Chapter 16: No! That’s Not It, I Still Deeply Love Her!
When Yuan Zhu woke up again, it was already dark, and the car had stopped in the parking lot of Running City Security Bureau. He was shaken awake by someone, and the harsh noise from the broken car did not disturb his sleep at all.
“Wake up, we’ve arrived at the destination.”
“Ah…!”
Opening his mouth in a big yawn, he looked at the stranger in front of him with a bewildered face. Who am I? Where am I? What happened?
In a daze, Yuan Zhu got out of the car and followed behind the middle-aged man toward a three-story cement building. Gradually, he also recalled the previous events, while curiously sizing up Running City’s Security Bureau.
In the New Federation, there is no such thing as a police station; instead, there is the Security Bureau, which is a general term. Inside the Security Bureau, there are multiple functional departments, some responsible for daily civil disputes and criminal cases. But more are responsible for supernatural disasters, beast attack incidents, pollution incidents, those involving undead, those involving aliens… and so on.
This seemingly rundown small building in front of him housed all sorts of talents. Its business scope ranged from drunken brawling to soul possession, from marital infidelity to space travel, covering everything.
He even saw a moose chewing on a box of cigarettes, slowly walking out from the Security Bureau door, and disappearing in the blink of an eye. Wait, what just happened? Did my eyes play tricks on me?
Pushing the door open and entering, Yuan Zhu felt like he had arrived at a bustling flea market, noisy everywhere.
Some had their hands cuffed, looking dejected and crying; some were shouting loudly; some were emotionally stable, radiant, and very talkative… others were nervously panicked, looking around, and after accidentally making eye contact with Yuan Zhu, they screamed in even greater fright.
Walking through the crowded corridor, Yuan Zhu felt like his eyes had been opened to a new world. Not lingering much on the first floor, he went straight up the cement steps to the second floor, where the environment instantly became much quieter. The young man surnamed Han had gone ahead to turn in the equipment.
Compared to the shared large space on the first floor, the second floor was artificially divided into many private rooms. Most were occupied and in use.
Yuan Zhu was led by the middle-aged man to a row of long seats against the wall, where the man said: “Young man, wait here for a bit. I’ll go contact the testing expert to conduct another round of deviation testing on you. As long as you pass, you’re basically fine. Just wait a moment.”
After the middle-aged man left, Yuan Zhu sat down alone, with two other strangers on his left also waiting for judgment. The one farther away, in his thirties with an ordinary appearance, had a silent and serious expression, staring intently at the floor patterns with his head down, showing no intention of talking.
The one closer to him, around twenty-something, was dressed in colorful clothes that looked similar to Earth’s casual wear. This young man appeared much more panicked, occasionally lifting his hand to stroke his throat and pressing back and forth on his chest and abdomen.
The other guy exuded a weakling aura, completely at a loss, looking very easy to bully.
So Yuan Zhu couldn’t help but nudge him with his elbow, acting familiar: “Hey, brother. What’s your situation? What did you do? Why were you brought here?”
“Huh? Me?” The youth jumped, turning his head to look at the curious Yuan Zhu, then pointed at himself in confusion, shaking his head vigorously in denial. “Don’t talk nonsense, I didn’t do anything, I’m innocent! I’m the victim!”
“Tell me, what happened? I’m also an innocent victim dragged into some case. We can exchange experiences.” Yuan Zhu made it up casually: I’ve got over forty dead on my side, how about you?
It was also his first time in the bureau, and with his mental state soothed and comforted by the game sprite, he wasn’t nervous or scared; instead, curiosity arose, and he wanted to learn more, which would help him.
The youth beside him was obviously very panicked too, wanting to find someone to vent to relieve his inner pressure, so he began confessing-like self-narration: “Okay, okay. I have a girlfriend I’ve been dating for 3 months, our relationship was on the rise, and a week ago she invited me to her home for a meal, to introduce me to her parents and siblings.”
Yuan Zhu, with zero dating experience, nodded pretentiously and commented: “Progress is good, seeing the parents after just 3 months.”
“That’s what I thought too, I was very happy at the time. The first meal was pleasant too, and afterward she said her parents had a good impression of me, and over the next week she kept inviting me to visit her home. Each time I was warmly hosted, and the food was delicious.”
Yuan Zhu: “So, why were you brought to the Security Bureau?”
Hearing this question, fear appeared in the youth’s eyes: “Starting from the third time I finished eating at her house, I fell into a nightmare, then breathing became difficult, always having hallucinations of foreign objects inside my body. I thought it was lack of rest or illness, but the situation kept worsening, her family became increasingly strange, and I seemed to hear weird sounds. Finally… urp, urp!”
Not finished speaking, the youth started breathing violently out of control, pressing his chest with his hand, then opening his mouth wide and spewing out thin tentacles connected to small green eyeballs.
The tentacles were like small squid legs, each with a big little eye blinking bulingbuling, wriggling forward like earthworms dragging their eyeballs. They tried to crawl toward Yuan Zhu’s shoe.
Splat!
Startled, Yuan Zhu lifted his foot and stomped the BB bullet-sized eyeballs, making popping sounds, splattering green mucus that gave off a strange fragrance, very appetizing.
“I… urgh…”
The youth wanted to say something, but covered his mouth and dry-heaved, then coughed from holding it in, and a few more lively tentacles emerged from his nostrils. His gaze was helpless and afraid.
Yuan Zhu hesitated to speak: “Uh… no need to say more. I can pretty much guess…”
“No! It’s not like that, I still love her deeply! I was brought to the Security Bureau for investigation, and it has nothing to do with the food she fed me. But during today’s dinner party, two elf severed fingers appeared. Her family is suspected to be involved in the disappearance case of some foreign elf…”
Yuan Zhu had a black person question mark face: “What?!”
“No more chatting, the expert has already been arranged for you. It’s dark out, and we still have to work overtime, what a hassle.” The middle-aged man appeared behind Yuan Zhu, patted his shoulder, signaling not to gossip about others’ privacy.
As Yuan Zhu stood up to leave, he still couldn’t help asking the youth: “So, what exactly are you panicking about?”
The youth said: “I heard that elf has a special identity and high status, a practitioner from an overseas immortal mountain, whose body has received an immortal’s blessing. I’m worried I’ve been cursed and suffered unknown pollution… urp…”
“You’ve already vomited live tentacles, and you’re still worried about being cursed and polluted?” Is that elf named Sukuna or something?
Chewing and popping the small tentacle in his mouth, the youth gave him a ‘don’t worry’ smile: “This is no problem!”
Yuan Zhu, full of unwillingness, was dragged away by the middle-aged man. On the way to the interrogation room, he couldn’t help asking: “Do you think that guy has already been eroded by pollution, his spirit twisted, unable to tell if he’s polluted? He’s vomiting tentacles, and still says ‘this is no problem’?”
Fatty Wang, the middle-aged man, looked at him strangely and sighed: “Sigh, young Yuan, you must have had a tough life usually, huh?”
Yuan Zhu puzzled: “Why?”
Middle-aged Fatty Wang replied: “Those live eyeball tentacles he just vomited are a popular famous dish recently called [Solomon’s Gaze]. Only upper-middle-income families can afford it. His girlfriend’s family is well-off, and he’s panicking because he’s afraid her family is really involved in some case and he won’t be able to live that kind of life anymore.”
“Ah?!!” Yuan Zhu kitten tilted head opened mouth confused.jpg
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