The Lurker in the Dark

"A..."

"Achoo!"

With a sneeze, Gu Shen woke up abruptly.

The last thing he remembered was a dark, oppressive expanse, boundless gibberish, and a blurry shadow... The Awakening of Insects Dream Realm hadn't completely collapsed, it seemed, before Chu Ling severed the Mental Link with him, and he fell into slumber.

And after waking up.

The first thing he saw was a pair of sunglasses concealing most of her features, yet still revealing a pleasingly beautiful face.

However, the owner of this beautiful face was currently wearing an expression of disgust, holding her knife, clutching the corner of her windbreaker, and drifting backward, wanting nothing more than to be as far away from him as possible.

Was it really necessary? It was just a sneeze... Gu Shen secretly flipped off the bad woman in his heart.

"Gu Shen, you're awake."

Hearing Senior Sister's voice, Gu Shen fully came to his senses.

There was no concept of time in the Dream Realm.

From entering the dream to comprehend "Awakening of Insects" to waking up now, how long had he been gone?

He hadn't really broken the Tribunal's fastest record, had he...

"Senior Sister," Gu Shen scratched his head, "I... how long was I asleep?"

"Not long, only four hours," Senior Apprentice Sister Luo said dismissively.

Gu Shen breathed a sigh of relief.

Good, good.

"Little Gu," Senior Brother Zhong Wei approached, asking with concern, "What did you see in that dream just now?"

Little Gu... it had been a long time since anyone had called him that.

Gu Shen wasn't bothered by it. He thought for a moment and honestly replied, "I dreamed... that I went to a very, very large wilderness. The scenery there was beautiful, with a lot of grass, stretching as far as the eye could see, and then... it rained."

Since he was pretending that it took him four hours to comprehend Awakening of Insects, he needed to play dumb a little at this moment.

Gu Shen was very good at this.

He vividly described the scene in the Awakening of Insects Dream Realm, then vaguely glossed over the details of his comprehension, pretending to be ignorant and stumbling upon it by chance.

After finishing his description, Gu Shen presented his results: "Senior Sister... in that dream, I seemed to have grasped something amazing—"

The Breathing Technique of Awakening of Insects was already deeply engraved in his heart.

After speaking, Gu Shen breathed according to the rhythm and cadence in his mind. His aura instantly lowered, his eyes shone brightly, and he could clearly feel his Mental-type power condensing.

Moreover, there was a faint warm stream slowly flowing in the back of his head.

"Mm... not bad."

Senior Apprentice Sister Luo nodded. "This is the 'thing' I wanted to give you. This breathing technique is called Awakening of Insects. Remember, during the upcoming special training, you must make this breathing technique your instinct. In the next few days, whether you're eating, sleeping, or doing anything, always maintain the Breathing Technique of Awakening of Insects."

So that's how it was.

Gu Shen nodded inwardly. If he replaced his original breathing with the Awakening of Insects, then his meager Mental power would not only be more stable, but would also increase day by day.

He couldn't help but marvel at Gu Changzhi, who had created this breathing technique with his own strength, truly a rare genius!

Gu Shen suddenly thought of something else.

If the comprehension time determined Mental potential... was four hours too long?

Senior Sister Luo imparted the Awakening of Insects, perhaps to see his potential.

So Gu Shen cautiously asked, "Senior Sister... did I sleep for too long?"

Senior Apprentice Sister Luo glanced at him.

"You're a smart person, you should have guessed that the comprehension time of the Awakening of Insects is related to potential." She said casually, "Spending four hours comprehending the Awakening of Insects should be at the bottom of the Mental-type, so don't tell anyone about it."

As expected... he slept for too long.

Gu Shen smiled wryly in his heart, he had really become the last one as he wished, and the feeling was not good.

Senior Apprentice Sister Luo, who wanted to see his potential, should be very disappointed in him now, right?

Unexpectedly, after Senior Apprentice Sister Luo finished speaking, she hesitated.

She patted Gu Shen's shoulder, rarely gentle, and said seriously, "Now that you have comprehended the Awakening of Insects, it means you still have talent. Don't be too hard on yourself... the comprehension time of a mere breathing technique doesn't mean anything."

Gu Shen was stunned.

Senior Apprentice Sister Luo was... comforting him? Was she worried that the audit was coming soon, and he would be under great pressure?

Because of the Transcendent incident, Senior Apprentice Sister Luo's temper was erratic, but such gentleness must be rare.

He then realized that Senior Apprentice Sister Luo's smile was quite cute.

"Alright."

The smile on Luo Er's face disappeared again, and she said sternly, "The next task is still very heavy. We don't have time to waste."

"Rumble rumble rumble—"

Above the Unfinished Cylindrical Building, which was tightly protected by cordon lines, the rotor blades of a helicopter whirred, making a low rumble.

The security personnel all looked up and saw an incredible scene.

When it was still a dozen meters from the ground.

A man in a gray-black suit, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, with a gentle face, holding a briefcase in one hand, and suddenly opened the cabin door with the other, he silently looked down at the black dots on the ground, his eyes indifferent and compassionate, as if looking at a group of ants.

Then, he spread his arms and fell straight down like a bird—

With a "boom"!

Rolling smoke and dust splashed from the ground!

The location where the well-dressed man in the suit landed was just outside the cordon line. For a time, sand and stones rose sharply, and smoke and dust swept through. The security personnel coughed violently and retreated. The security captain prepared to sound the alarm, but his arm was clamped down halfway.

A deep voice sounded.

"They're all our own people."

In the smoke and dust, the man in the suit stood upright, his voice as magnetic as a demon's, causing people to lose their minds upon hearing it.

The guard captain, as if possessed, lowered the hand that was about to sound the alarm.

"Drop your weapons, don't move."

The whispered voice slowly spread through the smoke and dust.

The Tribunal security personnel responsible for guarding the Unfinished Cylindrical Building, upon hearing this, uniformly lowered their guns, one after another, their eyes glazed over, standing blankly in place.

The refined man nodded with satisfaction.

He casually adjusted his glasses, gave a hand signal upwards, indicating that the helicopter could leave.

The roar of the rotor blades faded away in the low altitude.

The entire Unfinished Cylindrical Building fell into silence, everything here seemed to be frozen in time, with only the disorderly flying dust. The refined man, carrying his briefcase, slowly and methodically stepped inside.

For him, all the cordon lines here were non-existent and meaningless.

He walked towards the Fire Disaster Case site.

After 48 hours, it was still well-protected... The man squatted down in front of the stairwell, he pinched the skeletal ashes of the stairwell, put them in front of him and examined them thoughtfully, then narrowed his eyes, his gaze focused on the missing phalanx of the skeleton.

Soon, he arrived at the rooftop.

The blood splattered on the ground had already dried up, he dipped his finger in it, it was as hard as weathered asphalt, with a fishy smell. These bloodstains had been trampled on before they were completely dried.

Was it last night?

The refined man looked around and straightened his gold-rimmed glasses once again.

[Profiling, activate.]

The pupils in his eyes, the ink color flowed backward, reflecting another world of the rooftop—

Someone came to the scene last night and was arrested.

Two unknown black shadows were walking upside down on the rooftop. In the refined man's Profiling world, the timeline was reversed, and he saw the "true scene" that happened here.

The truth is, there were more than two people who trampled on the bloodstains.

There was a third black shadow.

The man took a step back, came to the side of the stairwell, he returned to the previous place, his gaze searched bit by bit.

Now, there were incomprehensible places.

[...Why was the third lurker squatting here?]

Finally, the man's gaze stopped on the stack of wooden boards in the corner.

He slowly squatted down, reached out, and patiently lifted the wooden boards one by one, until the last layer, the truth was finally revealed.

The ground under the wooden boards was covered with a thin layer of dust, but there was a slightly cleaner square strip exposed.

"He left something here, he came to retrieve it last night."

The length and width of that thing are approximately...

Noted.

The man left the Old Building and returned to the vicinity of the cordon. He helped the staff reset the cordon, during which he touched the perplexed, numb eyes of the cordon captain.

Due to the phrase "Don't move," everyone was like a wooden figure bound by the air, unable to move even a tiny bit no matter how hard they struggled.

"Sorry... just a routine check, it's much easier for me if you all stay like this."

The man in the suit spoke alone in the silent dust, reconstructing the scene.

After doing all this, he took out a business card from his briefcase and, in front of the cordon captain, gave a brief self-introduction with a smile: "Tribunal, Special Investigation Team, Han Dang."

"Thank you for your cooperation, the official business is finished."

Han Dang put away his business card, bowed, and retreated backward.

As his figure disappeared, the last sound echoed at the cordon of the Old Building.

"Everyone... forget everything that just happened, just pretend you've never seen me."