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The brain gate was pulled out with a sticky gelatinous substance, silently tilting forward, revealing the darkness behind it.
Even in the pitch-black underground, the arched darkness seemed particularly abrupt.
It was very strange, black to the point of losing depth, like a thin silhouette. But it also made people subconsciously tense, as if there were millions of eyes peering out through that darkness. Whenever the viewer’s gaze shifted slightly, something seemed to flash by in the depths of the darkness, and its presence made people feel uneasy.
The members of the Sunken Society all took a few steps back, whether they believed in metaphysics or not. At this moment, they held their breaths, and their eyes were drawn to the door-shaped darkness.
After an unknown period of time, three faint colors appeared in the darkness.
Standing in the middle was a man who looked to be about thirty years old. His appearance was handsome, but there was a hint of carelessness in his features that made people respect and distance themselves from him. He was well-built and wearing a wet and close-fitting flesh-colored leather jacket, with his hands pulling two naked bodies—a man and a woman—dragging them outward.
Although there was no light in the darkness, the colors on his body were very bright, but the details of his features and clothes were like looking at flowers through mist, with a ridiculous sense of cut-and-paste misalignment.
Shen Mo, the head of Technical Department One.
Oddly enough, at the first sight of him, all the members of Sunken Society were bewildered, as if he were a complete stranger. As the man gradually walked out of the darkness, the leader of those gathered around suddenly came to his senses and hurried forward to greet him.
“Ah, Director Shen! You’re back! Did it go smoothly over there?” The small leader had a terrifying scar on his face, but he tried to smile like a gentle breeze in March.
Shen Mo let go of his hands, and the two unconscious bodies fell to the floor like sacks. The small leader’s eyes slid down, and his smile distorted for a moment.
The man and woman were only recognizable by their body shapes.
They were still breathing, but what was growing on their bodies wasn’t human. Their bodies were arched, their limbs seemed to have been broken off and haphazardly reattached, and even a thigh was twisted under the woman’s shoulder.
Their heads were larger than those of normal people, with facial features growing in a jumble on top. The man’s two eyes had rolled to the back of his head; one was attached against the back of his neck, and the other had become the size of a palm, covering his crown. The two black eyes looked at Shen Mo together, with varying degrees of lethargy in their different-sized eyeballs.
“Take them away for processing,” Shen Mo said lightly.
The small leader held back a shudder and made a gesture. The employees behind him immediately moved forward, wrapping the bodies in packages and carrying them away in a rush.
The naked bodies of the two were moved, exposing skin covered in wounds. Upon closer inspection, they were all records written with a carving knife, like a collection of numbers and letters. As the employees moved, the two bodies hung limply, with sticky flesh threads between them mixed in with the stretcher.
“It’s really troublesome not being able to take dead bodies over to ‘That Side’.”
Shen Mo smiled and opened his arms, and another group of people quickly approached to help him take off the flesh-colored leather jacket.
The jacket looked like a loose coat, but it made a sticky tearing sound when it was peeled off. Shen Mo wasn’t wearing anything underneath, and as the jacket came off, the soft leather inside peeled off, oozing with blood.
“Ah… Ah…” The jacket was finally removed, revealing a human-like mouth at the collar.
“The artificially catalyzed ‘Charon’ is still not very useful, and the reaction is slow.” Shen Mo ignored the moaning jacket and glanced at the man and woman about to be taken away. “They’re not as good as Jiao Lian from Shian and far from Fu Wuya. They can only be used as records.”
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The scar-faced little leader smiled and didn’t say a word. He looked down at the ground, afraid to look at Shen Mo’s face.
“Why are you nervous? You’re not qualified to enter even if you wanted to.”
Shen Mo continued to smile and adjusted his suit collar.
“I’ve been gone for a few months. What’s going on in Shian? Tell me about it.”
The little leader didn’t dare to neglect, and took a deep breath. He talked about the failure of the Feng Qi and Ge Tingting case, the failure of Bai Yongji’s recruitment, and the recent “tragic encounter” of the Sunken Society Haigu Branch.
As he spoke, even the scar-faced little leader himself became depressed.
“I was wondering why there was something strange going on in the Other Side. Turns out the interstitial space had a problem… What about the ‘thing’ that broke into the headquarters?”
“They say it’s an internal conflict with our mysterious supplier. You know, they usually don’t tell us too much. This matter definitely has nothing to do with Shian. Fu Xingchuan almost died in this incident, and now the people in Shian are still sniffing around the abandoned space we gave up.”
Shen Mo: “Oh, then it’s not a big deal.”
The little leader gulped and swallowed his saliva, his mouth twitching.
Since July, Sunken Society had been constantly suffering losses. The big boss didn’t care, but even this department head thought it wasn’t “a big deal”—regardless of their positions, they all made wishes to Sunken Society, yet none of them were living the high life.
While normal people’s performances may only be related to year-end bonuses, their performance was tied to their own lives.
But he didn’t dare speak recklessly.
The Technical Department One was the most special department among all the technical departments. Compared with other “Assistant Ministers”, Shen Mo, who didn’t have any special qualifications, was undoubtedly a “Charon”.
As long as he had this precious ability, even if the Sunken Society managed to catch him with evidence in hand, Shen Mo could still walk freely in Sunken Society. Sunken Society had thought of finding another “Charon” to keep Shen Mo’s power in check, but unfortunately, nothing had happened so far.
Shen Mo leisurely put on his socks, then tucked the bloody socks into his leather shoes and casually tapped his toes a few times. After tidying his clothes, Shen Mo ignored the smell of blood on his body and tidied his messy hair.
Clearly, he had been gone for several months without food or water, but he looked more like he had just gone out for a morning stroll and still had some energy left on him.
“Take me to see Wei Huaqian,” Shen Mo said lightly.
“Do you have any new discoveries?”
“Well, kind of. Shian won’t cause trouble for long.” Shen Mo smiled again but didn’t say much.
After getting his phone back, he sent a message to Wei Huaqian that was quite different from what he had just said:
[The search for the Primordial Elementals was fruitless, but I discovered a strange phenomenon related to the Evil Spirit. If we make good use of it, we can ‘ignite’ Shian’s underground Evil Spirit.]
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……
Haigu Municipal Hospital.
Ge Tingting opened her eyes drowsily, feeling like her body had been pushed through a meat grinder and hastily pieced back together. Even moving a little made her want to scream, but her throat was so dry that she couldn’t make a sound.
A strange pain was constantly tormenting her, and her head felt swollen. She felt… just like when she was with Feng Qi before. Now Ge Tingting could tell that this symptom was caused by corruption from Evil Force.
She had obviously survived the previous crisis, and her abilities seemed to have been enhanced again. More obscure, incomprehensible, and strange-sounding mutterings occasionally entered her ears.
Ge Tingting frowned, feeling like she had turned into a broken radio.
The little girl struggled to move her body, enduring the pain and barely reaching the small bag at the head of the bed. She took out the headphones that Unit 9 gave her when she started working—Zhong Chengshuo chose them very carefully, with excellent noise reduction performance, specifically to deal with various unclear inhuman ravings.
Thinking of the deceased Zhong Chengshuo and Yin Ren, Ge Tingting’s action of putting on the headphones froze in mid-air.
She bit her lip, and her eyes slowly turned red.
The metaphysical world was even crueler than she had imagined. Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo were the most capable people she had ever met, but they still died heroically in just a few months. Indeed, she had to surpass those two people, climb to B-level and A-level, or even higher, to ensure her safety.
She must study hard and work harder.
…If she had studied even more seriously, could she have been more helpful then? Would Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo not have died?
Ge Tingting forgot about the pain in her limbs and slowly curled up her body.
She sniffled, laboriously took out her phone, and opened the Shian workgroup.
[Ear Person: Let’s go to that barbecue restaurant again to commemorate Yin Ge and Zhong Ge. My treat.]
[Ear Person: T-T]
Ge Tingting looked at the avatars of Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo in the group as tears streamed down her face, wetting the screen of her phone. She was in a single room and had never missed Unit 9’s common ward so much before.
[Milky Way: Mm.] Lu Xiaohe replied quickly.
[Ten Thousand Taels:]
[Ear Person: ?]
[Ten Thousand Taels: Nothing. It’s fine. I’ll definitely go. But don’t rush to pay. Someone will cover it later.]
[Fruit Knife: ?]
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[Ear Person: ????????????]
Ge Tingting lost her grip and almost dropped her phone—Yin Ren had changed his WeChat avatar, so Ge Tingting almost didn’t recognize him when he replied just now.
Yin Ren’s profile picture changed from a flipped over Ikea shark to an Ikea shark hugging an apple.
Was his account hacked?… It shouldn’t be. Shian’s security measures were very good, and Yin Ren brought his phone into the gap, so there was no possibility of his phone being picked up.
‘Could it be that Yin Ren’s obsession with the human world was too strong that he turned into a ghost?,’ Ge Tingting thought in a daze.
[Fruit Knife: It’s like this. I had a fight with the attacker, and then it died completely, and I passed out. My… um, there was a problem with my communication method, so Fu Xingchuan thought I was dead.]
[Fruit Knife: It was all a misunderstanding. I just got a little hurt.]
[Milky Way: Why didn’t you contact us earlier?!]
[Fruit Knife: I’ve been making a high-precision flesh puppet of Zhong Chengshuo. Sorry.]
The group fell into a long silence.
[Fruit Knife: To ensure that Zhong Chengshuo’s parents don’t notice anything, and also to remember him.]
He typed this sentence especially quickly.
Ge Tingting looked at the words “high-precision flesh puppet” in shock, and her hands trembled a bit. She now knew what it was, but she wasn’t sure if she really knew at all.
Although her life experience was very limited, she had never seen such… a unique way of mourning.
Is it that urgent? She didn’t understand.
[Milky Way: It’s good that everything is fine.]
[One Thousand Taels: Yeah, it’s good that everything is fine. ]
[Ear Person: Then let’s go to that barbecue restaurant to commemorate Zhong Ge.]
[Fruit Knife: I’ll treat. By the way, Xiaohe Jie and Xiao Ge, you can start thinking about your wishes.]
Ge Tingting’s hand that was about to type stopped for a moment, and she thought carefully. [Then let Yin Ge pay for this meal.]
[Fruit Knife: ……]
[One Thousand Taels: ??? Think carefully before making a wish!]
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[Milky Way: Why are you so excited?]
[One Thousand Taels: You don’t understand…! Being cautious about making wishes is one thing, wasting them is another!]
[Fruit Knife: How about we discuss it when we meet? By the way, I’ll bring Zhong Ge’s flesh puppet, so please don’t mind.]
The group fell silent again.
[Milky Way: It’s okay, we understand.] Lu Xiaohe, who had lightning hand speed, typed this sentence with hesitation.
[Fruit Knife: I’ll also bring Fu Xingchuan, if you don’t mind.]
[Ear Person: ?]
This question mark was the only remaining emotion that Ge Tingting had.
[Fruit Knife: It’s like this. In the previous operation, I believe everyone is very interested in my identity, so I want to talk to everyone in person.]
… Actually, not only that.
Yin Ren put down his phone and looked at Zhong Chengshuo beside him.
He had already found the next mission for Unit 9, which wasn’t very dangerous but could bring achievements—once the competition was settled, they could start on the mission.
The mystery behind Evil Force was accumulating more and more, and they didn’t have time to investigate leisurely. The skill of the sniper was terrifying, and if it weren’t for the loss and grief caused by losing Zhong Chengshuo, Yin Ren probably wouldn’t have the confidence to fight against the sniper as of now.
They might as well take advantage of the gathering of masters here and go for the most essential and direct clue about this matter.
Themselves as well as the Evil Spirit held in Shian’s underground.
The author has something to say:
Comrade Ge Tingting has serious misunderstandings of the power system in the metaphysical world…
You can do it*, Xiao Ge!
*Jiayou (加油) Ubiquitous Chinese expression of encouragement and support.
————
Sunken Society: It’s okay. We’ll plan a sneak attack on Shian’s Evil Spirit. Haha, they won’t see it coming.
…Good luck, Sunken Society.
Sponsored Content
The brain gate was pulled out with a sticky gelatinous substance, silently tilting forward, revealing the darkness behind it.
Even in the pitch-black underground, the arched darkness seemed particularly abrupt.
It was very strange, black to the point of losing depth, like a thin silhouette. But it also made people subconsciously tense, as if there were millions of eyes peering out through that darkness. Whenever the viewer’s gaze shifted slightly, something seemed to flash by in the depths of the darkness, and its presence made people feel uneasy.
The members of the Sunken Society all took a few steps back, whether they believed in metaphysics or not. At this moment, they held their breaths, and their eyes were drawn to the door-shaped darkness.
After an unknown period of time, three faint colors appeared in the darkness.
Standing in the middle was a man who looked to be about thirty years old. His appearance was handsome, but there was a hint of carelessness in his features that made people respect and distance themselves from him. He was well-built and wearing a wet and close-fitting flesh-colored leather jacket, with his hands pulling two naked bodies—a man and a woman—dragging them outward.
Although there was no light in the darkness, the colors on his body were very bright, but the details of his features and clothes were like looking at flowers through mist, with a ridiculous sense of cut-and-paste misalignment.
Shen Mo, the head of Technical Department One.
Oddly enough, at the first sight of him, all the members of Sunken Society were bewildered, as if he were a complete stranger. As the man gradually walked out of the darkness, the leader of those gathered around suddenly came to his senses and hurried forward to greet him.
“Ah, Director Shen! You’re back! Did it go smoothly over there?” The small leader had a terrifying scar on his face, but he tried to smile like a gentle breeze in March.
Shen Mo let go of his hands, and the two unconscious bodies fell to the floor like sacks. The small leader’s eyes slid down, and his smile distorted for a moment.
The man and woman were only recognizable by their body shapes.
They were still breathing, but what was growing on their bodies wasn’t human. Their bodies were arched, their limbs seemed to have been broken off and haphazardly reattached, and even a thigh was twisted under the woman’s shoulder.
Their heads were larger than those of normal people, with facial features growing in a jumble on top. The man’s two eyes had rolled to the back of his head; one was attached against the back of his neck, and the other had become the size of a palm, covering his crown. The two black eyes looked at Shen Mo together, with varying degrees of lethargy in their different-sized eyeballs.
“Take them away for processing,” Shen Mo said lightly.
The small leader held back a shudder and made a gesture. The employees behind him immediately moved forward, wrapping the bodies in packages and carrying them away in a rush.
The naked bodies of the two were moved, exposing skin covered in wounds. Upon closer inspection, they were all records written with a carving knife, like a collection of numbers and letters. As the employees moved, the two bodies hung limply, with sticky flesh threads between them mixed in with the stretcher.
“It’s really troublesome not being able to take dead bodies over to ‘That Side’.”
Shen Mo smiled and opened his arms, and another group of people quickly approached to help him take off the flesh-colored leather jacket.
The jacket looked like a loose coat, but it made a sticky tearing sound when it was peeled off. Shen Mo wasn’t wearing anything underneath, and as the jacket came off, the soft leather inside peeled off, oozing with blood.
“Ah… Ah…” The jacket was finally removed, revealing a human-like mouth at the collar.
“The artificially catalyzed ‘Charon’ is still not very useful, and the reaction is slow.” Shen Mo ignored the moaning jacket and glanced at the man and woman about to be taken away. “They’re not as good as Jiao Lian from Shian and far from Fu Wuya. They can only be used as records.”
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The scar-faced little leader smiled and didn’t say a word. He looked down at the ground, afraid to look at Shen Mo’s face.
“Why are you nervous? You’re not qualified to enter even if you wanted to.”
Shen Mo continued to smile and adjusted his suit collar.
“I’ve been gone for a few months. What’s going on in Shian? Tell me about it.”
The little leader didn’t dare to neglect, and took a deep breath. He talked about the failure of the Feng Qi and Ge Tingting case, the failure of Bai Yongji’s recruitment, and the recent “tragic encounter” of the Sunken Society Haigu Branch.
As he spoke, even the scar-faced little leader himself became depressed.
“I was wondering why there was something strange going on in the Other Side. Turns out the interstitial space had a problem… What about the ‘thing’ that broke into the headquarters?”
“They say it’s an internal conflict with our mysterious supplier. You know, they usually don’t tell us too much. This matter definitely has nothing to do with Shian. Fu Xingchuan almost died in this incident, and now the people in Shian are still sniffing around the abandoned space we gave up.”
Shen Mo: “Oh, then it’s not a big deal.”
The little leader gulped and swallowed his saliva, his mouth twitching.
Since July, Sunken Society had been constantly suffering losses. The big boss didn’t care, but even this department head thought it wasn’t “a big deal”—regardless of their positions, they all made wishes to Sunken Society, yet none of them were living the high life.
While normal people’s performances may only be related to year-end bonuses, their performance was tied to their own lives.
But he didn’t dare speak recklessly.
The Technical Department One was the most special department among all the technical departments. Compared with other “Assistant Ministers”, Shen Mo, who didn’t have any special qualifications, was undoubtedly a “Charon”.
As long as he had this precious ability, even if the Sunken Society managed to catch him with evidence in hand, Shen Mo could still walk freely in Sunken Society. Sunken Society had thought of finding another “Charon” to keep Shen Mo’s power in check, but unfortunately, nothing had happened so far.
Shen Mo leisurely put on his socks, then tucked the bloody socks into his leather shoes and casually tapped his toes a few times. After tidying his clothes, Shen Mo ignored the smell of blood on his body and tidied his messy hair.
Clearly, he had been gone for several months without food or water, but he looked more like he had just gone out for a morning stroll and still had some energy left on him.
“Take me to see Wei Huaqian,” Shen Mo said lightly.
“Do you have any new discoveries?”
“Well, kind of. Shian won’t cause trouble for long.” Shen Mo smiled again but didn’t say much.
After getting his phone back, he sent a message to Wei Huaqian that was quite different from what he had just said:
[The search for the Primordial Elementals was fruitless, but I discovered a strange phenomenon related to the Evil Spirit. If we make good use of it, we can ‘ignite’ Shian’s underground Evil Spirit.]
Sponsored Content
……
Haigu Municipal Hospital.
Ge Tingting opened her eyes drowsily, feeling like her body had been pushed through a meat grinder and hastily pieced back together. Even moving a little made her want to scream, but her throat was so dry that she couldn’t make a sound.
A strange pain was constantly tormenting her, and her head felt swollen. She felt… just like when she was with Feng Qi before. Now Ge Tingting could tell that this symptom was caused by corruption from Evil Force.
She had obviously survived the previous crisis, and her abilities seemed to have been enhanced again. More obscure, incomprehensible, and strange-sounding mutterings occasionally entered her ears.
Ge Tingting frowned, feeling like she had turned into a broken radio.
The little girl struggled to move her body, enduring the pain and barely reaching the small bag at the head of the bed. She took out the headphones that Unit 9 gave her when she started working—Zhong Chengshuo chose them very carefully, with excellent noise reduction performance, specifically to deal with various unclear inhuman ravings.
Thinking of the deceased Zhong Chengshuo and Yin Ren, Ge Tingting’s action of putting on the headphones froze in mid-air.
She bit her lip, and her eyes slowly turned red.
The metaphysical world was even crueler than she had imagined. Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo were the most capable people she had ever met, but they still died heroically in just a few months. Indeed, she had to surpass those two people, climb to B-level and A-level, or even higher, to ensure her safety.
She must study hard and work harder.
…If she had studied even more seriously, could she have been more helpful then? Would Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo not have died?
Ge Tingting forgot about the pain in her limbs and slowly curled up her body.
She sniffled, laboriously took out her phone, and opened the Shian workgroup.
[Ear Person: Let’s go to that barbecue restaurant again to commemorate Yin Ge and Zhong Ge. My treat.]
[Ear Person: T-T]
Ge Tingting looked at the avatars of Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo in the group as tears streamed down her face, wetting the screen of her phone. She was in a single room and had never missed Unit 9’s common ward so much before.
[Milky Way: Mm.] Lu Xiaohe replied quickly.
[Ten Thousand Taels:]
[Ear Person: ?]
[Ten Thousand Taels: Nothing. It’s fine. I’ll definitely go. But don’t rush to pay. Someone will cover it later.]
[Fruit Knife: ?]
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[Ear Person: ????????????]
Ge Tingting lost her grip and almost dropped her phone—Yin Ren had changed his WeChat avatar, so Ge Tingting almost didn’t recognize him when he replied just now.
Yin Ren’s profile picture changed from a flipped over Ikea shark to an Ikea shark hugging an apple.
Was his account hacked?… It shouldn’t be. Shian’s security measures were very good, and Yin Ren brought his phone into the gap, so there was no possibility of his phone being picked up.
‘Could it be that Yin Ren’s obsession with the human world was too strong that he turned into a ghost?,’ Ge Tingting thought in a daze.
[Fruit Knife: It’s like this. I had a fight with the attacker, and then it died completely, and I passed out. My… um, there was a problem with my communication method, so Fu Xingchuan thought I was dead.]
[Fruit Knife: It was all a misunderstanding. I just got a little hurt.]
[Milky Way: Why didn’t you contact us earlier?!]
[Fruit Knife: I’ve been making a high-precision flesh puppet of Zhong Chengshuo. Sorry.]
The group fell into a long silence.
[Fruit Knife: To ensure that Zhong Chengshuo’s parents don’t notice anything, and also to remember him.]
He typed this sentence especially quickly.
Ge Tingting looked at the words “high-precision flesh puppet” in shock, and her hands trembled a bit. She now knew what it was, but she wasn’t sure if she really knew at all.
Although her life experience was very limited, she had never seen such… a unique way of mourning.
Is it that urgent? She didn’t understand.
[Milky Way: It’s good that everything is fine.]
[One Thousand Taels: Yeah, it’s good that everything is fine. ]
[Ear Person: Then let’s go to that barbecue restaurant to commemorate Zhong Ge.]
[Fruit Knife: I’ll treat. By the way, Xiaohe Jie and Xiao Ge, you can start thinking about your wishes.]
Ge Tingting’s hand that was about to type stopped for a moment, and she thought carefully. [Then let Yin Ge pay for this meal.]
[Fruit Knife: ……]
[One Thousand Taels: ??? Think carefully before making a wish!]
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[Milky Way: Why are you so excited?]
[One Thousand Taels: You don’t understand…! Being cautious about making wishes is one thing, wasting them is another!]
[Fruit Knife: How about we discuss it when we meet? By the way, I’ll bring Zhong Ge’s flesh puppet, so please don’t mind.]
The group fell silent again.
[Milky Way: It’s okay, we understand.] Lu Xiaohe, who had lightning hand speed, typed this sentence with hesitation.
[Fruit Knife: I’ll also bring Fu Xingchuan, if you don’t mind.]
[Ear Person: ?]
This question mark was the only remaining emotion that Ge Tingting had.
[Fruit Knife: It’s like this. In the previous operation, I believe everyone is very interested in my identity, so I want to talk to everyone in person.]
… Actually, not only that.
Yin Ren put down his phone and looked at Zhong Chengshuo beside him.
He had already found the next mission for Unit 9, which wasn’t very dangerous but could bring achievements—once the competition was settled, they could start on the mission.
The mystery behind Evil Force was accumulating more and more, and they didn’t have time to investigate leisurely. The skill of the sniper was terrifying, and if it weren’t for the loss and grief caused by losing Zhong Chengshuo, Yin Ren probably wouldn’t have the confidence to fight against the sniper as of now.
They might as well take advantage of the gathering of masters here and go for the most essential and direct clue about this matter.
Themselves as well as the Evil Spirit held in Shian’s underground.
The author has something to say:
Comrade Ge Tingting has serious misunderstandings of the power system in the metaphysical world…
You can do it*, Xiao Ge!
*Jiayou (加油) Ubiquitous Chinese expression of encouragement and support.
————
Sunken Society: It’s okay. We’ll plan a sneak attack on Shian’s Evil Spirit. Haha, they won’t see it coming.
…Good luck, Sunken Society.
