Finding a lounge, I handed the box to Bai Qingcheng and fell into a deep sleep.
When I woke up again, everything in the room was as before. Since it was a basement, the lights were bright, and it was impossible to tell whether it was day or night outside. There was a bathroom in the corner of the room. I went in to wash my face and clear my head. I checked my phone and it was three in the morning.
The others were nowhere to be found. I pushed the door open, and the corridor was also empty. The Shabian researchers in the transparent laboratory next door had also finished their work, leaving only instruments blinking. And Yuwencheng's box was conspicuously placed inside a glass container!
Were they so confident in their security measures?
I activated my Xiangqi technique and saw that Yaoyao and Daji, my people, were in the lounges on either side of me. They might have stayed to protect me, but Bai Qingcheng and the others were gone. Had they already taken the demon core, leaving only a box?
I walked to the entrance of the transparent laboratory and pushed the door. It wasn't locked, and there were no strangers detected by the entry system. I cautiously approached the glass container. It was completely sealed, with two ports on my side connected to a pair of gloves. I tried putting my hand into a glove. It was very elastic but not very durable. It didn't matter what hand shape you had; anyone could fit "just right."
I attempted to touch the box with the gloves. The brocade exterior had already been removed, and upon closer inspection, the lock had also been opened. All it would take was to lift the lid.
I pondered for a moment, certain that the demon core was no longer inside. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been so careless with security. I opened the box.
However, I was wrong again. A golden sphere lay peacefully inside the box, about the size of an egg and perfectly round.
I had originally thought that Yuwencheng's demon core would be as large as a volleyball. It seems strength and size have no relation.
The golden light flickered rhythmically. I wasn't sure if it was a hallucination from just waking up, but I thought I saw a human face appear on the surface of the sphere, a face from ancient times, smiling at me.
I feared that Yuwencheng's ghost or something similar was truly inside. I wasn't afraid of ghosts in the underworld, but in the mortal realm, I was very averse to things that flickered in and out of existence.
Without daring to interact with it further, I closed the box, withdrew my hands from the gloves, and left the room.
Yaoyao yawned as she emerged from her room. I asked her where Bai Qingcheng and the others had gone. Yaoyao said that Bai Qingcheng had taken the three friends to the airport and that they probably didn't need any help anymore. Just as she was speaking, the electromagnetic door at the end of the corridor opened, and Bai Qingcheng and Shen Xingyue walked in side by side.
"Xingyue, why are you back?" I asked.
"I heard there was a big battle, and I was worried about you all, so I rushed back to check."
"Let's drop the 'all'," Yaoyao chuckled. "You guys chat, I'm going out for some air. Is your laboratory's fresh air system fake? It feels like artificial air."
Shen Xingyue ignored Yaoyao's sarcasm and entered the laboratory. Following the operating procedure, she examined the demon core.
Bai Qingcheng and I followed her in. I took the opportunity to ask, "Palm, how do you plan to deal with this thing?"
"Find a suitable person to eat it," Bai Qingcheng replied with certainty. httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
"What kind of person is suitable?"
"First, absolutely reliable. Second, female. Third, a pure Yin body. Only by satisfying the latter two conditions simultaneously can one avoid a rejection reaction with Yuwencheng's demon core—I just asked the expert about this."
"What expert? Is he reliable?" I frowned.
"Elder Lin, you've met him," Bai Qingcheng smiled.
Oh, Lin Xi and Lin Chi's father. That should be reliable.
"A female with a pure Yin body, and also reliable. Do you have any suitable candidates on your end?" I asked.
Bai Qingcheng shook her head. "Not yet."
"Zheng Bingbing meets the last two conditions, but I don't know if you would consider her 'reliable'," I said.
"Your person is naturally reliable," Bai Qingcheng said. "But out of caution, we still need to conduct a political review. Comrades from the General Bureau are already on their way to Fucheng."
I understood this. Generally, when new civil servants were hired, the organization would send people to investigate their homes, including their parents' workplaces, to confirm there were no political issues, that they were clean and upright.