Zhu Shi and I looked toward the newcomer at the same time.
The newcomer who walked through the door was wearing a gray uniform. I had seen that uniform last night—it was what the Luoshan personnel who had recovered the Fallen Demon Hunter's corpse had been wearing.
I remembered this person's face even more clearly. He was none other than Agent Kong, who had once knocked on my door and later unwittingly interfered with my exploration of the cave.
"Hm?" The moment Agent Kong saw my face, an awkward look appeared on his own. "You're Zhuang Cheng..."
"Good morning, 'Officer.'"
Seeing his face again stirred a lot of emotion in me.
Although I possessed the superpower of Flame Manipulation, I had grown up in a society governed by law. After being steeped in all kinds of propaganda and slogans, I had developed an unconscious reverence for official forces. Whenever I thought about possibly becoming unacceptable to society, I would instinctively feel anxious and uneasy.
At first, I had firmly believed Agent Kong was a real police officer. I had even broken out in a cold sweat over covering up for a "Serial Killer" and privately possessing firearms and ammunition. Now, however, he was the one feeling guilty because he had once impersonated a police officer. Our positions had suddenly been reversed.
"Don't be sarcastic. You should've already heard from Zhu Shi, right? That was all part of a Luoshan mission."
At that, the awkwardness on Agent Kong's face deepened. He hurriedly waved his hands, then changed the subject. "I've heard about it. You were the one who defeated the Fallen Demon Hunter, right? I'm the agent responsible for patrolling this area, so I have to thank you for your righteous act of punishing evil. By the way, are you planning to join Luoshan? I suggest you..."
When he mentioned me joining Luoshan, Zhu Shi frowned and immediately cut in. "Agent Kong, how is the investigation into 'that matter' I asked you about going?"
From Zhu Shi's attitude, it was clear that she truly didn't want me to join Luoshan. Was it because of the internal turmoil and possible future conflicts within Luoshan that she had mentioned last time, or was there some other reason?
I decided not to ask right away. Nor did I continue mocking Agent Kong. Instead, I followed Zhu Shi's lead. "'That matter' refers to what?"
"The possible grudge between you and the Fallen Demon Hunter," Agent Kong answered. "All information related to the Fallen Demon Hunter incident was organized and compiled by the 'Probe' responsible for this area—that's me—before being handed over to Zhu Shi. If Zhu Shi discovers anything suspicious while handling an incident, she'll commission me to investigate further.
"She mentioned in her report that the Fallen Demon Hunter seemed to harbor an extremely intense hatred for you. The clue lies in 'two years ago.'"
I added, "That's right. However, he shouldn't have possessed his current strength back then, nor could he have transformed into a nonhuman appearance. Otherwise, I couldn't possibly have failed to recognize him."
"Unfortunately, the Fallen Demon Hunter didn't return to his original human form after death. He retained his monstrous appearance. We couldn't determine his original social identity, much less investigate what kind of grudge had arisen between you two two years ago." Agent Kong shook his head regretfully, then continued, "However, another result did come out of the investigation..."
"What is it?" I asked curiously.
"The cause of death." Zhu Shi took over. "The Fallen Demon Hunter didn't die from your flames or my sword energy. He died from acute organ failure."
I searched through my layman-level medical knowledge. "So... he died of shock?"
"More or less, but not burn shock. It was organ failure with an unknown cause," Zhu Shi explained. "Someone as powerful as the Fallen Demon Hunter might have self-destructed from losing control of his power after suffering acute organ failure. However, he seems to have expended too much strength before dying, so he died silently instead."
It was probably because I had been chasing him and burning him the entire time before his death, while he had constantly regenerated his flesh and tissue at high speed. He must have lost a great deal of energy in the process. After hearing Zhu Shi's explanation, I came up with a reasonable interpretation in my mind.
But she had actually called that Fallen Demon Hunter "powerful." I really couldn't bring myself to agree. Or was I the one whose standards for judging strength were off?
"Although we can't rule out the possibility that his acute organ failure was caused by excessive energy consumption, we still have to remain vigilant. In incidents involving anomalous objects, we must take seriously and question every unusual trace." Zhu Shi spoke earnestly. "Especially you, Zhuang Cheng... If that Fallen Demon Hunter were to return, you would very likely become his target."
"I'll be careful."
Still, compared to myself, I was more concerned about how I would protect Maza if she became caught up in this.
As I thought about that, Zhu Shi turned around and continued examining the ritual array in the room. Then she crouched beside it and began searching through the black plush carpet.
A moment later, she let out a contemplative, puzzled sound. "...Just as I thought. Something's wrong..."
"Is there something unusual?" I shifted my attention to her.
"Zhuang Cheng, you said last night that the letters and symbols on this carpet had filled in the missing parts of the ritual array..." she said hesitantly. "From my perspective, what you said makes sense. The ritual array can indeed be completed that way, but... even after being completed, it's still a severely flawed array. The probability of it activating successfully is almost astronomically low."
"So basically, it couldn't have activated?"
She spoke with certainty. "If an array like this could activate, it could only be called a miracle."
"A miracle..." I thought of Maza again.
Could this have been Maza's blessing as well? In order to drag me into the cave's anomalous incident, had the cave—whose probability of appearing was nearly zero—emerged through the miraculous "misfortune" she brought?
But was it too much of an "I've given up thinking" approach to blame all my misfortune on Maza's jinxed constitution? Was I planning to shift all the misfortune I encountered onto Maza from now on?
Could there be other clues I hadn't noticed? Slowly, the black jade appeared in my mind.
However, as a clue, the black jade was still far too vague...
"Still, we can confirm this now. Perhaps opening the cave really was the purpose behind the Fallen Demon Hunter setting up this ritual array, but the cave's eventual appearance wasn't intentional on his part, because he simply didn't have the ability to do it. Perhaps he was actually the one most eager to find out why the cave had appeared." Zhu Shi straightened up with one hand on her knee. "We can erase this array now."
"Should we try opening the cave ourselves using the method I provided? We might discover something else." I still felt regretful about the cave in the Fifteenth Floor room being erased.
"No. The safest method is to erase it without triggering any anomalous phenomena."
Zhu Shi once again displayed an extremely cautious attitude. Then she turned around and began handling the ritual array.
However, although she said she was going to erase it, she didn't simply wipe it away with something like a mop. Instead, she took out a piece of white chalk and began drawing new mysterious symbols, starting from the outer ring of the array.
Seeing my confusion, Agent Kong explained from the side.
The matter was somewhat complicated, so I simplified it according to my own understanding. In short, the ritual array might still contain some residual power. When the array was destroyed, a Demon Hunter's power could suppress it, but it might still cause damage to the surrounding area. What Zhu Shi was setting up now was a new array designed to absorb any potential remaining power and safely discharge it into the environment.
Although the process was something one couldn't witness in normal society, my immediate impression was that it was somewhat boring. Leaving just like that would have felt regrettable, so I began asking Agent Kong about Luoshan.
Agent Kong immediately understood my intention after only a few words. "In other words, you want to join Luoshan?"
I hid my anticipation and pretended to ask calmly, "Yes. For a supernatural organization like yours, what requirements do you have for new members? For example, do you think I'm suitable?"
Actually, I had initially wanted to be more direct. However, the only Luoshan personnel I could currently contact were Zhu Shi and Agent Kong. In this regard, although they weren't interviewers, they felt somewhat like it to me. I could relax somewhat around Zhu Shi, but when facing Agent Kong, I instinctively felt like an interviewee. I hoped I could restrain my restlessness and prevent the "interviewer" from noticing how desperately eager I was.
Agent Kong nodded slightly and said thoughtfully, "Well, in my opinion, you..."
Suddenly, he stopped speaking. Zhu Shi, who was drawing mysterious symbols on the floor, had already glared over.
"All right, all right, I won't say anything. I won't say anything..."
Agent Kong hurriedly raised his hands in surrender. Zhu Shi's expression eased slightly, and she turned back to her work. While she was concentrating on drawing the mysterious symbols, Agent Kong shot me another meaningful look.
I nodded in understanding, made an excuse about going to the bathroom, left the Fifteenth Floor room, and went straight downstairs.
After a while, Agent Kong seemed to have found an excuse to leave as well and met me downstairs.
"I told Zhu Shi that I had to go handle the Probe's regular duties. It wasn't entirely an excuse, either. Let's talk while we walk." He walked ahead, leading me toward the outside of the residential complex. His voice carried a hint of melancholy. "You asked whether you could join Luoshan, right? My answer is very clear. If even someone like me, who has no magical power at all, can join, then of course you can too."
"That's great! But if that's the case, why is Zhu Shi so opposed to me joining Luoshan?" I asked in confusion. "Is it because Luoshan is going through a turbulent period?"
"Zhu Shi told you about those matters? Only part of them, right? It's true that Luoshan is going through a turbulent period, but that's something the big shots need to worry about. We small fry only need to worry about making a living." He said, "The main reason Zhu Shi opposes you joining Luoshan is probably because you're a Flame ability user."
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