Hui Tian Ch39

by Aria

Chapter 39

Come back, Bai Sheng.

“Ability radiation has breached the upper limit, exceeding the maximum measurable value!”

“It’s impossible to perform a brain scan on the patient, the mental attack is too strong!”

“The patient can’t breathe on his own… Blood oxygen is alarming again! Quickly, quickly—”

…

Everyone was shouting, everyone was running. The emergency stretcher whizzed through the corridor, pushed at lightning speed towards the rescue room. Bai Sheng lay on it, his eyes shut tight, his entire body spasming as his central nervous system was wracked by intense convulsions.

He was completely unconscious, but one hand gripped Shen Zhuo’s hand on the edge of the stretcher like a drowning man clutching a life-saving straw, the veins bulging from the pain.

“Senior, Senior!” Chen Miao came running from the end of the corridor, chasing after the speeding stretcher with a satellite phone in his hand. “The International Supervision General Administration is calling for the third time. Director-General Nielsen is on the line waiting to speak with you—”

At that moment, the stretcher reached the rescue room. Medical Evolutionist, long prepared, rushed forward. They worked together to forcibly pry Shen Zhuo’s hand, which had been squeezed the entire way, from Bai Sheng’s grip. The emergency stretcher shot into the rescue room like an arrow.

With a dull thud, the radiation-proof door slammed shut, and the red light for ‘In Rescue’ lit up.

Shen Zhuo stood before the rescue room door, the red warning light reflected in his dark eyes. The terrified supervisors nearby rushed over. Taking off his right glove, they saw that the entire back of his hand was a horrifying purple bruise, and his little finger was dislocated—crushed by Bai Sheng’s grip along the way.

Shen Zhuo’s face showed no pain. He let them treat his right hand while taking the satellite phone from Chen Miao with his left. He completely ignored Nielsen waiting on the line and hung up without a glance.

“S-Senior?”

“Where is my secure data platform?”

“Ah, here!” Chen Miao immediately pulled a tablet computer from his bag and handed it over.

The ten permanent supervisors all have a data platform issued by the International Supervision General Administration. Only this computer can connect to the administration’s classified database, which contains the names, addresses, ability types, and counter-methods for the vast majority of Evolutionists worldwide.

Even a regional supervisor like Kingston doesn’t have login credentials; only the ten permanent supervisors have viewing rights.

“Senior, are you trying to access the database to find a way to break ‘Daydream’?” Chen Miao asked, full of doubt as he watched Shen Zhuo quickly log in. “But mental abilities are un-scannable. Unless the evolutionist is willing to confess, it can’t be accurately recorded. Senior Su Jiqiao never even told anyone his ability was ‘Daydream’ before!”

With a soft click, the medical evolutionist reset Shen Zhuo’s finger bone. Before they could even apply painkillers, the Shenhai City Supervisor waved his hand, signaling it wasn’t necessary, and then took his hand back to quickly search for something on the tablet.

“Supervisor…”

The evolutionist wanted to say that if the terrifying bruise on his hand wasn’t treated now, it would be even more painful and gruesome by tomorrow. But looking at Shen Zhuo’s ice-cold, focused profile, he had to swallow his words, quietly step back, and go help in the rescue room.

“It doesn’t matter if Su Jiqiao hid it,” Shen Zhuo said coldly, rapidly eliminating results one by one from the thousands in the administration’s database. “He’s only an A-class. ‘Daydream’ is not a Fatal Strike.”

It was like a sudden enlightenment for Chen Miao, who immediately understood his senior’s meaning. “I see—”

Only S-class Fatal Strikes are unique abilities, like Bai Sheng’s Causality, Nielsen’s Tyrant, or Amatullah’s Wheel of Almighty. These ultimate skills are one-of-a-kind in the world; besides them, no one else possesses the same ability.

A unique ability is one of the key factors distinguishing an S-class from a strong A-class. This meant that Su Jiqiao’s “Daydream” could not be a unique ability. There must be other Evolutionists in the world who also possess Daydream, though perhaps at a lower level—maybe B-class, maybe C-class, maybe not very aggressive at all.

But that didn’t matter, because the method to break the same ability is universal.

As long as any Daydream Evolutionist had ever been registered in the database, the counter-method could be directly applied to save Bai Sheng from the dream.

Chen Miao cried out, “There, here it is!”

Shen Zhuo’s finger stopped.

He accurately clicked on a result amidst the dazzling search results. It was the criminal record of an Evolutionist.

Two years ago, a B-class mental Evolutionist in Northern Europe used “Daydream” to attack a human woman, and the victim was soon on the verge of brain death. But within the 24-hour golden window for treatment, the victim’s husband, a C-class Evolutionist, managed to save his wife and successfully counter-killed the attacker, despite the difference in rank.

Shen Zhuo’s finger swiped down, about to view the details of this criminal record, when the screen suddenly went black.

Then, the screen lit up again, but the webpage was blank, and a German pop-up appeared:
[Sorry, you do not have permission to view this content]
[Forced Logout]

“No permission?” Chen Miao was baffled. “What the hell?”

In a flash of insight, Shen Zhuo realized something. His expression turned grim. He reopened the login page, but instead of using his own biometric information, he skillfully manually typed in Nielsen’s name and a string of passwords.

“S-Senior, you even have Director-General Nielsen’s login password?!” Chen Miao was astounded.

However, the next moment, the page flashed red, displaying a password error message.

“…”

Shen Zhuo quickly closed the prompt, racing against time to enter Yue Yang’s password and click login. Chen Miao, standing beside him, was already numb with shock. “How did even Yue-ge give you his password? How many passwords do you have, Senior!”

[Password Incorrect]
[Retry]

The red X was reflected in Shen Zhuo’s eyes. His pupils under his long lashes were terrifyingly cold. He looked up and let out a breath.

“It was Nielsen,” Shen Zhuo said hoarsely. “He just revoked my database access and immediately changed his own and Yue Yang’s passwords. I only know those two.”

Chen Miao blurted out, “What, just because you hung up on him?”

But the next moment, as if his heart had been plunged into ice water, Chen Miao looked at Shen Zhuo’s frigid expression and understood as if waking from a dream:

“…The Director-General… he doesn’t want you to know how to save Bai-ge…”

But why?

To use such an obvious, hasty, and foolish method to kill another S-class was an extremely serious crime with no room for excuses. Even Nielsen would face strong impeachment from within the evolutionist community.

Could the method to break Daydream be hiding something that would make Nielsen resort to such a measure?

With a whoosh, the radiation-proof door was pushed open.

A B-class medical evolutionist doctor strode out, his expression grim. “Supervisor, the mental attack on the patient, Mr. Bai, has exceeded our maximum measurable value. The ability radiation is so severe that we cannot perform any treatment. His brain has already started to—”

“How long can he last?”

The doctor was taken aback. He saw that Shen Zhuo’s face was deathly pale, completely drained of blood. His refined, clear features looked like they were carved from a block of ice, a chill seeming to emanate even from his clenched jaw.

“…For any mental ability attack, 24 hours is the golden treatment period.” The doctor swallowed drily and said in a low voice, “After 24 hours, there will be irreversible, severe damage to the brain, and it might even lead to…”

“Impairment of consciousness and intelligence. In the most severe cases, he could become a vegetable.”

“Chief Yue!” In front of the Central Supervision Department’s Baishi Building, a secretary hurried down the steps and handed a satellite phone to Yue Yang, whispering, “Director-General Nielsen is on the line.”

Nielsen?

A trace of confusion arose in Yue Yang. He stopped in the open space in front of the building, gesturing for his driver and guards waiting by the car to wait, then took the phone and switched to fluent German.

“Hello, Director-General Nielsen?”

From the background noise on the other end, it sounded like Nielsen was in a speeding car, rushing somewhere in a hurry, but his tone was very steady and quick. “I just had your supervisor access password changed. The new credentials will be sent to the Central Supervision Department within three days.”

“…” Yue Yang’s first reaction was absurdity. “May I ask the reason for this overstep of authority?”

Nielsen seemed to find it amusing and let out a short laugh, tinged with unconcealed mockery.

“—You once gave your password to Supervisor Shen, didn’t you?”

Yue Yang was momentarily speechless.

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about admitting. Weakness of will is human nature,” Nielsen said with a smile. “In fact, I also once voluntarily told Supervisor Shen my password because he was probably gracing me with a good mood for three or four consecutive days… I was so dizzy every day; it was like I was in a beautiful dream. There were one or two times I almost believed it was real. Speaking of which, the fact that the International Supervision General Administration is still in Basel and hasn’t moved to Shenhai is probably thanks to Supervisor Shen’s noble sense of self-restraint.”

“…”

Yue Yang pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. “Since you knew all along, why did you suddenly change the password today?”

“I thought you were smart, Yang,” Nielsen retorted. “Don’t you know what just happened in the Shenhai jurisdiction?”

It was impossible to hide such a major event, especially since the “Daydream” ability was forcibly borrowed by Rong Qi from the central district. Yue Yang had, of course, received the news immediately.

“…S-class Evolutionist, Mr. Bai, was attacked by a mental ability?”

“Yes, and Supervisor Shen is searching everywhere for a way to break Daydream.” Nielsen paused, his tone becoming solemn and grave. “I hope you will hold fast to your principles this time and not give him any clues.”

Yue Yang frowned. “Why?”

As soon as he spoke, his personal phone vibrated in his pocket. He had received an email from Nielsen’s personal account.

It was a downloaded record of an ability-related crime from the classified database.

Nielsen said slowly, “Because we cannot bear the price of losing Shen Zhuo.”

Yue Yang opened the email. It was the record from two years ago of a B-class Evolutionist attacking an ordinary person with Daydream, only to be counter-killed by a C-class Evolutionist. At first, he was a little confused, but as he skimmed to the end, his pupils dilated in an instant.

“Could it be… this is…”

“Yes,” Nielsen said. “I admire that kind of self-sacrificing courage, but to sum it up, it’s a one-for-one trade.”

The car was still waiting in the open space, the guards and driver standing by respectfully. Yue Yang rarely showed hesitation in front of his subordinates, but now he opened his mouth, only to hear his own voice as if it were floating in mid-air.

“…Shen Zhuo… even if he knew, he wouldn’t possibly do it for anyone…”

“Is that so?” Nielsen said faintly, looking out the car window.

The military airport was gray and gloomy on the rainy day. The misty glass reflected his pupils, which were the color of a somber sky.

“Shen Zhuo is clearly aware of his own value, but sometimes, I feel he has a secret longing for death.” Nielsen narrowed his eyes. “It’s not just the time he opened the Inverted Cross to protect the civilians within 3000 meters, but also many other details I’ve noticed before… I don’t know where this secret longing of his comes from. Perhaps true geniuses are destined not to be understood by people like us.”

“But one thing is certain, Yang,” Nielsen said, his tone grave and slow. “We cannot lose this man who holds the switch to nuclear deterrence. The Evolutionist race needs him on our side. Sacrificing one or two S-classes for this is acceptable.”

The other end of the line was silent, only Yue Yang’s deep, unsteady breathing could be heard.

“I hope you can understand the position of our race.”

Nielsen said no more and hung up.

The car came to a screeching halt on the wet pavement. Ground crew ran up with an umbrella and respectfully opened the door. Nielsen ducked out of the car. Just as he was about to walk against the wind towards his private jet on the tarmac, another phone in his pocket rang.

It was Shen Zhuo.

“…”

The Director-General of the International Supervision General Administration froze, holding the phone, a very subtle expression on his face.

He didn’t answer for several seconds. After a moment, he let out a hoarse laugh, unsure if it was sarcastic or self-deprecating. “Only at a time like this would he call this number…”

“To pursue me to such a lowly extent, it’s a disgrace in its own way.”

The ground crew didn’t dare to speak, standing there with the umbrella, their heads lowered.

Fortunately, Nielsen didn’t make his subordinates anxious any longer. He started walking forward while pressing the answer button. The moment the call connected, his tone suddenly brightened, showing no trace of anything unusual. “Hello? Shen…”

“You know that the election for the Director-General is in three months, don’t you?”

Nielsen’s voice cut off abruptly.

“It’s not what you think, Shen Zhuo.” After a moment, he spoke again, his voice as gentle as usual. “S-class Evolutionists are our precious assets. If there’s any possibility, the International Supervision General Administration will absolutely not stand by and do nothing.”

The other end of the line was noisy; if one listened closely, it was the sound of various medical machines alarming. Shen Zhuo gave him no opportunity for pleasantries. “What is the method to break Daydream?”

“…”

“I asked you what the method to break Daydream is, Fritsch Nielsen!”

No one present had ever seen the legendary, stunningly beautiful Supervisor Shen, but his rebuke was incredibly severe and loud.

Everyone around Nielsen fell silent and lowered their heads, daring not to speak, trying their best to pretend they hadn’t noticed the indescribable expression on the Director-General’s face.

“…The fastest way to break it is always to directly kill the caster.” After a long pause, Nielsen finally spoke again, slowly. “But that is clearly impossible at the moment.”

“Besides that, if the dreamer can maintain a clear sense of self, they can also use their ability to destroy the dream from within and escape unharmed—but there is a paradox here.”

Nielsen paused before continuing, “If the caster is powerful enough, they can set a world rule that ‘the dreamer forgets everything’. In that case, Mr. Bai would not be able to try to use his ability while having forgotten his identity, and naturally, he would be unable to escape.”

The other end of the call fell silent, with only the monotonous ticking of the life-support monitor.

“No,” Shen Zhuo’s cold voice finally came through the phone after a long while. “There must be a third way.”

Nielsen didn’t say anything.

“That ability crime record in the database, how did the victim’s lover save her from the dream? What are you hiding?”

Nielsen stopped on the jet stairs, standing before the open cabin door. His pupils reflected the vast, lead-gray sky in the distance. He let out a long, silent sigh, as if carrying the vast, desolate ice and snow of the Northern European plains.

“I won’t tell you, Shen Zhuo,” he said softly.

“You’re someone who never deigns to spare a glance for humble love. I don’t want to see a foolish word like ‘reckless self-sacrifice’ associated with you…”

“Please believe that I only want to protect you.”

In the hospital room, Shen Zhuo’s eyes were cold as he ended the call without a word.

Nielsen stood in that position for a long time before slowly lowering his phone. He took a deep breath, straightened his back amidst the averted gazes of his subordinates, and stepped into the cabin.

“Final confirmation of the flight path, to Shenhai,” he ordered the crew without turning back, his voice as cold as the winter wind as he strode towards the passenger cabin.

Tick, tock, tick, tock.

Time passed second by second. The three hands of the clock on the hospital room wall coincided at midnight, then mercilessly continued their journey.

The room was temperature-controlled, but the boundless night outside seemed to seep in through every crack in the window, every crevice in the wall, filling the air with a lingering despair that sent a bone-deep chill up the spine.

Shen Zhuo gently placed his phone aside.

Bai Sheng was no longer convulsing on the bed. He lay with his eyes closed, his jaw clenched tight. In the dim light, his muscles were unnaturally taut. Dozens of electrode wires extended from his head and body, connecting to various life-sign monitors around him.

Not far from the bed, a screen displayed a real-time brain scan. An area on the side of his skull was a deep, purplish-red.

It represented the extreme pain, fear, and struggle he was experiencing.

Shen Zhuo stood by the bed. He pulled a hand from his pocket and took Bai Sheng’s well-defined, cold, and slightly damp left hand in his.

What are you dreaming of? He thought.

Is it that fire on the other side of your soul, the one that has been burning for nineteen years, never stopping for a moment?

“…I’m sorry…” A strained voice came from the corner of the room.

Chu Yan stood in the shadows, her head bowed, staring at the tile seams on the floor. Her eyes were bloodshot from staying awake. Shen Zhuo didn’t look at her or answer, only gazing at Bai Sheng’s unconscious face. After a moment, he said in a low voice, “It’s not your fault.”

“I didn’t expect… the ability could be remotely controlled by Rong Qi…”

Shen Zhuo said, “You’re just a child. It’s normal that you didn’t think of it. The one to blame is me, for not being cautious enough.”

No one in the room spoke. Yang Xiaodao stood silently by the door. Chu Yan stood in the corner with her head down. After a long while, Shen Zhuo slowly shook his head.

“Rong Qi knew from the beginning that even a Super S-class Daydream couldn’t hit Bai Sheng directly. He could only feign an attack on me to precisely hit Bai Sheng’s only weakness… If I had figured out his plan earlier, none of this would have happened.”

He let out a breath and murmured, “It was just that half-second.”

Chu Yan looked up with a sliver of hope. “I can sense Rong Qi’s approximate location through the senses of mosquitoes and ants. Mr. Bai’s golden treatment period has 13 hours left. If I lead you to him right now and we kill him directly—”

“We can’t,” Shen Zhuo said faintly. “One of the few people in this world who can definitively kill Rong Qi is lying right here.”

On the bed, Bai Sheng’s profile was still, his eyes shut, his breathing short.

Shen Zhuo closed his eyes, then opened them again, in a short moment regaining his usual composure. “Yang Xiaodao.”

The boy standing guard by the door snapped his head up, like a small, neurotic animal stretched to its limit. He clenched his fists so tightly that the muscles and tendons in his arm bulged.

“Take Chu Yan back to the Supervision Department, then you stand guard there all night.” Shen Zhuo’s tone was steady and calm, possessing a power that suppressed everything. “I need you both to be extremely calm and restrained. Yang Xiaodao, assist the armed police in guarding the department. Chu Yan, pay attention to any unusual movements. Rong Qi won’t easily set foot in Shenhai before the golden treatment period ends, but that might not be the case after 13 hours. You must be prepared to face the most powerful enemy of your lives.”

“…”

After a ragged, hoarse gasp, Yang Xiaodao finally managed to force out a few words. “I understand.”

“When the adults fall, you become the adults.” Shen Zhuo gestured outward with his hand and said concisely, “Go.”

Yang Xiaodao almost had to force himself to look away. He pushed open the door. The two children walked out of the room one after the other, standing in the pale light of the corridor.

But just as he was about to close the door, Yang Xiaodao suddenly paused. He stood there, looking into the dim hospital room. His lips trembled for a moment before he asked hoarsely:

“…Supervisor Shen, you will find a way to save my dad, right?”

Shen Zhuo didn’t move, not even raising his head. A strip of light from the doorway stretched across the floor, illuminating his profile—slender, pale, and upright. His beautiful face was fixed on Bai Sheng.

“Not ‘will’,” he said calmly. “I definitely can.”

As if he had finally found his pillar of support, the boy slowly unclenched his mangled, bloody palm, lowered his head, and gently closed the door.

Click.

The room returned to silence, with only the dim yellow glow of the bedside lamp. Outside the window, the darkness was boundless, like an endless sea at night.

The phone screen on the bedside table lit up repeatedly with messages pouring in. The vast network Shen Zhuo had deployed was constantly seeking clues about that ability case in Northern Europe from two years ago. The fastest intelligence tentacles had already reached Norway, but there was still no sign of a breakthrough.

Outside, the world was in turmoil, but this small hospital room at the center of the storm was dim and quiet, as if only the two of them were left in the world, facing each other, their fingers intertwined.

“…”

Shen Zhuo reached out his right hand and gently wiped the cold sweat from Bai Sheng’s temple.

Such an arrogant, frivolous, and improper person could also have such a quiet moment, as if he would never wake up again.

He suddenly, for no reason, remembered that this special care ward in the Shenhai City Evolutionist Specialist Hospital was the very place where he had suffered a backlash after injecting the S-class evolution drug, and Bai Sheng had stayed by his side until he woke up. At that time, he was the one lying in this bed, while Bai Sheng sat in the armchair by the wall, lazy, powerful, and casual, surveying every corner of this vast city below like a lion reigning over all demons and ghosts.

And before that, when he was first ambushed on the overpass and almost abducted by Liu Sanji, just as he was about to inject the A-class evolution drug, it was this person named Bai Sheng who had suddenly appeared like a soldier from the heavens, successfully repelling Rong Qi’s men, and then carrying him back to his home. For the next three days, he was closely guarded and meticulously cared for. That person, who was clearly full of nonsense, acted with extreme precision and caution, leaving no opening for Rong Qi to exploit.

Of course, he also filmed vlogs from various angles during that time.

“Yawn—everyone, look, it’s another bright and sunny day. Supervisor Shen finally fell asleep last night after excitedly bothering me eighteen times. Let’s get a close-up appreciation of his nuclear-level HD handsome face… Ah! He’s awake! Why is he awake again!”

A clattering sound, and the toxin-ridden Shen Zhuo convulsed and sat up. The camera was knocked onto the bed, recording Bai Sheng’s hurried voice-over narration: “Hello everyone, this is Supervisor Shen’s nineteenth time waking up in the past 10 hours. Really, every time I get close to him, he gets super happy and excited. He really, really likes me…”

It was as if Bai Sheng’s cheerful, bright voice could be heard in the void, always carrying that familiar, improper smile.

So frivolous, so flighty, the complete opposite of his true, resolute self.

Shen Zhuo closed his eyes.

“…I’ve always wanted to follow you, ever since the first time I saw you in the newspaper…”

“…When the storm swept over the dam, and the crowds retreated, he alone went against the current with his sword. I wish to be the shield before him…”

“…Can I, Supervisor Shen?”

—The space was small and tight, body heat pressing close. Against the hospital room door, everything was so chaotic and inverted. An irresistible, hot, and gentle presence rushed forward. In an instant, lips and tongues touched and tangled, a canine tooth pricking the inside of his lip, drawing a faint taste of blood.

“…You bastard,” Shen Zhuo murmured softly.

That bastard lay on the snow-white hospital bed, his brows slightly furrowed, his eyelashes trembling constantly, his body repeatedly tensing and struggling. One hand, as if drowning, convulsively gripped Shen Zhuo’s left hand.

He was suffering in the inferno of the illusion, but his instincts would make him desperately seek help from that one person.

“Come back, Bai Sheng. Don’t rush into that fire.” Shen Zhuo ran his fingers through Bai Sheng’s messy hair, forcefully pulling his head towards him, and whispered word by word in his ear, “Your parents are already dead. They want you to live well. Don’t go save them, okay?”

The unconscious man’s lips moved, but he struggled to make a sound.

“You are already strong enough to overcome that fire. Let it be extinguished, okay?”

—Come back, Bai Sheng.

Come back.

His limbs were burned by the raging flames, his charred skin covered in bloody marks, but the child rushing into the fire again and again could not stop. The shrill laughter from all directions drove him mad, and the constant cries for help from the flames lured him ever forward. Yet every time he grabbed his parents’ hands in the searing pain, they would slip away at the last moment.

He no longer knew what he was holding on for, only endless anger and pain burned in his chest. Charred flesh kept falling from his body until his pale bones were exposed, yet he still stumbled towards the fire.

—Have you forgotten that you have become strong enough, Bai Sheng?

Wake up and come back to reality, okay?

The young Bai Sheng’s eyes widened. He felt a force from the void tightly grip his hand—gentle, firm, and unquestionable, stopping him from rushing into the flames for the countless time.

Who are you? He thought in confusion.

Then, a strangely familiar touch came over him. It was like a powerful embrace.

—In that instant, all the malicious, shrill laughter outside the fire was completely suppressed. Countless demonic shadows twisted and disappeared. The world gradually quieted in that gentle embrace, becoming a long, silent void of interwoven blood and fire.

“Don’t go any further,” he heard a calm, familiar voice in his ear amidst the excruciating pain.

“Wake up. I’m still waiting for you.”

The evening glow slanted across the stained-glass windows, a huge cross towering above. In the center of the empty church, a magnificent green and white marble round table rose from the floor, its gold-gilded pelican and apple motifs glittering in the sunset.

With a dull thud, the main door was pushed open.

A young Evolutionist, who looked like a student from his age and dress, rushed into the church. He hurried past rows of empty pews and came before the chancel, bowing slightly.

“Bishop.”

The much-rumored Bishop of the “Round Table,” Thorne, was actually a white-haired British physics professor. He wore a pair of old-fashioned round glasses and looked to be nearly eighty. Sickness clung to his aged face, and a bluish-black shadow covered the back of his wrinkled hands.

He turned at the sound. Before he could speak, another voice beside him asked first:

“Did you find out?”

The one who spoke first was another old man, his silver-gray hair neatly combed back. He looked a few years younger and much healthier, but his gaunt face had a somewhat stern look.

“Yes, Mr. Pardes.” The evolutionist student turned to bow to the speaker and answered politely, “The news from the Supervision departments all over Europe has spread completely. Shenhai is desperately searching for a way to break the mental ability ‘Daydream’. That S-class named Bai Sheng might be in a life-threatening situation.”

The aged Round Table Bishop nodded in contemplation. After a long moment, he spoke slowly, “That child is struggling on the brink of life and death. We should go and save him.”

“Why?” The stern-faced Pardes frowned and unhesitatingly objected. “That Bai Sheng has never truly joined us, and he has always paid lip service to the Round Table’s orders. What’s the need to save him?”

“We have never ordered him to do anything, my brother,” the Bishop gently refuted.

“Haven’t we? Before he returned to Shenhai, he promised us he would do his utmost to get close to Shen Zhuo, to investigate the true reason for the death of S-class Fu Chen, and to investigate the truth about Shen Zhuo’s anti-humanity experiments for us—but to this day, we have received very little intelligence. He hasn’t taken the Round Table seriously at all!”

The Bishop was somewhat helpless in the face of his own brother’s fierce attitude and let out a long sigh.

“Pardes,” he said slowly, “you cannot ‘order’ an S-class to do anything for you, because a young alpha wolf has his own judgment. If he feels that there is no need to tell us about Shen Zhuo’s situation, then he doesn’t have to say anything. We old folks should have learned to trust and let go long ago.”

Pardes still seemed unconvinced, but the Bishop raised a hand, cutting off his brother’s objection.

“Even if he never truly joined us, we cannot stand by and watch a fellow Evolutionist die. This violates the spirit of the Round Table.”

“…”

“Please contact him for me,” the Bishop turned to the young student and instructed kindly.

There was no need to explain in detail how to do it. The student was clearly more respectful and convinced by the Bishop. He immediately took a step back and bowed. “Yes.”

3:20 AM.

The phone rang.

It was the darkest hour of the night. The whining wind battered against the hospital room’s glass windows. Shen Zhuo suddenly turned his head, only to see his own phone lying quietly under the bedside lamp. It wasn’t the latest news from the intelligence officers in Norway.

Then he realized the ringing was coming from the other side of the bed. It was Bai Sheng’s phone.

“…”

Shen Zhuo’s hand was still tightly held by the unconscious Bai Sheng. He leaned over and picked up the phone with his other hand. The screen showed an unknown location and an unknown number, likely hidden using technology.

—Although he didn’t know which organization it was, it was, as expected, not a surprise.

The people who had sent Bai Sheng back to Shenhai in the first place would not sit idly by.

Shen Zhuo let out a silent, derisive laugh, then pressed the answer key. His voice was weary but clear and stable as he said in English, “This is Shenhai City Supervisor Shen Zhuo. Get to the point.”

The person on the other end was probably not expecting him to be so direct. They were silent for a moment before a young, student-like voice with a disguised Northern Irish accent came through. “Hello, Supervisor Shen. We have learned through certain channels that you are inquiring everywhere about methods to break mental abilities. As it happens, we have collected information on various abilities, including some that might interest you…”

Shen Zhuo impatiently interrupted him. “There are less than 10 hours left. Get to the point. How do you break it?”

“…”

The poor young student was stunned into silence. A few seconds later, the phone was probably taken by someone else, and an old, heavy voice sounded, this time finally getting straight to the point:

“First, Supervisor Shen, you need to do two things.”

“One, find a person with extremely strong psychological quality and mental power. Two, trigger Daydream again.”

By the bedside, Shen Zhuo’s brow furrowed slightly.

“The biggest flaw of ‘Daydream’ is that it can only form one dream at a time. That is to say, when a second dreamer appears, as long as this person’s mental power is far stronger than the first person’s, the dream will naturally transform: the first dreamer’s most terrifying scene will cease to exist, and instead, the second dreamer’s most painful scene will be constructed. During this transformation process, the first dreamer has a high chance of waking up and escaping the dream.”

“In that ability crime record from two years ago in Norway, it was the husband, a C-class Evolutionist, who managed to enter the Daydream, forcing the dream to transform and thus awakening his wife. Afterwards, this husband dreamt of the most terrifying war of his life, but he survived the battlefield in the dream and returned triumphantly, thereby completely dismantling ‘Daydream’.”

“When ‘Daydream’ is destroyed, the caster will suffer a severe backlash, which is why that B-class mental evolutionist was counter-killed by someone of a lower rank. However, I must remind you that this is a very, very rare situation—because in most cases, the second dreamer becomes forever lost in a terrifying abyss and never wakes up again.”

“So, basically, it is a one-for-one limit operation.”

“Your biggest difficulty now is to immediately find someone with unparalleled mental strength who is willing to trade their life for Mr. Bai’s. Do you understand my meaning, Supervisor Shen?”

On the hospital rooftop, the wind howled. A helicopter was ready to go in just a few minutes, a special operations team standing by. Shen Zhuo walked briskly forward, phone in hand, his suit jacket flying up in the strong wind from the propellers. He said loudly, “What a coincidence. I happen to know just such a person with unparalleled mental strength!”

“…” The old voice on the other end of the phone was stunned for a moment, possibly suspecting he had misheard. “What did you say?”

“Supervisor!” Luo Zhen ran up to meet him. “We are ready for takeoff. Where are we going now? Has there been good news from Northern Europe?”

Shen Zhuo held up a hand to signal Luo Zhen to wait, and said loudly into the phone, “One last question. Are you a private organization registered with the International Supervision General Administration?”

“?” The person on the other end was confused, slowly replying, “You don’t need to inquire about our organization’s identity. We are just—”

“Do you have an official position?”

“Huh? An official position?” The person on the other end was stumped by his question.

Shen Zhuo didn’t hide his mockery. “Without an official position, Bai Sheng will never truly listen to your commands!”

“………………”

There was a long silence from the other end of the call, clearly in a state of existential doubt.

Shen Zhuo casually ended the call, tossed the phone to Luo Zhen, and ducked into the helicopter cabin. “First, go to the Supervision Department to pick up Yang Xiaodao. If we have a conflict with the central district, we’ll need him to hold off Yue Yang. Notify Shui Ronghua and tell her to have the lab prepare. As soon as we bring back Su Jiqiao’s serum from the central district, immediately start cultivating the HRG ability promoter. We have to trigger Daydream again. I’m going in too.”

“Huh?” Luo Zhen turned around from the pilot’s seat, dumbfounded. “We’re going to draw Section Chief Su’s serum? You’re going into the dream too? Really?!”

Shen Zhuo didn’t answer. He quickly fastened his seatbelt and let out a cold, grinding laugh.

—A one-for-one trade.

No wonder Nielsen was acting all sentimental, and Yue Yang was also being hesitant. One by one, they were all playing games.

The helicopter lifted off the rooftop in the strong wind, flying into the darkest night sky before dawn. The earth receded further and further below. The helicopter window reflected the cold, sharp, and beautiful face of the Shenhai City Supervisor.

As long as the second dream is broken, the caster will suffer a severe backlash, even be counter-killed by someone of a lower rank.

“Since that Rong is so confident he won’t be counter-killed…” Shen Zhuo looked down at the vast darkness below, a mocking sneer on his lips.

“Then let him pay for his lesson with his life.”

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