Yu Sheng felt somewhat disoriented; the seriousness and caution shown by the laboratory staff when taking over the samples far exceeded his expectations—picking up the piece of paper seemed normal, but something was definitely off when they later took away the metal lump.

...Could it be that items brought from No. 66 Wutong Road would make the Special Service Bureau go on such high alert?

Numerous thoughts bubbled up in Yu Sheng's mind, but he knew that the Xu Jiali right in front of him definitely wouldn't reveal anything—and even if she wanted to, there probably wasn't much she could tell, after all, this robust man was just a veteran combatant and likely didn't have access to many core secrets.

So, Yu Sheng didn't say anything and after watching the staff take the items inside, he exhaled deeply and turned his head towards Xu Jiali: "So we just leave it to them, right? I thought I might have a chance to observe the process..."

"Of course, you can observe, but only from the observation room next door," Xu Jiali said with a smile, "This is a high-security laboratory after all. Entry involves a lot of hassle, like changing clothes, removing static electricity, administering Sanity Blocker and such—a process of at least half an hour. Plus, only those who have undergone special training can enter the operations area. It's too much hassle."

While saying this, he raised his hand and pointed to another door along the corridor: "Come with me. From this room, you can see into the laboratory. The information you requested has also been sent over, and... our Director is waiting for you."

"Your Director? She came in person again?" Yu Sheng was slightly surprised, and while leading Hu Li and Erin to the next door, he said, "I feel quite embarrassed, always disturbing her..."

Xu Jiali only smiled and didn't say much more, guiding Yu Sheng and his companions to the door of the observation room next door. After knocking and reporting, he stepped back half a step: "I won't go in. The Director doesn't like disturbances when receiving guests."

Yu Sheng acknowledged with an 'oh' and offered thanks for the guide's work. He then composed his expression and pushed the door to enter.

What met his eyes was a rectangular room that wasn't too spacious, with light brown flooring and light blue wallpaper, well-lit and comfortably warm.

Since it was essentially just an "observation room" attached to the laboratory, the room's furnishings were simple and unadorned, except for some inscrutable control platforms and surveillance equipment installed against the wall, and only a table and a few chairs that seemed to have been temporarily moved in were present.

A figure dressed in a white sheath dress, devoid of any sense of color, was standing in the middle of the room, and behind her was a massive window that nearly took up the whole wall—through the faintly glowing blue, mysterious window material, Yu Sheng could see a quite spacious laboratory opposite, where many staff in protective suits were bustling about, with the focus of their activity being the "sample" he had just delivered.

"Welcome to the Special Service Bureau," interrupted Baili Qing's voice, breaking Yu Sheng's curious gaze into the laboratory. This cool-tempered female Director seemed to have a trace of a smile on her face, "I apologize for receiving you in such a plain room for the first time—but I think you'd be more concerned with the sample's analysis rather than the comfort of a lounge."

"Indeed, I'm a pragmatic person, and I am really interested in these professionals'... 'work.'"

As Yu Sheng spoke, he stepped towards the expansive window. He saw several technicians in protective suits placing the paper fragment taken from the "entity-Hunter" under an apparatus and spraying some kind of liquid on it, seemingly beginning the initial processing.

Baili Qing turned her gaze towards Hu Li and Erin.

In the colorless depths of her eyes, a faint curiosity and scrutinous look seemed to emerge.

Erin, unafraid, climbed onto the nearest chair, standing proudly with hands on her hips as she had done on normal days, looking directly at the female Director.

Hu Li approached next to Yu Sheng a tad tensely and nodded to Baili Qing: "Hello... hello."

"Hello," responded Baili Qing with a light nod.

"Where's the other sample I brought?" asked Yu Sheng curiously, turning around, "The metal lump that I don't know the use of."

"The two samples need to be processed separately; it has been taken to another operations compartment."

As Baili Qing spoke, she casually manipulated a terminal device on the table. The next second, Yu Sheng saw the wall-sized "window" flicker, and then one half of it displayed the scene of another operations area.

Technicians in protective suits were placing the "metal lump" into a strange transparent cylindrical container and setting the container on the operating table, apparently preparing to use some high-power device to irradiate or scan it.

Yu Sheng looked at the changing scenery across the "window" with surprise, and suddenly furrowed his brows, thoughtfully turning to look at Baili Qing: "...Is that laboratory really 'across' from us?"

"Not entirely," Baili Qing's eyes revealed a hint of amusement, "It seems you've already learned about many 'peculiarities' of this building on your way here."

"Is that 'iron lump' really special?" Yu Sheng finally voiced his doubt, "I see you all on high alert as if facing a formidable enemy... I even posted a question about it on 'Border Communication' before, but no one knew what it was..."

"After you mentioned it yesterday, I went and found the inquiry you posted before," Baili Qing replied very directly, "To be honest, we don't actually know what that thing is."

"Eh... You don't know either?" Yu Sheng was taken aback, "Then why all this fuss..."

"Exactly because we can't confirm what that thing is through any means, even after using some 'uncommon' methods and still not finding any clues or records, we became particularly interested in it," Baili Qing explained seriously, "It's a rare occurrence for an 'extraneous object' to appear in a stabilized Exotic Realm, which is why it deserves our extra attention."

Yu Sheng was stunned for a moment, feeling that what the other party said made some sense, but then his thoughts shifted, and he noticed a loophole: "But by that logic, No. 66 Wutong Road would actually have extraneous objects coming in quite often..."

He then saw Baili Qing, who was calm just a second before, suddenly widen her eyes, her gaze even a bit sharp: "What did you say? Other 'extraneous objects' have appeared there?!"

Yu Sheng was startled by her reaction, and although he didn't know why the female Director was so agitated, he quickly explained: "Well, I do have to go out to buy things, like when I'm shopping at the supermarket or visiting the vegetable market, you see, that plastic bag on the countertop, that's what I brought back from the supermarket last time..."

Baili Qing: "..."

Yu Sheng: "...?"

The room suddenly became quiet, neither Yu Sheng nor Baili Qing spoke a word, just staring at each other, while Hu Li, having reverted to her most accustomed state of a demon fox after arriving at the Special Service Bureau, immediately bristled the fur behind her ears upon seeing the situation. Erin quietly climbed down from the chair, muttering to herself while moving, "Definitely another round of swearing, hm..."

"...I didn't make myself clear," Baili Qing suddenly took a deep breath, calmly explaining to Yu Sheng, "I'm referring to the phenomenon of unidentifiable substances suddenly being created or 'appearing' inside No. 66 Wutong Road—your going out to buy things doesn't count."

Yu Sheng thought for a while, trying to maintain a straight face, then turned and sat down in a chair nearby: "Well then, let's talk about the Black Forest matter first."

"Alright," Baili Qing immediately sat down opposite him, and then pushed some neatly organized documents from the table towards Yu Sheng, "These are copies of the materials pulled out from the archives—including records of the operations at the time and basic personnel information, you can take an initial look. The documents cannot be taken away and will be destroyed after leaving this room. If there is anything you don't understand, you can ask me directly right now."

Yu Sheng quickly composed his expression and thoughts, casting aside unrelated distractions, and began to open the documents which were obviously freshly copied or printed today, with their covers marked with a destruction deadline.

Opening the first document, the first thing that caught his eye was a few bold, large-sized characters—

Operation Codename: Adulthood.

Yu Sheng's gaze immediately changed slightly.

Baili Qing's voice followed into his ears:

"The operation back then was named 'Adulthood'; from the name, you should be able to understand what it implies—looking from the perspective of those who came after, this operation contained many immature, reckless, and even arrogant elements. You will notice those 'mistakes' that could have been avoided in the documents. However, I must say, any so-called 'correct' paths that we know of today were all tested out by those pioneers who have made mistakes at the expense of their lives."

"I understand," Yu Sheng let out a soft breath, his demeanor becoming more serious.

Baili Qing nodded slightly.

"When 'Fairy Tales' was first discovered, we knew very little about it, and the characteristics it exhibited were highly misleading," she began, "At that time, the Special Service Bureau believed its Power resembled some kind of mental detention cage, a 'Consciousness Trap' specifically targeting minors. Its strength was limited, and it took effect slowly. On the other hand, during the early outbreak of 'Fairy Tales', the destructive power exhibited by children affected by it... wasn't very strong, many children merely experienced nightmares. Therefore, the Special Service Bureau made the first misjudgment about 'Fairy Tales'—which was later proven to be the most severe.

"We thought it... wasn't very strong. After all, just based on the surface-level cases, even children around the age of ten could resist its mental contamination for a long time..."

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