The system is four years ahead of schedule, but Weird is still a cub.

"Immediately compile the analysis results into a top-secret report and submit it to Minister Deng!" Li Xiang made a decisive decision. "At the same time, conduct in-depth cross-analysis of all the data from the 'assimilation type' with the York arm sample to find its evolutionary path and possible weaknesses. This is an excellent opportunity for us to understand the technological roots of the monster organization!"

The research team, as if injected with a powerful boost, threw themselves into their work even more tirelessly. After a brief period of excitement, Li Xiang and Jiang Peiwen turned their attention to another crucial sample—

The "seed" inside Sally's body.

With research experience in "assimilation type" and a new understanding of the bizarre energy properties of plant-type parasites, especially the clues about the suppression of the bizarre energy of the "future" parasite obtained from the York arm sample, the dissection surgery plan led by Jiang Peiwen finally matured.

Inside a highly secure surgical isolation room, Sally was strapped to a specially designed restraint bed, her entire body connected to a dense array of vital signs and supernatural energy monitoring devices.

Jiang Peiwen personally took charge of the procedure, while her assistants held their breath in suspense.

The surgery was not a traditional incision, but rather a process that used sophisticated eerie energy guidance equipment and a high-frequency energy field, combined with Shen Ge's eerie domain, to "peel" the seed.

Jiang Peiwen steadily manipulated the instrument probe with both hands, carefully probing into Sally's heart area. On the screen, the "seed" deeply embedded near the myocardium, like a black thorn wrapped around the heart, was clearly visible. Overall, it did indeed resemble York's "arm mutation."

"Initiate bioelectric signal trapping, frequency locking, inject specially formulated energy neutralization buffer, prepare energy tweezers..." Jiang Peiwen's voice was calm and clear.

The surgery was terrifying. The "seed" seemed to possess some kind of primal consciousness. After sensing the threat, it frantically tried to take root deeper, releasing sharp, eerie energy fluctuations that impacted Sally's body and the surrounding instruments.

The alarm sounded several times, but Shen Ge and Jiang Peiwen calmly defused it each time. The latter, using her profound understanding of the characteristics of plant parasites and combining it with the latest inhibitors that can interfere with their energy absorption circuits, gradually severed the connection between the "seed" and the host tissue.

Sweat soaked through the lining of Jiang Peiwen's protective suit, but her eyes remained focused like an eagle's.

Finally, after several hours of fierce fighting, the black "seed" that exuded an ominous aura and was covered with strange patterns was completely peeled off from Sally's heart tissue and instantly sucked into a specially made container filled with a powerful inhibitory liquid.

"Separation successful! Host's vital signs are stable, and the erosion index of the evil energy has dropped significantly!" the assistant reported excitedly.

Outside the operating room, Li Xiang and Deng Yuqi, who were watching the monitor, breathed a sigh of relief. This was not only about saving a person, but also the first complete and highly active core sample of the "plant-type parasitic weird" obtained by the Rongshi Special Task Force!
Its research value is no less than that of the "assimilation" parasite. It represents the latest application of plant-parasite fusion technology by the freak organization in the "real" timeline.

However, things didn't go smoothly. Just as Li Xiang's team was basking in the joy of their series of major breakthroughs and preparing to conduct in-depth research on these two precious samples, an official letter from the headquarters of the Special Policy Department of Beijing poured cold water on them.

The official letter was worded formally and forcefully, with its core message being very clear: Dajing headquarters has learned that the Rongshi Special Operations Department has taken in a former Dajing Special Operations Department agent named "Zhang Hong," who has a special identity and has been highly corrupted by supernatural powers.

Given the sensitive nature of his identity, the dangerous situation, and the involvement of Dajing's internal affairs, the Rong City Special Affairs Department is required to immediately transfer the agent and all related samples and research data to Dajing's headquarters research institute for "more professional and safer" containment and treatment.

Deng Yuqi looked at the official letter with a cold gaze.

The so-called "treatment" and "internal affairs" are just excuses. The Dajing headquarters clearly knew that Zhang Hong was infected with a new type of parasitic weirdness and wanted to continue their weirdo plan. Or perhaps Zhang Hong's mutation was unrelated to the multiple weird spaces and he became a weirdo before entering them.

It wasn't that Deng Yuqi didn't trust headquarters, but there was a precedent of "live research on monsters." Whenever headquarters showed interest in anything related to monsters, Deng Yuqi would suspect that they were planning to restart the project from back then.

She summoned Li Xiang and Jiang Peiwen to her office and presented them with the official letter.

"Headquarters needs people, and samples." Deng Yuqi's voice was unreadable, but those who knew her well knew that this was a sign of her extreme displeasure.

Li Xiang glanced at the official document, his brow furrowed: "These past two days have been spent working on the Black Mud Mystery, York's arm, and the 'seed' inside Sally. We haven't had time to study in detail the parasitic mystery in the body of the Mystery Detective Zhang Hong, but judging from the information collected by Xiao Qi, it should also be a 'new type' of mystery that hasn't appeared before. Moreover, the data on that mystery and the sample research on York's arm have just made breakthrough progress. If we hand it over now, it's like all our previous efforts have been wasted!"

"They seized this opportunity," Jiang Peiwen said in a deep voice. "Knowing that we had just obtained the key samples and that our research was just beginning, they used the pretext of 'professional treatment' to forcibly demand them... Hmph, once the materials are in their hands, how could we possibly have any?"

Deng Yuqi tapped her fingers lightly on the table, a habitual gesture when she was thinking, and the atmosphere in the office was heavy.

“Zhang Hong’s identity is indeed their entry point, and we can’t deny that,” Deng Yuqi said slowly. “If we refuse directly, we will give them a handle to use against us. Headquarters can easily accuse us of ‘disregarding the safety of our agents and hoarding important samples,’ which will lead to endless troubles.”

She raised her head, her gaze sweeping over the two heads and deputy heads of the research department, a sharp glint in her eyes: "But, handing them over... is absolutely impossible. At least not until we've squeezed every last drop of value out of these samples, cough, I mean until we find their connection to the strange organization behind them."

"What do you mean?" Li Xiang's eyes lit up.

"Delay it!" Deng Yuqi said decisively. "Zhang Hong needs an 'observation period' and a 'stabilization period' after surgery. This is common medical knowledge. Given the extent of his demonic energy erosion and his special post-operative condition, this 'observation period' can be long or short. Your research team, immediately produce a 'scientific and reasonable' and 'flawless' medical assessment report proving that she is absolutely unsuitable for transfer at present."

"At the same time, we need to speed up the research on York and those samples from the 'future,' back up and encrypt the core data, and be prepared to be asked for it, but the key, groundbreaking things must be in our own hands."

"Understood!" Li Xiang and Jiang Peiwen immediately understood the minister's intention: to use the rules to gain a valuable window of opportunity.

“In addition,” Deng Yuqi added, turning her gaze to the window, “notify Shen Ge. Da Jing’s reach is so far and their reaction so quick… We should also do a thorough internal cleanup, so he knows what’s going on.”

Very few people knew that Zhang Hong had been brought out of the strange space by Shen Ge, and the most likely person to "leak" the secret was the missing Camille.

But Camille's disappearance was too complete, as if he had suddenly "vanished" from the Australian branch of an international anti-terrorist organization.

Instead of suspecting Camille, it's more accurate to suspect that someone within the Special Operations Department's research team is "informing" on them to headquarters. This isn't exactly "betrayal," because researchers are more interested in completing their research on the bizarre than infighting between headquarters and branches.

Li Xiang and Jiang Peiwen accepted the order and immediately threw themselves into the "delay tactics" and accelerated research, racing against time.

Meanwhile, in the underground training grounds, Shen Ge, having just finished a round of intense recovery training, wiped his sweat as Xiao Qi relayed Deng Yuqi's instructions and news from the Da Jing headquarters. He unscrewed a bottle of water, tilted his head back, and gulped it down, his Adam's apple bobbing. The water slid down his sharply defined jawline: "Ha, the smell of fish means the sharks are coming."

Shen Ge's lips curled into a cold smile, his eyes deep and unfathomable: "Want to steal something? You'd better see if you have the ability to digest it."

He precisely tossed the empty bottle into the trash can in the distance, making a crisp sound.

When Xiaoqi received Deng Yuqi's message, she immediately began to retrieve the surveillance footage from the Special Operations Department over the past few days, as well as the communication records of personnel from various departments, in an attempt to find the person who "told" to the Dajing headquarters.

"Master, no suspicious individuals have been found within the department so far. However, among the researchers who have been in contact with Zhang Hong, Sally, and York, six researchers have recently left the base." Xiao Qi can "monitor" the entire base, but investigating what happens after they leave the base is much more troublesome.

It first retrieves footage from cameras in the surrounding streets, then combines the footage to deduce the researchers' movements and thus determine who they came into contact with.

Just as Shen Ge and Xiao Qi were discussing how to break the deadlock, two guards came to the training room and found him.

"Reporting to Captain Shen, the guard room received your package, but during the inspection, a strong strange energy fluctuation was found in the package. Therefore, the guard room notified the 'purification team' to conduct an inspection, which confirmed that the strange energy intensity was above level five."

Shen Ge frowned slightly upon hearing this: "My package?"

Level 5 Ghost Energy Intensity?
Shen Ge's daily necessities are usually taken care of by Cheng Shengnan. He only needs to tell Xiao Qi what he needs, and Xiao Qi will contact the Special Strategy Department's logistics department to handle it for him. Therefore, Shen Ge basically has no opportunity to shop online, let alone the fact that the package contained a level 5 ghost energy.

"Take me to see this." Shen Ge picked up his coat and went to the base gate with the guard.

At this moment, the fully armed "purification team" had sealed off the main entrance and installed a weird energy suppressor to prevent the "package" from suddenly undergoing weird mutations.

"Captain Shen!"

"Captain Shen!"

After Shen Ge arrived at the gate, everyone saluted him.

Shen Ge raised his hand, and the Red Mist Armor instantly covered his entire body. Then, Xiao Qi reminded him, "Master, the strength of the strange energy is indeed above the fifth level, but the fluctuation of the strange energy is very small. Even if there is a strange being in the package, it is only a fifth-level strange being in 'dormant'."

"Open it and take a look." Shen Ge raised his hand, and the putrid tentacles wrapped around his arm and stretched forward, "carefully" unpacking the package.

Inside was a small, eerie containment box, and inside the box was the "black mud" assimilation parasite eerie that the twelve leaders had previously placed under his car.

In addition, there was an invitation and a letter.

Shen Ge opened the letter and saw that it was signed by the Twelve Branches, the leader who had previously "contacted" Shen Ge. The leader expressed his gratitude to Shen Ge for helping them get rid of the "traitor" and mentioned that a banquet would be held in Rong City in two days, and "sincerely invited" Shen Ge to attend.

If Shen Ge "refuses," then it's hard to guarantee that they won't take the opportunity during the banquet to release some parasitic anomalies and increase the number of "same kind."

Threat, naked threat.

In fact, Shen Ge had always had doubts about this "cooperation" with the Twelve Branches. The leader of the Twelve Branches had said that the Twelve Branches branch in Australia had "betrayed" them and had paid him to go to Australia to help deal with the traitors.

As a result, after Shen Ge arrived in Australia, he neither met the "contact person" of the Twelve Zodiacs nor witnessed the so-called "civil war" of the strange organization. Instead, he found himself trapped in an extremely bizarre multi-dimensional space.

Because the mysterious disaster in Australia was shrouded in mystery and extremely difficult to resolve, Shen Ge had no time to dwell on the "civil war" within the strange organization and focused on finding Cheng's mother's whereabouts.

Strangely, he had only accomplished his initial goal, yet now he was being told by the Twelve Branches that "it was a pleasure to cooperate with them"?
What did he do?
Could it be that the mysterious disaster in Australia, or the "Hunter" organization in the multiple mysterious spaces, is a traitor to the Twelve Zodiacs?

Most importantly, at this critical juncture, what kind of banquet are these so-called "upper class" people in Fuzhou holding?
Shen Ge is a prominent figure in Rong City. In this day and age, regardless of your social standing, you have to report to the Special Affairs Department if you want to hold a banquet.

As long as it was reported to the Special Affairs Department, Xiaoqi should have known very well, but after checking the department's internal information, it found that there was no "banquet" reported.

The strange "black mud" assimilation parasite in the package was the "reward" for inviting Shen Ge. The other party said that since the Special Affairs Department was very interested in this kind of toy, they would use a "sample" with higher research value and stronger strange energy as payment.

Shen Ge instructed Xiao Qi to cooperate with the "purification team" to re-contain the black mud, and then notified Li Xiang's team to take over.

He then took the invitation to Deng Yuqi.

"A banquet? At this critical juncture, those self-proclaimed 'high society' idiots are still thinking about doing something like this?" Deng Yuqi's reaction was exactly the same as Shen Ge's.

Although Fukushi Special Operations Department is one of the "safest" cities in the country, and even the world, with the number of strange incidents per month reduced to single digits, it is not safe enough to be like it was a few years ago, where the rich could live in their hedonistic lifestyle anytime, anywhere.

Even if a similar banquet were to be held, it would have to be reported to the Special Operations Department and a request would be made to send an anti-monster squad to ensure the safety of the banquet.

After all, these prominent figures control the economic lifeline of Rongcheng and often generously provide research funding for the Rongcheng Special Policy Department.

"Wait, I remember now, it seems like there really was such a thing." Deng Yuqi said, taking a stack of documents from the drawer. (End of Chapter)