Chapter 19: Level A Special Agent
“Why didn’t those two items disintegrate and disappear?”
Ji Yun felt a new wave of doubt. The corpse had vanished, and only then did he dare to cautiously pick up the items.
He immediately recognized the ten small golden bars. He lifted them, feeling their heavy weight.
The inscription read: “Minsheng Mint,” with a purity of “992.0.” On each bar was the portrait of President Yuan.
Under the phone’s light, the gold appeared dull and lifeless, emitting a faint, curling black mist that resembled the aura of death.
“Gold bars? No, these must be ‘defiled gold.’”
Ji Yun recalled what the elders had told him.
Gold buried with the dead that had absorbed yin energy was known as “defiled gold,” also called “nether gold.”
Seeing these ten bars, a thought flashed through Ji Yun’s mind: “Could it be that guy brought these out from the Nether Realm?”
Most likely.
No ordinary person would randomly carry around ten gold bars for no reason.
Moreover, the gold dust on the “Corpse Suppression Talisman” just now looked like the same kind of gold.
It seemed to be some kind of extraordinary substance.
Ji Yun marveled inwardly, wondering what exactly the Nether Realm was, that gold bars could be brought out from it.
No matter what kind of gold, it was valuable.
He carefully wrapped the gold bars in cloth and put them away.
Only a single black “glass bead” remained on the ground.
If he wasn’t mistaken, it was the bead formed by the death qi that had gathered when the zombie man disappeared.
It was undoubtedly a supernatural item.
But strangely, Ji Yun’s first reaction upon holding the bead was a bizarre thought: Could this thing be eaten?
He didn’t know why such a strange idea popped into his mind.
Yet his body seemed drawn to this cold, smooth bead.
Ji Yun remembered that Chen Changqing, the demoness, must have seen the zombie man’s corpse when she came out.
She hadn’t handled it, so it probably wasn’t dangerous.
Perhaps she deliberately left it for him?
With that in mind, Ji Yun didn’t hesitate and pocketed the bead.
...
When Ji Yun returned to his room, 304, outside the Happiness Residential Complex, the police car had already left, replaced by two inconspicuous black sedans.
Several men wearing suits and jackets stood beside the vehicles.
“Captain, after receiving the report, the comrades from the South City Precinct arrived to handle the situation and found a homicide scene. The forensic examination confirmed a supernatural incident, so it was transferred to us. But when we arrived, we discovered a Nether Realm had suddenly manifested inside the complex without any warning...”
“A Nether Realm appeared here?”
“Yes. An unrecorded Nether Realm.”
“What about the corpse?”
“The blood and qi were completely drained. The suspect is believed to be a high-level zombie-type supernatural being. So we immediately sealed off the scene.”
“Good work. The experts sent by the branch should be arriving soon.”
“...”
As they spoke, another black sedan sped over and stopped across the street.
The driver’s door opened, and a woman stepped out, dressed in a tight-fitting skirt, black stockings, and a white blouse, exuding a sharp, professional aura.
She wore sunglasses and carried a handbag, resembling a city white-collar worker who had just finished work and was heading to a gathering.
As she briskly approached, the lead man in the jacket immediately stepped forward, asking, “Miss Hua Ling from the Harbor District?”
“Mm-hmm.”
Upon her nod, the jacketed man saluted respectfully and introduced himself, “I’m Feng Guodong, team leader of Special Operations Team Seven from Jianghua City’s Supernatural Affairs Bureau.”
The young agents behind Feng glanced at the skirted woman with puzzled looks, scrutinizing her youthful appearance and attire.
She hardly looked like the “expert” sent from headquarters.
“Hello, Team Leader Feng.”
The skirted woman extended her hand for a shake and, realizing her attire was unfit for the mission, quickly explained, “Sorry for the inappropriate dress. I was just meeting friends and didn’t have time to change.”
Feng smiled, “Not at all. We’re the ones causing trouble for Miss Hua Ling.”
Without further pleasantries, the woman asked directly, “What’s the situation inside?”
“Well...” Feng summarized the events in a few words.
At the end, he awkwardly added, “The special ops team responsible for this area was out on another mission, so these rookies who haven’t handled a Nether Realm before were left here, and...”
“Mm. The old detective briefed me over the phone.”
The woman nodded casually.
She was an invited external expert and had no reason to be fussy.
She then pulled a silver pistol engraved with mysterious runes from her waist bag, checked the magazine, and chambered a round with a click.
Turning, she instructed, “I’ll go in first to assess the situation. You stay outside and support. Anyone or anything that comes out, stop them—all of them. Including ‘me.’”
Feng nodded without hesitation, “Understood. We’ll fully cooperate with your operation.”
The woman turned and entered the Happiness Complex without delay.
No hesitations.
Watching her head in alone to handle the supernatural incident, Feng said nothing, but several of his team looked puzzled.
One questioned, “Captain, letting her go in alone?”
Feng looked at his agents disdainfully, “Heh, if you all were capable of handling a Nether Realm, would the branch have to invite external experts from the Harbor District? And don’t underestimate her because of her age. Miss Hua Ling is a Class A special agent from the International Containment Foundation with more experience handling supernatural incidents than all of you combined. We’re going to be cooperating with the Harbor District extensively for a long time. Get to know her.”
“Got it.”
The rookies were thoroughly reprimanded and could only watch the woman’s figure disappear into the complex.
Feng sighed, “Sigh, the frequency of supernatural outbreaks is increasing. Jianghua City might be entering a phase of large-scale supernatural resurgence...”
...
Ji Yun had just packed up the items from the zombie when he heard faint footsteps downstairs.
Alert, he looked down and saw an aluminum can roll up precisely in front of him.
Before he could identify it, the can suddenly exploded, and a dazzling flash blinded his eyes.
A white haze filled his vision, dizziness overwhelmed him as if his soul was being driven out by the light.
While still dizzy, something hard pressed against his head, and a soft voice murmured, “So it’s a human?”
Nearly blinded, Ji Yun grumbled silently: Of course it’s a human.
After a few seconds, his blurry vision focused, revealing a tall young woman in a tight skirt, her brows fierce and sharp.
She wore sunglasses and leaned against the wall.
Confirming he was human, she lowered her gun and cautiously scanned the stairwell.
Her stance betrayed professional training.
A stark contrast to the shabbily disguised zombie man pretending to be a cop.
Ji Yun guessed she was an official.
His first impression wasn’t bad.
Of course, if she wasn’t pointing a gun at him right now.
Before he could speak, the woman rapidly said, “Police on duty. This place is dangerous. You need to leave downstairs.”
“...”
Ji Yun was speechless.
That flashbang had not only blinded him but scattered silver dust everywhere.
That gun wasn’t standard issue either; it was covered in mysterious exorcism runes.
Ji Yun guessed she might be the person who came after his call to the police and said nothing more.
He headed downstairs.
But as soon as he stepped out of the complex gate, several guns were immediately trained on him.
The suited men confiscated his belongings and restrained him inside a black sedan.
Their demeanor was firm but procedural.
From their conduct, Ji Yun was certain they were official personnel specializing in supernatural matters.
He obediently sat in the car, occasionally observing these special ops agents he had never encountered before.
...
About ten minutes later.
Through the car window, Ji Yun saw the woman in the tight skirt emerge with a suspicious look.
He understood why.
She must have been heading toward the Nether Realm.
But the Nether Realm had already vanished, and the suspects had fled.
Naturally, there was nothing to find.
Ji Yun watched as they discussed briefly outside, then pointed toward his car, saying something unknown.
Soon after, those suited men went upstairs.
The woman in the leather skirt approached Ji Yun’s car.
She opened the door, sat in the driver’s seat, and handed him a transparent evidence bag containing his items.
“These belong to you.”
The gold bars and the bead were all there.
Ji Yun was momentarily stunned, suspiciously asking, “Returning them to me?”
After all that had happened, with a dead body and such a commotion, he expected the authorities to confiscate these items as evidence.
Even if not seized permanently, they certainly wouldn’t be returned to him so quickly.
He hadn’t expected them to give the items back without question.