Chapter 71 – Personal needs

Translator: Xena

Zhou Cheyun kept his ears covered, unable to hear anything.

Suddenly, he felt a tightness around his neck that startled him. Before he could even process what was happening, he instinctively opened his eyes and found Jian Xie standing in front of him with his head bowed.

He was looking at the necklace he had taken.

“Where did you get this,” he said, his tone flat and monotone.

Although it was a question, it didn’t contain an interrogative tone.

Zhou Cheyun was stunned for a moment, only then realizing that there was still no one around him.

Could it be… that they’re still in a predation field?

Although his relationship with the monster was merely a superficial parasitism, Zhou Cheyun had personally witnessed it hunting several times.

By all accounts, they should be back to reality by now.

“……”

Jian Xie squinted at him.

Since it was just the two of them, and he was being stared at like that, he immediately lost his nerve and could only nervously say, “…I …I went through your things.”

“But if you leave things lying in your room without tidying up, isn’t that just asking people to rummage through it?” Feeling increasingly uneasy about the eerie silence, Zhou Cheyun racked his brains to defend himself. “Besides, you lost the keepsake, and didn’t even look for it afterwards. Doesn’t that mean it wasn’t very important at all—” 

“Tzz.”

He couldn’t help but scream in pain as he touched the back of his neck, where a burning pain shot through his skin.

—The pendant was actually pulled off by the other party!

Zhou Cheyun wanted to unleash a torrent of curses, but a cacophony of sounds suddenly filled his ears. He was startled to find himself surrounded by the gazes of all the students—some mocking, some questioning—like a tidal wave enveloping him.

The once empty sportfield was now filled with students and parents who had disappeared earlier.

“What are you still standing there for?” Feeling embarrassed, Father Zhou impatiently urged, “I’ve called you several times and you haven’t responded. Aren’t you going up to give your speech?” 

Upon hearing this, Zhou Cheyun subconsciously looked in Jian Xie’s direction, only to discover that the other party had already disappeared.

……

“I was preoccupied.” As soon as the door opened, Jian Xie said calmly, “I only saw the text message now.” 

During the parent-teacher conference, he was so focused on letting Qin Zhuo do whatever made him happy that he didn’t check his phone.

But after discovering the “urgent” text message, he skipped the parent-teacher meeting and came to the address written on it.

“It doesn’t matter.”

Upon seeing him appear, Cheng Li’s tightly furrowed brows relaxed slightly. Then, he waved and said, “Come in first, he just arrived too, we haven’t been waiting long.” 

He?

Cheng Li’s figure disappeared behind the crack in the door.

Jian Xie paused for a moment, then pushed open the door and followed Cheng Li inside.

This was an ordinary residential building to outsiders, but when Jian Xie entered, he found that the interior decoration was much stranger than he had imagined.

The entire building, at least twenty stories high, had been gutted up. He entered from the first floor and looked up to see staircases coiling like snakes along the interior walls, ascending to the very top. At each turn of the staircase, a door appeared which from the outside, looked like ordinary apartment doors.

The interior must have been modified in some way, as it was significantly more spacious than a normal residential building.

“This is the branch office.” Seeing his interest, Cheng Li explained, “The place you went to before was headquarters. We also have many branch offices and safe houses.” 

Jian Xie nodded.

“The reason it’s set up this way is because this is the hangar for [the Eye], and it needs enough three-dimensional space.”

Cheng Li paused. “It’s also the safest place, because the closer it is, the more accurate it is at detecting monsters, and no monster can get past its eyes.” 

An alarm will sound immediately if anything unusual is detected.

Therefore, they chose to hold the meeting here.

Thinking of this, Cheng Li, the only investigator who knew about the terrifying thing on Jian Xie’s body, couldn’t help but turn around and glance at him.

But as of the moment…

There was absolutely no sound from the [Eye].

It couldn’t be that there was something wrong with the [Eye], hence there’s only one answer: It was not some shallow monster at all, but one who was above all the powers in this world.

Jian Xie noticed his gaze but didn’t say anything.

Cheng Li understood what he was implying. Qin Zhuo was dangerous, and no investigator could do anything about him.

But this was something he already knew, so he wasn’t surprised whatsoever at It’s ability to trounce the [Eye]. Therefore, despite Cheng Li’s obvious hints, Jian Xie’s expression remained unchanged.

Noticing this, Cheng Li sighed slightly.

Nevermind.

He really couldn’t interfere with a person’s freedom of choice in love.

They walked up the stairs for a while where people with a fear of heights probably wouldn’t dare to look down from at all, otherwise they would be so frightened that their faces would turn pale with terror.

Cheng Li stopped in front of a table.

At the same time, several people who were sitting at the table turned their gazes toward the boy behind him. Their matching uniform suits gave them a united appearance.

Jian Xie discovered that he knew most of these people, except for a few slightly unfamiliar investigators.

“Is it him?” Yu Jinghe was taken aback, his eyes widening. “Wait a minute, the S-level you’re talking about, is that him?” 

Since being possessed by a monster and then freed, he has been on leave to recuperate.

If it weren’t for this major event, he would never have returned to the workforce.

This was also the first time he had seen Jian Xie since that incident, and he was unexpectedly hit with this news.

“I thought you would say thank you first.” Special A-level investigator Xu Yujin smiled. He was wearing a trench coat over his suit, which made him look a bit out of place. He tapped his fingers on the table in front of him. “Why would you question his level? He’s the one who saved you last time.”  

“Strictly speaking, it probably saved me too.” Xu Yujin pondered, “I later checked the building and realized that if it weren’t for him, I might very well have died there.”

Judging from the elevator infested with plant tentacles, the residential building under surveillance contained a complex array of monsters, resembling a super-level alchemy laboratory.

Upon hearing this, Lu Xueya, who was also a Special A-level investigator, looked surprised.

She couldn’t help but say, “He saved me too.” 

Fu Huanyu: “And me too.” 

“……”

Cheng Li silently raised his hand. “Um… I guess I’m one of them too.” 

With Jian Xie present, there were seven people, five of whom he had saved before. That was an alarmingly high ratio.

An awkward silence fell over the table for a moment.

The group looked at each other, and a common thought arose in their hearts: perhaps at this moment, they could change their names to “former beneficiaries of the Jian Xie Rescue Project”.

……

A young man carrying a long, black, strip-like ornament suddenly broke the silence.

He glanced at Jian Xie, then turned to Cheng Li and said calmly, “Is he the one who made you use up your favors? I’ve been interested in him for a long time.”  

Upon hearing this, everyone present showed strange expressions.

They were all colleagues, and everyone knew that Cheng Li had once saved his family, so his favor was extremely valuable.

—Before Jian Xie appeared, he was the strongest investigator in the entire Supernatural Management Bureau.

But how exactly did Cheng Li use up this personal connection?

How could he possibly say that Jian Xie’s resume was modified by someone else so that he would have a chance to participate in the fall recruitment?

Cheng Li frantically signaled him with his eyes while simultaneously chuckling awkwardly. “It’s nothing much, that’s not the priority right now. Time is of the essence. Since we’ve all been saved by Jian Xie, we should be able to skip the tedious procedures and let him handle this, right?” 

Indeed, they had no time to waste. If the plan hadn’t required an extremely high level of execution, they wouldn’t have met the Bureau’s “ace” here.

Fu Huanyu took a deep breath. He was the only low-level investigator here, which made him seem somewhat out of place.

“Then I’ll just repeat myself briefly. I witnessed the entire process of Minister Zhang being taken away.” He frowned and recalled, “I came to get her signature, but Qi Geng was there too. He started smashing things and getting angry, saying why should he be held accountable for issues caused by the person he recommended? He said he would never accept any punishment.” 

Cheng Li whispered in Jian Xie’s ear, “Qi Geng… is that annoying green-haired guy from the last fall recruitment season.” 

That is, the recommender of the number 6 autumn recruit who was compared to Jian Xie.

At the time, both of them were very arrogant, but in the end, they were both completely outmatched by Jian Xie and had no choice but to leave in frustration.

Jian Xie hummed in agreement.

He remembered what Wu Qinghe had told him, and now everything made sense.

The new recruit, number 6, made a deal with the monster because of his desires, deliberately delayed the weapon replacement and almost caused the death of Lu Xueya, a Special A-level investigator. He didn’t know what happened afterward, but his recommender, Qi Geng, was really unlucky and had to be punished along with him.

“After noticing my presence, he knocked me unconscious after saying only a few words.” Fu Huanyu said, “When I woke up, he and Minister Zhang had disappeared together.” 

“This didn’t happen at headquarters?” asked the young man who was clearly the highest-ranking Special A-level agent. 

There was a lot of surveillance there, he couldn’t have possibly take Minister Zhang away easily.

Fu Huanyu shook his head. “It was at Minister Zhang’s house.” 

Therefore, it was a private dispute.

Minister Zhang was an ordinary person, while Qi Geng was an A-level investigator. Although he was indeed a bit of a troublemaker, no one expected him to do something like this.

Each high-ranking investigator was secretly injected with a locator, but an hour ago, surveillance showed that the locator had stopped at the city’s largest artificial lake.

Qi Geng actually dug open the back of his neck and took it off.

Xu Yujin said, “Given his personality, he might very well go straight for the monster.” 

Having already done such a thing, the Supernatural Management Bureau would absolutely not tolerate his existence any longer. With nowhere else to turn, it went without saying what he would do.

“Damn it, that piece of trash is asking for it,” Yu Jinghe swore with a dark expression. “I was the one who suggested rejecting him from joining the investigation department. It seems I was right. Just wait ‘till I find that bastard, I’ll kill him myself.”

“…” Cheng Li.

Still so familiarly irritable.

It was wonderful to see that the monster hasn’t destroyed his spirit.

“My A-level investigators have already gone to look for it. If they find anything, they will notify me immediately.” Yu Jinghe frowned. “But we still don’t have any intelligence. Hoping they’ll slip up is unrealistic; we have to take the initiative.”  

He was now a team leader of a squad of A-level investigators, which was why he was attending this secret meeting as a representative.

“Qi Geng is most likely in the first three districts, where investigators.” Cheng Li said, “I remember Lu Xueya, your previous investigation mission was in the first three districts. You went there and also spoke privately with Minister Zhang. Do you have any clues you can provide?”

A thought crossed Lu Xueya’s mind and her expression changed. She subconsciously glanced at Jian Xie before saying, “I have an idea, which might very well…” 

“What?” Yu Jinghe pressed for an answer. 

“This task,” Jian Xie suddenly said without any hesitation, “I will take responsibility for it.”

What?

Upon hearing this, everyone couldn’t help but show expressions of surprise.

This was the first sentence he had uttered so far, and it landed a bomb dropped directly, catching everyone off guard.

Cheng Li was stunned, “What did you say?” 

“I said I would take responsibility for bringing Minister Zhang back.” He glanced at him. “I know where he’ll take her. You don’t need to come along, and forget the plan because I’m not used to working with people.” 

Cheng Li: “…You know?”

“Wait a minute, I suspect they’re waiting for you on purpose—”

Only Lu Xueya immediately understood where he was going. She looked anxious as she pushed back her chair and stood up.

But Jian Xie interrupted her.

Thinking of Qin Zhuo, he smiled almost imperceptibly, “Coincidentally, I also have some personal needs to settle.”