Chapter 100: Quasi S‑Rank Tales

A few hours later.

On the armed helicopter returning to the Federal Weird Investigation Bureau headquarters.

Everyone's constantly tense nerves finally relaxed at this moment.

Jiang Yuan leaned against the cold cabin wall, staring off into space.

"What are you daydreaming about, our great hero?"

A voice with a smile rang in his ear.

Mo Shu had somehow drifted close; her almond eyes, like those of a fawn, glittered in the dim light.

Jiang Yuan snapped back, awkwardly scratching his head, "N... nothing."

"Hey, wait!"

Mo Shu seized the arm Jiang Yuan had raised.

"What? What's up?" Jiang Yuan was startled.

"And you still say something, you didn't even notice that cut on your arm," Mo Shu, without waiting for a reply, pulled his arm, rummaged around, fetched a band‑a‑id, and carefully applied it.

Jiang Yuan only then realized he had gotten a small abrasion at some point.

Mo Shu's movements were gentle; the two were so close that Jiang Yuan could even smell a faint shampoo fragrance from her hair tips, quickening his heartbeat.

His gaze involuntarily fell on her focused profile, watching her long lashes flutter slightly and the faint dimples at the corners of her mouth appear and disappear.

At that moment, the helicopter jolted sharply.

Mo Shu was caught off guard, her body leaning forward, about to collide with Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan, almost instinctively, grabbed her hand firmly, steadying her.

A soft, warm sensation radiated from his palm.

Time seemed to slow at that instant.

Jiang Yuan's mind went blank, his heart pounding as if it would burst out of his throat.

He held her hand, forgetting to let go.

The others in the cabin were either closing their eyes to rest or checking equipment; no one noticed the ambiguous scene in the corner.

Mo Shu's body froze.

She could feel the scorching warmth from Jiang Yuan's palm and the fingertips trembling with tension.

One second.

Two seconds.

Jiang Yuan could already hear his drum‑like heartbeat, felt his cheeks flushing, and was about to awkwardly release his hand and say "I'm sorry."

But at that moment, he felt the small hand he was holding move lightly.

Her fingers, imperceptibly, curled, then gently, grasped his hand back.

Jiang Yuan was frozen solid!

He snapped his head toward Mo Shu, only to see her already turned away, watching the night scenery flash by outside the cabin; yet the flushed edges of her ears and the slight pursing of her lips fully betrayed her inner unrest.

An indescribable exhilaration instantly shattered all of Jiang Yuan's tension and unease.

He squeezed her hand even tighter.

A few hours later.

Federal Weird Investigation Bureau headquarters, "Hive".

Inside a conference room, the atmosphere was solemn.

Wei Gong sat in the main seat, his face as still as water, listening to Wang Zhangzhi's report.

"... Based on the above intelligence, we have summarized several core rules of the Fake Person. First, cognitive contamination allows a collective within a certain range to ignore its anomalies. Second, self‑replication, which replaces and assimilates humans through an unknown method. Third, selective attack: for the guilty, the cognitive contamination effect weakens, and once identified as non‑human, an attack is triggered immediately..."

"... In summary, the current hazard level of the Fake Person can be formally confirmed as A Ji."

Wang Zhangzhi's report was concise yet each word carried great weight.

A Ji.

Another A Ji.

Moreover, its stealth and societal threat far exceed that of the previous Smiling Dummy.

Wei Gong listened, then remained silent for a long time.

His sharp gaze swept over the few people standing behind Wang Zhangzhi.

From the mountain‑steady Wang Zhangzhi, to the despondent, lazy You Ling, and then to the aloof, blade‑like Ouyang Feng.

Finally, his eyes settled on Jiang Yuan and Mo Shu.

These two youths still wore a hint of naivety on their faces, yet the determination in their eyes displayed a remarkable distinction from their peers.

"Wang Zhangzhi," Wei Gong finally spoke.

"Yes."

"Despite severely lacking intelligence, you faced A-level Weirdness, not only uncovered the core rules but also successfully destroyed a massive nest and cleansed an infiltrated City Bureau."

"—Your troops performed well."

A simple compliment softened the lines on Wang Zhangzhi's face a bit.

"Thank you for the commendation, Chief."

Wei Gong's gaze turned to Jiang Yuan and Mo Shu.

"Jiang Yuan, Mo Shu."

"Yes!" The two instantly straightened their posture.

"As a young person, you... are very bad."

"Not only did you demonstrate excellent qualities during the mission, but also showed great growth potential."

From now on, the organization will consider stepping up its training of you.

But what comes with it is more responsibility and duty.

Do you have confidence?

Jiang Yuan's eyes instantly flared with intense light; he saluted with a standard military salute, excited: "Yes! I guarantee to complete the mission!"

Mo Shu also put away her usual playfulness, her face solemn, and saluted likewise.

This is recognition.

Recognition from the highest officer of the Investigation Bureau!

They are now truly warriors capable of handling things on their own!

When everyone left, only Wei Gong remained in the huge conference room.

The hint of approval on his face vanished instantly, replaced by a gravity like a storm about to break.

He walked to the massive Federation map on the wall and stared at Ling Chang City marked with red dots.

"A Ji......"

He muttered to himself, his voice carrying a chill.

Just a single residential area and a City Bureau have already uncovered hundreds to thousands of Fake Persons.

In those unseen places, how many have already been lurking? A hundred thousand? A million? Ten million?

Able to perfectly imitate humans, to warp perception, to self‑replicate......

If it weren't for the rule that only guilty people may be hunted, which shackles its harmfulness......

Then the Fake Person would be a Nation-Destruction Level disaster capable of collapsing the entire Federation society from within.

A special meeting must be convened.

To discuss how to deal with, and how many personnel to allocate for, handling Fake Persons.

He picked up the red encrypted phone on the desk and dialed a number.

"Notify all Core members to convene the highest strategic meeting."

"Agenda: 'Fake Person'."

"Threat level, set as...... Zhun S Ji."

The mission is officially concluded; everyone is dismissed for leave.

Jiang Yuan felt as if he were walking on clouds; as they said goodbye, he looked at Mo Shu, mustered courage and said, "Um...... see you tomorrow."

Mo Shu blinked at him, a faint dimpled smile at the corner of her mouth.

"Hmm, see you tomorrow."

Watching Mo Shu's light‑footed departure, Jiang Yuan felt even the cold air turn sweet.

He turned, humming an off‑key tune, and walked toward his dormitory area within the Investigation Bureau.

On the other side, Mo Shu walked alone toward another direction of the headquarters.

She passed through a long, empty white Corridor.

Along both sides of the Corridor, every five meters a black surveillance camera was mounted on the wall, like an emotionless eye silently watching everything that passed.

She walked briskly, her ponytail swinging behind her.

Everything was no different from usual.

Just as she reached the middle of the Corridor.

In one of the wall monitors, Mo Shu's figure suddenly flickered violently.

In less than 0.5 seconds, her entire form completely disintegrated!

As if the signal were cut, her body turned into a chaotic data stream of countless noise points and twisted color blocks, an indistinguishable shape that leapt wildly across the screen.

Immediately after, as if the television had been slapped.

The picture instantly returned to normal.

The Mo Shu on the screen was still the same Mo Shu, wearing the Investigation Bureau uniform, walking briskly, humming a song, completely unaware of what had just happened.

She continued forward, her figure disappearing at the end of the Corridor.

At the same time.

In the main monitoring room.

The on‑duty agent yawned, feeling his eyes a bit sore.

He rubbed his eyes, lifted the already‑cooled coffee on the table, and took a big sip.

When he raised his head again to look at the rows of monitors before him, the Corridor had already returned to emptiness.

He saw nothing.

Only the cold machines faithfully recorded this spine‑chilling scene.

In the data backend, that 0.5‑second absolute anomaly was stored as an inconspicuous data packet, permanently sealed in the abyss of monitoring records so vast it cannot be measured.

Waiting to be discovered, or never to be discovered.