CH 23

In the end, the two of them were disciplined.

Shian would deduct their first month’s salary, and their punishment would be publicly notified within the company. Considering Shian’s generous salary, this punishment wasn’t light.

As for the internal public notification, for two guys with thick skin, it made no difference to them.

There were clear punishments and rewards in Shian. Since the two of them had saved Gao Mengyu, they were approved to become regular employees ahead of schedule.

After the incident, the two were taken into the lounge of the small round building and stayed there for five days. It was determined they had no psychophysiological problems before they were released from quarantine.

Being able to return to Shian put Yin Ren in an extremely good mood. Previously, he had planned ahead, searched frantically for the review book, and even worked out the content of his review. Now it seemed that he had escaped disaster for the time being.

Lord Ghost King binged on food and drink while watching movies in the lounge. At the end of the observation period, it took a lot of effort for the staff to dig him out of the room.

Within a few minutes, Yin Ren received a transfer notice from Fang Yuanyuan.

However, when Yin Ren was taken to the conference room, he didn’t find Zhong Chengshuo’s figure. It was strange. Was it possible that Shian had changed their mind and was going to fire Zhong Chengshuo?

Yin Ren quickly took out his phone and clicked on the apple avatar.

For safety reasons, the isolation observation room would block external signals, so they hadn’t contacted each other for five days.

[Fruit Knife: When will you transfer?]

Two minutes passed, and there was no response from Zhong Chengshuo.

[Fruit Knife: ?]

[Fruit Knife: Did you get fired?]

Ten minutes passed and there was still no response from Zhong Chengshuo.

[Fruit knife: ……?]

[Fruit Knife: Ge, are you okay? ]

Then his phone was gently but firmly confiscated by Fang Yuanyuan.

Fang Yuanyuan’s sweet smile looked murderous. “Don’t play with your phone during the meeting! What I just said was very important. Come on, repeat it.”

Yin Ren sighed and repeated it quickly…

After officially entering the job, he would be assigned to the formal investigation team. Each investigation team started with three people and must have at least two atheists.

Only then did the murderous intent of Fang Yuanyuan disappear.

She clasped Yin Ren’s phone in her hand as she continued to explain, “There must be a science post on the scene and the science post in the rear to assist in command. After all, those in the science post are not easily influenced so they can make more sober decisions.”

“As for the civilian job you expect… Unless there are special circumstances, for non-science posts, you have to be at least 40 years old to apply for civilian jobs.”

The 1,400-year-old Yin Ren: “…”

He was just a little younger-looking! Even after deducting more than 1,000 years of sleep, he was still 360 years old.

“Why is there an age limit?” Yin Ren was unconvinced.

Fang Yuanyuan smiled. “The amount of exercise on the scene is intense, so some Black Seals are too old to bear it. The group needs to give priority to them.”

“There are many specialty restaurants in Haigu. Shian will reimburse all meals for on-site attendance.” She paused for a while before adding this sincerely.

Yin Ren: “Okay, when can I go on-site?”

“Wait until your group finishes registration.” Fang Yuanyuan pushed over a tablet. “According to regulations, there has to be a senior employee in your group. We happen to have a surplus of science posts, so she will serve as your rear commander.”

Hearing the word “surplus”, Yin Ren subconsciously became vigilant. “If I may ask, what about her previous group…?”

“Disbanded. The science post in that group, well, the Red Seal collected enough field data and intends to return to the big factory to work on a project. The Black Seal is too old and recently applied for early retirement.”

Yin Ren breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, it seemed the field work wasn’t too dangerous.

He picked up the tablet in front of him and saw the header: [C-Level Investigation Team] Field Partner Combination—Individual Intent Registration Form.

There were only a few names to choose from. Yin Ren saw Zhong Chengshuo and Lao Bin, who were the newcomers, at a glance. Below each name were five options: [Not considered for the time being], [Unfamiliar], [General], [Cooperative], and [Much Appreciated].

Since Zhong Chengshuo’s name was still there, it meant he wasn’t fired.

Yin Ren happily checked [Much Appreciated] under the name [011-Zhong Chengshuo], and then marked [Not considered for the time being] for everyone else.

There were only three newcomers this session, including Yin Ren. It would be troublesome if he chose someone like Luo Bin, who didn’t look capable at first glance, or a senior employee who had lost their partners for various reasons. No matter how he thought about it, Zhong Chengshuo was the perfect choice.

When she received the form, Fang Yuanyuan laughed out loud.

“You two are very interesting. The way you choose people is exactly the same. Okay, it seems that there’s no need for reconsideration. Your partner will be Zhong Chengshuo.”

“He has already gone through the formalities?” Yin Ren said in surprise.

“Nn. However, Minister Li has other arrangements on his side, so Xiao Zhong is probably busy right now.”

……

On the other side of Shian Park.

Zhong Chengshuo stepped into the elevator with Professor Li. When the elevator descended to the fifth floor, his phone signal disappeared. Zhong Chengshuo began to feel that something was amiss.

“Mr. Li, is there an underground area in Shian?”

“Yes.” Li Nian still had his same unsmiling look.

Zhong Chengshuo said, “Oh” and didn’t inquire further.

Only the humming of the mechanical elevator sounded.

Ten seconds passed before Professor Li spoke up. “You’re not asking where we’re going?”

Zhong Chengshuo replied calmly, “Well, it’s already too late to turn back.”

Professor Li: “……”

Professor Li: “When you decided to intervene in Gao Mengyu’s case, what did you think of the danger of phenomenon C-C19? After all, the clues were limited at that time. Tell me about your thoughts.”

[Phenomenon C-C19, gap “cat”.

Unknown creature with some intelligence. It’s physical, non-toxic, has weak physical destructive power with a strong cognitive pollution ability. The creature’s willingness to attack isn’t strong, and it can induce incomplete gaps.]

The above were the record entries added by Shian professionals. As witnesses, both Zhong Chengshuo and Yin Ren had signed the file.

Zhong Chengshuo pondered for a moment.

“’Cognitive pollution’ is a kind of camouflage, and creatures with strong camouflage are usually not good at frontal hand-to-hand combat. At that time, the people who went before you to Fanghua were only cognitively polluted and not poisoned, which made it evident that it wasn’t highly toxic.”

“It can live in an apartment for a long time and use smaller ‘gaps’ to hide itself. This indicates that it’s not physically large or good at shape-shifting—which will rule out the possibility that it’s too large or has a hard shell.”

“’Cats’ like to eat brains. Gao Mengyu had bought 10 pounds of pig brains every day, and there was still a lot left in stock in the refrigerator. Either it didn’t eat too much, or it only needed specific substances contained in the brain. It’s unlikely that such a creature that ate very little will have a mouth that can swallow people.”

After speaking, Zhong Chengshuo looked at Professor Li quietly.

Li Nian: “Continue.”

“In summary, as long as I can resist its cognitive pollution, it’s just an ordinary creature with low defense. There are certain risks, but it was worth trying.”

Professor Li chuckled.

“You’re really something else,” he said.

“Do enough investigation before you act. This is the basis of research.” Zhong Chengshuo’s tone was flat and stiff, like a primary school student who was called out by his teacher.

“Indeed.”

The elevator stopped slowly, and the elevator door slid open.

“I don’t think you’re a person who’s easily hot-blooded. Today, I brought you here to show you the ‘basis’ of Shian—Phenomenon A-A3, Evil Spirit.”

“Must we watch it live?” Zhong Chengshuo pushed up his glasses as he asked seriously. “I can look at a video or pictures or something…”

“You have seen the abnormal photo of the ‘cat’.” Li Nian took Zhong Chengshuo deeper into the corridor. “The existing machinery we have is still not able to process images of certain creatures. The appearance of the ‘cat’ will only turn part of the image into a black area or create a messy code.”

“But a proper Evil Spirit is capable of blowing up any existing camera equipment, and pictures aren’t enough to describe. Text and language would barely work, but many details are lost.”

“……”

“It’s hard to understand, right? When you go out later, you can take a look at the cats Gao Mengyu drew when she hadn’t recovered—the dogs, hamsters, and tigers she drew were all normal, but the ‘cats’ were a mess of irregular lines.”

Zhong Chengshuo knew this.

Lin Bei was so frightened by the cat that Gao Mengyu drew that she pulled Gao Mengyu into the cooperative group chat and kept taking pictures of it and asking about it. Yin Ren patiently comforted the two of them and then added a cat emoji pack.

Speaking of which, Yin Ren wasn’t here. No wonder why Zhong Chengshuo felt something was missing.

“Since the Evil Spirit can only be seen on the spot, why did you call only me? Yin Ren and I are both parties to the incident.”

“You have a good relationship with your partner. Despite the situation you’re in now, you can still think of others.”

Professor Li put on a somewhat mean smile.

“To be honest, the science post is better. If a person in a non-science position directly observes the Evil Spirit’s body, on the light side, they will lose their ability to think, and on the heavy side, they will die of cerebral hemorrhage on the spot. If I were to bring Yin Ren down, you’ll have to change partners on the first day of employment.”

I see.

Zhong Chengshuo said no more questions and obediently accepted the goggles handed to him by Professor Li.

There was only an extremely long corridor outside the elevator that was empty on both sides with only cold white walls. The goggles were thick and heavy, but there was little change in his vision after he put them on.

There was a door at the end of the corridor that led to a huge hall, similar to one inside a concert hall. The entire hall was milky white, and there were a few suspended floors inside with hundreds of people busying themselves in front of various machines.

Just looking at the atmosphere, it was like a giant beehive.

Zhong Chengshuo honestly followed Professor Li through the hall while he desperately peered around from the corner of his eyes.

Unfortunately, their destination wasn’t far away. Professor Li took him into a sightseeing ladder-like elevator in the corner. The elevator opened horizontally, and the two quickly fell into darkness.

When light appeared, Zhong Chengshuo thought they had arrived in another world.

In front of the two of them was a huge observation window with extremely thick compartments embedded in it. The world on the other side of the window seemed to be in the middle of a rainy night. The sky was gloomy, and there were dark clouds sprinkling light rain. The forest was wrapped in a circle of trees, and the vast lawn was blown by the wind in waves.

An ancient courtyard stood at the edge of the forest.

Under the eaves, a family of three dressed in ancient costumes were talking and laughing while enjoying the rain. A black dog circled them happily, wagging its tail and jumping around from time to time.

If it weren’t for knowing that they were deep underground, Zhong Chengshuo would have thought this was some kind of drama scene being filmed by a film crew.

Professor Li was expressionless. “Do you see anything wrong?”

Zhong Chengshuo: “That dog… doesn’t have a leash around its neck.”

The back of the dog’s neck was connected to a crimson “umbilical cord”.

The umbilical cord-like thing was very long, dragging on the ground for hundreds of meters, and at the end it gradually rose and disappeared into the dark and gloomy sky.

Seeing Zhong Chengshuo’s face full of doubts, Professor Li smiled. He took out a delicate radio. “Raise the brightness to level 4.”

The dark “sky” was illuminated a little. It no longer resembled the night sky but was closer to an uneven cloud. The end of the umbilical cord was something funnel-shaped, connecting to a squirming object in the sky.

“How about now?”

“Nothing special.”

“Raise the brightness to level 3.”

“Now?”

“It’s okay.”

“…Level 2.”

“If you feel uncomfortable, you should tell me. This isn’t the time to be brave.”

“I don’t feel any discomfort.”

“…”

“…Adjust the position of the elevator and increase the brightness to level 1.”

When the elevator rose higher, Zhong Chengshuo could clearly see this time.

Over the artificial landscape, a large group of dark red creatures were floating. It looked a bit like a giant coral reef gathered in groups, with irregular shapes, and it twitched nervously from time to time.

Roughly speaking, its surface was embedded with pink barnacle-like things. Those “barnacles” were close to one meter in diameter, and the roots were light yellow bones with something growing out of them. Zhong Chengshuo wiped his glasses and squinted…

Those were twisted and deformed hairless dogs’ mouths.

They bore horizontal and vertical fangs from the open snout. The deformed mouth opened slightly, as if it were breathing, and pale red mucus dripped from these “long mouths”, turning into a never-ending rain underground.

This thing was gigantic. Comparing the courtyard to it, it wasn’t even the size of a small rice grain. Even if the light were turned on, he could only see a small part closest to him.

“It can’t get any brighter,” Professor Li said in a deep voice. “This is the source of evil qi we use to appease anomalies, Shian’s Evil Spirit.”

The source of evil qi used to appease anomalies… Zhong Chengshuo thought about this and repeated it several times in his head. He suddenly felt a bit enlightened. It turned out that this was the case. Shian was collecting the Evil Spirit dogs’ hair to pay wages for evil beings in their group.

But Professor Li’s aura was so fierce that he didn’t dare say this or ask about it.

Zhong Chengshuo decided to change the subject. “That family of three just now…”

“They are all remotely controlled high-tech simulation machines. The grass and trees are also artificial. This thing is surrounded by an extremely toxic poison that makes it inaccessible to living things. Of course, biological toxins are the most insignificant ability of this Evil Spirit, and it is the weakest Evil Spirit in existence.”

“……”

“It’s now in a semi-conscious state, thinking it’s a dog. Did you see the work hall just now? The work of those people is limited to two goals: ensuring that the ‘dog’ is in a good mood and suppressing it as soon as possible if it gets out of control.”

Professor Li’s eyes were sharp as he looked directly into Zhong Chengshuo’s eyes.

“Zhong Chengshuo, you have a talent. Next time you face evil things, I hope you will think more thoroughly. The world you want to step into is much more than what you think… Is there anything else you want to ask?”

Zhong Chengshuo looked at the black dog jumping up and down, and his eyes became complicated. “If I understand this correctly, it… used to be a dog?”

“It was transformed from an evil creature whose original body was a dog. We can only be sure of that. I remember giving you the information yesterday—Evil Spirits are all transformed from evil things, but we don’t know the conditions for their transformation.”

“I see.” Zhong Chengshuo kept staring at the dog. “Will an evil being that’s originally a human turn into an Evil Spirit?”

“There has never been such an Evil Spirit, and I don’t think there will be in the future.”

“Why?”

Li Nian didn’t answer immediately. He raised his head and looked at the huge thing floating in the air. There was a “barnacle monster mouth” extremely close to the two that was panting sharply, spraying a small piece of white mist onto the compartment.

“The fiercer the Evil Spirit, the more primitive the original body. This is their way of existence… A mind with thinking ability can’t bear it. You will understand later,” Professor Li said softly.

“Even if there’s a one-in-a-billion chance, that person must be very, very crazy.”

The author has something to say：

Xiao Yin’s civilian pension plan was completely shattered—

It’s too bad for Xiao Yin, but at least you can eat at all kinds of delicious restaurants.

Shian’s Evil Spirit has appeared. It’s a dog leash!

Kinky Thoughts:

This marks the end of the first arc. Hope you enjoy the arc. This marks the end of the anniversary release. I will be taking a break for the rest of this month, so releases will be extremely sporadic until at least January. Thank you everyone for your support, comments, Ko-fi donations, and help throughout the past year. Here’s hoping for more danmei in 2023. Wishing everyone an (early) happy holidays.

As always, I will provide an arc summary for each arc.

The seal to the human world was broken, allowing Yin Ren to enter from his 1,000-year-old slumber. He woke up in a mental health hospital and escaped from it with the help of one of the patients. Outside, he was caught by a “Samaritan” who claimed to be Zhong Chengshuo and was escorted to the police station.

While at the police station, they were transferred to Shian Corporation, a company that works for the government to protect the world from “abnormal phenomena”. That night that Yin Ren was released, they were watching over Haigu in preparation to deal with an Evil Spirit that could be released. Though they didn’t find anything, Minister Fu went through all the anomalies that happened that night and suspected there was something fishy with Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo and had them brought to Shian for an interrogation from the police station.

Yin Ren feigned amnesia in order for him to skate by without knowing much of the modern world. His only goal after escaping the seal was to become a layabout and do nothing but enjoy food. He is then recruited to join Shian and undergoes an entrance exam, which he passes. Things didn’t go as he had hoped as instead of being recruited for a civilian job, he instead joins the special squad and, due to being short staff (because of him), he and Zhong Chengshuo are partnered up and whisked away to investigate a disappearance case.

Their investigation uncovers that a gap had formed in the apartment of Gao Mengyu, the person who had disappeared. Gao Mengyu recently moved away after breaking up with her long-time boyfriend, who later died in an accident, because he strangled her cat to death. She later adopted a new “cat”, which turns out to be an evil being from “the other side”. In order to protect Gao Mengyu from the retaliation of her dead ex boyfriend’s family, it sucked her into the gap and hid her away, causing her to “disappear”.

Gao Mengyu’s ex, who died, had turned into a ghost and was haunting her as “Mr. Rose”, the persona he created that went viral in order to try to win her back, but he was unable to exact his revenge because she was protected by the “cat”.

The “cat” was an evil being from the other world who was wounded and wandered into the human world. In order to survive, it used cognitive pollution, changing humans’ perceptions of it as a harmless, cute creature. While trying to protect Gao Mengyu, it inadvertently mobilized Shian’s forces. To ensure the cognitive pollution didn’t get worse and leave a permanent effect, Shian was going to cleanse the entire building Gao Mengyu resided in to clear up the gap and the cognitive pollution.

Zhong Chengshuo and Yin Ren intervened in time and saved Gao Mengyu before the cleansing, while the “cat” had fully recovered and returned back to its world.

Despite disobeying orders, Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo had proven themselves and were expedited to become regular employees of Shian without having to go through the probation period. Now, they have formed a team and will be investigating anomalies around Haigu.