“Miss Crow is so easily affected?”

Noticing Miss Crow’s reaction made Han Su even more curious.

In fact, the moment he saw Zhang Zhiguo’s stern expression, he knew the matter was controllable. If the consequences were serious, Old Zhang would not be in the mood to scold someone—he’d step up and take responsibility himself, with no real fallout.

Besides, even if there were consequences, they should be borne by Han Su himself. It wasn’t worth Miss Crow reacting like that.

“Shut up, I wasn’t talking to you!”

Hearing Han Su’s words, Zhang Zhiguo immediately turned and glared at him, making Han Su lower his head at once, adopting a chastened posture.

But once that scolding was out, Zhang Zhiguo fell silent. He glanced at Miss Crow, frowned, but softened his tone somewhat and said, “Keep my words in mind. For now you should go back and reflect.”

“I’ll inform your instructor about the punishment. No need to write a self-criticism. Your mental state is poor right now—rest and recover quickly. I don’t want her chewing me out a second time.”

Miss Crow raised her head in confusion, clearly not expecting that after such a stern reprimand, she would be told to rest.

Could it be that he wanted her to bear the punishment?

Before leaving, she glanced back at Han Su. Han Su merely smiled gratefully.

Miss Crow had helped him greatly—this crisis was over.

Zhang Zhiguo waved his hand, dismissing everyone else. Then he turned to Han Su and said, “As for you, stay here in the Disaster Management Bureau for observation today. Also, I have some things to discuss with you.”

Han Su nodded and stayed.

When Secretary Cui Qiao saw this, she packed up the testing equipment and, with the other security personnel, left the training room.

The vast space suddenly felt empty.

“Judging from your performance during the encrypted-spell test, your Spiritual Penetration shouldn’t be this easy to achieve.”

As the training room door closed, Zhang Zhiguo’s momentarily relaxed expression suddenly shifted. He looked at Han Su and said, “Little Han, are you hiding something from me?”

Han Su paused, unsure what he meant, but recalled a question that had been lingering in his mind.

Should he tell Zhang Zhiguo about being kidnapped back in time?

The spell Song Chu-shi gave him, the inexplicable mysterious powers that activated because of the monster in the ancient fortress…

But before he could say anything, Zhang Zhiguo’s pupils constricted. He nodded and said, “I understand.”

Han Su looked up: ‘Understood what?’

“No need to answer some things.”

Zhang Zhiguo waved his hand and casually changed the subject: “This mission was very risky. Even for a born talent like her, helping a normal person achieve Spiritual Penetration is dangerous, you know?”

“I was somewhat foresighted. When I evaluated your encrypted-spell aptitude, I rated you Grade A.”

“If you had just achieved Spiritual Penetration so easily, without that evaluation, it could have attracted unnecessary scrutiny.”

“Understand?”

Han Su slowly nodded. Looking at Zhang Zhiguo, he asked quietly, “Then Uncle Zhang, after achieving Spiritual Penetration, what should I do next?”

“For now, what you should do is calm down and rest. Don’t dwell on that feeling, to avoid loss of control over your spiritual power.”

Zhang Zhiguo’s expression remained cold as he said, “Wait for the person I’ll invite to come back and help you train in mysterious power—then you can further explore Spiritual Penetration. At least you’ll have a safety guarantee.”

“I’ll have someone bring you a glove. Before formally training in spiritual power, you should wear that glove on your right hand.”

As he said this, Zhang Zhiguo seemed to realize something and sighed: “This came too suddenly. That gap in your right hand—it’ll be hard to hide from others.”

Han Su’s curiosity was piqued: “Gap?”

“It refers to the gap in applying spiritual power into reality. It’s a secret every mysterious-power user must guard.”

Zhang Zhiguo explained, “In a sudden confrontation, being able to immediately detect the opponent’s gap is key to preemptive strike.”

“So many Spiritual Penetration training sessions are conducted in secret. For some special individuals, related data need not even be recorded. As for you... it doesn’t matter now—the gap has already been seen by too many people.”

“Of course, that’s a consideration for early stages. Once you become a mature Investigator, you can expose other gaps. But isn’t the early stage, when it’s most dangerous, precisely when you need to keep secrets?”

“……”

From Zhang Zhiguo’s words, Han Su suddenly thought of something but did not rush to speak, appearing deep in thought.

Zhang Zhiguo also realized that saying more to Han Su now was meaningless. He gently shook his head: “After the training ends, you can be transferred out from under Mr. Strange Bird’s supervision.”

Han Su blinked in surprise. “How long will that take?”

“Not sure yet.”

Zhang Zhiguo said, “The instructor I found for you is currently busy with something very important outside. I originally planned that she might be back within a week.”

“In fact, although Mr. Strange Bird submitted an application, I was going to approve it only after she returned.”

“But now, I have to approve it in advance.”

“Otherwise, according to bureau regulations, just because she helped you complete Spiritual Penetration, that young girl’s evaluation would drop considerably.”

“……”

A week is not long, but not short either. It seemed enough time for many things to change.

If the next time he flickered back came as he estimated, it would be enough for him to learn that spell and return.

From Spiritual Penetration to power transformation seemed to cross three steps.

But why did he feel these three steps had already been completed naturally?

In his heart, he was somewhat unsure but instinctively asked, “Then, what exactly is she busy with now?”

Zhang Zhiguo was slightly startled. “She is doing something related to you. Do you remember Song Chu-shi?”

Hearing that name unexpectedly, Han Su quickly looked up. Zhang Zhiguo said, “She is chasing Song Chu-shi.”

“This dangerous person appeared previously in Qinggang City and met with you once. Since then, the Disaster Management Bureau has been searching for him. The person responsible for this is the one I entrusted to train you in mysterious power.”

Han Su listened, somewhat surprised: “Song Chu-shi is still in Qinggang?”

……

……

“Has she fallen in love with you?”

At the same time, outside Qinggang City, in a large composite farm, inside a simple row house where several workers lived, Song Chu-shi sat quietly before a small table eating his only meal of the day.

Beside him, from a silver briefcase standing upright, a restless complaint came: “They’re chasing you so tightly, you can’t even eat in peace.”

Song Chu-shi quietly ate, ignoring it.

But the voice inside the case would not stop, complaining: “What exactly did you come back for?”

“Just to send that kid into the Disaster Management Bureau? If he really has problems, sooner or later they’d recruit him anyway. Why risk yourself to arrange this step for him?”

“……”

“Not just to send him into the Disaster Management Bureau.”

Only then did Song Chu-shi pause slightly, took a sip of coffee, and said, “I originally intended to give him a gift. Going to the deepest part of that ruin before was also for that purpose.”

“I always felt that if you’re going to push someone into the heart of the vortex, they should have a suitable gift with them.”

“But who would have thought…”

His eyes seemed to grow mysterious: “This was clearly a site never invaded by anyone, sealed long ago, with an S-class forbidden spell recorded only in classical texts. And I can confirm, this seal had never been opened.”

“And I, as the first person in a thousand years to enter this ruin, and the first to break the seal, saw this forbidden spell…”

“…turn into emptiness?”

“Who else would have seen it before me?”