For Lin Junzhao's request, the Investigation Hall could be said to have gone all out. In less than twenty minutes, two large bags of hamburgers, fries, fried chicken, and cola were delivered to the operating room. Pei Yan knew without looking that there couldn't possibly be fast food outlets in the wilderness surroundings of the Investigation Hall; it had to have been specially bought from a big city using a Teleportation Array.

A room full of people, including Gu Shenghui who squeezed in later, and the team representing Ye Jiumu, Xia Yu, Pei Jin, and Wang Wenze, all quietly leaned against the wall of the operating room. They watched as Pei Yan, sitting by the surgery table, unceremoniously moved Ye Jiumu's body to the side, set up a plate, and began gulping down hamburgers, sipping cola loudly.

"Since I've known Pei Yan, this is the first time I've felt he's asking for a beating!" Wang Wenze whispered to Xia Yu, while Pei Yan picked up a piece of fried chicken, tilted his head back, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed a few times, and spat the chicken bone to the side.

Under ordinary circumstances, Xia Yu would have laughed at Wang Wenze's teasing, but now her gaze was blank, staring dead at the lying Ye Jiumu on the surgical table without saying a word. Seeing her like this, Wang Wenze smiled bitterly, shook his head, patted her shoulder, also unsure of what to say.

At that moment, the operating room door was pushed open again, and everyone's attention was immediately attracted. Minister Cen walked in with a little girl and a thin, tall foreign man in a suit.

Hidden within Lin Junzhao, Pei Yan followed Lin Junzhao's line of sight to see the little girl he recognized as Lin Ruxue, who had been named, so that foreign man must be the "Skinny Pole" she mentioned. Sure enough, this man wore a nineteenth-century gentleman's suit, a top hat, and was tall and thin. After entering, he took off his hat and nodded politely to everyone in the room in greeting.

After doing all this, he tossed his hat onto a nearby table, and Pei Yan saw his pale, bloodless face and a head of gray, mixed hair, and the fist growing larger in his eyes.

Bam! The tall, thin man stepped forward and punched Pei Yan in the face, directly knocking him, who was glancing at him with a wicked smile, to the ground, causing the pile of food on the surgery table to spill onto the floor.

Everyone in the room was taken aback by this sudden action. Pei Jin and others hurriedly tried to step forward to stop them, knowing that the man's real target was Lin Junzhao, but since that body was Pei Yan's... However, just as they took two steps forward, they were stopped by Elder Lin and Gu Shenghui. Gu Shenghui gestured for them to calm down and said seriously, "If you want to save Jiumu, stay calm, that guy won't harm Pei Yan!"

Just after he finished speaking, there was another sharp clatter. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound, seeing the tall man pick up a chair that had fallen alongside Pei Yan and started swinging it furiously at Pei Yan.

"Are you sure?" Wang Wenze asked hesitantly, watching the chair rise and fall on Pei Yan's body, before turning his head to Gu Shenghui. At this moment, Gu Shenghui's face also went pale, turning to Cen Xiaoran, who nodded in silent agreement, squeezing out a word through gritted teeth: "Sure!"

Crack! The chair couldn't withstand the repeated beating and finally broke. The tall man nonchalantly tossed the broken chair aside, mounted Pei Yan, and started pounding him with fists until Pei Yan lay motionless on the ground. Only then did he stand up, panting, pick up a leftover drumstick from the surgery table, and chew it loudly, eventually spitting the bone onto Pei Yan's slowly rising face.

"Is it enough now?" Lin Junzhao asked with a bloodied smile.

"Enough!" The tall man finished, waved, and the previously broken chair miraculously restored itself. He sat down, grabbing fries from the surgery table in one hand, and pulling out a delicate little flask from his jacket pocket with the other, gulping it down.

Lin Junzhao wobbled up, accepting a towel from a trembling little nurse, vigorously wiping his face. Don't look at his current disheveled appearance; in fact, with Pei Yan's body strength now, the earlier beating was just like scratching an itch. Lin Junzhao deliberately released the body's defensive state for the injuries to be inflicted, and such injuries would heal in an instant.

After wiping his face clean, Lin Junzhao beckoned to the little nurse and whispered a few words in her ear. She nodded vigorously and scurried out, soon returning with several chairs, which he sat on. After knocking on the surgery table with his hand, he exhaled before saying, "Let's begin then!"

"He's beyond saving!" The tall man dunked the flask onto the surgery table with a bluntness.

Lin Junzhao tilted his head sarcastically, "Can't you even solve the tricks made by people from your own realm?"

The tall man didn't get mad but pulled out a cigarette case, flicked it open, and inserted a cigarette in his mouth. He gently stroked a finger across the table, lighting a weak flame at his fingertip to light the cigarette, waved his hand to extinguish a mere spark, and chuckled: "No need to use reverse psychology on me. Compared to being treated like livestock by my own realm's people for over ten years, I'm much better than you!"

Pausing, he glanced at the furious Pei Yan and gestured before continuing, "With you now transformed into a man's appearance, I truly can't adjust. Now, isn't the time for our bickering. You called me over, knowing full well that even in our realm there are individuals who have transcended our control, having developed—how to put it? Oh, yes, in terms you can comprehend, they've developed their own Dao. I can slay them, but can't erase their Dao! Isn't that right, young lady!"

Lin Junzhao turned his head to the side dismissively, and after hearing their exchange, Ye Ruozai couldn't hold back and stepped forward to ask, "Is my brother really beyond saving?"

The tall man turned, glanced at both Ye Ruozai and the unresponsive Ye Jiumu on the table, grinning: "Twins?"

After Ye Ruozai nodded in confirmation, the tall man pointed at Ye Jiumu, saying, "Rescue him we can, but how long he'll live depends on you. As for how to save him, ask her!"

Seeing everyone's eyes in the room once more directed at him, Lin Junzhao spread his hands helplessly and said, "To save him, the first step is to nullify his supernatural abilities entirely!"

"What!" Not only did Xia Yu and the others exclaim in surprise, but even Pei Yan, cowering within himself, couldn't help but let out a cry of despair.

Conversely, Ye Ruozai felt a weight lift off her shoulders with a sigh of relief: "As long as he can survive, that doesn't matter! As long as he can survive!"

Seeing Ye Ruozai's reaction, Pei Yan also calmed down. Indeed! Compared to life, what are supernatural abilities worth? As long as Jiumu can survive, everything still holds hope. Yet, even so, he couldn't help but ask secretly, "Is it necessary?"