Qin Yanhua

"Ding!"

Just as the elevator doors were about to close, Xu Ye turned sideways and squeezed in shoulder-first.

Since he knew something was going to happen, he certainly couldn't ignore it.

Especially when it would happen at his workplace.

He definitely wouldn't be the killer, so there had to be something suspicious going on.

The girl in the elevator leaned against a corner, wearing a long black trench coat, a black baseball cap, sunglasses, and a mask, with a pair of ordinary white sneakers on her feet.

Bundled up so tightly in the height of summer, she could hardly avoid making people question her sanity.

Fortunately, this was a psychiatric hospital to begin with.

Xu Ye didn't know much about the celebrities in this world.

All he knew was that, although the entertainment industry here wasn't large, the major powers were all encouraging its development and promoting entertainment as part of everyday life.

Xu Ye guessed this was meant to help ordinary people relax and reduce their negative emotions.

As a result, a few fairly famous celebrities had emerged.

The girl in front of him seemed to be called Qin Yanhua.

She pressed the button for the Eighth Floor, and Xu Ye raised an eyebrow.

Just then, Qin Yanhua grew wary as well. She straightened up and slipped one hand into an inside pocket.

A stalker fan?

Or a paparazzo?

What a pain. They'd even followed me into the elevator.

Xu Ye knew there was a gun in that pocket.

He sneered inwardly and seized the initiative. "Is this really necessary?"

Qin Yanhua looked slightly startled. "Huh?"

"Why play dumb?" Xu Ye gave her a cool glance, feigning disdain. "Are fans really this out of line these days? This is my private time."

"An autograph or a photo? Just say it."

As he spoke, Xu Ye pulled the Steel Pen from his pocket.

Qin Yanhua: "???"

A sudden sense of absurdity washed over her. Wasn't she supposed to be the one saying those lines?

Who was this guy?

A big celebrity?

Although he looked clean-cut, there was no one like him in the entertainment industry.

"Ding."

The elevator had arrived.

Xu Ye shook his head impatiently. "What a bore."

With that, he walked out first.

Qin Yanhua was left alone in the elevator, utterly bewildered.

What kind of person was that?!

Was he nuts?!

Alice chuckled, her deep-blue cat eyes curving into crescents. "Xu Ye, you're so mean, teasing her like that. Qin Yanhua is one of the hottest stars right now. Her past works, Disinfectant, You Rascal! Blow Out the Light!, and The Ex in 3 Seconds... are all household names."

"And she's only nineteen, with tons of fans. If anyone found out, you'd get harassed online."

Xu Ye's mouth twitched.

Still, this had only been a brief encounter.

She would die in three days?

Could there be a pollution incident?

Leaving the elevator, Xu Ye turned left and entered the second-to-last office, which led to the Ninth Team's workspace.

"Hardly anyone's here today. That kid Lu Mingwang isn't here either. Weren't we supposed to have shooting practice?"

Only a scattering of people occupied the spacious hall.

Xu Ye poured himself an iced latte and went over to Li Yunyao's desk.

Li Yunyao wore a sailor-style uniform today, her hair tied in a long ponytail. Heat rose from her forehead, and the fabric over her chest was slightly damp. Clearly, she had just finished her morning workout.

She wore no makeup, or even skincare products, and her fair skin glowed rosy in the morning light.

"Thanks. By the way, the captain settled the matter with Andre. But he has an older brother who'll also be attending the training camp jointly organized by the Five Great Powers in a week. Watch yourself."

"Deaths are permitted at the training camp."

Without looking away from her computer, she took the coffee straight from Xu Ye's hand and sipped it. Very little seemed capable of stirring her emotions.

"..."

Xu Ye had no choice but to pour himself another cup.

Still, the captain seemed to have extensive connections.

She could even hush up the death of a nobleman's son.

"Are you getting used to killing?" Li Yunyao suddenly asked.

"No. It doesn't feel good, either," Xu Ye answered honestly. "But at least being alive feels better."

"We have the day off from training. The captain and everyone else went to see Qin Yanhua. Aren't you going?" Li Yunyao looked a little surprised, but didn't press him and changed the subject.

Xu Ye leaned against her desk and shrugged. "I'm not particularly interested. But why are film crews allowed to shoot here?"

Li Yunyao gave him a surprised look. "Because they pay us to use the place, obviously. The Dawn Blade's annual expenses are enormous. Part of our funding comes from allocations by the nobility, and the rest comes from side jobs, like renting out our facilities, running our hospital, or having Awakened use their abilities to solve problems for wealthy people."

"Things like gemstone gambling, medical treatment, and finding undervalued antiques."

"Sequence 6-001, Director. It's an expert-type divine sequence that was just deciphered from the Heavenly Dao and only announced yesterday. Sister Li and the others were just discussing how effective it would probably be for making movies."

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, Li Yunyao answered a call. A moment later, she hung up and told Xu Ye, "Today's break is canceled. We have an assignment."

"Oh?"

Xu Ye perked up.

Assignments meant bonuses.

Over the past few days, he had bought plenty of little tools to keep himself alive, spending every last bit of his money.

"A suspected pollution incident."

Li Yunyao opened the file and briskly read it out:

"Zhang Rongxuan, male, twenty-five. Lives at the Jingxiu Tianxia Apartments. He's a webnovel author."

"Yesterday, he called the police and said a reader wanted to kill him."

"The Patrol Team did a brief investigation and found nothing unusual. But today, he called again, saying a reader had cursed him to get hit by a car when he went outside. And he really did get hit by a car. Fortunately, he only suffered a sprain..."

"The Patrol Team transferred the case to us. Zhou Ye went ahead to investigate and detected slight fluctuations in spiritual energy."

Webnovels?

Xu Ye felt a sense of familiarity.

He hadn't expected that line of work to exist in this world too.

Thinking Xu Ye wasn't familiar with it, Li Yunyao explained, "It's an emerging industry that provides ordinary people with mental entertainment. It's growing quite rapidly. This author wrote Three Lifetimes, Three Worlds, Escape from Death."

"You'll handle this one. Take Lu Mingwang with you. He's going to the training camp anyway, so he needs some experience. We can't have him embarrassing us."

Was this connected to the film crew?

Could this be what would lead to Qin Yanhua's death?

Xu Ye's heart gave a jolt.

Ten minutes later, Xu Ye dragged Lu Mingwang out of the crowd.

The two drove to their destination.

"Information update."

"We've confirmed that this is a pollution incident. The latest details have been sent to you."

Sitting in the passenger seat, Xu Ye skimmed the file.

Pollution incident code: FKC_069

Classification level: 3 stars

Pollution source level: Below level 1 aberration (provisional)

Danger level: Terrifying Level (provisional)

Infection method: Unknown

Pollution source characteristics: Unknown. Provisionally identified as Zhang Rongxuan.

Zhang Rongxuan displays anxiety, irritability, and unease. He consistently believes that readers intend to persecute him and exhibits persecutory delusions.

Note: This pollution incident has already caused an atmosphere of agitation to spread throughout the apartment complex. Anyone approaching the complex will experience negative emotions such as inferiority, agitation, and distress.

Recommended methods of handling the incident are as follows (in descending order of priority):

1. Rational communication (the subject possesses logical thinking and the ability to express himself clearly.)

2. Forcible arrest

3. Humane extermination

Aftermath management plan: Omitted.