The Unity Society's Lair

"Sir, don't rush. Take your time."

Yang Gan spoke kindly to the old man who had just been let out of the restroom.

A masked female investigator in a black trench coat stood beside him.

At Huting Park, more than a dozen armored vehicles from the Anomaly Bureau had surrounded the area. Hundreds of investigators had formed a three-layer security perimeter, with even the snipers on the distant residential buildings keeping a wary eye on everything around them.

The moment he sensed the abnormal mental radiation at Huting Park rapidly weakening and then disappearing completely, Yang Gan had rushed over.

The Zhun Brothers were still on perimeter duty.

The Bureau's reinforcements had arrived almost at the same time, and Yang Gan had found the old man locked inside a public restroom.

"Officer, I swear, I've never seen anyone so rotten! I was nearly suffocated! This public restroom stinks to high heaven! Can't the city do something about it? Why can't they make public restrooms smell nice?"

The old man's face was wrinkled like orange peel from the stench. He grabbed Yang Gan's hand and started complaining.

Discreetly pulling his hand free, Yang Gan continued asking questions.

"Tell me, sir, who locked you in there just now? The government will see that justice is done!"

The old man calmed down a little, then continued.

"I was on the toilet when I suddenly heard Auntie Zhao and the others, who were dancing outside, shouting in a panic. I peeked through the door and saw everyone running away. Then two figures came sprinting in, using their hands and feet like dogs."

"I couldn't make sense of what was happening, and I was scared too, so I kept peeking through the door. Then I realized they seemed to be doing parkour. Or maybe not. They could've escaped from Qingyang Hospital. One minute they were climbing the pavilion, the next they were bouncing around, and then one of them started floating."

Yang Gan frowned. "Floating? How? And what is Qingyang Hospital?"

"He suddenly floated several meters up and hung there in the air. Maybe he was on stilts. The power had gone out, so I couldn't see clearly. Then one of them knelt down and kowtowed to the other, and the one who'd been floating fell down. Qingyang Hospital's the psychiatric rehab place out in the suburbs. The mental hospital!"

After finishing, the old man looked up at Yang Gan impatiently. How could young people these days not even know about Qingyang Hospital?

"Then one of them came over, opened the door, and asked me what I'd seen. He was an ugly-looking man in his forties or fifties, and he called me 'sir.' I'm only in my fifties! I told him what I saw, and he shut the door on me and ran off! Can you believe how shameless he was?"

Yang Gan nodded slightly while the recorder beside him took notes at a furious pace.

The old man was still grumbling. "Honestly, the smell made my eyes water. Who knew crazy people could be so rotten... Hey, that's a nice fishing rod! Good for silver carp and bighead carp."

Yang Gan immediately perked up. "You bet. I had it specially made. Carbon fiber, one of a kind. You know, that time at Huaishan Reservoir—"

"Yang Gan," the masked woman in the trench coat said.

Yang Gan immediately shut his mouth and obediently stepped aside.

The woman removed her sunglasses and looked at the old man gently.

"Is what you've told us true?"

A faint light seemed to shimmer in her eyes. Her voice was as soft as a breeze passing through one's heart, and everyone at Huting Park grew quiet and relaxed.

The old man froze, then murmured, "Everything I said is true. You really remind me of my daughter... What a pair of lunatics. Weird and shameless..."

The woman watched the old man's eyes closely for a moment, then put her sunglasses back on.

"He's not lying. Ordinary people just can't see the fierce battle on the mental plane. There are still traces of mental radiation here."

Yang Gan quickly arranged for investigators to escort the old man home, then turned to the woman.

"Sister Lan, what exactly happened? Abnormal-on-abnormal infighting?"

The woman shook her head.

"When the mental radiation around Huting Park disappeared, the more than two hundred remaining abnormality-infected people throughout Gu City all returned to normal at the same time. The one who was killed must have been the source of this mass infection. Whoever eliminated it was probably an awakened person."

"You mean some powerful unregistered awakened person? Someone who usually doesn't want to be tied down by the system, but steps up to help the public in a crisis?" Yang Gan instantly understood her meaning and exclaimed admiringly, "He's clever. Now he can go fishing whenever he wants, right?"

The woman glared at him impassively. "Pack up. You're coming with me to Cloud Mountain. If that mastermind has been staging diversions in the city, then his real objective must still be somewhere on Cloud Mountain. This is a critical moment. We can't afford any mistakes."

Yang Gan hurried after her. "What's the Bureau's plan, anyway? I'm completely in the dark. Did you find something on Cloud Mountain? Wasn't there a reservoir up there?"

At the hospital, Li Fan stared at Liu Dalong's sincere face, his heart aching.

This was betrayal! Ingratitude! Repaying kindness with treachery!

I just saved your life, and now you want me to be deputy department head?

Do you have no humanity?

Are you really trying to shove me into a fire pit?

Why were people these days all like this?

Suppressing his turbulent emotions, Li Fan hurriedly waved his hands.

"Department Head Liu, what are you saying? I've only been working here for a few days! Deputy department head? Everyone would laugh at me! Besides, you've worked so diligently and devoted yourself so completely. Who in the department doesn't know how conscientious you are?"

As he spoke, Li Fan sprang to his feet, his face already angry.

"I saw what happened tonight. You fought desperately against an abnormality and were seriously injured, which is why you passed out. You're a hero! If you stepped down and I became deputy department head, wouldn't everyone blame me? I might as well resign!"

Then Li Fan changed tack.

"Besides, the Dissection Department is the backbone of the entire Anomaly Bureau. You're our technical expert. Everyone knows how skilled you are at dissection. You're the backbone of this department. If you stop being deputy department head, this department will fall apart. If our department falls apart, the Anomaly Bureau will fall apart! You'd be a sinner, I'm telling you!"

Li Fan spoke so passionately that his face flushed red. He looked utterly indignant.

Liu Dalong had been dejected and frightened, but after hearing Li Fan's words, he was suddenly overcome with excitement and gratitude.

So all those years of going to work after three in the morning and getting off before five, devoting himself to making money at his family's butcher shop, had all been in service of honing his dissection skills and becoming the Bureau's technical backbone!

If Section Chief Li hadn't reminded him, he would've forgotten all about it.

Seeing that Li Fan looked ready to die rather than accept the deputy department head position, Liu Dalong's eyes reddened, and tears streamed down his face. The burly butcher could only grab the blanket in a hurry and wipe them away.

"Oh, these eyes of mine. Dry eyes. I can't watch TV for too long."

He'd saved Liu Dalong's life, then done everything he could to deflect the credit and refused a promotion that would take advantage of him while he was down. He'd even given him a way out.

This young man was truly wonderful.

So rare!

No matter what, he had to find a way to get Li Fan the reward he deserved.

The more humble and kind he was, the less Liu Dalong could let him down!

Seeing that Liu Dalong had been persuaded for now and had abandoned the idea of making him deputy department head, Li Fan couldn't help letting out a long sigh of relief.

He'd been sweating bullets just then.

He'd only gained a little of the Tiger Pillar God's power. He was still weak. If he got promoted twice in just a few days, something was bound to go wrong.

He'd made it through that close call.

The Unity Society had to be eliminated immediately!

Just then, his phone rang.

The caller ID showed an unknown number.

Li Fan frowned, picked up the phone, and stepped into the hallway outside the room before answering.

Auntie Zhang's voice came through.

"Reporting in. We've determined the approximate location of the Unity Society's lair. It's deep inside the Gu City Subway."

Li Fan nodded slightly and asked in a hoarse, low voice, "The exact location?"

Auntie Zhang sounded a little uneasy.

"We haven't confirmed it yet, but we're speeding up the search."

Li Fan's brow furrowed.

"Useless."