Chapter 408: The Unwavering Person

Ying Duo stood up from the sofa, and Luo Jinyou's tail also rose.

"Are you leaving?"

"Got something to do."

The tail swished anxiously on the armrest, and Luo Jinyou instinctively frowned, "Are you going to investigate that poison?"

Having just asked that, Luo Jinyou instinctively shut his mouth; Ying Duo is now a cultist, so not only might he be investigating the poison, it could even involve him.

"Mm, capture the person, send them to the Dome, earn some reputation."

Ying Duo replied casually, and saw Luo Jinyou's previously drooping tail stiffen up again.

So easy to coax.......

Ying Duo mercilessly shut the door, fastened his hood, pulled out his communicator, and while walking accessed the Dome interior permissions that Fang Zhiyan had granted him.

The deputy head of the Mutation Department's permission level was sufficient for him to view most non‑confidential Dome files.

He opened the Field Operations Department archive, entered "new toxin" in the search bar, filtered by "latest", and the system immediately popped up a prompt box:

"The incident is under investigation; some information may be incomplete." He clicked confirm, and after a few seconds the screen displayed a document.

The document was short, but its information was substantial.

The number of infected was greater than he expected, and the affected area had already exceeded the Convention Center's bounds.

He had originally thought the stabbed idol was the first victim; the perpetrator seemed premeditated, and in fact, long before stabbing her, the culprit had already selected many lucky ones along the way.

Only because of Xie Jingyan's involvement did Xiao Huiyu receive the most thorough immediate diagnosis, which allowed the Dome to first notice the anomaly.

Ying Duo turned another page and also saw the idol Xiao Huiyu's name.

Next to her name was a note "isolated, condition stable," and an extra line of small text compared to others:

"The toxin source is being traced; preliminary judgment is that it is a Mutation organism extract."

Aberrant Species toxin… it seems the Chen Family patriarch was also poisoned by this before?

Now Tianmian City is practically out of reach, and he has lost any channel to learn its subsequent developments.

But Tianmian City's events are inseparable from the players' appearance; at least he must know the Church's movements, and the best way is to have a suitable informant there.

Yang Yixie already has the most suitable candidate; the only problem is that he doesn't know whether they can still return to reality.

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"Ah Qiu—"

Tianmian City's dusk arrived earlier than the Dome's; when Meng Kexin sealed the final document, the light outside fell precisely on the back of her hand.

She immediately covered her mouth with her hand and then began to wonder who was speaking ill of her behind her back?

"Do you want to take a break......?"

Chen Mo Zhi's voice rose slowly, and after the temporal‑spatial turbulence that had swept Tianmian City, the Chen Family had been especially busy those days, arguably sustained entirely by Meng Kexin.

These past days Chen Mo Zhi also learned a lot from Meng Kexin; handling documents was now a breeze, but when dealing with people, Meng Kexin still spoke for him while he pretended to be profound.

The temporal‑spatial turbulence that had swept Tianmian City was contained after the Supervision Bureau captains returned one after another; only those who were caught in the turbulence remain uncertain how long they will be trapped or where the turbulence will spit them out.

But now Tianmian City is far from stable......

Shen Zexi and Qi Hengyu were on Ying Duo's wanted list, listed as top fugitives by the Church, when they were still at the Academy; although the school initially provided evidence of their innocence, Ying Duo's open card still dealt a huge blow to them.

Both were trying to graduate early from Mitra Academy so they could leave Tianmian City sooner and join the Supervision Bureau or Heresy Tribunal to undertake missions in the outside world.

But their own thoughts… who knows?

Meng Kexin and Chen Mo Zhi applied for a leave of absence; with the Chen Family's burden now there, neither could go enjoy campus life.

But as for now, the most urgent need to capture Ying Duo probably still is...

—————————————

Qi Junyi leaned against the bedside, bandages winding from shoulder to waist; his left hand was suspended by the bandages, but his right hand could still move, albeit clumsily—he had tried to grab the nightstand cup and almost knocked it over.

The door opened.

Qi Junyi didn't look up; at this hour only a nurse would come, but the footsteps weren't those of a nurse.

Qi Junyi immediately looked up; Chi Jinan stood in the doorway, her red hair looking like a dim flame under the corridor lights.

Her dark eyes were deep; she wore only a dark coat, leaning casually against the doorframe.

Qi Junyi now most dreaded seeing Chi Jinan; he could hardly imagine what kind of ridicule she would hurl at him.

The more Chi Jinan doubted Ying Duo back then, and the more decisively they denied it, the more Qi Junyi's headache grew.

Primarily, Chi Jinan had gone completely unhinged on the spot, and Qi Junyi kept tidying up the wreckage until he felt numb.

It's like two lunatics dueling with magic there; ask which side they believe in?

He, of course, trusts no one.

Now that he thinks back, Qi Junyi feels his judgment then wasn't wrong; after all, who could have guessed a student who seemed no different from humans was an Aberrant Species?

Or a cultist capable of blowing up the entire Tianmian City?

Back then he still thought he might die, still hoping Ying Duo could steer his brother back onto the right path.

Qi Junyi now truly wishes he could crash into a block of tofu and die.

"I still don't know how that kid managed to hide; even an Aberrant Species has a Mutation Source, how could it be concealed..."

Later, was Ying Duo's hair the Mutation Source?

This really gets more intriguing the deeper we dig.

Once Ying Duo's identity was clarified, Qi Junyi suddenly realized that Ying Duo's disguise was riddled with holes.

It was simply that the flaws were so numerous, countless, that people ended up ignoring them entirely.

In the end, that kid was just too outrageous, right?

Even now, Qi Junyi still finds it hard to believe Ying Duo could be an Aberrant Species.

It's not that he deeply believes in Ying Duo's "kindness"; rather, aside from that excessively striking hair color, Ying Duo truly shows no non‑human traits.

"Does it matter whether it's an Aberrant Species or a human?"

Chi Jinan watched Qi Junyi scratching his ear and rubbing his cheek, looking unable to make sense of it, and let out a cold laugh.

"He said it as if I wouldn't kill him just because he's human."