Chapter 68: The Mysterious Lone Soldier

The Support Team quickly went upstairs, collected the solitary resident’s corpse with a glass cabinet, then left staff behind to conduct a final sweep for psychic residues in the room and the entire building. Amid their orderly bustle, Lu Xin led Little Sister downstairs.

Night had fallen completely. The residential complex’s lights cast dim silhouettes all around.

Lu Xin breathed a long sigh into the slightly cool night breeze and spoke into the comms channel. “Is this inspection almost over?”

Han Bing’s voice came through. “It should be finished in another day or two. Inspections like this generally happen once a year, though this year’s was moved up because of all this. Right now, all the Satellite Cities and the Main City are conducting strict inspections, and they have indeed discovered quite a few hidden Contamination Incidents. Thankfully, most are only D-class or even lower, so they’re relatively easier to handle.”

Lu Xin gave a slight nod. “I hope we won’t see many more such Contamination Incidents.”

Han Bing paused for a moment before replying. “Do you… feel some resistance toward incidents like this?”

Lu Xin was momentarily taken aback. “Hmm?”

Han Bing continued, “I can sense a low mood from you. If you dislike or resist this type of Contamination work, I can record it in your files. That way, Qinggang City can try to avoid assigning you to similar cases in the future.”

“It’s not that.”

Lu Xin paused before slowly shaking his head. “I genuinely don’t like this kind of thing, you could say I don’t like any Contamination. But work is work. Since I’m drawing a salary for this role and earned the payment for this mission, of course I have to do my job properly. Besides… this person named Wang Chu must have been hoping all along for someone to find him sooner, right?”

Han Bing was silent for a beat. “I imagine he was.”

Then her voice lifted, sounding a bit brighter as she laughed. “The Administrative Hall is now considering rebuilding more Signal Towers and introducing more mobile phones into the market. Incidents like this should become fewer and fewer very soon.”

“On top of that, The Alliance has recognized how bleak and hollow life can be and is promoting the entertainment and cultural industry. Maybe before long, we won’t have to spend all our days lost in the old movies and songs from before the Cataclysm; we might even have our own stars. The professors say that spreading entertainment and culture to a certain extent is an effective way to help people relieve mental stress.”

“I hope so…”

Hearing the girl’s cheery tone, Lu Xin smiled slightly. “The payment for this mission…”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered!”

Han Bing’s voice in the channel sounded light and cheerful. “I’m on your side, after all. I’ll handle carefully calculating your regular subsidies, your base salary, and the payment for every Field Duty assignment, and apply for fast-tracked transfers. For this mission, the difficulty wasn’t even D-class. Conventionally, the pay would only be around ten thousand, but I’ll get you at least twelve thousand…”

Lu Xin felt a surge of appreciation. “Thank you, thank you…”

“Hehe, I should be thanking you, Mr. Lone Soldier. This is what you deserve, after all…”

“I still really appreciate you…”

“No, no, I should be thanking you. I’m also thanking you on behalf of all Qinggang citizens like myself…”

“My thanks is sincere…”

“So is mine…”

“…”

Listening to Lu Xin’s words, Little Sister watched him with a faint, distant gaze. “Just go find her in the Main City and thank her in person already…”

Lu Xin felt embarrassed. After closing the channel, he whispered to Little Sister. “She helped us get the payment, though…”

Little Sister tilted her head, scrutinized him for a few moments, and snorted with disdain. “Are you just lacking a girlfriend?”

“What are you talking about?”

Lu Xin flushed and glared at her. “She’s a colleague!”

Ignoring his explanation completely, Little Sister turned and started crawling up a nearby power pole. “I think you should forget it. Girls from the Main City are all spoiled. They’re pretty, nice-tempered, and I hear they’re like little fairies who don’t even use toilet paper. You’re just a small-time staffer from a Satellite City…”

“Is ‘not using toilet paper’ even normal?”

Lu Xin’s eyes followed her figure. “Where on earth did you hear that?”

“Mr. Lone Soldier, thank you for your hard work!”

Before he got an answer from Little Sister, Cheng Hui approached, rifle in his arms, his face earnest. “Do you need a ride?”

It wasn’t just him. Many others nearby, including Police Officers and soldiers on perimeter duty, were casting looks at Lu Xin – a mixture of admiration and awe. After all, this had been a terrifying Source of Contamination they couldn’t even approach safely. Yet, Lu Xin had gone into the building alone and resolved everything in under ten minutes, without them even hearing a single sound.

This shrouded Lu Xin in an aura of mystery in their eyes.

“No need, there’s a car outside!”

Lu Xin noticed everyone looking at him and quickly offered an explanation with a smile.

He shot a helpless look at Little Sister’s retreating back, then walked with Cheng Hui toward the complex gates.

……

“Mr. Xu, that gentleman over there is the Lone Soldier.”

Just as Lu Xin boarded the Jeep waiting for him by the complex gate and headed towards the Guard Bureau, about fifty meters down the road, a black sedan sat incongruently alongside the other vehicles of this era. Its body was streamlined, the black paint glossy enough to reflect a face. It wasn’t modified; the chassis sat low. It was an outdated model fundamentally unsuited for practicality.

…Unsuited for practicality meant it could only travel on the best roads within the city. Outside the City? Nearly impossible.

Inside, seated in the back-left seat, was an old man in a crisp suit. A cane rested beside him, his hair meticulously combed. His neatly trimmed beard, gray-shot, complemented his lean, distinguished features. His gaze, passing through the one-way glass window, followed the slowly departing Jeep and naturally, rested on Lu Xin.

He frowned slightly. “Is that the person who can see Psychic Entities?”

Beside him sat a slender man wearing gold-rimmed glasses. The man nodded. “Yes, that’s him. His recruitment is fairly recent, but he’s delivered impressive results. During his first formal contact with the 041 Special Contamination Incident, he saved three members of our Investigation Team. Later, during the 039 C-class Special Contamination Source incident, he demonstrated exceptional logical search abilities. And just now, as you witnessed… he resolved another one in barely ten minutes.”

The old man simply watched silently. “I hear his Risk of Loss of Control is very high?”

“Seeing is believing; gossip is often unreliable!” The young man smiled. “At least based on the existing documentation, he ironically shows the fewest signs of loss of control.”

“Furthermore, he remains the only person found so far who can directly perceive Psychic Entities and resolve them.”

…

The old man was silent for a while, then nodded. “Yes. I don’t really have other options anyway.”

The young man smiled. “One issue, though. He hasn’t obtained a Special Passage Permit for the Main City yet.”

“That’s not a real problem.”

The old man nodded slowly. “I can bring my daughter to Satellite City No.2. I still have some assets here. The most crucial point is that this is a private commission. We absolutely must ensure it doesn’t create a direct link with the Cleanup Department…”

The young man smiled. “No problem. You just need to set a time.”

“Let’s make it tomorrow.”

The old man gave a soft, weary sigh. “Her condition… is already very serious.”