Don't Run Off Tonight

The déjà vu faded, and Xu Le looked at Gan, still shaken.

Everything was false. A life under someone else's control, like a puppet.

Just like the meaning of the Puppet Card.

"How did it go, Xu Le? Did you see anything?"

Faced with Gan's question, Xu Le did not know how to answer him.

Was he supposed to say, "Mr. Gan, I see darkness between your brows. Within a year, you'll suffer a bloody disaster"?

Xu Le felt that would be going too far.

Besides, the things controlling Gan actually included money and power.

How could someone as free-spirited as Gan possibly be controlled by money and power?

Had he gotten the reading wrong?

But Gan had said before that, under any circumstances, fate could only be hinted at, never revealed outright.

Because a fate revealed outright would undergo drastic changes.

So what should he do?

"Did you see something terrible?"

"Uh, actually..."

Xu Le simply could not bring himself to say, "It wasn't that bad."

But if the divination was correct, what should he do now to help Gan?

"Heh, don't be nervous, Xu Le. Everyone's fate is different, and every Medium sees different things. Since you've seen it, that means it might exist."

"Don't you want to know your own fate, Mr. Gan?"

"How could fate be so easily changed? Besides, why bother knowing about something you can change? And if you can't change it, what good would knowing do?"

Xu Le paused. Those words had taught him another lesson!

"I understand. Thank you for your guidance, Mr. Gan."

"All right, I'm heading home. My spouse is waiting for me. If there's nothing else, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodbye, Mr. Gan."

"Do one good deed a day, avert one calamity a month. May the Red Moon watch over you."

Gan left, and Xu Le looked at the Black Card-Puppet again.

"How do you save a life under someone else's control?"

After pondering for a few minutes without finding an answer, Xu Le could only shake his head. He checked the time and prepared to clock out.

Just as he reached the doorway, Wang Shu slammed the door open, with Gu Beichen following behind.

Carrying an injured person on his back, Wang Shu asked urgently:

"Where's Mr. Gan?"

"He just left. What's wrong?"

"She's been polluted. We need Mr. Gan to guide her heart energy."

Xu Le looked at the person Wang Shu had brought back, and his Guyinduo vision immediately activated.

[Human female, heart energy alert level 1, fear pollution. Will mutate into an unknown oddity in 3 minutes and 45 seconds.]

Female? The person on Wang Shu's back had short hair and somewhat angular features. She looked like a tomboy.

Fine, that was not the point. The point was that she had just over three minutes left.

"No, I have to find Mr. Gan."

Gu Beichen turned to leave, but Xu Le stopped him.

"Don't bother. It's already too late to find Mr. Gan. Three minutes until mutation. Come help me."

"You?" Gu Beichen looked at Xu Le with open doubt.

Although Xu Le had been studying under Gan for some time and was himself a Medium,

he was only a half-trained, self-taught Medium. He had been learning for barely a couple of weeks. Could he really do this?

Xu Le knew they were hesitating, but there really was no time.

"Stop looking at me like that. Three minutes until mutation. Do you have any choice besides trusting me?"

Gu Beichen frowned slightly without speaking, while Wang Shu asked calmly:

"What do you need us to do?"

"Two minutes and forty-five seconds. If I haven't fixed her by then, you'll have to kill her."

Gu Beichen abruptly grabbed Xu Le by the collar. He wanted to say something, but his past experience kept him silent.

Beside him, Wang Shu agreed without hesitation:

"All right. When time's up, I'll do it myself. Hurry."

"Shu."

Gu Beichen looked at Wang Shu, who merely said flatly:

"She's running out of time."

Gu Beichen hesitated for a few seconds.

"If it doesn't work, I'll be the one to do it."

He released Xu Le. Xu Le did not waste time on their conflict either. Saving her came first.

He took a small box straight from Warlock Gan's cabinet.

Inside was a Psyche Worm, which could absorb emotions.

Xu Le did not actually know how to cure heart energy pollution. Although he had read some books about heart energy in the Headquarters Archive Room, they had been far too basic.

He did not know how to channel heart energy.

Those rudimentary methods could never save the injured woman before him.

But that was all right. Though he could not guide heart energy, he had something other Warlocks lacked-a true weapon against heart energy.

The Guyinduo Soul Tree!

"Nothing to lose by trying!"

Xu Le took out a dagger and cut open the injured woman's outer clothing. Hmm, nothing remarkable.

He placed the Psyche Worm on her chest. The moment he set it down, Gu Beichen interrupted from beside him:

"You don't put it on the chest to guide heart energy."

"Shut up. Say another word and I'll stab her to death."

Xu Le was angry now, too.

Of course he knew the Psyche Worm did not belong there. He had placed it there mainly to stabilize her heart energy, not channel it.

Gu Beichen: ...

Xu Le was always smiling when he clocked in for work. He seemed mild-tempered, like a newcomer anyone could push around.

Yet when Xu Le shouted at Gu Beichen, Gu Beichen did not talk back.

He remembered Black Tide Night, when Xu Le had turned the tide and killed the Black Cicada.

As for what had happened before that, they had all read Xu Le's personal investigation report.

Armed with a gun, he had killed several people single-handedly, suppressing the chaos and hidden dangers in the classroom. It had even earned him the name Butcher.

Sometimes Gu Beichen and Wang Shu wondered whether the Xu Le from back then and the smiling Xu Le of recent days were truly the same person.

"I'm sorry. Please save her. I'm begging you."

Gu Beichen had actually bowed his head? That surprised Xu Le.

Even Wang Shu beside him added:

"Xu Le, please."

"I was already trying to save her. You two kept interrupting."

His mind emptied, but a feverish heat began to rise as his finger touched the Psyche Worm.

The Psyche Worm before him shriveled instantly!

It happened several times faster than during the earlier inspection at the city wall.

The difference was probably between a focused, serious Xu Le and a Xu Le who was slacking off.

Gu Beichen and Wang Shu naturally noticed, but neither said a word at that moment.

Xu Le pressed his palm against the polluted woman's forehead.

The Soul Tree's branches extended under his control.

The branches seemed to break through the mind's limitations, wrapping around the polluted woman in the second-layer world of Guyinduo Fate.

Gu Beichen and Wang Shu could see none of it.

They could only sense that something was happening to their teammate.

The Guyinduo branches coiled around her head, absorbing rings of black energy.

Intense pleasure began assaulting Xu Le's mind.

For a moment, he even wanted to surrender himself completely to that pleasure.

But just as it became impossible to resist, the Guyinduo Tree instantly absorbed every trace of those emotions of desire.

The pleasure, however, remained entirely intact.

As the branches tightened and coiled, a black, mistlike thing crawled out of the injured woman's nostrils.

[Child of Fear]

"Aah!"

The instant he emerged from her body, the Guyinduo branches wrapped around him, their tips piercing his body.

Black, mistlike energy flowed along the branches and leaves into Xu Le's body.

Soon, he had been devoured completely.

The dark tinge on the injured woman's face faded as well.

Xu Le sat on the floor, exhausted.

His body paid the price for that burst of power.

He felt utterly drained and could only lean weakly against the wall.

"Xu Le, are you all right?" Wang Shu asked with concern.

"I'm fine. This tomboy should be all right now, but I could only remove her pollution. You'll still have to take her to the hospital for her injuries."

"Sure, no problem."

"Let's go."

Wang Shu hoisted the injured woman onto his back, and Gu Beichen followed him out.

Xu Le was left alone in the room.

He stood up, sat in an office chair, and sank his consciousness into his mental world.

He looked up at the Guyinduo Soul Tree and narrowed his eyes.

The expenditure from summoning and advancing as a Warlock had left him with only seven lust fruits. He still had to reserve one for Toad, so his supply had dwindled considerably.

Notably, however, the number of fear fruits had risen to four.

After absorbing the injured woman's Child of Fear, the unripe fruit

had finally ripened, and another tiny fruit had grown as well.

"So the fear I absorb becomes Guyinduo Fruits here? Interesting!"

Looking at the fear fruits, Xu Le kept feeling the urge to eat one and try it.

But he restrained himself. This was the Branch Office. Even if he wanted to experiment, it would not be safe here.

"Forget it. I'll go to Headquarters tomorrow and look up information on eating heart energy fruits before trying one."

After leaving his mental world, Xu Le did nothing else. He was exhausted.

He simply leaned back in the chair and slowly closed his eyes.

Absorbing fear had taken a heavy toll. He needed to clear his mind for a while.

Just as Xu Le was about to rest, he suddenly noticed half a face peeking through the doorway, like a ghost!

Xu Le grew irritated.

"What are you doing?"

The person peeking in was Gu Beichen. He stared at Xu Le for a while, then pointed a finger at him and tilted his head.

"Don't run off tonight."

Xu Le: ???

What did that mean? Was he going to beat me up?

"What do you want?"

"Don't run off after work. I'm buying you dinner. We'll be back soon!"

Only Gu Beichen's voice remained; he was already gone, presumably heading to the hospital.

Xu Le stared blankly at the doorway. Suddenly, he felt that Gu Beichen was... how should he put it?

Xu Le found himself at a loss for words.

Forget it. Do one good deed a day, avert one calamity a month.

He ought to buy me dinner. Here in Lighthouse, it'll just be abalone, sea cucumber, shark fin, fish maw, chicken, duck, beef, and lamb.

We'll probably keep working together anyway. Even if he offended me, there's no reason to get angry.

I'll go back and bring Ding Ke first. Payday is still a ways off.

As long as he treats me to something good and lets me take the leftovers home, I'll forgive him.

What should I eat tonight?