Chapter 64

All that could be heard on the phone was Chen Feng's heavy breathing.

Shuangling peeked out from Zhuohua's neck. Her emerald eyes no longer held the usual disdain and venom, but instead carried a hint of solemnity and...disdain.

It sniffed the phone with its little nose, then covered it with its wing in disgust: "Chirp... a musty smell of failure and blood... and... the stupid smell of being tricked! It stinks!"

Lu Xiao also heard the phone call. He came out of the kitchen, his brows furrowed, and looked at Zhuo Hua with worry. Although he didn't understand those mysterious things, the words "heavy losses" and "team members seriously injured and in critical condition" were enough for him to feel the seriousness of the situation and the despair on Chen Feng's side.

Zhuohua remained expressionless, as if she were listening to an insignificant story. She was silent for a few seconds, then lightly tapped her fingertips on the sofa armrest, making a soft "tap" sound.

"Okay." She replied with only three words, her voice cold and emotionless. Then, she hung up the phone.

"Hua Hua?" Lu Xiao walked over and sat down beside her, taking her hand in his. Her hand was slightly cool.

Zhuohua grasped his warm hand in return, and with her other hand gently rubbed the slightly ruffled downy feathers of Shuangling: "A bunch of overconfident mortals, insisting on stirring up a hornet's nest."

Her tone carried a hint of mockery, but a barely perceptible chill flashed deep in her eyes. Defeat was expected, but the sheer ruthlessness and viciousness of the opponent's methods, resulting in the loss of even the elite of the Spirit Special Bureau, was somewhat unexpected.

It seems that the "bug" behind it was bigger and more disgusting than she had expected.

"Then...those injured people..." Lu Xiao asked hesitantly. He was kind-hearted and could not turn a blind eye to people whose lives were hanging by a thread.

"What does it have to do with me?" Zhuohua raised an eyebrow, her tone matter-of-fact. On the battlefield between gods and demons, she had witnessed too much life and death; the lives of mortals were as insignificant as dust in the face of her long life. She only cared about those she cared about.

Shuangling nuzzled Zhuohua's fingers with her little head, her bright blue eyes sparkling with intelligence: "Chirp! Huahua! Those idiots are stupid, but that bad guy's 'stench' is even stronger! It's in that report! I can smell it!"

Its little paws pointed at the quiet phone on the coffee table, as if it could smell the data in the email through the phone. "That smell... like moldy talisman paper soaking in a sewer, mixed with rotting entrails! It's even stronger than that rotten actress's! It stinks! She must be one of the masterminds behind this!"

The little guy's perception ability once again impressed Zhuohua. It could actually lock onto a target through the "scent" of residual energy, a talent that was rare even in the realm of gods.

Zhuohua picked up her phone, swiped her finger across the screen, and opened the encrypted email. A barrage of text reports, blurry photos of the scene, and complex energy waveforms instantly popped up on the screen.

Bloody, chaotic, and bizarrely destroyed ritual scenes, photos of twisted monster remains... any ordinary person would probably have nightmares just from looking at them.

Zhuohua's gaze swept calmly across the array, finally settling on a specially marked energy residue analysis chart. It was an extremely distorted energy characteristic spectrum, filled with chaos and malice, like a tangled, writhing venomous snake.

Shuangling immediately flew over, her little paws gripping the edge of the phone. Her blue eyes were fixed on the map, her little nose twitching as if she were really smelling it. Then she chirped with absolute certainty, "That's it! That's the smell! It stinks! The source... is in the west of the city! Although it's been deliberately covered up, I can smell it! It smells like... like a rat's nest at the end of the sewer!"

It accurately identified the "Mi Die Xiang" club area, which aligned with Chen Feng's positioning, and even more specifically pointed to the imagery of "sewers".

Zhuohua looked at Shuangling, a hint of admiration flashing in her eyes. This little thing, though greedy and sharp-tongued, possessed an absolute talent for detecting negative energy that was truly heaven-defying. She gathered a faint golden light at her fingertips and gently touched Shuangling's forehead: "Well done."

Frostfeather immediately squinted its eyes comfortably, enjoying its master's reward, and proudly raised its little head: "Of course! I am the one and only Frostfeather in the world!"

Lu Xiao looked at Shuangling, then at Zhuohua. Although he didn't quite understand what had happened, he could sense that Shuangling had performed a great service. He couldn't help but reach out and carefully touch Shuangling's smooth, cool feathers: "Shuangling is amazing."

This time, Shuangling didn't dodge; instead, she rubbed her little head against his finger, as if accepting the praise.

Zhuohua put away her phone, as if those bloody reports and urgent SOS calls had never existed. She stretched lazily, "Alright, all the unimportant things are taken care of."

She looked at Lu Xiao, her eyes instantly switching to a slightly coquettish tone, "Lu Xiao, is the braised beef brisket ready? I'm hungry."

Watching her instantly switch from aloof and divine to a soft and adorable girlfriend, Lu Xiao felt the heaviness brought on by the phone call instantly dissipate, leaving only tenderness and warmth. He smiled and stood up: "It'll be ready soon, I'll go get the rice."

"Chirp! I want some too! Give me more soup rice!" Shuangling immediately followed, revealing her foodie nature.

The three (one human, one deity, and one bird) sat around the dining table. Under the warm yellow light, the tomato and beef brisket steamed, filling the air with its aroma. Shuangling buried her head in her small dish, eating without looking up. Lu Xiao carefully served Zhuohua soup and vegetables. Zhuohua ate in small bites, savoring this heavenly delicacy, her eyes filled with contentment and peace.

An emergency call for help from the Lingte Bureau? A critically injured team member? Clues to the mastermind behind it all? All of those things seemed to be shut out from this warm doorway. For her, nothing was more important than this cozy dinner.

However, on the other side of the city, in the underground medical center of the Lingte Bureau, the atmosphere had plummeted to freezing point. Chen Feng stood outside the isolation ward, his face ashen, looking through the thick bulletproof glass at the severely wounded team members lying inside, their faces ashen, their bodies twitching intermittently, and emitting wisps of black smoke.

In the adjacent ward, the mentally disturbed team members let out beast-like roars and slammed against the specially made restraints.

Lin Wei stood beside him, her eyes red-rimmed, her voice choked with sobs: "Team leader... Brother Wang and the others... are about to collapse... The experts say... that malevolent energy is devouring their lives... Conventional methods are completely ineffective..."

Chen Feng clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging deep into his palms. He recalled the phone call from earlier, Zhuo Hua's emotionless "I know," and the busy tone after the call ended. Despair, like a cold tide, slowly engulfed him.

Is it really possible that we can only watch our comrades die?

Just then, the tablet in Lin Wei's hand suddenly emitted a series of rapid beeps! She looked down and her eyes widened in astonishment: "Team leader! Look!"

On the screen, the curves that originally represented the vital signs of the seriously injured team members, which had fallen to the critical danger level, suddenly fluctuated upwards very slightly! Although the amplitude was extremely small, it was definitely upwards!

Even more bizarrely, the readings of the instruments monitoring the domineering and sinister energy within their bodies also showed an extremely brief and negligible downward fluctuation at the same time!

“This…this is…” Lin Wei said in disbelief.

Chen Feng lunged at the screen, staring intently at the minute fluctuations, his heart pounding. This was no coincidence! The possibility of instrument malfunction was extremely slim!

The only variable... is that phone call to Zhuohua!

It was her?! What did she do? So far away? So silently?

Chen Feng abruptly turned his head, looking towards the upscale residential area in the east of the city, his eyes filled with an extremely complex expression. Was it awe? Fear? Or… a sliver of hope for survival?

In the dining room of Zhuohua Apartment, Shuangling was contentedly licking the last bit of soup from her plate, her little belly round and full. Zhuohua slowly put down her chopsticks, picked up a napkin, and elegantly wiped the corner of her mouth.

No one noticed that on the tip of her left finger, which was placed under the table, a wisp of pure, almost imperceptible gold thread, as if it had a life of its own, traced an extremely tiny, mysterious rune in the void before silently disappearing into nothingness.

Outside the window, the night is deep.

The morning sunlight streamed through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, waking up the new day.

Lu Xiao's biological clock is very punctual. He got up quietly, washed up, and was about to go to the kitchen to prepare breakfast when he found Zhuo Hua already dressed in comfortable home clothes, leaning against the island counter in the open kitchen, holding a cup of tea with steam rising from it.

"Awake?" Zhuohua saw him and the corners of her lips naturally curved up. The morning light gilded her profile with a soft golden edge.

"Hmm, why don't you sleep a little longer?" Lu Xiao walked over and naturally placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Chirp! Hungry!" Before Zhuohua could answer, a snow-white little cannonball shot out from the ice crystal nest in the corner of the living room and landed precisely on the island platform. It was Shuangling.

The little guy's bright eyes widened, and his tiny paws slapped the counter, making a crisp "tap-tap" sound, expressing his strong desire for breakfast. "Lu Xiao! This lord wants shrimp dumplings! Fresh shrimp ones! And crab roe buns! The kind with molten lava filling! Hurry! I'm starving!"

Lu Xiao was amused by it and resignedly tied on the apron: "Okay, little darling, I'll make it for you right away."

Zhuohua watched Lu Xiao's busy figure in the morning light, then looked at Shuangling jumping and urging her on the island platform, and felt a peaceful warmth in her heart. Such days were ordinary, yet she was content with them.

Shortly after breakfast, Su Qing called, her tone as capable as ever with a hint of excitement: "Zhuohua, Lu Xiao, the schedule for that popular indoor game show I mentioned to you before, 'Happy Match,' has been finalized! It'll be filming the day after tomorrow afternoon! I've already sent the script and notes to your emails. Liang Hui will still be the host; he specifically asked us to take good care of you."

"Understood," Zhuohua replied casually.

"Chu? A variety show?"