Chapter 79 Humans, Maybe You Should Just Stay Bald…

Chapter 79: Humans, Perhaps You Should Just Embrace Baldness (A Campaign...)

What’s going on?

Lin Jianyuan tapped his mobile terminal, but the detector consistently showed zero heretics in the vicinity.

So what were these black sesame seeds in front of him?

First, rule out actual black sesame seeds—they don’t march.

Second, rule out army ants—army ants don’t look like sesame seeds.

That left only one possibility: heretics.

Case closed.

No wonder everyone had been losing hair lately.

Turns out there was another hair-stealing heretic in the company!

But why didn’t it trigger the mobile terminal's alarm?

Lin Jianyuan frowned.

The last time something like this happened was with "Regret."

Class S heretics could conceal their Marks, making them undetectable to detectors.

But were these black sesame seeds really Class S heretics?

They didn’t look like it at all.

Forget how undignified it would be for a Class S heretic to steal hair.

Weren’t more advanced heretics supposed to be more human-like, with Class S heretics even having human forms?

Lin Jianyuan decisively bid farewell to the others and followed the marching black sesame seeds into the corridor outside the company.

On this floor of the office building, besides theirs, there were several other companies: an interior design firm, a real estate agency, a new media company, and a software company.

At that moment, countless black sesame army ants from these companies were also emerging, each carrying a strand of hair, marching out in a grand procession.

...Makes sense.

Everyone’s in the same miserable industry...

The black sesame army, carrying strands of hair, passed through the walls and left the office building.

Lin Jianyuan went to the window to look.

The black sesame seeds and hair all dissipated into the wind.

Huh? Just like that? Gone?

The hair is just... gone?

...Somehow, it’s kind of sad.

Lin Jianyuan: "Nienie, what exactly are these?"

Nieniele replied, "What are what?"

Lin Jianyuan was surprised and pointed at the densely packed black sesame army ants on the ground: "These. These black sesame seeds. Can’t you see them?"

Nieniele: "?"

Lin Jianyuan: "?"

Lin Jianyuan scratched his head: "Am I seeing ghosts?"

No way. A world with heretics shouldn’t also have ghosts, right?

Wait, why does that sound so familiar?

Lin Jianyuan frowned, thinking and scratching his head.

As he scratched, he suddenly felt his scalp getting increasingly itchy.

Lin Jianyuan looked down.

A clump of hair had fallen into his palm.

The hair was densely covered with black sesame seeds.

"Holy shit!" Lin Jianyuan’s face instantly turned pale with fear. He rushed to an empty spot and screamed, "Wife! Wife!!!"

"Hmm?"

Almost the moment the words left his mouth, the familiar pink offal appeared before him.

Terrified, Lin Jianyuan held out his hand to show the black sesame seeds: "Can you see this?! Wife! Can you see it?!"

However, the moment his roommate appeared, the black sesame seeds in Lin Jianyuan’s palm suddenly ignited.

Whoosh—they turned to ashes and vanished.

Lin Jianyuan: "???"

Lin Jianyuan looked utterly bewildered.

All that remained in his palm was his shed hair.

This whole thing was just too bizarre.

Lin Jianyuan: "Wife, I don’t know how to explain this... just now..."

His roommate said, "I saw it."

Lin Jianyuan immediately felt the relief one might feel upon seeing a Taoist priest in a horror movie.

He asked, "What the hell is this thing?"

His roommate tilted its "head" and thought for a moment before saying, "I don’t know what it’s called. But it’s probably a Class D heretic."

"I guessed it was a heretic too," Lin Jianyuan said. "But why couldn’t the terminal detect it?"

Other Class D heretics were detected just fine before.

The roommate said, "I don't really understand this. It's a terminal matter."

According to the roommate, the reason those "black sesame seeds" disintegrated just now was because he arrived.

S-class beings naturally suppress lower-level heretics, so even though Xie Yu wasn't intentionally releasing pressure, these weak little "black sesame seeds" were annihilated instantly on the spot.

Lin Jianyuan had a sudden realization: "No wonder the Eye Vine trembles every time it sees you—it's because of rank suppression!"

Lately, though, it doesn’t seem to be trembling as much.

Is it because it’s built up a tolerance after spending so much time together?

Or is it about to evolve again?

There were just too many "black sesame seeds." Relying on Lin Jianyuan alone and his toy soldier squad wasn’t enough to contain them all.

So Lin Jianyuan went to the rally point and reported the situation to the Instructor.

To his utter surprise, the Instructor also looked astonished.

Five minutes later.

At the Bureau’s director’s office.

Lin Jianyuan said, in disbelief, "...So you’re telling me you had no idea there were heretics that the detectors can’t pick up?!"

"Yes," the Director replied, sitting at his desk with his hands clasped under his chin, his expression serious. "The pollutant content of these heretics is extremely low, far below the detector’s minimum threshold. Even Field Ops personnel can’t see them with the naked eye. If it weren’t for you, we would have been completely unaware of their existence... Lin Jianyuan, you’ve done very well!"

Lin Jianyuan: "..."

So no one else can see them at all?!

Come to think of it, even Nienie and Little Stone couldn’t see them...

"But Xie Yu can see them," Lin Jianyuan frowned. "And I can see them too."

Why?

The Director said, "I’m very curious about that too, but it’s not the most urgent matter right now. What’s most important at the moment is: how do we contain these heretics that are so tiny they can’t be detected or observed by other field operatives? We can’t just let them run around plucking hair everywhere."

Lin Jianyuan’s heart dropped.

Oh no.

We’re doomed!

These "black sesame seeds"—detectors can’t pick them up, and no one else can see them!

Even the toy soldier squad can’t see them!

So who else can be sent to catch these "black sesame seeds"?

Who else is there?!

Just thinking about the dense clusters of "black sesame seeds" swarming all over the office building, Lin Jianyuan felt his vision blacking out, again and again.

"I..." Lin Jianyuan said weakly, "I can’t do it."

He’d die.

Forcing him to gather innumerable "black sesame seeds" barehanded—he’d die!!!

He’d really die!!!

"Oh, oh, don’t get the wrong idea," the Director quickly clarified. "We’re not asking you to catch them, and definitely not asking your lover to catch them either. Don’t worry."

A glimmer of hope rose in Lin Jianyuan’s heart: "Then who will you send?"

The Director: "We don’t necessarily have to catch them. Neutralization on the spot is also an option."

Lin Jianyuan: "..."

Lin Jianyuan almost felt like vomiting blood.

In despair, Lin Jianyuan said, "Let’s talk about it later," and left the Director’s office.

In his heart, Lin Jianyuan knew that "later" wouldn’t change anything.

No one else could handle this except him and his roommate.

Maybe just let it go.

Humans... Perhaps you should just embrace baldness.

Lin Jianyuan was a bit annoyed.

But the moment he saw his roommate walking toward him, his mood lifted again.

All his worries were tossed to the back of his mind.

It’s so nice working at the same unit as your partner.

This is what they call love at every turn~

His roommate happened to be free at the moment, so Lin Jianyuan found a quiet spot to cuddle with him for a while.

The members of the Field Operations Department’s Team D had also returned.

Lin Jianyuan got a message from the Instructor telling him to get dinner first and assemble in the conference room at 7 p.m.

—If this notice had been sent by Jiang Chen, Lin Jianyuan would’ve already been cursing loudly by now.

But this was the Bureau.

And normally, they got off work before 5 p.m. every day. It was only because of today’s field operation that they were delayed.

With a 200,000 yuan monthly salary, what’s the big deal about having a meeting at 7 p.m. occasionally?

It’s reasonable.

Totally acceptable.

Lin Jianyuan instinctively turned to his roommate and said, "Darling, I have to work overtime tonight."

The roommate: "Sure. Who do we need to take out this time? I’ll go with you."

Lin Jianyuan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: "How can you say something so terrifying in such an adorable tone? No need for that, no need for that. This time it’s not about catching heretics. Field Ops has summoned a meeting."

"Oh..." His roommate deflated in an instant.

Lin Jianyuan gave him a playful poke: "You can still come along. Wanna join me at the meeting?"

His roommate's little tail started wagging again: "Sure~"

And so, the fabled Class S heretic from the Containment Department accompanied Lin Jianyuan to Group D.

The Group D members: "..."

They all gasped in disbelief, like they'd never seen anything like it before.

Fortunately, everyone was a trained professional, and after a brief moment of surprise, they quickly accepted the reality that "the pink offal entity is actually a coworker."

After all, the Field Operations Department and the Containment Department were the two closest collaborating departments.

Like police detectives and prison guards.

It wasn’t a big deal for someone from Containment to sit in on a Field Operations meeting.

As it turned out, Lin Jianyuan had misunderstood.

The instructor hadn’t called him over for a meeting, but for a training session.

The instructor was teaching everyone how to write containment records, hands-on.

"Everyone, take a look at this reference template first..."

The instructor pulled up the template and displayed it for everyone.

Lin Jianyuan: "..."

What followed was a detailed lesson on the 230-page "Containment Record Writing Standards," complete with a nanny-style walkthrough of the day’s actual containment operation.

It was only then that Lin Jianyuan realized that his inability to write containment records couldn’t be blamed on his lack of attention in class.

The basic theory courses had been too simple, too basic, too glossed over!

If you really wanted to cover containment record writing properly, five or six classes wouldn’t be enough.

There were just too many details to pay attention to!

It was impossible to remember everything after just one listen!

And this couldn’t be blamed on the Bureau’s poor course planning either.

The normal arrangement was like this:

First, take basic theory courses to get a general understanding of the Bureau’s workflow.

Then, take physical training and heretic general knowledge courses to prepare for field work.

Then, under the instructor’s guidance, go on a completely risk-free field drill.

Then, under the instructor’s guidance, complete your first containment record of your field career.

And do it as a group collaboration!!!

Discussion allowed! Division of labor allowed! AI assistance allowed!!!

Lin Jianyuan: "..."

So I’m the only one who got the early access, huh.

But there was no helping it.

This was just a case of "with great power comes great responsibility."

Speaking of which, it made sense that his roommate, being Class S, could see those black sesame seeds.

But why could he, Lin Jianyuan, an ordinary human...

"Instructor, we found the source of these frogs! It’s the trendy toy design studio on the 11th floor."

A member from another group nearby spoke up, causing Lin Jianyuan to jerk his head up abruptly.

The person continued: "That studio owner loves to make empty promises. Whenever he makes empty promises to his employees, a slit opens in his throat. Then frogs come out of it."

Lin Jianyuan: "?"

Then, someone from another group raised their hand: "Wait, our group encountered the same situation. I thought ours was the source?"

More and more people raised their hands to speak.

"Huh? What? We have that too. Wow, I was kinda pumped back then, thought I’d run into the boss. But we tested that boss thoroughly over and over, confirmed he was human... Only when he was gaslighting employees did we detect heretic reactions..."

"Hey, us too!"

"Same here!"

Lin Jianyuan: "..."

Well, well.

So every company boss spits frogs from their throat!

Makes sense.

After all, Jiang Chen wasn’t a special case.

Jiang Chen was just one of countless unscrupulous superiors.

Now Lin Jianyuan understood why there were so many frogs throughout the office building.

It wasn’t that he’d forgotten to contain the frogs from Jiang Chen.

But all the time, on every floor, in every company, there were unscrupulous superiors producing frogs.

Truly, all black-hearted capitalists should be hung from streetlights!!!