Chapter 77 Exploring "Aren't you a little monster yet?"
Shu Qing woke up from her dream with a slight smile, feeling that it had truly been a beautiful dream. The spring breeze and fragrant flowers, the carefree stroll, the lovers' playful banter—everything was wonderful. What was rare was that the fog in her heart had completely dissipated.
Judging from the dream, she probably used to have a wild and unrestrained way of thinking, bearing the lofty title of "Lord Kasumi," but she wasn't much more reliable than she is now.
Later, however, a thousand kinds of helplessness, ten thousand kinds of sorrow and fear weighed on her like a mountain, eventually turning her into the lifeless person she is today. Just by looking at the change before and after, you can tell how those memories and past events can wear you down.
She sighed softly, glanced at her phone, and saw that half an hour ago, Jiu Su had messaged her saying, "Whatever you dreamed about, it's all in the past."
He didn't even want to ask her what she dreamed about, clearly thinking she probably didn't have a good dream.
Shu Qing smiled, her eyes crinkling, and sent him a voice message: "I dreamt that you did magic for me. Did you go and preserve my plants afterwards?"
Jiu Su was stunned for a while before she realized which part she was referring to, and she bluntly replied with two words, "No!"
"Tch," Shu Qing scoffed lazily, "Bad snake."
"Bad Snake" was probably furious at her counter-accusation and stopped responding to her; there was no further contact on the other end of the phone.
Shu Qing didn't mind his little temper. She stretched, lay flat on the bed, stared at the ceiling, and silently ruminated on the dream.
The dream wasn't scary, and it didn't contain any particularly crucial information. But what was important was that it made her clearly realize a fact: if she hadn't seen the "rules" with her own eyes, she would never have truly understood how terrifying they were.
Jiu Su had explained it to her verbally before, and she thought she understood it. But when she entered the dream, she realized that her understanding was still too superficial based on words alone.
Without seeing it for herself, she could never truly understand the mysterious and wondrous world she once belonged to. And what about the completely unfamiliar incident of the yokai going out of control?
She remained an outsider, and everything she knew came from Jiu Su and others' retellings. What useful deductions could she possibly make?
Shu Qing sat up abruptly, pondered for a moment, then opened her phone and deleted the half-finished "Application for Observation of Cultural Relics in Ancient Kunlun Xiandu" with a single click. She took a breath, mentally prepared herself, and reopened her short video platform.
Ever since the monster out of control incident, her account has been a complete mess. You don't even need to open the platform; just look at how quickly the rose pendant Jiu Su gave her is ruined to know what the comments section is like.
There were all sorts of sarcastic remarks, personal attacks, and malicious curses... It was as if humans and monsters had been mortal enemies since ancient times, and that these monster-raising content creators were all traitors who should be sent to court.
Shu Qing skipped over the useless junk information, selected a few highly-rated comments, and then proactively contacted Director Yang.
Her request was very clear—she wanted to see those out-of-control monsters with her own eyes; her reason was also very convincing: conflicts between humans and supernatural beings are happening everywhere, and everyone is anxious and doesn't know how to protect themselves.
With the truth still unclear, it's not appropriate for the Super Admin Bureau to step in for the time being. However, as a content creator who collaborates with the official authorities and raises monsters, it's necessary for her to introduce some signs of monsters going out of control and to popularize some self-protection methods.
She carefully crafted a 500-word essay with pictures, and within five minutes, Director Yang replied with a concise message: Approved.
A PDF attachment was included, detailing the equipment needed to approach the out-of-control supernatural creature and the precautions to take, listing a wide range of information across several pages.
Shu Qing immediately jumped out of bed.
She knew she was taking a risk. Although Jiu Su had been unusually accommodating to her lately, she didn't know why, he would definitely not agree to something so dangerous and would use every means to stop her. It would be better to take advantage of his absence and finish things quickly.
He's been cleaning up the third monster out-of-control incident these past two days and won't be back for a while, so she needs to hurry!
Without hesitation, Shu Qing greeted her parents, hastily ate a few mouthfuls of rice, and dashed out of the house to the traffic management bureau.
The Supermarket Management Bureau has been working crazy overtime lately, going from a 9-to-5 schedule to 8 a.m. and all night, with no weekends off. Although Shu Qing arrived after dinner, the bureau was still operating at full speed, with no one leaving work and everyone busy.
Under normal circumstances, this would certainly evoke sympathy and resonance from a group of overworked people, and support them in seeking compensation for their emotional distress. However, now that the victims have been reduced to ashes and their bodies have vanished without a trace, they don't even have a burial plot. In comparison, it seems that they have no right to complain.
Shu Qing found the staff member guarding the out-of-control monster, explained her purpose, and showed Director Yang's "approval" on her phone.
This "approval" was an offline, temporary application, not part of the normal process. The person asked her to wait a moment, then made several urgent phone calls to confirm the situation before nodding to Shu Qing: "Understood, I'll arrange it. Ms. Shu, please put on your protective gear first."
Shu Qing quickly got dressed, and the staff checked her over again before leading her into the Bureau of Supermarket Management's special vehicle. He explained, "For safety reasons, we moved those out-of-control monsters to a park in the suburbs. It's about a ten-minute drive from here."
Wearing heavy protective gear, Shu Qing struggled to squeeze herself into the passenger seat. The isolation suit contained not only defensive magic but also a bulletproof vest for physical defense. It was the heaviest and thickest clothing she had ever worn. Once the seatbelt was fastened, it was so tight that she could barely speak and could only nod awkwardly.
"The protective ring Xiao Hong gave me is much more reliable than this," she thought to herself. "Never mind, I'll respect the official procedures..."
She felt like her lungs were about to burst from the cramped car interior, so she had to keep looking out the window, relying on visual self-deception to gain a little more space.
The evening rush hour had just ended, and the roads were still bustling with cars, but the traffic decreased as you got closer to your destination, indicating that the traffic management bureau had evacuated the people in the vicinity.
As they approached the outskirts, there were almost no cars on the road. Shu Qing looked out and saw a convoy of cars slowly driving past her.
In the very center of the convoy was a large truck bearing the logo of the Traffic Management Bureau, its red warning lights flashing. Several other vehicles surrounded it, intentionally separating the large truck from other vehicles on the road.
The driver slowed down and said, "It's a vehicle transporting an out-of-control monster."
Shu Qingxin's heart skipped a beat, and she immediately turned her face back and lowered her head—didn't Jiu Su say he wouldn't be back for two days? Did he come back early? Or was the person in charge of escorting this out-of-control monster back someone else, like Jin Wanli?
She kept her head down. The driver glanced at her strangely but didn't ask any questions. He carefully drove the car into a park in the suburbs, parked it, opened the car door, and pointed to a small building in front of him: "It's right there."
Shu Qing smiled gratefully at the driver and took a deep breath of the cool evening breeze. Even in the late autumn of the north, she was sweating despite being bundled up in her thick protective gear.
"When are you planning to return?" the driver asked. "I'll pick you up when it's time."
Shu Qing had no idea how long she would be working, so she glanced at the time and asked cautiously, "What time do you get off work?"
The driver gave a wry smile, as if to say: What does "getting off work" mean?
Shu felt a pang of sympathy for the wry smile, thought for a moment, and asked, "Is eleven o'clock okay?"
It's seven o'clock now. Four hours have passed; she feels she should have figured things out by now. After eleven o'clock is midnight, the time when demonic power is at its peak, which isn't suitable for her to continue investigating. It's best to leave before then.
The driver readily agreed. After agreeing on a departure time, Shu Qing turned and walked towards the small building, her fingernails digging into her palms, leaving deep crescent-shaped marks, soaked with cold sweat.
She hid in a corner outside, waiting for the team from the Super Management Bureau to lock the newly brought-back monster in the small building before scanning the access code at the door and stepping into the building.
There was almost no sound here. None of the guards from the super-supervision bureau were willing to step inside; they were all dressed in heavy protective suits and stood guard outside the door. In the night wind, only the occasional roar of a beast could be heard from inside the small building. When it was quiet, there was no sound at all, but when the roars came, they were deafening, and the entire small building, and even the earth, seemed to shake.
Shu Qing's heart rate nearly soared to 110, her heartbeat synchronized with the trembling earth.
If she were to encounter an out-of-control monster on the road, she might still be able to remain calm. However, the experience of walking step by step into a dangerous place was truly terrifying. She touched the small ring on her hand through her gloves before she felt a little more at ease.
"I wonder if Xiaohong will remarry if I die here," she thought, guessing she was too nervous and her thoughts were racing on instinct, making a joke to herself, "It's not really about 'remarrying,' I haven't even married him yet..."
Darkness pressed down heavily all around, with a faint, pure white light shimmering ahead. At the end of this corridor lay the cage where the out-of-control monsters were imprisoned.
Just in case, Jiu Su infused each cage with her demonic power, partly to intimidate and suppress them, and partly to protect them. Shu Qing, upon contact with this familiar demonic power, relaxed slightly for a moment. In that instant, she heard a voice in her mind.
The voice was somewhat hoarse; although it was human speech, it did not sound like a human voice at all, but rather like the howl of a beast.
"Little monster..."
Shu Qing jumped in surprise, "Who?"
"You," the voice said mockingly, "a divine soul from thousands of years ago, tainted with the aura of a demon, yet you only have the body of a human in their early twenties... Ha, aren't you a little monster?"
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