Lu Youxun stared at me not like he was looking at a human being, but as if he'd woken up on an ordinary morning, slipped into his pajamas, and pulled back the curtains expecting the usual blue sky, white clouds, and sunshine—only to find Godzilla's face staring right back at him through the window.
It seemed like even his thoughts had come to a temporary halt. He just sat there on the ground in a disheveled state, mouth agape, staring blankly at me, unable to snap out of it for a moment.
Zhu Shi was startled by the sight and stood up, calling out, "Lu Chan?"
"Are you okay?" Since the whole thing seemed to stem from me, I quickly stepped forward to help him up.
As soon as he saw me approaching, his whole body shuddered again, as if instinctively trying to pull away.
But this time, his brain seemed to kick back into gear, and he stopped himself from retreating. I extended my hand, and after struggling to compose his expression, he obediently took it and stood up from the ground.
"What happened?" I asked curiously.
"Well... how do I put this..." He looked at me with lingering fear in his eyes. "...You don't have any ill intentions toward me, do you?"
"No. Why would I?"
Truth be told, it wasn't like I had no reason to harbor ill will toward him. When it came to finding Alice, he and I were essentially competitors. But on one hand, since I still needed to locate her, I'd have to rely on his investigative skills later on. On the other, the way he'd spoken and acted so far really didn't give me any reason to dislike him.
"It's a good thing you don't, or I might have died just now." Lu Youxun's tone carried a sense of relief, like he'd narrowly escaped death.
"Did I do something wrong earlier? Like, maybe your ability to transmit information into someone's mind has some kind of taboo, and I accidentally crossed a line?" I asked.
"No, you didn't do anything wrong. It's just..." He still seemed incredulous even now. "It's just that your power is too immense. Power that's overwhelmingly strong creates an inviolable domain just by existing. If anyone violated a taboo here, it was me."
I'm too powerful? Flattery won't get you anywhere with me.
That said, Zhu Shi had mentioned something similar before. Because my abilities as a superhuman were so enormous, even bizarre entities tended to steer clear of me. What Lu Youxun called an "inviolable domain" seemed to echo that idea perfectly.
"It looks like you're not very aware of your own power." Lu Youxun appeared to be gradually accepting what he'd encountered, and his attitude toward me grew more enthusiastic. "That's okay—unlike Zhu Shi, I have some experience in teaching and guiding others. If you don't mind, we could discuss this privately later..."
"Hold on!" Zhu Shi suddenly became anxious at his words.
She hurried over to my side, clutching my shoulders like a large dog guarding its food, and said warily, "Senior Brother Zhuang... Z is on my side—you can't poach him!"
"That's right, I'm on Junior Sister Zhu's side." I figured I should make my public stance clear.
"Senior brother? Junior sister?" Lu Youxun looked both amused and exasperated, turning to me. "Isn't Zhu Shi your guide?"
I corrected myself: "I'm on Teacher Zhu Shi's side."
"I'm not..." Zhu Shi seemed about to reflexively deny it, but she paused, her face turning red as she said, "I am!"
"Alright, I'm just kidding. We can talk about private discussions later—let's get back to business." Lu Youxun sighed and turned to Zhu Shi. "You've already received the target monster's whereabouts, even if it didn't transmit to Z's mind. You two should team up and handle that monster together."
"Wait, now that you know Z's level, there's no need for further assessment, right? Why does he still have to get involved in this?" Zhu Shi questioned.
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"You're still just a young woman, after all—it's reassuring to have a strong man by your side." Lu Youxun seemed to have a bit of a chauvinistic streak.
Before Zhu Shi could retort, he turned to me: "Z, you haven't actually killed anyone before, have you?"
I thought back and nodded. "No."
While I'd been in fights and come out victorious plenty of times, I'd never actually taken a life. The first fallen demon hunter I'd encountered had inexplicably died from organ failure, Agent Kong had self-destructed, and the two men in black suits I'd taken down while saving Chang'an weren't even human.
"Luo Shan prefers to capture the monster alive if possible. There are still many unknowns about the source of the monsters' powers—who knows where these people are getting the ability to transform. But I think it's fine if you end up killing the target. Battles can turn unpredictable, and you never know what cards the enemy might play. Don't put yourself in danger by holding back out of mercy.
"Z, that goes for you too—don't hold back. According to Luo Shan's investigations, those who turn into monsters have been consumed by an inhuman hunger that devours their souls. They're literally 'humans turned into monsters.'
"Set aside any hesitation and kill the enemy if you must."
Zhu Shi frowned as she listened but didn't argue, instead saying, "I remember you have a divination spell that lets you extract information from the brains of the dead. If we bring you the monster's head, could you get any useful clues from it?"
"No. Right before death or self-destruction, the source of their power vanishes from their bodies and automatically destroys any spiritual information inside." Lu Youxun shook his head. "If it were that easy to get intel, Luo Shan would have unraveled the monsters' secrets long ago."
"I see..." Zhu Shi said. "Well, we're heading out then."
"Good luck," Lu Youxun replied.
-
After leaving the teahouse, Zhu Shi and I took a cab toward the target area.
It was still evening when we got in, but by the time we arrived, the sky had gone dark. We'd reached the old district of Xian Shui City and switched to moving on foot. On the way, Zhu Shi explained that what Lu Youxun had obtained through his divination spell was "a route the target monster is likely to pass through in the future," and that's where we were headed now.
No wonder Zhu Shi had dismissed the clues from Chang'an's side as irrelevant. I had to admit, this method was far more efficient.
I pulled out the clue photos I'd received earlier from my pocket and flipped through them, repeatedly checking the one of Alice.
In the photo, Alice still had the intact red GPS bracelet on her left wrist. Clearly, she hadn't realized its true purpose yet, or it would have been discarded or destroyed by now. If that's the case, why wasn't I receiving any GPS signal?
Moreover, since Lu Youxun had such a convenient divination spell that could even predict the target's future movements, why couldn't he pinpoint Alice's exact whereabouts?
I could explain it away by thinking his divination required gathering preliminary clues first to work properly—that's what I'd assumed before. But walking down the road now and rethinking it, something still felt off. Luo Shan is huge; surely there are a few even more skilled diviners there. Couldn't any of them track Alice's movements?
Zhu Shi suddenly turned back, her expression serious. "Z, if we actually encounter that soul-loss syndrome girl later, don't tell Lu Chan."
I put the clue photos away. Though her suggestion aligned with what I wanted, I still had to ask, "Why?"
"You've seen the methods used by the faction Lu Chan belongs to, right? For that girl whose good or evil nature is still unknown, they're impersonating police to snoop around and fabricating crimes to smear her—it doesn't look like they care about her basic rights at all." She said, "I also hope Luo Shan can study that soul-loss syndrome girl and find a cure for the condition, because my mother is a soul-loss patient.
"But that has to be on the basis of her willing cooperation, not treating her like a dignity-less lab animal.
"That faction probably sees huge potential profits in the soul-loss syndrome girl, which is why they're resorting to such unscrupulous means. I absolutely won't go along with something like that.
"So, Z, you might think my ideas are a bit naive..."
She slowed her speech, seeming to ponder how to continue phrasing it, but I jumped in first.
"I've told you from the start," I said. "I don't care about this faction or that one, but I'll stand by your side. If you think we shouldn't tell Lu Chan, then I'll do as you say."
At my words, she seemed deeply touched and nodded vigorously.
Seeing that made me feel a bit guilty. After all, the reason I said that this time wasn't for Zhu Shi's sake, but for Alice—and ultimately, for myself.
"Speaking of which, are you and Lu Youxun pretty familiar? It seems like you know a lot about him," I said, habitually changing the subject.
"I wouldn't say we're that familiar—just some acquaintance." Zhu Shi shook her head. "Lu Chan used to be an 'A'-level impermanent one, with demon-hunting skills that were top-tier, and he was always very kind to his colleagues. A lot of impermanents received guidance from him, including me.
"Plus, back then, he wasn't part of the group that believed demon hunters should become divine overlords enslaving ordinary people—he belonged to the same faction I'm in now."
Puzzled, I asked, "If he was that powerful, why isn't he on the front lines anymore?"
"Because he lost his former powers..." She said with complicated emotions. "There are many organizations outside Luo Shan, and some of them hate it, believing the world should still be ruled by ordinary people. They think Luo Shan wants to use bizarre powers to dominate the world, so they strike first, using various methods to capture and imprison Luo Shan's demon hunters, subjecting them to inhumane experiments in an attempt to analyze their powers through science and technology.
"Two years ago, one of the largest underground organizations targeted Lu Chan at his weakest moment, expending countless resources and paying a heavy price, but they finally captured him and held him for experiments for a full eight months."
