Fu Ling left with the company's security department, and the atmosphere in the living room still couldn't return to being relaxed; Jiuyue and Duan Mingyuan sat across from each other at the dining table, giving each other intense stares.
The arrival of the company's people brought some shocking information, such as, after the evil spirits had been exorcised, the sanitation workers and the Drummer's mental states were also severely damaged, leaving them in a vegetative state; however, due to the demeanor earlier, Jiuyue had continuously pressed these issues to the bottom of her heart without asking aloud.
Now, though, the opportunity to ask had arrived.
"Mr. Mingyuan, if the price of driving out an evil spirit is to turn someone into a vegetative person, then haven't you already... become a murderer many times over?"
She had thought for a long time, yet she couldn't find a more euphemistic way to phrase it.
In Duan Mingyuan's notebook, there were dense notes regarding explanations of evil spirits; it was difficult for her to imagine just how many vegetative people Duan Mingyuan had created.
Moreover, these were the accomplishments from when he had changed careers midway, giving up this profession to return to reality to study, work, and have a job!
Jiuyue thought of some cosmic criminals wanted with bounties by the corporation but suspected that even those notoriously wanted criminals did not have as many lives on their hands as Duan Mingyuan did.
The topic was heavy, but for some unknown reason, Duan Mingyuan always felt that Jiuyue's lips were slightly curved upward as if she might burst into laughter at any moment.
Wasn't this little fox a girl with a strong sense of justice? Why did she suddenly get so excited when they started talking about mass murder?
"Don't hastily decide other people's life and death; medical journals have mentioned that vegetative people might also have a day when they awaken."
That being said, if he were to continue this line of work, this was an issue he had to face directly.
He was not part of that breed of office workers with a "nature of not being able to live without killing."
Duan Mingyuan sighed. Before this, he had never spoken to anyone about these topics, which was also related to his having never met like-minded colleagues.
In fact, many years ago he had already thought of Fu Ling's natural energy hypothesis and had put it into practice.
"I support you, Mr. Mingyuan. It was those people who turned into evil spirits and did evil first; it's their own fault that they ended up like this."
Jiuyue immediately stood by Duan Mingyuan's side and, through his startling yet serious demeanor, she discovered Mr. Mingyuan's compassionate side, "Even so, you didn't kill them. You gave them hope to awake from their vegetative state!"
"No need for flattery."
"Mr. Mingyuan is really difficult to deal with!"
Jiuyue puffed up her face in dissatisfaction, complaining; she had managed with difficulty to find an angle of humaneness in Duan Mingyuan from this affair.
"The first time I encountered an evil spirit, I had some doubts: why do evil spirits feed on humans, and where exactly do those missing people go?"
He had to bring this topic up a bit earlier than planned.
His self-definition had always been clear: he did not harbor the grand ideals of saving the world from disasters, he was at most an individual who could see a bit more than others and who had seriously considered how to make a living from it, showing some kindness within those limits, just like the countless ordinary people living in Yunlong City.
Jiuyue didn't reply but waited seriously for Duan Mingyuan's answers, knowing that Mr. Mingyuan had once again entered a workaholic state.
"This is their method of obtaining energy; it is also the instinct of evil spirits. Once the energy they absorb reaches a certain level, the evil spirits will move towards the next step in evolution, giving birth to intelligence and some troublesome abilities."
Fu Ling's arrival had helped him push past theories a step forward; if evil spirits were a wild dream, then the weavers of Dreamland were the ones who, through constant feeding, slowly evolved to a point where they could control the dream.
"Therefore, I wondered, since evil spirits can feed on humans, why can't humans, in turn, absorb them?"
When it comes to feeding, there has never been an animal more omnivorous than humans.
Duan Mingyuan paused for a moment, seemingly returning to the time when he first came into contact with the evil spirits, "Or rather, what happens to those who have eaten the evil spirits?"
"Mr. Mingyuan, you—"
Jiuyue's eyes widened in disbelief, followed by a respect that came from within.
The secret of Mr. Mingyuan's power had finally surfaced, but in contrast... in her mind, evil spirits were almost always disgusting to look at, with decaying flesh lumps, nauseating tendrils, and a stench of putrefaction all over them—hardly something that looked edible.
"Don't look at me like I'm an ogre; of course, I couldn't eat them like that."
"You braised them!"
Jiuyue blurted out, her admiration for Mr. Mingyuan increasing.
Duan Mingyuan's eyelids twitched violently, the little fox's thought process was so bizarre—how did she infer from their previous conversation that he braised the evil spirits?
With a stern face, Duan Mingyuan looked incredibly authoritative. The little fox shrank her neck back, timidly correcting herself, "…Could it be stewed in clear broth?"
"Watch carefully, I'll demonstrate it only once."
Duan Mingyuan picked up a disposable paper cup from the table and flung the entire cup of brewed tea toward Jiuyue across the table.
The most important thing for adults is excellent emotional management, but this little fox always seemed to make his blood pressure rise.
Faced with the sudden change, Jiuyue cried out in shock, instinctively closed her eyes, and shielded her forehead with her hands. However, the anticipated scalding heat did not arrive. The paper cup filled with tea soared through the air for quite some time before gently grazing her hand.
Jiuyue instinctively caught the sliding object, and upon opening her eyes, the paper cup was nowhere to be seen. In her palm lay a puffy packet with the logo 'Roasted Chicken Flavor' marked on it.
A pack of unopened roasted chicken-flavored potato chips.
She opened the packet in a daze and popped the seasoning-coated chips into her mouth, tasting the same as the ones she bought at the supermarket.
"I didn't eat them, nor did I erase their existence, but allowed them to continue existing in another form."
Energy and abilities themselves have no inherent good or evil.
At least that's what he thought during his high school days.
In a certain sense, the evil spirits were like students who sneakily played with their phones during class, disrupting the discipline. As a strict teacher, what he could do was confiscate the phones and keep them until these "students" learned their lesson and then return them to their hands.
Unfortunately, not a single "student" who had reformed has ever come back to him.
All he could do was to let them continue to exist as energy, forever alive in the heart of him, the "teacher."
"So that's it, I completely understand now."
With the bag of chips in her hands, Jiuyue crunched away, "Mr. Mingyuan, your ability is to turn those things that don't look tasty into snacks!"
"Jiuyue!"
"Yes!"
"Stand up for this lesson."