After dinner, everyone returned to their homes.
An Qingyu returned with Yun Hexian and said, sounding rather disappointed, "It’s strange. Is the biological tissue you brought back for me truly from a Mysterious? Aside from the deformity, it seems no different from normal human development."
Yun Hexian: (＾＿?)
That’s probably because the essence of the Ghost Face King was converted into a Forbidden Ruins by the system, and he hadn’t absorbed that Forbidden Ruins yet.
"Maybe it's because it was just muscle tissue? Next time, I'll bring you a whole head or heart," Yun Hexian replied, also finding it odd.
An Qingyu accepted this explanation. He followed Yun Hexian and sat down on the sofa.Once the door was closed, he stated matter-of-factly, "While you were showering, I examined those muscle tissues and awakened a Forbidden Ruin."
Yun Hexian: …?
What did you say? You examined what?
How did you awaken it? What did you awaken?
If Zhao Kongcheng heard you say that, he’d be furious!
"Do you want to join the Night Watchers, too?" Yun Hexian cleared the thoughts from his mind and asked.
An Qingyu shook his head. "My ability requires dissecting a large number of Mysterious, which allows me to replicate and optimize their abilities, but I don’t like fighting and killing. I only want to know more about the Mysterious and understand more of the unknown... It doesn't seem like they would accept me doing nothing but just receiving the corpses of Mysterious from their hands."
He had observed Zhao Kongcheng and concluded he was a middle-aged man full of justice and a "chunibyo" attitude. There was no denying that many people like that existed within the Night Watchers. To avoid getting into trouble with similar individuals, it was better not to join. An Qingyu nodded inwardly.
Yun Hexian frowned slightly. "Then where will you find the corpses of Mysterious? Are you going to kill them yourself?"
An Qingyu stared intensely at Yun Hexian.
Yun Hexian: O_o
An Qingyu gripped Yun Hexian’s arm. "Bird Brother, consider this a favor I owe you."
Yun Hexian: "Hm?"
"Brother Yun," An Qingyu corrected himself, knowing when to be tactful.
Yun Hexian: ?????
That feels good. I’m tired of being called "Bird Brother" every day.
"Fine," Yun Hexian agreed. "But even though I’ve joined the Night Watchers, it’s still very difficult for me to get my hands on those corpses..."
"It’s alright, I understand." An Qingyu pushed up his glasses and said with some regret, "If only I had gone out with you earlier."
"You don't have any attack power; I certainly wouldn't have let you come along." Yun Hexian stretched and suddenly asked, "Come to think of it, I never had the time to ask you—it just occurred to me now. How did you suddenly suspect that this world has Mysterious?"
"When you asked me at school, you were already sure, weren't you?"
An Qingyu clearly kept up with Yun Hexian’s sudden change of topic. He replied calmly, "Do you know how they explained the beam of light that illuminated Cangnan City that day?"
"I didn't pay attention to that, actually. What did they say?" Yun Hexian sat up straight, curious. "They couldn't possibly have made the entire city suffer from amnesia, could they?"
"They said it was an aurora phenomenon," An Qingyu said, shaking his head slightly, rendered speechless.
Yun Hexian: That’s a truly lazy lie.
"The day after you encountered the Masked Ghost, you, Pang Xin, Lin Qiye, Jiang Qian, and everyone else who was said to have encountered it didn't come to school—only Li Yifei did." An Qingyu pondered for a moment before adding, "Following that, through my observations, I saw that two people in Class 2 had behavioral patterns that deviated from their usual selves. Although they were still imitating their original personalities, they would inadvertently synchronize and share their vision. I tested them once, and I'm fairly certain they share a single brain or visual field..."
"You tested them?" Yun Hexian frowned.
"They must have been parasitized, or replaced by humanoid mimics. It happened suddenly within a single day." An Qingyu nodded. "I had someone set off a firecracker on the playground and discovered that the two of them—let’s call them Number One and Number Two—reacted differently. Number Two is normally a gossip, while Number One is very taciturn. But Number One saw the person who set off the firecracker. I am certain that Number One never told Number Two who set it off, yet when someone asked Number Two about it in a gossiping tone, Number Two accurately identified who had set off the firecracker."
Yun Hexian: -`д′-
No, you actually dared to test them? Are you tired of living?!
"Where did you get a firecracker? And are you not afraid that once they discover you, they’ll come after you?" Yun Hexian couldn't help but reach out to ruffle An Qingyu's hair hard. "You really have a death wish!"
An Qingyu didn't dodge. He waited until Yun Hexian was done before pushing up his sliding glasses and sighing. "I was very careful. I paid some hoodlums outside the school to buy the firecracker and placed it where those curious jocks would definitely see it. They have smoke and fire, so they were bound to try it. The person who went to gossip with Number Two did so of their own volition because they are a gossip. From start to finish, I never showed my face; I only observed from the back door of the classroom."
How could An Qingyu possibly put himself in danger? He could risk his life to understand the Mysterious, but he wouldn't turn himself into a Mysterious just for a test.
Before Yun Hexian could say anything else, An Qingyu cut him off."Furthermore, I suspect that Li Yifei also knows information about the Mysterious, Forbidden Ruins, and the Night Watchers. After he returned, although he acted very afraid of the Masked Ghost you encountered, he was able to come to class on time the next day and laugh and joke with classmates as usual. His behavior and performance are disconnected, as if he instinctively feels he has something to rely on."
Yun Hexian frowned slightly."Either he has a Forbidden Ruin or a Forbidden Artifact, or, like those two, he has been parasitized," An Qingyu said, though he added with some confusion, "but his behavioral pattern hasn't changed..."
"He didn't have a Forbidden Ruins or a Forbidden Artifact during the Masked Ghost incident. I will investigate this, so don't get too close to him," Yun Hexian warned.He still had enough self-preservation; he could easily retract his clone's Forbidden Ruins and use it himself, so his attack power wasn't actually weak.
An Qingyu nodded and took the [Forbidden Artifact - Fruit Basket] that Yun Hexian had previously given him out of his pocket and returned it. "Here.I already have a Forbidden Ruins now."
Yun Hexian put it away. "I thought you would have dismantled it to take a look."
An Qingyu smiled slightly. Of course he had wanted to dismantle it, but this little item had a layer of energy protection. He hadn't been able to open it yet, only manage to scrape off a few scraps of energy. But even those scraps had been highly beneficial after he absorbed them—his mental strength had improved significantly. Although it wasn't quite the Lamp Realm (Mid), it was close.
"I’m going to get some rest. We have to go to Zhao Kongcheng’s base tomorrow." Yun Hexian waved a hand, not waiting for a reply, and turned to head into his room.
An Qingyu sat on the sofa, watching Yun Hexian’s retreating back, a strange glow in his eyes.Why couldn't his Forbidden Ruins analyze Yun Hexian and Lin Qiye? They were both protected by energy.Lin Qiye could be explained by his Divine Ruins, but Yun Hexian...