As Chief Huang spoke, his gaze inadvertently fell upon the floor tiles. The marble tiles were so polished that he could see the blurry reflection of people and objects on the surface. Suddenly, memories that he thought had faded away came flooding back when he saw the distorted reflection.

He closed his eyes and Han Guo appeared on his eyelids, laughing and joking with him as if nothing had happened.

At home, she always dressed sloppily. Whenever it got cold, she would wear those coral fleece pajamas that caused static electricity to run wild. She would complain that her bangs blocked her view and would stick a dark, sticky tape on her bangs - something he could never understand. It always looked like a flypaper stuck to her forehead.

He remembered that day when he was making tea in the living room and heard the crazy woman in the study screaming, "Ah! Ah! The historical data matches up perfectly! Ah! Ah! Ah!"

As the "ah" turned into a different pitch, there was a loud clanging noise coming from the study. He quickly put down the kettle and ran in to see Han Guo doing the splits on a collapsing chair, leaving him stunned.

"Dr. Han, what kind of new kung fu have you been practicing?"

"Help me up quickly...hiss...I've broken my tailbone..."

"Can you stand up? Walk a few steps for me...No problem, you can still walk. Your tailbone is intact. But wait, this chair can hold several hundred pounds, how did you manage to break it?"

"Well, I got excited and jumped up to bounce on it a couple of times just now..."

"No...how old are you? You spent over forty years squatting in kindergarten?"

"I'm just so excited...we've been collecting this valuable population data for eighteen years...eighteen years, you know...oh my goodness, my back hurts..."

"Okay, congratulations - but you owe me a chair!"

"Compensation, compensation, compensation. Once I get my salary this month, I'll buy you a new one. Let me tell you, all our previous assumptions were correct. The special abilities birth rate and the activity of the Chiyuan are significantly positively correlated! And the Chiyuan energy activity pattern is very clear, with a 'fuse' point. Once it climbs to a certain threshold, it will plummet to zero in a straight line the following year.

"This is not like the common negative feedback in nature. There must be some unknown force regulating the Chiyuan, which awakens every few hundred years... Listen to me! Stop fiddling with your broken chair. Our next goal is to study the Chiyuan. It's really a treasure trove..."

It's strange to say, but Old Huang rarely thinks about Han Guo.

What's the point of thinking about her?

They met through a blind date and spent decades together without any ups and downs.

They were like old roommates, and there was no need for any dramatic love story.

After all, Han Guo had many flaws and was not particularly good-looking. It was not worth destroying the earth for someone like her.

So, what was there for her to reminisce about?

However, at such an inappropriate time, she suddenly popped up in his mind, alive and kicking.

When she was alive, he always hoped that she would go on business trips so that he could indulge in his favorite spicy braised food, have the big bed all to himself at night, and snore as loud as he wanted without anyone kicking him.

He would also wonder why he got married so young.

But later on, when she really left and never returned, his remaining years were filled with despair.

From then on, there was no one to share his joys and sorrows with.

Chief Huang calmly stated three and a half sentences, but suddenly choked up. He didn't know why, but he couldn't continue speaking.

"They started with the birth rate and investigated all the way to Chiyuan," Sheng Lingyuan observed Chief Huang's subtle expressions and asked softly, "Was this a confidential or public matter?"

Chief Huang looked at him blankly, and Dr. Wang answered on his behalf, "I led the research team, and it was approved by former director Xiang Zhang. However, since it involves sensitive issues regarding the source of special abilities, if we were to publish our results prematurely without thorough research, it would cause a lot of trouble. So at the time, only the research team, the director, the head of the security department, and the head of the aftermath department, who needed to cooperate, knew about it."

Among these people, the former director had passed away, the former head of the security department had been imprisoned for allegedly concealing the number of casualties in an accident, and the former head of the aftermath department, rumored to be one of the instigators of the "Mirror Flower Water Moon Butterfly," had mysteriously fallen into a coma and disappeared without a trace.

Sheng Lingyuan asked again, "So what did this so-called 'Chiyuan Investigation Team' find out?"

"The Chiyuan Investigation Team was led by Han Guo. They were always working in the field, and they thought I was too old to go," Dr. Wang said. "She proposed a hypothesis at the time, suggesting that Chiyuan was transmitting abnormal energy through the earth's veins, and the earth's veins were like a relay station. Energy fluctuations were active near the earth's veins, and paranormal events were frequent. Therefore, theoretically, the birth rate of special abilities should be higher than in other areas."

Upon hearing this, Xuan Ji finally shifted his attention away from Sheng Lingyuan, nodding in agreement.

"The principle is correct. We have already collected comprehensive data on the population. If this hypothesis is proven, then mapping the distribution of the earth's veins will become much easier. We may even indirectly obtain the trajectory of the earth's veins' changes... As Little Guo said, by then, Senior Sister Dan will no longer have to run around in various remote and dangerous areas."

Dan Lin couldn't bear to listen and pursed her lips.

Xuan Ji asked, "Why didn't this research continue?"

"It did continue, but the hypothesis was overturned."

Xuan Ji exclaimed, "What? How did you come to that conclusion?"

If Dan Lin wasn't present, he would have almost blurted out, "Is it possible that your calculation of the earth's veins is inaccurate?"

Sheng Lingyuan asked, "What does 'not completely conforming to the hypothesis' mean?"

"It means that some of the earth veins do conform to the hypothesis - there are indeed frequent anomalous events and a high rate of special abilities in the vicinity; some are ordinary; and there are some earth veins that are very strange, such as the one in the western suburbs of the imperial capital. There is indeed active anomalous activity and frequent thunderstorms, but based on the exact data we have been able to obtain, the special ability birth rate in this area is abnormally low, almost zero."

Sheng Lingyuan narrowed his eyes slightly and asked, "Is there any pattern to this?"

"There is no definitive conclusion, but based on our preliminary analysis, it seems to be related to the volcanic seismic zone. The more frequent the crustal activity, the higher the birth rate of special abilities in the earth's veins - like Yong'an, located in the great plain and the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties. There have been few major earthquakes in its history, and the earth's veins here are like black holes, making it impossible for any vegetation to grow around them."

Dr. Wang sighed tremblingly, "The interaction between crustal activity and earth's veins can promote or inhibit the birth of special abilities through some mechanism that we haven't had time to study thoroughly. Little Guo..."

Xuan Ji and Sheng Lingyuan quickly exchanged a glance, their understanding unspoken.

They had come to the same conclusion - the volcanic earthquake was just a symptom. In places where the crust was highly active, the Earth's veins could shift, causing drastic changes in the geological environment.

The older and more stable the Earth's veins, the more likely it was for "special individuals" to appear in the surrounding areas.

In other words, only when a new Earth's vein was formed would the surrounding people be "normal." So, what had been done to the old Earth's vein?

Wang Ze asked in a hushed voice, "Did the bureau conduct a thorough investigation into her cause of death at the time?"

"In the depths of Chiyuan, it's just like the post-war district. You never know which step might lead you to danger. She was just a scholar, not a field agent, and encountering danger was no different from an ordinary person. At the time, everyone thought she was too reckless, going too deep into Chiyuan and touching something she shouldn't have... The Security Department's Little Song personally led a review, and no one questioned it."

"Later, the Security Department stopped the entire research project, citing 'too many unknown risks in Chiyuan, not suitable for excessive exploration at this stage,' and no one questioned it... except for me."

Chief Huang said expressionlessly, "I know her. She may seem outgoing, but she's actually very timid. When she goes to unfamiliar places, she checks the environment first, stays in a hotel when she goes out, and never forgets to bring a doorstopper even if she forgets her wallet. I don't believe someone like her would leave the team for no reason in a place like Chiyuan."

"Old Huang found me and Old Xiang in private," Dan Lin continued, "Old Xiang disagreed and said he couldn't accept the truth for a while, so he needed to find a fictional enemy to hate. I...out of consideration for his feelings, thought it would be okay to let him feel better this way, so I didn't persuade him and even helped him collect some similar cases of supernatural abilities. As a result, we unexpectedly discovered that Han Guo was not the first case."

Xiao Zheng asked, "Does the True Nature Sect use people to refine the 'True Pill' and reward their disciples? They must have killed a lot of people, right? Why hasn't anyone noticed before?"

"In the world of special abilities, handling corpses is not difficult," Yan Qiushan said. "There are people within the True Nature Sect who specialize in handling them. Even if the bodies are discovered due to various accidents before they can be properly disposed of, there will be someone to cover it up."

Xiao Zheng was taken aback, "Wait, what do you mean?"

Yan Qiushan gave him a cold glance. "It's exactly what you're thinking."

"Similar cases have occurred sporadically around the world before the real intentions of the True Nature Sect were fully exposed, but they didn't catch the attention of any particular government. Without exception, the cause of death for the victims was attributed to 'unknown attacks by mutated creatures,' or 'accidental deaths,' with no one held responsible and no investigations conducted... and the way Little Guo's death was handled is surprisingly consistent with this pattern."

Dan Lin sighed.

"Director Xiao, you understand it correctly. This is the True Nature Sect's infiltration ability... We were too unimaginative at the time and thought they were using some kind of special ability that we didn't know about. We never expected that there was such a colossal creature behind it all. We've been on the wrong track for years in our private investigations."

"I don't think it's a lack of imagination on your part," Yan Qiushan said mercilessly. "I guess Gong Chenggong's report was submitted by the former bureau chief before he passed away, right?"

Dan Lin and Chief Huang's faces changed, and they both fell silent.

The former bureau chief had fallen into eternal regret after a single misstep, unable to wash away the shame in the eyes of others. Faced with the dilemma of justice and old friends on one side, and a lifetime of reputation on the other, when he realized that Dr. Han's death was related to the True Nature Sect and Gong Chenggong, who knew his darkest secrets, the former bureau chief's first reaction was to remain silent and deceive himself.

Since returning from the Heavenly White Jade Palace, Yan Qiushan had become increasingly straightforward in his words and actions, and even Zhi Chun couldn't bear to listen anymore.

"Please don't say anymore," Zhi Chun said.

"I apologize to Chief Huang for my subjective speculation," Yan Qiushan nodded to Chief Huang in a professional manner, and continued, "But there is something that sounds strange to me - there were no people around the Chiyuan, just that large primitive forest. Dealing with a corpse should have been done very easily, so why did the killer hastily dispose of the body there?"

Xuan Ji suddenly interjected, "Can you tell me the date of Mrs. Han's murder?"

Chief Huang blurted out, "September 6th, her anniversary..."

Xuan Ji asked, "Which year?"

"Ten years ago," Chief Huang replied.

Xuan Ji's eyebrows twitched, and the small mole at the corner of his eye moved along with it - it was the day he repaired the Nirvana Stone and forgot everything he shouldn't remember, his 36th day of reincarnation into the mortal world.