The Countermeasure Bureau's Treasure

"Chen Xi, there's someone behind you!" Lin Yue warned, immediately extending shadow tentacles to bind Chen Xi's wrist and pull her over.

"Just as I thought. I knew that bastard Wu Xin would come to steal something."

As if showing off her foresight, Lin Yue even raised an eyebrow slightly at Chen Xi beside her.

Ignoring her, Chen Xi called helplessly toward the room, "Zhu Li, come out. She saw your shadow."

"...Zhu Li?" Lin Yue stared blankly. The next second, an embarrassed Zhu Li walked out of the bedroom.

"Why... is she here?" the blonde girl asked in a trembling voice. Her fists clenched unconsciously, and her breathing grew rapid.

"It's like this..."

Chen Xi recounted everything that had happened.

"Miss Zhu Li is so pitiful." Lin Yue, who had been questioning them just moments ago, now looked at the red-haired girl beside her with sympathy.

Zhu Li took out a ballpoint pen and wrote.

[Sorry, I made you misunderstand.]

"Ah, it's nothing." Lin Yue waved her hand.

[There are no more buses tonight. I can fly, so if you don't mind, I can take you home.]

Zhu Li had clearly heard their conversation and wrote the offer warmly.

"Zhu Li, you're so nice." Lin Yue, still nursing a bit of a grievance, said pointedly, "Unlike someone who wouldn't even move her butt when she saw I was about to leave."

"Heh." Chen Xi sneered and said nothing.

Lin Yue linked arms with Zhu Li and left Chen Xi's home, chatting and laughing all by herself.

After seeing the two of them off, the house finally quieted down.

"Oh right, I still haven't showered." She dug out a set of casual clothes, grabbed a towel, and headed for the bathroom.

She placed her phone on its stand and switched it to audio mode. As Chen Xi turned on the shower and closed her eyes to rinse herself off, the host's resonant voice rang out: "According to forecasts, the super typhoon Blue Fish will make landfall in Tianhai City two days ahead of schedule..."

Ahead of schedule?

After drying herself off with a towel, Chen Xi had barely opened her phone when she saw a message from Lin Yue.

[Moonlight on the Lotus Pond: The typhoon's coming early!]

[Xi: I know. Let's discuss changes to the plan tomorrow. It's too late today.]

[Moonlight on the Lotus Pond: (Image)]

Chen Xi tapped the thumbnail. It was an aerial shot of Lin Yue being carried through the sky by Zhu Li.

[Moonlight on the Lotus Pond: Jealous?]

"Childish." Chen Xi smiled and chose to leave it on read.

After washing up, she created Director's account and mechanically sent Lin Yue those two messages.

With everything done, the exhausted black-haired girl collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep within seconds.

The two sat by the window in a coffee shop.

"So you should start harnessing Rain Lord now?" Lin Yue asked.

"More or less. I'd already started harnessing it when I woke up this morning." Chen Xi took a sip of velvet coffee.

Lin Yue had called early in the morning to wake her up and asked her to meet at the coffee shop for some tactical discussion, yet after arriving, they had only been idly chatting.

"How much Legend Degree does your Shadow Dweller have now?"

Lin Yue answered honestly, "34%."

Counting the 10% she had inherited, along with the enormous help provided by the shadow armor during this battle, Shadow Dweller's Legend Degree had advanced by leaps and bounds.

However, every 33% mark in Legend Degree was a hurdle. The energy needed to progress from 66% to 100% far exceeded what was needed to go from 0% to 66%.

According to the panel's Rank classification, Lin Yue was now a mid-Rank One Transcendent.

And because of the special nature of her ability, fighting across Ranks was not particularly difficult for her.

But... Wu Xin was no pushover either.

The legend she had harnessed was probably among the stronger ones as well.

"If we want to increase your combat power in the short term, we can only try harnessing a new legend."

"I'll ask Zhu Li." Chen Xi opened her chat with Zhu Li.

Although asking someone for a favor so soon after meeting was rather shameless, she had no other choice.

That little boss Wu Xin simply had too many tricks up her sleeve.

It was hard to imagine how many times Lin Yue had died in the original story before finally dealing with her.

[Xi: You there?]

The moment she sent it, Chen Xi had barely lowered her phone before the other side replied.

[Zhu Li: What is it?]

[Xi: Are there any wild, controllable Legends in Tianhai City lately?]

[Zhu Li: No. Tianhai City has seven Transcendent teams in total. The moment a controllable Legend appears, it gets claimed internally.]

[Zhu Li: The rest are either tough nuts to crack or have excessively harsh conditions for control. But if there's one you've got your eye on, you can tell me directly.]

As a Second Rank Transcendent and a seasoned veteran, Zhu Li was practically all-powerful in Tianhai City's supernatural world.

She directly sent over the files on the remaining Legends in the Countermeasure Bureau.

[Love Me or Die: Appears as a strand of hair. To control it, implant it into the hair root at the very center of the scalp.

Control risk: When implanting the hair, one must engage in a battle for the soul with the original Legend.

Ability: Can mentally control the bodies of others, causing them to develop fanatical infatuation toward oneself.

Negative curse: The personalities of all humans who have been controlled will become assimilated and cannot be restored to their original state. There is also a risk of them breaking free of control.

Related record: The previous Legend controller controlled too many people. During a battle, they carelessly released the control for a moment and were devoured by the puppets they had controlled.

Evaluation: The negative curse is far too severe. Control is not recommended.]

Lin Yue, who was looking over the file with Chen Xi, was dumbfounded. "What the hell is this? Are you sure this is being stored and not sealed away?"

"Forget it, let's keep looking," she said timidly.

"Fine." Chen Xi had only scrolled halfway through the files when she suddenly realized something.

She turned to look at Lin Yue, who had somehow sat down beside her. "I can just send you the files. Don't sit so close—it's hot."

Hearing that, Lin Yue obediently moved back. "Oh."

[Seven Kill Blade: Appears as a short-handled katana. To control it, hold the blade in the right hand and sever one's four limbs...]

After merely glancing at the description, the two of them unanimously skipped this Legend.

[The Ninth Night of Missing You: Appears as an old camera. To control it, take a full-body photograph of oneself.]

Control risk: None discovered so far.

Ability: Use the camera to take a full-body photograph of another person. If the original body dies, on the ninth night after their death, the person in the photograph will be reborn.

Negative curse: Each photograph consumes one's lifespan.

Related record: The resurrected life possesses all of the original owner's memories, but cannot replicate their Legend as well.

Evaluation: Perhaps the resurrected is no longer human. Controlling this Legend is strictly forbidden without authorization.]

"What kind of rotten garbage is this?! It's like reading horror stories."

Lin Yue rapidly scrolled through the files and found that the remaining Legends were either absurdly weak or bizarre beyond belief.

The fact that the two of them had managed to get a Legend without a negative curse meant their luck had already been working overtime.

"What am I supposed to do—" She sprawled across the desk and let out a long sigh toward the ceiling.