Chapter Nineteen: An Unexpected Turn?

Lin Lei had long been prepared for this question from Hodge. He replied directly, "Aside from my own major, I've also studied human anatomy and medicine on my own. I know the diagrams of the human body by heart… You can check my borrowing records at the university library."

This was the truth. If not for the original memories of his predecessor, even with his past life's experience, he wouldn't have been able to stab someone without killing them.

Li Xueshu interjected, "Yes, his grades are quite good—his GPA is nearly the same as mine."

Upon hearing this, Hodge looked at Lin Lei with a sudden understanding, casting a subtle glance his way. Clearly, he had heard of Li Xueshu’s excellence before.

Hodge raised his brows, then took the initiative to step forward, grabbing Lin Lei’s hand and pressing it against his own chest. "Which organ is this?"

The corner of Lin Lei’s mouth twitched. He resisted the urge to pull his hand back, feeling the well-developed pectoral muscles under his palm. "Assuming your organs are arranged normally, Captain Hodge, and judging from your build, the area you’re pointing to should be the lungs."

Hodge moved Lin Lei’s hand lower. "And here?"

"That would be the stomach," Lin Lei answered.

Hodge shifted his hand even lower…

Lin Lei, his mouth twitching, answered each in turn.

Only then did Hodge release his hand, satisfied. "It seems you possess not only extraordinary Source Energy talent, but considerable other skills as well!"

Lin Lei, however, withdrew his hand with a faint sense of unease.

Still smiling, Hodge reached out his hand to Lin Lei. "I’m very satisfied with your answer. The interview is over—welcome to the Bureau of Investigation."

"That easy?" Lin Lei was surprised, shaking his hand once more.

Hodge just chuckled. "Your talent is remarkable, your background check is clean, so of course it’s simple. Next, we’ll just need to sign the relevant contracts and agreements—"

Lin Lei then asked about the terms of the contract and his future responsibilities.

Before he could sign anything, an ear-splitting alarm suddenly blared from the ceiling.

As the siren sounded, Hodge’s expression changed dramatically, and Li Xueshu’s face grew grim. "Wait here a moment," Hodge instructed. The two of them left the room together.

"Just my luck," Lin Lei thought with a frown, reclining helplessly in his chair to wait.

After about five minutes, a sudden commotion erupted outside, punctuated by several screams of pain. Lin Lei instantly sat up, listening intently to the chaos beyond the door. It sounded like a fight had broken out.

A bad feeling rose within him. His eyes darted around the room until they landed on a decorative sword hanging on the wall.

"Why would there be something like this in an interrogation room?"

He strode over and took down the decorative sword. It was similar to the Tang sword he’d bought before it was sharpened—heavy, but blunt, less sharp than his own claws, but far longer.

In a critical moment, the difference in reach could mean life or death.

Just as he took down the sword, the door swung open with a bang.

A young woman in a gray business suit and black stockings, her figure curvaceous and her hair in a ponytail, burst in, panic-stricken. She instantly slammed the door shut behind her, retreating in alarm until she was beside Lin Lei.

She looked outside in terror, drawing a silver handgun from her bag.

At that moment, with a deafening crash, the door exploded into splinters. As the woman screamed, a dark silhouette appeared in the doorway.

"The Bureau’s security is really this bad?!" Lin Lei couldn’t help but twitch at the sight.

It was a creature the size of a pony, with a head like a monkey’s, no nose, bloodshot yellow eyes, and long hind legs.

It was unmistakably an aberration—no ordinary one, either.

The thing crouched suddenly, then sprang high into the air, clearing several meters in a single bound, heading straight for the woman in the suit.

She screamed, firing her gun.

Bang, bang, bang!

Every shot missed.

Lin Lei was startled by the creature’s kangaroo-like agility. Its speed was terrifying!

He lunged forward, grabbed a chair, and hurled it at the monster.

Crash!

The chair collided with the creature mid-air and shattered. The monster was knocked aside, crashing into a nearby table.

Crack!

The table splintered in all directions.

The young woman, seeing this, breathed a sigh of relief, her eyes glistening as she looked at Lin Lei. "Thank you…"

But Lin Lei had no interest in chatting with a beauty, no matter how stunning her looks or figure.

His eyes turned crimson and his aura surged. He charged forward, both hands gripping the decorative sword, and lunged at the monster.

In less than a second, he had crossed the distance.

The creature had already recovered and was crouching to leap again.

"Now!"

Lin Lei thrust upward with both hands, the sword stabbing toward the airborne shadow.

Slice!

Though the sword was dull, Lin Lei’s terrifying strength sent it whistling through the air, colliding with the monster in mid-leap.

Splat.

Green fluid sprayed everywhere. The creature was agile and fast, but its rough skin was no match for the ghouls’ resilience and couldn’t withstand the full force of Lin Lei’s strike, empowered by the strength of five ghouls.

Though the sword wasn’t sharp, it easily pierced the monster from its vulnerable groin all the way up to its shoulder.

But as Lin Lei looked at the mutilated corpse, his expression faltered.

Not only was the blood an unnatural green, but the wounds were filled with pixelated mosaics.

This wasn’t a metaphor.

His eyes saw exactly the kind of pixelation used to censor videos.

"How can there be mosaics in real life?"

Lin Lei instantly knew something was wrong. He turned to the young woman, only to see her face frozen, her beautiful features stuck in a single expression, her body beginning to twist and warp.

At the same time, everything before Lin Lei’s eyes blurred—then quickly snapped back into focus.

He was back in the original interrogation room, everything neat and undisturbed.

He was still seated at the table; Li Xueshu and Hodge sat across from him.

Lin Lei was stunned for a moment, then turned toward the wall. There was no decorative sword hanging there.

With an odd expression, he turned back to Hodge.

A faint light flickered in Hodge’s eyes.

"You remained calm in the face of danger, helped others in distress, and found the fastest solution to a crisis. You’re not only gifted—you’ve surpassed all standards in situational response and combat ability," Hodge said. "Congratulations, Lin Lei. You’ve passed the Investigation Bureau’s Executive Division assessment. From now on, you’re one of us."

With that, Hodge smiled and put his sunglasses back on.