Chapter 620: The Replaced Chief

Glory supreme! Reward your unceasing sharpness!

After clearing an entire forbidden zone, Zhang Jie's fourth supernatural bestowed upon him this passage of text.

He didn't understand, but Zhang Jie felt he should have become much sharper, in every sense.

Glory supreme condensed into an illusory medal; Zhang Jie need only move a thought to let this sharpness appear on some object.

Beside him, Qi Yu was crunching on anomalies with a squeak‑squeak sound, complaining while she chewed.

"Mmm.... not tasty...."

"Woody, sweeter than shit but without the stickiness."

"Not as good as your blood, Master!"

Having said that, Qi Yu looked pleadingly at Zhang Jie; that expression almost made the words "let me have two sips" hang on her face.

"Keep dreaming; I won't let you drink."

Whenever Zhang Jie thought of how giving Qi Yu two sips would leave him weak for days, he felt annoyed; this guy's appetite kept growing, and since she could eat anomalies to ease hunger, Zhang Jie rarely gave her blood anymore.

"Master~"

"Even acting cute won't work."

"Hmph!"

Zhang Jie watched Qi Yu, brows furrowed as she gnawed on anomalies, and pondered: she had no willpower rank, no supernatural ability, yet she showed extraordinary resistance to anomalies.

Her combat ability must not be weak; from childhood she could gulp down half a fake person in one bite, showing she was anything but ordinary.

"Sigh, I don't know when my will will break through to level five."

Zhang Jie felt a bit worried; since breaking through to will level four, promotion has been distant and endless, with no end in sight.

Whether absorbing pollution or hunting anomalies, it had no effect at all; Zhang Jie even had to ask others for advice.

The answer he got was remarkably consistent: within one's ability, contacting pollution, tempering will, experiencing major or painful events, or perhaps gaining some insight, would lead to promotion.

Hmm, Zhang Jie felt he had never experienced such a situation; he sensed that no matter what happened, he wouldn't collapse—this feeling wasn't baseless but a precise sixth sense.

"Come on, Watermelon Rind, finished eating?"

"Master! I am Qi Yu; don't call me Watermelon Rind!"

"All right, Watermelon Rind, got it, Watermelon Rind."

At that moment, Zhang Jie's fourth supernatural suddenly blazed in his mind, and the way to obtain the next badge appeared in his thoughts.

"Hunt the evil spirits! Return victorious!"

"Slay one hundred S‑Rank Anomalies!"

"Get lost!"

Zhang Jie cursed, "S‑Rank Anomalies? Where do they come from? I haven't even seen one yet!"

"Only by going to the deep reaches of Cloud Star, in those ultra‑intense zones, could one encounter them, right?"

"Never mind, no matter how, Cloud Star still needs to be stormed; as an Elite Sentinel, he already had the qualification to enter Cloud Star."

Soon after, Qi Yu drove the motorcycle, taking Zhang Jie back; one had to admit Qi Yu was really a handy little tool.

Zhang Jie sat contentedly in the rear, his cheek resting on the skirt hem propped up by Qi Yu's insect limbs as he scrolled his phone.

"Wow, the Anomaly Bureau purged an S‑Rank Mimic."

The analysis and research of mimics also achieved a huge breakthrough, and within the Anomaly Bureau they discovered a mimic disguised as a Chief Investigator!

"???"

"I said it, I knew that guy wasn't normal."

Zhang Jie recalled that strange Chief Investigator from his promotion ceremony—he had no face, only countless dancing black shadows.

"Now it looks like he was the one caught."

"Sure enough, the news showed that person's face, identical to what Zhang Jie remembered."

"To kill him, the Anomaly Bureau dispatched the four Chief Investigators stationed at headquarters, at the cost of one seriously wounded...."

"Cough, letting the opponent slip away at the price of one seriously wounded—this really made Zhang Jie unable to hold back."

"If this thing gets loose, who knows how many more people it will harm."

"Zhang Jie never thought the opponent would threaten him, after all he was tens of thousands of kilometers from headquarters; if the guy really could make it over, Zhang Jie would just accept it."

"My... my Master... don't..."

"Don't what don't! Just pinch!"

Zhang Jie pinched Qi Yu's insect limbs hard again—elastic, solid, looking like they were all meat inside, like a crab.

Qi Yu's ear‑wings secretly turned red, while Zhang Jie kept reading the news.

"Given the mimic's heaven‑defying imitation and synchronicity, the Anomaly Bureau decided to conduct a mass‑screening of the populace; every citizen must participate, and Bureau personnel are no exception."

"Screening?"

Zhang Jie furrowed his brows; the screening didn't scare him, the main worry was Qi Yu—could she pass this test?

"What exact species Qi Yu is, Zhang Jie doesn't care at all; although he had speculated before, frankly she is probably an anomaly."

"But Zhang Jie doesn't mind—she emits no pollution, doesn't actively harm humans, can communicate normally; how could one so easily define what she is?"

"\"If someone looks human, albeit with some differences, but can communicate and kill anomalies, how is that different from the definition of humanity? \""

"\"Qi Yu, the Anomaly Bureau is going to conduct a mass‑screening. \""

"\"Can you do it? \""

"\"Screening? \""

Qi Yu had never thought she might be a mimic, nor did she know what she was; so she nodded at Zhang Jie.

"\"Master, I should be fine! \""

Zhang Jie pondered a while; this thing's uncertainty was too great, but if trouble really came, with his status as an Elite Sentinel he should be able to bear some of it.

This is the advantage of being within the system; sometimes he really has more authority than those private investigators.

My master... if I am caught, will you save me?

Of course!

No matter what you are, as long as you are my Qi Yu, I will protect you.

He definitely wants to protect her; after all, he raised this little creature himself.

Master!

Qi Yu looked quite moved; perhaps these words were quite comforting.

The expected inspection arrived early, and everyone had to be examined under a strange containment object; as expected, two imitators were actually uncovered.

But what surprised you most is that Qi Yu passed the inspection so easily; you have some connections, and you learned the principle of this containment object—it actually probes the mind.

As long as you consider yourself human and harbor no malice toward humanity, you can easily pass the test.

However, for double security, the Anomaly Bureau still took samples from everyone's bodies for research; Qi Yu's blood is also red, and as long as this hurdle is passed, Qi Yu will be fine.

But... you never expected that the one who would suffer from this inspection would be yourself.

(I'm off, don't let me know whose dog it is!)