Chapter 342: Back in Tianmian City I'm a Dog

The information from the Team Channel flashed across Bai Mu Yun's sight; they withdrew their gaze and refocused their attention on the receptionist before them.

The receptionist's expression had already frozen.

"Sir, you... what did you say?"

Bai Mu Yun gave a slight smile, the smile gentle, appropriate, even carrying a perfectly timed apology.

"I said," they repeated slowly, "someone is planning to break into the prison."

The receptionist's hand had already slipped quietly toward the alarm button under the desk; Bai Mu Yun was already an adult and had to be responsible for every word and deed.

"Where did you learn of this information? Can you provide more details?"

"Details..." Bai Mu Yun looked pensively at the ceiling, "for example, have the people planning the prison raid already entered?"

"Are you serious? This is a very serious accusation—"

"Don't be nervous."

Bai Mu Yun raised a hand and waved it, the motion casual as if soothing a frightened little animal.

"I'm just here to deliver a message, not to cause trouble."

After all, the troublemaker is someone else; they wouldn't even make the list.

The receptionist's hand had already pressed the alarm button when Bai Mu Yun spoke, but the alarm did not sound again.

They pressed it several more times in succession.

Still no response.

Bai Mu Yun looked at them, golden eyes showing no emotion, even idly yawning, and, somewhat listlessly, asked casually.

"Did you really press that button?"

The receptionist's complexion changed.

They immediately braced against the desk and stood up, trying to shout, but found they could not produce any sound.

And, the body felt so light......

They turned back in a daze, looked down, and saw they were still sitting properly at the reception window, as if carefully listening to Bai Mu Yun's words, taking notes, just as they usually did.

Wait, what about the others?!

They immediately looked to the side; the people around clearly hadn't noticed anything amiss on their side, still busy with their own tasks.

No, can't!

They tried to get others to press the alarm button, but it seemed as if they were shouting until their throats broke, and those people heard not a single sound.

Could it be that they're already dead? That only their soul remains here?

"Don't waste your effort," Bai Mu Yun's voice came from behind.

The receptionist spun around sharply; the well-dressed man had somehow slipped into the reception desk area, standing just two steps behind them.

Bai Mu Yun waved a hand casually, and the mist that had been obscuring his view vanished completely; the earlier 'out-of-body' was merely an illusion, yet when he turned his head, everyone inside the Supervision Bureau had already collapsed.

"Since we dared to come, we must have been fully prepared."

The receptionist froze on the spot, because they saw several shadows had appeared behind the man in front of them.

The shadows twisted and writhed, finally coalescing into the outline of a person.

Lu Mu stuck his head out from behind Bai Mu Yun, his face pallid as a corpse just pulled from water, yet his mouth still wore that irritable grin.

"Hey~" he said weakly, waving at the receptionist, "Don't be nervous; we're just here to borrow a passage, or we could play a game—if you win, we spare your life?"

The receptionist opened their mouth, but before a sound could emerge, their whole body went limp as if their bones had been pulled out, sagging softly onto the chair.

They're not dead, just passed out.

"If you start playing around here, watch out for our dear minister tossing you straight away."

Lu Mu withdrew his hand, rubbing the spot where his lower back meets his wings.

"Fine, you guys will definitely need me when you go down; this time the load went from two straight to four, so what's wrong with me playing a game to relax a bit?"

At this point, he felt a bit guilty; although he knew they'd definitely need him when they left, honestly Lu Mu was still uncertain.

Who knows, they might suddenly have some idea and toss him straight onto Tianmian City? Who should he go find…?

This is their earth-shaking Dome camaraderie.

"Dammit, if I ever come back to Tianmian City as a dog again, my waist will break......"

"Wake up, even a celestial dog has to become a paraglider."

——————————————

Ying Duo was still slumped in the holy water, staring blankly, when suddenly the water beneath them gently rippled.

They lifted their head.

The light above flickered twice, then went out completely.

These days, are the energy fluctuations of the Supervision Bureau's Rune circuits this unstable?

Fang Zhiyan: Arrived.

Ying Duo blinked, that fast?

He hadn't even reacted when he noticed something wrong: the conduit meant for injecting holy water, a silvery-white tendril had slipped in from a crack.

The tendril swayed lightly in the air, as if checking the surroundings, then retracted.

The next second, Fang Zhiyan himself 'flowed' through that crack.

It was truly a 'flow'.

His hands were still tucked in his trench coat pockets, his posture relaxed, as natural as walking from one's living room into the bedroom.

Fang Zhiyan looked at Ying Duo, drenched as if he had rolled in the holy water, and couldn't help falling silent.

"Been waiting long? Sitting here doing what?" Fang Zhiyan asked with a smile, his tone like asking a student about their homework.

"Waiting for you," Ying Duo replied evenly.

"I'm saying," Fang Zhiyan patiently added, "why are you sitting in the holy water?"

Ying Duo lowered their head to glance at their lower half submerged in the liquid, then lifted their head again.

"The mutation value is dropping quickly."

That movement, that expression—just like a brat left by their parents at kindergarten until dark.

Fang Zhiyan couldn't help but let out a low laugh.

"Let's go," his gaze fell on Luo Jinyou inside the confinement cell, "get him out."

Luo Jinyou's condition was worse than he had expected, the mutation patterns had spread to his neck, his facial expression alternating between ferocious and blank, even in unconsciousness he could not find a moment's peace.

"The mutation value is over seventy... still fairly stable," Fang Zhiyan then asked, "how is their consciousness space?"

Fang Zhiyan was certain that Ying Duo had entered Luo Jinyou's consciousness space; setting aside the earlier illusory Ying Duo whose anchor in this world seemed to have stabilized somewhat, if the one standing before him was still just an empty shell, a puppet could not enter another's consciousness.

Ying Duo rose from the holy water, droplets rustling down from their body.

"I saw their parents."

Fang Zhiyan did not continue questioning; he could roughly guess that those were fragments of memory deep in Luo Jinyou's consciousness, those images still present, meaning Luo Jinyou's self-awareness had not completely dissipated.

"Looks like you're satisfied?" he said, "the rest is up to me."

The tentacles behind him began to move, several thick tentacles wrapping around the edges of the confinement cell; with a light tug, the sturdy metal cell emitted a grating "creak" and began to deform.