My organs are too abstract.

Chapter 99 Awakening!

Yu Hanqiu fell into deep thought.

Suddenly, her gaze fell on the black bracelet on Xu Yuan's wrist, and her eyes narrowed sharply: "Wait, this bracelet... I feel like I've seen it somewhere before—"

Meanwhile, the conversation among the group continued.

Xu Youyou remained hidden in mid-air, her eyes full of curiosity, and asked softly, "That building looked really impressive, why did it suddenly leave?"

"Who knows?" Ye Chu shrugged. "The behavior of calamities is extremely difficult to predict. Just like that vertical pupil over Wutong District before, we all thought it would cause a big commotion here, but who would have thought it would just wander around and leave."

"Vertical pupils?" Yu Hanqiu was shocked.

This name, like a delicate key, gently touched a string in her mind, and instantly reminded her of where the black rope in Xu Yuan's hand came from.

—It's from the footage that Gu Ya recalled!

The man in pajamas who was transformed into a calamity, the rope he used to hang himself, eventually turned into a pitch-black, dull rope, which was clearly the same one in Xu Yuan's hand!

Regarding the brief appearance and rapid disappearance of the vertical pupil in Wutong District, she had a speculation—that the other party was wary of something in Wutong District.

When she first saw the true face of that old building that had been the source of countless disasters, she thought she had found the answer. What her vertical pupils feared was perhaps this building.

But now, she has a new theory.

The guess was so incredible that it made her tremble inexplicably, and her fingertips even quivered slightly.

"Could it be that—what the person with the vertical pupils is wary of isn't actually that old building, but rather—Xu Yuan?!"

Once this idea took root, it spread like wildfire, impossible to shake off, and it lingered in my mind for a long time.

"The apprehension of the vertical pupils, the fear of the old building—"

Yu Hanqiu stared at the sleepwalking figure in the distance and fell into a long silence.

"Captain Yu, what's wrong?" Gu Ya's soft voice finally brought her back to reality.

Yu Hanqiu suppressed her turbulent thoughts and shook her head calmly: "It's nothing."

She didn't tell everyone her speculations, not only because it might expose the existence of the [Pupil Judge], but also because she was unsure of the Bureau's attitude.

Liu Zhou's attitude reveals that the Sickness Control Bureau may not necessarily try to win over a threatening entity, but may instead try to nip it in the bud.

However, she did not think it was a good choice for an unknown entity that did not yet have any malicious intent.

So she decided to test the waters secretly before making a decision.

"Huh?" Just then, Ye Chu suddenly pointed ahead, her voice rising abruptly, "Look, isn't that kid moving?"

Everyone focused their attention on the direction and, sure enough, saw Xu Yuan, who had been standing still, slowly begin to walk, maintaining his head bowed and seemingly lost in thought, slowly heading in one direction.

Liu Zhou narrowed his eyes, his aura instantly turned cold, and the blood-red patterns on his pure white mask began to reappear.

Cheng Tuo immediately looked at Yu Hanqiu, his eyes questioning, "Captain Yu?"

Yu Hanqiu immediately said, "Liu Zhou, Ye Chu, Xu Chang, and Youyou, the four of you stay here for now to monitor this area and prevent that building from returning or any other unusual occurrences."

"The rest of you, follow me. Let's go see where he's going!"

Everyone responded in unison, "Understood!"

Yu Hanqiu said no more and, with Gu Ya and Cheng Tuo, quietly followed behind Xu Yuan.

Xu Yuan wasn't walking fast, so keeping up was effortless, and the people behind him even had time to chat.

Gu Ya glanced at Cheng Tuo beside her. This middle-aged captain, with his square face and calm demeanor, had a cartoon-shaped children's telescope hanging around his neck with a bright rainbow rope. It bounced up and down as he walked, which looked quite comical.

She couldn't help but chuckle softly, "Even though I know it's a sequence aberration, having this thing hanging around your neck—it really does look a bit odd."

"There's no way around it, this is the price of using it." Cheng Tuo tugged at the rope helplessly. "After each use, it must be worn and displayed like this for three hours, under the public's gaze. In its words, this is called 'encouragement for reaping growth'."

The use of sequence aberrations is no different from that of ordinary aberrations; each one comes with its own price. Violation of this price will result in the backlash of the aberration. This is an ironclad rule known to everyone in the Bureau of Health and Welfare.

"Sequence aberration machines are really interesting." Gu Ya clicked her tongue in amazement, her eyes filled with envy. "I wish I could have one too."

"Sequence aberrations are far more bizarre than ordinary aberrations. They need to be contained before they can be used normally. Some containment conditions are very strange or even harsh. Even if they are successfully contained, it may not be a good thing."

Cheng Tuo said in a serious tone: "My sequence aberration device is mild-mannered, and many of its functions have been crippled, so the price I paid is negligible. But some sequence aberration devices are different; the price they require is something that ordinary people simply cannot bear."

"Cheng Tuo is right," Yu Hanqiu replied in a deep voice, his tone heavy. "Some sequence aberrations require the sacrifice of limbs, memories, or even more terrifying things. Like calamities, their origins are shrouded in mystery, and they are equally dangerous and unpredictable."

Gu Ya's expression hardened, and she immediately composed herself, nodding solemnly, "I understand."

Yu Hanqiu said no more, turned to look at Cheng Tuo, and changed the subject: "You said before that Xu Yuan looked familiar?"

"A little." Cheng Tuo frowned, his tone somewhat bewildered. "And it feels like this sense of familiarity has been getting stronger and stronger ever since that building disappeared."

Yu Hanqiu fell silent again, because she had the same feeling. Deep in her mind, some vague fragments of memory seemed to be surfacing.

As they spoke, the three of them followed Xu Yuan to a small community square with old fitness equipment.

"Captain Yu, he's stopped!" Gu Ya immediately whispered a reminder.

Yu Hanqiu stared intently and saw Xu Yuan slowly stop in front of an old but sturdy metal horizontal bar.

"What is he trying to do?" Cheng Tuo stared intently at the horizontal bar, his gaze growing serious. "Is there something wrong with this horizontal bar?"

Although he didn't know Xu Yuan's background, Yu Hanqiu's high regard for him made him more cautious about the other party.

Yu Hanqiu stared at Xu Yuan's standing back, feeling that he was shrouded in layers of mystery, which made her dare not underestimate him in the slightest.

She pondered for a moment, then slowly said, "Perhaps there is some deeper meaning. Let's look carefully."

As soon as she finished speaking, Xu Yuan in front of her suddenly made a move.

He slowly turned around, his head bowed, facing the three of them. Then, his left hand, which had been hanging naturally at his side, suddenly moved.

It slowly lifted up, its five fingers spread, and precisely gripped the horizontal bar.

Then, under the increasingly wide, astonished and puzzled gazes of Yu Hanqiu, Cheng Tuo, and Gu Ya, Xu Yuan slowly exerted force and tightened his left hand.

He still had his head down, seemingly still asleep, but his left hand was calmly pulling upwards, and his feet quietly left the ground.

Then, with perfect form, steady rhythm, and meticulous attention to detail, he began to do pull-ups.

Yu Hanqiu: "???"

Cheng Tuo: "???"

"Captain Yu, a one-arm pull-up—is there some deeper meaning to that?" Gu Ya blinked and lowered her voice, "Is it to show off his extraordinary physical abilities?"

Yu Hanqiu: "————"

Gu Ya's gaze lingered on Xu Yuan's abs, which occasionally peeked out from under his pajamas as he moved. She couldn't help but look a few more times before commenting, "While—his physique is indeed quite good, is it really necessary to display it like this?"

Yu Hanqiu didn't speak, but her eyes behind her sunglasses suddenly turned cold.

"Pfft—" Cheng Tuo couldn't help but laugh out loud, but suddenly felt a chill beside him. His expression instantly tightened, and he coughed twice. "Let's see, let's see. Maybe something else will happen later?"

Five minutes later.

The group remained standing there, watching longingly.

Ten minutes passed.

Xu Yuan continued to rise and fall rhythmically.

Twenty minutes passed.

Cheng Tuo and Gu Ya's legs were getting sore from standing, so they tacitly walked over and sat down on a bench.

Two hours later.

"Captain Yu, there's no signal here, we can't use our phones." Cheng Tuo pulled out a deck of cards and shouted to Yu Hanqiu, who was still standing there, "How about—the three of us play a game of cards for a while?"

Yu Hanqiu stood tall and straight, motionless like an ice sculpture, with the air pressure around him extremely low.

Finally, as the first rays of dawn pierced the night sky and fell upon the world, Yu Hanqiu's cold eyes stirred slightly.

Xu Yuan, standing opposite, slowly stopped moving and then gradually raised his head.