Amidst the earth-shattering tremors, fire scorched the broken walls, and flying debris grazed her cheek, leaving scars that would never heal.
No matter how many rituals she mastered…
…
Lin Yilin opened her eyes, still punctual like a robot.
Her first action was to reach for her phone and turn on the screen.
Huh?
It was two seconds later than usual, probably due to a nightmare. It seemed she wasn't entirely a robot after all.
She quickly scanned through the information and found the intelligence she expected. Her brows furrowed for a moment before relaxing again. Without lingering in bed, she went to wash up.
In front of the mirror, she simply tidied her slightly messy hair after waking up, and the Earthworms on the washstand handed her toiletries. Ever since the black Earthworms were enhanced by Illusion, they finally had the strength to help her with some chores.
After washing up, the Earthworms had already helped Toast the Toast slices. Lin Yilin had always been indifferent to what she ate for breakfast, randomly choosing, but in recent months, she had chosen Toast more often.
The reason was truly unpredictable.
After quickly finishing the Toast slices and drinking a cup of hot milk, Lin Yilin embarked on her usual commute.
The Mist World finally seemed to have receded, leaving only a thin morning mist on the streets.
Passing a newsstand, she casually glanced at it.
The Dadu Daily remained calm; the impact of the Jacob Family's collapse was no longer very visible in the newspaper. Lin Yilin briefly skipped the White District section and went to the Grey District column.
In the Dadu Daily, this section was not extensive; people in the White District would not be particularly interested in reading about the Grey District unless they were curious.
For most residents of the White District, many reports from the Grey District could only be described as “sensational.”
There were even instances where readers sent letters demanding the removal of Grey District reports from the daily newspaper.
Although it ultimately wasn't successful, the current state where the vast and complex Grey District only occupies a small column in the newspaper is the result of that group's efforts.
Today's report on the Grey District only mentioned that the Mist World had overlapped in a certain street but separated from reality in the early hours of the morning.
This was the most important news; the rest were meaningless scraps. Lin Yilin boredly put down this newspaper and then picked up another.
“Xixikeke Secret Report,” the Xixikeke Street newspaper. It appeared to be just a regional newspaper for one street, but in reality, this publication, originating from “Esoteric,” another large firm in Xixikeke, contained a considerable amount of content.
It covered not only the big and small events happening on Xixikeke Street but also many other Grey District contents within Dadu. Operating to this day, it has a tendency to become the opposite of the Dadu Daily. The content the Dadu Daily doesn't cover, they cover in the Xixikeke Secret Report.
They successfully captured this market segment.
When Lin Yilin was a child, they were just starting, and today they have already reached such a scale, not to be underestimated.
As she picked it up, today's headline was: “'Machete' Killing demon Apprehended, Chief Bai Shi Makes His Move, 'Red Line' Killing demon Appears to Harvest?!”
Although Esoteric has grown larger and larger, the “marketing account” style they started with is deeply ingrained, learned from journalism.
However, the content did have substantial factual information, clearly detailing the events of that night from the perspectives of the police, Shenlai Firm, and the Processing Bureau.
The only part missing was the Red Line Killer's appearance, stating that the process from the Red Line Killer's arrival to the end of the battle was too fast.
She also escaped with the help of a mysterious accomplice, and finally, combining some baseless interviews, they concluded that the situation in Xixikeke was confusing, and a major event might occur. One could only say it was perfectly on brand.
Of course, there was also a photo taken from a mysterious angle of the Red Line Killer's victory celebration pose.
Lin Yilin picked up the newspaper without looking closely, clutching it as she walked towards her firm.
Upon pushing the door open, she first saw Toast resting in the corner, then confirmed that the sofas were fine, and after feeling relieved, it was her usual time to search for Illusion. After glancing around the room, Lin Yilin went to the bookshelf by the desk and found a black-covered book titled “Alien.”
As soon as she touched it, the book jumped off the shelf and transformed back into Zheng Fan.
“Good morning, you're ten minutes later than usual today. Were you delayed on the way?” Zheng Fan greeted.
“Good morning, Illusion, I just paid special attention to today's newspaper. It seems you had a lot of fun last night.” Lin Yilin tossed the newspaper onto the desk.
“So-so, huh? Why is this photo here?” Zheng Fan leaned over to look, and unexpectedly found that his goal celebration pose had been recorded.
“The angle wasn't captured well enough. Such a cool move should be made into a GIF and printed in the newspaper for all of Dadu to admire and imitate.”
“The Killing demon would not be able to handle that.” Lin Yilin sat down at the desk, “Is this a classic move from Illusion's world?”
“Then I shall tell you about the legendary football player Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro.”
“…Never mind, let's talk about the Alien movie series we mentioned before.” And then Ms. Lin Yilin changed the subject after less than a second of thought.
What did Cristiano Ronaldo do to you?
However, Zheng Fan still indulged Lin Yilin's preference.
While listening to Zheng Fan's narration, Lin Yilin began to finalize the current commission.
Zheng Fan passionately acted out the plot, even transforming into an Alien, from Facehugger to Chestburster to adult Alien, without any delay. Based on Lin Yilin's understanding of his average transformation speed, this skilled transformation suggested he might have been secretly practicing for a long time.
What exactly does Illusion practice transforming into on a daily basis…
Ever since he learned to fly, he's been letting himself go more and more.
Lin Yilin's work threads were powerful, fully capable of handling tasks at hand while listening to Zheng Fan's narration, and even offering opinions at interesting points.
She was especially curious about the physiological structure of the Alien, the settings of pure saliva and strong acid blood, and the reproductive worship in its image design. The unique design concept greatly interested those who learned about it for the first time.
Moreover, Ms. Lin Yilin's taste was already a bit on the dark and sensational side.
…
Commission completion recorded.
As the Illusion marked “Lu Lu” was eliminated, the lure Phantasms shoes it scattered also largely became ineffective.
What? Why is the marked name “Lu Lu”?
Because the Illusion's cry of “Lu Lu” was the clearest, and the Processing Bureau simply recorded it that way.
That thing's nickname for Lu Chongming ultimately became its designation in reality after its death, subtly hinting at dark humor.
Lin Yilin had merely completed an insignificant commission, but afterward, Chief Bai Shi of the Processing Bureau seemed to have specifically inquired about the exact source of the police intelligence.
Lin Yilin's good uncle, Drake, quickly brought Lin Yilin out again.
In the end, Lin Yilin unexpectedly received a major commendation from the official Processing Bureau.
Originally, given the Processing Bureau's usual behavior, she had completely given the intelligence with the mindset of charity, never expecting it to be the biggest pleasant surprise.
“That Chief Bai Shi, he is the most powerful person I have ever met so far. Do you know him?” Seeing this, Zheng Fan also tried to understand this person.
Lin Yilin looked at the golden commendation displayed on the computer screen in front of her, her face still expressionless. Hearing the question, she recalled, “He is the Chief of the Processing Bureau's branch in Xixikeke Street and its surroundings. Excluding individual exceptions, he is the strongest person in this area. He has been stationed on Xixikeke Street for over twenty years; both his strength and character are quite commendable. If he hadn't mentioned it, this achievement would probably have been swallowed up.”
“What's his violence index?” After all that, Zheng Fan's simple mind only cared about this.
“Gun…” Lin Yilin uttered a single word.
A level above Gang, the simple “Gun,” representing the most familiar hot weapon, one of the symbols of terror and violence.
“With all Fantasy Factors activated, pulling up Illusions, plus that super Phantasms ‘Bright Ruler,’ if he disregarded the consequences, reaching ‘Gun’ would be more than enough. I met him once ten years ago; he was already Gang-level then. Although he wasn't Chief yet, he was already showing great promise. He's a very powerful person,” Lin Yilin said.
“I see.” Zheng Fan responded, a character higher than his guaranteed minimum finally appeared.
“However… no matter how powerful, in front of the ‘Great Earthquake,’ he is just one person.”
Lin Yilin's faint voice echoed through the firm.