“Who would have thought Yujing would return to normal so quickly?”
A clean-cut young man stood on a street in Yujing and sighed. A leaf-shaped earring hung from his left earlobe, lush and green like a freshly plucked leaf.
His right ear was bare.
“It is the Headquarters' territory, after all. Even if the buildings are rebuilt, the people aren't coming back,” said the woman beside him.
“Where exactly is the Headquarters in Yujing?” the young man asked, somewhat puzzled.
The woman shook her head. “I don't know either, but you'll find out soon enough.”
“Perform well once you're at the Headquarters. Don't let the director down after all the cultivation and recommendation he's given you.”
The young man smiled and nodded without revealing the truth, treating it as a clean break.
He had entered the local Investigation Bureau as an investigator through a self-recommendation.
His supernatural power was exceptionally rare: a healing ability with absolutely no side effects.
It could perfectly heal any injury.
Once the people at the Headquarters found out, they immediately transferred him from the local bureau.
The director had never cultivated him, nor had he recommended him.
In fact, the director had tried to hide his existence and made various excuses to keep him, dragging the matter out for quite some time.
Ultimately, the Headquarters took a firm stance, and the director had no choice but to begrudgingly have someone escort him to the Headquarters.
After waiting for a while, the young man suddenly felt a sense of pressure from above.
It was as if some massive object had appeared overhead.
He looked up, but saw nothing.
Nevertheless, he continued to stare at the sky, his eyes shimmering.
A flicker of surprise crossed his face, but it vanished in an instant.
A mass of white clouds descended from the sky.
A person stood atop the cloud, looking down at the young man.
“Mr. Martin, I presume?”
“Please step onto the cloud. I will take you to the Headquarters immediately.”
The young man, Martin, put on a shocked expression and instinctively stepped forward. The cloud supported him as he rose.
The woman beside him was dumbstruck. Before she could say a word, the white cloud had already soared into the air.
“So the Headquarters is in the sky?” she whispered.
As soon as she spoke, her expression turned dazed, and she completely forgot what she had just witnessed.
When she snapped out of it, she looked around and muttered to herself, “As expected of the Headquarters. They picked him up in the blink of an eye.”
Martin stood on the cloud as it rose steadily.
The wind grew thin in his ears. When they passed through an invisible yet clearly perceptible boundary, his vision changed abruptly.
...
A massive whale formed from clouds was suspended high in the air.
The whale seemed to be a living creature, swimming in slow, rhythmic circles around a central point.
Martin feigned shock, staring at the Cloud Whale for a long time before looking down.
Below him was still Yujing, yet it felt as if they were in a different spatial dimension.
It was as if he were looking through frosted glass; the city appeared distant and surreal.
On the back of the massive Cloud Whale was a sprawling complex of modern buildings with cold, sharp lines.
“The Investigation Bureau Headquarters is built here? No wonder it's so mysterious. No outsider could ever find it.”
Martin couldn't stop praising the sight.
He knew very well that there must be other measures in place to prevent leaks regarding the Headquarters' exact location.
Otherwise, if it were simply built in the sky, the news would have spread everywhere long ago.
The cloud drifted toward the edge of the Cloud Whale and merged with it.
The two of them “landed” naturally.
Martin felt a slight softness beneath his feet, a warm and gentle elasticity.
“Mr. Martin, please follow me.”
The 'driver' who had been piloting the cloud led Martin forward.
Wisps of cloud and mist drifted past them from time to time, making the place look like a celestial realm.
Many staff members hurried in and out, their expressions calm, as if they were long accustomed to such a wondrous sight.
At the end of the path, the most concentrated cluster of buildings at the center of the Cloud Whale's back was revealed.
The main buildings were grand and minimalist, joined together into a single structure.
After entering the Investigation Bureau Headquarters, Martin was handed over to another staff member and taken directly to the testing area.
If his ability was confirmed to truly have no side effects, he would be treated like a precious treasure in the future.
...
“Mr. 【Double-Face】, please wait a moment.”
“Captain Lyu, is something the matter?”
Asked the young man with a ghost face on the back of his head.
He had officially become a Headquarters Captain with the code name 【Double-Face】.
The one who had stopped him was the veteran captain Lyu Huan, code-named 【Gentleman】.
Lyu Huan's character was just like his code name, widely recognized by the members of the Headquarters.
Moreover, he was very humble and low-profile. He didn't like using his code name and preferred to go by his real name.
His modesty and gentlemanly demeanor were known to everyone.
“There's something I'd like to ask your help with.”
Lyu Huan said to 【Double-Face】.
“Go ahead. If I can help, I certainly will.”
【Double-Face】 smiled. He didn't mind getting on good terms with his colleagues.
The next second, the smile vanished.
His vision spun, and the scene before him changed abruptly.
The Headquarters corridor disappeared, replaced by an ethereal mountainside.
The air was freezing, smelling of a mixture of sandalwood and rot.
【Double-Face】 was extremely alert; he had no idea how he had ended up there.
Numerous monks sat on the ground around him, some of whom had already turned into skeletons.
Others had rotting bodies that gave off a pungent stench of death.
Only a few were still alive, their expressions compassionate yet hollow.
These monks, whether alive, dead, or reduced to bone, were all doing the same thing.
They incessantly struck their woodfish while chanting sutras. Their voices overlapped in a grand, sinister harmony.
“Lay down the butcher's knife and become a █ on the spot.”
“The sea of bitterness is boundless; turn back to the shore.”
The chanting bored into 【Double-Face】's ears, seeping into his mind and tearing at his consciousness.
He felt dizzy and lightheaded.
Looking up, he saw a massive black Guanyin statue towering amidst the clouds.
The Guanyin had a thousand hands and a thousand eyes. Countless eyes looked down with a gaze of sorrowful mercy upon all living beings.
【Double-Face】 was suddenly overcome by an urge to prostrate himself in worship.
Just then, the ghost face on the back of his head snapped its eyes open and let out a furious roar.
But the roar was completely drowned out by the chanting.
Before long, the ghost face quieted down, its expression turning compassionate and serene.
【Double-Face】 himself had already sat down on the ground, now wearing a monk's robe.
His hair fell out and transformed into a woodfish, and he joined the ranks of the chanting monks.
To the staff members at the Headquarters, it appeared as though the two captains had simply bumped into each other and shared a brief chat.
Immediately after, the two separated and headed in different directions.
“Who should I find next?”
Lyu Huan scanned his surroundings with a smile.
Then, he spotted Martin, who had just come out of the testing area.
That vibrant patch of emerald green was so bright it made his eyes ache.
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