Mental Meditation

"What's wrong, Gu Yuan? Did you forget something at the training hall?"

Seeing Gu Yuan suddenly stop in his tracks, Sun Miaomiao couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.

The janitor, who had already been pushing his cleaning cart toward the training hall, also stopped upon hearing the commotion. He turned around and looked at Gu Yuan.

In that instant, Gu Yuan's heart practically leaped into his throat.

Human Collector? What the hell kind of title was that? Just hearing it made his scalp tingle!

He wasn't stupid enough to go and probe someone with a tag like that hovering over their head.

With a tag like that, it seemed highly likely that the person was the culprit behind the students' disappearances at the school.

A criminal returning to the scene of the crime to admire their own masterpiece?

"Haha, nothing, Sister Miaomiao." Gu Yuan scratched his head.

"I'm just a bit forgetful. I was just thinking if I'd left anything behind, but now that I think about it, I haven't. Let's go."

As he spoke, he subtly pulled Sun Miaomiao along, picked up his pace, and the two of them headed toward the school gate together.

He didn't dare look at the janitor again, terrified that the man might notice something unusual.

Seeing the two of them moving again, the janitor continued pushing his cart, slowly making his way into the training hall.

It wasn't until they were outside the school gates and inside a taxi that Gu Yuan's taut nerves finally began to relax.

As the car drove steadily toward the Destiny Bureau, he opened his mouth to speak to Sun Miaomiao beside him.

"Sister Miaomiao, I have a feeling... that janitor back there wasn't simple!"

Sun Miaomiao was looking at the street scene outside the window; hearing this, she glanced at Gu Yuan sideways.

"How is that possible? What could be suspicious about a janitor? Aren't you being a bit too nervous?"

In her eyes, he was just an ordinary middle-aged man with no energy fluctuations and completely unremarkable spiritual power.

Seeing that she didn't believe him, Gu Yuan couldn't be bothered to explain further.

As soon as the car arrived at the Destiny Bureau building, Gu Yuan opened the door and headed straight for the Third Team.

He burst directly into Shen Tingxue's office.

"Cousin, I noticed something wrong when I was following Sister Miaomiao to investigate at the training hall!"

Shen Tingxue, who was busy processing documents, was startled. She looked up and saw Sun Miaomiao just arriving at the door.

She frowned, ignoring Gu Yuan, and looked at Sun Miaomiao instead.

"Miaomiao, what was wrong?"

"Captain, I didn't actually detect any useful clues." Sun Miaomiao shrugged and walked into the office.

"But Gu Yuan said he felt the janitor we ran into was abnormal."

Hearing this, Shen Tingxue raised an eyebrow and rolled her eyes at Gu Yuan.

"Gu Yuan, when did you become such a coward? Just because someone went missing at your school, does that mean you have to see everyone as a villain?"

In her view, this was likely just Gu Yuan's first time at a crime scene, and he was being overly sensitive.

"Wait?" Shen Tingxue suddenly paused, catching the key information. "You said... you didn't detect anything?"

Sun Miaomiao nodded, her expression turning serious. "That's right. The energy traces at the scene were cleaned up very thoroughly. There are only two possibilities."

"Either the missing person was carrying a Dao Artifact capable of shielding a Warlock's detection and ran off on their own, or an Alchemist Realm Warlock intervened and wiped away all traces, leaving me unable to detect anything."

Alchemist Realm?

Shen Tingxue's expression grew grave.

An Alchemist Realm Warlock possessed strength comparable to the director of their Destiny Bureau's Hai City branch.

According to the internal monitoring data of the Destiny Bureau, there were no records of any Alchemist Realm Warlocks entering Hai City recently.

This meant that an unknown Warlock had likely snuck into Hai City without a sound.

This was definitely not a small matter!

"So, Cousin, I suggest you look into that janitor." Gu Yuan added again.

Shen Tingxue recalled Gu Yuan's words. Given the gravity of the situation, she couldn't afford to overlook any suspicion, even if it was just a hunch.

"Mm, I understand." She took a deep breath, her expression stern. "I will report this situation to my superiors immediately. This matter is not ordinary."

After speaking, Shen Tingxue glanced at Gu Yuan.

"Also, from today until school starts, don't go back to your school. Stay home and behave, you hear me?"

"I hear you, I hear you." Gu Yuan nodded quickly.

He was joking—he wasn't an idiot.

Let him go head-to-head with a suspected Alchemist Realm "Human Collector"? He hadn't lived long enough for that.

Shen Tingxue hurried out of the office to file an emergency report.

Only Sun Miaomiao and Gu Yuan remained in the office.

"Want a bite?" Sun Miaomiao, who had just been wearing a stern expression, changed her face in an instant, dumping a massive pile of snacks out of her backpack until they covered the office sofa.

"..."

Gu Yuan stared at the sofa full of snacks, momentarily speechless.

Immediately after, the two of them seemed to have completely tossed the previous topic to the back of their minds, each lounging on one end of the sofa, scrolling through short videos while munching on snacks.

An hour later, Shen Tingxue returned to the office looking exhausted.

As soon as she walked through the door, she saw those two heartless wretches and was instantly struck by a wave of irritation.

"That's enough, Miaomiao, stop eating! The entire Destiny Bureau is working overtime today!"

"No way!" Sun Miaomiao's hand, which was in the middle of stuffing a potato chip into her mouth, froze as she let out a wail, "Overtime again, again, and again!"

She felt the snacks in her hand instantly lose their appeal.

"Gu Yuan, I'll take you home first." Shen Tingxue rubbed her throbbing temples, feeling helpless toward this cousin of hers.

Seeing this, Gu Yuan sensibly climbed out of the pile of snacks and prepared to head out with Shen Tingxue.

"Wait a second!"

Sun Miaomiao, off to the side, suddenly shouted.

She quickly wiped her hands clean with a tissue and ran over to her workstation to rummage through things.

A moment later, she walked over holding a slightly worn book and shoved it into Gu Yuan's hands.

"Here, don't forget to return it when you're done; this book is very expensive!" Sun Miaomiao emphasized specifically.

"Don't worry, Sister Miaomiao!" Gu Yuan took the book, gave her an OK gesture, and immediately followed Shen Tingxue toward the exit.

The two got into the car, and as Shen Tingxue started the engine, she caught a casual glimpse of the book in Gu Yuan's hand.

On the cover of the book were four archaic characters—Mental Meditation Method.

She raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.

"You have talent in this area?"

She knew Sun Miaomiao's personality very well; if she didn't truly think highly of someone, Miaomiao wouldn't just casually lend out this kind of cultivation technique.

"Of course!" Gu Yuan immediately puffed out his chest.

"Cousin, just you wait and see. Maybe in a few days, I'll become a glorious Warlock too."

Shen Tingxue shot him a sidelong glance, the corners of her mouth curling into a smirk.

"You? I think you're more suited to be... a massage Warlock."

Gu Yuan couldn't be bothered to bicker with her, so he leaned in and asked in a low voice, "Cousin, that janitor... have you looked into them?"

Mentioning the serious matter, Shen Tingxue nodded.

"I checked."

Her voice was somewhat heavy.

"The file is completely blank."

"This person was hired just one day before your school went on break. Identity information, past resume—there's nothing at all."

"I really don't know if the leaders at your school have pig brains. They dared to hire an undocumented person with no background information, and they didn't even report it when something went wrong!"