Chapter 33 Part 2

“A B-rank weird 【Parasite】,” Director Liu said after checking the data. “In its unhatched state like this, it’s not far from hatching. Who would’ve thought that, as fellow B-rank weirds, the 【Forest Cabin】 would get parasitized by it.”

“Not surprising,” a refined man said as he stepped out of a car. “The 【Parasite】 survives by latching onto all sorts of creatures—humans, animals, or even other weirds. As long as something touches its tentacles, there’s a chance of being parasitized and turned into its nourishment.”

Lin Juan carried the cage the 【Forest Cabin】 had turned into, with the balled-up 【Parasite】 inside. He glanced curiously at the man.

He looked familiar.

Right—he had seen him before at Lu Garden. Lu Yanzhou had said he was family.

“Mr. Lin, we meet again.” Compared to last time, the man was exceptionally courteous.

“Mr. Lin, do you two know each other?” Director Liu was puzzled. This gentleman was a weird expert from Country M who had just returned. He shouldn’t know Lin Juan.

And his attitude toward Lin Juan felt like more than just acquaintances.

“He’s basically my nephew’s wife,” the man said with a mild smile. “Not acquaintances yet, but after today, we can count as such.”

That explained it. Director Liu suddenly understood. Family ties made sense of the different attitude. Lin Juan didn’t seem familiar with him, though, so Director Liu introduced, “Mr. Lin, this is the weird expert who just returned from Country M, Mr. Joseph.”

Joseph.

Lin Juan committed the name to memory, deciding to ask Lu Yanzhou about him later.

“Hello,” Lin Juan shook the hand he extended. “Can you tell me more about the 【Parasite】 you mentioned earlier?”

“Of course,” Joseph pushed up his glasses. “The 【Parasite】 is different from other weird phenomena. It isn’t a single entity, but a group. Their initial state is always a lump of meat. After hatching, their appearance varies depending on the host, but without exception, all the hatched weirds are b-rank.”

“Even if it parasitizes an ordinary person or animal, it can still hatch into a b-rank weird?” Lin Juan found it a bit strange. “What if it parasitizes a b-rank or higher weird? Would it hatch something even more powerful?”

“If it parasitizes an ordinary person or animal, the host’s nutrients alone aren’t enough for the 【Parasite】 to hatch. It will drain the host dry and then seek a new one until it successfully hatches.”

“As for parasitizing b-rank or higher weirds, humans have discovered very few b-rank or higher weirds so far, and there has been no successful parasitization of a b-rank or higher weird by a 【Parasite】. No, that’s not precise enough. We should say that we haven’t discovered any b-rank or higher weirds parasitized by a 【Parasite】 yet, so we don’t know if it would hatch a higher-level 【Parasite】.”

“In general, weirds parasitized by the 【Parasite】 can’t escape being drained dry. The one in your hand looks close to hatching. The parasitized 【Forest Cabin】 should be in its weakest state right now—very easy to deal with.”

“You’re right,” Lin Juan lowered his gaze. It seemed Joseph hadn’t realized that the cage in his hand was the 【Forest Cabin】 itself. “I’ve already killed the 【Forest Cabin】.”

Joseph looked toward where the cabin had collapsed and nodded. “Mr. Lin’s strength is indeed extraordinary.”

“I wonder what material Mr. Lin’s wooden cage is made of. It can actually restrain the 【Parasite】.” Joseph’s gaze subtly fell on the cage in Lin Juan’s hand.

Items that could restrain pollutants were extremely rare. If they knew what material Lin Juan’s wooden cage was made of, it would make dealing with weirds much easier in the future.

“You mean this?” Lin Juan raised his hand, and the wooden cage floated above his palm like a birdcage.

“Yes. Currently, the materials we’ve discovered that can control weird movements are very few. If Mr. Lin’s could be mass-produced, it would provide tremendous help in the future.” A fervor that others couldn’t easily detect burned in Joseph’s eyes.

“I’m afraid Mr. Joseph will be disappointed,” Sheng Tianzong walked over. “This wooden cage is Mr. Lin’s supernatural ability. It can’t be mass-produced.”

“I’ve heard Mr. Lin is extremely powerful. No wonder he can deal with the 【Parasite】.” Joseph said no more.

He had originally scorned the Lu Family’s decision to marry Lu Yanzhou a male wife from the mountains. He wouldn’t have given Lin Juan, that male wife from the mountains, a second glance. That was, until he unexpectedly learned that Lin Juan was a very powerful ability user.

His people hadn’t been able to find out what Lin Juan’s supernatural ability was. They only knew that Lin Juan was publicly recognized as the strongest in the Anomalous Affairs Bureau. He decided to probe personally.

“Mr. Joseph, let’s go take a look at the 【Forest Cabin】 first.” Director Liu didn’t know why Sheng Tianzong had said the wooden cage was Lin Juan’s supernatural ability, nor did he know that the wooden cage was the true body of the b-rank weird 【Forest Cabin】. But he didn’t expose it.

Joseph had come for the weird in the first place. Meeting Lin Juan was a pleasant surprise. He didn’t forget his main purpose and went with Director Liu and the others to the site of the collapsed cabin.

Broken wooden planks were scattered everywhere, with crimson soil pressed beneath them, along with those bones. The Anomalous Affairs Bureau’s people would handle the cleanup.

Gu Kai seemed carefree, but he was actually very attentive. After hearing Sheng Tianzong’s words, he quietly warned another ability user who had entered with them. “Pay attention to what Captain Sheng just said. Don’t let it slip.”

“I know.” The ability user made a zipping motion across his mouth. “You know I’m talkative, but Mr. Lin is Huaguo’s secret weapon. I won’t say a word about anything I shouldn’t.”

“Good kid.” Gu Kai punched his shoulder.

The ability user chuckled, looking utterly guileless.

The 【Parasite】’s parasitization ability was too hard to guard against. After discussing with his superiors, Director Liu unanimously decided to destroy it on the spot.

By the time everything was finished, the sky was nearly bright. Lin Juan hadn’t expected to be out for so long. He declined Director Liu’s invitation to eat together and prepared to head straight back to Lu Garden.

As he walked out of the cordon line, Lin Juan saw a familiar Cullinan parked on the roadside.

The car door opened, and Lin Juan saw Lu Yanzhou sitting inside, dressed in a suit.

“Why are you here?” Lin Juan was pleasantly surprised. “How long have you been waiting?”

“Not long.” Lu Yanzhou set aside his work tablet. In truth, he had been there for a while and had handled some work in the car, but Lin Juan didn’t need to know that.

“Heading home?”

Lu Yanzhou privately changed Lu Garden to home, and Lin Juan didn’t notice.

“Yeah.”

With that, Lin Juan turned back and waved to Sheng Tianzong and the others behind him. “Lu Yanzhou came to pick me up. I’m heading back first.”

Watching the Cullinan leave, Gu Kai wailed, “I’m so jealous—”

“Jealous of what?” Sheng Tianzong turned around. “Jealous that Mr. Lin has someone to pick him up, or jealous of Mr. Lu’s luxury car?”

“Why would I be jealous of that?” Gu Kai slung an arm over Sheng Tianzong’s shoulder. “What I’m jealous of is Lu Yanzhou. Old Master Lu repaid him by marrying him to a big shot like Mr. Lin—”

“I want to marry one too. No, getting married to a big shot would work too—”

“Keep dreaming.”

“Captain Sheng, don’t you want one?”

“Stop thinking about nonsense.”

In the car, Lin Juan told Lu Yanzhou about Joseph.

“I met Joseph earlier. The one you said was a relative who came to Lu Garden last time.”

“He didn’t say anything to you, did he?” Lu Yanzhou frowned. “Whatever he says, you don’t need to pay it any mind.”

“He’s much more polite this time than last,” Lin Juan shook his head. “He must have heard about me dealing with the weird. Did you know he’s an expert on weirds from Country M?”

“I know he’s in research, but I wasn’t clear on the specifics. He’s been working at a highly classified research institute in Country M. Turns out it’s weird research.”

“Country M… Xiao Juan, be careful. He might not have good intentions.”

Lu Yanzhou’s tone was very serious, so Lin Juan got serious too. “He said I’m his nephew-in-law, so he’s your uncle? Do you have bad relations with your mother’s side? Did they do something?”

“I rarely contact them. After my mother passed away, I lived there for a while. Later, my father cut ties with them for some reason, brought me back to the country, and forbade me from associating with them. When I grew up, I looked into what happened back then, but I didn’t find anything.”

Lin Juan stared at him unblinkingly.

Lu Yanzhou turned his head. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

“I just think you don’t seem like the type to obediently listen to your father. You don’t associate with your mother’s relatives—most of that must be because of your own reasons, right?”

“Xiao Juan really understands me. Yes, a big part of it is my own reasons. I can’t get close to my mother’s relatives. I can’t condone the things they do. Our values don’t align, so we naturally can’t get along.”

Lu Yanzhou clearly didn’t want to dwell on it, so Lin Juan smoothly changed the subject. “I gained a new supernatural ability today.”

“Hm?” Lu Yanzhou knew Lin Juan only had brute strength and no supernatural abilities. Lin Juan had more than once expressed envy for ability users, saying their powers were flashy and convenient.

Following Lin Juan’s lead, he asked, “What supernatural ability? Since it’s Xiao Juan’s, it must be very powerful.”

“Ta-da!” Lin Juan held out his hand, palm up. A wood rope slithered into his palm, dangling. “This one.”

The wood rope was very long. Its tip rested in Lin Juan’s palm, while the rest wound downward, extending who knew where.

It was clearly Lin Juan who had gained a supernatural ability—he should have been happy. For some reason, though, Lu Yanzhou didn’t like the look of the wood rope.

Especially how it lay in Lin Juan’s palm.

Remembering it was Lin Juan’s supernatural ability, Lu Yanzhou suppressed the negative emotions in his heart. “Wood-type ability?”

“A great ability.”

Lu Yanzhou racked his brains for praise. “Wood-type represents vitality. Looking at it, it seems very flexible and can be used as a weapon. In the future, when facing weirds, you won’t need to punch them yourself…”

Lin Juan held back his laughter for a while but finally couldn’t, bursting into laughter. “Hahaha, how did you actually believe it? This is the supernatural ability Sheng Tianzong stuck on me. It’s not mine.”

Lin Juan laughed so hard he doubled over, leaning on the man’s shoulder as he recounted what had happened earlier.

“I don’t know why Sheng Tianzong suddenly said that, but it’s pretty good. Like you said, with this thing, I might not need to get hands-on when dealing with weirds next time. You have no idea—some weirds are so disgusting. If I had a choice, I really wouldn’t want to touch them.”

“And also,” Lin Juan excitedly described what happened in the cabin, “it can change into various forms. Super useful.”

“So, it’s a weird, not your supernatural ability?” Lu Yanzhou looked down at the youth laughing in his arms and slowly repeated.

“Yeah, it’s the 【Forest Cabin】, pretending to be my supernatural ability to the outside.”

“Since it’s not your supernatural ability, Xiao Juan, put it down.” Lu Yanzhou placed one hand behind Lin Juan to steady him and loosely gripped his wrist with the other. He lowered his gaze, concealing the darkness in his eyes. “It’s still a weird, after all. Too much contact isn’t good.”