Am I really hallucinating?

Chapter 473 Infernal Affairs
"Ugh!" As soon as Niu Qianliu returned to his office and recovered, he hugged the trash can and dry heaved. "I told you before that I didn't want to do it again."

"Otherwise, how do you plan to come back?" Zheng Fan sneered.

"Phew, that feels better." Niu Qianliu finally straightened up after catching his breath.

"Speaking of which, you really don't want to tell my fortune? Even just drawing a tarot card would be fine." Zheng Fan spread his hands, still somewhat eager to try.

Seeing this, Niu Qianliu could only sigh helplessly, take out a card and hand it to Zheng Fan: "Here, you know this kind of thing without even drawing a card."

Zheng Fan flipped it over to face up.

"world".

"Don't expect me to say anything more," Niu Qianliu said warily and seriously.

Zheng Fan casually accepted the card and said, "You were affected by the backlash before, weren't you? You suffered considerable injuries, and even the tiny illusionary realm within your body can't help you recover from the mental damage."

"It's a small matter, an expected price to pay."

"Are you going to do something?" Zheng Fan didn't keep him in suspense and asked Niu Qianliu directly.

"how do I say this?"

"Is the tiny illusionary world you created by nurturing gu within your body really just a research project out of interest? You seem prepared to die, completely different from the person I saw during the earthquake," Zheng Fan pointed out.

Niu Qianliu remained silent.

Zheng Fan looked out the window at the rain: "Did you originally enjoy watching the rain? Or is this rain a signal to you that 'the time has come'?"

“Some people are forever left in that rain thirty years ago, and I want to go and bring them back, and also try to glimpse a wider world. This is my last task in Dadu, which I have been waiting for for thirty years.”

Niu Qianliu slowly opened his mouth and said this.

"..." Zheng Fan was silent for a moment, then turned his head and said, "I will tell Lin Yilin."

“Go ahead and talk to her, but the child will understand me. She and I are very similar in this respect.” Niu Qian smiled peacefully.

……

Zheng Fan returned to Lu Chongming's room.

Lu Chongming had already tidied up the living room, which had been messed up by the fortune-telling, and was now looking at something on a laptop.

"What are you looking at?" Zheng Fan asked.

Lu Chongming repeated his previous conversation with Zhang Xue.

"This is no small project. I need Brother Zhao and the others' help." Lu Chongming looked at the clues about the unexplored strongholds in the data and immediately felt overwhelmed.

He initially thought it wouldn't be much, but it turns out he was overthinking it.

If he were to investigate alone, under the watchful eyes of others, it would take an indefinite amount of time.

"Just keep in touch, they're probably pretty free right now anyway."

As Zheng Fan spoke, he went to the balcony. The rain was quite heavy, and the rain curtain obscured the city's appearance, shrouding everything in rain and mist.

For a while afterward, nothing particularly frequent or exaggerated happened.

Lu Chongming and Xiao Zhao began investigating the various remaining strongholds of the Longevity Society. They were already very efficient, but so far they hadn't seen any obvious clues.

After that day, Lin Yilin began visiting various small and medium-sized neighborhoods. Zheng Fan followed her for a while, but he did almost nothing in the extensive investigation.

Doris's tours went smoothly without any major incidents, and even the inflated system owner seemed hesitant to challenge this band that was currently writing a legend in Dadu.

Rabbi and Radish drove their bread van through the mountains without encountering any further accidents.

Jiang Si seized the last moments to learn from the Undying King, while the overlapping ritual within the Undying City was also completed, awaiting only the right opportunity.

Suddenly, Zheng Fan found himself unable to get involved in anything, no matter where he went.

Although the capital was very noisy and couldn't calm down, his surroundings seemed to have calmed down for a while.

Perhaps it was because of the recent excessive rain, but Zheng Fan was squatting on the top of a tall building on Jiangwen Street, staring blankly at the city below.

Daydreaming was his usual way of passing the time. Until a few days later, Lu Chongming called.

"Are there any noteworthy leads?"

“Yes, it’s a sanatorium in a relatively remote location in Jiangwen Street. Brother Zhao just found out that this sanatorium has close ties with the then-important regional leader of the Changsheng Society, and may be their safe house. After these past few days of screening, there’s likely something hidden inside. I plan to go there to take a look this evening,” Lu Chongming explained.

"Okay, then I'll go find Xiao Zhao and the others first."

Zheng Fan had no objections and readily agreed.

After hanging up the call, Lu Chongming finished a mission and returned to the processing bureau to start working on reports. Since he was going out in the afternoon, he needed to finish writing and submit all the mission reports he had accumulated over the past few days, including today's.

He sat at his individual workstation, rapidly typing on the keyboard.

"Hey, Lu Chongming, you've been slacking off lately," a voice said as it approached.

Lu Chongming glanced at the other person and found it was Zhong Wen.

The relationship between Zhongwen and his colleague, who was competitive with him, had improved slightly recently. However, Zhongwen's words were still quite harsh, full of aggression, and he didn't seem to care about the occasion.

Lu Chongming would occasionally clash with him; he was past the age of arguing with others, even though he wasn't very old.

"Really? Then what's with all these reports piling up here?" Lu Chongming looked away, his tone slightly lazy.

"Although it's still outstanding, it's far inferior to what it was in January. Are you just a flash in the pan or have you chickened out?" Zhong Wen said bluntly.

"I'm probably a little tired. Let me rest for a bit."

"February is almost over, and my achievements during this period have firmly placed my place above yours. The new director will take office shortly after February, and if you don't make a good impression, you'll fall far behind," Zhong Wen reminded him.

"A new director has taken office?" Lu Chongming was taken aback. He had been so busy with various things lately that he had completely forgotten about it.

It is expected that Zhang Xue will also step down as acting director after February, as it is a bit too much for one person to hold two positions.

The new director will be selected from among the several high-ranking individuals currently in the affairs group of the Jiangwen Subdistrict Office.

The task force is involved in many matters, so it's always good to make a good impression on the new director.

Knowing that Zhongwen was reminding him, Lu Chongming had no time to focus on that for the time being.

"You haven't forgotten, have you?"

"I just don't care about these things. After all, we're in the action team. As long as we achieve good results, we won't have to worry about future promotions. Instead of scheming about these things, let's just work hard." Lu Chongming yawned.

Zhong Wen, however, was somewhat anxious: "What do you mean? Are you saying I'm only good at scheming?!"

"That was not what I meant……"

"Captain Lu, regarding the follow-up cases involving the victims' families..."

"Okay, I'll be right there." Someone called him, and Lu Chongming quickly took the opportunity to get up, politely pushed Zhong Wen aside, and went out.

He also had his own understanding of Zhongwen's volatile temper.

The redness was normal; Zhongwen forgot about it as soon as someone interrupted him and didn't take it to heart at all.

Zhong Wen watched Lu Chongming's retreating figure, clenched his fists, turned around, and left the office.

He turned on his phone on the way.

This shows his email conversation with an anonymous person:

[Anonymous email: Lu Chongming should have a secret USB drive on him. Get your hands on it.]

[Zhong Wen: He's quite strong; if he carried it with him at all times, how could I possibly get my hands on it?]

[Anonymous email: Don't hesitate, just do it, and you'll get it.]

[Zhongwen: What are you going to do to him?]

[Anonymous email: Don't worry. It's just a small thing to confirm. Once it's confirmed, nothing will happen that would be detrimental to you or him.]

(End of this chapter)