Yu Sheng certainly knew there would be a reward—whether providing intelligence, assisting in action, or directly "contracting" certain projects, handing over supernatural items, the Special Service Bureau would pay a reward to Spirit Realm detectives and investigators according to a certain quota, and this was also one of the main and most stable sources of income for "civilian extraordinary people" like Little Red Riding Hood.

He just didn't expect the Special Service Bureau to directly send the money like this, and the amount was even higher than he had anticipated.

Obviously, this extra amount of reward money was linked to the Danger Level of the "Angel Sect."

Yu Sheng recalled Little Red Riding Hood's reminder before she left, and at the same time, he realized more deeply the uniqueness of those so-called "Angel Sect" in the eyes of the Special Service Bureau.

Song Cheng nodded slightly after Yu Sheng took the envelope and casually said, "Normally, the reward would be directly deposited into your accounts via the 'Border Communication' platform, but considering this is our first collaboration, I thought a bit of ritual would be better—more importantly, I wanted to take this opportunity to talk to you about the 'Dark Angel' and the 'Angel Sect', as it is rare for Spirit Realm detectives and investigators to get involved with those crazy Angel Sect members on their first mission."

Yu Sheng adjusted his sitting posture, showing a serious attitude: "I had seen that 'Angel' in Nightfall Valley before, to be honest, it's quite different from what I imagined an 'Angel' would be..."

Song Cheng, with a deep voice, said: "But you could feel its massive existential presence, that kind of 'overlooking' as if from a higher dimension, and behind its bizarre form... 'saintliness,' right?"

"Saintliness..." Yu Sheng recalled the sensation when he first saw that giant eye in the sky, as if he vaguely understood Song Cheng's meaning, "If what you mean is that kind of rational, indifferent atmosphere, then indeed there was some, that eerie thing was scary, but when it was hanging in the sky, it occasionally gave people a sinister sense of 'divinity'."

"That's how the word 'Angel' came about," Song Cheng nodded, "The first investigator to contact the Dark Angel wrote the first sighting report before falling into insanity, in the terror nearing madness, the recorder described his feelings like this—

"It looked down upon us, as though coming from a higher, transcendent place, crazy thoughts filled my mind... It was a Messenger, a messenger representing a larger, more majestic power, I seemed to hear it speaking to me, sentences I couldn't understand, conveying a will beyond human comprehension... In the most extreme and pure thoughts, I saw a dark future, everything perished, and they ascended to the sky..."

Song Cheng spoke this passage in a low and slow tone, then took out a thick stack of documents from the briefcase beside him, pulled out one, and placed it in front of Yu Sheng.

"This is the investigator who left that sighting report, we call him 'Patient Zero', and this is what he looks like now."

Yu Sheng curiously took over the photo for a glance, but only saw a weird and twisted... "Tree" standing alone in a pure white hall.

The tree was rooted in a huge cultivation tank, all its roots and branches were overgrown, entwined, and tangled like hair, the whole subtly showing the outline of a struggling, hunched human form, with dubious colored "vines" hanging from the dark crown of the tree. Upon closer inspection, Yu Sheng realized that the vines drooping from the crown were in fact a series of bizarrely swollen blood vessels.

"He is now contained in a high-security 'warehouse' of the Special Service Bureau, we need to prune the new branches that grow from the tree crown every three days to prevent him from suddenly losing control," Song Cheng's voice entered Yu Sheng's ears, "He didn't become like this all at once, in fact, the entire transformation process lasted ten years, that was... a very terrifying process, during which Patient Zero would occasionally regain sanity amidst madness, then fall back into frenzy in immense panic."

Erin peered over and glanced at the materials in Yu Sheng's hand, listening to Song Cheng's description, she couldn't help but shrink her neck and muttered: "This looks even worse than death... If I were you, I would've just put him out of his misery quickly, this is just torturing him."

"Yes, that's why we've done just that," Song Cheng said calmly, "After Patient Zero's last awakening and pleading to the Regulator, we carried out an 'execution' on him, we're certain we killed him, or at least his suffering spirit, but his body still survived the severe damage... After careful discussion, the Special Service Bureau decided to keep this body as an important sample for researching the influence of Angels."

Yu Sheng's brows were tightly furrowed, taking quite a while before he finally spoke, "Just one glance will turn one into this state? But we also saw that giant eye then; how come it seems like there aren't any side effects?"

"Firstly, merely witnessing it for a short period will not leave irreversible effects, whereas 'Patient Zero' was trapped next to the first Angel; his contact with that entity was too prolonged," Song Cheng spoke slowly, "Secondly, each Dark Angel's 'characteristics' differ. Some possess powerful psychic corruption, others exhibit direct destructiveness, and there are those... that seem to be harmless, at least their entities did not show any displays of direct aggression. That giant eye you saw likely belongs to a more passive species with weaker 'offensive' capabilities."

"Are there many Dark Angels?" Yu Sheng raised his head curiously.

"As far as has been confirmed, there are already into double digits," Song Cheng said, passing another piece of information over, "This is the 'first Angel,' what Patient Zero witnessed, and is currently acknowledged as the first Dark Angel to invade our world."

Even the fox, which had been seriously grooming its tail, couldn't help but sidle over, joining Yu Sheng and Erin to look at the content on the document.

"The first Angel is also known as 'Tree Angel,' or 'Upside-down Tree,'" Song Cheng continued unhurriedly, "Its form during the 'Descent' is that of a huge plant inverted in the sky, with a canopy width reaching nearly a kilometer, and its height almost a kilometer as well; it grew out of a spiral structure suspended in the sky—this vortex would form between twenty-four to seventy-two hours before the 'Descent,' serving as an important reference for identifying the 'Tree Angel' and providing advance warning."

Yu Sheng stared intently at the detailed photos of the vast Upside-down Tree on the document, as well as the expanse of city buildings in the background, and beneath the photo, he saw the further description of this "Dark Angel":

"...it does not move or attack actively, but continuously emits strong psychic disturbances. Observers will uncontrollably lift their heads to gaze at its canopy and hear a vast and chaotic noise until their minds are fully occupied, even believing they have become 'trees' themselves. In some contact reports, survivors described seeing a 'forest,' with themselves nestled as saplings around the 'Mother Tree'...

"At present, there is no effective means to resist this 'gaze impulse'; even the most mentally resilient individuals cannot control their own eyes from shifting after the Tree Angel's Descent, this effect is similar to that of the 'Beauty God' and 'Silent Sun'... The currently known most effective protective measures include voluntary blindness, deep hypnosis, and drinking the 'Snake Poison Wine' of the Desert Royal Court ahead of time, the main logic being to forcibly block vision or suppress mental activity..."

"The Tree Angel first appeared above the Exotic Realm of 'Silent City'," Song Cheng said on the side, "It led to the entire Exotic Realm's activation, nearly all teams of investigators and scholar groups active within the realm perished, only 'Patient Zero' survived. The last appearance was three years ago, above an Alien Planet, directly invading our physical world—even though that time it only remained for a few tens of minutes in the sky, the aftermath was tremendously horrific, because it was a remote and backward planet, the locals had no experience or ability to counter the Dark Angels; subsequent counts revealed hundreds of thousands affected, with direct casualties over ten thousand, and the rest still suffer torment to this day."

Yu Sheng felt a strong... shock.

He did not have this sense of reality when he saw the giant One-eyed in the valley, but now, he finally realized from the genuine cases just how dangerous a "Dark Angel" could be.

"This thing... can appear in the real world?!" He lifted his head, looking at Song Cheng with an incredulous gaze.

"Generally, Dark Angels 'Descend' more often in Exotic Realms, but in reality, they can appear anywhere," Song Cheng nodded, "They are not bound by spatiotemporal dimensions, their appearances and departures follow no pattern, they are truly 'free wanderers.'"

Yu Sheng was speechless for a while, and Erin, after a short moment of stunned silence, couldn't help but mutter, "...Holy shit."

"Where the heck do these things come from?" After a moment of pondering, Yu Sheng asked.

"No one knows," Song Cheng sighed, "But now a widely accepted notion is that all 'Dark Angels' originate from outside our world—they are a group of 'invaders' assaulting our universe."

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