In the end, I still refused Patrol Lu's persuasion.

  However, he clearly didn’t intend to win me over in one attempt.

  My refusal was probably within his expectations.

  Seeing that I didn’t take the bait, he maintained his composure, left me his contact information, and we finished our skewers together before parting ways.

  As for whether what he said was true, whether Transcendentalists truly had no intention of ensving ordinary people, I still couldn’t be certain.

  The Bck Rope Heart-Locking Ring told me he was telling the truth.

  However, since he willingly handed over this ring in the first pce, perhaps he had already pnned to use my reliance on this ring to make his argument more convincing.

  It’s hard to say if he had some countermeasure prepared.

  Furthermore, even if everything he said was true, it doesn’t mean he told me the whole truth.

  He might have deliberately avoided points that were unfavorable to him, only revealing select truths while carefully framing them.

  This uncertain feeling reminded me of what Zhu Shi once told me.

  Once I exposed my true strength, people with all kinds of motives would approach me, masking their true intentions.

  Not just Patrol Lu—perhaps Zhu Shi, intentionally or not, had also concealed parts of her stance.

  Where there are people, there are factions, allegiances, and power struggles.

  Rationally, I understand this.

  Although I understand, it’s still hard not to feel disappointed when I realize that even an organization like Mount Luo, with its supernatural nature, isn’t free from scheming and internal power pys.

  Fortunately, Zhu Shi had already offered me a reliable method to face this kind of situation.

  Regarding how to deal with such circumstances amidst disappointment, she gave me advice from the start:

  Remain calm, observe carefully—there’s no need to rush to conclusions. Only after seeing their true nature should you make your judgment.

  At least one thing is clear now: Patrol Lu is undoubtedly loyal to Transcendentalists.

  To hand over his heart, literally pcing it in someone else's hands to gain trust—that’s an act most people wouldn’t even think of, let alone carry out.

  His boldness left a profound impression on me.

  Looking at it from this perspective, his cim that he wouldn’t reveal my ability to elementalize to his superiors or colleagues was very likely true.

  From both his and Zhu Shi’s reactions, it was clear that a "stronger capable of elementalization" carried extraordinary significance within Mount Luo.

  Hiding the existence of such a person wasn’t a simple matter.

  If Patrol Lu were merely fulfilling his duties to his faction out of obligation, he wouldn’t have covered for me.

  Only if he was genuinely loyal to Transcendentalists and truly wanted to extend goodwill on its behalf would he risk being held accountable and make such a uniteral decision.

  Even if all of this was just an eborate performance to win me over, I had to admit—his act was incredibly convincing.

  At this point, I couldn’t help but see his stance in a slightly different light.

  But perspective shifts aside, most of my attention after returning home was still focused on the Bck Rope Heart-Locking Ring.

  Aside from the non-functional Divine Seal fragments, this ring was probably the first "proper magical artifact" I’d ever obtained.

  My feelings could only be described with the words "I couldn’t put it down."

  With my ghostly, translucent right hand after wearing the ring, I reached through walls and furniture at home, and even touched my own beating heart.

  The novelty of it all was even more exhirating than the first time I held a real gun.

  I pyed with it for a long time before a cautious thought crept into my mind.

  Is this ring really safe?

  Although I felt Patrol Lu wouldn’t go so far as to tamper with a gift he gave me, could there be something like a GPS tracker embedded in it? Or perhaps a spell-based backdoor?

  Most people wouldn’t consider the possibility of a GPS tracker in a gift.

  Most people also wouldn’t think about whether their gift had magical surveilnce built in.

  But then again, I wasn’t most people in either regard.

  I decided I needed to find a way to inspect it.

  That opportunity presented itself the next evening.

  ---

  The next afternoon, I met with Zhu Shi and Patrol Lu once again.

  Just as Patrol Lu had mentioned st night, his divination efforts to investigate the Oddities Head had encountered some obstacles.

  It seemed highly likely that the next Oddities we were searching for possessed anti-divination abilities, preventing Patrol Lu from gathering direct information about them.

  Fortunately, other surrounding details were still accessible through divination.

  Using those clues, we could infer the general timeframe and location of the Oddities activities.

  Among those details were also faint traces of information about the Creator of Oddities.

  If the Creator of Oddities was indeed affiliated with the Humanitarian Division, then the very existence of these Oddities raised significant questions.

  The Humanitarian Division's goal was to create superhuman warriors who would fully obey mundane society's authority and act under the command of human leadership.

  Their purpose was to combat Mount Luo Demon Hunters.

  Yet the Oddities we had encountered acted with unchecked arrogance, treating ordinary humans as prey and regarding themselves as apex predators in the food chain.

  Their attitude was even more extreme than the Transcendentalists I knew.

  How could such behavior align with the Humanitarian Division's design philosophy for their warriors?

  From the information within the Oddities Head, it was clear that the Creator of Oddities periodically met with the Oddities for comprehensive physical examinations and data collection.

  Coupled with the fact that the Creator of Oddities had previously tried to forcibly imprison Agent Kong in a byrinth space, compelling him to overcome his inner demons and ascend his soul, it was hard not to associate their behavior with that of a researcher dealing with test subjects.

  Perhaps, in the eyes of the Humanitarian Division and the Creator of Oddities, the Oddities were nothing more than transitional creations.

  Being mere b rats, there was no expectation for loyalty or moral conduct—only the need to extract their full experimental value.

  That said, the Creator of Oddities willingness to let the Oddities sughter innocents hinted at the darker nature of the Humanitarian Division itself.

  Were their true intentions to protect mundane society, or were they aiming to use the power of their "superhuman warriors" to elevate themselves as rulers of mundane society?

  On a side note, after Patrol Lu agreed to let me take on the role of External Wuchang, Zhu Shi suggested that there was no longer any need to continue occupying my time and energy.

  She proposed investigating the Oddities case on her own.

  I almost forgot that my involvement in this case was nominally for the purpose of becoming an External Wuchang.

  Naturally, I couldn't back out halfway.

  Patrol Lu also repeated to Zhu Shi, "It's hard to trust you to execute the mission alone as the only female," though I couldn't tell whether he was being sincere or just trying to go along with me.

  Such a statement would obviously not make Zhu Shi feel at ease, so I told her, "I can't just stand by and watch my city get ruined by Oddities."

  This reason seemed to align perfectly with her expectations of me, and she immediately nodded happily.

  At 8:30 p.m., Zhu Shi and I met again, this time at an old residential district in the New District.

  Although it was called the "New District," this pce had some history; it only retained the name "New District."

  The district was a bit far from the bustling streets, and by night it became eerily quiet with barely any pedestrians in sight.

  The Oddities we were tracking had a habit of targeting local influential people, and the clue pointed to him operating around here, which was quite unexpected.

  An old neighborhood doesn't necessarily mean poor residents.

  Zhu Shi told me this, then shifted the topic to the Divine Seal.

  She mentioned that after returning home st night, she looked up some information about the Divine Seal, and it was simir to what Patrol Lu and I had discussed.

  "The Divine Seal is a legendary artifact recorded in ancient texts, but there are only a few books that mention it, and the references are insufficient.

  If the Divine Seal truly had the power to grant wishes, how could there be so little documentation about it?" Zhu Shi said.

  "If it weren't for someone in Mount Luo specuting about the origins of the 'Fallen Heaven Incident' and bringing it up, no one would probably even know what the Divine Seal is."

  The power that once allowed Mount Luo to influence the mortal world had vanished, and the event surrounding the disappearance of that power was called the "Fallen Heaven Incident"—at least, that's what Zhu Shi told me.

  The character "Fallen" carries the meaning of repcement or change.

  "Fallen Heaven" means "change of the heavens."

  "By the way, where did you hear about the Divine Seal?" Zhu Shi asked.

  I responded seriously, "I can't really remember. It must have been Agent Kong who told me."

  I had gradually crafted Agent Kong’s image as someone who would ramble on endlessly about everything under the sun whenever he got the chance.

  "Agent Kong knows about such things too?"

  She first looked puzzled, then suddenly seemed to understand.

  "That's right, he used to really want to become a Demon Hunter and kept trying to train at Mount Luo, but was never able to achieve it.

  He actually knows more about rituals and formations than I do.

  It's only natural for him to be curious about something like the Divine Seal that can grant any wish... Maybe he became a Oddities for the same reason..."

  As she spoke, she shook her head, clearly dropping the topic, and seemed to want to shift to a new subject.

  Seizing the opportunity, I asked her about the question that had been on my mind since st night—what exactly her ability was.

  I added, "If it's inconvenient to share, there's no need to force yourself to answer."

  "No problem," she said, "Zhuang Cheng, you're my partner now. In order for us to work together smoothly, I really should expin my ability to you. I should've done it earlier, but I overlooked it."

  She looked slightly apologetic before continuing.

  "My ability is actually very simple. I can find the weaknesses in my opponent."

  "Find weaknesses..." I had a hard time grasping the specifics of this ability.

  "Like what?"

  "For example," she expined.

  "If my opponent is very skilled in swordsmanship, I can spot the fws in their technique and take them by surprise.

  Or, if my opponent has an indestructible body, I can use this ability to find the weak points in their body and nd a devastating blow."

  "I see. So this ability greatly enhances your insight..." I thought about her actions from st night.

  "When we were first trapped in the maze space, were you pnning to use this ability to find fws in the maze and break it apart?"

  "Yes," she nodded.

  "But my ability works much better on living things than on inanimate objects, so it was hard to immediately find a fw in that maze space."

  "With living things, it should be more than just identifying their fws in technique or body, right?" I recalled what she had done to the Oddities st night.

  That Oddities clearly had the ability to transfer the damage it took to its clones, yet it couldn't regenerate its severed limbs that she had cut off.

  "Yes," she said, "In addition to finding fws in technique and physical weaknesses, I can also find fws in other areas, such as fws in nguage."

  Zhu Shi suddenly said something that caught my attention.

  "Wait, what do you mean by 'fws in nguage'?" A very bad feeling immediately rose in me.

  She casually replied, "It means if you lie to me, Senior Brother Zhuang, I'll be able to spot it instantly."

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