No! That's Not It-I Still Love Her Deeply!

When Yuan Zhu woke up again, night had already fallen, and the car was parked in the Security Bureau's lot in Running City. Someone had shaken him awake. The shrill noise of the battered car had not stirred him from his sleep in the slightest.

"Wake up. We've reached our destination."

"Ah...!"

He opened his mouth in a huge yawn, then stared blankly at the stranger before him. Who am I? Where am I? What happened? Still dazed, Yuan Zhu got out of the car and followed the middle-aged man toward a three-story cement building. Gradually, he recalled what had happened earlier and began curiously examining Running's police station.

In the New Federation, there was no such thing as a police station. It was replaced by the Security Bureau, a blanket term. Within the Security Bureau were many functional departments—some handled everyday civil disputes and criminal cases. But more dealt with supernatural disasters, beast attacks, contamination incidents, matters involving the undead, matters involving aliens... and so on.

This shabby little building before him gathered talents from every walk of life. Its scope of work covered everything from drunken brawls to soul possession, marital infidelity to time travel—nothing was left out.

He even saw a moose chewing on a box of cigarettes as it slowly walked out through the Security Bureau's entrance, only to vanish again in the blink of an eye. Wait, what had just happened? Were his eyes playing tricks on him?

As soon as he pushed open the door, Yuan Zhu felt as though he had entered a bustling flea market. It was deafeningly noisy.

Some people had their hands cuffed, weeping dejectedly. Some shouted and raged. Some were calm, radiant, and extraordinarily talkative... Others were wound tight, looking around in panic. When their gazes accidentally met Yuan Zhu's, they screamed in even greater fright.

As he made his way through the crowded corridor, Yuan Zhu felt his horizons broaden. He did not linger on the first floor, instead heading straight up the cement stairs to the second. The environment instantly became much quieter. Young Man Han had gone ahead to hand in the equipment.

Compared to the large shared space on the first floor, the second floor had been artificially divided into many small private rooms. Most were occupied and currently in use.

The middle-aged man led Yuan Zhu to a long row of seats against the wall and said, "Little brother, wait here for a moment. I'll contact a testing specialist to conduct another round of deviation testing on you. As long as you pass, you'll basically be fine. Just wait a bit."

After the middle-aged man left, Yuan Zhu sat down alone. Two strangers to his left were also waiting to be judged. The one farther away was an ordinary-looking man in his thirties, silent and stern-faced. He kept his head lowered, staring intensely at the patterns on the floor, with no intention of communicating whatsoever.

The one closer to him was around twenty, dressed in brightly colored clothes that looked much like Earth's casual wear. This young man looked far more panicked, repeatedly raising a hand to stroke his throat and pressing back and forth over his chest and abdomen.

The other man gave off the aura of a weak little chicken, utterly at a loss and looking as though he would be easy to bully.

So Yuan Zhu could not help nudging him with his elbow. Acting like they were old friends, he said, "Hey, brother. What's your situation? What did you do? Why were you brought here?"

"Huh? Me?" The young man jolted, turning to look at the curious Yuan Zhu. Then he pointed at himself in confusion before fiercely shaking his head in denial. "Don't talk nonsense. I didn't do anything. I'm innocent! I'm the victim!"

"Tell me what happened. I'm also an innocent victim who got dragged into some case against my will. We can exchange experiences." Yuan Zhu casually made things up. Forty-something died on my end. How about yours?

It was also his first time entering a bureau. With Little Elf soothing and calming his mind, he was neither nervous nor afraid. Instead, curiosity rose within him, and he wanted to learn more about the situation. It would be helpful to him.

The young man beside him was clearly panicking too, and he wanted someone to talk to in order to relieve the pressure in his heart. So, as though turning himself in, he began confessing, "O-okay. I have a girlfriend I've been dating for three months. Our relationship was on the rise. A week ago, she invited me to a dinner at her home and said she wanted to introduce me to her parents and siblings."

Yuan Zhu, whose romantic experience was a perfect zero, nodded solemnly and commented, "Things are progressing well. You got to meet her parents after only three months."

"That's what I thought too. I was so happy at the time, really happy. The first dinner went pleasantly as well. Afterward, she said her parents had a great impression of me, and over the next week, she invited me to her house several times in a row. Every time, I was warmly received, and the food was delicious."

Yuan Zhu said, "So why were you brought to the Security Bureau?"

At that question, fear appeared in the young man's eyes. "Ever since I finished eating at her house for the third time, I've been trapped in nightmares. Then I started having trouble breathing, constantly hallucinating that there were foreign objects inside my body. I thought I was just not getting enough rest, or that I was sick, but it kept getting worse. Her family also became stranger and stranger, and I seemed to hear strange sounds. In the end... urgh, urgh!"

Before he could finish, the young man began breathing violently beyond his control. He pressed a hand to his chest, then opened his mouth wide and spat out tiny tentacles connected to little green eyeballs.

The tentacles looked like little squid legs, each with a huge little eye that blinked buling-buling. Like earthworms dragging their eyeballs along, they wriggled forward, trying to crawl toward Yuan Zhu's shoes.

Splat!

Startled, Yuan Zhu raised his foot and crushed an eyeball the size of a BB pellet. It made a series of sharp pops, splashing green mucus everywhere and releasing a strange fragrance that was extremely appetizing.

"I... ngh..."

The young man had just wanted to say something, but he covered his mouth and dry-heaved again. Then, choking back a cough, he had several more lifelike tentacles emerge from his nostrils. His gaze was helpless and terrified.

Yuan Zhu hesitated before speaking. "Uh... don't say any more. I think I get it..."

"No! That's not it! I still love her deeply! I was brought to the Security Bureau for investigation, but it has nothing to do with the food she fed me. It's because two severed elf fingers appeared at today's dinner. Her family is suspected of being connected to the disappearance of a foreign elf..."

Yuan Zhu wore the face of a bewildered Black man. "Nani?!"

"Stop chatting. The specialist has already been arranged for you. It's already dark, and we still have to work overtime. What a hassle." The middle-aged man appeared behind Yuan Zhu, patted his shoulder, and signaled him not to gossip about other people's privacy.

Even as Yuan Zhu stood to leave, he could not resist asking the young man, "So what exactly are you panicking about?"

The young man said, "I heard that elf had a special identity and high status. They were a cultivator from Overseas Immortal Mountain, and their body had received an immortal's blessing. I'm worried that I've already been cursed and suffered some unknown contamination... urgh..."

"You're fucking spitting living tentacles, and you're still worried about being cursed and contaminated?" Was that elf named Sukuna?

The young man chewed up the little tentacles in his mouth and gave him a reassuring smile. "This is no big deal!"

Yuan Zhu was dragged away by the middle-aged man with a heart full of unwillingness. On the way to the interrogation room, he could not help asking, "Do you think that guy has already been eroded by contamination, his mind twisted so badly that he can't tell whether he's contaminated or not? He's literally spitting tentacles, yet he says, 'This is no big deal'?"

Fatty Wang, the middle-aged man, gave him a strange look and sighed. "Sigh, little brother Yuan, your life must have been very hard, right?"

Yuan Zhu was puzzled. "Why?"

Fatty Wang replied, "Those living eyeball tentacles he just vomited were a popular delicacy lately, called Suleiman's Gaze. Families who can afford it are usually middle-class with above-average incomes. His girlfriend's family is quite well-off. The reason he's panicking is that he's afraid her family really got caught up in some case, and he won't be able to live this kind of life anymore."

"Ah?!!" Yuan Zhu tilted his kitty head with his mouth open in confusion.jpg Please vote—recommendations, comments... keep reading.