In the laboratory on the seventh basement floor of the Supernatural Investigation Bureau, the air purification system emitted a soft hum.
Researcher Zhao Bian'e swiped her access card three times in the sensor area and passed iris verification before she heard the "click" sound of the airtight door unlocking.
The interior of the laboratory resembled a high-tech fortress, with various precision instruments gleaming with a cold light. The expensive equipment was neatly arranged, its value enough to inspire awe in any ordinary person; even a single door was worth a fortune.
"The 47th experiment is ready." The voice of another researcher Huo Kui, came from behind his protective mask; it sounded somewhat muffled as he adjusted an instrument.
Zhao Bian'e walked to the experimental table and checked the sealing of the sealed chamber.
Through the thick bulletproof glass, one could see Zhang Suyuan, the only official superhuman possessed by the Investigation Bureau, sitting inside with a ferocious expression.
His condition was terrible; he was on the verge of collapse after only a few missions. While he was still alive, the Research Department arranged many experimental projects for him.
"Start recording." Zhao Bian'e pressed the record button. "Experiment date: XXXX year XXX day, test sample Z-002's reaction with various metals."
Huo Kui carefully manipulated the robotic arm, sending the first metal plate into the sealed chamber. It was an ordinary steel plate, and almost the instant it came into contact with Zhang Suyuan's slightly out-of-control, dark arm, the steel plate underwent a noticeable change, as if it had been corroded. The next ones were copper, aluminum, lead... and the results were all similar.
"Group 12, gold leaf with a purity of 99.99%." Zhao Bian'e's voice trembled slightly, as if she had thought of something.
The robotic arm slowly advanced, and the thin, cicada-wing-like gold foil soon touched Zhang Suyuan's dark arm.
One second, two seconds, three seconds... nothing happened.
"My God..." Huo Kui's goggles were fogged up, "The gold really wasn't affected at all!"
Even with only a thin layer of gold leaf, Zhang Suyuan's extraordinary power could not cause any change.
Gold may not be able to fight against the extraordinary, but as long as it can block the extraordinary, that would be very encouraging!
Zhao Bian'e also seemed very excited. Out of a sense of rigor, she conducted seven more control experiments, and the results were completely consistent.
"Purity is key," she quickly jotted down. "If the gold isn't pure enough, the effect will be greatly reduced."
Huo Kui suddenly lowered his voice. "This perfectly matches the speculation in Xiao Li's notes."
A brief silence fell over the laboratory.
Three days ago, their colleague Xiao Li was involved in a car accident on his way home from work. An out-of-control truck crushed him and his vehicle into a thin sheet. When the bureau sent people to sort through his belongings, Zhao Bian'e "coincidentally" found his research notes hidden in a drawer compartment. The notes mentioned gold.
"That was just a coincidence." Zhao Bian'e took off her goggles, revealing heavy dark circles under her eyes. "We conducted hundreds of experiments to verify this result."
Huo Kui nodded knowingly, and the two of them tacitly deleted all records of Xiao Li's notes from the computer. After all, the dead can't argue, and this new discovery might be enough to make them famous in history.
"I need to draft a report immediately." Zhao Bian'e's fingers flew across the keyboard, "It should only be signed by the two of us..."
Her words were interrupted by a sudden alarm. Inside the sealed cabin, Zhang Suyuan suddenly collapsed to the ground, struggling as if enduring some indescribable pain.
"What's wrong with him?" Huo Kui quickly went over to check on him.
Before Zhao Bian'e could react, Zhang Suyuan cried out in pain as the blackness of the Ghost Hand spread to his neck.
"Quick, give him a sedative!"
After being injected with five times the amount of sedative an average person would receive, Zhang Suyuan finally calmed down and fell into a deep sleep.
Zhao Bian'e wiped the cold sweat from her forehead. "I think Z-002 might..."
She didn't finish her sentence, but everyone understood what she meant. Huo Kui nodded solemnly, checking the equipment for damage. "At least before he died, we made a significant discovery. I suggest we report to the director now."
Zhao Bian'e hesitated. "Wait, we need more data to support our claim. If we report it now, the higher-ups might send someone else to take over our research project, and then..."
The two exchanged a glance, both seeing the same thought in each other's eyes. This discovery was too significant for them to share with anyone.
"Tomorrow," Zhao Bian'e decided, "Let's refine the report a bit more, and go first thing tomorrow morning."
Huo Kui nodded in agreement.
Unbeknownst to them, the surveillance camera in the corner of the lab suddenly flickered, as if something had swept past the lens.
The next morning, Zhao Bian'e arrived half an hour earlier than usual.
When the elevator reached the seventh basement level, she felt a chill on the back of her neck, as if someone was breathing on it. But when she turned around, the elevator was empty except for her.
She didn't take the little incident to heart and swiped her card to enter the changing room.
When she changed into her lab coat, she felt a chill run down her spine and shivered.
Just then, the locker room door suddenly locked itself.
Zhao Bian'e frowned and reached for the doorknob, but found it wouldn't budge.
"System malfunction?" She pressed the emergency call button on the wall, but there was no response.
She also noticed that the vent grille was vibrating slightly, as if something was crawling inside.
"Is anyone there?" Her voice sounded particularly shrill in the enclosed space. The only response was a piercing metallic clang as the fire sprinkler on the ceiling suddenly burst, drenching her with high-pressure water.
Zhao Bian'e staggered backward, slipped, and bumped into a wardrobe. Just then, the automatic door to the changing room suddenly started moving and slammed shut at a speed far exceeding safety standards.
"No!"
The door gap precisely clamped onto her temple, and under the immense hydraulic pressure, her skull shattered like an eggshell.
After a while, when the security personnel found her, Zhao Bian'e was already dead, and her blood stained the carpet in the changing room.
The incident was quickly investigated, and the report showed that the access control system's wiring was damaged and the security sensors were malfunctioning.
No matter how you investigate, it was just an unfortunate accident.
When Huo Kui learned of Zhao Bian'e's death, his hand, which was organizing a report, suddenly trembled.
"How could this happen..." He felt uneasy, a sense of foreboding washing over him. Yesterday they were celebrating together, and today she was a corpse.
His lab colleagues patted him on the shoulder. "I know you two were close, but he's gone now. Please accept my condolences."
Huo Kui nodded reluctantly. He vaguely felt that something was wrong, but the thought that he could keep the new discovery about gold all to himself made the fear lessened.
He quickly prepared the materials to report to the bureau chief.
While riding the elevator, Huo Kui repeatedly checked the files on the USB drive.
Suddenly, the elevator jolted violently and stopped between the third and fourth basement levels. The emergency lights came on, turning the cramped space a dark red.
"Damn it." Huo Kui pressed the emergency call button. "Control center, I'm trapped in elevator number 3."
A muffled response came through the static noise. "... System display... normal... engineer will be here shortly..."
The call was abruptly cut off, and Huo Kui's unease reached its peak, a chill creeping up his spine.
Then he noticed that his reflection in the elevator seemed to be laughing, but how could he possibly be laughing at a time like this?!
"Who's there?" Huo Kui turned around. He was the only one in the empty elevator, but his reflection in the mirror was a beat late in turning.
Sparks suddenly flew from the control panel, and the elevator plummeted half a meter downwards. Huo Kui lost his balance and fell to the ground, the USB drive slipping from his hand and sliding into the gap at the bottom of the elevator door.
"No!" He lunged forward, but it was too late. Just then, the elevator plummeted again, this time by a full floor. Huo Kui's head slammed against the handrail, and everything went black.
When he regained consciousness, the elevator had stopped on the seventh basement level, and the doors slowly opened, revealing the familiar laboratory corridor outside.
Huo Kui stumbled and crawled out, only to hear a "beep" sound behind him.
He looked back and saw that the elevator doors were not closed as usual, but remained open. Even more terrifying, the elevator car was gone, replaced by a dark, gaping shaft.
Huo Kui, still in shock, hurriedly stood up, but his foot inexplicably slipped, and he staggered a few steps before falling straight into the bottomless abyss.
Soon, someone discovered a pool of blood in front of the elevator door on the seventh basement level.
Maintenance personnel found Huo Kui's mutilated body at the bottom of the elevator shaft. The preliminary assessment is that he attempted to climb out when the elevator malfunctioned and unfortunately fell.
The bureau arranged for psychologists to provide counseling to all researchers, but the experiments on extraordinary abilities are still ongoing.
No one noticed that Huo Kui and Zhao Bian'e's experimental data records had been deleted and altered.
"Has there been a lot of researchers dying unexpectedly lately?"
In the Investigation Bureau office, Mu Xingrui frowned deeply.
He was reviewing several death reports; the deceased were all researchers in the Investigation Bureau's laboratory who were responsible for studying supernatural powers.
If it had only happened once or twice, he wouldn't have been suspicious, but this situation just doesn't seem right!
According to existing criminal investigation methods, these researchers did indeed die from various accidents.
But... what if there's interference from supernatural forces?
Since supernatural events have occurred frequently in China, the mystical concept of "luck" has become impossible to ignore.
There was a member in the Investigation Bureau named Feng Qian who, through sheer luck, surpassed many senior officers and became a captain in the Action Department.
Then Feng Qian himself proved that his luck was indeed incredibly good.
He repeatedly encounters supernatural events, and even when his teammates perish, he is the only one who manages to escape unscathed by sheer luck.
Last time, Feng Qian even got trapped in the Mirror World. Most of the people trapped in the Mirror World either died or were injured for various reasons, but Feng Qian was unharmed. He was only hungry for a while, and his mental state was incredibly stable.
Investigation Bureau had such a "Lucky One," Mu Xingrui certainly wouldn't waste such excellent human resources. He only gave Feng Qian two days off before bringing him back to work.
After the "Anomalous Mirror Image" incident in Yunsun City ended, before the Investigation Bureau had even finished handling the aftermath, another supernatural event occurred in the city!
The good news is that this incident did not cause a sensation like the "Mirror Incident," which became widely known. Instead, it was very secretive and low-key, with no signs of spreading and very few victims.
The bad news is that this incident, tentatively dubbed "Lucky Casino," has had some very negative impacts on certain groups of people!
The incident began like this: Wang Jianheng, the first victim of the "Lucky Casino" incident, lost his youth, his life, and his health in the casino...
The Investigation Bureau specially dispatched an investigator to interview him, and this investigator obtained a die from Wang Jianheng.
According to Wang Jianheng, he secretly took the dice when he fled the casino.
The night the investigator received the dice, he was inexplicably and forcibly invited to the Lucky Casino.
Surprisingly, the investigator didn't lose anything; instead, he won at the casino.
He gained youth, good looks, and height!
Originally, this investigator was just an ordinary person, 172 cm tall, slightly overweight, and balding due to age.
He's now a 188cm tall male god.
His facial features haven't undergone drastic changes; only slight adjustments to proportions and positions have made his face look extremely attractive.
At the same time, he grew taller, his body proportions improved, and he even looked younger.
The sheer number of changes combined completely transformed him.
Most of the supernatural events that have occurred so far have brought negative effects to humanity. This investigator, who was reborn and regained his youth, is a very rare exception, and he actually received the benefits brought by the supernatural!
The die he held was also seen as an invitation to the "Lucky Casino".
The "Lucky Casino" did not affect people's lives; what's worse, those in the upper echelons who were truly affected by the casino were the ones who knew about it!
That's real-life Rejuvenation!
How many elderly people, especially those who are not lacking in power, status, and wealth, can resist such temptation?
Even Mu Xingrui himself felt a little tempted.
Everyone knows that in the end, gambling always results in a loss.
Currently, the two people who entered the Lucky Casino have a mixed record: one won and one lost. The loser didn't die, but his fate was rather tragic.
But the winners gain so much that, faced with such immense temptation, the wishful thinking of some people will inevitably reach its peak!
If an ordinary citizen is tempted by greed and wants to enter Lucky Casino, the Investigation Bureau can still impose restrictions and controls on them.
What's frustrating is that many of the people who are openly or secretly interested in Lucky Casino, and who are itching to go in and gamble, are people that Mu Xingrui can't afford to offend!
The reason these people didn't act immediately was because they were observing and waiting to see what would happen to the winner who walked out of the casino.
If his life continues to be stable, sooner or later someone will lose their temper.
Perhaps some people have already lost their temper...