Beyond the Dead Zone.
The cleanup line of BH02, southeast edge of the Dead Zone.
Chu You stood in front of the vehicle and turned around.
Gu Qiancheng, Zhao Dongyuan, Su Tao from the provincial branch, and the six members of the Night Hunt team were all present.
“Once I enter the Dead Zone, I will prioritize finding Lin Mo, Gao Yuan, and Du Qiang to confirm their status…”
Chu You spoke while checking the composite energy exploration detector on her wrist.
“I’ll need everyone to keep a close eye on the changes in SGR concentration out here. Once the Dead Zone stops rejecting Oracle energy, assemble a support team and enter immediately.”
At this point, Chu You slowly lowered her arm, her voice deepening.
“If the Dead Zone continues to expand and the SGR concentration index continues to soar… I personally propose reporting to Headquarters immediately to classify this area as a maximum-level Forbidden Zone. In accordance with File S1007-324 regarding the handling of out-of-control Dead Zones, mobilize all Rule and Elemental Oracles across Huafu. Using composite high-energy materials as a base, seal the entire Dead Zone area off completely!”
Chu You spoke with grim determination.
As soon as she finished, the expressions of Gu Qiancheng and the six members of the Night Hunt team shifted drastically.
Zhao Dongyuan didn’t know what File S1007-324 represented, but those from Headquarters with higher security clearance understood it perfectly.
It was an archived file from a 1007 incident where a Dead Zone had spiraled out of control.
To contain it, the Swordbearer high command had mobilized dozens of Rule and Elemental Oracles.
Using newly synthesized composite high-energy materials, they had sealed that Dead Zone off entirely, turning it into an energy-active… grave!
Chu You’s words were undoubtedly telling them — if the expansion of the Dead Zone could not be halted after she entered, they were to seal the Dead Zone shut, along with Lin Mo, Gao Yuan, Du Qiang, and herself!
“Chu You, you…” Gu Qiancheng took a step forward, his face etched with anxiety.
Chu You met his gaze calmly and shook her head slightly.
Huayao’s eyes filled with increasing confusion as she looked at Chu You with growing curiosity.
‘How does this Commissioner Chu, who isn’t even part of the official Swordbearer roster, know about an S-rank top-secret file?’
Beside Huayao, Qingluan suddenly stepped forward.
Before anyone could react, she grabbed Chu You’s hand.
“Sister, I’m sorry!”
Chu You was momentarily stunned.
Qingluan bit her lip, her voice heavy with self-reproach.
“I was so out of line to say those things to you when we first met. I’m such an idiot! I’m sorry, Sister Chu You. I was just speaking without thinking. When you come out of the Dead Zone, I’ll properly make it up to you…”
“You people with the surname Chu are all amazing! I’m sorry. Please, please don’t take it to heart. Just pretend my words were nothing but hot air and garbage. I’m sorry…”
Hearing this, Chu You first let a smile curl the corners of her lips.
Then, she raised her hand and gently brushed the tip of Qingluan’s nose with her knuckle.
“I didn’t take it to heart. You don’t need to feel guilty.”
Watching this, Huayao’s pupils suddenly contracted.
She locked her gaze on Chu You once more, her eyes swirling with investigation, doubt, and other even more complex emotions.
“Alright, I’m heading out…” Chu You lowered her hand and looked up at the others, her expression resolute.
“Please make sure to consider my proposal. We’ll… see each other again after the victory!”
Having said that, she turned and walked forward.
Chu You took a deep breath, feeling the air gradually thicken.
She slowly raised her hand to touch the space in front of her.
Suddenly, the air rippled like the surface of water.
Chu You paused and touched it again with her fingertips; the edge of the Dead Zone radiated a distorted aura.
It felt as if time and space had been infinitely blurred, compressed, and twisted at this boundary, eventually solidifying into a completely different form.
She tentatively reached her hand inside.
In that instant, the Dead Zone seemed to come alive.
Chu You felt her entire body enveloped by the aura of the Dead Zone, as if she were under some kind of… scrutiny.
After a moment, that scrutiny faded.
Chu You stepped forward again, thrusting her entire arm inside.
Not far behind her, Gu Qiancheng and the others watched her back with tense expressions.
Chu You took another deep breath, a peach-colored light flashing briefly in her eyes as she took another step.
This time, her entire body passed through the invisible barrier, causing violent ripples to spread outward.
In the eyes of the onlookers, Chu You vanished from the spot the moment she took that step.
“She’s in…” Gu Qiancheng spoke slowly, turning toward the vehicle.
“Let’s go back. We can’t afford to mess up our end either.”
Zhao Dongyuan nodded and followed Gu Qiancheng into the car.
Seeing this, the rest of the Night Hunt team turned to return.
Blacksmith, being closest to the lead vehicle, prepared to get into the same car as Gu Qiancheng and Zhao Dongyuan.
However, before he could get close, Huayao discreetly grabbed his arm and whispered, “Let’s get in the back car. I have something to say to you all.”
Although the others didn’t know what Huayao wanted to say, they followed her lead as they always did.
They continued walking toward the second vehicle.
The engines started, and with a roar, the convoy turned around to head back to Binhai.
Inside the second car, Huayao sat by the window, looking at the sky.
She sighed softly before turning to look at the others.
“Have you noticed? That Special Commissioner Chu You… she’s very much like a certain…”
The somewhat heavy atmosphere in the cabin was broken by those words.
Qingluan blinked and was the first to ask, “Like who, Sister Huayao?”
Mongoose and Jade Cicada also cast puzzled glances.
Even the usually silent Blacksmith adjusted his posture, his mask facing Huayao.
From the shadows of the seats, Shadow’s head popped out, his eyes equally filled with confusion.
Huayao’s fingertips unconsciously tapped her knee as if she were organizing her thoughts.
“Her features are more youthful, and her lines are softer… she might have used makeup to deliberately change some details. Plus, the difference in height and build is too great, so you didn’t notice.”
“But her gaze, the way she stands when being questioned, especially her decisiveness when she proposed that final containment plan… and,” she paused, her eyes turning to Qingluan, “the gesture she just made toward you.”
“Gesture?” Qingluan instinctively touched the tip of her nose.
“Yes, that flick on your nose.”
Huayao’s gaze grew profound.
“It was very natural, almost… like the intimacy and indulgence an elder shows a junior. It’s not the kind of reaction someone of her age and status should have toward an Oracle she just met and had a conflict with.”
Jade Cicada looked thoughtful.
“Now that you mention it… it is a bit strange. She acted too composed, as if she has lived through many great storms.”
“It’s more than that,” Huayao lowered her voice.
“File S1007-324 is a core secret of Headquarters. Even many high-ranking official commissioners might not have the clearance to view it. She’s just a private assistant from the Binhai branch. Minister Lin Mo’s clearance might be high enough, but she… how is she so familiar with it that she can accurately cite the file number and the protocol?”
Mongoose rubbed his chin.
“Are you suspecting… there’s something wrong with her identity?”
“I’m not saying there’s something wrong with her identity,” Huayao shook her head, her gaze sweeping over every teammate.
“But think about it… the feeling Chu You gives us, who else have we felt it from?”
As soon as she spoke, Mongoose, leaning in the corner, stiffened.
He suddenly stood up.
“Sister Huayao, do you realize what you’re saying?!”
Faced with Mongoose’s loss of emotional control, Qingluan became even more confused.
She looked at Mongoose, then at Huayao, and couldn’t help but ask, “What are you guys talking about? I don’t understand at all.”
Blacksmith sat in silent thought for a moment before snapping his head toward Huayao.
His heavy mask couldn’t hide the incredible light that suddenly erupted in his eyes.
Jade Cicada adjusted her glasses.
Usually a calm woman, she was now instinctively gripping the hem of her clothes, her knuckles turning white.
Even more surprising was Shadow.
Usually hidden in the shadows of the cabin with almost no presence, he actually chose to emerge fully from the darkness, appearing clearly in everyone’s sight.
His eyes, usually as still as an old well, were now fixed on Huayao.
His voice carried a rare tension.
“Sister Huayao, do you have any evidence?”
Huayao met the startled, searching, and incredulous gazes of her team members.
She knew how shocking her speculation was.
She took a deep breath and listed her observations logically.
“First, her knowledge of Headquarters’ top-secret files.”
“S1007-324. A file of that level… let alone an unofficial member, even we only barely meet the security clearance for it. Being able to accurately state the number and the procedure is extremely unusual in itself.”
“Second, her behavior pattern.”
“Think back. From the moment we arrived in Binhai until now, she seemed to be deliberately lowering her presence. Most of the time, she just listened quietly and didn’t offer an opinion.”
“But at critical moments — whether it was maintaining communications, supporting the front line, or proposing that final containment plan just now — she stepped forward without hesitation, showing a decisiveness and spirit completely different from her usual self.”
“Doesn’t that style of taking control in key moments feel familiar to you?”
“Third, her emotional reaction.”
“Earlier, when we said Jade Cicada and Mongoose were in trouble, her anxiety and questioning clearly exceeded the scope of an ordinary colleague or even a comrade she just met.”
“That instinctive concern felt more like… the natural worry one has for teammates they’ve led for a long time and already view as family.”
“Finally, and most importantly,” Huayao’s gaze swept across the group and finally landed on the unsettling direction of the Dead Zone outside the window, “the Dead Zone is suddenly rejecting Oracles, yet we saw with our own eyes that she entered.”
“Furthermore, she didn’t trigger a violent rejection response when entering, yet she clearly possesses power that is beyond ordinary.”
“This contradiction is inexplicable if applied to anyone else, but if it’s her…”
Huayao paused.
Her voice dropped even lower, but it struck everyone’s heart like a heavy hammer.
“I suspect… this Commissioner Chu You, Lin Mo’s private assistant, is actually…”
She didn’t speak the name.
But the members of the Night Hunt team present, even the slowest-reacting Qingluan, realized who Huayao was talking about.
In the next moment, Qingluan suddenly stood up from her seat, her eyes red and her voice trembling.
“I—I want to go into the Dead Zone!”
Shadow in the corner didn’t speak again, but he silently melted back into the shadows.
Only his eyes, filled with complex emotions, remained visible.
The look he gave Huayao and Blacksmith was increasingly determined.
Clearly, he shared Qingluan’s sentiment.
“A reunion that is also a final farewell… what a terrible script.”
The usually calm Jade Cicada also had red eyes.
Her voice trembled, yet it was incredibly firm.
“I absolutely will not accept this!”
Mongoose said nothing, but he had already drawn the twin blades at his waist, gesturing toward the window and the cabin wall as if ready to break out at any second.
Seeing this, Huayao, whose eyes were also slightly red, suddenly slammed her hand against the cabin wall and scolded sharply, “What are you all doing?!”
“The Dead Zone rejects Oracles. How are you going to get in? By force? Do you all have a death wish!”
She clenched her fists tightly and looked up at Qingluan, her voice trembling.
“I said it’s just a guess. The Captain died at Lin Mo’s hands; many people saw it with their own eyes.”
“Even if she really is Cl—the Captain, do you still doubt her abilities?”
“Don’t forget.”
“What every person sitting here was like before meeting the Captain.”
“It was only after meeting the Captain that we became the famous Night Hunt, that there was a Blacksmith, a me, a Shadow, a Qingluan, a Jade Cicada, and a Mongoose!”
At this point, Huayao took a deep breath. She slowly stood up and forced Qingluan back into her seat.
“Lastly…”
“Don’t forget the Captain’s current status.”
“In the eyes of those at Headquarters, the Captain is a demon who is already dead, killed by Lin Mo.”
“If she really is the Captain…” Huayao stared at Qingluan with a serious tone.
“Do you really want her to be exposed to Headquarters’ sight again?”
“When that happens, who would Headquarters send to arrest her?”
“Lin Mo?”
“Gu Qiancheng?”
“Or the tactical teams directly under Headquarters’ control?”
“Like —”
“Us?”