Chapter Sixty-Seven: Mundane Commissions and Their Patrons

Before Jiang Wan could finish her sentence, she hurried to clarify, “But there are strict regulations in the police force. No one will leak the information, you can rest assured about that.”

Chen Qing closed his eyes and pondered for a moment, then heard Jiang Wan add, “However… your concern is valid. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow when everyone is back at work, after sunrise. Only once all the colleagues are present can we start examining this thing.”

“I see…” He hesitated, glancing worriedly upstairs.

“What’s wrong?” Jiang Wan, noticing his expression, asked with curiosity.

“It’s nothing. I just feel something’s not quite right. You said the offspring exist to spread information, so wouldn’t it make more sense to wait until the message has spread widely before killing the host?” Chen Qing lowered his head in thought, but was interrupted by Bu Zhaozhao’s words echoing in his ear, “I’ve told you many times! The offspring of this species take pleasure in slaughter; blood and wailing are their sustenance. It’s perfectly normal!”

She spoke with conviction—the common trait of all seasoned scholars, perhaps—but Chen Qing could not bring himself to fully believe it. Such doubt was in the nature of an investigator.

“I’ll be heading to the club in a bit,” he said, turning to Jiang Wan and suddenly asking, “Do you want to come with me?”

“What’s the matter?” she asked, somewhat perplexed.

“Nothing, just wondering if you needed to go.”

Jiang Wan shook her head, appearing a little bewildered. “Why would I need to? I’m already swamped with work.”

Chen Qing nodded in understanding. After confirming her wishes, he set out for the club, his mind swirling with unresolved questions.

Would it kill the infected simply for its own amusement?

It seemed utterly illogical—like a virus recklessly killing its own host rather than prioritizing its own spread. At least a virus still has to reproduce within the host; yet, this offspring, benevolent as it pretended to be, didn’t even care to propagate. It slaughtered its hosts during the incubation period.

Lost in these thoughts, Chen Qing made his way in silence toward the club. As he reached the familiar street, he found Kalans already waiting at the entrance, calmly expecting him.

“Good evening, sir. It’s been a while,” Kalans greeted him with a smile, stepping forward to meet Chen Qing. “Are you alone tonight?”

“Yes, just me,” Chen Qing nodded. “But it hasn’t been that long since we last met, has it?”

“A week, in fact.” Kalans smiled, faint wrinkles appearing at the corners of his eyes. “A week is long enough for many new faces to come and go here.” He bowed apologetically as he accepted the fruit Chen Qing had brought. “Is there anything you need from the club tonight?”

“Can you help gather information?”

“What kind of information do you need?”

Chen Qing paused, then asked, “Are there any bounty jobs—if that’s the right term? Tasks that pay well?”

Kalans stroked his chin thoughtfully, hesitating for a moment. “There are… but if you need a quick, convenient job with a high reward—say, between one hundred thousand and two million—that could be difficult to arrange on short notice.”

Chen Qing was taken aback. “What do you mean—a quick, convenient job?”

Kalans turned to him, the confusion on his face quickly giving way to understanding. “Oh… you genuinely want to earn money through a job?”

“Of course. What did you think I meant?”

As they walked downstairs together into the club, Kalans looked embarrassed and explained, “Many people here use so-called tasks to amass wealth from the mundane world. Sometimes it’s just a way for people to pay to make new connections and expand their network—I thought perhaps you were interested in that sort of thing.”

“There’s something like that?” Chen Qing was surprised, and just then, Bu Zhaozhao whispered in his ear, “Don’t think too highly of such things. Every gift from fate comes with a hidden price. There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world. If you want that money, there’s always a cost.”

“What kind of cost? Protecting people in the mundane world?”

“That’s part of it, but…” She hesitated. “Just be careful—some of these people might be with the Foundation.”

Chen Qing nodded in understanding and turned back to Kalans. “Are there any tasks where people from the mundane world need objects appraised?”

“Appraisals?” Kalans nodded, pulling out his phone and scrolling through it. “The latest task is to appraise an unearthed artifact. The client says ever since acquiring it, he’s been unable to sleep peacefully. If the problem can be solved, he’ll reward you with either a jade pendant or two hundred and fifty thousand in cash.”

“I’ll take it,” Chen Qing said. Kalans tapped a few times on the screen, and a message was sent to Chen Qing’s phone.

The message appeared with no sender and was completely blank at first, with only a few strange symbols appearing as Chen Qing scrolled upward.

“Did you get it?” Kalans asked, glancing curiously at Chen Qing’s phone.

“You mean this message?” Chen Qing replied, openly showing the phone to Kalans.

“Yes, that’s it,” Kalans confirmed. “Just keep scrolling. Once your identity is verified, the details will appear.”

After four or five seconds, as if confirming his credentials, the blank space of the message began to fill with information—words slowly appeared, followed by images and detailed descriptions related to the incident.

Reading through the records, Chen Qing’s face showed a touch of curiosity.

The message described the entire event in detail and included a close-up photo of the jade pendant. According to the account, the owner had purchased the item from a group of tomb raiders on the eleventh of last month. Starting from the fifteenth, he began experiencing insomnia and, when he did sleep, was relentlessly pursued by malevolent spirits in his dreams; each sleep lasted at least sixteen hours. After the twentieth, his condition worsened—either unable to sleep at all or sleeping for up to two days at a time.

At first, the evil spirit only appeared briefly, occupying a small part of the dream. But as time passed, it took up more and more until the entire dream was dominated by it. If this continued, it seemed likely the owner would soon be unable to wake from his dreams at all.

“Amazing… I didn’t expect technology to have advanced this far,” Bu Zhaozhao remarked with some surprise.

“I don’t think it’s technology…” Chen Qing replied quietly, then asked Kalans, “Is your collaboration with the Allied Society really this deep?”

Kalans smiled and shook his head gently. “Perhaps. It seems you’ve learned a bit about the Five Great Organizations.”

“I can’t be wandering around blindly forever,” Chen Qing replied with a laugh, then asked, “Will you accompany me for this task?”

“Of course, if you don’t mind.”

“Where is he now? I’d like to handle it tonight.”

Kalans checked his phone for a moment before replying, “He’s on his way now, bringing the jade pendant with him.”