Chapter 43: The Betrothed
The living room was quiet, and Long Ling gently nudged the phoenix in his arms.
Su Muluo remained motionless.
Seeing him pretending to be indifferent like a quail, Long Ling couldn’t help but laugh. He affectionately nuzzled against Su Muluo’s hair and said, “Alright, I’ll wait until Phoenix is willing to talk to me.”
He wasn’t in a rush. Phoenix would definitely be his, and he believed Phoenix wouldn’t make him wait too long.
Su Muluo finally lifted his head slowly upon hearing this, glanced at Long Ling, and casually turned away as if nothing happened. “Remember to leave early tomorrow,” he said.
He planned to check on Yang Yueyue at the Bureau of Extraordinary Beings and then inform Song Nan.
Upon hearing this, Long Ling immediately put on a sulky face. “Going to the Bureau of Extraordinary Beings again?”
“Yes,” Su Muluo patted his head. “So remember to get up early.”
Long Ling: “…”
Tsk.
The next morning, Su Muluo led his dragon, whose face was filled with joy, into the Bureau of Extraordinary Beings.
Liu He was still waiting at the door. Upon seeing them enter together, even holding hands, she couldn’t help but gasp and then quickly pretended to cough loudly to cover it up.
“Cough cough cough, Mr. Su, you’re here,” Liu He smiled. “Long time no see. I didn’t see you last time I visited your coffee shop. Were you out somewhere?”
Upon hearing this, Su Muluo knew she and Zheng Hechun had indeed come to visit because of his dragon transformation. “Yes, I went to other places for a few days.”
Without waiting for Liu He to ask where exactly, he changed the subject. “By the way, about the tracing mirror last time, has Headquarters blamed you?”
“Not at all!” Liu He laughed cheerfully. “Not only that, the most uncivilized group ended up getting caught by the neighboring branch instead, hahaha!”
In fact, after they handed over the feather, Headquarters sent someone to talk to Zheng Hechun, insisting they must maintain good relations with Su Muluo and Long Ling. Any requests they had must be fulfilled, and they must not offend them.
“Since Mr. Su came, our treatment and bonuses in the Lincheng branch have improved a lot!” Liu He said. “So if you need anything, please let us know. As long as you ask, we’ll do our best!”
Su Muluo said, “Is that so? Show me the most uncivilized group next year, then.”
Liu He instantly fell silent.
Su Muluo smiled and said, “Take me to see Yang Yueyue.”
Liu He immediately nodded like a pecking chicken. “Please follow me.”
Initially, she thought with so many benefits they received, they should perhaps give something back to Mr. Su materially. But Zheng Hechun stopped her, saying Mr. Su wasn’t interested in wealth. Last time, helping them resolve the fox demon incident and receiving gratitude was reasonable, but if they gave money now, it might be seen as an offense.
Therefore, all they could do was cater to Su Muluo, fulfilling all his requests. Even if he had none, they must ensure he stayed comfortably and happily in Lincheng, feeling at home at the Bureau of Extraordinary Beings.
“Oh, Mr. Su, in the message I sent you earlier, did I mention that there have been incidents of demons harming people in other cities?” Liu He asked Su Muluo and Long Ling as they walked.
“In fact, we held a meeting because of this. It hasn’t been very peaceful in the human world recently. Not only are demons harming people, but there are also cases of demons possessing humans. Of course, those malevolent demons are all unregistered residents of our Bureau. Those holding identity cards are still living peacefully, but…”
Even so, this slight change was enough to subtly alter the harmonious relationship between humans and demons that had lasted for many years.
Su Muluo was somewhat surprised. “Is it serious now?”
“Not really,” Liu He said. “After all, malevolent incidents are still few. Perhaps one or two per city. It’s just that these incidents have occurred coincidentally within this week.”
Su Muluo fell silent. A week ago… wasn’t that when they were preparing to visit the Avian Clan?
He didn’t speak, and Long Ling asked, “Have you interrogated them to see if there’s an organized force behind them?”
Liu He hesitated and didn’t dare to converse much with him. She whispered, “We’ve interrogated them, but we haven’t found the situation you mentioned yet.”
In fact, those monsters only harmed people without causing any fatalities. They even inflicted only minor injuries, so initially, the Bureau of Extraordinary Beings didn’t pay much attention, chalking it up to new demons not adjusting to human cities and getting into arguments with humans… It was only yesterday at the Headquarters meeting that they summarized the situations from various places and realized that similar conditions had appeared in many cities.
Long Ling sneered softly. “Right now, it’s only harming people. By the time you discover something is wrong, it may have already escalated to murder.”
Although his tone was calm, Liu He shrank back. “You’re right, so Headquarters has already ordered us to detain all demons who have harmed people and question them again.”
The meeting had just ended when she received a message from Su Muluo and immediately had Yang Yueyue brought over.
A few minutes later, the three arrived at where Yang Yueyue was held. She was trapped by a faint golden web and struggled fiercely on the ground.
“Why do you bring me here! Let go of me, or I’ll…”
Afterward, a string of profanities followed, causing Liu He to frown and turn to explain to Su Muluo and Long Ling beside her, “This is a tool specifically for people possessed by demons. As long as it detects demonic energy, it will light up.”
Su Muluo glanced at the glowing golden net and asked, “Will the exorcism ritual later harm her?”
“Mr. Su, rest assured,” Liu He said. “This tool only affects the demon possessing her. At most, she’ll be a bit weak. After resting for a few days, she’ll be fine.”
Su Muluo felt relieved, feeling that the Bureau of Extraordinary Beings was indeed professional in handling such matters.
Next to Yang Yueyue stood a Bureau employee holding a pale golden bell, one end of which was entangled with silk threads and the golden net. “Can we begin?”
Liu He nodded. “Let’s begin.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the employee shook the golden bell in his hand.
The bell’s sound was peculiar; each ring seemed to overlap, piercingly sharp. For a moment, the room echoed with the ear-piercing chime.
Su Muluo didn’t find it disturbing, just a bit noisy. However, to Yang Yueyue, the bell’s sound felt like thousands of steel needles stabbing into her brain. Immediately, she screamed in agony.
“Ah! Ah! It hurts so much! Help! Help!!”
The glow of the golden net intensified, and golden lights moved along the grid, forming a magical seal over Yang Yueyue. Her body convulsed violently, while something twisted and distorted formed into a spirit in midair from her facial orifices.
Liu He was astonished. “She’s actually possessed by a ghost spirit?!”
Generally, when demons tried to possess humans, they would rely on something, like the bracelet someone wears, earrings, or even a puppet toy. But there’s also a more extreme method, which is to extract one’s own soul and dive into another person’s body, using this more direct means to control them… Of course, this also brings great risks to the demon.
However, this method also has its benefits. Because the possessing demon is in a soul state, when discovered and forcibly extracted from the human body, it can easily escape… just like now.
The demon automatically split into several pieces, wriggling out through the cracks in the golden net, then quickly gathering together and darting towards the door—
Just as it was about to escape through the door crack, an agent from the Bureau of Anomalies shook a golden bell in his hand, and a deep “clang clang” resounded throughout the room. The demon seemed to be caught by an invisible hand, writhing in pain, unable to move forward even a step.
At the same time, Yang Yueyue on the ground tilted her head, losing consciousness.
“Alright, spirit dispersion successful.” The bureau agent put away the golden net, saying, “I’ll take her to the hospital first.”
Liu He nodded, saying, “Remember to erase her memory and find a suitable reason… um, just say she encountered a ghost.”
The agent agreed, picked up Yang Yueyue from the ground, and quickly walked out.
In the room, there were only Su Muluo and two others left with the demon still struggling. It was covered with layers of golden threads at some point, unable to escape no matter what.
Liu He pinched the demon and asked, “Are you going to confess here, or do you want to wait and confess after we use some methods in the interrogation room?”
The demon stuttered, “I… you…”
It spewed out a bunch of words incoherently, but none of the three in the room understood.
Liu He frowned, “Can’t you speak human?”
The demon fell silent.
After a second, its body suddenly swelled up like an inflated balloon, on the verge of exploding in the blink of an eye.
“No! It’s going to self-destruct!”
The room surged with demon energy that could explode at the slightest touch, and Liu He’s expression changed completely, completely unprepared for the demon to actually self-destruct, instinctively trying to dodge aside.
Just then, Long Ling raised his hand. With a slight gesture, the inflated demon spirit suddenly shrank, unable to release its demon energy.
Liu He watched helplessly as the spirit writhed painfully in midair, wanting to explode but unable to, wanting to escape but unable to, shuddering and silently retreating to the side.
Luckily, Mr. Su is willing to help them… oh no, luckily Mr. Su is easy to talk to.
She thought.
If it weren’t for Mr. Su, no one could control this dragon, and the world would really be in trouble.
Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but feel respect for Su Muluo.
Su Muluo: “…”
Why does her gaze suddenly look so strange?
But his attention is not on Liu He now; it’s on the demon spirit, saying, “Who are you, and what is your purpose?”
The demon spirit remained silent, and Long Ling coldly said, “Speak.”
The next moment, the entire demon spirit was crushed into shapelessness by his powerful demon energy, a heart-wrenching scream echoing in the room, and Liu He silently covered her ears.
“I’ll talk… I’ll talk!!”
Struggling to squeeze out these words amidst the screams, Long Ling stopped, and it collapsed on the table like clay. After a few seconds, it trembled and said, “I am…”
Before it could finish, the demon spirit convulsed violently again, but this time, Long Ling did not act.
Su Muluo frowned; he felt a very powerful demon energy controlling this soul, and this demon energy’s origin was unknown, likely far from where they were.
Liu He also sensed this demon energy, feeling as if Mount Tai was pressing down on her, her face suddenly changing, bones rattling… but the next moment, Su Muluo lightly patted her shoulder, isolating her from the oppressive force brought by that demon energy.
In an instant, Liu He slumped in the chair, trembling for a long time before thanking Su Muluo.
She had never felt such terrifying demon energy before. Although she had faced a true dragon before, this demon energy might not be stronger than a true dragon, but the two were fundamentally different.
After all, when she faced the true dragon, the other party did not really intend to harm her, just a demonstration, with some restraint in the demon energy. But the demon energy just now… it treated her like an ant, disregarding her completely and crushing her directly.
What’s going on? Wasn’t it just a normal demon harming incident? How did it escalate to this?
What kind of existence did they provoke?
For a moment, Liu He’s thoughts were a tangled mess, unable to articulate anything. On the other hand, Su Muluo looked at the demon spirit, his gaze gradually turning icy.
He didn’t recognize this demon energy, nor did he know who was manipulating this demon spirit behind the scenes.
But one thing was certain—the other party was definitely malevolent.
Long Ling held Su Muluo’s hand, slightly moving forward, in a stance that protected his phoenix behind him.
“Don’t hide your head and show your tail,” he said coldly. “Who are you?”
“…”
The demon spirit twisted into a blurry face in midair, its features indistinguishable, only vaguely discernible as a man.
Obviously, this man did not fully control the demon spirit; he let it retain some self-awareness, tremblingly speaking for him: “I… convey a message on behalf of the master…”
“Soon, he will return to the mortal realm, and the conflict between demons and humans will begin again…”
Long Ling sneered at this, “Are all your subordinates such insignificant little demons of a century or two? It’s really embarrassing.”
This statement was directed at the man behind the demon spirit, but he did not respond, continuing to control the demon spirit.
“The master has one more thing to say… it’s for another master…”
The demon spirit convulsed as it turned slowly towards Su Muluo.
Su Muluo’s expression was cold, as if through this demon’s soul, he was locking eyes with another person—a gaze that he intensely disliked.
“The master says, he will come to pick you up soon.”
“Although you may have forgotten him, he kindly reminds you—”
“A thousand years ago, he was your true betrothed. Please, don’t forget again.”
Su Muluo: “…”
Long Ling: “…”
Liu He: “…”
Ah, what’s wrong?
The atmosphere seems a bit off, doesn’t it?
T/N: Hello hello! There is plenty more where that came from, so stay tuned! And stay healthy! Straighten your posture, so some stretches and drink some water before continuing hehe~
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If you like cats, check out Revenge of the Garfield
If you like dragons, check out I’m Pregnant with the Hope of the Entire Planet and The Dragon and the ‘Princess’
How about some mystery or showbiz? Check out Morbid Addiction & Perfection
What about the perfect, most non-toxic male lead ever? Laws of Love
How about MC nursing ML back to health? Forced into the Deep
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