The next day, in Ai Qing's office.

Behind the desk, the teenage girl rested her cheek in her hand as she scrutinized Huai Shi, who sat opposite her. "So, what's with this getup?"

"It's a long story..." Huai Shi muttered.

Wearing a full-coverage helmet, his voice was muffled and certainly couldn't come through crisply. In fact, it wasn't just his face that was covered. From head to toe, he was wrapped in layers of airtight clothing: an outer cut-resistant layer, a middle filling layer flowing with liquid latex, and an innermost sealing layer—practically biohazard-level protection. Not an inch of skin was exposed anywhere on his body.

He looked utterly ghostly.

Walking down the street, he had been stopped by the police several times. If it weren't for the Special Affairs Department's badge, he wouldn't have made it to Ai Qing's place.

"A long story?" Ai Qing raised her eyebrows. "Then give me the short version."

Huai Shi struggled for a while, not knowing how to explain.

"Uh... I'm sick."

"Hmm," Ai Qing nodded, expressionless, "I can see that."

Huai Shi was at a loss for words.

He was indeed sick.

Even now, every breath he took released countless strains of bacteria into the air from his skin and lungs. Due to the overwhelming vitality following his advancement, the Mountain Ghost's talents were activated twenty-four hours a day. Not only did seeds sprout wherever he went, but the Apocalypse Fog and the newly acquired Plague Halo were also scattering around with each breath.

Left unchecked, if he sat in a public place for ten minutes, there wouldn't be many left who could breathe and stand. There would be no need for an ICU; ordinary people catching the border flu would be doomed. And not only was he responsible for killing and taking lives, but he also offered a one-stop service for growing grass over graves...

Thinking of this, his head ached.

But there was no helping it. Rather than being a liability, it was actually a benefit; he was now effectively under an energetic BUFF twenty-four hours a day. To fix it, he could only take a slow and steady approach, waiting until he adapted to the Mountain Ghost's Stigma and fully assimilated it.

But the time frame was uncertain. As long as half a month, as short as two days—no one could tell.

Therefore, he could only go out like this.

It wasn't a solution to keep hiding his advancement. Besides, Ai Qing was his boss; morally and logically, he shouldn't keep secrets from her.

He decided to come clean.

"I've advanced."

"Hmm?" Ai Qing paused, seemingly shocked at his speed and honesty, then slowly nodded, "That explains your half-month disappearance."

Beyond that, she said nothing more, not even any further questions.

"Mountain Ghost," Huai Shi added.

"..." Ai Qing fell silent for a long while, then, with astonishment, asked, "By the name, is it a Stigma from the Dongxia Genealogy?"

"Yes," Huai Shi nodded.

Then, her expression turned strange. She looked at Huai Shi with suspicion for a long while before tentatively asking, "...How's the weather in Southeast Asia been recently?"

"What Southeast Asia? I don't know..." Huai Shi started to say, then suddenly recalled a certain country famous for gender reassignment surgery. Instantly, his face beneath the mask turned green. "I am a man! A pure one! 24K!"

"Tsk." Ai Qing seemed to shake her head with disappointment, which left Huai Shi utterly baffled. What are you regretting! Why are you unhappy that I didn't go through a sex change!

The office suddenly filled with an atmosphere of persecution.

Huai Shi couldn't scratch his head through the helmet and could only sigh helplessly, trying hard to steer the conversation back on track. After coughing twice, he asked in a serious tone, "What's actually happening? Another business trip?"

"Emergency mobilization." Ai Qing got halfway through and couldn't help but scoff disdainfully. "It's not really that urgent, just a formality... but in order to make it in time to join the Crown Prince for his study session, we need to get to Jinling before six o'clock tonight. Once there... you will probably have another task."

She presented the notice from Jinling and wheeled herself out from behind the desk. "Got everything you need?"

"If you mean the hazmat equipment, it's all here," Huai Shi indicated the excessively large suitcase next to his chair and sighed.

"Then let's get going." Ai Qing spoke as if suppressing her displeasure, her tone somber. "I really hope we can make a quick trip of it."

Outside the window, the roar of a helicopter rose as it descended through the sweeping rotor wash into the backyard's flowerbeds, crushing the carefully tended flowers and plants into mud.

"Are we in that much of a hurry?"

"When you have a whole family hoping to hold you back, don't complain about time passing too quickly."

After a moment of silence, Ai Qing looked down at the veins bulging on the back of her hand, her expression darkened.

She said, "I have a bad feeling."

* * *

「Three hours later, at four o'clock in the afternoon.」

In the restroom of the Jinling Astronomical Association Branch, Huai Shi suddenly had a bad feeling too.

He had imagined that the Association's department would be situated in some mysterious, rarely-visited place, or that one would need certain qualifications and undergo some form of ritual to gain entry. To his surprise, however, the gigantic office building was located right in the bustling commercial district of Jinling. There was an entire high-rise building in the old, prime real estate of the street corner area.

Blatantly sporting the sign of the International Astronomical Association, people were coming and going. It was just an elevator ride to the top floor, with nothing on the surface that appeared out of the ordinary.

No, for Huai Shi, it should be "down"—he came directly by helicopter.

Because the branch didn't set up workstations for employees from other regional departments, Huai Shi had to stay in the spacious lounge before he officially registered and went through the process. Calling it a lounge was, in fact, not much different from calling it a bar or a café. The environment was elegant, the atmosphere warm and pleasant, and most importantly, beverages were on the house!

Milk tea, smoothies, alcoholic drinks…

All! Free! Of! Charge!

It irritated Huai Shi so much that he wanted to take off his helmet and take full advantage of the freebies, but wearing that darn thing, he couldn't even drink a milk tea—he could only watch others enjoy.

So aggravating!

This time, Jinling's emergency mobilization seemed quite serious, as most of the agents from the Southeast Asia area had already arrived one after another. At a glance, there were about seventy or eighty Sublimators, and they seemed to know each other well, sitting in groups, casually chatting, waiting for the meeting above to end and for orders to be given.

Old Xiao and Yue Jun hadn't arrived yet, so Huai Shi sat alone in a corner, not even ordering a drink, staring blankly at a potted plant on the table in front of him.

His peculiar appearance attracted quite a few glances. After all, fully armed agents were rare in such a place. After taking a look at Huai Shi, many were guessing which department he was from. He seemed like he could be part of the bio-defense force, radiating an aura of "keep out."

And Huai Shi was feeling bitter inside.

Behind the black visor, he pretended not to notice the curious looks of others and quietly swallowed his bitterness as he continued to play it cool.

Fortunately, it wasn't long before someone approached and struck up a conversation.

"Hey, man, nice to meet you. I'm Chen Yan, an agent from the branch."

The newcomer was a young man with a slightly punk Mohican hairstyle, but his smile was refreshingly genuine. He pointed to the seat opposite Huai Shi. "Can I sit here?"

"Please, feel free."

On the sofa, the sharp-angled full-coverage helmet nodded slightly, the muffled voice carrying a hint of hoarseness, sounding solemn and indifferent.

In truth, Huai Shi was about to suffocate.

He was dying of heat!

He longed for air conditioning!

The impressive aura that hit Chen Yan made him pause. However, the subtle yet undeniable intimidation radiating from Huai Shi left him with no doubt about its authenticity; he simply assumed it was an idiosyncrasy of someone not used to socializing.

Understandable.

Chen Yan also knew that people from these special departments often had to deal with various terrible threats, and to preserve secrecy, they rarely interacted with others—it wasn't intentional coldness.

Smiling warmly, he sat down and started chatting with Huai Shi, not asking him outright about his name or work, just idle talk. Soon enough, Huai Shi's responses convinced him of his initial judgment.

It wasn't long before they were getting along well. It was apparent that Chen Yan was a warm-hearted person; he even introduced a few friends to join their conversation, successfully extricating Huai Shi from his awkward solitude.

A bit of bustling was good.

Though he still looked bizarre, it wasn't as glaringly obvious as before.

"Hey, if it's your first time in Jinling, then you've got to explore properly. There are plenty of nice spots around the branch. After I get off my shift, I can show you around," Chen Yan said to Huai Shi enthusiastically during the conversation.

"A lot of workshops have opened branches here, and there are many good finds! Even if you don't buy anything, it's worth the look!"

"Sure," Huai Shi was quite interested. "Let's go together."

Amid the conversation, however, Huai Shi's movement suddenly paused as he heard the voices of the people sitting nearby.

"Hey, did you hear?" An agent named Luo Ming paused, lowering his voice, and said mysteriously, "There's a pervert named Huai Shi among the agents recently, and he likes to confess to girls who've just turned fourteen."

What the heck? Huai Shi was stunned.

"That's not all!" Chen Yan snorted. "I heard that guy has the audacity to harass minors right in front of Xuan Niao, and now he seems to be on the Social Security Bureau's blacklist. A lot of their people say they'll break his legs if they see him!"

"For real?" the others were incredulous.

"Breaking his legs would be letting him off easy!" Someone's expression grew dark. "If I catch whoever is causing such disgrace to our Astronomical Society, I'd definitely kill him."

"Yeah, yeah," the others chimed in, filled with righteous indignation. "Count me in."

"Same here!"

"We'll break his junk!"

Isn't that a bit much?

Behind his mask, Huai Shi trembled, on the verge of tears.

It was just a slip of the tongue, people—why has my reputation become like that of a sex offender?!

"Well... I think that..." Huai Shi gathered his courage to speak. In an instant, everyone's gaze turned to him, solemn and attentive, eager to hear the profound thoughts of this masked figure.

But confronted with all those menacing faces, Huai Shi couldn't help but gulp. After stammering for quite a while, he could only awkwardly comment, "Yes, how despicable."

Seeing even the standoffish masked figure getting angry, the others immediately nodded in agreement, cursing, "He's a beast!"

"Scum!"

"A disgrace!"

"A wolf in sheep's clothing!"

"Worse than a dog or a pig!"

I didn't, I'm not...

Behind his mask, Huai Shi foresaw his own social demise and wanted to run away in tears.

Why did it turn out like this? It was his first time in Jinling, his first time meeting so many kind colleagues—two happy events combined...

As he was silently weeping behind his mask, he suddenly heard a voice behind him.

Although so soft and polite, it eerily seemed to come from the underworld.

"Excuse me, is Mr. Huai Shi here?"

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