Bai Wan froze when he heard Fang Hanxin’s words.

Long time no see...? What’s that supposed to mean?

He stepped forward a few paces, confused. “We’ve met before?”

But the doctor quickly raised a hand and said nervously, “Mr. Bai, no need to come any closer. Just stand right there.”

“...Alright.” Bai Wan stayed where he was.

Only then did Dr. Fang let out a relieved breath and smile. “I’m here today to bring you a reward. Your performance in the test far exceeded my expectations.”

The others—Zhou Lu, Su Yuening, Liu Tong and company were all wide-eyed.

The Doctor himself came to visit Bai Wan?

This was a rare sight. Fang Hanxin, the famous Paranormal Doctor, was a mystery even within the official organization. Zhou Lu had worked here for years and had only seen him once at a distant conference.

And now this man just said… “Long time no see”? Did they know each other?

Everyone’s imagination began to run wild.

Meanwhile, Fang Hanxin turned to Bai Wan with a pleasant smile. “Your next dungeon is Nightmare Haunted Campus, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Bai Wan nodded.

Fang paused for a moment, then said with a sly grin, “Want to know what your reward is?”

Bai Wan’s eyes lit up. “What is it?”

Fang chuckled. “How about the special Awakening Crystal from the third test? I’ll give you one.”

“Huh? You’re giving it to me?” Bai Wan was surprised. He remembered Luo Yimeng mentioning how rare those were. And he was just… getting one as a reward?

But then Fang Hanxin dropped a bomb: “Yep. It’s yours. And I want you to use it to blow up Nightmare Haunted Campus.”

“...What??” Bai Wan’s eyes went wide.

You’re starting off with that?!

“Do you dare?” Fang’s voice was casual, even amused. “Just treat it as a fun experiment.”

Bai Wan was clearly tempted. “You really think I can do it, coach?”

Fang pulled out a crystal identical to the one used in the third trial, only this one glowed more intensely. “Here. This one’s enhanced—stronger than the version you touched before. It’ll let you unleash your potential for over 15 seconds. That, plus the lingering effects of your power… should be enough to erase the dungeon.”

“Damn, that’s intense!” Bai Wan accepted the crystal with reverent excitement. “Don’t worry, coach, I specialize in crashing dungeons!”

Fang Hanxin nodded with satisfaction. “I never doubted your talent in this field, Mr. Bai.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence! I’ll blow it sky-high!”

Meanwhile, Zhou Lu and the others had been listening to this madman exchange with bug-eyed disbelief.

This guy actually gave him that thing? And this guy’s actually going to use it??

The group couldn’t help but shiver.

These two… are lunatics.

Fang chuckled again. “This crystal was developed specifically for you. And while we used it to test others’ potential, I always believed your Awakened Skill would be terrifying. With this one-time-use crystal, it could serve as humanity’s secret trump card.”

He lowered his voice. “Bai Wan, can I speak to you in private?”

Bai nodded. 

The two of them walked over to the riverside.

Fang turned to him with a pleased expression. “There were two goals behind inviting you for the trial. One, I needed to confirm just how dangerous your power is. And clearly… it’s absurdly dangerous. Thank God we had a rollback option.”

He laughed. “The second goal was to leave behind a few presents for you and Longbei City.”

As he spoke, he pulled out his phone and showed Bai Wan some photos.

Bai Wan’s eyes widened.

The images showed pitch-black boxes, each containing strange objects: a funeral portrait, a bald monk in martial robes…

Fang explained, “These are all products of your ability. These black boxes are ultra-rare items recovered from a past dungeon. It has the power to resist the flow of time. Anything placed inside becomes immune to time manipulation—meaning it’s unaffected by Li Shoushi’s time-reversal stopwatch.”

Bai Wan instantly understood the implication. They had used his bugged awakening to warp reality across Longbei, and preserved the useful mutated artifacts inside timeproof boxes. Afterward, Li Shoushi’s ability rewound the rest of the world.

Holy crap. That’s genius.

And while doing this, they’d also measured his power output and gifted him the crystal as a contingency weapon.

A two-pronged strategy.

That’s what this Paranormal Doctor was capable of?

Clever, yes—but insane too.

Only now did Bai Wan realize that the whole “Dragonbei bug incident” was part of a deliberate plan. And that plan could have taken the whole city down with it.

Fang Hanxin seemed to see what Bai was thinking.

He smiled and said,

“Big theories, careful proof. If humanity continues crawling forward like it always has, we’ll eventually be wiped out by the paranormal. Evolution is too slow. We need a leap. Your ability is that leap.”

“In just three seconds, you created miracles across Longbei. Some of those miracles have been stored. We’ll analyze them, learn from them, and then make more breakthroughs.”

Fang adjusted his glasses.

“Of course, those black box items will take time to study. What I really came here to do today… was to test what happens when your awakened skill is unleashed in a dungeon.”

“I have another ongoing experiment—you’ve heard of the Warden, right? Keep this quiet: I’m launching something called the ‘Warden Capture Project’.”

As the Doctor explained his insane plan to capture a mythical Underworld Warden and turn it into a player class, Bai Wan stared in disbelief.

My God.

First he used a whole city as an experiment. Then he weaponized his bug skill to nuke a dungeon. Now he wanted to capture an Underworld Warden?

No wonder they call him the craziest genius among all paranormal hunters.

Fang continued, “But Wardens sound terrifying just by name. Even all of humanity combined might not be a match. That’s why your awakened skill is crucial—it could be humanity’s trump card against unsolvable-class threats.”

 His tone grew heavy, “you just joined the organization, so you’re not aware… of the kinds of monsters we’re truly facing.”

Bai Wan suddenly thought of The Painter.

Even now, he doubted he could beat that thing…and the twisted Guanyin—

That day, on the ocean, he had seen something he would never forget.

Are there more entities like that in this world? Do they even count as “paranormal” anymore? “God” might be a better term.

Could the four Squad Captains of humanity even hold their own against something like that?

He wasn’t so sure. Even if they could… who could guarantee there weren’t worse monsters out there?

Humanity is too weak.

And just like that… he began to understand the Doctor’s madness. If humanity didn’t find a way forward, then once a being like the Guanyin crossed over to reality, no one would be able to stop it.

Fang Hanxin looked at him solemnly.

“Humanity must grow. And to make a leap forward, we need resolve. Inside Hell’s Visitor, there’s a chain left behind by a Warden. That artifact might even surpass abyss-level. The Warden itself is likely far stronger.”

“So… I want you to master your awakened skill. With it, and with the others—our four Captains, the Chief Commander, and myself—we’ll imprison a Warden. And then…”

Fang smiled.

“We’ll steal its power. You’ll become the new Warden.”

“If we can do that, humanity will finally hold a real trump card against the unknown.”

“…But that’s all long-term planning. Right now, I just want you to test if this crystal works inside the dungeon. If it does—blow it up. That’ll be your ace in the hole.”

Bai Wan looked down at the crystal glinting in the river’s reflection. He couldn’t wait to drop that bug bomb inside the haunted campus.

Alright then, System… You messed with me long enough.

This time, in Nightmare Haunted Campus…

I am going to nuke it to oblivion.

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