Chapter 59: Qin Ge forcibly invaded his ‘sea area’ and is now conducting an interrogation.
Bone spurs glimmered in the moonlight, resembling shining long needles. Xie Zijing swiftly dodged them, nearly falling off the edge of the rooftop.
Barely maintaining his balance, he issued a command to his lion.
The buildings in the Wangdu district were not tall; this was an old, dilapidated area. The Barbary lion paced anxiously along the edge, appearing unusually restless. It needed to find an opening to attack, but the snake scales it had glimpsed in the abandoned building had disappeared, and neither it nor Xie Zijing could locate Bian Han.
Xie Zijing scanned the area.
Why would Bian Han hide here?
Or rather, knowing Tang Xing was alive and that he would surely be discovered, why would he return to the Wangdu district?
Xie Zijing knew Bian Han had mental issues.
During the incident involving Bi Xingyi, he had heard Qin Ge say that the most straightforward way to determine if a sentinel and guide’s “sea area” was normal was to observe their spirit animal. If the spirit animal was normal, the “sea area” must be normal; if the spirit animal mutated, the “sea area” must have already mutated. This was the clearest sign of a sentinel or guide suffering from a mental disorder.
What exactly was Bian Han suffering from? Xie Zijing wondered. Comparing a mad sentinel and a mad guide, he couldn’t immediately determine which was more dangerous. The former had Bian Han right in front of him, while the latter… had Lu Qinglai.
He landed, with his lion steadily standing beside him.
“Xie Zijing, be careful.” Lei Chi’s voice came through the intercom. “Bai Xiaoyuan just reported that her sand cat saw another person at the location where Bian Han was hiding.”
Xie Zijing was startled: “Who?”
Lei Chi: “The spirit animal’s impression isn’t clear, but based on the general shape, Bai Xiaoyuan speculates it might be Meng Yu.”
The situation was becoming more complex. Xie Zijing heard many rustling sounds around him: Crisis Office personnel were surrounding the abandoned building.
At this moment, the lion suddenly turned its head and let out a threatening growl. Xie Zijing didn’t look back; he immediately lunged forward, rolled on the ground, and avoided a row of bone spurs from behind.
Bian Han was no longer in the original abandoned building; he had already moved. The bone spurs that attacked Xie Zijing earlier were just a diversion. The king cobra had reappeared after the initial attack, attempting to ambush.
The king cobra dangled from a diagonally protruding steel bar, its inverted head staring at Xie Zijing.
This was Xie Zijing’s first encounter with such a snake.
It was entirely pitch black, its color darker and denser than the deepest shadows in the Wangdu district. Sparse lights and cold moonlight reflected off its scales, making them shimmer like flowing black liquid. Its golden eyes seemed to have a red slit, and its flickering tongue was black, like congealed blood.
Seeing Xie Zijing observing it, the king cobra slowly spread the skin folds on its neck, which had been slightly closed.
Two ink-black spots appeared on the skin folds, as if they were another pair of black pupils.
Xie Zijing was slightly startled. The lion quickly moved its front paws, positioning itself between the snake and Xie Zijing.
Almost simultaneously, the snake suddenly leaped.
It opened its mouth wide, revealing densely packed venomous teeth, and lunged at Xie Zijing with downward momentum.
As it launched its attack, Xie Zijing caught a glimpse of a figure flashing by the alley entrance. It was Bian Han!
An eagle circled overhead, screeching. Several sand cats ran past the Barbary lion, heading towards the direction indicated by the eagle.
“Lei Chi! When you move, avoid my lion!” Xie Zijing shouted into the intercom, “It doesn’t distinguish between friend and foe when it fights!”
Everything happened almost simultaneously. In the chaotic scene, the giant lion’s golden eyes were fixed on the leaping snake, never wavering.
The king cobra didn’t reach Xie Zijing. As it reached its peak and began to fall, the Barbary lion leaped, letting out an earth-shattering roar, grabbing the middle of the long snake.
At the moment its claws touched the snake, the snake vanished. A cloud of white mist swirled in the giant beast’s grip, enveloping the Barbary lion’s head. However, the disappearance lasted only half a second. A snake head suddenly emerged from the white mist, biting towards the lion’s eyes.
The lion also turned into white mist with a bang, dodging the attack. The mist quickly reformed into a giant lion’s paw, slamming down on the snake’s head, pinning it to the ground.
Xie Zijing sprinted towards the corner where Bian Han had appeared. His speed was extreme, like a hawk flying close to the ground.
As he turned into the dark alley, his lion had already pinned the king cobra, pressing firmly on its weak spot.
Bian Han was not here. The narrow alley was cluttered with discarded trash, ending in a dilapidated three-story abandoned house. This house appeared to have been ravaged by fire and flood and had been haphazardly repaired numerous times with nails and wooden boards, with no consideration for coordination or aesthetics. In the cold moonlight, the shadows of eagles and other birds cast upon the house made it look like a hunched, decrepit figure standing silently in front of Xie Zijing.
The door was half open, and Xie Zijing saw stairs leading up.
“The alley is too narrow,” Xie Zijing reported to Lei Chi. “I’ll go in first; have your men follow closely behind me.”
Lei Chi immediately refused: “No, let our men go in first.”
At that moment, a muffled cry came from inside the abandoned house, abruptly silenced as if someone had covered the person’s mouth and nose.
Xie Zijing glanced back. Due to the narrow alley, the investigation team could only enter one by one. “Just treat me as one of the field team,” Xie Zijing said quietly as he pushed open the door. “Your men are all office workers; it’s not safe.”
A sand cat brushed against his foot and slipped into the abandoned house ahead of him, heading towards the stairs.
“…If you let me go, they won’t trouble you,” Meng Yu said. “We can all get through this, Bian Han. You’ve already made mistakes, don’t be stubborn.”
His words suddenly angered Bian Han.
“You’ve already made mistakes, don’t continue down this path.” — This was something Bian Han had heard not long ago from his partner, the gentle and kind young man he had lived with for five years.
Bian Han recalled the feeling of breaking his partner’s neck. Fear and sadness surged from his heart without warning, overwhelming his love for Meng Yu.
“Shut up!” he shouted, gripping Meng Yu’s neck. The skin behind Meng Yu’s ears, already fragile, was now torn and bleeding. His mouth was also injured in the struggle, filled with the taste of blood. Bian Han’s grip on his neck caused the wound behind Meng Yu’s ear to tear further. Meng Yu couldn’t help but moan, but Bian Han immediately covered his mouth, stifling the sound.
The room fell silent. Bian Han was very close to him, his eyes filled with anger and hatred.
“Are you trying to hurt me?” he said through gritted teeth. “Is your way of loving me to ignore me, to harm me, is that it?”
But his anger quickly vanished, replaced by a pitiful expression.
“Don’t do this, Meng Yu… I’ve loved you for so long, so long… I’ve never grown tired…” Bian Han took several deep breaths, finally smiling at him. “I scared you, I’m sorry.”
Meng Yu said nothing, staring directly into Bian Han’s eyes.
“I’ll let go, but you can’t scream, okay?” Bian Han spoke in a seemingly negotiating tone, but the options he presented left Meng Yu no room for choice. “Many people want to keep us apart, but I’m not afraid.”
He slowly released his grip, and Meng Yu remained silent.
They were on the third floor of the abandoned house, half of which had already collapsed while the other half precariously remained. The two of them were huddled in a corner, with Bian Han’s back to the collapsed section. Meng Yu’s gaze went over his shoulder, spotting a sand cat’s small head peeking out from the stairway.
Bian Han heard the noise and was about to turn his head when Meng Yu grabbed his hand.
“Bian Han, I know this place means a lot to us.” His voice trembled but successfully caught Bian Han’s attention, making him forget the noise from the stairway and focus entirely on Meng Yu. “This is where we first met, right?”
“Yes… no, no,” Bian Han said, taking Meng Yu’s hand and kissing his palm erratically. “I knew you long before… I knew you long before, but you didn’t know me. It wasn’t until you came to the Wangdu district and lived here that we truly met. I’ve liked you for a long time, really, I’m not lying. I can lie to anyone, but I won’t lie to you.”
Many years ago, on a rainy summer night, Bian Han, as a member of the Black Battalion, patrolled the Wangdu district with others. The rain was so heavy that they had to find a place to take shelter. At that time, the house had not yet been burned or repeatedly repaired; it was still a shabby but sufficient shelter from the rain.
The house had three floors, each divided into several rooms rented to underground people and half-zombie people who had come to the Wangdu district. The rent was cheap, but the conditions were extremely poor.
Meng Yu rented a small bed on one floor, sharing the space with other tenants. Rainwater leaked in through the gaps in the doors and windows, forming a shallow puddle on the floor. Hearing footsteps and voices outside the door, he thought it was the landlord coming to check the situation and got up with a blanket to open the door.
When he opened the door, there stood a young Bian Han and his companions.
“Do you remember?” Bian Han asked.
“I remember.” Meng Yu nodded repeatedly. He truly did. For him, Bian Han was the first friend he made in the Wangdu district, holding a unique place in his heart. Bian Han was warm and kind, introducing him to other Black Battalion and creating opportunities for him to integrate into the initially unwelcoming underground community. Almost every aspect of Meng Yu’s life in the Wangdu district involved Bian Han. Even after meeting Xia Chun, Ling Siyuan, and Tang Xing, Bian Han remained a singularly important person in his life.
Meng Yu endured Bian Han’s obsession and passion. Every time Bian Han kissed his palm, he felt not fear, sadness, or disgust, but a painful mix of these emotions. His closest and dearest friend had killed his friend and hurt his lover.
His answer delighted Bian Han. Meng Yu placed his other hand on the floor, feeling a slight vibration: someone was coming up.
“Bian Han!” he immediately shouted. “When did you start liking me? Why didn’t you tell me? Look at me, tell me.”
Bian Han’s attention returned to Meng Yu.
“You know, don’t you?” he smiled, his voice sickeningly sweet. “I understand, you always knew. We love each other. It’s a secret. We are the leaders of the Black Battalion; for the sake of the Black Battalion, we couldn’t be together. It would cause suspicion among the half-zombies and werewolves, I understand. So you got along well with Ling Siyuan, and I with Xia Chun. We kept this secret together, Meng Yu, I’m so happy…”
He rambled on, his words disjointed.
“But… but he knew my secret. He pitied me… said I misunderstood… he…” Bian Han suddenly paused, his voice choking. Meng Yu was shocked to see tears in his eyes, not obvious but glistening. “He was so good… so good to me… he knew I loved you, you loved me, and he pitied me. He said that if he stayed with me, I would return to normal… he… he…”
His Adam’s apple moved with difficulty, and suddenly he laughed again. “But he was wrong, I don’t need to return to normal. He didn’t know that you actually love me too, you must love me. I to him… I to him…”
Pressing Meng Yu’s hand against his cheek, Bian Han emitted a low, deep laugh. But as he laughed, tears fell from his crazed eyes. Ecstasy and sorrow tore at his emotions, creating a strange dichotomy on his face: his mouth laughed, but his eyes cried.
“He said I had a severe love delusion, that love delusion was abnormal, it would drive me mad.” Bian Han murmured, “I don’t know what love delusion is, but our secret and love are real, aren’t they?”
Desperately needing Meng Yu’s affirmation, Bian Han saw him just staring blankly, saying nothing, and suddenly became frantic: “Answer me! Aren’t they? I don’t have a love delusion! I’m not mad!”
The hand Meng Yu had on the floor no longer felt the vibration. The person coming up had stopped.
The sand cat lay on the stairs, turned its head to look at Xie Zijing, and opened its mouth in confusion.
Xie Zijing stood dazed on the stairs, shocked by Bian Han’s words.
Outside the abandoned house, on the street, the Barbary lion continued to toy with the snake under its paw. Lei Chi and his men approached the abandoned house from above and below. He saw the king cobra that had been rolling under the Barbary lion’s paw, turned to Xiao Liu, and asked, “Why hasn’t this snake disappeared? Bian Han can control it, right?”
“Sentinels and guides with abnormal ‘sea area’ have poor control over their spirit bodies,” Xiao Liu explained. “spirit bodies are manifestations of the mental world. If the mental world is abnormal, even the sentinel or guide can’t restore it to normal, so they can’t control their spirit bodies smoothly. Sometimes the spirit bodies get easily enraged and might attack people for trivial reasons. Other times, they become highly independent, making their behavior incomprehensible to their masters and less controlled.”
“Lack of control over one’s sea area makes it difficult to communicate with the spirit animal?” Lei Chi pondered.
Xiao Liu nodded. “It’s not just abnormalities. In cases of extreme exhaustion, agitation, or anger, the spirit animal can easily harm others because the master can’t control them as usual.”
As they spoke, a thunderous lion’s roar suddenly erupted in the street!
The furious roar instantly shook all the spirit bodies on the street. Almost immediately, the eagle disappeared, and the flock of birds it led vanished. The spirit bodies released by the criminal investigation team turned into white mists one after another, temporarily unable to manifest again.
“Oh my god!” Bai Xiaoyuan’s voice came through the intercom, “What’s happening? Has the lion gone mad? All the sand cats on your side have disappeared!”
With the roar, the lion raised its front paw and smashed it hard on the ground, but the king cobra was no longer there. Several black holes appeared on its paw from the venomous spines on the snake’s back.
After being subdued by the lion, the snake waited for a chance to release its venomous spines, immediately inflicting damage on the Barbary lion.
After a brief hesitation, the Barbary lion turned into mist. The mist rolled and gradually dissipated.
The moment the lion was stung, Xie Zijing felt a sharp pain in his head. He quickly grabbed the stair railing to steady himself, but the stabbing pain caused a momentary dizziness. The sand cat on the stairs disappeared, and he heard Bian Han stand up. Hearing the lion’s roar, Xie Zijing, enduring the dizziness, rushed to the half-collapsed third floor and saw Meng Yu and Bian Han standing on the edge.
A black king cobra coiled around Bian Han’s arm; he was the attacker and clearly smug, not intimidated by the lion’s roar.
“The lion is yours?” Bian Han said, “You are all so annoying.”
He turned to Meng Yu, “What now? Where should we go?”
The place they were standing was very dangerous; a slight misstep could make them fall. Xie Zijing didn’t dare to act rashly. He spoke to Bian Han, trying to distract him: “When did your love delusion start?”
“I don’t have a love delusion!” He shouted, holding Meng Yu’s hand, “Meng Yu and I are in love!”
At the moment he shouted, Meng Yu suddenly broke free from his hand and leaped out.
“!”
Bian Han instinctively tried to grab him, but it was too late. Meng Yu fell, and even Bian Han lost his balance, tilting his body. Instinct made him steady himself immediately, but suddenly a huge force pushed him downstairs.
It was a pair of giant lion’s paws on his shoulders, one of which still had black holes.
The Barbary lion had returned to Xie Zijing. Taking advantage of Bian Han’s unpreparedness, Xie Zijing quickly released it. It leaped from Xie Zijing and accurately and swiftly knocked Bian Han down, dragging him downstairs.
As Meng Yu was about to hit the ground, several black figures suddenly leaped out from a nearby rooftop. They moved nimbly, much faster than ordinary people, quickly catching Meng Yu and swiftly climbing back to the rooftop. The wind lifted their hoods, revealing cold faces and the unique red eyes of the half-zombies.
The figures brought Meng Yu to the rooftop, where many underground people and half-zombies had already gathered. Qin Ge took Meng Yu’s hand, gripping it tightly: “It’s okay now.”
“…You persuaded them? They listened to you?” Meng Yu, coming out of his shock, asked.
“They’re willing to help us, to help the Wangdu district.” Qin Ge handed Meng Yu to the underground people and half-zombies behind him and walked straight to the edge of the rooftop.
The giant lion pushed Bian Han down, rolling to cushion the fall, and finally landed with Bian Han firmly pinned under its four paws. The lion opened its mouth and growled menacingly at him.
Dizzy from the fall, Bian Han’s gaze turned cold when he recognized the spirit animal before him.
A black king cobra leaped from behind his neck, striking directly at the Barbary lion’s face.
The lion had lost its playful attitude towards the snake. It stood nearly upright, and with its front paws, it grabbed the snake’s head and tail. Before the snake could release its venomous spines, the lion used its strength to tear the snake in half!
The king cobra was ripped apart, its mouth opening in a silent, sharp scream. But more terrifying was Bian Han’s cry of pain.
The severe damage to his spirit animal caused Bian Han to thrash madly under the giant lion, tears and snot streaming down his face. He convulsed, clutching his head and screaming in agony.
His screams were so loud that Bai Xiaoyuan and Xia Chun could hear them through the intercom.
“…Doesn’t your Crisis Office have tranquilizers, stun guns, or firearms?” Xia Chun was stunned. “Why fight like this?”
“The management agencies for special humans cannot be equipped with such tools,” Bai Xiaoyuan, half-drunk, explained. “Special humans are very dangerous. Even an agency like the Crisis Office can’t allow them access to firearms. That’s what the ordinary people in power believe.”
“…Then how can we subdue him?”
“I don’t know… I’ll send more sand cats over.” Bai Xiaoyuan took another deep swig of alcohol.
The newly released sand cats ran frantically, and after passing through the gap, the scene had quieted down. The Barbary Lion and Xie Zijing were gone from the abandoned house. Bian Han lay in the dark alley, eyes closed, his limbs occasionally twitching slightly but now calm. The criminal investigation team entered the abandoned house to investigate, while Lei Chi squatted beside Bian Han, frowning at him.
Several sand cats ran into the alley, sitting obediently in front of Lei Chi, looking up at him.
“…It was Qin Ge,” Lei Chi said, looking at the sand cats and explaining involuntarily.
Bai Xiaoyuan, listening through the intercom, was puzzled: “Qin Ge? What about Qin Ge?”
“After Bian Han’s spirit animal was torn apart by the Barbary lion, his mind suffered great trauma, and he started to go mad,” Lei Chi explained. “Qin Ge forcibly invaded his ‘sea area’ and is now conducting an interrogation.”
