Because they traveled through the underground tunnel, there were no traffic jams and few traffic lights. This time, the journey from home to the Anomaly Investigation Department only took a short hour.
It wasn’t until they reached the familiar mountain that the driver, seeming to snap out of the daze caused by Jiang Que’s presence, struggled to quickly finish his remaining lines:
“Our underground tunnels are mostly within the city and haven’t been extended to the Northwestern Desert, so last time when I picked you up, we didn’t use the underground tunnels. It wasn’t an intentional deception on our part.”
Of course, it wasn’t an intentional deception. It was just that there weren’t conditions to conceal it there, especially since in the eyes of the Anomaly Investigation Department, Jiang Que was a monster ranked twenty-first in terms of danger.
Jiang Que didn’t respond to the driver, silently critiquing them with Shen Tazhi’s arm in his grasp.
The driver found it difficult to continue. After stammering for a while, he continued, “In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of resentment, and various unnatural phenomena have been on the rise. The Anomaly Investigation Department has been taking various actions and conducting investigations in the dark, especially Captain Xi Jing and his team, they are…”
The hero in the dark world…
Who came up with these lines?!
The driver thought to himself with such bitterness and resentment.
Thankfully, at that moment, the mountainside had opened up, and the vehicle began descending, the loud noises outside drowning out his strange sentence structure.
Jiang Que couldn’t be bothered with the driver’s hesitant words. He had never been patient with people other than Shen Tazhi. He simply sat up quietly, preparing for whatever was to come next.
As the descent stopped, the vehicle came to a halt at the platform he had arrived at last time.
The driver got out to open the door for him, and as Jiang Que stepped out of the vehicle, he saw Du Lulu waving at him from a distance.
Du Lulu hurried over, smiling, “Nice to see you again, Jiang Que. I’m here to take you for your examination.”
Jiang Que nodded, feeling that Du Lulu’s smile was a bit strange.
If anything was odd… it was that Du Lulu seemed overly excited to see him this time. Normally, she only showed such excitement when talking about the Xi Jing team.
As Jiang Que thought about this, he turned to take Shen Tazhi’s hand.
Outside, his tentacles didn’t behave excessively. They simply climbed up Shen Tazhi’s wrist alongside his body, quietly functioning as a slightly oversized accessory.
As the driver drove off to an unknown destination, Du Lulu led the two of them towards the elevator and couldn’t help but ask, “After the journey, do you now have a deeper understanding of our Anomaly Investigation Department? What are your feelings now? Captain Xi Jing and our Anomaly Investigation Department are impressive, right?”
Jiang Que: …
Well, it seemed like he knew where the driver’s lines came from.
No wonder the driver struggled to get the lines out, probably because Du Lulu would praise the Xi Jing team in a thousand words, making it impossible for anyone to read it with a straight face.
Out of consideration for the examination, Jiang Que didn’t mention that the driver hadn’t finished his lines. He just responded with a casual “Hmm.”
However, this rare response only seemed to excite Du Lulu even more. She confidently stated, “I knew it! You just didn’t understand our Anomaly Investigation Department before. Now that you have a basic understanding, you won’t hold such a grudge against Captain Xi Jing anymore.”
The problem was that he never held any grudge against Xi Jing; it was all Xi Jing’s misunderstanding.
Jiang Que thought to himself expressionlessly.
He wasn’t prepared to explain this misunderstanding, simply waiting quietly for the elevator to arrive.
While Du Lulu continued to talk enthusiastically about the Anomaly Investigation Department, Jiang Que grew impatient and instead focused on gently tidying up Shen Tazhi’s slender fingers, feeling time drag on.
As the elevator arrived with a “ding,” Du Lulu finally fell silent.
Jiang Que breathed a sigh of relief and exited the elevator with Shen Tazhi.
He didn’t dislike Du Lulu, but their values and beliefs were completely different. To avoid unnecessary arguments, Jiang Que often chose not to respond to Du Lulu.
In short, Du Lulu was a good person, just not suitable for engaging in deep intellectual conversations with him.
Shen Tazhi chuckled softly beside him. Apart from the trial lesson, he had never eavesdropped on Jiang Que’s classes before. This was his first time witnessing Jiang Que’s interaction with Du Lulu.
Quite interesting indeed.
Jiang Que shot Shen Tazhi with an annoyed glance. If he could speak now, he would definitely say, “Stop laughing at me.”
However, the room remained quiet, with only the sounds of their footsteps. It seemed like there was no one else around on this floor, and Jiang Que didn’t feel the need to speak at that moment.
Du Lulu led them through the rooms on both sides of the corridor until they reached the end, where she used her card to open the mechanical door at the far end of the corridor.
“This floor was originally all laboratories, but the research team members were all crazy people who would pounce on anomalies when they saw them. Director Wu was afraid they might scare you, so he dispersed them before your arrival,” Du Lulu explained as she turned on the lights.
The lights in this laboratory came on, revealing a pure white space with a more intricate and complex instrument in the center than what Jiang Que had seen during his last examination.
Du Lulu held a large instruction manual, her round face slightly creased. “Your identity isn’t suitable for more people to know at the moment, so I’ll be conducting your examination this time. This instrument is much more complex than the last one… Let me take another look at the manual.”
Jiang Que: …
Can this really be trusted?
Fortunately, Du Lulu didn’t challenge his trust further. The following procedures were carried out smoothly, with her guiding him through the examination with expertise. After a comprehensive check-up with the instrument, blood samples were taken from him and his tentacles.
Jiang Que watched in fascination as black blood flowed from his tentacles, which had never bled to this extent before. It was his first time discovering that the blood from his tentacles was actually black.
But was the liquid in his tentacles really considered blood?
Jiang Que pondered aimlessly.
It would take some time for the instrument to generate the test report. After Du Lulu finished drawing blood, she stood up. “Let’s go deliver the blood samples, it’s upstairs.”
Jiang Que understood that this meant going to see Director Wu. He didn’t expect to receive the examination report before meeting Director Wu, so he didn’t object. He stood up with Du Lulu, and also pulled Shen Tazhi along.
Despite Shen Tazhi maintaining a quiet demeanor since entering the Anomaly Investigation Department, seemingly wanting to give him space to make decisions, Jiang Que insisted on having Shen Tazhi by his side.
Shen Tazhi was surprised and resigned to the fact that he would also be involved in this conversation. He smiled at Du Lulu in surprise and helplessness, then followed Jiang Que.
Just one floor up, the elevator arrived swiftly this time.
As the elevator doors opened, they were greeted by warm orange-yellow lighting instead of the cold white laboratory. The room was filled with green plants like ferns and hanging plants, several sets of exquisite white tables and chairs, and a coffee bar in the front.
Du Lulu explained, “This is one of the places where everyone usually rests. You can enjoy free handcrafted coffee here. Of course, the barista has been temporarily reassigned by the Director for now.”
Leading Jiang Que forward, they passed rooms labeled as an indoor theater, yoga room, gym, and finally stopped in front of a door labeled “Afternoon Tea Room.”
“This is it. The conversation with the Director will take place here. I won’t be participating,” Du Lulu said, stepping back and indicating for Jiang Que to proceed.
Without hesitation, Jiang Que pushed open the door.
Inside the room were several small tea tables, with a cake on the counter nearby. Behind the small tables were small partitions separated by curtains, each containing rustic brown fabric sofas and larger wooden tables, seemingly set up for group gatherings.
Director Wu was at the cake counter, holding a large tray of cakes and three cups of coffee. Upon Jiang Que’s entrance, he smiled amicably, “Hello, Jiang Que. I’m Director Wu Qi, also the head of the Anomaly Investigation Department. Just call me Director Wu.”
Jiang Que didn’t respond; his attention was on the small cakes, and he couldn’t help but glance at Director Wu’s overly prominent bald spot.
Noticing his gaze, Director Wu kindly said, “Let’s eat and chat until the results of the examination are ready.”
Without being polite, Jiang Que grabbed a plate, selected a few pieces of his favorite cake, also picked up a portion for Shen Tazhi, and then followed Director Wu into one of the small partitions.
“I don’t want to join the Anomaly Investigation Department,” Jiang Que bluntly stated as soon as he sat down.
Digging into a slice of peach cream cake with a fork, he savored the delicate cream before squinting his eyes in enjoyment and continued, “You brought me here through the examination, had the driver introduce the Anomaly Investigation Department to me on the way, and had Du Lulu personally show me the research level and employee treatment in the Anomaly Investigation Department. Now you’re here to talk to me, you probably want to know my current feelings, right? Well, these are my feelings.”
Jiang Que couldn’t discern Director Wu’s emotions, as he seemed deliberately composed. However, this didn’t stop Jiang Que from making deductions based on the emotions of the driver and Du Lulu.
As he ate, he leaned bonelessly against Shen Tazhi’s shoulder, counting with a furrowed brow, “No matter if it’s salary, standard of living, or anything else, as long as Shen Tazhi is with me, I have everything. I don’t want to be apart from Shen Tazhi, even if it’s just for work. It would make me sad.”
His statement had a double meaning, and Shen Tazhi, who had to go to work regularly, could only smile helplessly. He gave Jiang Que an apologetic look, to which Jiang Que responded with a resentful expression that seemed to say, “You know you’re wrong.”
Even for work, he wanted Shen Tazhi with him. At first, Shen Tazhi had actually wanted to leave him at home alone, which was excessive.
Director Wu didn’t seem too surprised by this response. He sighed and also took a slice of cake.
It had been a while since he had eaten sweets, and the sweetness made him involuntarily twitch his mouth, before saying, “You’re right. Mr. Shen provides everything that the Anomaly Investigation Department can offer you. A test report alone isn’t enough to keep you here, so we just wanted to try to win you over this time. If you’re firmly unwilling, we won’t force you.”
Seeing that Director Wu was genuinely not planning to pressure him, Jiang Que felt relieved and continued to enjoy his peach cream cake.
Director Wu then added, “However, the blood sample analysis will take some time. Would you like to take a look at the tentacled containment anomalies we’ve recently acquired while we wait?”
Is that the mature tentacle containment anomaly that Du Lulu mentioned in the message?
Jiang Que became interested and asked, “Can I see it?”
“Of course,” Director Wu replied.
He opened his phone and pulled up the real-time monitoring of the containment facility, locating the tentacle containment anomaly and handed the phone to Jiang Que.
Jiang Que took the phone.
The next moment, his face turned bright red.
Th-this…
On the monitor, a unique deep green tentacle was thrashing about indoors. Much like his own tentacles, they varied in size, with the largest one covered in numerous tiny spikes.
Currently in its mature phase, all the spikes on the tentacle were raised, and the tentacle itself was moving uncomfortably.
On the tentacle, the sliding tracks of raised bumps, presumably eggs, were clearly visible, sliding from the base of the tentacle to the tip, before dripping wetly from the tip.
As the eggs appeared, some were even uncontrollably emerging, but without a warm bed for the eggs to hatch, the tentacle sadly wrapped its precious eggs in other tentacles, attempting to hatch them itself.
It desired a mother, it desired to mate…
It silently expressed its needs in this way.
For an outsider, the sight of a huge monster with menacing tentacles spewing out strange white eggs would be terrifying, especially when the monster was an indescribable mass of tentacles.
But for Jiang Que, who had a bunch of tentacles himself, this was no different from watching adult content.
Blushing, he placed the phone down on the table with a loud “thud,” only to pick it back up after a while.
H-how perverted… take another look.
Shen Tazhi, who was beside him, also saw the contents of the video. Not sure what came to mind, he blushed all the way to the roots of his ears, his hands trembling slightly as Jiang Que’s tentacles wrapped around him.
Director Wu was completely unaware that the two individuals across from him were focused on something entirely different. Or perhaps he did know but chose not to reveal it, instead continuing, “Based on our estimations, if the mature phase doesn’t find a suitable mother to incubate the eggs, the containment anomaly will fall into a state of chaos, acting on instinct alone. As for when there is an appropriate mother to accompany it…”
He glanced at Jiang Que and Shen Tazhi across from him.
Jiang Que blushed at the mention and dropped the phone before burying his face in Shen Tazhi’s chest, “I won’t lose control like this low-level creature. Even if no one gives me a place to incubate the eggs, I won’t lose it!”
“Oh?” Shen Tazhi raised an eyebrow in response, mouthing a silent message to Jiang Que.
Was that a message indicating he was unnecessary?
Jiang Que, feeling anxious, held onto Shen Tazhi’s waist, “Don’t tease me. You clearly know what I mean!”
He was emphasizing his own abilities – when had he ever said he didn’t need Shen Tazhi?
Blushing, his hand inadvertently touched Shen Tazhi’s flat abdomen, muttering, “You promised me, you can’t back out.”
He really wanted to see how Shen Tazhi’s belly would swell.
Shen Tazhi blushed at his suggestive gesture, his voice filled with indulgence, “Yes, I promised, no backing out. Don’t worry.”
Director Wu: …
Could you two pay attention to the situation at hand before getting all cozy?
He hadn’t even finished speaking yet!
