In the corridor on the third floor of the Supernatural Investigation Bureau Headquarters, Zhou Yuan's coffee cup suddenly fell to the ground.
The porcelain cup shattered on the anti-static floor, and dark brown liquid splashed onto her brand-new lambskin high heels. But this senior member of the Intelligence Analysis Group, who always paid attention to her image, was completely oblivious at the moment, her eyes fixed on the figure that walked out of the elevator.
"Meng... Meng Hongyu?"
The young man standing at the elevator looked to be in his mid-twenties. He was wearing the same black trench coat that Meng Hongyu often wore, and he had Meng Hongyu's signature raised eyebrow gesture. Even the position of the small mole on his right earlobe was exactly the same.
But that face—that angular, collagen-rich, handsome face that looked like it had a beauty filter on—looked strikingly similar to Meng Hongyu.
"Good morning, Sister Zhou." The young man greeted her with a smile, his voice much clearer than he remembered, yet carrying Meng Hongyu's unique rising intonation at the end.
The air in the entire office area seemed to freeze. Dozens of pairs of eyes stared at the young man who called himself Meng Hongyu. The sounds of keyboards, printers, and telephones all stopped abruptly.
"How is this possible..." Xiao Wang from the Technical Department took off his glasses and wiped them vigorously. "Meng Hongyu is clearly a 38-year-old man with a worrying receding hairline."
The young man, or rather, Meng Hongyu who seemed to Rejuvenation, calmly walked through the silent office area to his workstation.
His steps were incredibly light, as if he had been freed from the weight of twenty years of constraints. When he sat down in his usual spot, the entire Investigation Bureau finally erupted in a commotion.
"It really is Meng Hongyu! The chip on his employee badge passed the recognition!"
"Damn, his wrinkles around his eyes are gone..."
"Looks at least fifteen years younger..."
The murmurs spread like a tide, Meng Hongyu calmly accepted the shocked or inquisitive looks from her colleagues, even turning her office chair around with a hint of theatricality.
Sunlight streamed through the blinds and fell on his face, making his ageless face almost glow.
Zhou Yuan finally found her voice and asked, "I remember you went to Yunsun City to investigate a supernatural incident involving a casino. What exactly happened to you? How did things turn out like this?"
A wicked smile curled at the corner of Meng Hongyu's lips, "In Yunsun City, there's a mysterious place called 'Lucky Casino.' I accidentally entered the casino and participated in the gambling. I can't reveal the specific details, but I can tell you that I won in the end. I won back my youth—pure, fresh youth."
He stretched out his long, slender fingers, "No arthritis, no stomach ulcers, no migraines from staying up all night..."
The office area suddenly became eerily quiet, and everyone knew what this meant—to date, the vast majority of recorded supernatural phenomena have been detrimental to humanity, and the transformed Meng Hongyu before them might be the first truly Lucky One to benefit from an anomaly.
In fact, Meng Hongyu had already left the "Lucky Casino" two days ago. However, his Rejuvenation was such a big deal that he had met many people in the past two days, including some big shots he never dared to dream of meeting before. Only now has he returned to his office and has time to show off to his colleagues.
He had barely sat down for five minutes, barely warmed the chair, when someone came to call him, "The bureau chief wants to see you, immediately."
Meng Hongyu got up and walked towards the director's office.
Mu Xingrui's office door was unusually closed. When Meng Hongyu knocked and entered, the usually composed director was standing with his back to the door in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, his shoulders taut.
"Sit down." Mu Xingrui didn't turn around.
Driven by the boundless energy brought on by his accelerated metabolism, Meng Hongyu practically sprang into the meeting chair. He noticed two teacups on the director's desk, which meant there had been visitors just now.
"I've read your report." Mu Xingrui finally turned around, his eyes showing obvious dark circles. "Twelve pages, and not a single sentence explains why you suddenly look fifteen years younger."
Meng Hongyu tilted his head, a movement that would normally make his neck crack, but now it was incredibly smooth. "On page seven, paragraph three of the report, I clearly wrote—I won the bet at Lucky Casino."
"Win?" Mu Xingrui suddenly slammed his hand on the table, the solid wood desk groaning under its weight. "Do you know what the first victim, Wang Jianheng, lost? His fifty-two-year-old body now looks like that of a ninety-year-old! The doctor says he could die of organ failure at any moment! Such a shrewd businessman, losing almost everything. Tell me, how did you win?"
"That was just bad luck," Meng Hongyu shrugged. "Gambling always involves winning and losing. I don't know how I won. Maybe I was just particularly lucky that day."
Mu Xingrui's pupils suddenly contracted. This nonchalant attitude was so unlike Meng Hongyu. He used to be very serious and responsible, and had a strong sense of empathy. He would never be so indifferent to the plight of the victims!
Just then, the internal telephone on the desk rang.
Mu Xingrui pressed the speakerphone button, and his secretary's nervous voice came through. "Director, Professor Qi from the medical school has arrived, and..." A brief pause followed, "Minister Chen's line is on line three."
Mu Xingrui's expression turned extremely grim. "Tell Professor Qi to wait in conference room A3 and bring in Line 3."
After a few busy tones on the other end of the phone, a slightly hoarse male voice said, "Old Mu, I heard your investigator is back from the casino? And he looks younger?"
Mu Xingrui's knuckles turned white. "Minister Chen, this matter is still under investigation..."
"That's good." The other person interrupted, "I think the Supernatural Investigation Bureau should set up a special team to carefully study this 'Lucky Casino,' after all..." The other person paused meaningfully, "... the aging population is a key national strategic issue."
After hanging up the phone, Mu Xingrui seemed to have aged ten years in an instant. He slowly took a folder labeled "Top Secret" from the drawer, threw it on the table, and looked at Meng Hongyu:
"Do you know what this means? In the past 48 hours, seventeen leaders at different levels have called to inquire about your condition. Now, the medical department needs to conduct a full examination on you, and then some leaders want to meet with you. Prepare your remarks carefully, and don't say anything out of line."
Meng Hongyu's eyes lit up.
"Don't be too happy yet," Mu Xingrui sneered. "What do you think they're up to? Use your brain and think it through."
Meng Hongyu nodded; he certainly understood what his Rejuvenation meant.
He then went to the medical school, where the examinations lasted for a long time. Professor Qi's team took blood, bone marrow, and skin samples from him, and even performed a full body scan.
When the final data was presented on paper, the cellular aging expert's face turned pale with shock.
"This is incredible..." Professor Qi stared at the microscope, his voice trembling. "Your telomeres... they weren't repaired, they were completely reset to the state they were in when you were around twenty-three. It's like..." He swallowed hard, "... someone turned back your physical condition by fifteen years."
Meng Hongyu sat up from the testing table and stretched her shoulders easily. "So I really have become younger, and it's not just an illusion on the surface?"
"It's even more amazing than that." Professor Qi wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "From a biological point of view, you're currently a young person in your early twenties. If this state can be maintained... theoretically, your lifespan will also be extended accordingly."
The news spread like wildfire throughout the Investigation Bureau and continues to spread outwards, with many people who are following the matter receiving the latest information.
When Meng Hongyu returned to the office area after completing the inspection, he found his workstation surrounded by people. Not only his fellow investigators, but also people from the logistics department and the archives were there. Everyone's eyes were filled with curiosity, suspicion, and a certain undisguised... desire.
"Brother Meng, that casino..." the new intern mustered his courage and asked, "What's it like inside?"
Meng Hongyu smiled, an expression that used to bring fine lines to his eyes, now as perfect as an advertising model's. "Just like a regular casino, except..." He lowered his voice, "The chips aren't just money; youth, health, and lifespan—everything can be wagered at the table."
A collective gasp of astonishment immediately filled the air around them.
"So... how did you win?" someone pressed.
Meng Hongyu's fingertips tapped unconsciously on the table, the rhythm eerily resembling some kind of code. "I guess I was just lucky that day."
This vague answer clearly failed to satisfy everyone's curiosity, but before they could ask any further questions, Mu Xingrui appeared with a dark face and dragged Meng Hongyu into the elevator.
"Do you even know what you're doing?" Mu Xingrui demanded sharply as soon as the elevator doors closed. "Those ambiguous answers will only encourage more people to try that damn casino!"
Meng Hongyu's expression suddenly changed; the youthful vigor that was typical of young people vanished from his face, replaced by an unsettling calm. "Director, do you think you can stop them?"
His voice suddenly lowered, "When I walk out of the casino alive, when those old big shots discover they really can regain their youth, they'll pounce on the casino like hungry wolves."
Mu Xingrui was taken aback. Just then, the elevator stopped at the top floor. Before the doors opened, Meng Hongyu had regained her bright and sunny smile, as if her previous gloom had been just an illusion.
In the afternoon, Meng Hongyu received an urgent notification that a leader wanted to see him.
He repeated what he had written in his report to the room full of high-ranking officials, omitting only a few minor details. When he showed them the flawless skin on the back of his hands, he noticed that at least three of them were breathing noticeably faster.
After the briefing, a retired leader—an elderly man in his seventies—stayed behind to "ask a few questions."
That evening, Meng Hongyu received a call from an unknown number.
"Mr. Meng, this is XX's secretary." The female voice on the other end of the phone was polite. "XX would like to invite you to a private dinner at the Yunding Manor tomorrow evening. There are some questions regarding... a special phenomenon that I would like to ask you."
After hanging up the phone, Meng Hongyu looked out the window. The city lights were brilliant in the night, and in a corner invisible to the naked eye, the scarlet "Lucky Casino" sign was faintly visible in the darkness.
Meanwhile, Mu Xingrui irritably hung up a phone call in his office. Many people were asking him about the dice and pressuring him to establish an investigation Investigation Bureau for the "Lucky Casino" incident as soon as possible, revealing his true intentions.
According to Meng Hongyu's account, after receiving the Human-Faced Die from Wang Jianheng, the first victim of "Lucky Casino," he was quickly "invited" into Lucky Casino.
Clearly, this die might be a "token" or "invitation" from the "Lucky Casino".
Some people, though yearning for youth, won't act impulsively or rashly enter Lucky Casino, lest they lose everything like Wang Jianheng?
The Investigation Bureau should conduct a thorough study of the case, send more people in to scout ahead, calculate the odds of winning and losing in gambling, and only after these prerequisites are in place will they consider whether to take the risk at the Lucky Casino.
Mu Xingrui slammed his fist against the wall. He clearly realized that the worst was happening. Not to mention others, even he himself was feeling a little restless.
This is the disaster brought about by supernatural events. The "Black Smoke City Lockdown" in Shanque City is quite straightforward and brutal, which will raise people's awareness of the supernatural.
However, the existence of "Lucky Casino" is more covert and has a stronger infiltration. The casino's target is not ordinary people, since ordinary people don't have much value. The casino is really targeting the powerful and wealthy!
No one can predict what consequences this seemingly harmless casino will ultimately cause.
Three days later.
Conference room at the Headquarters of the Supernatural Investigation Bureau.
The air seemed to freeze. Mu Xingrui stood in front of the projection screen in the conference room, his cold and stern face flickering in and out of focus as the constantly changing documents were displayed.
The data on Meng Hongyu's medical examination report snaked across the screen like venomous snakes, the before-and-after photos of Wang Jianheng were shocking, and in the center close-up shot, the sealed "Human-Faced Die" seemed to be emitting an ominous dark red glow in the monitoring screen.
As of 8:00 AM today, 23 senior leaders have inquired directly or indirectly about Lucky Casino.
Unable to withstand the pressure, Mu Xingrui eventually compromised, perhaps acting in accordance with his true inner thoughts.
At this moment, almost all the core members of the Supernatural Investigation team were seated in the conference room. Mu Xingrui faced them and solemnly announced:
Effective immediately, the Investigation Bureau will establish a special investigation team to investigate the "Lucky Casino" case.
He turned off the projector, plunging the conference room into darkness. "The investigation team's main task is to find out the Lucky Casino's entry rules, betting mechanisms, penalty system, and how to mitigate risks."
Upon hearing this, everyone present exchanged bewildered glances.
The people sitting here aren't fools. Even the slowest to react are gradually realizing why the Investigation Bureau is focusing on the "Lucky Casino" supernatural events, which aren't particularly dangerous.