Chapter 530: Shadows in the Ghost Building

“Clatter, clatter…”

Lu Xin drove the stolen van, swaying as he made his way back to the hotel with an exceptionally good mood.

Every successful job lifted his spirits.

That near-floating sensation was almost overwhelming.

By the time he reached the hotel doorway, it was already late at night. Yet outside the hotel, not only were there still a few thugs meandering about, there seemed to be even more. Maybe it was because nobody could sleep, so instead of resting, they all rushed over when they heard Group Leader had business here, flocking in excitement as though welcoming him personally.

“Creak,” “Splash,” “Pff,” “Swish.”

Lu Xin stopped the van, which responded with four distinct sounds.

Amid the curious stares of the crowd, he got out calmly and circled to the back, lifting the rear cover of the van.

“Back already?”

One of the thugs who had been tasked with finding a vehicle for Lu Xin edged closer, his tone laced with curiosity: “Where did you disappear to?”

“Nothing much,” Lu Xin replied nonchalantly.

Hoisting the bundled figure from the van, he then pointed to the protective suit and said, “Give me a hand.”

“Oh ho…”

The thug cast a glance at the humanoid mass cradled by Lu Xin. Peeking from beneath a rolled-up curtain were a pair of expensive leather shoes. Instantly, his attitude shifted to one of respectful awe as he whispered, “In no time, you went out and brought someone back to tie up?”

“Yep.”

Lu Xin figured that explaining every detail was pointless, so he simply nodded coolly.

“Impressive, really impressive…”

The thug immediately gave a thumbs-up, remarking, “Your efficiency is on par with Yongzi and the others…”

Lu Xin shot him a look, inwardly bristling in protest.

How could it be the same? After all, Yongzi and Qiangzi had tricked people into coming with them…

Carrying the high-ranking executive of Tianhe, with the thug clutching the protective suit following behind, Lu Xin headed straight upstairs. Instantly, he attracted the attention of many thugs who, curious as ever, gathered around and inquired in a friendly tone, “What kind of oddity is this?”

“Seems like a person?”

“Then what sort of person is this?”

“Shh… Flesh Ticket…”

“Oh, what are you all waiting for? Hand it over already…”

“…”

Lu Xin’s emotions were truly complicated.

Listening to their banter made him want to smack them.

Yet seeing their enthusiastic reactions, he also felt these guys weren’t so bad after all.

Still, he resisted their eagerness; after all, this was a severely contaminated subject, and it was unclear what might happen if an ordinary person came into contact with it.

He carried the person directly to the fourteenth floor, where someone opened Gecko’s room and roughly deposited the captive onto the bed.

Lu Xin then sat down, gasping heavily.

Before long, Gecko, Han Bing, and the others arrived, their faces etched with concern: “How’s it going?”

“Smooth as planned,” Lu Xin replied with a smile and a hint of pride.

Han Bing immediately nodded, then signaled for the curious thugs crowding the corridor to back off. Even Group Leader, who had swaggered in and sat down like he owned the place while puffing on a cigar, received a discreet gesture to be ushered into the next room by Red Serpent.

Only then did Han Bing quietly ask, “What did you find out?”

“I’ve gathered details on what’s going on in that Ghost Building, as well as the state of Tianhe Security’s top brass.”

Lu Xin laughed and patted the bed. “Also, to aid the investigation, I brought back a sample.”

“!”

Han Bing looked a bit dumbfounded as she stared at the large, slumbering man on the bed.

Mr. Lone Soldier called this a sample?

After a brief pause, he pulled out his notebook, sat on the sofa, and asked, “What exactly’s the situation?”

Lu Xin nodded and explained to Han Bing, “That Fat Man earlier probably wasn’t lying. In that building, there are indeed quite a few people—apparently upper echelon types dressed quite smartly. But they weren’t in a meeting or anything; something went wrong.

I noticed numerous Mental Monsters thriving within their bodies.”

“…”

“Mental Monsters?”

Han Bing’s expression shifted as she glanced at the man on the bed.

“He has them too,” Lu Xin added.

“But from what I observed, it shouldn’t be a problem here,” he continued.

Though Han Bing trusted Lu Xin, her expression remained slightly uneasy as she shifted uncomfortably.

Finally, she lowered her voice and asked, “What do you mean by ‘many Mental Monsters’?”

“There can be more than one in a single body,” Lu Xin explained.

“Really?”

Lu Xin nodded seriously and went on, “Normally, even when a Mental Monster parasitizes an ordinary person, there’s usually just one. And even if an ordinary person’s mental energy mutates into a Mental Monster, it’s still only one. It’s like how one person typically develops only one type of mutant ability due to their mental traits.”

“But in that Ghost Building, the Mental Monsters were bizarre. They kept multiplying within these bodies, eventually overrunning the building. It turned the whole place into a nest for these creatures.”

“And those high-ranking executives from Tianhe turned into breeding grounds… incubation beds?”

“…”

“A nest for monsters?”

Hearing this, Gecko looked visibly puzzled and instinctively asked, “Then how did the Captain come out?”

“He just went in and came right back out…”

Lu Xin glanced at Gecko with a look of professional disdain for amateurs.

But then he suddenly thought of something and said with a hint of regret, “I should have brought you along…”

He figured that if Gecko had been with him, his burden would have been lighter.

Yet Gecko’s face clouded over, and he looked at Lu Xin with a mix of pity and self-reproach, as if wondering what he had done wrong.

In the end, it felt hopeless—almost as if he had been turned into an incubator for Mental Monsters, continuously breeding them.

Han Bing scribbled down Lu Xin’s explanation while pondering whether she’d ever seen a similar case. Her brow furrowed in thought, unable to find a theoretical explanation.

After taking detailed notes, she turned her attention to the man lying on the bed, wrapped in curtains and softly snoring.

“Is he one of them?”

“Yes,” Lu Xin confirmed as he stood up and grasped a corner of the curtain, ready to pull it back.

Instantly, Gecko’s face paled and he stepped back while Han Bing’s expression grew serious and her lips pressed tight.

Then Lu Xin remembered something. He got up, grabbed the protective suits piled in the corner, and handed one to Han Bing, saying, “Although I don’t expect any issues, just to be safe, I brought you this suit. Change into it first.”

“Huh?”

Han Bing froze for a moment, surprised as she looked up at Lu Xin.

Meeting her eyes, Lu Xin smiled, “It feels pretty heavy.”

Han Bing seemed to think over something before lowering her head, her cheeks flushing as she let out a soft sigh. Then she raised her face with a sincere, slightly touched smile and said, “Thank you, Mr. Lone Soldier.”

Lu Xin grinned, “It’s the least I could do. Your safety is the most important.”

Overwhelmed with gratitude, Han Bing was momentarily speechless. She nodded lightly and headed to the bathroom to put on the protective suit. Although the suit could be worn over her clothes without changing, the shy little girl in her still preferred to avoid attention. Lu Xin, not minding the extra effort, simply stood by the bed, waiting quietly.

Gecko glanced at Lu Xin and then in the direction of the bathroom, shaking his head with a soft, “Tsk tsk.”

“No wonder you’re the Captain…”

“…”

Once Han Bing had donned the suit and helmet, she rejoined them in the hotel room.

Watching her awkward, slightly bulky figure in the protective gear, Lu Xin suddenly recalled an experiment during the early phase of the Heaven’s Kingdom Plan in Sea Country when all the men wore protective suits and were laughed at by the female staff—like canned goods.

Was this finally payback for that grudge?

“Ready?”

Seeing everyone gather around, Lu Xin slowly lifted the curtain for a peek.

Han Bing and Gecko both assumed a wary stance, as if expecting something terrifying.

But to their surprise, behind the curtain lay a well-dressed man, soundly asleep, with a soft snore. There was no sign of a writhing monster as they’d imagined.

Even Lu Xin couldn’t help but note that he too saw nothing but a sleeping man.

He suspected that earlier he might have seen numerous Mental Monsters ready to break out from within this man’s body, but now they had all retreated back—shocked out of existence.

Long ago, he had realized that the Mental Monsters hidden within the human body were invisible to the naked eye.

“Seems like he’s just in a deep sleep?”

Gecko, not spotting any monsters, relaxed slightly and looked on in astonishment, “Yeah.”

Lu Xin nodded, adding, “He’s in such a deep sleep that even a pinch wouldn’t wake him—I’ve tried.”

“I doubt it’s ordinary slumber,”

Han Bing examined the man carefully. After a moment’s thought, she sent Gecko back to the previous room to fetch her case.

From it, she retrieved some compact instruments, including electrodes resembling those used for EKGs, and, wearing gloves, she awkwardly positioned them before scrutinizing the connected electronic screen.

“Based on his readout, he is indeed in deep sleep,” she reported softly while observing, “but his mental state is in terrible shape—infested with all sorts of radiation.”

“Such mental fluctuations have only been seen in severely schizophrenic patients, and his condition is even worse.”

“…”

As she spoke, her gaze shifted towards Lu Xin and she asked, “Earlier, Mr. Lone Soldier, what kind of Mental Monster did you see?”

Lu Xin described as carefully as possible, “A human face, a serpent-like body, large eyes, and it looked like a head with a spine trailing behind… Each one had a psychic power of no more than about a hundred. When nearing a person, they seemed to induce extreme irritation and anger, accompanied by a distinct scraping sound—perhaps a part of their special ability. Plus, they were numerous yet extremely fragile; a mere pinch was enough to kill one…”

“…”

Both Han Bing and Gecko exchanged puzzled glances.

Lu Xin, seemingly oblivious, had recounted his entire experience at the Ghost Building of Tianhe Security and described the Mental Monsters in detail, hoping that his account would help Han Bing analyze the situation.

For a long while, Han Bing absorbed every word, her eyes fixed on the mental assessment readout.

After a while, she rose, removed her glass helmet, and then picked up a cup of strong coffee, taking a large gulp.

That small action stirred something in Lu Xin—he could tell Han Bing was looking rather haggard. In a moment when everyone else struggled to sleep, here was a little girl risking everything to save lives by guzzling down coffee…

He admired her determination.

After a pause with her coffee, Han Bing slowly processed her thoughts and said to Lu Xin,

“Mr. Lone Soldier, I think I’ve figured some things out…”

“…”

Lu Xin looked at Han Bing, momentarily taken aback.

Han Bing set her cup down, whispered something to Gecko, who immediately went to their previous meeting room, retrieved a plastic bag filled with various items, and spread them out one by one on the small table beside the bed.

There was a pack of cigarettes, a box of biscuits, and a bottle of drink.

Also included was a small plastic package containing something resembling green tobacco, each item distinct.

Additionally, there was what appeared to be a freshly printed assessment report.

“While you were scouting that Ghost Building of Tianhe Security, I did some work too,” Han Bing said softly.

“I managed to have Sun Heizi’s report retrieved, and I also re-interviewed Ye Xue and her brother in detail. Although the evidence isn’t fully conclusive, I believe I now understand the cause of their insomnia.”

Meeting Lu Xin’s puzzled gaze, she gently pushed the pack of green tobacco towards him and whispered, “It’s because of this—Black Grass.”

“Black Grass?”

Lu Xin’s expression shifted to one of surprise.

He was well aware that Heichao City was a major base for Black Grass infestations.

After entering the city and witnessing its rugged prosperity, he’d always felt an underlying sense of unease.

But hearing Han Bing claim that the pollution spread in the city was due to Black Grass felt almost absurd.

In one respect, the harm caused by Black Grass hardly needed description.

Yet its danger, being mostly physical, seemed entirely separate from the eerie mental pollution at play.

If Black Grass were really to blame for Heichao City’s insomnia, why would it surface only now?