Chapter Seventeen: The Meditation Room

The Investigation Bureau building.

A sealed white room.

This was the Bureau’s Quiet Room.

Lin Lei, wearing a Source-Binding Ring, lay on the cold metal bed with an expression of subtle discomfort.

A full day had passed since yesterday’s mission.

Because the matter involved the strangeness of the demon strain, Lin Lei and the others, after returning, had all undergone another round of mental state and corrosion checks.

This time, the degree of corrosion Lin Lei had suffered was slightly beyond the normal limit...

So he had been temporarily locked away here.

The reason was not, as others assumed, that witnessing the demon-transformation ritual had caused his emotions and source energy to go a little out of control.

In truth, at his current boon rank, he would not lose his mind simply from seeing such a ritual.

Grim as the rite was, it did not affect him as much as that fake Gao Yue’s arrangement had.

The greater reason was that he had devoured that half-demon.

Seeing the demon-transformation ritual afterward had only been the trigger.

“The source energy corrosion from demon-strain anomalies seems far more extreme...”

As one of the same kind of anomaly-predation abilities, Lin Lei had also come to appreciate how different the demon strain was.

He had converted quite a bit of the source energy he had plundered from that demon strain into the Power of Tranquility, yet he still remained greatly affected.

Even now, he could still feel the long-lingering ringing in his ears, along with faint, elusive whispers.

It was a strange sensation.

Like ASMR, as if someone were breathing into Lin Lei’s ear, stirring restlessness in his heart and tempting him to follow the whispers...

Fortunately, he still had the Power of Tranquility, so he had not truly run wild.

Blood Fox had become a half-demon through the demon-transformation ritual, which allowed him to break through the limits of the second tier. That was why plundering him had not cost Lin Lei as much as he had expected. It had only taken a little over two hundred Gluttony energy points.

He had not obtained Blood Fox’s boon ability from before the transformation, but he had gained the special Demonization ability, as well as formidable physical prowess...

His own strength had also risen by a huge margin once more.

One had to know that after ascending to the second tier and plundering several anomalies, his own foundation of strength had already become astonishing.

If before he had needed the combined effects of Blood Surge, Night Walker, and the rest merely to suppress the demonized Blood Fox, then now he was confident he could suppress Blood Fox using only his own strength.

“My current power is still somewhat inferior to that tier-three giant monstrosity, but it is no longer nearly as lopsided as before. Compared with ordinary tier-three aberrations, my strength should not be lacking...”

And even now, Lin Lei’s source energy had still not reached saturation.

By rights, even if he had converted a good portion of it into the Power of Tranquility, his source energy should already have reached the saturation threshold.

After all, once Blood Fox had transformed, he was effectively equivalent to a tier-three aberration.

Lin Lei’s plundering of his source energy might not have been without loss, but it should not have been too great. Just Blood Fox alone had given him more source energy than all of his previous gains in the Forbidden Zone combined.

“Could it be that my own special nature means my source energy limit is higher than ordinary people’s?”

Lin Lei’s eyes flashed as he speculated inwardly.

One had to admit, the possibility was not small.

He was simply too unusual.

In truth, for other people, having a high source energy limit was not necessarily a good thing, because reaching saturation required more time. But for Lin Lei, it did not matter.

He would never be short of that little bit of source energy in the future.

As his thoughts turned, the room door suddenly opened. A woman wearing a white isolation suit walked in, though from her figure it was clear enough who it was. She was carrying a small leather case.

“I’m here to give you an injection.”

It was Li Xueshu’s voice.

Lin Lei immediately sat up and asked curiously, “Team Leader? What kind of shot?”

Li Xueshu sat down beside him and opened the case. A metal syringe and a vial appeared before Lin Lei.

She picked up the syringe and glanced at him. “An anti-corrosion injection.”

The name explained itself.

Lin Lei did not need to ask to know roughly what it did.

But when he rolled up his sleeve and let Li Xueshu give him the shot, the needle failed to pierce his skin smoothly.

After plundering the half-demon, the increase to his physical strength was not the biggest benefit. What improved him even more was the toughness of his flesh.

In fact, this was still his normal state.

If he activated his demonization, his body would become even more unyielding than Steel Body.

Li Xueshu raised an eyebrow. Then Lin Lei suddenly felt a chill spreading over the needle, and with a soft hiss, it finally pierced into his vein.

Lin Lei shivered all over. He only felt a cool, refreshing current spread from his blood vessels to every limb and bone.

Part of it surged straight to his brain, further calming the faintly agitated emotions within him.

“Your source energy may have risen too quickly lately. Seeing the demon-transformation ritual stirred up its restlessness. Don’t worry, your corrosion isn’t severe at all. You’re still nowhere near mutation.”

Lin Lei nodded, then said, “Team Leader, this operation...”

Li Xueshu let out a sigh.

“You did very well already. Without you, no one else would have survived...”

“Actually, it wasn’t just your side. In this operation, all the other fronts encountered various accidents as well. The Bureau lost quite a few people this time, and many civilians were also caught in it...”

The target of the operation had not been only one person. While Lin Lei was acting, the Bureau had also dispatched others to deal with other targets.

Lin Lei narrowed his eyes slightly.

“It looks like the Blood Cherry Blossom Society had already detected our move. Team Leader, do you think there might be a problem inside the Bureau?”

Li Xueshu narrowed her eyes. “That possibility can’t be ruled out entirely, but there may also be other reasons...”

In a world with extraordinary powers, anything was possible.

And in truth, after the first two fanatics were killed by Lin Lei, the Blood Cherry Blossom Society would naturally have considered the possibility that the rest of the mutual aid group were being watched.

“Whatever the case,” Li Xueshu continued, “we suffered heavy losses this time. What the Blood Cherry Blossom Society has done has completely crossed the Bureau’s bottom line. Headquarters is already preparing to bring out a special sealed relic and settle accounts with the Blood Cherry Blossom Society in the near future...”

“A sealed relic?!” Lin Lei’s eyes lit up as well.

Source artifacts came in countless forms. A powerful source artifact was not necessarily a sealed relic, but anything that could be called a sealed relic had to be an extremely powerful source artifact.

However, using a sealed relic generally came with considerable side effects.

Seeing Lin Lei’s expression, Li Xueshu warned him, “Don’t get any ideas. The branch doesn’t have some relic that can sweep the heavens and earth in a single stroke. In fact, dealing with the Blood Cherry Blossom Society doesn’t require anything like that... I can’t tell you the details, but be ready at any time. It won’t be long before the Bureau launches another operation against the Blood Cherry Blossom Society.”

“This time, it may even be a full-scale decisive battle between the Bureau and the Blood Cherry Blossom Society!”

Lin Lei nodded.

After these few operations, his strength had already been acknowledged, and he had twice faced enemies from the Blood Cherry Blossom Society. If there were any further actions targeting them, he would naturally be considered first.

He was not all that afraid.

The Blood Cherry Blossom Society’s true strength could not compare with the Bureau.

The Biyang Investigation Bureau had more than one fifth-tier powerhouse, while the Blood Cherry Blossom Society’s strongest member was only at the fourth tier.

If not for the society’s hidden nature and strange methods, they would already have been wiped out by the Bureau long ago.