Chapter 623: Are you coming at me?

「Master... 」

Qi Yu looked at Zhang Jie reluctantly; not far from where they were was exactly the edge of a forbidden zone.

The edge of the forbidden zone is usually unguarded; it's too vast.

Anomalies don't openly walk out of the forbidden zone; instead, they rely on expansion, a mechanism similar to tides.

The forbidden zone constantly expands and contracts, using a tide‑like method to bring anomalies into the present world.

And the area that constantly draws in and expels is where the Anomaly Bureau stations its guards.

"Hurry up and go, I'll be fine."

Zhang Jie gently stroked Qi Yu's head with some reluctance, feeling like he'd finally raised a butterfly only to set it free into nature.

"Beautiful moments are always fleeting, aren't they?"

Qi Yu said nothing, merely burying her face in Zhang Jie's chest and greedily breathing the air.

"Master... we'll meet again, right?"

"Of course, once I'm promoted to Chief Investigator, I'll summon you back."

"Hmm...."

【I too must become strong quickly....】

Their thoughts coincided, but to some people they seemed especially naïve and idealistic; if only things were really that simple.

"I'm leaving, Master! Don't think of me!"

Qi Yu turned around, feeling the gaze behind her linger on her; she ultimately didn't voice the thought of letting Zhang Jie go with her.

If I went with him this time, it would practically be eloping, right?

Qi Yu no longer lingered; her retreating figure looked decisive, but in truth she feared that if she turned back she wouldn't want to leave at all.

As Qi Yu's silhouette disappeared into the forbidden zone, the weight on Zhang Jie's heart finally settled.

"That shouldn't happen... logically, there shouldn't be any exposure."

The Anomaly Bureau didn't send anyone to monitor them—at least not on the surface—this wasn't just because they feared his monster‑like ability to tear anomalies apart, but also because they didn't want to scare the snake.

"But... if they really wanted to capture Qi Yu, there'd be no need for this, would there?"

Qi Yu looks weak, and indeed she is weak; her strength tops out at roughly that of a senior investigator, still lacking in the transcendent realm.

"I hope I'm just overthinking it."

Zhang Jie returned to the Anomaly Bureau; everything seemed unchanged—colleagues greeted him as they should, joked as they should—but Zhang Jie remained tense.

When the Bureau Chief asked about Qi Yu's whereabouts, Zhang Jie evaded, after all the Bureau only required him himself to return for a re‑check, not Qi Yu.

He asked others; apart from him, only a few had received the same demand. Zhang Jie guessed the headquarters likely wanted to use him to lure out Qi Yu.

After all, everyone in the Bureau knows Qi Yu never leaves his side; even aside from Zhang Jie and Zhang Yan, she doesn't give the Bureau Chief the time of day.

"Still playing at not coming back? Doesn't matter—just come back."

The Bureau Chief couldn't care less about Qi Yu's affairs, showing hardly any concern; people's subconscious actions don't lie.

Zhang Jie's heart settled back into his chest, but a new question then surfaced.

?

No way! What does it mean to let him come back? Could it actually be him who's the problem?

Impossible—he can absorb pollutants too, but he should still be fundamentally human, right?

Or perhaps it's because he's been exposed to too much pollution that he's gradually ceased to be human.

As Zhang Jie was pondering, a hand silently placed itself on his back without him noticing at all.

"!!!"

"Don't move."

"I'm Chief Investigator Ceng Tian; I suspect you've been replaced by a mimic—cooperate with my investigation."

Zhang Jie:????

He pointed at himself.

"Me? I'm an anomaly? No mistake?"

Ceng Tian revealed a bewildering smile, but it held only coldness within.

"Everyone who's been replaced by a mimic says that; you should be a senior investigator—don't you know the traits of an impostor?"

"The impostor's replacement has three stages: first, a clumsy imitation that mimics your behavior; second, while you're away, it contacts people around you until it becomes perfect."

"Then comes the third stage: it replaces you, and at that point the impostor seizes the chance to kill you, completing the replacement; by the end of the imitation, even it forgets it's an impostor."

"But this applies to ordinary people and those with low willpower—how could a elite sentry like him be unknowingly replaced?"

"Isn't that nonsense?"

"The mimic's ability is precisely the impostor among anomalies, and it's infinitely learnable."

"It can combine all anomaly abilities and, to some extent, enhance them."

Zhang Jie realized, then, that the Chief Investigator who'd been replaced wasn't just someone corroded by pollution?

Or had he been replaced by a mimic?

"Then I..."

"Your gene sample didn't pass inspection; I'll personally verify your condition."

Ceng Tian pulled out a shotgun that looked like a sniper rifle, saying even calling it a sniper rifle was an insult—this thing is actually a cannon!

Zhang Jie clearly saw the Bureau Chief, that old coward, silently shift two steps to the side.

"If you haven't passed the inspection, I'll personally finish you."

Zhang Jie's hairs stood on end; for the first time, this superhuman felt the threat of death.

At the same time he kept thinking, recalling whether he had ever shown any problems.

The answer... had never happened before; he couldn't remember exactly when the problem had arisen.

"Get ready, I'll inspect you with the containment object check."

Zhang Jie:......

"Good."

An upright person fears no slanting shadow; Zhang Jie didn't believe any abnormality could truly surpass himself and contaminate him into a mimic.

Zhang Jie held his breath; he could feel something behind him, continually scanning him with a strange vision, over and over.

Likewise, she continually comforted herself in her heart, to believe in her own supernatural ability, and to believe in his ability from childhood to present.

Time passed, second by second...

Behind him... there was no movement, but the sense of danger never faded, until a sigh came from behind him.

"I'm very sorry, Zhang Jie..."

A tremendous sense of danger surged; Zhang Jie frantically employed his Supernatural Light Cone Vision, a violent explosion sound struck, the outer wall of the Director's office before him was blasted open, leaving a bottomless trench on the distant ground.

Zhang Jie felt a jolt of fear; if this hit landed solidly, he could literally start a feast right where he stood.

"On what basis do you confirm that I am an anomaly?!"

The gun barrel in Ceng Tian's hand still smoked with blue fumes; after years of ordeal, he was no longer the man who once vomited blood from using a single weapon!

"It's simple: if you can grow stronger by endlessly absorbing pollution, then you are an anomaly."

"This is the result of the containment object inspection! It is also humanity's consensus!"

Zhang Jie: Go to hell!

Oh no, this is coming straight for him!!!