28: Chapter 28 The Bureau of Exorcisms—Entering the World of Science

In a windowless room of about thirty square meters, a single bed was placed against the corner, and opposite it was a desk and chair.

Ye Ming sat at the desk with a book spread open on it. He was reading quietly, turning a page from time to time.

"Knock, knock—"

"Come in."

The door was pushed open from the outside, and a man and a woman walked in side by side.

They were of similar age, roughly in their early thirties.

The man had a buzz cut, piercing eyes, and a lean build. The woman had neat, ear-length short hair and walked with a firm gait.

They were wearing white shirts and black trousers, carrying the demeanor of the legendary "relevant departments."

"Mr. Ye, are you sure you want to continue hiding the truth?"

Ye Ming didn't turn around, continuing to smile as his gaze fell upon the book pages: "You two, I have explained very clearly. The sample was something I coincidentally picked up by the roadside. Since you insist on slandering me for concealing the source of the sample, I have no room for defense."

His tone was helpless, but inside, he felt somewhat relieved.

Some time ago, he had submitted his thesis. A few days later, a secret department called the "Special Investigation Bureau" suddenly approached him.

At first, their attitude was quite good, and they didn't place him under house arrest; they only asked where the source of the unknown energy mentioned in his thesis was located.

Ye Ming couldn't figure out their purpose, so he said he had picked it up.

They didn't say anything else, telling him to stay at the school for the time being and not to go out unless necessary.

Later, according to Ye Ming's guess, they must have investigated the laboratory surveillance and discovered that the video footage of the time period when he was testing the strange plant was missing. That was why they placed him under house arrest.

On the way to the single room where they brought Ye Ming, Lin Miao happened to pass by the group, and Ye Ming gave her a look.

The meaning was to ask her to destroy that plant and the cut samples, so as to avoid them following the clues back to Zhang Mu.

Zhang Mu had only given him the plant for his own research project, and Ye Ming didn't want to implicate him.

Originally, Ye Ming was a bit nervous because Lin Miao was also placed under house arrest that afternoon, right in the room next to his.

But judging from the behavior of the two people coming to question him, Lin Miao had done a very good job.

Not only had she destroyed the plant and the surveillance hard drive in her dormitory, but she also hadn't revealed any relevant information. After all, Ye Ming had told her that the plant was something a friend had entrusted him to test.

Furthermore, yesterday, when the two informed him that Zhang Mu had called and told him to call back, Ye Ming's heart had been in his throat.

They were standing right beside him, watching, and Ye Ming couldn't give any warning.

Don't doubt their professionalism; if Ye Ming had said anything slightly off, Zhang Mu would likely have come over to keep him company immediately.

Fortunately, Zhang Mu didn't mention the plant, just asking when Ye Ming would treat him to a meal.

Breathing a soft sigh of relief, Ye Ming turned around and looked directly at the man and woman: "You two, Lin Miao is my assistant. The only thing she did was assist me with my experimental work."

"Do you not have a problem with restricting her personal freedom without cause?"

They were silent for a moment, and the man replied: "She is indeed completely unaware of this matter; she can leave later today."

A barely perceptible arc of victory lifted the corner of his mouth; Ye Ming knew he had won the gamble.

This department's power was not as great as he had imagined.

With Zhang Mu sidelined and Lin Miao off the hook, Ye Ming felt relieved.

Turning his head back to the desk, he continued flipping through the book pages: "Everything I said is the truth. Your department is free to verify it."

The two exchanged a look and helplessly left the room.

Closing the door, they walked along the corridor to the right. The man asked: "He doesn't seem to be lying. Yue Ruo, what do you think?"

Suspicion lingered in Yue Ruo's eyes: "We haven't found any record of him leaving; he has stayed within Su City for the past year. Judging from this, he is indeed not lying."

"But," she stopped walking, "why replace the hard drive of the laboratory surveillance video?"

"Could it have something to do with Fu Xiyuan?"

The man rubbed his chin in silent thought. After a long while, Yue Ruo nudged his arm with her elbow: "Zhao Qi? Say something."

"Huh?" Zhao Qi snapped back to reality, thought for a moment, and said: "Based on the clues we have, he probably did it to save evidence that his advisor never comes to the laboratory."

"Then what do we do now? We've checked his social network; they are all ordinary people, and none of them have left Su City."

Zhao Qi scratched his face, his tone somewhat bored: "If you ask me, let's just investigate casually and let him go when we're done. Who knows, it might be another misunderstanding, or maybe Ye Ming faked his thesis data."

"The Special Investigation Bureau has been established for decades; when have we ever truly encountered an abnormal event?"

"You've seen the case files in the bureau, haven't you? Like the 'ghost pulling the light' in the middle of the night with flickering bulbs, which turned out to be just a loose bulb."

"And the 'ghost pressing on the bed' at midnight was just the quilt being too heavy. Midnight 'ghost wails' were just the wind blowing through trees."

"In Leigong Village, there was electricity everywhere—on the ground, in the water, on the walls, and even in the air. It turned out the voltage tester was broken."

As he spoke, Zhao Qi waved his hands excitedly in front of him: "The most ridiculous one was the 'Sleepless Person' case the two of us went to investigate."

"The villagers all said that woman hadn't slept for forty years. After we installed surveillance, what did we see? She was secretly sleeping while others were out farming!"

Zhao Qi was extremely furious: "When I just graduated and received the secret acceptance letter from the Special Investigation Bureau, I thought I was a chosen genius, qualified to touch the secrets hidden beneath the world. Instead, all I do is science popularization work to eliminate feudal superstition. I think I'm just a chosen idiot!"

Yue Ruo couldn't help but cover her mouth and giggle. She stopped only when Zhao Qi glared at her. She cleared her throat: "Ahem. Relax, everyone is pretty much the same. The year before last, we were sent to the US for training; their case files weren't much better than ours."

"Like the mysterious man who took pesticides every day for six years without any harm, only to find out he bought fake medicine."

"I heard that man went to sue the pharmaceutical company and actually won the lawsuit."

"Hahaha..." After finishing, Yue Ruo couldn't help but slap her thigh and laugh out loud.

"What's so funny? I, Zhao Qi, was once a spirited young man, wasting my years in this crappy department every day."

"After this mission is over, I'm going back to resign. I'm not doing this anymore!"

Yue Ruo patted his shoulder comfortingly: "Don't be so agitated. Actually, the Special Investigation Bureau is pretty good. The salary and benefits are high, there are many holidays, and when there are no missions, you don't even have to go to the office. Occasional missions are easy tasks, just like paid travel. If you really go out to look for a job, where would you find one this good?"

After listening, Zhao Qi pondered for a while and found that what she said made a lot of sense. Rubbing his buzz cut, he muttered: "That's true too..."

Seeing him calm down, Yue Ruo clapped her hands together: "Alright, tomorrow we'll search the remote areas near the school again. If we don't find the unknown energy, let's just close the case and go back."

"This time, I'm afraid we can't just brush it off for a few days and go back like before." Zhao Qi shook his head. "You know, because the Special Investigation Bureau has been inactive for a long time, the boss is squeezed by other leaders in every meeting, saying the bureau should be disbanded to free up funds for them to use. Now that we've finally caught a case that isn't so ridiculous, they definitely won't give it up easily."

"So we can't slack off anymore?" Yue Ruo's expression was terrified, as if the sky were falling.

Zhao Qi smiled slightly: "The boss told us that even if we have to turn Su City upside down, we must find the source of the unknown energy. We've already searched around the school, and since there are still no clues, it's time to expand the search range."

"For example?"

"How about the amusement park?"

"Good idea. I also think the amusement park is very likely to hide a carrier of unknown energy; that's how it's always written in novels."

"Shall we go then?"

"Let's go!"