What’s the difference between him and an ordinary robber committing murder?

Qin Zhilu​‌⁠‍⁠‌‌​​⁠⁠​‍⁠‍‍​‍‍​‍​​​ casually picked up a Corner bread from the counter, glanced upward too, and said, “A child who hasn’t been weaned.”

An Yu flipped through his terminal. “It said here that although Kaos’ aptitude is mediocre, his mental stability is very good. He’s warm-hearted, with a personality that doesn’t easily annoy people. Colonel Disf had protected him well.”

Qin Zhilu tore off a piece of bread, put it in his mouth, and chewed slowly. He offered the remaining large piece to An Yu. “Which is why he’s a child who hasn’t been weaned.”

Before Qin Zhilu finished chewing his bite of bread, An Yu already wolfed down the rest. Kaos came out of a room and stood by the railing, signaling them to come up. An Yu turned and scooped the remaining bread on the counter into his arms.

Only then did the staff member glance at them. “You two are new faces? Staying the night?”

Qin Zhilu nodded, pushing a bill across the counter. “Paying for his small breads.”

“Alrighty.” The staff member happily took the money, uninterested in where they came from.

There was one empty room left. Qin Zhilu gave the bed to An Yu, casually draped his trench coat over the long wooden bench beside it, sat down, and began carefully reviewing the files of the missing soldiers. Kaos stood beside him answering questions. He would get stuck every few sentences, sometimes having to consult his own files to answer. But Qin Zhilu hadn’t expected much from his military competence anyway, and his words were unusually gentle.

An Yu pushed the door open alone and went out to look at the diners on the first floor.

Ling Qiu had said that pure manual laborers had simple minds, few prejudices, and were down-to-earth and tolerant. Indeed, the three of them hadn’t drawn any extra attention earlier. Those people were immersed in their own world, much as Ling Qiu had described.

Amidst the noise, people complained about the poor hunting yields recently. The aberrants’ activity range outside was erratic. Every trip out of the city was risking their lives. Frostbite also seemed increasingly difficult to treat. Those involved in resource gathering grumbled that the communication infrastructure was likely having problems; contacting the Main City was very laggy recently.

An Yu stood high above, his golden eyes calmly watching the scene below.

The lives of the people in District 99 were clearly better than the wealthy residents of District 53’s outer city back then. But something was wrong. He always felt these people carried a familiar air, something only seen in the slums.

Hard to say. If only Ling Qiu were here. Ling Qiu was very good at observing people.

An Yu sighed lightly, turned, and went back to the room. He pushed the door open just in time to hear Qin Zhilu instructing Kaos, “Sienna is highly suspected. If there is any intelligence related to her, notify me immediately.”

Kaos nodded in agreement, then asked, “Are you waiting until tomorrow morning? We can actually go check Sienna’s residence now. Her Partner’s house is right near hers.”

“No rush.” Qin Zhilu shook his head. “Alerting the enemy will only cause more trouble. You should head back first.”

An Yu stepped aside at the doorway to let Kaos pass, but his gaze fell on Qin Zhilu’s profile.

Since entering District 99, the phrase the Commander had used most was “no rush.” There were clearly so many things wrong, yet he seemed calmer than during any previous mission.

“Are you very nervous?” Kaos’ voice interrupted An Yu’s thoughts. He glanced at the mountain of bread piled on the table and gave An Yu a reassuring smile. “I heard Black Tower’s risk assessment for District 99 was very high. But fortunately, the residents aren’t in danger yet. I thought, no, I hoped, there wouldn’t be too much trouble in the short term. So please don’t worry too much. The safety of people like us rely on you officers.”

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After the person had been gone for a while, Qin Zhilu finally looked up from the files. “Why are you standing outside? Did you discover something?”

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An Yu was stunned. Qin Zhilu lowered his head and resumed flipping through Sienna’s files—records of her daily life in the days before she disappeared. In previous missions, Qin Zhilu rarely trusted files; he preferred to investigate personally. But this time in District 99, his actions were restrained. Instead, he repeatedly reviewed the mundane records compiled by the garrison.

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Qin Zhilu chuckled in exasperation. “No? Then if I catch you again—”

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“Observing your words and actions, judging your thoughts.” An Yu nodded. “716 said 21’s proactive responses to the outside world were increasing. I’m also taking every opportunity to try and process the information I receive.”

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21 had developed curiosity about the world. An Yu neither had the strength nor the inclination to imitate that.

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The moment An Yu moved, Qin Zhilu spoke in a low voice, “Awake?”

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An Yu felt his Commander probably hadn’t been fully woken up, so he used his terminal to light a small patch of the path beneath his feet and tiptoed out. He only relaxed slightly when his hand touched the doorknob.

He had just pulled the door open a crack when something flashed in his eyes. Almost simultaneously, the muffled thud of a silenced bullet piercing flesh sounded. A force grabbed his arm, forcefully pulling him back. Qin Zhilu held a gun in his other hand, shielding him.

He hadn’t seen clearly how the Commander had gotten in front of him. He only saw a figure collapsed on the floor outside the door, a sharp dagger fallen on the corpse’s arm. A moment ago, it had almost plunged into his chest the instant he opened the door.

It was the kind of meat-carving dagger found on every table in the bar. The handle was stained, but the blade was incredibly sharp.

An Yu’s breath nearly stopped. The fear of death only now surged through him. Qin Zhilu reached out and placed a hand on his back, comforting him in a low voice, “Don’t panic. He was standing outside for a long time.”

An Yu gasped heavily for a while before murmuring, “I didn’t hear any sound.”

“It was indeed unreasonably quiet. He only accidentally made a little noise when coming upstairs. I almost missed it too.” Qin Zhilu crouched down, shining his terminal on the man’s face. “He’s a patron from tonight, but I don’t remember him acting abnormally.”

The terminal showed the corpse’s genetic entropy was only 4.5. Qin Zhilu found an ID in his pocket and checked the offline database. The man’s registered genetic entropy was also 4.5; no increase had occurred.

“Professional hunter. No aberration. No criminal record. Had elderly and young family members. No relatives or friends connected to aberrants or the Main City. No grudges. I can’t think of a reason for him to attack us.” Qin Zhilu closed the file page, his dark eyes staring intently at the man’s unclosed eyes. “You were very close to the door just now. Did you hear his breathing?”

An Yu shook his head blankly. “No. It was very strange…”

“Indeed strange. I always thought your senses were very sharp, like how fragile creatures have exceptionally strong alertness.” Qin Zhilu’s gaze suddenly shifted to the man’s chest. He reached out, drew the short knife from An Yu’s waist, and decisively slit open the corpse’s chest.

In the next instant, the surrounding air seemed to fall deathly silent, leaving only the sound of the wind howling outside.

No wonder this person with no abnormal genetic entropy could perfectly conceal his breathing.

Because he didn’t need to breathe at all.

—There were no lungs in his chest cavity. Where the lungs should have been was filled with a large mass of fierce blood-red branches and leaves. An Yu had never seen this type of plant. He bent down and pulled at it, only to find the branches and leaves had already grown together with the man’s chest wall.

Qin Zhilu completely dissected his chest and abdomen. Most of the human organs were missing, almost entirely replaced by the plant. Strange red mucus flowed all over the floor, yet there was no smell of blood.

After a long while, Qin Zhilu, still crouching on the floor, let out a soft sneer. “Now I hadn’t expected this.”

An Yu asked in a low voice, “The aberrants in District 95 back then should have all had genetic entropy changes, right? A similar situation only happened with the mantis in District 53. Because the method of aberration transmission was special, perhaps this time too…”

“I’m not talking about that.”

Qin Zhilu interrupted him, turning his head to glance at him. “Don’t you find it strange?”

His tone was casual, but those dark eyes were exceptionally cold and heavy. He said, word by word, in a low voice, “You have a natural attraction to aberrants. As something that can already use aberrants to autonomously stop breathing, attacking you is very logical. But the method he used to attack you was actually a knife—if I hadn’t cut open his stomach, what’s the difference between him and an ordinary robber committing murder?”