An Eightieth Birthday?

They were eavesdropping so openly? Yu Xing raised an eyebrow and fixed Ren Yi with a stare.

Ren Yi: "..."

He silently sat up. "When I get some information in town, I'll let you freeloaders have it too."

Only then did Zhao Mou withdraw the hand he'd been about to use to confiscate the clean clothes he'd bought for Ren Yi.

He studied Ren Yi's complexion, confirming that the spiritual stagnation caused by the Immovable as a Mountain Curse had disappeared and that there were no obvious aftereffects.

With a little more evidence to go on, Zhao Mou curled his lips and teased, "Now that you're awake, don't just lie there, big shot Ren Yi~ This deduction is clearly meant to have the participants work together. Go wash up, then come into town with us and have a look?"

"Okay." Ren Yi picked up the clean clothes, his long, messy hair spilling down his back.

There was a place in the clinic for people to bathe and change. Zhao Mou pointed him in the right direction, and Ren Yi obediently went.

"He's totally the type who seems quiet on the surface but is up to no good underneath," Yu Xing said with a chuckle.

He'd had that impression when they met in the Death Parallel Line. More than a year had passed, and the other man seemed to have changed a little—he was even harder to figure out now.

Zhao Mou shrugged.

The Research Institute had weathered many upheavals over the past year or so. The intensity and frequency of deductions kept increasing, catching many of the clerical staff who specialized in intelligence off guard.

Not only had the volume of intelligence they needed to analyze increased dramatically, but the chance of them running into danger during deductions had also