America: The Cremator

Dania sat down familiarly on the edge of the bed. Stella, seeing this, tactfully left the room, leaving the two of them alone.

Dania looked at Suron, her bright blue eyes sparkling with concern: "Suron, are you feeling better now? I heard you were caught up in the Otherworld?"

Su Long looked up, a smile playing on his lips: "Danya, you're certainly well-informed."

Dania slightly raised her chin, exuding a certain innate sense of superiority, but it wasn't off-putting: "Of course, you know what kind of business we're in. Nothing in Seattle can escape the Yurievich family's notice."

As she spoke, her eyes lit up, and her tone was full of curiosity as she pressed on, "So, the intelligence was true?"

Su Long nodded lightly: "That's right, it was like a trip to the Otherworld, but the experience was far from pleasant."

Upon hearing this, Dania leaned closer, and the atmosphere between them instantly became subtle.

Suron scrutinized Dania up close.

Her face was as exquisite as an expensive piece of porcelain displayed in a Fifth Avenue shop window.

Her eyelashes cast a soft shadow under her eyelids, her skin was fair and delicate, her nose was small and straight, and her lips had a natural pink blush.

Even with an inquisitive expression, the exquisite quality derived from genes and a privileged life still has a certain visual impact, so beautiful it's dazzling.

Dania spoke urgently, with a hint of pleading: "Really? Please tell me about the Otherworld, okay?"

"What's it like inside? Are the rules really the opposite of reality? Is time really chaotic?"

"That's not exactly a scenic tourist destination," Su Long scratched his head, somewhat helplessly. "Miss, why are you curious about a place like that?"

"In the Otherworld, everything was shrouded in a deathly atmosphere; the light was dim, and the air was filled with the smell of rust and rotting flesh."

"Everywhere there are collapsed buildings and twisted ruins, like a city that has been abandoned for hundreds of years, with no normal day and night cycle and a chaotic and disordered flow of time."

"Most importantly, there are twisted shadows and strange, unknown noises everywhere. Occasionally, you'll encounter highly aggressive ghouls, as well as even more powerful and eerie creatures."

Dania listened with great interest, but seeing that Su Long looked tired and clearly had no interest in saying more, she suppressed her curiosity.

Dania's tone suddenly became formal: "I've also brought you a reward this time. Although I initially recruited you with the intention of using you as bait."

"But I overestimated my own abilities and underestimated the capabilities of 'Rain Girl'."

"Without you, I might have been killed by the girl in the rain."

Su Long took the check she handed him and unfolded it; the amount field clearly showed two hundred thousand US dollars.

Dania added somewhat embarrassedly, "I'm sorry, although the family has a vast fortune, my father is very strict with me. This is all the funds I can currently access."

Surong's lips twitched slightly: "You call two hundred thousand US dollars 'a little' of funds?"

Dania ignored his complaints, instead grabbing Surong's hand and pleading, "Please, Surong, I'm in trouble right now. You have to help me. I'll pay you back."

"What difficulties?" Su Long raised an eyebrow.

Dania quickly explained, "Remember when I asked you to place an order with my exorcism guild to kill 'Lady in the Rain'? With this achievement, my exorcism guild can finally be upgraded."

"But the regulations of the Federal Exorcism Association require that upgraded groups must have at least one complete exorcism task force, and at the very least, not just one person... I can't find a suitable partner right now."

Surong instantly understood her intention: "So, you want to hire me as a member of your team?"

Dania nodded vigorously, her eyes filled with anticipation: "Yes, if you need money, I can offer you a very high salary."

Su Long waved his hand: "Let's put the salary issue aside for now. I have a request."

Dania immediately replied, "Just name your name, as long as I can do it."

Su Long looked into her eyes and slowly said, "I need to utilize your family's intelligence network. In certain extreme circumstances, I might even need to rely on your family's power. Can you promise me that?"

Dania frowned, clearly weighing the pros and cons.

After a moment, she said frankly, "I can't easily use the power of the family; it requires the approval of the elders, and the procedure is very complicated."

"But I can assure you that I have free access to the vast majority of information about the family. I can get you any information you need."

Suron smiled slightly: "That's enough, Miss Dania."

The two extended their hands, shook hands gently, and reached an agreement.

Just then, a rapid ringtone broke the silence in the room. Dania took out her phone, glanced at the screen, and her expression changed slightly.

"I'm sorry, Su Long, I have to go now. Let's keep in touch."

"it is good."

After Dania left, the nebulizer emitted a long "beep" sound, and the nozzle stopped working.

Then, Stella pushed open the door and walked in, holding a report in her hand. After flipping through it for a moment, she said, "The basic treatment is basically complete."

"You will need to come to me for nebulizer treatment once a day from now on. Please try not to be late or absent."

Su Long nodded, got up and started getting dressed, preparing to leave.

Stella suddenly remembered something and asked, "Didn't something happen to your rented apartment? Do you have a place to stay now?"

"If you don't have anywhere to stay, you can temporarily use this ward. It's a private ward registered under my name, so you don't need to go through the hospital's registration process."

Su Long nodded slightly and thanked him, saying, "Thank you for your kindness, but I do have somewhere to go."

After saying that, Su Long looked out the window and subconsciously used his spiritual vision to try to find the butterfly.

But he quickly remembered the system notification—"Killer Butterfly" has no supernatural abilities and is no different from an ordinary butterfly, so it should be impossible for it to be detected by the psychic.

He turned his gaze away and looked at Stella, asking, "Professor Stella, could you provide me with a good quality full-body protective suit and face shield? I can pay you at market price."

Stella waved her hand, a hint of curiosity flashing in her gray-blue eyes: "No need to pay, after all, you've helped me a lot... But what do you need the protective suit and mask for?"

"Could it be... that you've gotten into trouble again?"

Su Long gave a wry smile and simply told her about the "butterfly's pursuit" curse.

Stella listened with a shocked expression. She pushed up her glasses and said in a serious tone, "This curse... is unheard of."

"Are you sure that butterfly didn't have supernatural abilities?"

Su Long nodded: "I'm sure."

Stella first opened the door a crack, leaned half her body out and looked around to make sure there wasn't a single killer butterfly flying in the corridor, before turning back and saying, "Come with me."

The two walked through two long corridors and arrived at Stella's laboratory.

The room was large but had no windows. The cold white light shone on the stainless steel countertop, giving it a cool, gleaming sheen.

Stella walked straight to the sterile cabinet against the wall and entered the password. The cabinet door popped open, and she took out a sealed bag and handed it back to her.

"A DuPont Class C liquid-tight chemical protective suit, equipped with a full-face mask and a P3 filter cartridge," Stella said as she closed the cabinet door. "It's basically overkill to protect against that butterfly."

Su Long took the bag and was about to thank them when his gaze fell on a vessel in the center of the laboratory.

They were three glass columns arranged in a triangle, connected to each other by a complex network of conduits and valves.

The glass column was filled with a viscous, black, semi-solid substance that was slowly churning and bubbling. Occasionally, a large bubble would burst, splattering tiny specks of mud onto the glass wall.

"Glug—"

Suron's eyelids twitched: "Professor Stella, if I'm not mistaken, you've filled your lab with weird black sludge?"

"To be precise, these are 'strangely active samples'," Stella walked to the instrument and tapped the glass wall with her knuckles. The black mud inside was shaken and surged more violently. "The quality of the black mud in these three sample tanks is all below the mutation threshold. As long as no one carelessly opens these valves, they are absolutely safe."

Su Long didn't speak, but stared at the valves and took half a step back: "Professor Stella, generally speaking, as long as you say that, someone will definitely move that valve."

Stella paused for a moment, then rolled her eyes.

Although she spoke dismissively, her body betrayed her. She turned around, reached out and grasped the brass valves, turning them several turns to the right until the metal made a teeth-grinding scraping sound before stopping: "Now it's done."

Stella patted her reddened hands, then looked at Su Long, "If it's really like you jinxed it, and something strange has arisen, I'll call you for help."

"No, please don't."

Su Long put on the hazmat suit, turned around and walked towards the door, his steps so fast it was as if wild dogs were chasing him: "You should call the Bureau of Oddity Support. There's a super-strong female captain who's particularly good at this."

"I'm just a cremator on a fixed salary. This kind of trouble would require more money—no, I wouldn't do it even with more money."