"A..."

"Achoo!"

Gu Shen woke up with a start, sneezing.

His last memories were of a dark, oppressive expanse filled with endless gibberish and a blurry black shadow... The Jingzhe dreamscape hadn't completely collapsed; Chu Ling had severed their mental link, and he had fallen into a deep sleep.

And now, awakening...

The first thing he saw was a beautiful face, mostly hidden behind sunglasses, but still breathtaking.

However, the owner of this face was looking at him with an expression of disgust, clutching her coat and backing away as if she wanted to get as far away from him as possible.

Was it really that bad? It was just a sneeze... Gu Shen secretly gave the bad woman the middle finger in his mind.

"Gu Shen, you're awake."

Hearing Senior Sister's voice, Gu Shen fully came to his senses.

Time had no meaning in the dream world.

How long had he been asleep, from the moment he entered the dream to comprehend Jingzhe until now?

He hadn't actually broken the Tribunal's fastest record, had he...?

"Senior Sister," Gu Shen said, scratching his head. "How long was I... asleep?"

"Not long, just four hours," Senior Sister Luo said casually.

Gu Shen breathed a sigh of relief.

That was a relief.

"Little Gu," Senior Brother Zhong Wei said, stepping forward with concern. "What did you see in that dream just now?"

Little Gu... it had been a long time since anyone had called him that.

Gu Shen didn't mind. He thought for a moment and answered honestly, "I dreamt... that I went to a vast, vast wilderness. The scenery was beautiful, with lots of grass stretching as far as the eye could see. And then... it rained."

Since he was pretending that it took him four hours to comprehend Jingzhe, he needed to play dumb.

Gu Shen was good at this.

He vividly described the scene in the Jingzhe dreamscape, glossing over the details of his comprehension and pretending to be clueless and lucky.

After finishing his description, Gu Shen presented his results. "Senior Sister... in that dream, I seemed to have grasped something amazing—"

The breathing technique of Jingzhe was now deeply imprinted in his mind.

As he spoke, Gu Shen breathed according to the rhythm and cadence he had learned, instantly lowering his aura. His eyes shone, and he could clearly feel his mental strength gathering.

And there was a faint stream of warmth flowing gently in the back of his head.

"Hmm... not bad."

Senior Sister Luo nodded. "This is the 'thing' I wanted to give you. This breathing technique is called Jingzhe. Remember, during the upcoming special training, you must make this breathing technique your instinct. For the next few days, whether you're eating, sleeping, or doing anything else, always maintain the Jingzhe breathing."

So that's how it was.

Gu Shen nodded inwardly. If he replaced his original breathing with the Jingzhe breathing, his weak mental strength would not only become more stable, but would also increase day by day.

He couldn't help but admire Gu Changzhi, who had single-handedly created this breathing technique. He was truly a rare genius!

Gu Shen suddenly thought of something else.

If the comprehension time determined mental potential... was four hours too long?

Senior Sister's imparting Jingzhe might have been to see his potential.

So Gu Shen cautiously asked, "Senior Sister... did I sleep a little too long?"

Senior Sister Luo glanced at him.

"You're a smart person, you should have guessed. The comprehension time for Jingzhe is related to potential," she said casually. "Spending four hours comprehending Jingzhe is probably at the bottom among mental types, so don't tell anyone about it."

Indeed... he had slept too long.

Gu Shen smiled bitterly. He had really become the lowest of the low, and it didn't feel good.

Senior Sister, who wanted to see his potential, must be very disappointed in him now, right?

But unexpectedly, after Senior Sister Luo finished speaking, she hesitated.

She patted Gu Shen on the shoulder, unusually gentle, and said seriously, "Since you've already comprehended Jingzhe, it means you still have talent. Don't be too hard on yourself... the comprehension time for a mere breathing technique doesn't mean anything."

Gu Shen was stunned.

Was Senior Sister... comforting him? Was she worried that he would be under a lot of pressure with the upcoming assessment?

Because of the supernatural events, Senior Sister Luo's temper was unpredictable, but such gentleness must be rare.

He realized that Senior Sister's smile was actually quite cute.

"Alright."

The smile on Luo Er's face disappeared again, and she said sternly, "The tasks ahead are still very heavy. We don't have time to waste."

...

...

"Rumble rumble rumble—"

Above the unfinished building, heavily guarded by police tape, the helicopter's rotors whirred with a deep rumble.

The security personnel looked up and saw an unbelievable sight.

Dozens of meters above the ground...

A well-groomed man in a dark gray suit and gold-rimmed glasses, holding a briefcase in one hand, abruptly opened the cabin door with the other. He silently surveyed the black dots on the ground with cold, pitying eyes, as if looking at a group of ants.

Then, he spread his arms and fell straight down like a bird—

With a "boom!"

The ground erupted in a cloud of dust!

The well-dressed man landed just outside the police line, kicking up sand and dust that engulfed the area. The security personnel coughed violently and retreated. The security captain prepared to sound the alarm, but his arm was stopped halfway.

A low voice rang out.

"They're all on our side."

In the dust, the well-dressed man stood upright. His voice was magnetic, like that of a demon, captivating and disorienting.

The security captain mechanically lowered his hand, the one that was about to sound the alarm.

"Drop your weapons, don't move."

The whispered voice echoed through the dust.

The Tribunal security personnel responsible for guarding the unfinished building, upon hearing the command, simultaneously dropped their firearms, one after another, their eyes glazed over, standing motionless in place.

The well-dressed man nodded in satisfaction.

He casually adjusted his glasses, and gestured upward, signaling the helicopter to depart.

The whirring of the rotors faded away into the distance.

The entire unfinished building fell into silence, as if time had frozen. Only the chaotic dust continued to swirl. The well-dressed man, briefcase in hand, slowly walked inside.

For him, all the police lines were nonexistent and meaningless.

He walked towards the scene of the fire.

Forty-eight hours had passed, but the scene was still well-preserved... The man crouched down in front of the stairwell. He rubbed some of the skeletal ashes from the stairwell between his fingers, contemplating them. Then, he narrowed his eyes, focusing on the missing phalanx of the skeletal remains.

Soon, he arrived at the rooftop.

The bloodstains splattered on the ground had already dried, and they felt hard and tarry, with a metallic scent. Before these bloodstains had completely dried, they had been trampled on.

Was it last night?

The well-dressed man looked around and adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses again.

[Profiling, activate.]

The pupils in his eyes swirled with dark ink, reflecting another world on the rooftop—

Someone had come to the scene last night, and had been captured.

Two indistinct black shadows were walking backwards on the rooftop. In the well-dressed man's profiling world, time was reversed, and he saw the "true scene" that had unfolded here.

The truth was, there were more than two people trampling on the bloodstains.

There was a third black shadow.

The man retreated step by step, towards the stairwell. He returned to his previous spot, his eyes searching inch by inch.

Now, something incomprehensible appeared.

[...Why was the third stalker squatting here?]

Finally, the man's gaze stopped on the pile of wooden planks in the corner.

He slowly squatted down, reached out, and patiently lifted the planks one by one, until the last layer, where the truth was finally revealed.

Beneath the planks, the ground was covered with a thin layer of dust, but a slightly cleaner rectangular strip was exposed.

[He left something here, and came to retrieve it last night.]

The length and width of that object were approximately...

He memorized it.

The man left the old building and returned to the police line. He replaced the tape for the workers, during which he met the bewildered, numb gaze of the security captain.

Due to the command "Don't move," everyone was like a wooden puppet bound by the air. No matter how hard they struggled, they could not move an inch.

"Sorry... Just routine investigation. It's much easier for me if you all stay like this."

The man in the suit was alone in the silent dust, speaking as he recreated the scene.

After doing all this, he took out a business card from his briefcase and smiled, introducing himself briefly to the security captain. "Tribunal, Special Investigation Team, Han Dang."

"Thank you for your cooperation. Official business is concluded."

Han Dang put away his business card, bowed, and retreated backwards.

As his figure disappeared, his final words echoed at the police line of the old building.

"Everyone... forget everything that just happened. Pretend you never saw me."