Seeing Ling Xun clutching his forehead in pain, Yue Shi suddenly spoke up. "Feeling a bit lightheaded? Take a good sniff. What do you smell in this room?"
Ling Xun froze. He had rushed in so frantically that he hadn't noticed. Now that Yue Shi mentioned it, he realized a strange, sweet fragrance hung in the air. Inhaling it seemed to cause a slight sense of trance in his mind.
Ling Xun's expression shifted instantly. "A sedative-hallucinogen?!"
Yue Shi raised his chin slightly. "Now do you still think I was too hard on Mr. Wang?"
Ling Xun's face darkened. He didn't answer, but his fists clenched instinctively. It was clear that he wanted to punch Mr. Wang a few times himself.
How dare he use such drugs to interrogate an investigator who had just experienced a major supernatural incident and might be suffering from psychological trauma?
He deserved the beating!
In fact, he'd gotten off easy!
The two of them walked out of the unsettling examination room one after the other.
Yue Shi had regained his usual cold indifference, as if his previous outburst had been an illusion. Pretending to know nothing, he asked casually:
"The questions Mr. Wang asked were very strange. What exactly was he trying to do? Why use such underhanded methods? If he had just identified himself and asked me directly, it's not like I would have hidden anything."
Ling Xun sighed and massaged his temples. "Too many serious things have happened in Amber City lately. It's already caught the attention of headquarters. Special Commissioner Wang probably feared you might have omitted details and wanted to use this 'unexpected' approach to verify the truth of your statements and dig for deeper intelligence."
His tone carried a hint of helplessness. "When I heard he was planning to do this, I knew it would end badly. I rushed over to stop him, but I was still a step too late. Mr. Wang was almost beaten to death by you."
Yue Shi understood. "Headquarters doesn't trust us."
Ling Xun gave an awkward smile and explained, "The circumstances are truly unique. First, Boss Pi murdered the logistics staff from headquarters, and then several major incidents piled up last night. It's only natural for headquarters to take it seriously."
Yue Shi took the opportunity to ask, "I've heard about the chaos last night. Two 'people' were fighting in the city. Have you figured out their identities?"
Ling Xun's expression turned grave. "One of them was the Clown you encountered last night. His background is a mystery, and the Investigation Bureau hasn't dug up any intel on him yet."
"But we do know something about the other one. He comes from a supernatural domain called 'Qingshan Sanatorium' and is the master of that place—the Director."
Yue Shi feigned an appropriate amount of surprise. "The master of a supernatural domain? Why would he leave his own territory?"
"That's what's puzzling us as well," Ling Xun said, his brow furrowed.
"According to past records, Qingshan Sanatorium has always been very stable and quiet. The supernatural entities and contamination inside never leaked out. As long as humans didn't enter voluntarily, everything remained peaceful. Therefore, the Investigation Bureau's hazard level assessment for the sanatorium wasn't very high."
"Perhaps the Clown used some method to lure the Director out last night."
Ling Xun's voice was heavy. "The Director's strength and destructive power far exceed our previous estimates. The Investigation Bureau will likely re-evaluate the hazard level of Qingshan Sanatorium. Most importantly, the Director's appearance in Amber City proves that the entities within the sanatorium can leave on their own. That's the most terrifying part!"
"Qingshan Sanatorium isn't too far from Amber City. If the creatures inside leak out on a large scale, the consequences will be unimaginable."
"So, how do you plan to handle it?" Yue Shi pressed.
Ling Xun replied, "Headquarters has already dispatched specialists. They might personally go to Qingshan Sanatorium to investigate the situation."
"With that Special Commissioner Wang? His strength... doesn't look like much," Yue Shi mocked bluntly. Meanwhile, he wondered to himself: Was headquarters sending people to the sanatorium just to resolve a supernatural threat? Or were they taking the chance to track down the missing items from the armored transport vehicle?
"Of course headquarters wouldn't just send Mr. Wang. Other very powerful transcendents are coming as well," Ling Xun said, his expression turning visibly solemn.
Looking at Ling Xun's face, Yue Shi immediately understood that the transcendents sent by headquarters were definitely not simple.
"However, there's more than one supernatural entity in Qingshan Sanatorium. Besides the Director, there are suspected to be many other high-level entities," Ling Xun added.
Yue Shi asked, "How do you think this will eventually end?"
Ling Xun shook his head. "I'm not sure, but there are only two possible outcomes. Either the headquarters' transcendents prove superior and take down the Director before gradually clearing out the other entities... or they maintain the status quo, strictly monitor the sanatorium's movements, and handle things as they see fit."
Yue Shi thought to himself that the Bureau headquarters clearly hadn't grasped the internal situation of Qingshan Sanatorium yet.
Although the Director was a supernatural entity, he maintained order within the sanatorium to some extent, restricting the activities of other entities.
Once the Director was removed and the balance within the supernatural domain was broken, there was no telling what that place would become. It would then depend on how capable the people from headquarters were at cleaning up the mess.
"By the way, how was the chaos caused by the Clown and the Director finally suppressed?" Yue Shi asked curiously.
"Director Tang stepped in to suppress it, of course. Director Tang intervened in time and prevented the situation from worsening. But even so, a large number of civilians were affected. Currently, only a very small number of people have regained some of their sanity..." Ling Xun was both lingeringly fearful and relieved.
Recalling the tragic state of the victims—so many people going mad in an instant, so many dying after violating invisible rules—it was horrifying.
After a moment, Ling Xun snapped back to reality and asked Yue Shi, "When the Clown transferred you outside the city last night, are you sure you didn't see any other suspicious objects or people besides him?"
Yue Shi didn't bat an eye. "I didn't. The situation was urgent, and my focus was entirely on the Clown. I lost consciousness shortly after."
Ling Xun mused, "Last night, a few hundred meters away from where you were found, we discovered a destroyed armored transport vehicle. There were five bodies on board."
Yue Shi feigned confusion. "An armored transport vehicle? What was it carrying? Have the identities of the deceased been confirmed?"
Ling Xun shook his head. "Not yet. We were originally planning to verify the vehicle information, but after the people from headquarters arrived, they took over the entire scene investigation."
He paused, his tone softening slightly. "I initially thought the specialists from headquarters would be as arrogant as the rumors suggested, but they're actually quite responsible. They arrived this morning for the events of last night, refused any formal dinners, and started the investigation immediately without wasting a single minute. Their efficiency is impressive."
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