The Hidden Watcher

"Ah..."

"Ah-choo!"

With a sneeze, Gu Shen jolted awake.

The last thing he remembered was an endless expanse of darkness, boundless garbled code, and a blurry shadow... It seemed the Awakening of Insects Dream Realm had yet to fully collapse when Chu Ling severed her Mental Link with him. Then, he fell asleep.

And after waking up—

The first thing he saw was a beautiful face that remained breathtaking despite most of its features being concealed by sunglasses.

Yet the owner of that beautiful face was currently looking at him with undisguised disgust. Holding her blade and lifting the hem of her trench coat, she drifted backward, as though she wished to get as far away from him as possible.

Was that really necessary? It was just a sneeze... Gu Shen secretly gave the bad woman the finger in his heart.

"Gu Shen, you're awake."

Hearing his Senior Sister's voice, Gu Shen finally came fully awake.

There was no concept of time in the dream world.

How long had it taken him to wake up after Enter Dream and comprehend Awakening of Insects?

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

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

"Not long. Just four hours." Senior Apprentice Sister Luo brushed it off casually.

Gu Shen let out a sigh of relief.

Good, good.

"Little Gu." Senior Brother Zhong Wei leaned closer and asked 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 did not dislike it. After thinking for a moment, he answered honestly, "I dreamed that... I went to a vast wilderness. The scenery there was beautiful. There was grass everywhere, stretching as far as the eye could see. Then... it began to rain."

Since he had pretended to take four hours to comprehend Awakening of Insects, he needed to play dumb a little right now.

Gu Shen was very good at that sort of thing.

He vividly described the scenes from the Awakening of Insects Dream Realm, then vaguely glossed over the details of his comprehension, pretending to be muddled and acting as though he had stumbled into it by accident.

After finishing his account, Gu Shen displayed his results. "Senior Sister... I seem to have understood something incredible in that dream—"

The Breathing Method of Awakening of Insects had already been deeply imprinted in his heart.

As he spoke, Gu Shen breathed according to the rhythm in his mind. His presence instantly sank, and his eyes gleamed brightly. He could clearly feel his mental power condensing.

Moreover, a faintly warm current seemed to be slowly flowing through the back of his head.

"Mm... not bad."

Senior Apprentice Sister Luo nodded. "This is the thing I wanted to give you. This Breathing Method is called Awakening of Insects. Remember, during the upcoming special training, you must make this Breathing Method an instinct. For the next few days, whether you're eating, sleeping, or doing anything else, maintain the breathing rhythm of Awakening of Insects at all times."

So that was it.

Gu Shen nodded inwardly. If he replaced his original breathing with the breathing of Awakening of Insects, his meager mental power would not only become more stable, but would also steadily grow.

He had to marvel at Gu Changzhi, who had created this Breathing Method all on his own. He truly was a rare genius of the ages!

Then Gu Shen thought of something else.

If the time taken to comprehend it determined one's mental potential... then wouldn't four hours be rather too long?

Perhaps Senior Sister had taught him Awakening of Insects because she wanted to see his potential.

So Gu Shen cautiously probed, "Senior Sister... wasn't I asleep for a little too long?"

Senior Apprentice Sister Luo glanced at him.

"You're a smart person. You should have guessed it already. The time it takes to comprehend Awakening of Insects is related to potential." She said lightly, "Taking four hours to comprehend Awakening of Insects would probably put you at the bottom among those with Mental Affinity. Don't tell anyone outside about this."

As expected... he had slept too long.

Gu Shen gave a bitter laugh inwardly. He had gotten exactly what he wished for and become dead last, but it did not feel good at all.

Senior Sister, who had wanted to see his potential, must be very disappointed in him now, right?

But unexpectedly, Senior Apprentice Sister Luo hesitated after saying that.

She patted Gu Shen on the shoulder. Rare gentleness appeared in her expression as she said seriously, "Since you've comprehended Awakening of Insects, it means you still have talent. Don't be too hard on yourself... The time needed to comprehend a mere Breathing Method doesn't represent much."

Gu Shen froze.

Senior Apprentice Sister Luo was... comforting him? She was worried that the upcoming assessment would put him under a great deal of pressure.

Because of the supernatural incident, Senior Apprentice Sister Luo's temper had become unpredictable. Such tenderness must have been rare for her.

Only then did he realize that Senior Sister looked rather cute when she smiled.

"Enough."

The smile disappeared from Luo Er's face once more. She said sternly, "The tasks ahead are still arduous. We don't have time to waste."

Rumble—

Above the Unfinished Cylindrical Building, which was tightly sealed behind a cordon, the deep roar of helicopter rotors sounded.

All the security personnel raised their heads and witnessed an unbelievable sight.

When the helicopter was still more than ten meters above the ground—

A refined-looking man in a gray-black suit and gold-rimmed glasses held a briefcase in one hand. With the other, he abruptly pulled open the cabin door. He silently looked down at the black dots scattered across the ground, his gaze cold and pitying, as though he were looking at a colony of ants.

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

Boom!

Rolling dust burst from the ground!

The refined Suit Man landed just outside the cordon. Sand and stones flew everywhere as dust swept through the area. The security personnel retreated in violent coughing, and the security captain raised his arm to sound the alarm—only for it to be clamped down before he could finish the motion.

A low voice sounded.

"We're all on the same side."

Amid the dust, the Suit Man stood perfectly straight. His voice was magnetically demonic, enough to make anyone who heard it lose focus.

As if possessed, the security captain lowered the hand that had been about to trigger the alarm.

"Put down your weapons. Do not move."

The whispered command slowly spread through the dust.

The Adjudication Court security personnel responsible for guarding the Unfinished Old Building immediately set down their firearms in unison. One after another, their eyes went blank as they stood dazed in place.

The refined man nodded in satisfaction.

He casually adjusted his glasses and gestured upward, signaling that the helicopter could leave.

The roar of the rotors faded into the distance.

The entire Unfinished Old Building fell silent. Everything here seemed frozen in time, save for the chaotically drifting dust. Carrying his briefcase, the refined man leisurely walked inside.

To him, all the cordons here might as well not have existed. They had no meaning whatsoever.

He walked toward the Fire Disaster Case scene.

Forty-eight hours had passed, yet the place was still well protected... The man crouched before the stairwell, pinched some bone ash from the steps, and held it before his eyes in thought. Then he narrowed his eyes and focused on the spot where a segment of finger bone was missing from the remains.

Soon, he arrived on the rooftop.

The splattered blood on the ground had already dried. He dipped a finger into it. It was as hard as weathered asphalt and carried a bloody stench. Before these bloodstains had completely dried, someone had trampled over them.

Last night?

The refined man looked around and adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses once more.

Profiling, activate.

The ink-black color in his pupils flowed backward, reflecting another world upon the rooftop—

Someone had come to the scene last night and had been captured.

Two indistinct shadows walked backward across the rooftop. In the Suit Man's Profiling world, time flowed in reverse, and he saw the "true scene" of what had happened here.

The truth was that more than two people had trampled the bloodstains.

There had been a third shadow as well.

The man stepped backward, one step at a time, returning to the stairwell. He went back to the previous location and searched inch by inch with his eyes.

Now, something incomprehensible had appeared.

...Why had the third infiltrator crouched here?

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

He slowly crouched down and reached out, patiently lifting the boards one after another. When he reached the final layer, the truth was finally revealed.

The ground beneath the wooden boards was covered by a thin layer of dust, but a slightly cleaner rectangular strip was exposed.

He had dropped something here. He had come to retrieve it last night.

The length and width of that object were approximately...

Noted.

The man left the Old Building and returned to the vicinity of the cordon. He reset the cordon for the workers, and in the process met the confused, numb gaze of the security captain.

Because of the command, "Do not move," everyone had become like wooden figures bound by the air. No matter how they struggled, they could not shift even the slightest bit.

"Sorry... This is just a routine inspection. Keeping everyone like this makes things much more convenient for me."

Alone amid the silent dust, the Suit Man spoke as he reconstructed the scene.

After finishing, he took a business card from his briefcase. Before the security captain, he smiled and briefly introduced himself. "Adjudication Court, Special Investigation Team, Han Dang."

"Thank you for your cooperation. My business here is finished."

Han Dang put away the card, bowed, and retreated toward the rear.

As his figure disappeared, his final words drifted through the cordon surrounding the Old Building.

"Everyone... forget everything that just happened. Pretend you never saw me."