The whole nation: You're put to survive on a desolate planet, you'll be running an alien b

The silver cocoon's pulsation slowed down by half a beat, but the surrounding wind seemed to have been tightened, making it even colder.

Li Haotian didn't explain to anyone anymore. He put the token into his palm, his five fingers pressed together as if he were pressing a hot nail back into his flesh. The next second, he raised his hand and kicked over the shared bicycle parked in the dust. The basket was empty, but it blocked several prying eyes.

"Withdraw." He said only one word.

He took the silver cocoon away in the simplest way—not with a box, not with a bag, but with a spell he had laid out, like folding a section of space into an invisible cage, suspended beside him by half an inch of air. The silver light on the outside of the cocoon was still flowing, like a thin layer of mercury, with fine lines occasionally emerging, like words, or like scars.

Qin Yue followed behind, her steps quick, her face colder than the night. She no longer shouted "Containment," nor did she use a commanding tone—that defiant stance had crumbled at the foot of the mountain. She simply stared at the silver cocoon, at Li Haotian, as if recalculating a variable she had thought she could control.

Back at the Cloud Top Villa, the lights weren't fully on yet. The security lights outside swept across the lawn, casting long shadows on Qin Yue's epaulets.

The fingerprint lock in the foyer beeped. Li Haotian pushed the door open and entered, neither inviting nor stopping him. Qin Yue stopped at the threshold, as if blocked by an invisible line. Her gaze shifted slightly, realizing that it wasn't just the security system working inside—there was a sense of stagnation in the air, as if gravity had been artificially amplified, making even breathing require more effort.

"You can set up an array in the lobby?" she asked in a low voice.

"I always have been able to." Li Haotian didn't turn around, closed the door, locked it, and casually pressed down an inconspicuous copper plate on the inside of the door. The copper plate clicked softly, and at the same time, a faint gray ring lit up in the dark grooves in the four corners of the hall, like old markings that had been polished.

Qin Yue's eye twitched: "Gravity field?"

"First layer." Li Haotian placed the silver cocoon on the open ground next to the entrance. The folded space trembled slightly, and the silver cocoon seemed to be held down by an invisible hand, its pulsation slowing down. "I can make its 'movement' a little clumsy."

Looking at the silver light, Qin Yue's suppressed anxiety resurfaced: "You plan to hide it in your house? Do you know what that means—"

"It means I have a better way than you to prevent it from exploding." Li Haotian finally turned around, his eyes calm. "It also means you're standing at my doorstep not to give orders."

There was a half-second of silence in the foyer, broken only by the faint hum of the air conditioner vents. Qin Yue pursed her lips, as if biting down on a bitter pill. Her toughness hadn't vanished; it had simply been temporarily sheathed.

"I'm here to discuss cooperation," she said.

Li Haotian raised an eyebrow: "Dragon Shield uses that term too?"

Qin Yue's eyes flashed coldly for a moment, then softened: "You want to hear the truth? We lack the means. Things like spirits, conceptual entities, and evil seals... we've dealt with them before, but the cost was high, and the methods were crude. Your performance today confirms one thing for me—you possess a key that we don't."

"The key isn't free." Li Haotian said calmly, as if he were talking about a deal with a pre-determined price. "Let's talk about your terms first."

Qin Yue took a deep breath, as if suppressing some kind of impulse: "We need to reopen the Evil Seal case. Someone behind the 'New God Cult' is using the same set of things, exactly the same as in the old case. The 'Black Seal,' 'Prayer,' and 'Nightmare Transmission' recorded in the old case files have all appeared. We suspect that the source this time is not just one person, but a lineage... or even the restart of some sealed system."

When she said the word "sealing," her eyes involuntarily looked away for a moment, as if she had touched a sensitive line.

Li Haotian didn't press further, but simply nodded: "So you want me to assist in investigating the Evil Seal."

"Yes." Qin Yue looked directly at him. "You assist in the investigation, and we provide resources and legal support. You can name your needs."

Li Haotian walked to one side of the hall and pressed a hidden mechanism on the wall. A crack silently slid open in the floor, revealing a downward staircase, like a gaping maw. Dark red lines, like bloodstains, were embedded along the edges of the staircase; they were actually runes glowing dimly.

He didn't go down immediately, but stood at the edge of the gap, turning back to look at Qin Yue: "My price is simple. First, intelligence. All your materials regarding old cases, the 'New God Cult,' and the source of the Evil Seal, originals or complete copies, I want them all."

Qin Yue frowned deeply: "This involves top secret—"

"Then let's not talk." Li Haotian cut him off, his tone not harsh, but like the back of a knife striking the edge of a table. "If you're going to cooperate, don't use 'classified information' as a shield. I'm not one of your people, and I don't buy into your procedures."

Qin Yue stared at him, her chest heaving slightly, before finally uttering a cold, hard sentence: "Fine. I'll use special authorization to give you the information, provided you sign a confidentiality agreement and usage restrictions."

"Usage restrictions are out of the question," Li Haotian said calmly. "Keep it confidential, but don't drag me into your scheme."

Qin Yue gritted her teeth: "...Okay."

"Second," Li Haotian raised two fingers, "right of way. I need a temporary pass from Dragon Shield to cover your restricted area, cordoned-off area, and any possible paranormal events. At least during the Evil Seal case, I don't want to be stopped and questioned every time I enter."

Qin Yue's eyes grew even colder: "The scope you're asking for is too broad."

"If you want me to take action, you have to let me do it." Li Haotian's tone remained calm. "Every time you stop me, another person might die. Can you afford to take that responsibility?"

Qin Yue paused for three seconds, as if quickly reviewing a risk assessment in her mind, and finally nodded: "Right of passage is allowed, but it must be registered. Where you are and what you do need to be recorded."

"You can write the records yourselves." Li Haotian remained noncommittal. "I only guarantee that I won't take action against your people first."

Qin Yue's eye twitched again, clearly uncomfortable with the "guarantee," but she could only swallow it.

"Third," Li Haotian held up his third finger, "the official conveniences for the Imperial Mausoleum mission. Procedures, entry and exit, personnel allocation, sealing off access—you have to give me the green light for everything you can decide. You'll get involved in this mission sooner or later, and I don't want to be passive."

Qin Yue's expression finally changed: "How do you know about the imperial tomb—"

"I know more than you think," Li Haotian said, looking at her. "Just tell me, is it okay or not?"

The oppressive atmosphere in the foyer seemed to intensify. The gravity array not only pressed down on the silver cocoon but also pressed one's emotions closer to the ground. Qin Yue's fingers clenched and unclenched, her knuckles turning white. She seemed to be weighing her options: agreeing meant relinquishing some power; disagreeing meant that the "bomb" before her could explode at any moment when she was powerless.

"Okay." She finally uttered a single word, almost squeezing it out from between her teeth, "But for the imperial tomb mission, you must inform us of the operation time and the personnel involved in advance."

"Okay." Li Haotian nodded, as if he had expected her to compromise. "There's one last thing—I'll keep the silver cocoon. You can look at it, but you can't touch it."

Qin Yue's gaze sharpened, and she lowered her voice: "I need to file a record. I need to see its condition at least once to confirm that you haven't handled it privately and that there's no risk of it spreading. You want us to give you the right of way and convenience, but you also need to give us a basic explanation."

Li Haotian looked at her, as if gauging how much of her "filing a report" was genuine and how much was a test. After a moment, he turned and stepped onto the stairs: "Follow me. Just to the door."

The door to the underground safe house was at the end of the steps. It was an exaggeratedly thick alloy door, without any number on it, only an embedded black disc with fine runes engraved around its edge. Li Haotian pressed the token onto the disc, and the runes seemed to light up as if dotted with blood, spreading out in concentric circles. A slight "click" sound came from inside the door.

The moment the door opened, Qin Yue felt a distinct wave of dizziness—not from lack of oxygen, but from a slight jolt to her senses, as if someone had tapped on the edge of her mind. She immediately tensed up, her right hand instinctively reaching for her side, only to find herself restrained by something pressing down on her.

"The third level." Li Haotian said without turning his head, "Mental isolation. Stay outside this line, don't go any further."

The lights inside the safe house were a cool white, illuminating everything so clean it seemed otherworldly. The walls were made of wave-absorbing material, and the floor was inlaid with ring-shaped rune arrays, layer upon layer. In the very center, a transparent containment pod hung in mid-air, with a slowly rotating gray ring around it, like a planetary ring.

When the silver cocoon was placed into the containment chamber, its silver light dimmed noticeably for a moment, as if its pulse had been suppressed. Then it trembled slightly, and a faint "humming" sound came through the chamber wall, but was swallowed by the ring belt, like sound falling into cotton wool.

Qin Yue stood outside the line at the door, staring intently at the silver cocoon, a hint of barely suppressed shock flashing in her eyes. She had seen containment chambers, magnetic restraints, and isolation wards, but she had never seen such a layered blockade that simultaneously targeted the physical, signal, and mental aspects—it seemed tailor-made for something that defied all rules.

"You treat it as a living organism?" she asked.

"It's more troublesome than a living organism." Li Haotian stood on the side of the cabin, his palm pressed against the edge of the rune array, as if sensing its breath. "It can hear, it can learn, and it can use your knowledge to crawl out. Using ordinary containment is like giving it a door."

Qin Yue's Adam's apple bobbed slightly: "In the old case, the first outbreak was because someone 'heard' its prayer. That record... at the time we thought it was mass hysteria."

Li Haotian's gaze darkened slightly: "It's not hysteria, it's an infection. It's on a psychological level."

Qin Yue remained silent for a long time, as if finally admitting a fact she was unwilling to acknowledge: "So what Dragon Shield lacks is this kind of method. We can block roads, arrest people, and blow up buildings, but against this kind of thing... we can only pray that it doesn't target us."

"Praying is useless." Li Haotian turned to look at her. "Let's proceed with the cooperation as before. When will the documents arrive?"

"As early as tonight." Qin Yue's voice was a little hoarse, but she remained composed. "I'll take care of the pass and the imperial mausoleum access when I get back. You—"

She paused for a moment, as if she wanted to say "Don't try anything funny," but then felt that the words would have no power in this context.

Li Haotian finished her sentence for her: "I won't let it get out under your noses. On the condition that you don't cause me any trouble."

Qin Yue's eyes sharpened: "We don't want to cause trouble either. We just want to know if you can control it if it gets out of control."

Li Haotian glanced at the containment pod, inside which the silver cocoon trembled slightly, like a monster turning over in its sleep. His voice was soft, yet as firm as iron pressing down on the ground: "It can suppress it for a while. It can't suppress it forever. So we need to find the person behind it before it wakes up and cut off the source."

Qin Yue nodded, as if making a decision: "Let's start with the old cases. I'll bring the files over tonight. Also—the New God Cult is holding a gathering in the south of the city recently, the time is undetermined, but we've identified several key contact points."

"Address," Li Haotian replied simply.

Qin Yue gave two locations, and added at the end, "You can go if you want. But don't go alone. At least take me with you."

Li Haotian glanced at her, but didn't immediately refuse: "It depends. If you can keep up, then keep up."

Qin Yue's lips twitched almost imperceptibly, as if stung by the words "keep up," yet she had no way to refute them. She glanced at Yin Jian one last time and whispered, "I will keep my promise. And don't forget—we are not enemies."

"Not at the moment." Li Haotian closed the safe house door, the sound of the alloy door closing like a final hammer blow. "But if you treat cooperation as an attempt to incorporate us—that's another story."

The footsteps outside the door faded into the distance as Qin Yue left the villa. Li Haotian was left alone in the foyer once more. The sluggish feeling of the gravity array hadn't dissipated; instead, it felt like an invisible shell, peeling the house away from the world.

He stood at the top of the steps, his fingers gently stroking the edge of the token, his gaze deep and thoughtful.

The silver cocoon trembled slightly even through three layers of barriers, as if it were laughing silently.

The Dragon Shield's "invitation to cooperate" was merely the first polite knock on the door before the real storm subsided.