Chapter 136: Supernatural Disaster Bureau Headquarters

Gao Tian was slightly surprised. "Xu Yuan took the X-rays himself and brought them home. Could he even read them?"

Hospital scans weren't as simple as frying chicken. Without a medical background, what ordinary person could read them?

Then he suddenly remembered that when Xu Yuan was alive, he was a monster who mastered Sanskrit and all kinds of cryptographic algorithms. He could learn anything instantly. To understand how ghosts were born, it was highly likely he had already taught himself biology and medicine, acquiring the relevant background knowledge.

Well, his intellect couldn't be measured by ordinary standards.

Even in an ordinary world without the supernatural, a man like him would have achieved massive success.

Xia Ta continued, "After taking the various hospital reports and test results home, the owner of the log consulted a massive amount of literature. Finally, he confirmed that he had contracted a rare terminal illness called Blue Heart.

"The incidence rate of this terminal illness is one in a billion. That means there are no more than ten cases recorded in the medical archives of top universities worldwide. Its cause and treatment methods are virtually unknown. Anyone who contracts this disease can only wait to die.

"Once contracted, the survival period is about five years. The patient could die at any moment within those five years, and current medical technology has no data proving it can extend that lifespan.

"Even a Supernatural Item couldn't cure the Blue Heart disease afflicting Xu Yuan.

"Rather than a terminal illness or a supernatural curse, Xu Yuan referred to it in his log as divine punishment. He saw something on the sixth floor that he shouldn't have seen."

An ordinary person would truly have had no choice but to slowly wait for death in despair.

At this point, a hint of confusion rose in Xia Ta's eyes. It was as if even she couldn't understand the bizarre text that followed in the log. "Perhaps this terminal illness affected the log's owner. Following this, Xu Yuan's mental state became unstable.

"He began desperately searching for a way to achieve corpse liberation and become an immortal.

"He believed that only by abandoning his frail mortal flesh and entering a new realm could he uncover the truth of this world and complete the work he had left unfinished in life."

Hearing this, Gao Tian knew that Xu Yuan was already searching for a way to retain his mind after death.

The timeline then returned to the world Gao Tian already knew.

Xu Yuan spent the last five years of his life accomplishing many things.

He cleared ten Green Text Missions for the Living Apartment, founded the Galan Society, found the Divine Tree, met the Artist in the Inner World, and began constructing a world-saving plan with the Artist at its core. All the while, he remained in hiding.

At the Sapphire Mall, entangled by his terminal illness, his body finally reached its breaking point. Xu Yuan died without warning, and the Artist under his control devoured his head. The reborn Xu Yuan transformed into a Fierce Ghost with his consciousness intact, returning to the Inner World. Everything was proceeding exactly according to plan.

Now, he possessed both the immortality of a ghost and the independent consciousness of a human. He also had an inexhaustible lifespan and countless superhuman subordinates who resembled Fierce Ghosts.

Indeed, he was practically indistinguishable from the immortals of legend.

This also thwarted the absolute determination of whatever was on the sixth floor to kill him.

As expected of Xu Yuan—to actually find a way out and survive under those conditions. Not only did he avoid 'death,' but being forced into a corner had made him even stronger.

Gao Tian also recalled Xu Yuan's plan to spread S-Level Fierce Ghosts across Shanghai City.

At first, he thought Xu Yuan's goals were twofold: first, to harvest enough human lifespans for the Divine Tree to draw more superhumans into the Galan Society; and second, to force out Old Man Sun, the Supernatural Disaster Bureau's trump card, and destroy the final obstacle on his path to saving the world.

Thinking about it now, Xu Yuan might have had another motive: returning to the Living Apartment to ascend to the sixth floor once more in his 'immortal' body.

To confirm exactly what he had glimpsed all those years ago—the thing that forced him to erase his own memory and even delete his account.

This was likely Xu Yuan's unspoken, core objective.

These next few days in Shanghai City would be the final calm before the great war.

Like the quiet before a storm.

Old Man Sun had already received Jiang Yang's message about the Woman in the Rain. Now that he had returned to the Supernatural Disaster Bureau, he was surely taking the time to root out the mole.

Hopefully, he could take action and eliminate an S-Level Fierce Ghost before the Galan Society descended.

Otherwise, he would end up facing three S-Level Fierce Ghosts all by himself.

Ai Ning lay collapsed on the training mat, sweat soaking through her tracksuit and continuously dripping down her temples and jawline. Every breath was a heavy pant. The mobile phone in her pocket suddenly vibrated frantically, and an encrypted message from headquarters popped up—a bright red Level 3 emergency warning.

A Level 3 alarm meant another supernatural incident had probably occurred nearby.

After serving as a patroller for half a month, she had been promoted to full status at lightning speed, likely because the Supernatural Disaster Bureau was currently facing a severe shortage of grassroots personnel.

Now, she was also qualified to receive messages from headquarters and was tasked with assisting nearby ghost hunters in handling ordinary supernatural incidents.

Not daring to delay, Ai Ning hurriedly changed clothes and left the training grounds.

The location tagged in the emergency intel was 77 East Thirteenth Road. All official employees of the Supernatural Disaster Bureau within the vicinity were required to rush there and assemble within half an hour.

Seeing this address, Ai Ning hesitated for a moment and double-checked to be sure.

Of course, she knew that a pure black, domed building stood at that location. There wasn't a single window on its outer walls; people on the outside had no way to see what was happening in any of the offices inside. Even if the people inside wanted to look out, they had to do so through specially made holes in the walls.

These densely packed holes could be found everywhere, from the sewers beneath the black domed tower's foundation all the way to its highest floor. It looked a bit unsettling.

This building had appeared out of thin air on the corner of East Thirteenth Road. At first, nosy reporters went there to cover it, but soon, all related news reports and photos on the internet were forcibly taken down. This incredibly ugly building of unknown purpose was quickly forgotten by the public.

Ai Ning knew this was because that building served as the Supernatural Disaster Bureau's temporary headquarters in Shanghai City.

She just didn't understand why the location for this Level 3 alarm would be set at such a place. The entire building was filled with ghost hunters and supernatural experts going in and out on a daily basis. With so many ghost hunters around, what kind of supernatural incident could possibly happen there, and how could they be short on manpower?

However, headquarters had already issued the assembly alarm, and as a rookie, she didn't dare ask too many questions. She hailed a cab and arrived at the base of the headquarters building twenty minutes later.

Outside the building, quite a few fellow ghost hunters from the Supernatural Disaster Bureau were waiting, all inexplicably summoned just like her. One by one, they swiped their cards, lined up, and had their identities checked to ensure they hadn't been mentally corrupted or replaced by Fierce Ghosts. Only after confirming everything was correct were they allowed into the black building.

Ai Ning scanned the crowd but didn't spot anyone she knew. She had no choice but to behave herself, following the line with an uneasy heart.

At the checkpoint, two staff members wearing black uniforms and masks routinely inspected Ai Ning. After confirming her ID and verifying that she was indeed a living person, they immediately shoved a stack of documents into her hands and pointed deep down the hallway. "First floor, coordinates 3, Room 103.

"The instructor will arrive in fifteen minutes to conduct a temporary training session for your batch of rookies. During this time, please do not leave the classroom without permission, whether to use the restroom or get a drink of water."

What the heck, it was just a training class for ghost hunters.

Holding the heavy stack of documents, Ai Ning breathed a sigh of relief while also grumbling inwardly about how abnormal headquarters was being today. Why use an emergency alarm to summon ghost hunters just for a training class?

Behind Ai Ning, a more experienced veteran ghost hunter was already expressing dissatisfaction. "What batch are you people from? Who told you this is how a Level 3 alarm is used?

"I was dealing with a supernatural incident at a nearby guesthouse. When I got the alarm, I thought something had happened at headquarters, so I dropped everything and rushed right over. Now you're telling me it's a fucking temporary training session?

"If that supernatural incident is left unchecked, it could result in the deaths of a family of three in that neighborhood. Do you idiots even realize that?"

The staff member raised his eyes above his mask, looked coldly at the veteran female ghost hunter in her forties, and made a hand signal. "This lady is getting a bit agitated. Send her to the nearest dark room to rest for now. Wait until she's calmed down before letting her into the black tower."

As Ai Ning walked away, she heard faint sounds of arguing and scuffling from the hallway behind her, but the noises quickly died down. The 'troublemaking' veteran ghost hunter had likely already been escorted to the dark room.

For some reason, as she advanced deeper into the corridor, the unease in Ai Ning's heart grew stronger and stronger.

She had only just become an official employee and hadn't had many opportunities to visit headquarters. She didn't know whether this sort of situation was the norm for the Supernatural Disaster Bureau, or if it truly was highly irregular.

In fact, Ai Ning vaguely felt that the ghost hunter who was sent to the dark room actually had a valid point—

Just how important was this temporary training, that they would forcefully recall ghost hunters right in the middle of handling supernatural incidents?

Even so, Ai Ning could still comfort herself for the moment.

Perhaps some mass supernatural incident had erupted in Shanghai City, one with a highly peculiar Killing Rule that required all ghost hunters to learn it immediately without a single second's delay.

Yes, explained that way, it made a lot more sense.

At least until she followed the directions, found Room 103, and walked inside.

The classroom was small and rather dilapidated. Apart from Ai Ning, it was already packed with all sorts of people. Every single one of them was a ghost hunter wearing a black uniform, recalled to headquarters, waiting for this so-called 'emergency training class.'

Shortly after Ai Ning sat down, two people hurriedly walked in at the front of the classroom: a woman with perfect posture in a black suit, and a panting, balding middle-aged man in a white dress shirt.

After the man entered, he casually shut the front door behind him, simultaneously switching off the fluorescent lights hanging above the already dim classroom. "Thank you all for returning to headquarters under such emergency circumstances.

"Since everyone is here, I won't waste your time. Our training class will be very brief."