Bai Lin strode forward, his eyes icy. "That demon wasn't that strong. The Monster Bureau and the Supervision Bureau had already investigated its power thoroughly. Not to mention the sevenfold Big Dipper array, it couldn't even break through one. In today's world, besides one person, there is no second demon who can break through the barrier of seven Big Dipper arrays."
Huangfu Jun blinked and looked up at him curiously. "So there is only one great demon that can break through the sevenfold Seven Stars array? Where is it? Is it a rogue great demon king?"
Bai Lin didn't even glance at her, saying calmly, "It's me."
"..."
She turned her head back, inwardly screaming: So strong, he's so ridiculously showy!
In the silence, only the sound of footsteps could be heard, and the lights ahead grew fewer and dimmer.
She inexplicably felt nervous, quickening her pace, almost wanting to stick to Bai Lin like she did in the car.
"So what are we here for? To investigate the reason for the workers' riot?" she asked, trying to ease her tension while vigilantly observing her surroundings.
Bai Lin glanced sideways at the girl who was pretending to be calm but was getting closer to him, and smirked slightly. "You could say that. There must be a reason it could break through the barrier. Finding that reason is just part of it. The important thing is to repair the space-time rift."
"If there really is something that can instantly boost demonic power, it means many great demons will appear. And the Monster Bureau only has you, Captain Bai. Once they attack in groups, we'll be in danger."
"You don't have to think so poorly of me."
"Can't say that. As the saying goes, even a flurry of random punches can defeat a veteran. Captain Bai, you must not be careless!"
At that, Bai Lin shot her a cold glare.
"That's not your concern. You just need to follow behind me, behave, and don't cause me trouble."
Though the words were blunt, the contempt was too obvious, wasn't it? As if I'm a troublemaker.
Indeed, compared to the captain, bringing her on this mission was just to let her observe and learn to familiarize herself with the work. Her greatest contribution at the moment might be to show that Captain Bai isn't a lone commander; he has subordinates too.
"Are all the interns in our Seventh Bureau trained by you, Captain Bai?" She took out her phone, opened a note app, and though there was no signal, the standalone function worked.
"I don't train interns," Bai Lin said, frowning slightly as he noticed Huangfu Jun fiddling with her phone while talking to him. "What are you doing?"
"Internship notes."
Bai Lin raised an eyebrow. In the Seventh Bureau, he always handled field missions alone. The reason he brought her was to straighten her out.
Seeing her like this—like she'd help him count the money even after he sold her—he felt an inexplicable satisfaction, and his contemptuous look at the fool was tinged with a hint of pity.
Zhang Yu had even speculated that he brought her out because he couldn't stand seeing her bullied in the office. Ridiculous! It was because he couldn't stand such low-level bullying.
"Captain, is the space-time rift here affected by the defection incident? Is it more dangerous?" She continued asking while typing.
Bai Lin glanced at her phone screen. Huh, the notes were quite detailed, with pictures and text. He had to admit, human education had its merits. He looked at the girl with a somewhat complex gaze.
"Captain Bai?" Huangfu Jun asked again when she didn't hear a reply.
Bai Lin snapped back to reality.
"It is, but with me here, it can be repaired."
For him, it really wasn't dangerous. Bringing her was precisely to temper her.
Huangfu Jun nodded. Captain Bai was indeed as confident as always.
While recording, she recalled, "When I provided worker information to General Manager Zheng, I also looked through it. Among the 25 demons involved in the accident, nine were snake-type monsters, basically cobras and vipers, no duplicates. There was also a dream-eating demon, which seemed quite rare. The others were lion spirits, fox spirits, monkey spirits. I don't know if they acted independently or were part of an organized gang."
Bai Lin didn't answer. He raised his other hand, and a floating flying fish materialized in midair.
Huangfu Jun's mouth twitched. Though it could fly, it was much uglier than a flying fish. It had a bulky body about half a meter wide, round and gray, basically an ugly fat fish with thick lips and big teeth.
But it had one redeeming feature: it really glowed. On its forehead, covered with fleshy bumps, grew a long antenna, at the tip of which was a round glowing flesh ball.
It swam through the air, lighting the path ahead with the glow on its forehead.
Huangfu Jun shuddered. She recognized it: a lanternfish, also called an anglerfish.
Though she'd seen pictures many times, seeing the real thing still gave her a bit of a scare.
Bai Lin noticed Huangfu Jun deliberately keeping distance from him and frowned in displeasure.
"Why are you so far away? Not afraid of the dark anymore?"
Huangfu Jun then realized the surrounding construction site was already pitch black, with only the lanternfish floating beside Bai Lin casting a small area of light.
She glanced sideways. Huh, unexpectedly, you're not that bad.
Beside her, Bai Lin continued forward, his handsome face flickering in the dim light, revealing no emotion.
"The defector was a black python demon. When it broke through the barrier, its mouth swallowed three human workers. The other 27 were crushed to death by its massive body. It shouldn't have been that huge. Why it mutated like this, the Monster Bureau has no leads yet.
Moreover, the demon workers at the site are under magical restraints. Even an ordinary Seven Stars array can't be broken, let alone the sevenfold Big Dipper Seven Stars array."
Huangfu Jun's fingers moved quickly on the screen as she continued asking without looking up, "The python demon was the only one that escaped the site. What about the other involved demon workers?"
Bai Lin's gaze grew heavier. "They were eaten."
A chill ran down Huangfu Jun's spine, and her hair stood on end.
"Was the reason for its sudden increase in power the absorption of many of its kind?"
Bai Lin glanced at her. "You've watched too many movies. Demons eating demons doesn't increase power."
"..."
She pulled out a notebook and wrote: "Eating demons does not increase power."