Chapter 214: Is It Her?

His training in spiritual mutations was still inadequate, unable to provide answers based solely on the scene he’d witnessed.

However, seeing this passageway deep and long was somewhat reassuring.

The longer people spent traversing the channel, the more time Main City had to detect those with spiritual abnormalities among them.

After a full five minutes, they finally walked out of the passageway, and the space ahead suddenly opened up.

Ascending the steps led them inside Main City, directly into the station hall. Before them, amid the throngs of people, stood a row of security checkpoints.

Rows of large detectors were arranged in sequence. Behind them sat uniformed staff.

Standing behind the staff, slowly patrolling, were special police officers clad in black uniforms.

Everyone approaching the checkpoints automatically formed long queues, passing through the final security screenings one by one.

……

“Brother Lu, my parents should be waiting for me right outside the station. Would you like to come greet them?”

Deputy General Manager Xiao was lugging a huge suitcase, moving somewhat awkwardly.

Lu Xin had considered offering to carry luggage for the boss, but expressing this idea had visibly frightened Deputy General Manager Xiao. It was as if he’d suddenly realized something improper; he insisted on carrying Lu Xin’s bag instead. It took considerable effort for Lu Xin to refuse.

It wasn’t that Lu Xin didn’t want to accommodate the boss; he was mostly concerned that if someone else held his bag, it might not pass security screening smoothly.

Now, hearing Deputy General Manager Xiao’s question, Lu Xin hesitated slightly.

Those parents must be the actual CEO and his wife of the company. Formally, it seemed appropriate to go and greet them.

But just then, Lu Xin’s gaze shifted. At the very left of the security checkpoint, near a small door, waited a woman. She wore a black casual blazer, a white shirt, had short hair, and stood in high heels. Standing quietly among the crowd, she stood out in height, appearance, and even aura. Her eyes beneath sunglasses seemed to hold a hint of a smile, directed right at him.

It was his other boss, the leader of the Special Pollution Cleanup Department’s Special Operations Team, Chen Jing.

Weighing the two, this leader was more important.

So, Lu Xin shook his head and said, “Let’s do it later if there’s a company gathering. I need to go report in now.”

“Report in? Ah, alright.”

Xiao Yuan looked up blankly and watched Lu Xin walk towards a woman who stood out remarkably in the crowd.

“So mysterious…” Xiao Yuan couldn’t help but shake his head. He then struggled onwards with his large suitcase towards the exit.

“Team Leader Chen, hello…”

Lu Xin reached Chen Jing and greeted her straightforwardly.

Seeing this military-background leader, he almost instinctively wanted to salute. But remembering he wasn’t a soldier, he decided against it.

“The one who came with you, is that the nightmare-plagued person?”

Chen Jing smiled at Lu Xin and nodded, her eyes briefly following Xiao Yuan’s retreating figure.

As the head of the Special Clean-up Department’s Special Operations Team and Lu Xin’s direct supervisor, she could naturally review his current assignments. She was well aware of Xiao Yuan’s situation and the investigation Lu Xin planned to conduct in Main City under the guise of the task. She only knew Lu Xin intended to use this entry into the city to investigate the mastermind behind Xiao Yuan’s nightmares.

“Yes, he’s a Deputy General Manager at our company too… technically the boss of my boss…”

Lu Xin answered Chen Jing’s query honestly, but immediately felt something wasn’t quite right after saying it.

Chen Jing was his direct superior, while Xiao Yuan was the boss of his company boss, so didn’t that somehow make Chen Jing seem… lower rank?

Thinking this, he instinctively glanced towards Xiao Yuan.

Xiao Yuan had just reached an old man and a middle-aged woman waiting opposite the checkpoint. Both were dressed expensively, accompanied by secretaries, clearly not ordinary people. These must be the company’s CEO and Xiao Yuan’s stepmother. As this thought formed, Lu Xin paid closer attention. And then, he froze for a moment.

His gaze locked onto Xiao Yuan’s stepmother. An unsettling chill prickled across his scalp.

The instant he saw Xiao Yuan’s stepmother, Lu Xin felt something deeply off.

The woman looked only about thirty years old, carrying a residual air of youth. Standing next to the old man in his heavy coat, it was actually Xiao Yuan lugging the suitcase who seemed her natural pair.

She wore a black, high-necked, finely knitted sweater adorned with a sparkling silver necklace, her hair elegantly coiled. A smile graced her face, projecting intellect and grace.

Yet it was distinctly clear her spirit was somehow frail. Even with slightly smoky-style makeup, she couldn’t mask the profound fatigue in her eyes. Her smile was impeccable, flawlessly executed, yet palpably artificial, visibly plastered on.

However, what sent that chill down Lu Xin’s spine wasn’t her expression.

It was what he saw beneath the surface – her other aspect.

She stood smiling beside the overcoat-clad old man, waiting calmly for Xiao Yuan to approach. But in Lu Xin’s vision, her back seemed to bulge, a crimson spine protruded. And growing from the top of that spine was another face.

That face was unnervingly sinister. It wore a bizarrely cruel smile, licking its lips as it stared fixedly at Xiao Yuan walking towards it.

Chen Jing had originally intended to lead Lu Xin straight out of the station, but noticing something amiss in his reaction, she followed his gaze to the woman. A hint of surprise showed on her face: “Was the person you were looking for… her?”

From a single glance, she had connected Lu Xin’s mission to this woman’s identity.

It was somewhat astonishing.

By now, Lu Xin had also scrutinized the woman again.

Then he nodded.

This time, he used Mother’s Perspective.

Looking once more, he saw the woman had transformed back into her ordinary appearance. There was no longer the vivid red spine behind her, nor the second head or face. She remained there calmly, smiling at Xiao Yuan.

But now, Lu Xin perceived a shade of light brown tinged with gray swirling within her form.

This indicated she was nervous.

Moreover, by comparing her Mental Power, he confirmed one thing.

Her Mental Power was identical to what he had seen dwelling within Xiao Yuan back then.

He even vaguely recalled that the long-haired woman who had once tried to drag him into a subconscious Dream Realm bore the same likeness as this one.

This realization filled Lu Xin with both surprise and puzzlement: How could it be her?

Xiao Yuan had been tormented by this nightmare, nearly driven mad, even recklessly endangering his oblivious younger brother and Little Sister multiple times. Over these past few days, with Lu Xin’s warning, Xiao Yuan had drafted countless lists, guessing one by one: Who could be so venomous? Who would conceive such a malicious scheme to force his family to fall apart and everyone to perish? Who would have imagined…

It was this utterly impossible person?

After all, Xiao Yuan had hesitated to voice his suspicion in front of his family precisely for fear of causing this stepmother undue distress…

…

Seeing Lu Xin’s confirmation, Chen Jing also showed surprise. “That woman doesn’t seem like an Ability User.”

Lu Xin nodded. “It’s definitely her.”

He had never been more certain. How could anyone with such an appearance not be an Ability User?

Speaking, he moved to step forward.

Now that he had found the truth behind Xiao Yuan’s nightmares, naturally he would seize this woman for his client.

Only by capturing her could this commission be truly fulfilled.

Though, discovering her in this moment filled Lu Xin with a touch of regret. He had hoped to confront her on another, more formal occasion, perhaps even engage in an exchange, requesting her assistance…

Instead, coincidentally, he’d spotted her right in front of his leader…

“No need.”

Just as Lu Xin prepared to approach the woman, Chen Jing gently stopped him.

Shaking her head slightly, Chen Jing explained with a smile, “This district isn’t under our jurisdiction; it falls to the City Defense Department.”

As she spoke, she lifted the headset near her collar and murmured softly, “Summon Watchdog.”