What Zhuang Yufeng despised most was how this group disregarded human lives for so-called research and trampled on life wantonly.
“Have they researched anything?” Lin Juan was curious.
“Yes,” Zhuang Yufeng had to admit that these people did have some capabilities. “They developed a gel that, when applied to wounds, can suppress pollution to a certain extent.”
“No side effects?”
“It’s only passed the first phase of experiments so far. It still needs to go through the second and third phases. Only if all are fine will it be put into use.”
Speaking of this, Lin Juan thought of the D-rank anomaly 【Impermanent Snail】 that had appeared at the hospital before. “Didn’t they say snail secretions have restorative effects? Have you tried using the mucus secreted by the 【Impermanent Snail】?”
After the 【Impermanent Snail】 died, its “shell” stood in place. The hospital had undergone pollution once, and fearing residual effects, after discussion, the authorities decided to relocate First Hospital elsewhere, with the old site dedicated to receiving pollution patients.
Lin Juan had gone a few days ago to dismantle the “shell” once. The large fragments were sent to the experimental base as raw materials.
The residual mucus in the middle of the “shell” had not been dealt with yet. A small portion was sent to the research institute, but unfortunately, its corrosiveness was too strong for research. The rest was still in place.
Zhuang Yufeng told Lin Juan about these follow-ups.
“Isn’t the corrosiveness so strong it’s basically like sulfuric acid?” Lin Juan pondered. “Then it can only be used as a weapon, to corrode other anomalies. I imagine the effect would be better than sulfuric acid.”
Not forgetting the main matter, Lin Juan removed the five-colored rope from his wrist. “Doctor Zhuang, can you check for me if this thing is related to pollutants?”
Zhuang Yufeng was first stunned by the flowing lights all over the five-colored rope. Hearing Lin Juan say that, he hurriedly took it and checked it over with his supernatural ability.
“No pollution traces,” Zhuang Yufeng knew Lin Juan was not one to speak without reason, so he asked in confusion, “Is there something wrong with this five-colored rope? Where did it come from?”
“It was a gift from Lu Mingxuan. He said it was very popular at their school and that wearing it to sleep would bring sweet dreams. I didn’t sense any pollution aura on it, but I wasn’t entirely reassured, so I brought it over to test with the instruments.”
The instrument test yielded the same result—no pollution traces on the five-colored rope.
Lin Juan still didn’t let his guard down. He continued to feel that something was off about the five-colored rope.
Upon hearing that the five-colored rope was popular at school, Zhuang Yufeng grew serious. “I’ll report this to Director Liu and have someone follow up.”
It was best if there were no issues. If there were, they could discover them early.
“If you’re still worried, you can have the Lu Family members take theirs off first. Collect the five-colored ropes and store them far from people, or just put them directly in the Experimental Base.”
Lin Juan left his own five-colored rope behind for them to observe at any time.
Because it came from Lu Mingxuan, when Lin Juan returned, he took a look around. Everyone in the Lu Family was wearing a five-colored rope.
Noticing his gaze, Lu Yanzhou lowered his voice and asked, “What’s wrong? Is there a problem with the five-colored rope?”
“I took it to the Experimental Base,” Lin Juan whispered back. “I just have a bad feeling about it, but no issues were found. If I say something outright, won’t it hurt Lu Mingxuan’s feelings?”
After spending so much time together, Lin Juan already treated Lu Mingxuan like a junior to protect.
“I’ll handle it.”
Lin Juan had no idea what Lu Yanzhou said. By dinnertime, not a single five-colored rope remained on anyone’s wrist, including Lu Mingxuan’s.
Lin Juan’s curiosity got the better of him. As soon as dinner ended, he eagerly asked Lu Yanzhou what he had said.
“I told Father that you were planning to take the five-colored ropes to the Anomalous Affairs Bureau for specialized ability users to bless them. They were thrilled to hand them over to me.”
Lin Juan gave him a thumbs up. “That’s a great excuse.”
Lu Yanzhou pulled out the five-colored ropes. “Everyone’s is here except Second Brother Lu’s.”
Second Brother Lu rarely returned to Lu Garden because his wife wasn’t acknowledged by Old Master Lu.
After spending so much time together, Lin Juan didn’t think Old Master Lu was the type to casually reject a daughter-in-law. He had happily accepted Lin Juan as a son-in-law, so why reject Second Sister-in-Law Lu?
Out of curiosity, Lin Juan asked without thinking.
“I’m not entirely clear on the details either. Second Brother originally had a childhood sweetheart. Then he suddenly fell for his current wife and switched affections.”
They had been dating well and were already discussing marriage when her boyfriend abruptly switched affections. Naturally, the little childhood sweetheart refused to accept it without an explanation. But not only did he turn cold toward her, he even shoved her.
“She was pregnant at the time. She lost the child, spent some time in the hospital recovering, and was discharged right around the time Second Brother got married. She attended the wedding but didn’t see Second Brother. She did run into his current wife, though. After that, she suddenly went mad.”
“I was studying abroad at the time, so this is all from what Father told me. Father investigated later but found no direct link between her madness and Second Brother’s current wife. Still, he felt it couldn’t be unrelated. Second Brother’s sudden change of heart was suspicious too. Father even privately consulted several masters to check if Second Brother had been bewitched.”
Of course, nothing came of it.
“Xiao Juan, do you think weird phenomena existed more than ten years ago?”
If weird phenomena hadn’t started occurring, Lu Yanzhou wouldn’t have considered unscientific causes. But now he knew the world wasn’t as scientific as he’d thought.
When had weird phenomena first appeared?
No one could give a definitive answer.
Lin Juan couldn’t either. “Hard to say.”
But, “If some weird force was meddling, it would definitely leave traces.”
Lin Juan collected the five-colored ropes. To be safe, he decided to take them to the Experimental Base.
When Lin Juan visited the Experimental Base again, he got a shock.
The Experimental Base had been built on the foundation of an existing research institute, divided into above-ground and underground sections. Entry required strict security checks.
The “shell” that Lin Juan had peeled off was partly used for research and partly as defensive material, embedded in the walls around the outer perimeter of the inner building.
At first glance, it looked extremely eerie.
“We’ll coat the outside with a layer of special paint,” the researcher leading the way explained when he noticed Lin Juan staring at the wall. “Then it won’t look so strange.”
Inside the inner building, things were the same as last time. Lu Yanzhou had stayed behind at Lu Garden, so Lin Juan came alone.
Zhuang Yufeng wasn’t there that day. Cheng Xiaoyu came to receive him.
“President Lu didn’t come?” Cheng Xiaoyu peered behind Lin Juan.
“Does President Lu have to come with me every time?” Lin Juan said helplessly.
“I saw how you two were inseparable whenever you went to the company before,” Cheng Xiaoyu teased. “I thought he couldn’t bear to be apart from you for even a moment.”
Cheng Xiaoyu had only learned later that the two of them always arrived and left the group headquarters together. Wherever Lin Juan was, Lu Yanzhou was sure to be there too. He’d thought Lu Yanzhou was just especially invested in the new partnership. He hadn’t realized it wasn’t the partnership Lu Yanzhou cared about—it was Lin Juan himself.
Even for collaboration meetings worth billions, he insisted on having someone shadow Lin Juan closely. If that wasn’t caring, what was?
“Why can’t it be that I can’t bear to be apart from him?” Lin Juan shot back.
“Just a hunch,” Cheng Xiaoyu said, getting down to business. “The five-colored rope you sent yesterday—we ran twenty-four-hour tests with the instruments. We detected slight pollution fluctuations between two and four a.m.”
Lin Juan’s expression turned serious. “So the five-colored rope is indeed connected to weird phenomena?”
“Most likely,” Cheng Xiaoyu said as he pushed open the door. “I’ve recorded the fluctuation data. You can take a look. If we hadn’t used the new machine for continuous twenty-four-hour monitoring, we might have kept thinking these five-colored ropes were fine.”
On the computer screen, the pollution value clearly spiked between two and four a.m., while it remained at zero for all other periods.
“It’s very strange. Among all known weird phenomena, none can keep their pollution value at zero for most of the day,” Cheng Xiaoyu explained. He had crammed on weird phenomena knowledge before entering the base and continued absorbing new info daily since joining officially. He was very familiar with existing cases.
Cheng Xiaoyu reported the discovery immediately. Director Liu took it very seriously and assembled a dedicated team to follow up.
They first investigated the shop selling the five-colored ropes.
But the shop had already been deregistered, leaving no traces behind. When they questioned buyers, it was as if their memories of the five-colored rope had been wiped clean—they couldn’t give answers no matter what they were asked.
“We’ve recovered most of the five-colored ropes. Some students are out of town, a few claim they don’t know where theirs went, and we’ve contacted local ability users to retrieve the ones from out-of-area buyers,” Director Liu said, taking a deep breath. “Fortunately, Mr. Lin discovered this in time. But we can’t let our guard down. We must keep a close eye on all buyers!”
“Yes!”
Lu Mingxuan met the ability user who came to question him.
It was a familiar face who had worked with Lin Juan before—Su Xingchen.
After the questioning, Lu Mingxuan looked panicked. “Little Uncle, did I cause trouble?”
“I shouldn’t have brought random things home,” he said, rattled by the news Su Xingchen brought. “I… I just heard that this shop’s five-colored ropes were pretty and helped with sleep. I didn’t think much and bought some.”
“Right, the shop—I followed their store.” Lu Mingxuan pulled out his phone and opened the shopping app. “Where is it? I clearly remember following it. It was called…”
The shop’s name was on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t say it. Lu Mingxuan clutched his head. “I can’t remember the name…”
“Relax.” Lin Juan patted his shoulder.
Snapping back to his senses, Lu Mingxuan remembered bringing the five-colored ropes home for his family to wear. A chill of fear ran through him. “Little Uncle, is Grandpa okay? What about everyone else?”
“They’re all fine.” Seeing his fear, Lin Juan softened his voice to reassure him.
Lu Mingxuan burst into tears with a wail, sobbing as he spoke. “Little Uncle, thank goodness you were here. Otherwise, I wouldn’t know what to do.”
In the end, he was just an eighteen-year-old boy, raised clothed in fine silk and fed delicacies. Even when he’d faced danger before, Lin Juan had helped him resolve it easily. This was his first time encountering something like this.
“If my mistake had hurt Grandpa, Dad, Mom, Second Uncle, Third Uncle, Little Uncle, or you, Little Uncle, I’d atone with my death and it wouldn’t be enough.”
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Lu Family Eldest Brother comforted him when he saw how upset he was. “We’re all fine, aren’t we? You didn’t know there was a problem with it, right?”
“It’ll teach him a lesson,” Eldest Sister-in-Law Lu said, still shaken but stern. “The world is dangerous. Let’s see if he’s careless again.”
“The kid didn’t mean to do it.” Lu Family Eldest Brother defended him quietly.
“You’re still spoiling him!”
Seeing his parents arguing over him, Lu Mingxuan cried even harder. “I didn’t know it would be like this. I’ll never bring random things home again, waaah.”
“Stop crying,” Lin Juan’s head throbbed from his sobs. How could a big guy like him cry so much? “We all know you didn’t mean it. If anyone’s to blame, it’s the people selling the five-colored ropes for having bad intentions. You’re a victim too.”
Lu Mingxuan wiped his tears. “I’ve only heard you shouldn’t pick up random things from the roadside. Who knew even stuff you pay money for isn’t safe!”
“Exactly!” Lin Juan felt a surge of anger upon hearing they’d spent money. “How can they scam people like that!”
Su Xingchen was speechless. Was this really about scamming money?
