Mysterious Arrival

"Ding dong—Welcome!"

Lin Qiye pushed open the door to the agency and saw Hong Ying sitting upright on the sofa, lost in thought. He waved at her.

"Morning, Sister Hong Ying."

"Qiye! You're finally here!" Hong Ying jumped up from the sofa as soon as she saw Lin Qiye.

"What's wrong?"

"Something's happened." Hong Ying said seriously, grabbed Lin Qiye's wrist, and quickly led him downstairs.

This was the first time Lin Qiye had seen such a serious expression on Hong Ying's face. He frowned slightly, "Has the mysterious... descended?"

"Yes, and it's very tricky."

The two pushed open the door and entered the activity room. Lin Qiye then realized that everyone from Team 136 had already arrived.

Chen Muye, who was leaning against a pillar, saw Lin Qiye arrive and walked over to the conference table, sitting down with his usual expressionless face.

"Everyone's here, let's start the meeting."

After everyone was seated, Chen Muye tapped the table with his knuckles and slowly began to speak:

"Last night, we received news that another suspected Mythical Creature has appeared.

The location is... Cangnan City Second Middle School."

"Second Middle School?!" Lin Qiye was taken aback.

"Yes, the school you attended." Chen Muye nodded. "And it seems the report was made by an old acquaintance of yours."

Chen Muye called out to the room behind him, "Hey kid, are you awake? If you're awake, come out!"

Everyone looked over in unison. Soon, the door to the room was slowly opened, and a boy with bloodshot eyes walked out.

Lin Qiye exclaimed when he saw him, "Li Yifei?"

Li Yifei was stunned. Seeing Lin Qiye sitting at the conference table, he rubbed his eyes and confirmed it was indeed him.

"Lin Qiye? What are you doing here? Did you see that monster too?"

"No, he's one of us." Wu Xiangnan shook his head and said.

"A temporary member." Chen Muye corrected.

Li Yifei's mouth fell open as he looked at Lin Qiye. After a long pause, he reacted, "Holy crap! They said you joined the army, but you actually joined here!"

Lin Qiye shrugged, "There were some unexpected circumstances."

"You guys can chat about your stuff later, let's talk about the case first." Chen Muye reminded them. Then, as if remembering something, he added, "Originally, if a case suspected of involving the mysterious occurred, it would typically be reported to the police first, and then they would transfer it to us. But this kid went through the Ghost-faced Man case last time, came into contact with us, and signed a non-disclosure agreement, so he called us directly, skipping the intermediate steps.

This is an exception; this is not our normal case-handling procedure."

Everyone nodded, but Lin Qiye knew very well that Chen Muye was explaining this to him.

"Tell us about it."

"Okay." Li Yifei swallowed and recalled, "Last night, I went back to school to get my homework, and I happened to see..."

Li Yifei recounted his experience from yesterday in detail. The more they listened, the more the team members frowned.

After Li Yifei finished, Wu Xiangnan nodded.

"If what this kid said is true, then there's a 95% chance this matter involves the mysterious." He then turned to Li Yifei, "You should know what the consequences are if you report false information, right?"

"I know, I know, everything I said before is true, it couldn't be truer!" Li Yifei replied earnestly.

"Alright then." Chen Muye turned to Wu Xiangnan, "What are your thoughts?"

"Based on the information we have so far, this Mythical Creature has extremely strong camouflage abilities. It can interact normally with others while impersonating them without revealing any clues."

Wen Qimo, who was beside them, sighed, "Impersonation... another troublesome guy."

"Besides that, it's also suspected of having the ability to assimilate creatures it swallows. This is what we truly need to be wary of," Wu Xiangnan said.

"Like zombies in movies? Infinite infection?" Hong Ying asked.

"Although the infection method is different, their effects are indeed similar."

"Then do we just need to rush into the school and chop down that Liu Xiaoyan?" Hong Ying's eyes lit up.

"It's not that simple." Lin Qiye, sitting at the other end, suddenly spoke up. "Since it can infect others, we can't be sure if Liu Xiaoyan is its main body... because she might have been infected by someone else."

"Qiye is right." Wu Xiangnan nodded. "The biggest difficulty with this mysterious incident is that we don't know where the source of this strange infection route is. It's like if we go chop down zombies, if we can't find the mother zombie, even if we kill all the other child zombies, it's useless."

"And we don't know how long this Mythical Creature has existed or how many people it has infected," Wen Qimo added. "Liu Xiaoyan could be its first infection, or it could be the nth infection, who knows.

In fact, we need to be prepared for the worst..."

"The worst-case scenario?" Hong Ying asked, confused.

"That the entire Second Middle School... has turned into a monster school." Wu Xiangnan said slowly, his eyes full of gravity. "Moreover, this monster might have infected not only the school but also other areas of Cangnan City."

Hearing this, Li Yifei suddenly shivered, "You... what do you mean?"

"Have you ever thought..." Wu Xiangnan slowly stood up, looking directly into Li Yifei's eyes, and spoke calmly, "That everyone else in this school, besides you, the other teachers, and students... are monsters in disguise?

No, perhaps even you, standing here right now...

Could have unknowingly become part of the mystery?"

Li Yifei's pupils contracted sharply, a chill shooting from the soles of his feet straight to his brain, his mind going completely blank!

"Alright Xiangnan, don't scare him." Wen Qimo said with a smile as he stood up, "If that were the case, the [Calamity Raven] would have already cried out. Since it hasn't made a sound, it means the situation isn't that dangerous yet."

"The [Calamity Raven]? What is that?" Lin Qiye asked Hong Ying curiously.

"It's a crow, and also a Forbidden Item with its own Forbidden Zone," Hong Ying explained patiently. "When a major disaster is about to occur in Cangnan City, it will cry out in advance to warn people. You could consider it a detector."

"Oh." Lin Qiye nodded.

"In any case, now that the mystery has appeared, we must investigate it thoroughly. If we allow this monster to continue developing, the future Xiangnan described might not be far off," Chen Muye said slowly. "Xiangnan, what's your plan?"

Wu Xiangnan sat down, pushed up his glasses, and said seriously, "I think the immediate priority is to find the true form of the Mythical Creature and also ascertain how many people it has already infected. Therefore, I propose we split into two groups for this operation.

One group will start from Second High School and spread outwards, searching for any traces of other infected individuals.

The other group will infiltrate Second High School, follow the clues, and find the true form as quickly as possible."

Chen Muye nodded, his gaze sweeping over everyone.

"Since we need to infiltrate Second High School, we can't arouse its suspicion. We must fit the image of high school students...

Hong Ying, Xiao Nan, and... Qiye, The task of entering Second High School and finding its true form will be entrusted to you."