Chapter 36: Unknown Secret

Chapter 36: Chapter 36: Unknown Secret

Late at night.

The security station was brightly lit.

The Security Captain called Gu Qing into his office and had him sit down for a chat.

"I remember your name is Gu Qing, right?"

"Yes."

"What year are you? What’s your major?"

"I’m a junior at the School of Foreign Languages."

"Student Gu, I’m a bit curious. How did you end up involved in two separate rat-related cases in a single day?"

"The attack during the day was a coincidence. As for the rat-feeding incident tonight, I got involved because I was actively investigating."

Gu Qing didn’t hide a thing, choosing to tell the Security Captain the truth.

’After all, it’s not like I did anything wrong.’

"Tell me the details."

The Security Captain took a sip of his tea, a subtle, scrutinizing look hidden in his eyes.

Gu Qing kept it brief:

"During the daytime attack, I saw that man tailing an upperclassman. I was worried, so I followed them to see what was going on. Then I saw him attack the upperclassman, and I snuck up from behind to subdue him."

"As for tonight, I was on my way back to my dorm when I saw a swarm of rats scurrying in the same direction. I got curious and followed them, and I saw that security guard feeding them meat. Then I reported it."

"That’s basically the whole story."

After speaking, Gu Qing fell silent, waiting for the Security Captain to respond.

The Security Captain asked, "Rats run fast. You were able to keep up?"

"Yes."

Gu Qing explained, "I’m extremely athletic. I can even do a one-finger planche, no problem. Keeping up with a few rats is a piece of cake."

The Security Captain raised an eyebrow. "Show me. Do a one-finger planche."

He had never seen anyone who was 1.8 meters tall do a planche in real life, let alone a one-finger one.

He suspected Gu Qing was bluffing.

Gu Qing didn’t mind showing off a bit. He immediately stood up, walked over to an empty space, and executed an incredibly smooth combo: a standing backflip into a planche.

Once he stabilized the planche, he immediately folded his other eight fingers, using only his two thumbs to suspend his 1.8-meter-long body perfectly level with the ground.

"Holy shit!"

Seeing this astonishing scene, the normally calm and collected Security Captain shot up from his seat, unable to contain his shock.

Two Security Officers passing by heard the commotion and poked their heads in to see what was happening.

When they saw the slender Gu Qing on the floor doing a single-digit planche, both of them exclaimed in shock:

"Holy shit!"

"Holy shit!"

At that moment, the Security Captain and the two officers were completely stunned. They wondered if they were hallucinating from working overtime.

’That’s probably enough showing off in front of everyone.’

Satisfied, Gu Qing relaxed his pose, stood up, and walked back to his seat.

"Kid, you’re fucking incredible!"

The Security Captain, having recovered from his shock, took a sip of tea to calm his nerves and couldn’t help but give Gu Qing a thumbs-up.

Gu Qing replied humbly,

"It’s nothing special. I just practice in my spare time. It’s not that incredible."

"Are you kidding? With that core strength, you could wipe the floor with everyone in our station. How is that not incredible?"

A female Security Officer at the door said.

The Security Captain glanced at the two people outside the door and shooed them away.

"Get back to work. Stop gathering around."

"..."

The two Security Officers left resentfully.

The Security Captain shouted after them, "You two little rascals, remember to close the door on your way out!"

The female officer silently came back and closed the door.

After the door was closed, the Security Captain turned to Gu Qing and said,

"No wonder you were able to subdue the man who attacked your upperclassman today. Your physical strength is off the charts."

"It was partly a sneak attack, and he was poisoned later on. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to handle him."

After saying that, Gu Qing asked curiously, "By the way, what was the deal with that guy? Why did his muscles suddenly bulge like that, and his strength multiply?"

"It’s better for a student like you not to know so much. It’s not good for you," the Security Captain said flatly.

Those words sounded all too familiar.

They were almost exactly what Bai Ningyu had said to him before.

Gu Qing’s curiosity only grew stronger.

He leaned forward slightly, looking at the Security Captain with a serious expression, his tone earnest.

"I know there’s a side to this world that ordinary people aren’t aware of. I desperately want to understand it. Please, I’m begging you."

"Begging is useless."

The Security Captain’s tone was firm. "I don’t know what you’ve discovered, but I advise you not to be too curious. It’s a good way to die young."

"You have to understand, even I don’t dare to get involved in these things voluntarily."

"If I run into something, I report it immediately and let others handle it."

"I called you into my office tonight not just to ask what happened, but more importantly, to warn you to stop looking into this rat business. Just be a good college student, focus on your studies, and don’t go looking for trouble."

"And I need to stress this: don’t think you can do whatever you want just because you’re strong."

"You were lucky tonight. You only ran into two ordinary people who were paid to feed rats."

"If you had run into one of those terrifying existences, it wouldn’t matter how good you are at fighting. You’d be dead for sure."

"Those terrifying existences are not something we ordinary people can afford to provoke."

"College kid, that’s all I can tell you. You’re on your own."

With that, the Security Captain stood up, walked to the door, opened it, and said in a flat tone,

"Go on. I’ll have someone drive you back to the university. Remember my warning: study hard, and stop looking to get yourself killed."

Seeing that the captain wouldn’t reveal anything, Gu Qing didn’t press the issue.

He quickly stood up and left the office.

He walked out of the security station and got into a security vehicle waiting outside.

On the way, Gu Qing’s mind raced. His brow furrowed, and his expression grew more and more serious.

The Security Captain hadn’t said anything explicit, but Gu Qing had still managed to glean a lot of useful information from their conversation.

First, the mysterious Assassin from that day was definitely not a normal person.

Second, the two disappearances at the university weren’t the work of some ordinary, twisted Cannibal Giant. They involved abnormal humans, or to be more precise... they involved Extraordinary Power.

’I just wonder if my current strength is enough to deal with these so-called abnormal humans?’

’At the very least, I had no trouble dealing with that mysterious Assassin from today.’

’My only fear is that the mysterious Assassin was just some bottom-tier weakling.’

...

By the time he got back to the university, it was already past two in the morning.

Gu Qing quickly reached his dorm building, scrambled up a drainpipe to the second floor in a few moves, and easily vaulted onto the balcony.

He walked to his dorm room door and saw that the light was still on inside.

Since it was the weekend and there were no classes the next day, his roommates were all up late playing games.

"Well, look at you! Why are you back so late? Where’ve you been messing around?"

The moment Gu Qing entered the dorm, Chen Zijie took off his headphones and asked curiously.

Beside him, Qian Duole narrowed his eyes. "Don’t tell me you found another girlfriend and betrayed the noble class of single men again."

Gu Qing walked to his bed and sat down, taking off his shoes as he chuckled. "You guys might not believe this, but I just got hauled into the station by the Security Officers."

Qian Duole’s eyes narrowed even more. "You didn’t go out whoring, did you?"

Chen Zijie condemned him fiercely, "Damn! You went whoring and didn’t even invite us? So uncool! Serves you right for getting hauled in!"

"And Old Gao, who stays out all night every weekend getting a room with his girlfriend—they should haul him in too!"

"All of you who have ever touched a woman should be sentenced to life in prison! You’re guilty of intentional injury against us who’ve been single since birth!"

Chen Zijie was just joking around, but as he spoke, the thought of Gao Fei getting to sleep with his arms around his girlfriend tonight suddenly made him miserable.

"Are you kidding? A guy as handsome as me, if I were to do anything, I’d be a Niulang making money, not a john spending it."

Tossing out the line with a laugh, Gu Qing grabbed a clean set of clothes and went into the bathroom to shower.

...

In the bathroom.

The sound of running water filled the room.

The warm stream of water washed over his body, chasing away the late-night chill and allowing his nerves, which had been on edge for nearly a full day, to finally relax a little.

He tilted his face up into the hot spray, closed his eyes, and the image of Bai Ningyu gradually formed in his mind. He murmured to himself:

’If I’m not mistaken, Ningyu must have come into contact with the Extraordinary.’

’It’s been so long since we’ve been in touch. I wonder how she’s doing now.’

’I hope I get a chance to see her again...’

The gentle sound of the water muffled Gu Qing’s inner murmurs, obscuring them in a cloud of steam.

But at the same time, the spark of anticipation in his heart grew ever clearer.

He longed to know what kind of surprised expression Bai Ningyu would have on her face if they were to meet again one day, and she saw that he, too, had come into contact with the Extraordinary.

...