak.
In the end, Lin Yu took over and said, "You know, the Ninth Office is divided into three factions, you didn't know that?"
Hearing her say this, Chu Tian became even more curious, because they truly didn't know this.
"Little sister, tell us about it! Do we have to pay?" Chu Tian asked ingratiatingly.
Lin Yu took a deep breath and, just as she was about to speak, suddenly felt disheartened and said:
"Forget it, no amount of money is useful. It seems we can't stay here. Anyway, we have to leave sooner or later, it's just that… when Grandpa comes back… he won't be able to find us…"
As she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes, and she began to choke.
Lin Yu's crying made Chu Tian and the others dumbfounded.
Lin Chi quickly comforted her.
From Lin Chi's words, Chu Tian understood the reason.
This large courtyard was about to be confiscated.
Originally, Master Huang had already given this residence to the state.
Because this building was a historically protected building and had previously belonged to Master Huang. Now, he had been missing for over a year.
Although he had not yet been declared dead, according to the time.
In a few more months, when the twenty-four-month period of disappearance was reached, Lin Yu and the others would no longer have the right to reside there.
It was only a matter of time before they had to move out.
Now, with this incident, Lin Yu was very upset.
She had always held out hope that her grandfather would return one day.
So she had to persevere with the [Huang's Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic].
Lin Ran, having finally comforted Lin Yu,
Turned and picked up where Lin Yu had left off, chatting with Chu Tian and the others.
Chu Tian and the other three, let alone having just joined the Ninth Office, were not even aware of this special group hidden behind the ordinary world.
They were like complete newbies in a game, not understanding the rules of many things.
Chatting with Lin Ran, they slowly learned.
It turned out that the Ninth Office was now divided into three factions.
They were: the Original Faction, the Divergent Faction, and the Neutral Faction.
The Divergent Faction began to appear within the Ninth Office in the last thirty years.
They started using their own methods to handle matters.
They no longer adhered to the original rules and regulations of the Ninth Office.
Their methods were more violent and brutal, but they were indeed efficient.
The Original Faction had repeatedly prevented the rise of the Divergent Faction, but they played by unconventional rules.
Many of the older members of the Original Faction mysteriously died.
In recent years, the Original Faction began to decline.
The Divergent Faction gradually began to dominate the Ninth Office.
As for the Neutral Faction, as the name suggests, it was composed of members who had not joined either of these two factions.
They lived a low-key life, trying to avoid contact with the Ninth Office as much as possible.
It could be said that they were the marginalized members of the Ninth Office.
Among them were mostly newcomers who had just joined the Ninth Office.
Or those who had little strength and were not worth recruiting by any faction.
There was also a small portion of older members who wished to withdraw from the Ninth Office naturally.
Most of these were people who were disappointed with the Ninth Office.
Therefore, members of the Neutral Faction had the least say in the Ninth Office.
Originally, the three Lin siblings had thought Chu Tian and the others were from the Original Faction, so they still held some hope.
They thought Chu Tian could protect them.
When they learned that Chu Tian and the others had only recently joined the Ninth Office, they naturally assumed they were Neutral Faction members.
This was why Lin Yu was so dejected.
And she had decided to give up on her grandfather, Master Huang's, family business and prepare to leave to lie low.
After Lin Chi finished speaking, Chu Tian and the others suddenly understood.
Then, was the mysterious organization Ye Ling had mentioned, which was infiltrating the Ninth Office, the people secretly controlling the Divergent Faction?
If that was the case, it would explain why Ye Ling had intervened to save that rubber-man today.
Thinking back now, it was no wonder Ye Ling had told them to leave the Ninth Office when they were in Li Mao Village.
He hadn't expected this mess to be so deep.
At that time, Ye Ling was deeply invaded by the Shadow Devouring Ghost Worm, also known as Zhulong.
She was on the verge of death, and she saw Chu Tian's abilities, wanting to introduce him to Elder Xu.
At the same time, she hoped Chu Tian could infiltrate the enemy's interior.
If this was the case, Ye Ling and Elder Xu should belong to the Original Faction.
But plans never kept up with changes. In the end, Ye Ling not only resolved her life-threatening danger but, by chance, with the combined efforts of Dao Tian and Chu Tian.
She had devoured all of Xu Duoduo's soul power and gained control of the 'Drum.'
She possessed the ability to control the legendary creature, Zhulong Yin.
However, in Chu Tian's opinion, Zhulong Yin was not as powerful as legend had it.
The range of black and white he saw today was only about a thousand meters. Although the effect was similar to what Lin Ran had described.
It was not like the legend that could make the entire world enter such a state.
Thinking of this, Chu Tian checked the time; it was almost twelve o'clock.
Just as he was about to ask where Lin Ran had gone, he heard Lin Ran calling from outside: "Time's up, come out and help."
Chu Tian and the other three went out one after another and saw Lin Ran dressed in a Taoist robe, holding a wooden sword. They didn't know what material it was made of.
He probably thought it was made of peach wood, because his attire reminded him of an "Uncle Ying" who became famous across Jiangbei a long, long time ago with movies about ghost catching and corpse driving.
At this moment, there was a table of offerings in front of him, and he stood behind it with great authority.
The wooden sword made humming noises, and Chu Tian and the others didn't know what he was doing.
If they were to associate it with scenes from movies and TV shows, he should be performing a ritual.
At this moment, Lin Chi also came out of the house.
At the doorway, he shouted, "Second brother, stop messing around. They are Neutral Faction members."
Lin Ran, who was performing with great effort, paused and almost twisted his waist.
He turned and asked Lin Chi, "What did you say?"
Lin Chi looked at Chu Tian and the others. Although he was a little embarrassed, he still said to Lin Ran, "I said: They just joined the Ninth Office not long ago!"
"Holy crap, what a waste of effort! I thought I'd encountered one or two Qi Martial Masters, and one of them could even project their spirit. I thought we could escape this disaster this time!"
Lin Ran threw the wooden sword in his hand to the ground and, with a *zi la*, tore off his Taoist robe.
He rolled it up and threw it aside, then picked up a black clay pot from the table and threw it at Chu Tian.