Xu Zhihan first entered the Special Investigation Bureau at one in the morning.
The building looked ordinary from outside, with no ostentatious signage or heavily guarded entrance. But as soon as the car entered the underground parking garage, Xu Zhihan sensed the difference.
There were many formations here.
They were not particularly strong, but they were densely packed.
Every level was guarded. The elevator entrances, corridors, and access checkpoints all gave off unusual fluctuations.
Lu Wenchuan parked the car and turned to look at him. "We're here."
Xu Zhihan opened his eyes, his face still pale.
"It's quieter here than at the Xu Family's place."
Lu Wenchuan laughed. "That's an unusual way to give a compliment."
Xu Zhihan ignored him, pushed the door open, and got out.
He had barely steadied himself when he swayed almost imperceptibly.
Walking beside him, Lu Wenchuan half-raised a hand, then stopped.
Xu Zhihan looked at him. "Want to help me?"
Lu Wenchuan slipped his hand back into his pocket without missing a beat. "I thought about it. Didn't dare."
Xu Zhihan looked away.
Lu Wenchuan led him into the elevator.
The elevator had both a camera and a detector. As soon as Xu Zhihan entered, the detector's indicator flashed.
Red.
Lu Wenchuan saw it and pressed his hand over the detector.
"It's broken."
The young team member in the elevator said quietly, "Captain, we just replaced that yesterday."
Lu Wenchuan looked at him. "Then yesterday's replacement was broken."
The team member fell silent. "..."
Xu Zhihan gave Lu Wenchuan an indifferent glance.
Lu Wenchuan smiled innocently.
The elevator stopped on the third basement level.
When the doors opened, several people were already waiting in the corridor.
At their head stood a woman in her thirties with short hair, a white coat, and sharp eyes. When she saw Xu Zhihan, her first words were no greeting.
"This is the one you brought back?"
Lu Wenchuan nodded. "Xu Zhihan."
The woman looked at Xu Zhihan. "Song Zhixia, Medical Team."
Xu Zhihan gave a quiet acknowledgment.
Song Zhixia frowned. "You look awful. A physical examination first."
Xu Zhihan said, "No need."
Song Zhixia remained expressionless. "That's not your call."
Xu Zhihan looked at Lu Wenchuan.
Lu Wenchuan looked up at the ceiling.
Xu Zhihan said coldly, "Did you bring me here to sell me off?"
Lu Wenchuan immediately turned back. "That's a bit much. It's just a routine examination."
Song Zhixia glanced at them. "If you two want to argue, do it after the examination."
Xu Zhihan said, "I'm not arguing."
Song Zhixia said, "He is."
Lu Wenchuan pointed at himself. "Me?"
Song Zhixia could not be bothered to look at him. "You're the loudest."
Xu Zhihan glanced at Song Zhixia.
Finally, someone with sense.
Lu Wenchuan clicked his tongue. "Dr. Song, you're making me look bad."
Song Zhixia said flatly, "Have you ever looked good?"
Lu Wenchuan shut up.
Xu Zhihan was taken to an examination room.
Temperature, heart rate, blood tests, mental fluctuations, energy responses-by the time they finished the full procedure, his patience was nearly exhausted.
Especially with the mental fluctuation test.
He frowned the moment the instrument's probe approached him.
"Keep it away."
The researcher paused in surprise. "This is only a basic test. It won't hurt."
Xu Zhihan stared at the probe. "Noisy."
The researcher looked blankly at Lu Wenchuan.
Lu Wenchuan stood in the doorway with his arms folded, his tone practiced. "He thinks it's noisy."
"An instrument can be noisy too?"
"He thinks it can."
The researcher looked as though everything he knew had been called into question.
Song Zhixia came over and glanced at the data, her expression gradually turning serious.
Xu Zhihan's physical readings were terrible.
So terrible that, by all ordinary reasoning, he should not have been standing there.
Yet his mental fluctuations were extremely stable.
Far too stable.
People weakened by illness usually had wavering mental fluctuations, and prolonged medication made them even more erratic. Xu Zhihan had neither problem. His mental core seemed to be held down by something; they could measure neither its upper limit nor its depths.
Song Zhixia glanced at Lu Wenchuan.
Lu Wenchuan said nothing.
He knew Song Zhixia had spotted the problem.
By the time the examination ended, Xu Zhihan was thoroughly impatient.
Song Zhixia handed him a cup of warm water. "Drink it."
Xu Zhihan did not take it.
Song Zhixia looked at him. "It's water from the Medical Team. Not poisoned."
Only then did Xu Zhihan accept it.
Lu Wenchuan laughed beside him. "See? Dr. Song is more persuasive than I am."
Xu Zhihan took a sip of water. "Because she talks less."
Lu Wenchuan fell silent. "..."
Song Zhixia nodded. "He's right."
Lu Wenchuan felt he should not have come today.
After the physical examination came the ability tests.
Xu Zhihan sat in a chair outside the testing room, his expression detached.
Lu Wenchuan sat beside him, holding the testing procedure.
"First, basic perception. Second, anomaly resistance. Third, energy output. Fourth-"
Xu Zhihan interrupted him. "Is this necessary?"
"According to procedure, yes."
"It's a hassle."
"Bear with it," Lu Wenchuan said. "Once the results are out, the Special Investigation Bureau will have proper grounds to put you on its protection list. Xu Chengyuan won't have much luck trying that mental instability excuse again."
Xu Zhihan went quiet for a moment.
He looked at Lu Wenchuan. "You've been thinking through all this for me?"
Lu Wenchuan's hand paused over the procedure sheet before he quickly smiled. "Part of the job."
Xu Zhihan watched him.
Lu Wenchuan had said it casually.
But Xu Zhihan could tell this was not merely work.
He suddenly found it a little strange.
Not unpleasant.
But strange.
He lowered his eyes. "Meddlesome."
Lu Wenchuan smiled. "Yes, I have plenty of faults."
The testing room door opened.
The researcher inside poked his head out. "Mr. Xu, we're ready to begin."
Xu Zhihan rose.
Lu Wenchuan stood up with him.
"I'll go in with you."
Xu Zhihan looked at him. "Afraid I'll blow up your Special Investigation Bureau?"
Lu Wenchuan gave it serious thought. "A little."
Xu Zhihan did not want to speak.
The testing room was large, with white walls on every side and a metal chair in the center. Formation patterns were etched into the floor, and several instruments hung overhead.
The moment Xu Zhihan entered, the lights around him flickered.
The researcher froze.
Lu Wenchuan pressed a hand to his earpiece. "Was the equipment checked?"
A reply came through the earpiece. "Everything is normal."
Xu Zhihan stood in the center, his gaze calm.
"What now?"
The researcher glanced at the screen. "Mr. Xu, please sit in the chair and relax. The first test only measures perception. There's no danger."
Xu Zhihan sat down.
The next second, the metal chair's restraint bands automatically clamped around his wrists.
Xu Zhihan glanced down.
Lu Wenchuan's expression instantly turned cold.
"Who activated restraint mode?"
The people in the control room panicked. "We didn't activate it!"
Xu Zhihan stared at the metal bands around his wrists, his gaze growing colder by the moment.
"Lu Wenchuan."
Lu Wenchuan immediately turned to him.
Xu Zhihan's tone was flat. "Your Special Investigation Bureau likes locking people up too?"
Lu Wenchuan's smile vanished.
"I'll give you an explanation."
With that, he drew his blade.
Lightning lit up along its edge, and the metal restraints snapped apart.
Xu Zhihan raised his hand and looked at the red marks the restraints had left on his wrist, his expression utterly cold.
An alarm suddenly sounded in the control room.
"Anomalous energy intrusion!"
"It's not Mr. Xu's energy. There's external interference!"
Lu Wenchuan's gaze darkened. "An insider?"
In the control room, Song Zhixia said coldly, "Stop the test first."
But it was already too late.
The formation patterns on the testing room floor suddenly lit up. Every instrument turned toward Xu Zhihan at once, as though trying to forcibly extract his mental fluctuations.
Xu Zhihan sat in the chair without moving.
His face was pale, but his gaze was chillingly cold.
"Again."
Hearing that single word, Lu Wenchuan felt his chest tighten.
Xu Zhihan's voice was very soft.
"You all like touching things you shouldn't."
The next second, every light in the testing room went out.
In the darkness, Xu Zhihan lifted his eyes.
On the control room screens, every reading shot into the red at once.