High-level martial arts: Long spear with black flames to suppress demons.

Bai Yin carried the food box to the innermost room on the second floor. Just as she was about to knock on the door, she found that the door was ajar and not locked at all.

The little cat's eyes darted around, and a sly, mischievous smile curled at the corner of its mouth.

Like a real cat, she didn't make a sound, quietly pushed open the door a crack, and slipped inside like a wisp of smoke.

Inside the room, Shen Chang'an was sitting at his desk with his back to the door, wearing noise-canceling headphones, seemingly listening to music.

Bai Yin crept up behind Shen Chang'an, took a deep breath, and suddenly lunged forward, slapping Shen Chang'an's shoulders with both hands while shouting in his ear, "Whoa! There's a monster!"

Shen Chang'an's body jerked violently, almost dropping his phone on the table. He then turned around and said in a completely calm tone, "Ah, I'm so scared, I'm about to have a heart attack."

"..."

Bai Yin looked at his expressionless, deadpan face and pursed her lips. She moved closer, her delicate, small face almost touching Shen Chang'an's nose, her large eyes staring at him suspiciously: "Boss, did you already know I was here, and were you just pretending to cooperate with me?"

Shen Chang'an looked at the little cat demon so close to him and couldn't help but laugh. He stretched out his finger and precisely...

Bai Yin lightly flicked a finger on her smooth forehead.

"Ouch!" Baiyin covered her forehead.

"What do you think?" Shen Chang'an took off his headphones. "As a fifth-realm cultivator, my perception is always on. I knew you had just stepped into the courtyard on the first floor. Next time you want to scare me, I suggest you get a high-level magic artifact that can block spiritual energy and footsteps."

"Tch! That's boring!"

Bai Yin rubbed her forehead defiantly, then flopped backward, landing with a "thud" on Shen Chang'an's soft bed in a starfish shape. She muttered, "Just you wait! I, Bai Yin, swear, one day I'll definitely scare you!"

As she lay down and completely relaxed, the characteristics of her demon race could no longer be suppressed and surfaced.

A pair of fluffy white cat ears stood up from her smooth, short hair, trembling with her breath.

Today, Baiyin didn't wear the stiff black combat uniform of Zhenyesi, but instead changed into a cool and lively everyday outfit. She wore a fitted light blue cropped sweatshirt on top and pure white athletic shorts on the bottom.

As she lay down, her perfect legs, completely uncovered, were immediately revealed. They were straight and slender, with skin so white it seemed to reflect light.

She casually kicked off her sneakers, revealing a pair of delicate feet encased in pure white ankle socks, her toes playfully scratching in mid-air.

A long, snow-white cat tail peeked out from the edge of the shorts, lazily sweeping and drawing circles on the neat bed sheet.

Bai Yin rolled around on the bed a couple of times and made a fuss for a while. Seeing that Shen Chang'an just turned his gaming chair around and looked at her without paying any attention to her, she turned to the side, propped her chin up with one hand, and began to look at the layout of the room with her cat-like eyes.

"Boss, your room is way too plain! It's like a hermit's meditation room."

The little cat demon instantly transformed into a "top interior design master," extending a slender, white finger to survey the room: "Look, that blank white wall is such a waste! We should add a 100-inch 4K ambient light rejecting projector screen there! And over there by the window, where the light is good, we can create a gaming area with an L-shaped RGB gaming desk. The corner is too dull; we need to add an expensive ornamental potted plant, like a welcoming pine or something. Oh, and on the wall above the bed, let's hang a famous painting or calligraphy—that's how you truly enjoy life!"

Shen Chang'an rolled his eyes speechlessly as he listened to her renovation plan.

"Forget it, Master Bai."

Shen Chang'an complained, "Every day when I come back to this room, I either collapse into bed and sleep, or I spend most of my time outside in the wind and sun doing free work for your Night Watch Division. Did I decorate it like a presidential suite for ghosts to enjoy?"

Baiyin paused, then lay back down on the bed in a starfish position, sighing, "That's true, we're all just miserable lowly laborers, when do we have time to enjoy life?"

The two chatted casually, and naturally the conversation turned to the big fight in the urban village last night, as well as Li Xiwan's situation.

"You were really impressive last night, taking on a whole group of enemies by yourself. The whole team's chat group was buzzing."

While playing with her cat tail, Bai Yin casually remarked, "Speaking of your female classmate... Old Zhao's actions this time were quite strange. He didn't follow the rules and erase Li Xiwan's memory on the spot; instead, he left her in the medical department, as if he wanted to do something..."

Baiyin's voice stopped abruptly halfway through her sentence.

Her fluffy cat ears suddenly stood straight up, clearly realizing that she had blurted out some inside secrets.

Shen Chang'an abruptly stopped spinning his gaming chair. He turned around, his deep eyes fixed on the little cat demon lying on the bed.

Staring at her with such an oppressive gaze, Bai Yin's tail bristled with fear. She sat bolt upright, clutching her chest defensively with both hands, and stammered, "Why...why are you looking at me like that! I'm warning you, humans and demons are different! Don't you dare do anything rash!"

Shen Chang'an didn't buy into her banter at all, and stood up directly, striding to the bedside.

Without any hesitation, he reached out and grabbed Baiyin's hoodie by the back of the collar, lifting her off the bed like a misbehaving kitten.

"Ouch! It's broken! It's broken! The clothes are going to strangle my neck!" Baiyin flailed her limbs in mid-air.

"Stop talking nonsense."

Shen Chang'an's eyes turned slightly cold. "Finish what you just said. Old Zhao didn't erase Li Xiwan's memory? What is he trying to do?"

Under Shen Chang'an's invisible, fifth-realm spiritual pressure, Bai Yin immediately caved, her face contorted with a mournful expression as she confessed everything: "I confess! I confess everything! I secretly peeked at it this morning when I went to the logistics department to look at the files. Old Zhao definitely didn't erase her memory; she's still in the internal hospital. But I swear, I really don't know what Old Zhao is trying to do!"

Shen Chang'an frowned.

Old Zhao, that old fox, is always the most law-abiding. This time, he forcibly kept an ordinary high school student who was involved in a supernatural incident in the station, without even erasing his memory. What exactly is he up to?

"Clatter."

Shen Chang'an released his grip, threw Bai Yin back onto the bed, turned around, walked to the wardrobe, grabbed the black trench coat, and put it on.

"Put your shoes on properly."

Shen Chang'an's tone left no room for argument, "Come with me to the branch building."

After saying that, Shen Chang'an pushed open the door and walked out of the room.

"Hey! Wait for me!"

Seeing Shen Chang'an walk out decisively, Bai Yin hurriedly scrambled out of bed, not even bothering to straighten her white socks, and haphazardly stuffed her feet into her sneakers. She ran out, shouting down the hallway as she stepped on the shoe uppers:

"Boss! Wait for me! I haven't tied my shoelaces yet!"

Twenty minutes later, in the director's office of the Qingzhou District Town Night Division.

With a "bang," the office door was pushed open.

Shen Chang'an strode in, followed by Bai Yin.

At the desk, Xie He was reporting to Lao Zhao, holding several reports. She paused, startled, when Shen Chang'an walked in with an unfriendly expression.

Old Zhao calmly waved his hand: "Xiao Xie, we'll talk about the case later. You can go out now and close the door behind you."

"Yes, Director."

Xie He tactfully withdrew and closed the door with a "click".

Only three people remained in the office.

Shen Chang'an walked to the desk, placed his hands on the surface, and stared down at Lao Zhao, cutting straight to the point: "Lao Zhao, you left Li Xiwan in the medical department and didn't even erase her memories. What are you trying to do?"

Erasing memories typically only works for the last few hours after an event. The principle is to use drugs or low-level spells to induce intense hallucinations, making the person perceive everything as a bizarre dream. However, completely erasing memories from the last day or two requires mastery of high-level mental techniques, something far beyond the reach of someone like Old Zhao, a mere novice at the third realm.

Faced with Shen Chang'an's questioning, Old Zhao leaned back in his chair without any guilt and confessed, "I don't want to do anything, I just want to take her to have her talent tested."

Old Zhao sighed and recounted his assessment from the hospital room the previous night: "You saw it yourself when you saved her last night. An ordinary high school student endured six hours in the Nightmare Illusion Array without her mentally collapsing. This terrifying mental strength indicates that she possesses at least astonishing talent in the 'magic' lineage. How could we let such a promising talent slip by?"

He then stood up, walked to the window and looked outside, his tone full of the helplessness of a grassroots leader: "You know what the situation is like in our Qingzhou branch right now, we're severely short-staffed! You're the only one who can fight."

Those in society with even a little bit of talent for cultivation are all princes and princesses pampered by powerful families or sects. Who would come to our Zhenye Division to do hard labor and risk their life?

At this point, Old Zhao glanced at Bai Yin, who was eavesdropping beside him, and added, "Of course, a naive and innocent little cat demon like Bai Yin who comes here to work is an exception."

"Hey! Old Zhao, are you being polite?"

Baiyin protested angrily.

Shen Chang'an ignored Bai Yin's interruption. Although he understood Old Zhao's helplessness in his eagerness to find talent, he still frowned and questioned this approach: "You're forcing her. She's just an ordinary student. You're laying bare the cruelty of the world in front of her, without erasing her memories. This is basically forcing her down this path. It's not fair to her."

"So I didn't pressure her; I gave her time to choose."

Old Zhao turned around and proposed the final solution: "I'll be in charge of talking to her these next few days. If she agrees, I'll take her to have her talent tested after she's discharged and officially recruit her; if she absolutely refuses, then there's nothing we can do, we can't erase such a long period of memories. We'll have to go with another plan—sign her a top-level confidentiality agreement and give her a generous 'compensation.' From now on, we can only rely on the contract to keep her confidential."

After weighing the options, Shen Chang'an realized that this was indeed the safest approach at the moment, so he could only nod and say, "Alright, let's do it your way. Respect her wishes and don't force her."

"Don't worry, I understand that forced relationships are never sweet."

Old Zhao smiled, then changed the subject.

"Since you've taken the day off, why don't you go to the medical department and see her? After all, you're classmates. Having someone you know comfort her at this time is more effective than me, this burly old man, saying anything."

Shen Chang'an thought about it. After all, it was his mistake that led to Li Xiwan being kidnapped last night, so it was only right to visit her.

"Okay, I'll go buy some fruit first."

Shen Chang'an straightened up, turned around, pushed open the door, and walked out of the office.

Watching Shen Chang'an leave, Bai Yin immediately approached Lao Zhao's desk, crossed her arms, and relentlessly complained, "Lao Zhao, are you setting up the boss again? Are you just waiting for the boss to come to you so you can arrange a meeting with Li Xiwan, which would likely make her agree to the test? You old fox, you're full of bad ideas."

Old Zhao pulled a cigarette from the drawer, lit it, took a deep drag, and exhaled a wisp of smoke: "Tsk, how can you call it 'setting a trap'? That sounds so awful. I call this planning ahead, finding a reliable ally for Chang'an."

Old Zhao looked out the window, his eyes growing deep: "Chang'an, that kid, is incredibly talented. He'll go very far in the future, so far that we might only be able to look up to him. But he's too withdrawn at heart, always used to shouldering all the dangers himself, used to fighting alone. But in this world, no matter how strong a person is, there will always be times when they can't be in two places at once."

"Cultivating truly trustworthy confidants must begin in youth, that is, right now."

Old Zhao dusted off his cigarette ash.

"I've observed Li Xiwan. She has a clean background, a resilient personality, and most importantly, she's incredibly talented! Her mental strength is definitely stronger than most of the geniuses currently being nurtured by the Municipal Bureau! If she's properly trained, she'll definitely become Chang'an's most capable right-hand woman in the future."

"Tch, make it sound so mysterious."

Baiyin pouted defiantly and raised her chin.

"Am I not now the boss's right-hand man? I can help him in the future!"

Old Zhao glanced at her and muttered mercilessly, "Come on. You've been cultivating for over a hundred years and you're still just a lowly demon at the third realm. By human standards, Chang'an could easily call you grandma. And you're still helping him? You're lucky if you don't hold him back."

"You! You're talking nonsense!"

Bai Yin bristled like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. She hissed fiercely at Old Zhao, revealing two cute little tiger teeth, and retorted loudly, "How can our demon race's lifespan be the same as yours! If I convert it to human years, I'm clearly only eighteen! Forever eighteen!"

In the spirit cat clan to which Bai Yin belongs, elders easily live to be four or five hundred years old. Therefore, according to the life cycle ratio, Bai Yin's age of one hundred is equivalent to eighteen to twenty years old in the demon race, making her a young girl who has just come of age.

"My previous hundred years were all spent laying the foundation in my childhood, okay?!"

His face flushed, he desperately tried to justify his slow cultivation speed, "Now that I'm officially an adult, my talent has fully awakened, and my progress will definitely be extremely fast! Don't look down on cats!"

Old Zhao looked at the snarling cat demon and nodded perfunctorily: "Alright, alright, you eighteen-year-old grandma. You'd better go to the training room and practice more real combat, so you don't hide behind Chang'an and cry 'Boss, help me!' again next time you're on a mission."

"You son of a bitch, Lao Zhao! I'm going to scratch you to death!"

Bai Yin's furious roar suddenly echoed in the office.