“Did something happen over in human society?”
Yao Yao spoke, patches of snake scales gradually climbing onto her body, her height starting to stretch from under 1.3 meters. “Need my help?”
“Not what you think. I’m just going back to check on things.”
Her arm itched. Gu Lian scratched it instinctively. Yao Yao probably thought some Lieshou had come to cause trouble for her, but Yao Yao’s evolution still needed time to accumulate energy, and she also had to choose the right location. This was something Yao Yao simply couldn’t be involved in.
But one thing was certain: Linjiao Town had issues. A town that housed Lieshou, where people encountered Weiyi every few days—if the Agency stationed there was still functioning normally, she didn’t believe it.
She had come to find Yao Yao only to shelter Yi Yi from the trouble outside. Yao Yao was Yi Yi’s real sister; no matter how she calculated it, Gu Lian was just an adopted older sister.
Besides, what happened with Uncle Xiong was her own fault. She couldn’t just watch someone who had been kind to her get hurt.
Once this Weiyi business was over, she would leave for another city anyway. During the half-month Yao Yao needed to stockpile energy, she could probably get Yao Yao a new ID card too. After all, aside from their hair and eye colors, Yao Yao and Yi Yi looked exactly alike—it wasn’t impossible to pull off.
“Yao Yao, I only have five packs of rations left. You and Yi Yi need to make them last. I’ll be back in about a day.”
With that, Gu Lian started stripping off her clothes right in front of Yao Yao’s stunned expression. Yao Yao reacted quickly, covering Yi Yi’s eyes. This scene wasn’t suitable for children, even though her own mental age wasn’t much older than Yi Yi’s.
“What are you afraid of? It’s not like you haven’t seen it before.”
Gu Lian pouted. If she remembered correctly, when she was forced to jump into the bottom of the Sinkhole to hide, her clothes had been shredded by the Lieshou’s firepower. When Yao Yao and Yi Yi pulled her out of the Sinkhole, she had been completely naked. Now she was still wearing underwear, and they were still shy about it.
She walked over to the suitcase, strapped on the armor stored inside, hooked her finger to pull the finger knives from their slots, and fitted them onto her hands. She flexed her wrists, and five metal claws shot out from her fingertips. Closing her fist, the claws retracted. After checking all her gear, she picked up the suitcase and phone and immediately headed in the direction of Linjiao City.
Gu Lian lowered her gaze, tapped the screen a few times, and raised the phone to her ear.
Dee—dee—click—
“…”
Neither spoke for a long moment. Finally, the Masked Man broke the silence. “Decided?”
“No. I’ll help, but in return, get me a legal identity.”
“You’re not a Lieshou. How could I let a normal person like you get involved?”
His voice was calm, as if everything were under control.
“Fine then. I have Eric’s number. I’ll contact the Agency instead.”
Eric was stationed in Nanjiang City, and Linjiao Town was just a district of Nanjiang. In theory, Nanjiang should fall under the Agency’s jurisdiction too. Gu Lian set the phone down, turned on the speaker, and hovered her thumb over the end call button.
“You know Eric?”
The Masked Man’s voice came through with a hint of surprise. Gu Lian calmly put the phone back to her ear. “I do. So what?”
“…”
The Masked Man went silent. She didn’t want to say anything more. Outsiders might not know what Eric was, but every Lieshou knew who he was. After a long pause, the Masked Man steadied his voice and said, “Come meet me first. If the situation here is valid, I’ll have someone process it immediately. Once it’s done, you can leave right away.”
“At what cost?”
Gu Lian cut straight to the point. She didn’t believe the Masked Man would be that generous.
“Of course. If it’s not valid, then you’ll cooperate and take us to the place where you encountered the Weiyi. After that, we’ll still get you an ID.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
His tone was sincere, completely lacking the hidden knives behind his usual smiles.
“Were you replaced or something? Your acting is terrible. Goodbye.”
Gu Lian pressed her thumb on the end call button, but a calm voice came through from the phone. “Don’t bother testing me. I was the one who sent people to clean up your loose ends in Weikede. You left a dagger behind. Are you still a professional killer?”
On the surface, it was mockery, but the implication was clear: they were both foxes—stop the damn testing. He had laid his cards on the table; she should show some sincerity too.
“Wei Ni Ka, Luo De, the area beneath the Linjiao Swimming Base—they’re all problems. The rest is just my speculation.”
As soon as Gu Lian said that, a smile gradually spread across the Masked Man’s face on the other end. Cooperation worked like this—both sides benefited, and that allowed for deeper partnership. This was exactly what he wanted to see.
“I still have to travel. Let’s hang up. Same place?”
“Same place.”
“Just don’t lie to me. If you do, I’ll tear a layer of skin off you even if it kills me.”
As Gu Lian finished, she lifted her hand off the end button. The Masked Man on the other end pressed his almost simultaneously. Bluffing was just showing attitude; since he had already stated his position, piling on polite gestures would have been too awkward.
Gu Lian opened the suitcase and tossed the phone inside. At night, the river of stars above floated like a soft, warm ribbon across the inky sky. The starlight was faintly cold, the moonlight faintly cold—as cold as Gu Lian’s gaze, devoid of any emotional ripple.
***
Beneath the Linjiao Training Base, a room made entirely of slippery, fleshy tissue. The ceiling was packed with eyeballs emitting murky light, their filthy glow casting an nauseating haze over everything. In this viscerally repulsive room sat an inhuman figure.
“This really is a good place.”
Seated on a throne built from piled bones was a nonhuman creature composed entirely of black-red tentacles. It had a humanoid form but stood three meters tall, with a single massive eye on its chest. The pupil of that eye was made of writhing worms that twisted and squirmed, as if trying to burrow out of the giant orb. Behind it was a huge white egg, with slippery, thin tentacles extending from its surface and wrapping around a corpse abandoned on the ground.
The corpse’s eyes were rolled back, its lips cracked and dry, its skin riddled with holes as if corroded by acid. From the silhouette, it was a female, still wearing a somewhat darkened swimsuit.
The tentacles coiled back, pulling strands of flesh from the corpse and dragging them into the white egg. The female body gave a faint, almost imperceptible twitch—then nothing more.
The tentacle monster’s single eye turned toward the egg behind it, its eyelids raising in a strange, upward curve.
“Almost done…”