Bai Ye

As the Nether-Ring Viper Queen's consciousness was completely annihilated and her massive body was nailed to death with a single spear, the Nether-Ring Snake swarm, deprived of its supreme commander, instantly fell into chaos.

Although quite a few D-rank and E-Rank snake demons still resisted stubbornly, they were swiftly slaughtered one by one under the cleanup efforts of the Special Affairs Bureau's reinforcements and Captain Wang's recovered team.

The hissing and screams across the campus gradually subsided, replaced by the sounds of cleanup crews spraying disinfectant and transporting demon beast corpses, along with the occasional muffled sobs of students who had survived the disaster.

Hua Yin withdrew the pair of awe-inspiring pale butterfly wings behind him and slowly descended from the main building.

His excessive mental exhaustion and the spiritual power that had yet to fully stabilize after his breakthrough made his steps somewhat unsteady, but his back remained straight.

The standard Tang saber in his hand had long since chipped and curled, covered in filth. He casually sheathed it.

The moment he stepped into the main hall, an overwhelming stench of blood and an even more chaotic scene crashed into him.

This was where he had fought the snake swarm for the longest, and also the slaughterhouse where the butterfly swarm had fed in madness.

The floor, walls, and even the ceiling were coated in a thick, indescribable layer of dark-red "sludge" made from blood, flesh, shattered bones, mucus, and the lingering light of pale butterfly wings.

Several student corpses, gnawed into incomplete ruins, lay mixed within it, making the scene even more horrific.

Several agents conducting preliminary inspections and setting up isolation markers in the hall saw Hua Yin coming down.

Then they glimpsed the even more exaggerated "road of flesh and blood" extending down from the stairwell behind him. Their faces paled involuntarily, their complicated gazes shifting away as they silently quickened their work.

"Hua Yin!"

Captain Wang's voice rang out.

Captain Wang was pale and injured, but still in decent spirits. He was walking over with a young man who looked to be around twenty-seven or twenty-eight.

The young man was tall and upright, his handsome features carrying a sharp edge of carefree defiance. He wore a specially made dark-blue combat uniform, and his shoulder insignia differed from Captain Wang's.

What drew the eye most were the grips of two short spears crossed over his back, as well as the faintly circulating aura around him, carrying both scorching heat and razor-sharpness.

The Ghost City Branch's strongest combatant, an A-rank ability user with [Windflame Spear], an early-stage Domain Transformation cultivator—Bai Ye.

Bai Ye looked Hua Yin over with undisguised interest.

His gaze lingered especially on Hua Yin's somewhat tattered, bloodstained combat uniform and those eyes that had returned to calmness yet remained unfathomably deep.

"You're White Butterfly? The new S-rank?"

Bai Ye spoke in a clear voice with a trace of curiosity. "Those wings up in the sky just now were pretty flashy. And down here..."

He looked around at the scene that resembled a painting of hell and raised an eyebrow. "You really made a mess."

Hua Yin nodded, taking it as a greeting. His voice was somewhat hoarse. "It was an emergency."

"I understand."

Bai Ye smiled, though it was impossible to tell whether it was approval or something else.

"You held off that mother snake's Consciousness Exchange assault, and in the end, you even devoured her will. Ruthless enough."

"Come on. Go back with Captain Wang and me, and give us a detailed account of what happened—especially... your final breakthrough and what happened when you devoured the Snake Mother's consciousness."

He deliberately emphasized the words "devoured the consciousness."

Hua Yin had no objection.

After returning to the Special Affairs Bureau and undergoing a tedious but efficient cleaning process, along with simple treatment for his wounds, Hua Yin was brought into a secure interview room.

Bai Ye, Captain Wang, and two record analysts dispatched by headquarters were present.

The report was tedious and detailed.

Hua Yin described the entire process as objectively as possible: sensing the warning, encountering the snake swarm, being besieged, noticing the Snake Mother's consciousness, being forced upstairs, reaching a desperate situation, being saved by Bai Ye, seizing the opportunity to kill and devour it, and finally breaking through.

He withheld certain details regarding his ability, such as the hunger, the feedback from devouring, and the changes in his core, but he concealed nothing about the key parts of the battle.

The analysts asked many questions, especially about the consciousness of the Snake Mother—its strength and traits—and what he had felt while being devoured.

Hua Yin could sense that their interest in "devouring consciousness" exceeded even their concern over the snake disaster itself.

The report lasted nearly two hours.

At last, Bai Ye waved a hand. "All right, that's enough for today. White Butterfly, go back and rest first. Don't use your ability for large-scale killing anytime soon. There may be further questioning at any time. As for your performance this time... well, your merits will be assessed later."

Hua Yin rose, silently saluted, and turned to pull open the heavy door of the interview room.

Just as the door was about to close, he faintly heard an analyst's lowered voice from inside, carrying confusion and a barely perceptible worry:

"An S-rank. The instability is too obvious. At the end, there were clear signs of losing control... It's a devouring-type ability, and it even involves the consciousness level. It'll certainly be formidable if it grows, but the hidden dangers..."

Another voice cut in, quieter still, but Hua Yin's hearing had become sharper after his breakthrough. "...Yes. By convention, once a talent like this is confirmed, special personnel from Imperial Capital headquarters should have come to take him away long ago. Even senior figures from headquarters might personally ask about him... But this time, aside from having Elder Li watch over him, why has there been no movement at all from above? It's a little abnormal..."

The door closed softly, cutting off the discussion behind it.

Hua Yin stood in the corridor, his fingertips turning faintly cold.

Not from fear, but from a subtle resentment that pricked his heart like an icy needle.

When you encounter ads asking "Are you a real person?", there is no need to pay attention to them. Just close them, and do not scan codes or send text messages!

An unstable factor?

A hidden danger?

Taken away?

So, in some people's eyes, was he merely an "object" whose risks needed to be assessed, an "object" that needed to be taken away and managed?

His struggles, his battles, even his breakthrough—were they merely "unstable data" for analysis?

He pressed his lips together, forced the emotion back down, and headed toward the dormitory area.

Returning to his private dormitory, he shut the door and sealed off everything outside.

Hua Yin leaned against the door and slowly let out a breath of stale air.

Only then did the exhaustion truly flood through every limb and bone.

He walked to the bed, sat down, closed his eyes, and began recalling every scene from today.

The madness of the snake swarm, the surging beastial nature, the shattering of his core, the unfurling of butterfly wings...

And when he had finally devoured the Snake Mother's consciousness, the cold, violent fragments filled with ancient hatred that had poured into his mind...

Just then, a gentle yet unquestionable voice suddenly rang through the quiet room:

"Hua Yin."

Hua Yin's entire body stiffened. He instantly opened his eyes, one hand already instinctively spread as spiritual power surged from it.

In the shadows by the window stood Li Siyuan. No one knew when he had arrived; it was as though he had always been there.

The old man no longer wore the gentleness he usually showed while teaching. His gaze was calm yet profound, as though it could see through every ripple of Hua Yin's soul.

Elder Li looked at him and slowly spoke his first words. It was neither a question nor comfort, but a direct statement carrying immense weight:

"Hua Yin, today, you lost control."

Hua Yin opened his mouth, wanting to argue that it had been for survival, for a breakthrough, that circumstances had forced his hand...

But in the end, every word caught in his throat.

He remembered the pure urge to kill that had filled his mind while swinging his saber, the overwhelming desire to devour when facing the snake swarm, and the cold pleasure of nearly being completely drowned by beastial instinct.

Yes, he had lost control.

At least during a certain stage, the one directing his actions had not been the calm "Hua Yin," but the primal hunting and devouring instinct granted by the Pale Core.

He lowered his head in silence, unable to refute it.

At the same time, in the branch director's office.

The ashtray before Liu Zhenguo was already crammed with cigarette butts.

His face was dark enough to drip water as he stared at the preliminary loss report and demon beast analysis summary concerning today's snake disaster at No. 3 Middle School.

Seventeen students had been killed or injured, along with three faculty members.

Even the Operations Department agents of the Special Affairs Bureau, though none had died, had many members who suffered injuries of varying severity during the incident.

As for No. 3 Middle School's property, the losses were even more enormous.

More importantly, a peak C-rank demon beast had infiltrated the city's core district and caused such massive casualties. This was the gravest dereliction of duty Youcheng had seen in nearly a decade!

And the source of it all pointed directly at the Spirit-Pattern Pillar outside the city that had been destroyed several days earlier!

"Investigate!"

Liu Zhenguo slammed his hand onto the desk, his voice like that of an enraged lion echoing through the soundproof office.

"Investigate it to the very end! Mobilize every resource from the Information Department, Monitoring Division, and Operations Department!"

"I want to know who destroyed that Spirit-Pattern Pillar! What method they used! What exactly their objective was!"

"And the source of the demon beasts! A demon beast on the level of the Nether-Ring Viper Queen normally has a fixed territory. How did she suddenly appear near Youcheng?"

"The incubation of her offspring requires a specific environment and energy. Could there be a spiritual vein node in the underground pipe network that we don't know about, one that has been contaminated or exploited?"

"Is all of this the work of an insider? An outside enemy? Or are those lingering illegal organizations conducting some inhuman experiment again?"

His blade-sharp gaze swept over the department heads standing solemnly before him.

"I don't care what methods you use. Within one week, I want to see preliminary leads! Otherwise, every last one of you—including me—can write your damn resignation letters and get the hell out!"

"This time, I want to see exactly what kind of monsters dare pull something this big on my turf in Youcheng!"

The storm had not ended with the calming of the snake disaster.

On the contrary, a deeper investigation and purge targeting the Special Affairs Bureau's internal structure and the city's security system officially began alongside Director Liu's fury.

And Hua Yin, who had only just revealed his edge yet had already been branded "unstable," was also swept into the increasingly turbulent undercurrent.