Someone hurriedly knocked on a door and pushed it open.

“Doctor, the retrieval plan for the test subject has failed.”

The pale-skinned man, who looked almost like a vampire, was wearing goggles and a mask. He held a tube of blue liquid and said in a shaky, almost obsessed voice, “Blue really is the most beautiful color in the world. It’s so beautiful I almost want to swallow it. Tsk…”

“What?! Doctor, calm down! If you swallow that, you’ll die!” the visitor cried out in alarm.

“Tsk… what a pity. What did you just say?”

“I said the retrieval plan failed. The life signs of the four combat personnel we sent out have all disappeared. They were taken out!”

“Who did it?”

“Long Jin of the Long family. We don’t know what happened, but that woman suddenly stepped in. It looked like she intended to protect the test subject and its protector.”

“The Azure Dragon… tsk… I wonder what her scales look like. I really want them.”

“Doctor!!”

“Don’t panic. No one can protect a Mutant, especially not one that still has reason. Notify our people hidden in every faction. Once the Tribunal Division takes the test subject from her, bring it over immediately.”

……

Inside the road section that had already been sealed off.

“Oh my, you must be that young head of the Long family, right?” A Tribunal Division officer in a white uniform spoke with a smiling face. He looked around forty, with deep smile lines that made him look both kind and sly at the same time. “I’m Cheng Jun, captain of Mutant Judgment Team One at Tribunal Division Headquarters.”

Jing Pei tilted her head slightly, still sitting on the turtle shell.

Cheng Jun rubbed his hands together and said, “We received a report that there is a Mutant here that needs to be taken in. May I ask if you’ve locked it underneath you?”

“There’s no Mutant here,” Jing Pei said with a smile. “There are only these Atavist criminals. You should take them away. Maybe they can still be saved long enough to be questioned.”

“Young Master Long, are you joking?” Cheng Jun asked with a smile. “We have several witnesses who all said they saw a Mutant here.”

“A Mutant means someone who was injected with outside Atavist genes, suffered rejection, and turned into a man-eating monster driven only by hunger, right? I really didn’t see anything like that,” Jing Pei said.

“Then what is the thing under you?”

“A turtle shell.”

“And what is under the turtle shell?”

“Just like if you wanted to know what I’m wearing under my skirt, I not only have the right not to tell you, I’d also have the right to slap you. So of course I also have the right not to tell you what’s under the shell.”

“Heh, Young Master Long really knows how to joke.” Cheng Jun’s smile slowly lost its warmth. His narrowed eyes turned dangerous as he looked at her. “You’re not trying to protect a Mutant, are you?”

If those two charges were attached to Jing Pei, she would become the target of everyone. It would count as a double betrayal against both normal humans and the Atavist families. Mutants had no place in this world, and no Atavist dared even appear slightly sympathetic toward them.

The moment Cheng Jun said that, the expressions of the subordinates behind him changed as expected. Every one of them was an Atavist.

“Captain Cheng, you’re old enough to know that food can be eaten carelessly, but words can’t be spoken carelessly. You’d better show proof. Every word you’re saying right now has witnesses, and when we meet in Atavist Court, have you already thought about how you’ll defend yourself?” Jing Pei showed no panic at all. Her gaze only turned colder, and invisible pressure spread out from her body until even the air seemed to freeze.

“When it comes to Mutants, it’s always better to kill the wrong one than let one go. Sue me if you want. Right now, I want to know what monster you’re hiding under that shell!” Cheng Jun looked completely certain that Jing Pei was hiding a Mutant and completely unafraid of being sued.

He waved a hand, and his subordinates rushed forward. Since soft methods weren’t working, they were switching to force.

Jing Pei did not move. Enormous Atavist power spread out from her body like something thick and heavy, forming a wall of air that no one could pass through.

This took extreme control over one’s Atavist power. The Tribunal Division officers charging at her were instantly blocked outside. No matter how hard they struck it, they couldn’t break through.

Cheng Jun checked the time, his face turning darker still. “So you really have betrayed the Atavist families. Then don’t blame us for not holding back. Bring that thing out.”

“But Captain, isn’t using that here a bit too excessive? This is Long Jin…”

“She’s a criminal. She’s raising a Mutant. Who knows how many people it has killed? If she dies, she deserves it. Stop wasting time and do it!”

“Yes, sir!”

At the rear of the Judicator Corps’ convoy was a peculiar vehicle that resembled a tank, with a turret rising from its roof.

This is the “Atavist-Power Tracking Bio-Cannon,” an oversized weapon capable of identifying various forms of atavistic power in the air. It will pursue its target relentlessly until its energy is exhausted. If it explodes near the target, the biological virus it contains—which is effective only against atavists—will continue to pursue the target. Once even a trace of it comes into contact with the target, the target will lose coordination in their limbs and contract atavistic cancer.

The only way to gain immunity to this virus is to have received the vaccine available only within the Judiciary Bureau.

Typically, this weapon is reserved for Atavistic criminals whose heinous crimes have been confirmed and who are deemed beyond redemption. Yet now, without any evidence, this captain is about to deploy a weapon of this caliber against Jing Pei.

Jing Pei, still on top of the turtle shell, was already in the weapon’s sights, and the operator had a hand on the firing switch.

Then a car suddenly drifted into the area.

“Why haven’t you fired yet? What are you doing?!” Cheng Jun roared. He had been too focused to notice. The moment he turned and saw who had arrived, his neck nearly twisted.

Half of Qiu Fa’s body was hidden behind the car as he stared at his subordinate with a blank face.

Cheng Jun, who had been so arrogant just moments ago, froze for an instant. Then he quickly adjusted himself and spoke in a righteous tone. “Director, this person is protecting a Mutant. That Mutant still has reason, which means it must have eaten who knows how many people. According to the law, it deserves death. Even if she comes from one of the great Atavist families—”

“Evidence,” Qiu Fa cut him off.

What real evidence could Cheng Jun possibly produce? There wasn’t even surveillance in this area. But if they lifted the turtle shell, wouldn’t they know? So he pointed at the shell under Jing Pei and insisted the Mutant was underneath it.

Qiu Fa turned to look at Jing Pei.

“Since Director Qiu is here, I assume I’ll get a fair judgment. Then go ahead and look,” Jing Pei said with a smile, withdrawing her Atavist power and jumping down from the shell.

Cheng Jun immediately ordered his subordinates, “Quick! Lift the shell!”

Several of them rushed forward and tried to lift it. Muscles bulged, veins stood out, but the shell did not move in the slightest.

A Black Tortoise shell could only be enlarged or reduced through Atavist power. In the same way, its weight also depended on how much Atavist power had been poured into it. The more power, the heavier it became.

Jing Pei had already released so much power just now. How much could she still have left to pour into this shell?

Refusing to believe it, they swelled in size, each changing from human form into another kind of creature. “Lift it!”

It still didn’t move at all.

“Move,” Qiu Fa said. He walked over, bent down, and lifted the shell one-handed with ease.

Cheng Jun said, “See? I told you—”

There was nothing under the turtle shell.

His expression froze on his face.

“So,” Jing Pei said as she looked at Cheng Jun, “where exactly did you hear that I was hiding a rational Mutant?”

Qiu Fa was looking at him too.

Cold sweat poured down Cheng Jun’s face.

……

The storm in Yunjin Prefecture caused huge trouble for the people in the slums.

Some houses were washed down by the rain. The ones that stayed standing were flooded anyway.

A girl who looked like a leopard cat was lying peacefully on a wooden board floating on the water.

On another board was a woman who looked somewhat like her, lying in the same peaceful pose.

“Boss, what are you doing? If you don’t get the water out, everything’s going to be ruined!” someone shouted as they rushed in and saw the mother and daughter like that.

“If it gets ruined, it gets ruined. We’ll just find more.” The woman waved a hand. “It’s rare to get rain this heavy. Might as well enjoy what it feels like to drift on water.”

“Exactly, exactly.” The girl waved a hand too.

“Are you really planning to sleep like this? What if you get sick? We don’t even have money for medicine!”

The mother and daughter seemed to only now realize getting sick was a problem. They looked at each other, then jumped off the boards at once and headed outside together.

“Big Boss, Little Boss, where are you going?” the lackey hurried after them.

“To borrow a place to stay. Otherwise what if we get sick? And if it rains again, cleaning up will have been pointless anyway. Finding a dry place to sleep is the real issue.”

“In the slums, who still has a dry place at a time like this? Who’s going to lend it to you?”

The woman said, “If they won’t lend it, hit them once.”

The girl added, “Or twice.”

The lackey: “…” The bully mother-and-daughter duo of the slums.

There were no streetlights in the slum, and the drainage system was terrible; the water came up to their knees. As they walked, one of them bumped into something with his knee. He shone his flashlight down, and a pale infant’s face came into view.

The three fell silent for a moment, then continued on their way. People who ended up here were usually those burdened with massive debts, those who had run away from home for unknown reasons, or those with shameful pasts. When something happened here, few people called the police, and the police rarely took the initiative to get involved.

Deaths were a common occurrence here. This infant had likely been abandoned and then drowned in the heavy rain.

…….

The girl couldn’t help thinking of Jing Pei again. Lately, she had been thinking of her often. One reason was that Jing Pei’s reward had been so delicious that she drooled over it even in her dreams. The other was that naive side of hers. It was so annoying.

See? What was there in a place like this that was worth coming to look around for?

Suddenly, a chill brushed past her side.

The girl shivered and stopped, then looked back.

“Abao, what is it?” her mother turned and asked.

“It felt like there was something…” She wasn’t sure.

“What something?” The flashlight swept over the darkness behind them, but there was nothing there.

“…Forget it. It was probably just my imagination.”

……

Cheng Jun was taken back to the Tribunal Division and placed in confinement. The others from the Tribunal Division lifted away the four corpses and also had to contact people to repair the ruined road.

On the pitch-black mountain, Jing Pei and Qiu Fa were heading uphill. The muddy path was so slippery that Jing Pei nearly slipped several times. Each time, Qiu Fa caught her with one hand. In the end, he seemed to lose patience and simply picked her up and carried her.

Like carrying a cub.

Jing Pei… was perfectly happy not to have to walk.

Qiu Fa’s night vision was excellent. Looking at how relaxed she seemed, he said in a slightly dangerous tone, “You don’t look like someone who needs help.”

Not long ago, Qiu Fa had received a call from an unknown number. A girl had asked him for help, without even explaining for what. Even so, he came—and arrived just in time to see his own men attacking her.

And now Jing Pei was asking him to go up the mountain and help again.

A dragon strong enough to match him, even if she was still only a young one, was nothing Qiu Fa needed to fear. And Jing Pei’s attitude had truly stirred his curiosity.

Cats were always curious creatures.

“Cheng Jun wasn’t wrong. There really is a rational Mutant. But instead of calling her a Mutant, I’d rather call her a victim.” Jing Pei led Qiu Fa to the waterfall. “It may sound hard to believe, but I think Director Qiu will believe it once he sees her eyes.”

Zhang Simiao and Wen Yuxian had already returned to the Bubble. When she heard Jing Pei’s voice, Zhang Simiao bravely pushed her head outside the Bubble.

One reason this kind of small space was called a Bubble was because it had some elasticity. The opening was small, but because of that elasticity, someone as large as Zhang Simiao could still squeeze in and out.

The moment she stuck her head out, Qiu Fa saw her eye.

The eye was the window to the soul. Even though Zhang Simiao was now a monster and had only one huge eye, anyone could still see through it a clean, beautiful, and kind soul.

Since the age of five, Qiu Fa had seen countless people, countless eyes, and countless kinds of malice. He could tell at a glance whether this monster had really never eaten anyone.

The eyes of an animal that had eaten people were not the same as the eyes of one that had not. The same was true of humans.

Wen Yuxian was blocked behind Zhang Simiao, so tense that his wounds were hurting again. He never imagined Jing Pei would bring Qiu Fa here, the very top authority of the Tribunal Division. Could it be that he might actually help them?

Once Zhang Simiao withdrew back inside, Qiu Fa and Jing Pei entered the Bubble. Only after getting Jing Pei’s confirming look did Wen Yuxian steady himself enough to explain everything from the beginning.

He told them how Zhang Simiao had been injected for no reason, how he quickly made a plan the moment he sensed something was wrong, how the two of them staged that breakup, and how over the past four years, in order to avoid being tracked and leave no trace at all, he had carefully bought livestock from different farms and thrown away bones in different places…

Qiu Fa listened quietly to the story of Wen Yuxian and Zhang Simiao, then looked toward Jing Pei, who had shrunk the turtle shell down to stool size and was now sitting on it.

“How are you so sure I’ll believe this? Until now, no one has ever found a rational Mutant that stayed rational without eating people.”

“If something has never happened before, does that mean it can never exist?” Jing Pei said. “I don’t think anyone understands their feelings better than you do.”

That feeling of suffering an injustice with nowhere to appeal, of being condemned the moment you were exposed, of being unable to defend yourself no matter what—no one understood it better than Qiu Fa.

The young master of the White Tiger family was once said to have killed his entire family at the age of five. It looked like certain guilt, and he was even sentenced for it, but in the end, wasn’t it false? This was only a case of a Mutant keeping its reason without eating people.

“Go on. What do you want me to do? Let me say this first—I won’t do anything illegal.” Qiu Fa took out a cigar case from his pocket and pulled out a cigar, but after glancing at the two ladies present, he didn’t light it.

“I want three days. I want you to personally guard the two of them, right here in the little Bubble on this mountain.”

“Why not take them to the Tribunal Division?”

“Because I don’t trust anyone in the Tribunal Division except you. The more people who can get close to them, the more danger they’ll be in.”

Qiu Fa paused, then put the cigar back in the case. “Three days. You want to find them a legal way out in three days?”

Forget Qiu Fa—even Wen Yuxian looked at Jing Pei in shock. Could that really be done?

“That’s right.” Jing Pei stressed it again. “And for those three days, you can’t leave them for even a step. As payment, hmm… how about I buy one piece of information for you from that information broker?”

Qiu Fa’s eyes snapped toward Jing Pei.

“Don’t look at me like that. I bought your private number from him, you know. I’m a regular customer.” Jing Pei flashed him a row of white teeth. “Your information is expensive. Can you even afford it? How about I buy you one worth fifty million?”

Qiu Fa’s poverty was common knowledge among the great Atavist families.

The big cat got angry. After brooding over ten million before, he was now brooding over fifty million too.

……

At the foot of the mountain, Tang Qiaoqiao woke up. She had been hidden in the shadows the whole time, so no one had noticed her.

She watched the people from the Tribunal Division moving back and forth, and her face changed at once, but she didn’t dare say anything. If the Tribunal Division found Zhang Simiao, Teacher Wen would be finished.

What happened? Those four bastards were dead? Who killed them? Where was Teacher Wen?

She first yanked her arm free, then pulled herself down from the rock wall. But the moment her foot touched the ground, she stepped on something.

Tang Qiaoqiao picked it up and found it was a phone. Then she remembered that person who had suddenly vanished.

Her face darkened at once. Where had Long Ling gone, that damned girl who dared set her up?