Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Han Chuyi looked skeptical.

Shen Yan curled his lips. "Suit yourself."

"I've got better things to do."

As soon as he finished speaking, Han Chuyi sneered and turned to leave for the report room.

Shen Yan paused, letting his expression fall only after Han Chuyi had left. He wasn’t sure why he’d intervened today. It might’ve been because he noticed Han Chuyi’s intention to follow Shi Yu, and with the bad blood between them, he’d instinctively lent a hand.

Or maybe it was the streamer’s voice—weirdly soothing, enough to make him take notice. Rare enough to draw his attention. Shen Yan lowered his gaze, unwilling to dwell on it further.

Shi Yu followed Wang Shan inside, breathing a little easier now that he didn’t have to be in the same room as that annoying kid anymore. But when they reached the examination room, his face twisted in discomfort. He awkwardly stopped walking.

What’s going on?

Why now of all times?

My stomach picks now to act up?

"Uh."

"Actually, I forgot to ask—if we need to fast before the exam?"

Wang Shan blinked, not having expected that question. He shook his head.

"No need. This isn't like a hospital check-up. No blood tests or anything. You can think of it as a power scan, Mr. Shi."

Oh.

Shi Yu hesitated before continuing. "Well, if this is going to take a while… could I get something in my stomach first?"

He’d been fine in the car, but now that he was inside the Ability User Association, the hunger from not eating properly all day came crashing down on him. He couldn’t ignore it anymore.

He ducked his head, embarrassed. His stomach felt like it was gnawing at him—he was worried it would growl out loud any second.

Wang Shan caught on when their eyes met. He realized Mr. Shi wasn’t like them. Those who had undergone ability fusion were in a whole different league—capable of going days without food. But Mr. Shi was just an ordinary person. After a full day with barely anything to eat, it made sense that he was starving.

"My fault—I should’ve realized. What would you like to eat, Mr. Shi?"

"There's probably still something in the snack machine outside."

The scan didn’t require fasting, and the staff would be there all night anyway. There was no hurry.

"Nah, it's fine," Shi Yu quickly said. "I’ll buy something myself."

"Don’t trouble yourself. They were doing him a favor already—no need to add more burden."

Following Wang Shan’s finger, Shi Yu saw a vending machine about a couple hundred feet ahead in the lobby. The lights were still on, so it was likely stocked.

"Wang, you go ahead and get things ready. I’ll pick up something to eat," he added.

Wang Shan nodded, watching Shi Yu walk over and enter the testing room.

The third-floor hall was empty. When Shi Yu reached the center, he turned on the lights before turning toward the vending machine.

Much like a small convenience store, the machine mostly sold meal replacements. The only items that could be considered actual food were a few bags of bread and some canned meat.

Shi Yu: "…"

He sighed.

He stared at the machine’s meager offerings for a long moment before finally pulling out his phone to scan and buy two cans of SPAM.

At least SPAM counted as meat—he couldn’t handle any more veggie stuff right now.

His phone beeped as it scanned the code, and the vending machine clicked and hummed to life. Shi Yu pressed a hand to his stomach and reached forward—only to notice the can had gotten stuck inside.

The payment had gone through, but the item hadn’t dropped.

"What the—?"

"Is it broken?"

He bent down to try again when a voice came from behind him.

"Having trouble?"

The voice was light but oddly detached, making Shi Yu instinctively turn around.

Seeing someone behind him this late was a shock. He looked up and saw a young man with silvery-white curls, his long hair loose and a silver satin blindfold tied over his eyes. His nose was high-bridged, and a tiny red mole was just visible at the corner.

As the man tilted his head slightly, his pale lips gave him an indescribable… otherworldly beauty.

Only when the man turned toward him did Shi Yu realize how tall he was—well over six feet. A slight bow made it seem like he could easily envelop Shi Yu in his presence.

Stunned by how close the guy was—and how unreal he looked—Shi Yu watched as the white-haired man reached out and jiggled the machine. With a thunk, the previously stuck mechanism restarted, dropping the can.

"There."

Shi Yu took a deep breath, feeling the cool strands of the man’s silvery-white hair brush against his neck as he straightened. By the time Shi Yu stiffly retrieved the cans and turned to thank him, the man was watching him closely from a step away.

The man didn’t shy from his gaze—even through the thin silver blindfold, Shi Yu could feel his scrutiny.

"Here to get checked?"

"Go ahead."

Shi Yu gave him a puzzled look, surprised the man knew about his appointment. And… white hair. It rang a bell.

It was on the tip of his tongue, but with the man standing right in front of him, he couldn’t quite place it.

It wasn’t until Wang Shan called out from the testing room, having finished registering with the staff, that Shi Yu snapped back to reality. He gave the white-haired guy an awkward grin before turning and heading back.

Sang Huaiyu’s eyes followed Shi Yu until he disappeared into the testing room, then arched a brow.

Familiar.

When he’d approached the masked young man earlier, Sang Huaiyu had instinctively sensed something familiar—like they were cut from the same cloth.

However, upon closer contact, it didn't seem to be the case after all.

He cast a silver-ribboned gaze toward the examination room and felt a flicker of interest.

...

After eating two cans of Spam outside the door, Shi Yu finally felt much better. He placed his hand on his abdomen, feeling the warmth inside as he relaxed completely—like a well-fed cat.

Wang Shan: "You good to go, Mr. Shi?"

"Yeah." Shi Yu nodded.

"Head on in then."

Wang Shan pointed inside: "There's an exam bed on the right. Just lie down on that basic white cot. I'll call you in ten minutes."

The staff member in the examination room stood at the other end. Shi Yu walked in and obediently lay down on the basic white cot opposite.

As the door to the examination room closed, he was alone in the space, which now felt kinda creepy in the empty room.

"How is it? Are the readings normal?" Wang Shan asked, clearly not familiar with the process as he turned to his colleague.

"What's to be abnormal?" the colleague replied. "No alarms are going off."

The examination room was a special space designed to check whether a person had been contaminated by Horrors. Normally, if someone was affected, the main machine in the adjacent room would sound an alarm.

Yet several minutes had passed, and Shi Yu had been inside for quite a while, but the machine was still operating normally, indicating no major issues. This young man was lucky—despite close contact with the "undiscardable package," he hadn't picked up any Horror residue.

Wen Jingjing spoke while checking the monitor beside her. Several fluctuating red lines moved normally, staying within the normal human range.

Just as she turned to fill out the paperwork, she failed to notice that the normally progressing red lines had momentarily stalled.

On the young man's flat abdomen, there were two subtle twitches.

Inside the room, the overhead alarm picked up something and started to activate, but it seemed to be influenced by some weird energy. An invisible force wiped the anomaly from the machine.

After emitting a faint static buzz, the red lines reversed and returned to calm.

All of this happened in a split second.

Shi Yu kept his eyes closed, feeling as if his ears had just been hit with static, leaving him slightly uncomfortable.

What was that?

He instinctively opened his eyes, only to find that Wang Shan hadn't called him yet. He figured the weird moment might have just been his imagination.

Probably nothing.

A few minutes later, the door to the examination room opened, right on schedule.

"The examination results are all normal."

"However, we can't release the report just yet—it goes in the records. We hope Mr. Shi understands."

Shi Yu shook his head: "No worries."

"Clean bill of health, then."

Since it was his first time undergoing the examination, Shi Yu didn’t realize that the phantom buzzing sound was abnormal. After hearing Wang Shan say everything was fine, he dismissed his doubts, figuring that strange electric feeling earlier must’ve been a hallucination caused by nervousness—probably just some equipment powering on.

He looked up. “Can I leave now?”

Wang Shan opened his mouth to reply but suddenly glanced at his phone and winced apologetically.

“Sorry, I was planning to see you out, but my superiors just called an emergency. If you don’t mind, Mr. Shi, could you stay until tomorrow morning?”

“Don’t worry, our Association has guest quarters for non-ability users, stocked with all the essentials.”

Without authorized staff to accompany them, ordinary people couldn’t leave the Ability User Association. Wang Shan was clearly pressed for time.

Shi Yu could tell this must be some kind of emergency—the vibration from Wang Shan’s wristband had been intense earlier. He didn’t want to be a burden.

“It’s fine, go ahead. I’ll rest in the lounge for a while.”

Wang Shan let out a relieved breath, hastily saved Shi Yu’s number, and after pointing out the lounge’s location, rushed upstairs.

“The lounge is on the second floor, Mr. Shi. Call me if you need anything.”

Following the signs, Shi Yu noted the layout: the first floor of the Ability User Association was the reception hall, the second floor housed the lounges, the third floor held the examination rooms, and the upper floors were probably off-limits confidential areas.

Seeing how urgently Wang Shan had run off, Shi Yu guessed the notice must have called in all hands on deck—all the available personnel still inside the building.

Sure enough, as he walked, he didn’t run into a soul.

Ah well, it was only for one night.

Shi Yu checked the time and headed for the lounge, but as he moved, his footsteps felt strangely leaden.

His legs seemed yanked by some unseen force, making it impossible to take another step. Shi Yu froze, scanning the area—nothing there.

What was going on?

Was it a leg cramp?

He tried moving his left leg again, but it remained frozen in place.

At the dead of night, standing there alone outside the empty lounge, if this weren’t the Ability User Association—a place even Horrors feared—he might have thought he’d had another supernatural run-in.

But what *was* it?

Just as confusion set in, every light in the building suddenly blazed on. With no warning, an ear-splitting alarm wailed through the entire Ability User Association.

“Attention, attention.”

“Horror No. 233 has escaped containment.”

“All personnel, secure your own safety first and begin immediate floor-by-floor sweeps.”

Shi Yu: “......???”

His body stiffened as he slowly looked down.

Holy shit!