19:27.

In a teahouse on a small street in Lin'an City.

The shop door was pushed open, and a man in a suit walked in.

Yu Yu, who was lying on the sofa chair at the front desk, put down his cigarette, which was almost completely burned out, and said a somewhat sensible opening line: "Congratulations, E01 operative."

He Yu glanced around, and after confirming that there was no food of any kind, he took a deep breath and said, "You told me on the phone that you were coming over for a meal."

"Please sit down first, and we can talk slowly." Yu Yu had already anticipated his question, and simply replied calmly.

Are there any other seats?

Apart from the sofa and coffee table occupied by Yu Yu, there was no other place to sit in the entire tea room.

"Sigh..." Upon hearing this, she shook her head, sighed, moved the tea tray aside, and said in a serious tone, "Now you can sit down."

He Yu rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a candy, which he had taken from Long Sanshi. It was just what he needed to satisfy his craving.

"So what about food?" He didn't forget his original purpose for coming. Please, the money those postmen earned had long been used to pay off debts, and the only remaining portion was transferred to the elderly couple who had supported him for many years.

"Let's just put it off for now. I don't have much money, you know. I can't allocate public resources this week, so I'll just have something to drink for now."

Yu lit another cigarette, showing no sign of embarrassment.

"Alright, a cup of Pu'er tea, you should have that, right?" He Yu paused, as if realizing something, and then said, "Never mind... green tea, the cheapest kind, as long as it quenches my thirst."

She pointed to the empty cabinet, which was covered in dust, as if Yu Yu had only suddenly remembered that there was a place here to talk today, with no signs of cleaning whatsoever.

"I'm sorry, no."

"Then tell me, what do you have?"

"Plain water."

"Then why did you choose a teahouse as the meeting place?"

"There was a lot of tea originally, but an hour ago some jerk came and ruined it all. There's nothing I can do about it."

"Okay... then it's just plain water, I'm fucking thirsty."

"The water heater was upstairs, and I smashed it. But don't worry, I just ordered a new one, and it should arrive in half an hour."

Upon hearing this, He Yu wanted to flip the table, but seeing Yu Yu's ambiguous smile, he held back: "Stop talking nonsense, let me tell you what you want to do."

“Mental testing is necessary; every operative who has escaped from a control mission must undergo it.”

According to her, regardless of rank, all operatives would have to go through this ordeal for a while. He didn't know what kind of weird thing Yu Yu had detected, relying on those new eyes? From the moment he entered, he noticed a half-dead taboo in the woman's pupils, like a vortex, making his head ache.

Oh well... let her do whatever she wants, this kind of thing has happened before.

A few seconds later, He Yu suddenly smelled that familiar scent, the smell of blood and decay. He knew what it was, of course, and it made every cell in his body feel an uncontrollable excitement. It might not be a lot, but it was definitely pure.

“Two hundred condensed soul bodies,” Yu Yu said with a smile, knowing she was talking about something important: “as a reward for your successful control this time.”

He Yu accepted it without even looking at it. He had no choice; why not take a scapegoat that was offered to him?

He had absolutely no interest in Eoubs' reward system, such as the concept of activators who made great contributions.

When he emerged from the world of 252, he saw Lu Jin, who had come back from the dead. Apart from temporarily being unable to smoke, the guy was otherwise as intact as before. He told himself that the Judgment Department had suffered a great loss this time, and he might die in the next control mission. Whatever happened, even if he knew, he couldn't escape it, but that didn't mean he would easily move on.

Worrying about things that haven't happened before is never something He Yu would do. What He Yu needs to prepare for is to absorb more forbidden substances, even if they will drive him completely insane.

Thinking of this, he glanced at Yu Yu again. The man noticed his gaze, tilted his head, and revealed a bright smile that was utterly terrifying.

"Shouldn't you thank me?"

He Yu tried to avoid the topic by pretending to be deaf, but he was unsuccessful.

Do you want some instant noodles?

January 29, 13:33.

Another afternoon, the air was dry and cold.

The garbage and wreckage clashed with the steel monster, and three men with cleaning tongs were doing their tedious work.

Their task was simple: pick up all the junk that those bastards had thrown away, sort it, and finally put it into that equally damned storage bin.

"Damn it, this weather is so cold. We have to tow this piece of junk to an incinerator, or we can just gather them up and dump them in the river. Anyway, there are people in charge of that area," one of them complained.

"I really don't understand. The review department said there were life fluctuations of a suspected forbidden substance in the vicinity. It's been five hours already, and I feel like I'm about to become one with this job."

"Hey, come on, it's dangerous to think about what those operatives have to do. We're just civilians... wait, when did that guy show up?"

The man, who had been complaining about how annoying Eoubs was, saw a stranger.

The man was a middle-aged man, who looked to be in his forties. He had a full beard and was shirtless. He walked towards the three of them slowly and calmly, without any weapons in his hands.

But being Eoubs employees, the three of them immediately moved closer on alert. They went straight to him and gradually surrounded him, trapping him in the middle.

"Hey buddy, are you in some kind of trouble?"

An awkward silence fell over the street for a while. 252 pondered for a moment, then glanced at the three of them expressionlessly and slowly said, "Not bad, so this is what they call... the real world?"

What is he saying?

Upon hearing this, the three clerks were all puzzled as to why this strange person would utter such a cryptic remark.

Five minutes later, the situation became somewhat bloody, falling into the category of Eoubs' restricted experimental video.

"I see... I finally understand the rules of this world."

252's face changed several times in an instant, with dazzling data networks appearing on his face one after another. This image lasted for more than ten seconds before finally changing back to the face of a middle-aged man.

——

*【Eoubs-378, discovered in Lin'an City on December 3, 2025. According to C-level recorder Yu Jianchu, this forbidden substance possesses independent thought, and a request has been made to the adjudication department for soft control measures.】

[Note: This substance has a murderous intent towards its host; researchers are advised to conduct experiments with extreme caution.]