Universe Life Science Department.
Duan Mingyuan had never heard of this department, but the title 'director' was enough to confirm that the visitor was someone of no small importance.
Someone else had come to visit, and he signaled Jiuyue with his eyes to open the door while he himself also got busy.
Peanuts, sunflower seeds, fairy conch snacks, and the most expensive dragon fruit—he thought it over and took out the tea he had originally planned to give as a gift to maintain relationships. Now that he had resigned, the gifts he had prepared no longer had a place to be used.
Even though this director was an uninvited guest, making every guest feel at home was always the principle of the house.
Fu Ling watched Duan Mingyuan bustling about and suddenly felt that the scene was somewhat bizarre.
From what she knew of Duan Mingyuan, he was an expert who had solved two abnormal cases in a row. Her stereotypical impression of this group was that they were quirky in character, yet Duan Mingyuan's first impression on her was... too normal.
He was just a regular office worker preparing tea and snacks for a guest who had suddenly dropped by.
She gestured with her eyes for the head of the security department to stay outside, and then Duan Mingyuan's instruction came from the living room, "Jiuyue, the slippers are in the second drawer of the shoe cabinet, would you get them?"
"Alright!"
Jiuyue greeted her with a big smile, "Welcome, big sister who drove the hover car."
The leisurely swinging big red tail interfered with Fu Ling's vision. She bit her lip slightly and tightened the arm wrapped around a pitch-black bird, and the over-sized crow made a "caw" noise.
So fluffy, I really want to pinch it and see what it feels like.
"Welcome to you too, black bird."
"I'm a Black Feather, we've met before,"
Black Feather seemed quite afraid of Jiuyue. While emphasizing this, it even shrank its neck, "I have a name, you should call me Mr. Hei Yu."
"I remember now." Jiuyue had an epiphany, and her eyes lit up, "Hei Yu Chicken!"
She unabashedly wiped the corner of her mouth.
Such a big size, the meat must be really juicy, right?
"Miss Fu Ling!"
The Black Feather panicked and curled up its body, showing just how indelible the psychological shadow Jiuyue had left on it.
Duan Mingyuan understood in his heart, it seemed that the range of things foxes need to control should be expanded to the entire avian species.
This also answered the reason for the director of the Universe Life Science Department's visit at this time—Jiuyue and the Black Feather that Fu Ling treated as a pillow were old acquaintances. Based on this relationship, wouldn't the company's director turn out to be his future colleague?
If his high school history teacher knew about this relationship, he probably would have introduced his story to the students every now and then.
After placing the set of tea and snacks, he took the initiative to speak with the principle of getting along with a future colleague in mind, "Do you know each other?"
"Mhm."
Jiuyue opened the photo album on her phone, which contained photos she had treasured for a long time. The Jiuyue in the group photo looked several years younger than now, with a background featuring a dilapidated temple on top of the mountain. Red wooden columns were covered in Yellow Talismans, making it look gloomy.
A Li Hua cat with an unusually large size was nestled in Jiuyue's arms. Duan Mingyuan searched for a while and found that in the photo, only half of Black Feather's wing appeared in the frame.
"This is me, this is Li Hua, and she is now in Yunlong City."
Then, Jiuyue pointed to the half-section of wing in the photo, her tone full of regret, "This is the Hei Yu chicken we found in the mountains, but unfortunately, it got away."
"It's a fellow creature! Who discusses whether to braise or stew a monster before it even finishes introducing itself?"
Perhaps because it was being held in Fu Ling's arms, the Drummer also felt a bit more emboldened. After denouncing Jiuyue's brutality, it turned to Duan Mingyuan, "You're her bonded partner, and you seem sensible. You really need to keep an eye on her more often. Eating just anything will only harm her!"
On hearing this, Jiuyue became wary, "But I remember your bonded partner isn't her."
A monster's bonded partner can only be one, and their duty is to stay by their partner's side, growing together.
Only with the death of one party, or if the bonded partner personally dissolves the relationship, does this contract come to an end.
"Let me explain."
Fu Ling had anticipated that Jiuyue would ask such a question and explained, "Last night, this critically injured child happened to fly into my residence. After taking it to the company's medical department for treatment, the child told me about his ordeal. He and his bonded partner were attacked while handling an abnormal case, and only he managed to escape."
The atmosphere in the room suddenly grew heavier.
Jiuyue had mentioned earlier that two as-yet-unseen colleagues had perished last night.
"This child mentioned that the person who had expelled the evil spirits lived nearby. I came specially to thank you, and I also wanted to meet the expert he spoke of... that would be you, Mr. Mingyuan."
Before Duan Mingyuan could even speak in modesty, Jiuyue began proudly boasting about his glorious deeds, "Mr. Mingyuan is the most powerful human I have ever seen. With just a slap, he scattered those evil spirits. Everyone at the company knows how formidable he is, affectionately calling him the Ogre Puncher!"
Truly, it was a formidable nickname.
Jiuyue was quite satisfied with it.
One shouldn't speak if one has nothing good to say.
All the thoughts in Duan Mingyuan's head came to a halt at that moment, with only one desperate thought remaining.
He wasn't familiar with the social structure of monsters, but being called an Ogre Puncher definitely wasn't a compliment in human society. What puzzled him even more was why on earth his name had become linked with such a title?
The Drummer's petrified expression deeply hurt his eyes. He clearly saw the frightened child shivering in terror, and after a long moment, it hesitantly warned Fu Ling, circling around it, "Be, be cautious, we've entered the lair of the Ogre!"
That day, it was once again reminded of the fear as Jiuyue and Li Hua chased it all over the mountains.
"Don't be nervous, they won't eat you."
Fu Ling gently stroked the Drummer's head, saying, "According to this child, the most important thing in our line of work is to exchange information. This is also a good opportunity for me to learn more about the evil spirits. Of course, I wouldn't come empty-handed."
As she spoke, she placed two stacks of reports, tidily organized in folders, on the table.
One was about a sanitation worker from the nearby neighborhood. Duan Mingyuan recognized the text on the folder cover; the other was about a drummer from an underground rock band, a band he had never heard of.
"I took them into my company's care from the hospital and transferred them to our medical center. The medical reports state their physical functions are all normal, yet they have completely lost consciousness. Surveillance footage and eyewitness accounts both prove that they suddenly fell into a coma."
"Were they also attacked?"
Duan Mingyuan carefully began to go through the report about the sanitation worker. He felt that there was something unusually odd about the whole matter, and the strangest aspect was not the incidents themselves but that the director of Universe's Life Science Department would personally attend to evil spirit attacks using company resources to transfer the two to the medical department.
Anyone would know that these two jobs were not even comparable.
"You could say that."
She paused for a moment before speaking, "But what attacked them might not have been evil spirits. According to our company's investigation, the time they lost consciousness coincides exactly with when you expelled two evil spirits."