Chapter 69

Chapter 69

"Who are you?" Ping Yunhan eyed the composed young man with caution.

"My name is Lin."

"Is that Mr. Lin from the capital?!"

A voice of surprise came from beside them. Lin Juan turned to see a disheveled young man limping closer.

His eyes lit up with immense excitement. Mr. Lin was incredibly popular on the Revelation Forum, and every one of his exploits was studied by superpower holders everywhere. Rongcheng was far from the capital, and the young superpower holder never imagined he'd get the chance to meet Lin Juan. He never expected to encounter him here.

"If you're referring to the person who has dealt with many anomalies, then yes, that's me."

"Great, it's Mr. Lin!" Another young superpower holder helped steady Ping Yunhan. "Brother Ping, with Mr. Lin here, we'll be safe."

Ping Yunhan had also heard of Lin Juan's exploits and lowered his guard. "Mr. Lin, how much does this 'Didi Daida' service cost?"

It was clear they couldn't handle the anomalies here. If Mr. Lin was willing to step in, the casualties would be minimized.

"We are superpower holders from the Rongcheng Branch of the Paranormal Special Affairs Office. It's an honor to meet you."

"Since you're from the Paranormal Special Affairs Office, I'll give you a buddy discount. Fifty thousand yuan per session, guaranteed resolution."

"Deal," Ping Yunhan agreed without hesitation.

What followed was a one-sided beatdown.

No matter what mutated animal came at him, none could withstand more than three moves from Lin Juan. Soon, the ground was littered with wailing creatures.

Ping Yunhan had mixed feelings. When he had read about Mr. Lin's deeds on the Revelation Forum, he suspected the capital branch might be exaggerating. But having faced anomalies himself, he knew how much trouble these things could be—how could anyone handle them so effortlessly?

At that moment, Ping Yunhan understood: the capital branch of the Paranormal Special Affairs Office had not exaggerated their praise of Mr. Lin. If anything, they had understated his abilities in some aspects.

After dealing with the mutated animals, Lin Juan got down to business. "Have any of you seen a really tall guy wearing a light blue short-sleeved shirt?"

Lu Yanzhou had disappeared.

Lin Juan had realized it after entering Sister Qian's Hot Pot restaurant.

Stepping through the door, Lin Juan sensed a strong contamination aura and was about to warn Lu Yanzhou, who should have been beside him, only to find the man gone.

Lin Juan had searched all the way, saving many people and asking many others, but he still hadn't found Lu Yanzhou.

He described Lu Yanzhou's features to Ping Yunhan and the others. After hearing it, the three shook their heads. "Haven't seen him."

"How could he just disappear?" Lin Juan muttered. "Such a big man, gone without a trace?"

"We'll help you look," the young superpower holder volunteered.

Though anxious, Lin Juan knew panic wouldn't help. "Looking for him is one thing, but the priority now is to handle the anomalies in the hot pot restaurant."

"My hand! What's wrong with my hand?!"

Amid their conversation, a panicked shout rang out.

"Your head..."

"Ahhhhh! Monsters!!!"

The crowd, having just survived a crisis, erupted into screams.

Lin Juan and the others turned toward the noise.

The young superpower holder looked weirded out. "Are they mutating?"

Wherever they looked, everyone had grown body parts that weren't human. The non-human parts were slowly taking over their bodies. They witnessed people who had been normal moments ago transforming into mutated animal hybrids right before their eyes.

Shrimp, fish, chicken...

Within minutes, the only ones left unchanged were Lin Juan and the three superpower holders.

These people weren't simply turning into a single type of animal—some displayed features of multiple creatures. The nearest one had a fish head, a sheep's body, and ox horns. Each person had at least three animal traits.

The fish-headed man stared at his hooved hands and screamed in despair, frantically attacking himself and everything around him.

To prevent further chaos, Lin Juan knocked him out with a chop.

"What's happening?" The young superpower holder fumbled to hold back the patchwork monsters attacking them.

"This must be a small-scale domain. Anyone who eats the meat here turns into the corresponding animal," Lin Juan deduced. Having been busy searching since entering, he hadn't eaten anything. He turned to the three superpower holders. "Did any of you eat anything here?"

"No," the young superpower holder shook his head. "We sensed something was wrong as soon as we sat down and didn't dare touch the food."

"I remember that guy—he was at the table across from us. He ate mostly beef, and now most of his body has turned into a cow," another superpower holder observed carefully.

"So, what they turn into depends on what they ate," Ping Yunhan concluded.

"Let's check out the kitchen." Lin Juan heard weird sounds coming from the back. "The staff all came from the kitchen, and the mutated animals emerged from there too. There must be something in the kitchen."

They had all shrunk to one-tenth of their original size. What would have been a short distance now seemed way longer to them.

The kitchen door was covered by a curtain, with a gap at the bottom just large enough for them to pass through.

Everything looked weird from their shrunken perspective. It took Lin Juan a moment to adjust.

His strength, however, remained unaffected.

Inside the kitchen, it was pitch black.

"It's so dark. Isn't it daytime? Why is it so dark in here?" The young superpower holder tripped over something and yelped.

Lin Juan, walking ahead, reached back and caught his arm before he fell.

"Thank you, Mr. Lin." The superpower holder rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

Ping Yunhan made his fingertips glow white, dispersing the darkness.

The young superpower holder finally saw what had tripped him.

"Whoa, that's a huge dead pig!"

A white pig as big as a hill lay on the ground, blood steadily flowing from its neck. Sharp tusks protruded from its mouth, ghostly pale and scary.

"It's not that the pig is big—we've shrunk," Ping Yunhan stepped closer to check it out. "This pig must have died recently. The blood is still warm."

The light from Ping Yunhan's fingertips only illuminated a small area around them, the edges fading into darkness where nothing could be seen.

The darkness was breeding fear. The young superpower holder wrapped his arms around himself. "I keep feeling like something is watching us in the darkness."

"There is something." Lin Juan turned his head as something darted past in the dark.

"I sense many jumbled presences—contaminants," Lin Juan said, carefully assessing the surroundings. "There are quite a few of them. Everyone, be careful."

"There are signs of gnawing here," Ping Yunhan remarked.

Lin Juan looked over.

On the large white pig, there were multiple bite marks. Judging by their size, the creature that bit it was not very large.

"Must be rats," Ping Yunhan concluded after a closer inspection.

"There are rats here?" the young superpower holder exclaimed, alarmed. "They couldn’t be mutated rats, could they? I’m terrified of rats!"

"Squeak-squeak-squeak."

As if in response to his words, faint squeaking sounds emerged from the darkness right after he spoke.

Rustling noises followed. Lin Juan locked his gaze in the direction of the sound.

A plump, large rat poked its head out from the darkness.

The rat moved swiftly. Before the four superpower holders could react, it was already right in front of them.

Lin Juan kicked out, feeling as though his foot had sunk into a lump of soft, rotten fat.

He quickly retracted his leg, wishing he could throw away both his shoes and pants.

"These rats feel strange to the touch," Lin Juan warned.

A normal creature shouldn’t have such a soft, mushy texture when kicked.

Ping Yunhan and the others noticed it too.

In the darkness, countless red eyes glinted, surrounding them from all directions—they were greedy, bloodthirsty rats.

A sea of glowing red eyes. Where the white light shone, rats could be seen piled on top of each other.

"Did we fall into a rat’s nest?" the young superpower holder said, on the verge of breaking down.

"If the kitchen is infested with rats, what exactly have the customers outside been eating?" Another superpower holder felt sick to his stomach at the thought of food being prepared in such conditions.

"Stop talking, I’m going to be sick."

Amid the complaints, the four of them stayed on high alert. They stood back-to-back, adopting the best defensive stance.

"Everyone, be careful of these rats!" Ping Yunhan yelled a warning.

The first rat moved.

It leaped down from above.

Ping Yunhan activated his superpower. A loud thunderclap echoed as a thick earthen wall rose around the four, blocking the attacking rat.

A strong smell of burning filled the air. Lin Juan covered his mouth, gagging.

The stench was overwhelming.

Lin Juan couldn’t stand it.

The rats were endless. Lin Juan realized that if this continued, they would either be worn down by the rats or suffocated by the stench.

"We need to find a way out."

Lin Juan summoned the Forest Cabin, which transformed into a thick wooden vine according to his will.

Swinging the vine, Lin Juan cleared a path.

"Go!"

The four of them quickened their pace and rushed through the opening.

Having lost their targets, the rats swarmed over the large white pig. In just a few minutes, the pig was reduced to a skeleton, and the rats visibly grew larger.

At that moment, a giant hand descended from above, grabbing the squealing rat.

Light flooded the room.

Darkness was dispelled by the light. A woman wearing an apron stood with her back to them. Lin Juan’s gaze traveled upward—the woman had the head of a rat!

The four shrunken individuals hid in the cracks of the cabinet, watching as the rat-headed woman grabbed the plump rat, pressed it onto the cutting board, and swung a knife to chop its head off.

The rat’s head fell off.

A strange, dark green liquid flowed from the severed neck. The rat-headed woman lifted the rat’s body and slurped from the open neck.

A swallowing sound echoed.

The dark green liquid dripped from the corner of the rat-headed woman’s mouth. She narrowed her eyes in satisfaction and muttered to herself, "Should I sell this rat as beef or mutton?"

Hearing this, Lin Juan and the others went green. Thankfully, they hadn’t eaten anything since entering, or the first thing they would have done was make themselves throw up.

The rat-headed woman hummed an off-key tune as she sliced the rat into pieces amid the foul stench.

The sliced rat meat turned into fatty beef rolls, beef slices, lamb slices...

No matter how fresh and delicious they looked, they were still rat meat.

One by one, rats were brought to the cutting board. Plate after plate of various meats were arranged neatly. The rat-headed woman examined her handiwork and let out two "squeak-squeak" sounds.

The rats hiding in the corners, as if obeying a command, stacked themselves up.

Layer upon layer of gray rats squirmed, a sight that made one’s scalp crawl.

A work uniform enveloped the body formed by the stacked rats. The rat-person picked up a plate of food and swayed its hips as it walked out.

"Did we just enter a rat’s nest?" After the rat-headed woman left, the young superpower holder could no longer hold back. "Why is this place full of rats?!"

"Clearly, this is a massive rat’s nest," Lin Juan confirmed his suspicion.

"That largest rat isn’t the source of the pollution," Ping Yunhan frowned.

What was the source of the pollution in this bizarre hot pot restaurant?

"The pollution source probably isn’t here," Lin Juan said after careful consideration. Although the pollution here was dense, it wasn’t strong enough to cause such effects. The real source was likely elsewhere.

"Let’s follow them and see."

Fortunately, all four were superpower holders, so their reduced size didn't hinder their movement. They slid down from the cabinet and headed out.

Exiting the kitchen, the four were astonished to find that the place they emerged from was clearly not the same as where they had entered.

The scene was one of glittering and luxurious splendor, spacious and brightly lit, with a bustling crowd. Portly businessmen held slender beauties by their waists, clinking glasses in a lively atmosphere. It was evident they had stepped into a money-burning pit.

Lin Juan turned around and found the door behind him had vanished.

Ping Yunhan’s expression didn't look good.

It seemed he knew this place.

Lin Juan asked, "Do you know where this is?"

Ping Yunhan nodded, his face serious. "This is the Huadu Club. Look at the swan sculpture in the center of the hall—it’s the landmark of the Huadu Club."

"Why would the back kitchen of a suddenly popular affordable hot pot restaurant be connected to this place?" Lin Juan wondered.

"Before I was transferred to the Paranormal Special Affairs Office, I handled a case involving the disappearance of a young girl. The final clue ended at the Huadu Club. I never expected this place to be connected to the paranormal," Ping Yunhan said with a complex gaze.

"When was the case?" Lin Juan asked.

Ping Yunhan replied, "A year ago."

Lin Juan pressed, "What happened back then?"

Ping Yunhan explained, "We received a report from a couple saying their daughter, who had just finished her gaokao, had been missing for several days. The police investigated for a long time, and a clue vaguely pointed to the Huadu Club. We conducted a search but found nothing."

The missing girl had just turned eighteen, and her scores weren't out yet. According to her parents, she had just gone out to buy noodles and never returned.

Having worked hard to raise their only daughter to adulthood, the parents were devastated. The shock turned their hair white overnight.

The girl’s father, already in poor health after surgery, was holding on, only to receive the devastating news of his daughter’s death. He couldn’t bear the blow and was gone.

A once-happy family was reduced to just the mother.

As one of the personnel in charge of the case, Ping Yunhan felt particularly heavy-hearted during his visits.

"Moreover, this club should have been destroyed by fire six months ago and no longer exists."

Ping Yunhan would never forget—back then, he hadn’t yet developed his abilities. He had participated in the fire investigation and only developed his abilities after the case was closed, leading to his transfer to the Chengdu Branch of the Paranormal Special Affairs Office.

"But this place is clearly intact," the young superpower holder said, uneasy.

"Exactly. The moment I saw it, I was shocked," Ping Yunhan said, gazing ahead. "I remember clearly—this swan sculpture was burned black and only half remained."

Like the once-prosperous Huadu Club, it had fallen in the flames.

"The people here are all normal-sized," the young superpower holder gestured at himself. "We’re not going to be stuck like this, are we?"

Their small size severely limited their mobility.

Especially since, according to Ping Yunhan, the Huadu Club was vast. Being as small as miniatures in such a large place made everything inconvenient.

But how could they return to their original size?

"We didn’t eat anything at the hot pot restaurant, so why did we shrink?" Lin Juan wondered.

"We didn’t eat or even drink anything. It can’t be because we didn’t consume anything, right?"

"Others who ate also shrank," Lin Juan said, bringing up a pressing matter. "Can you contact the outside? What’s the situation at the hot pot restaurant?"

"The signal is intermittent," the young superpower holder shook his communicator. "We’re using enhanced communicators, so even in areas with high contamination levels, the signal isn’t completely blocked."

"We’ve already contacted the outside. The branch will send people to check the situation." As soon as he noticed something wrong, Ping Yunhan had reported the situation to the branch. By his estimate, someone should have arrived by now.

Ping Yunhan was right. Upon receiving his message, the branch took it seriously, and the person in charge immediately dispatched superpower holders to investigate.

"Right here."

The nearby area was evacuated, and fully equipped superpower holders cautiously approached.

The leader gestured, and the others behind him halted.

"There’s someone up ahead."

A tall man in a light blue short-sleeved shirt stood anxiously at the entrance of the hot pot restaurant.

The leader slowly approached.

Hearing the noise, the man turned around.

He was very handsome, though his brows were furrowed as if troubled, and his presence was imposing.

"Sir," the contamination detector showed no alarm, but the superpower holder remained cautious. "Are you here for the hot pot?"

Having accompanied Lin Juan to the Paranormal Special Affairs Office, Lu Yanzhou was familiar with the gear of the people before him. "Are you from the Chengdu Branch of the Paranormal Special Affairs Office?"

Surprised that the man had immediately figured out their identity, the superpower holder asked, "You know? Are you a superpower holder too?"

"I’m not a superpower holder. The person I came with suddenly disappeared."

Lu Yanzhou was very worried.

Just a moment ago, he had been holding Lin Juan’s hand, listening to Lin Juan speak. The instant they stepped into the hot pot restaurant, it felt like they had hit a film-like barrier, and he and Lin Juan were separated.

"I went in to look for him but couldn’t find him." Lu Yanzhou had gone in and out several times, but the restaurant was empty—no customers, no owner.

It was very abnormal.

Lu Yanzhou instantly realized they had encountered a paranormal incident.

"Could you fill us in on the situation so we can go in and search?"

"Alright." Lu Yanzhou collected himself and recounted what had happened.

"A barrier inside the door?" The superpower holder approached the door and stepped inside.

He encountered no barrier, and as the man had said, there was nothing inside.

After reporting the situation, the branch leader frowned. "You probably didn’t find the way to access the paranormal incident."

Remembering Lin Juan’s sudden disappearance, Lu Yanzhou held back his anxiety, no matter how urgent he felt.

Why had Lin Juan entered, but he hadn’t?

Why hadn’t he developed a superpower, leaving him powerless to help as Juanjuan was dragged into danger?

At this moment, Lu Yanzhou hated feeling so powerless.

His craving for power hit an all-time high.

"If only he had superpowers..."

"The contamination levels are fluctuating!"

A shout from a superpower holder behind him snapped Lu Yanzhou out of his thoughts, and he abruptly came back to his senses.

Without noticing, the patterns emerging beneath his clothes gradually faded.

"Sir, please wait somewhere safe," a superpower holder approached Lu Yanzhou.

Sensing no superpower fluctuations from the man, and for safety reasons, he escorted him to a secure location.

Lu Yanzhou did not refuse.

Exhausted...

Lin Juan, Ping Yunhan, and two others searched many places but found nothing.

The four of them sat at a dining table that loomed enormous around them, staring at the tempting food laid out on it. A young superpower holder swallowed hard and asked, "Do we really have to eat the food here?"

They had arrived during mealtime but hadn’t eaten, and after searching around for so long, Lin Juan was already starving. However, the image of the rat-headed woman chopping meat made it impossible for him to convince himself to eat the food here.

"I'm so hungry."

It smelled so good.

The enticing aroma of the food drifted toward them, making them even hungrier.

Even Lin Juan, who had never really gone hungry in his original world, never imagined that one day he’d have money in his pocket but still go hungry.

"Let’s go find that rat-headed woman," Lin Juan rubbed his stomach and jumped to his feet.

That person must know something.

If she refused to talk, it didn’t matter—a beating would make her talk.

Having made up his mind, Lin Juan jumped down from the table, and the other three superpower holders used their powers to jump down after him.

The rat-headed woman was wearing an apron, so she was likely in the kitchen or somewhere similar. Lin Juan and the others set out to find her.

They searched from the first floor to the fifth floor but found no trace of the rat-headed woman.

The place was bustling with people, and they had to be careful not to be noticed. After all that effort, aside from making themselves even hungrier, they gained nothing.

"Maybe we should go out and find something to eat before coming back?" the young superpower holder suggested.

Lin Juan figured that could work.

"Can we just jump straight down from the window?" Lin Juan moved to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked down.

The lights were bright outside, and it was already dark.

A car stopped downstairs, and a valet opened the door. A tall man stepped out.

Lin Juan froze.

It looked like Lu Yanzhou.

He wasn’t sure, so he looked again.

The man downstairs seemed to sense something and looked up.

From where he stood, Lin Juan could clearly see his face.

It really was Lu Yanzhou!

Why would Lu Yanzhou come here?

And it seemed like he had come through the front door like a regular guest.

"Ping Yunhan, are you sure the Huadu Club was destroyed in a fire?"

"I’m sure. Why?"

Lin Juan pointed downward. "If it was really destroyed, how come I see my companion down there?"

Ping Yunhan moved closer to look down but only saw a car slowly driving away.

"He’s already inside," Lin Juan dashed toward the door. "He’s a regular person. I have to find him."

Lin Juan had tried sending messages to Lu Yanzhou, but after shrinking, his phone had shrunk down too, becoming nothing more than a tiny prop.

Lin Juan had no choice but to use the most primitive method—searching room by room.

Help me—

Why were there so many rooms here?

The activity level was ten times higher than usual, and it was truly unbearable. Lin Juan leaned against the doorframe, panting heavily.

Ping Yunhan and the other two had fallen far behind.

Tap, tap, tap.

Lin Juan heard footsteps approaching.

He squeezed into the door crack, hiding himself.

Not sure what was going on, it was best not to be discovered.

Through the crack, Lin Juan caught a glimpse of black trousers.

He looked up.

The person was very tall. Lin Juan craned his neck and finally saw the man’s face.

It was Lu Yanzhou!

Lu Yanzhou had actually come on his own!

Lu Yanzhou didn’t know why he had accepted for some unknown reason an invitation from a man he barely knew to come to this club.

But something inside him kept urging him to come here.

So Lu Yanzhou came.

Lu Yanzhou had seen plenty of decadent scenes. He sat on the sofa, aloof and unapproachable.

Holding a wine glass in his hand, with hazy light spilling down from above, Lu Yanzhou had a headache.

He couldn’t understand why he had inexplicably accepted the invitation to come here.

He should have been waiting for Juanjuan’s message outside, not attending this kind of party while Juanjuan’s safety remained uncertain.

At this thought, Lu Yanzhou stood up.

Mr. Ma, who had invited him, also rose: “Mr. Lu, you…”

“I need some air.” Lu Yanzhou placed his glass on a tray, ignoring their attempts to stop him, and walked out.

A middle-aged man beside Mr. Ma frowned as he watched Lu Yanzhou leave: “We haven’t even started talking, and he’s already leaving. How are we supposed to discuss cooperation?”

“Mr. Lu’s presence alone is already a great honor. He’s the head of the Lu family in the capital,” Mr. Ma pushed away the beautiful girl leaning against him, “I’ll go check on him. Don’t worry, since he accepted the invitation, the deal will surely go through.”

Lu Yanzhou had intended to leave directly, but at the corner, he suddenly stopped.

As if sensing something, he looked down.

There, he saw a delicate figure, exquisite as a collectible doll.

His eyes widened. Lu Yanzhou half-crouched and spoke uncertainly: “Juanjuan?”

This tiny, doll-like person looked exactly like Lin Juan!