Deploying a spatial phase regulator was a major event for the Anomalous Case Department. Senior police officials had mobilized officers and put them on full alert, but in the end, the feared worst-case scenario never materialized: Anxin Hospital did not become Fog Harbor’s sixth large enclosed interference zone.
Once the reality-baseline reversion returned to normal, the fire axe and blood on the floor, along with everything else that did not belong to this reality, disappeared.
Although everyone who had been pulled into the interference space was now out of danger, none of them could leave just yet.
Several patients from the intensive care unit needed thorough examinations, while Captain Xie and Xiao Huang had both been adhered to by the monsters to varying degrees. Aside from having their injuries checked, they also needed to confirm whether any residual material remained on them.
Fang Huan Xing was no exception.
A colleague from the Containment Center swept an instrument over him. Fang Huan Xing tried to resist, but Shang Lu held him down. “Just scan him a few times and get it over with. He didn’t come into contact with the monsters. Focus on checking whether he has any injuries.”
As if Fang Huan Xing would listen to him. Unfortunately, Xiao Huang held him down too. “Wait. Let them finish checking before you go.”
Fang Huan Xing: “…”
Shang Lu conveniently lifted the backpack from his shoulders as well. “Give me the bag.”
His back suddenly felt light.
It took Fang Huan Xing several seconds to react.
Wait. Why did I actually give it to him?
“Mirages outside are appearing more and more often by the day. Everyone’s already on edge,” Captain Xie said to Shang Lu. “Our precinct covers downtown. Good thing this place didn’t become an interference zone, or who knows how much chaos there would’ve been.”
“Right. We’ve already spoken with the television stations and social-media platforms. Everyone will keep this low-key and avoid amplifying the impact.”
Shang Lu had just finished five phone calls. He pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Captain Xie, there’s something else. We still need to investigate the fact that someone used a custom-made module to record and screen matching targets and deliberately induce fusion disease. This needs to remain confidential, and we may need police assistance as the investigation continues.”
Captain Xie nodded solemnly. “Don’t worry. Investigate whatever you need to. We’ll cooperate fully.”
After he said that, both men looked toward the teenager sitting on a stool.
Captain Xie said, “Your Anomalous Case Department really doesn’t keep anyone around just to sit idle. Even an intern is this capable. He must be close to becoming a full employee, right?”
Zheng Xiao Yu drifted resentfully past them carrying an instrument.
Once he finished packing things up, he went to follow up on Tao Ran’s condition again. Right now, all he wanted was to do more work.
Shang Lu merely replied, “Hard to say. He’s still under evaluation.”
Captain Xie said, “Xiao Fang did really well. He thinks fast, acts decisively, and was always taking the initiative to protect us. But he’s seriously quick. There were several times when I couldn’t even see how he did it—whoosh, and there he was.”
Shang Lu gave a polite smile. “Maybe young people are just quick on their feet.”
Captain Xie said, “Moving fast burns energy fast too. I noticed he’s got a pretty good appetite.”
Shang Lu kept smiling, the kid’s backpack dangling from his hand.
The kid being hungry was nothing new.
Captain Xie didn’t even need to mention it. Shang Lu had long suspected Fang Huan Xing had never once eaten his fill.
The moment his examination was over, Fang Huan Xing darted toward the temporary dining area set up beside the fire stairs. It was already afternoon, and not many of the simple meals were left by the time he arrived. Shang Lu had anticipated that and taken an extra portion for him.
Just then, Dr. Qin came over. “Team Leader Shang.” Seeing that they still hadn’t eaten, he added, “Why don’t I come back later?”
Shang Lu could more or less guess what had happened. He stood. “No need. I didn’t have much of an appetite anyway.”
Before leaving, Shang Lu looked back.
Fang Huan Xing hadn’t touched his chopsticks either. He was silently watching them.
Tao Ran had passed away.
From the time of the accident until he entered stage three of fusion disease, he had already held on for a very long time.
The news left everyone involved in the resuscitation efforts silent. Even Captain Xie and Xiao Huang, who had themselves been dragged into the incident, felt genuine grief. It was the first time ordinary people had seen fusion disease—the kind of thing people online dismissed as AI-generated footage—up close. It was real, and it was terrifying.
Dr. Qin said, “He was still lucid before he passed. He could accurately remember who he was. From what I understand, the Anomalous Case Department wants to conduct a further autopsy on his remains.”
Shang Lu tacitly confirmed it. That was indeed the next direction of the investigation. “I’ll speak with the family.”
“The family has already agreed.” Dr. Qin waved a hand. He looked exhausted too. “Team Leader Shang, can you tell me something? Is fusion disease going to become more and more common?”
Shang Lu couldn’t answer that question. Even after all his years in the Anomalous Case Department, he still wasn’t good at dealing with the trauma these incidents themselves left behind in people.
That morning, he had only just met Lin Rui’s mother. Now he had personally witnessed Tao Ran’s death.
Sometimes, even Shang Lu himself couldn’t properly face the “invisible monster.”
The only thing he could do was keep investigating. Just as he had always believed, even if what they could contribute to this world seemed smaller and smaller, they still couldn’t give up.
“I hope not,” Shang Lu finally answered Dr. Qin.
By the time they headed back to the Anomalous Case Department, it was already afternoon, with Shang Lu driving.
Zheng Xiao Yu was about to get into the car, but Fang Huan Xing slipped into the front passenger seat first. He did it so naturally that it was as though his name had been written on the seat, leaving Zheng Xiao Yu to obediently climb into the back.
No one spoke along the way.
Fang Huan Xing was habitually aloof, while Zheng Xiao Yu was both heavyhearted and deeply uneasy. The new guy who had gotten in through connections had successfully entered an interference space on his very first day at work and helped rescue Captain Xie and several medical staff and patients.
Zheng Xiao Yu had been working for a month, yet simply entering the school bus to check for an interference source had made his heart race and his hands and feet tremble.
Once the three-month internship was over, if anyone was going to get cut, who could it be but him?
The only person who spoke was Shang Lu when he answered a call from Zhou Jia Ying. She had uncovered another lead connected to Li Bei Shan.
“I went back to the school and also contacted the relevant people at Xianlu Hot Spring Hotel. According to the school’s statements and records, once the vehicle was delivered to the school, it went straight into normal operation. No unrelated personnel had access to it afterward. The school-bus surveillance footage is kept for two months, and it confirms that.”
Zhou Jia Ying continued, “But the person in charge at the hotel said that before the vehicle was delivered, Li Bei Shan borrowed it once. He said he needed it to pick up some friends who were visiting. He was a regular guest at the hotel and also the piping engineer for this renovation, so the person in charge readily lent it to him. The vehicle remained in his possession for two full days. He returned it to the hotel completely intact, and another week passed before it was formally delivered to the school.”
Shang Lu asked, “Before the vehicle was delivered to the school, did it have interior surveillance installed?”
Zhou Jia Ying replied, “No. The dashcams in the hotel shuttles didn’t record the inside of the vehicle.”
Shang Lu said, “Then there’s no evidence showing that Li Bei Shan installed the module.”
Zhou Jia Ying said, “Right. I’d like to apply for a more thorough investigation of Li Bei Shan’s company dormitory and the residence he shared with his girlfriend.”
“Approved. I’ll coordinate with the police.” Shang Lu had been thinking the same thing. “Besides where he lived, push the investigation window farther back. Start with his personal contacts and daily movements over the past six months.”
Zhou Jia Ying said, “Okay. Oh, Brother Lu, I heard something went wrong at Anxin Hospital and you even had to deploy the phase regulator. Is everyone all right?”
Shang Lu said, “Everyone’s fine.”
The other two members of Group Seven sat silently in the car, their morale visibly low.
This was Investigation Action Group Seven’s first case as the Fusion Disease Task Force. It had begun without warning, but it was still a beginning. They couldn’t let themselves sink into gloom and stay there.
For once, Shang Lu decided to put work aside for a while. He stopped Zhou Jia Ying before she hung up. “Go early and come back early. I’ll treat you all to hotpot tonight.”
Fang Huan Xing turned his head back around.
The hotpot meal he promised me last time?
Zheng Xiao Yu looked up too, surprised. “Hotpot?”
＊
Group Seven had existed for quite a while, yet for most of that time, Zhou Jia Ying had been the only member working under Shang Lu. There had been other members before, but none lasted long before requesting transfers or resigning.
Team Leader Shang was generous and often competed with Team Leader He to treat everyone. None of them had lacked food or drinks thanks to him, and he even covered Zhou Jia Ying’s meals while she was out in the field. But despite all those team members coming and going, they had never once had a proper team-building dinner together.
Shang Lu was the busiest one of them. Even after the hotpot had begun bubbling, he was still outside making work calls.
Tao Ran’s accident had been deliberately caused. If they wanted to truly help him—and prevent more people from suffering the same fate in the future—they had to find the hand behind it all.
Shang Lu went over the case in his head. The cruise-ship fusion case still needed further investigation, and Li Bei Shan’s autopsy report needed to be much more detailed. For example, they could collect data from his remains and compare it with the residual interference-source data from Xianlu Hot Spring Hotel and the module, then determine what connection might exist between his fusion disease and Tao Ran’s.
The hotpot restaurant’s balcony overlooked the road. Shang Lu spotted a familiar car, a familiar dog… and a familiar person.
Zhou Jia Ying got out of He Zhen’s front passenger seat. The ever-busy He Zhen waved at her, while San Tiao jumped into the passenger seat, his tail wagging just as happily.
Inside the private room, the hotpot broth bubbled away.
Zheng Xiao Yu was still anxious, wondering if there was anything else he could do.
Fang Huan Xing stared at the food in the pot, his face cold.
The atmosphere was strange.
The meatballs had floated to the surface.
The tripe should be held with chopsticks and dipped into the broth. Fang Huan Xing remembered Fang Lan making hotpot once and telling him that tripe couldn’t be cooked for too long—apparently no more than a few seconds. He couldn’t remember exactly how many.
The duck blood looked a little disgusting. The broth was bright red, so it had to be spicy.
I’m not that hungry.
Really.
Zheng Xiao Yu wasn’t close to Fang Huan Xing and had barely spoken to him, but it wasn’t Fang Huan Xing’s fault that he was more capable. Besides, Zheng Xiao Yu had been the one who offered him that whole cabinet full of snacks in the first place. He had even enthusiastically told him to eat whatever he wanted!
Both of them had their own thoughts.
Fang Huan Xing didn’t care about the strange atmosphere—he could even be said to have completely failed to notice it—but Zheng Xiao Yu couldn’t stand it anymore.
He took the initiative to break the ice, pulled out his phone, and scanned the QR code. “Dessert, ice cream, that kind of thing. Do you want any?”
Fang Huan Xing turned his head. “Hm?”
Zheng Xiao Yu handed him the phone, and the two leaned together to look at it.
“Which one do you want? This one?”
“…”
“This one?”
“…”
After asking several times without getting an answer, Zheng Xiao Yu gathered his courage and joked, “Do you have choice paralysis or something?”
Zhou Jia Ying happened to walk in just then. Setting down her bag, she said, “He’s just reading every single word on the screen. Don’t let him look at it. Just ask him directly which one he wants.”
“Sister Ying, you’re here!” Zheng Xiao Yu immediately relaxed. “Take a look. What do you want?”
Zhou Jia Ying said, “Order whatever you want. Anything’s fine with me.”
“Okay.” Zheng Xiao Yu smiled and asked Fang Huan Xing, “You don’t like looking at text?”
Fang Huan Xing: “Mm.”
“Then I’ll do it,” Zheng Xiao Yu said. “Want strawberry snow ice?”
To his surprise, Fang Huan Xing didn’t contradict him. He even gave a small nod, looking remarkably reserved.
Zheng Xiao Yu realized Fang Huan Xing didn’t actually seem all that cold. He simply didn’t talk much.
Zhou Jia Ying took a SIM card out of her bag. “Xiao Xing, Team Leader asked me to buy this SIM card for you. Hurry and put it in so you can try it.”
Fang Huan Xing paused, then took out his phone.
Should I say thank you?
Who am I supposed to thank?
Zhou Jia Ying had already taken the phone from him. She adjusted her glasses. “Here, I’ll put it in for you. Since you don’t like reading text, I’ll save my phone number while I’m at it. If anything happens later, just call me directly.”
Zheng Xiao Yu had already finished ordering and leaned over to join the fun. “Sister Ying, give it to me when you’re done and I’ll save mine too.” Growing a little bolder, he also asked Fang Huan Xing, “By the way, Xiao Xing, you’re probably younger than me, right? That would make you the youngest in our group.”
Fang Huan Xing began to think.
Where was he even supposed to start counting from? Exactly how old was he?
By the time he finished working it out, Zhou Jia Ying was already asking whether he wanted to register a WeChat account and join the Anomalous Case Department’s group chat.
Fang Huan Xing: “…”
Missed my chance to say thank you again.
When Shang Lu came back after finishing his call, the atmosphere was livelier than he had expected and no longer so gloomy.
Apparently, restoring morale wasn’t particularly difficult.
“Everyone’s chatting now?” Shang Lu set his phone facedown on the table. “This is our group’s first proper meal together. We never really got to sit down and eat after Xiao Yu joined either. We’re usually too busy, so this is a good chance to talk and get to know each other better.”
Seeing him come in, Zhou Jia Ying hurriedly said, “Brother Lu, I found something unexpected. Li Bei Shan visited a psychological clinic two months ago—”
Shang Lu interrupted her. “We finally get one chance like this, and somehow you’re even more of a workaholic than I am.”
Zhou Jia Ying stopped and smiled. “Got it. No talking about work.”
Shang Lu told everyone to start eating, then suggested, “How about this? Everyone can choose one person in the group and ask them a question. Personal questions are allowed, but whoever gets asked can choose not to answer. I’ll go first. Jia Ying, why did you just get out of Team Leader He’s car?”
Team Leader Shang didn’t like guessing. If something puzzled him, he genuinely asked.
Zhou Jia Ying answered just as openly. “Team Leader He is pursuing me.”
Zheng Xiao Yu was drinking water and immediately choked half to death. “Cough, cough, cough, cough…”
A lesbian was right beside me!
Shang Lu raised an eyebrow. “Team Leader He stole my son, and now she wants to steal my team member too? So she’s just going to keep taking everything from me? Did you agree?”
Zhou Jia Ying said, “I already told her we aren’t suitable for each other, and I don’t have time for a relationship right now.” She looked at Zheng Xiao Yu. “What? You reacted that strongly. Are you homophobic?”
Zheng Xiao Yu frantically shook his head to prove his innocence, laying on the flattery thick. “How could I be! Our team leader likes men. There’s no way I’m homophobic!”
Fang Huan Xing, who had been completely absorbed in battling a piece of tripe, finally raised his head and slowly looked toward Shang Lu. “?”
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