"Regret? Regret what?" Listening to the teasing voice of Lin Junzhao in his mind, Pei Yan shouted angrily; this was a matter of life and death, yet the person within him didn't care at all.

"Regret, indeed. I've said that you aren't the most suitable for me to possess—your sister is!" Lin Junzhao paused, sensing Pei Yan's intense emotional turmoil, and continued, "Don't worry; an agreement is an agreement. I won't violate it by targeting your sister again. Our souls have begun to bond, though not perfectly. Separating from you now would harm me more than joining. Until I find a more suitable host, you're my only choice. I'll agree to save a life if you and the bureau meet certain conditions."

"What conditions? Say it quickly, saving lives is urgent!" After listening to Lin Junzhao's conditions, Pei Yan looked up uneasily at Gu Shenghui and Elder Lin and said, "The person inside me agreed to save Jiumu!"

"Conditions!" Gu Shenghui held back the newfound hope in Ye Ruozai, stepping forward to inquire, aware that the one who disregards lives wouldn't offer help for free.

"Some conditions concern me, like her request to the bureau: absolve Su Xiang and his subordinates of their crimes, integrate him into the bureau but don't restrict his freedom." Pei Yan finished hurriedly, casting a worried glance at Elder Lin, fearing the bureau might stick to principle, threatening Jiumu's life.

"Agreed! Are there any other requirements?" Gu Shenghui directly nodded without hesitation.

"The rest we'll discuss later; for now, I'll hand over my body to her!" Pei Yan sighed with relief at Gu Shenghui's response, then said, feeling exhaustion but relaxed. With a smug sparkle in his eyes, he tilted his head, clapped his hands, and laughed, "Alright, let's go see the little boy!"

Without further ado, Elder Lin quickly took the Lin Junzhao-possessed Pei Yan into the operating room. Inside, on the surgical table, Ye Jiumu lay adorned entirely with various talismans and bizarre arrays, not quite asleep and sharing a perspective with Lin Junzhao. A surge of bitter anger filled Pei Yan's heart as he saw Ye Jiumu, who had seemed to age ten years in just an hour, despite showing no apparent change in his appearance, his black hair had turned to silver, his face haggard and unconscious.

Shaking off the negative emotions, Lin Junzhao tossed them from his mind, admonishing Pei Yan not to influence him further. He strode swiftly to the surgical table, heedless and removed all talismans from Ye Jiumu. At this sight, an elder participating in the treatment immediately stopped him and yelled, "What are you doing? We've just stabilized his condition! Are you crazy? Who is he, Old Lin?"

Elder Lin waved his hand, leaned toward Pei Yan, and asked, "Really, is it okay to remove all these talismans?"

The possessed Lin Junzhao femininely pinched her waist, tilted her neck with disdain, glancing around the room's occupants and asked, "Do you all know why he ended up like this?"

This question left everyone in the room dumbfounded. Seeing their silence, Lin Junzhao continued to mock, "Even traditional Chinese medicine preaches looking, hearing, questioning, feeling; Western medicine insists on scans—yet you don't know why he's in this state, daring to treat him blindly! Understand, this young man lost at least ten years off his life because of your mishandling, though it hardly matters, since he's going to die anyway."

The elder who had earlier stopped Lin Junzhao retracted his hand but defiantly retorted, "So you know why he turned out like this? Do you have a solution?"

"Blood Curse!" Lin Junzhao uttered bluntly. Seeing everyone looking puzzled, except Elder Lin sinking into deep thought, he went on, "This is a highly vicious curse from the Blood Race plane; you know Blood Race, right? What you call vampires."

"We certainly know the Blood Race! Once we learned our opponent was the Vlad Clan, we suspected this wicked curse right away. Yet, after numerous tests on him, including his blood, we found no trace of the malevolent curse from the magic plane," Old Lin mused, touching his chin. As he mentioned, knowing the enemy was Vlad, they naturally looked into the Blood Curse. However, failing to detect anything left them helpless.

Lin Junzhao, hearing this, rudely picked his nose, wiped the finger on Elder Lin, and mused, "If it were just a regular Blood Curse from the Blood Race, I doubt the bureau would be that incompetent. This was cast by the Vlad Clan Leader himself, nonetheless at a great cost. He must detest this boy immensely. To have suffered such a curse, one could say he's dying without regret."

"Ahem, ahem!" Looking over at the awkwardly coughing Elder Lin and the roomful of grim faces, Lin Junzhao nonchalantly continued, "This Blood Curse doesn't primarily affect the blood but his core essence, no wonder you couldn't detect it. The curse power has merged with his essence; only I and a few others could spot it. Using such messy talisman arrays is laughable. You weren't suppressing his aging rate; rather, his core was absorbing the talisman power for conversion. Once converted, the curse power will surge again; you're feeding the curse!"

These words enlightened everyone present; Elder Lin hurriedly asked, "Is there a solution?"

"There may be a solution, or maybe not. He's doomed; it's only a matter of time!" Lin Junzhao raised a hand, and a chair moved from afar in the operating room. He sat down, crossed his legs, and remarked with a hint of regret.

"Our agreement wasn't like this! You said you'd definitely save him!" In his mind, Pei Yan's furious voice roared again; Lin Junzhao, controlling the body, waved impatiently and said, "I said I'd save him; I didn't say how long he'd live after being saved. His survival depends on you, not me!"

Upon hearing this, Elder Lin's eyes lit up. He grabbed Pei Yan's hand and asked, "Whatever requirements or suggestions you have, let us know. We'll do our utmost to meet them!"

"Seems this boy matters a lot to you? Then it depends on your resolute decision!" Lin Junzhao withdrew, shook the hand, and placed his fingers on Ye Jiumu's wrist, continuing, "Bring over those few individuals; you don't need the old dog, he won't be useful. Lin Ruxue and that thin bamboo must come. With me here, the child won't die for a while. Also, get me something to eat—a burger, fries, and cola! This body has been through the night; Pei Yan, the brat, doesn't seem hungry!"