Huai City, Bureau of the Unnatural.
After organizing the information on Deformed Fetus into a case file and sending it to the General Bureau, Cheng Ze sat in her office, anxiously awaiting her superiors’ response.
To be fair, the incident hadn’t been handled perfectly.
They hadn’t extracted any useful information from Li Jianyang, and the A-level aberration they recovered was still incomplete. Yet, to her surprise, the usually strict General Bureau said nothing about it. They simply archived the Deformed Fetus case and marked the mission as complete.
At eight that evening, Cheng Ze received a call from her mentor.
She paused when she saw the caller ID, then quickly answered.
“Hello, Mentor.”
A gentle female voice came through the phone.
“Hello, Xiao Ze. One of your Shixiong1is used to address a senior male disciple or student who shares the same teacher or master. will be coming to Huai City in a few days. I wanted to let you know in advance.”
“My Shixiong?”
“Yes. Your Shixiong Luo Xingyan.”
Cheng Ze’s eyes widened abruptly.
“Luo Xingyan?!”
Luo Xingyan, codename [Shackles], was the eleventh-ranked S-level Executor in the world.
“Why is he coming to Huai City?”
Luo Xingyan was an S-level Executor. Ability users of his caliber were rarely stationed in one place. They spent most of their time traveling between countries, tracking and dealing with the mysterious, unpredictable Empire of Monsters.
The appearance of an A-level aberration and traces of Master Storyteller in Huai City certainly qualified as a major incident. But because Ning Weichen had intervened, the case had been archived, and archived meant closed.
Why send an S-level Executor after everything was over?
“It was arranged by our superiors,” her mentor said.
Cheng Ze hesitated. “Is it because of the Ning family’s heir?”
Her mentor laughed bitterly. “No. The Bureau of the Unnatural can’t interfere in anything involving the Ning family. A Prophet predicted that many dangerous events would occur in Huai City in the future, so Luo Xingyan is being sent there ahead of time as a precaution.”
“Dangerous events?”
“Yes. Your Shixiong Luo is still in Jerusalem dealing with a religious aberration incident. All his communications have been disabled. Once he finishes there, I’ll have him contact you.”
“All right. I’ll wait for Shixiong Luo to arrive.”
Her mentor warned her, “Be careful. I don’t think the world has been very peaceful lately. Six cases of spontaneous human combustion have occurred in Jerusalem this month alone. The fire begins in the heart and burns outward, ‘purifying’ the victims alive. The General Bureau detected the presence of an aberration above S-level in Jerusalem. If our assumptions are correct, it should be the moderator of the Monster Forum’s Sixth Category.”
Cheng Ze couldn’t stop herself from raising her voice.
“The moderator of the Sixth Category?”
“Yes. We still don’t know its name, but after confronting it several times, we’ve learned something about how it operates. It’s connected to all forms of folklore, religion, faith, and legend. It’s currently most active around the Western Wall and Temple Mount in Jerusalem, but its movements are taking it east—toward China.”
Cheng Ze fell silent, her lips pressed tightly together.
Master Storyteller alone had already put all of China on edge. If another moderator arrived……
“Don’t worry,” her mentor reassured her. “Things haven’t reached the worst-case scenario yet.”
She paused, then voiced the question that had been bothering her.
“Xiao Ze, I read the file you just submitted. Did Ning Weichen really say that?”
After a moment’s hesitation, Cheng Ze nodded.
“Yes, Mentor. He said Master Storyteller took whatever was inside Deformed Fetus. Afterward, he stitched Deformed Fetus into Corpse Stitcher’s stomach. Mentor, was he lying?”
Her mentor burst out laughing.
“Hardly. You’re underestimating him. A mere A-level aberration isn’t worth the effort it would take for that heir to lie. His trip to Huai City is actually a vacation.”
“A vacation?”
“Yes. Madam Qin of Huai City is his mother’s biological younger sister. The head of the Ning family wanted him to familiarize himself with his homeland’s language and culture after returning to China, so he casually assigned him a mission. Once the mission was over, he was told not to hurry back and to visit his relatives while he was there.”
“He casually assigned him an A-level mission?”
“That isn’t unusual. The Ning family possesses so many specialized drugs and aberration implantation samples that even an ordinary person could be transformed into a genius through biotechnology. Besides, Ning Weichen was already a genius to begin with—a genius in every respect. You’ve met him, haven’t you? What did you think?”
Cheng Ze choked.
What did she think?
She remembered the young man she had seen in the carriage that night.
When that striking, indifferent face turned toward them, she and everyone else present had felt the overwhelming pressure of someone accustomed to standing above others. He possessed a danger and ruthlessness that shouldn’t have belonged to someone his age, yet somehow seemed perfectly natural because of his identity.
Then, after leisurely wiping his hands, he had raised his head and smiled at her.
In that instant, his entire presence had become “light.”
Flippant, contemptuous, frivolous.
His peach-blossom eyes curved with amusement, and his voice was gentle and courteous. His presence was so distinctive that even while standing amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood, he retained an effortless elegance.
But everyone present understood the immeasurable distance concealed beneath that seemingly casual lightness—
Ning Weichen made no effort to hide his indifference.
That had been Cheng Ze’s first impression of him.
After considering her words, she said, “He doesn’t seem easy to get along with.”
Her mentor laughed.
“Do you know what most people in America say about him?”
“What?”
“Kind. Perfect. Approachable.”
Cheng Ze: “……”
Her mentor even joked, “According to the information I have, countless people pursued him during his school years. They all agreed that if anyone ever managed to date him, Ning Weichen would be the ‘perfect lover.’”
Cheng Ze frowned. “Mentor, I think he’s dangerous.”
“We all know that.” Her mentor sighed. “He won’t remain in Huai City for long. Avoid interacting with him whenever possible.”
“All right.”
“I’m simply curious about why he cooperated so readily.”
Cheng Ze had wondered the same thing. Butler Li’s attitude had been so forceful that even she hadn’t been confident she could make them stay, yet Ning Weichen had volunteered to remain.
Her mentor continued worriedly, “The missing part of Deformed Fetus was an urban legend written by Master Storyteller. The best possible outcome for a creation of the Seventh Category’s moderator would be for it to return to its creator. Otherwise, allowing it to remain loose in the world may prove even more dangerous than the A-level aberration itself.”
Cheng Ze pressed her lips together and remained silent for a long time.
The more she dealt with aberrations, the more powerless she felt.
After all these years, they still knew almost nothing about the Empire of Monsters, which originated from the “forum.”
The moderator of the Seventh Category was Master Storyteller.
The moderator of the Fourth Category was ENIAC.
But above ENIAC lay even more mysterious forbidden territories.
The First, Second, and Third Categories.
Throughout the entire history of the Bureau of the Unnatural, it had never once detected the presence of any of their moderators.
The forbidden realm of gods.
“Mentor,” Cheng Ze said quietly, “sometimes I feel that human beings are fundamentally weak. We’re completely powerless against aberrations.”
Her mentor fell silent for a moment.
Then, unexpectedly, she laughed.
“Xiao Ze, you’re wrong. You couldn’t be more wrong.”
Her elder’s gentle yet powerful voice came steadily through the phone.
“Would you believe me if I told you that the strongest Executor in the world doesn’t possess any abilities at all?”
Cheng Ze’s eyes widened.
“What?!”
Her mentor’s voice became complicated.
“Executors who awaken their abilities naturally still depend on biological drugs. Executors who receive implanted abilities are stealing an aberration’s power entirely. But according to the classified files from Butterfly Island, the Executor who once held first place by an insurmountable margin possessed unmistakably human characteristics.”
“He couldn’t manipulate space, plants, or any of the elements—not water, fire, wind, or lightning. All he possessed were two hands and a brain.”
“We learned in middle-school history that the fundamental trait separating humans from other animals is our ability to create and use tools. We evolved from ancient apes into modern human beings and built thousands of years of civilization. All that intelligence is contained within our hands and brains.”
“They represent creation and learning.”
“If we truly had to call it an ability……”
“Xiao Ze, his ability was learning. Learning everything. As a ‘human,’ he learned ‘everything.’”
Her mentor fell into a brief reverie before smiling.
“Through him, you could see the limits of humanity—the point at which humans could stand alongside gods.”
***
When Ye Sheng left the Xie residence that night, he hadn’t answered Huang Yiyue’s plea.
He had neither agreed nor refused.
But Huang Yiyue still broke into a relieved smile and treated his silence as consent. She happily invited him to stay for dinner. After he coldly refused, she enthusiastically ordered the driver to take him back to the university.
Sitting in the back seat, Ye Sheng lowered his head and studied the box in his hands, frowning at its shell-shaped lock.
Huang Yiyue said he possessed the key, but he had no memory of ever receiving one.
He even doubted whether this lock could be opened with a key at all.
No matter how many times he turned it over, he couldn’t find a keyhole.
The box was sealed without the slightest gap, as solid as a block of iron. The chisel marks covering it were further evidence of how unusual it was.
A strange box that no amount of external force could open—
Something his grandmother had insisted on leaving to him before she died.
When he returned to the university without finding an answer, Ye Sheng placed the box inside his cabinet.
By the end of June, most students had already left for summer vacation. Few people remained on campus, and only a handful of lights were illuminated throughout the building.
Ye Sheng had spent the entire day cleaning and forgotten to check the water and electricity. Only when he flipped the switch did he discover that the dormitory light was broken.
After reporting it to the dormitory supervisor, she gave him a repairman’s number. Ye Sheng arranged for him to come at five the following afternoon, then entered the bathroom in darkness and rinsed himself quickly with cool water.
After changing into his pajamas and drying his hair, he returned to his desk, switched on the desk lamp, and took out a pen and a sheet of paper to calculate his future living expenses.
After counting his money, Ye Sheng discovered that he had only one hundred yuan left.
Fortunately, Xia Wenshi paid his wages daily.
Poverty quietly suppressed Ye Sheng’s renewed desire to find another job.
Forget it. If his boss enjoyed conducting supernatural livestreams, he could do as he pleased. The streams had nothing to do with Ye Sheng, and Ye Sheng certainly wouldn’t accompany Xia Wenshi on his suicidal adventures.
He roughly calculated his expenses and made a list of what he needed to buy the next day. Then he switched off the light and went to bed.
At seven the following morning, Ye Sheng woke according to his biological clock. The first thing he did was take the clothes from the bathroom and wash them.
However, he had underestimated how “delicate” the outfit was.
By the time he removed it from the washing machine, it was completely unrecognizable.
—Did the young master wear his clothes only once before throwing them away?
Ye Sheng’s lips twitched. After discarding the ruined outfit, he searched through his suitcase.
He hadn’t brought many clothes. The outfit he had worn onto the train was one of the few presentable ones he owned. Fortunately, before showering, he had specifically told Butler Li not to throw it away.
When Ye Sheng left the Yuecheng Hotel, the manager had returned the freshly cleaned clothes inside an extremely luxurious box.
Ye Sheng genuinely believed the box was probably worth more than the clothes inside it.
He pushed every stray thought from his mind, changed his clothes, and headed directly toward the haunted house with his phone’s navigation app open.
A cool summer breeze drifted through the shadows of the trees.
444 Huai’an Middle Road.
Ye Sheng stopped, switched off his phone, and looked up at the gaudy, deliberately horrifying sign dripping with fake blood:
Scare You Silly.
He remained silent for a long time before finally striding inside.
Once he entered, he understood why Xia Wenshi had resorted to supernatural livestreams to pay his employees.
The haunted house was genuinely bleak and deserted.
Xia Wenshi was a wealthy young man with principles. After spending a fortune to purchase a storefront in the university district, where every inch of land was worth gold, he had gritted his teeth and told his family that he intended to start his own business.
He adamantly refused to accept another cent from them.
—And then he was reduced to conducting supernatural livestreams to earn money for his employees.
“Hello! Welcome.”
Having finally received a visitor, Huang Qiqi forced herself to perk up and sprang from behind the reception desk.
Then she heard the exceptionally handsome man before her say coolly, “Xuejie, I’m here for work.”
Huang Qiqi’s tear-reddened eyes widened abruptly.
“Xuedi???!!!”
“All right, that’s everything. There isn’t really much to clean. For now, we’ve only opened one Haunted Doll attraction, and over the last three days, we’ve had exactly two customers. They came this morning, and they were a couple. They stopped by while on a date, but they broke up as soon as they left. The girl said the guy was insane and had a terrible attitude. She said that if he wanted to take her to the In the Night Garden playground, she would’ve had more excitement staying home and watching Makka Pakka dance.”
“……”
The moment Huang Qiqi finished speaking, she remembered that she was talking to her future coworker. She stiffened and awkwardly tried to recover.
“Hahahahahaha! I guess that girl was pretty brave.”
Ye Sheng nodded impassively.
He was only there to work. He had no interest in worrying about the haunted house’s business.
Huang Qiqi had been tormented by the conflict between her best friend and boyfriend for the past two days. Although she wanted to continue talking to Ye Sheng, she had something else to do.
“I was bored earlier, so I already did some basic cleaning. Just use your judgment, Xuedi. If anything looks dirty, clean it. Oh, the last room on the left is the storage room where we keep the props. Some of them are broken. Repair whatever you know how to fix, but don’t worry about anything you can’t.”
Ye Sheng thanked her politely.
“All right. Thank you, Xuejie.”
He had grown up in Yin Mountain and was accustomed to doing all the cleaning and housework himself.
He worked efficiently and decisively. After rapidly gathering the cleaning supplies, he washed his hands and got to work.
Ye Sheng entered the Haunted Doll attraction and examined the exaggerated fake blood and scattered plastic organs.
After a calm assessment, he concluded that it really did resemble In the Night Garden.
For a haunted house themed around murderous dolls, the dolls had been arranged like products on supermarket shelves.
Ye Sheng cleaned the filthy fake blood from the floor, then mopped it several times.
Finally, he entered the storage room to organize the props.
Because of the environment in which he had grown up, Ye Sheng was exceptionally skilled with his hands. He could assemble, repair, and organize practically anything.
Without realizing it, he worked until four thirty in the afternoon. The repairman was supposed to replace his dormitory light at five.
Ye Sheng was about to leave when his gaze fell upon a damaged doll in the corner. It probably belonged to the Haunted Doll attraction.
It was a little-girl doll whose arm had been torn open, exposing a clump of fluffy white stuffing.
The moment Ye Sheng saw it, he wanted to sew it back together. He searched the room but found only thread.
“Xuejie, where are the needles?”
Ye Sheng called out.
But Huang Qiqi didn’t hear him.
He was about to go outside and find her when the repairman called. Ye Sheng hurriedly reached for his phone.
He moved too quickly and felt something prick his finger. Since he wasn’t particularly sensitive to pain, he paid it no attention.
“Hello. Are you the person who booked a repair for five thirty? At Huai’an University?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
Ye Sheng gave him the exact address and ended the call.
Then his gaze settled quietly upon the wound on his fingertip.
After a long silence, he reached into his trouser pocket again and……
Found a needle.
The Corpse-Stitching Needle he had used to pierce Fetus Girl’s throat before returning it to Corpse Stitcher.
TN: no chapter next week since I‘m moving, I’ll start posting more chapters starting October 6th
