CHAPTER 694: THE UNSEEN DANGER

The rest of the weekend quickly flew by as Xiaoyun finally left his land of warmth and tenderness called home.

Walking to the logistics office’s gate early in the morning, he was a little surprised to see a group of exhausted workers with dark circles around their eyes.

None of them even waved back at him as they headed out, leaving him a little confused as he continued to walk towards the entrance.

Once inside, he sees a group of much more energetic workers in one of the rooms, their faces full of energy.

"Morning, boss!"

"Morning."

As Xiaoyun waved back and continued down the hall, he soon arrived at the doorstep of Houqin’s office.

With a gentle knock, he soon heard a quiet voice from the inside.

"Come in."

Opening the door, Houqin was sitting in her usual office chair, with the monitor and keyboard in front of her.

"Commander, what brought you to come so early today?" Houqin curiously asked as her hands continued to be on the keyboard.

"Just wanted to check if everything is fine... Is Yezi’s situation all sorted out?"

"Yezi hasn’t sent any messages back yet."

"I see... Ahem, Houqin, did you assign some people to the night shift or something? I walked into a group of workers earlier that barely looked awake."

"They were just there in case of an emergency that needs urgent supplies... Oh, I almost forgot, Commander, your friends sent a letter to my parents."

"My friend? Your parents? What?" Xiaoyun asked in confusion.

"Mr. Pinli learnt my parent were traveling over here, so they let my parent carry it."

Houqin explained as she finally stopped typing for a second, going over her personal bag before handing an entire envelope over to him.

"Pinli... What could the letter be about?"

As Xiaoyun looked around the envelope, he immediately felt something was off.

The name on the letter was written way too neatly. It didn’t add up to Pinli’s messy handwriting.

Not to mention the letter had a weird touch to it as he rubbed his finger around the envelope’s surface.

"You said Pinli sent this to your parent? Did he personally hand it to them?" Xiaoyun questioned.

"Um, I think my parent said a man who claimed to be a guard for Pinli... Is there something wrong with the letter?"

"The handwriting on the cover doesn’t match. It has a weird smell and a weird powdery touch inside."

"Is it that serious?"

Houqin couldn’t understand Xiaoyun’s concern as she couldn’t imagine what could be inside the envelope that made him look this worried.

"Better safe than sorry... You probably also might want to throw your bag away. I’ll be back later."

---

As Xiaoyun arrived in the pawn shop, the front desk worker quickly brought him inside, walking through the long hallways before stopping at the room.

The moment he opened the door, he saw Tianci sitting in a meeting room with twenty different people, all wearing lab coats and papers in hand.

"Sorry. Did I interrupt you guys?"

"Is there something wrong?" Tianci asked, signalling Xiaoyun to follow her as the two of them headed back into the hallway.

"Something is off about this letter that someone allegedly sent to me. Can you check if anything is dangerous inside?"

Taking out the envelope in a zip-lock bag, Tianci was immediately intrigued as she looked around the outside.

"What makes you think this letter is not normal?"

"It has a weird smell and a powdery texture inside... I feel like it might be some sort of bioweapon or something."

"Really? Bioweapon?"

As Tianci rubbed her finger on the envelope, she couldn’t feel anything off about it. The only thing she could feel was the plastic touch from the ziplock bag.

"I just have a weird instinct."

Xiaoyun answered, not wanting to elaborate any further as he looked determined to have the envelope open in a safer environment.

"Okay, fine. I’ll open it later... Just give me five minutes or so. I need to finish this meeting before I can open this letter for you."

"I’ll wait."

---

After a few minutes had gone by, people began coming out of the room as they waved good morning to Xiaoyun before walking off.

Tianci was the last one out as she held a small stack of paper in her hand, all gathered up neatly on a clipboard.

"Let’s go."

As Xiaoyun began following Tianci further down the hall, he soon found himself in a room with a bunch of gears he couldn’t even name.

The only thing he could name was the protective gear, which looked almost exactly the same as the one he used in Shenzhen’s death zone.

"Take the envelope out of the ziplock bag and put it in this one."

Xiaoyun quickly put the letter inside some sort of toxic waste bag, taking a step back as she put the waste bag into the machine.

Within a few presses of a button, the machine started running super loud in front of them as the noise blasted into their ear before it quieted down.

"What’s this?"

"An autoclave. Think about it like a pressure chamber that has a lot of hot steam inside to kill viruses and bacteria."

As the machine continued to run for a while, Xiaoyun soon noticed the timer on the side that said fifteen minutes.

"After this thing is done, the mail is going to be safe now, right?"

"This machine should be able to kill most things... Xiaoyun, why do you think someone sent you a letter with a bioweapon?"

Tianci asked the question again as she herself couldn’t understand why he thought the inside of the envelope could be dangerous.

"Better safe than sorry... I remember seeing a headline that happened a few years back when I was traveling overseas."

"A few years back... You mean back in the 2000s?"

"Yeah... Back in the 2000s." Xiaoyun quietly murmured, his mind suddenly feeling a little old hearing her say the year out loud.

"That’s when you’re still Songming, right?"

"Mhm. I had to fly back the next day after that headline... It was a little scary to think anyone could just die in a random attack the next day."

Tianci didn’t say anything back as the two waited patiently in front of the machine. After a short moment, the machine was finally done.

"Careful. It might be very hot inside."

As Tianci pressed a few buttons and took a step back, the lid began to open on its own as steam flew straight out into the air duct above.

"Now you can open the envelope... Wait, actually put on a pair of gloves and a mask. Then stand right here."

Xiaoyun quickly followed her direction, putting all the equipment on before standing right below the air duct.

"Why are you making it sound like the things inside aren’t dead?" Xiaoyun nervously asked as he started to regret taking out the letter.

"You said it yourself. Better safe than sorry... Actually, wait. Let me put this thing through more decontamination."

Tianci quickly snatched the bag away from Xiaoyun as she threw it straight into a whole separate machine just a few steps away.

It only took a few seconds this time as she instantly took out the bag, putting on the glove herself before opening the bag.

"W-Wait, you just open it like that?"

"That thing was an irradiation machine. No bacteria or viruses can survive at its highest setting unless it’s a straight-up alien organism."

As she opens the envelope, the inside only contains a letter and a small bit of white powder.

"Well, you certainly are right. Something fishy is about this powder... Now let’s see what’s inside the actual letter."

The moment she saw what was written on the letter, she was frozen in place. Her eyes began to change color as she suddenly leaned forward.

With only seconds to react, Xiaoyun immediately rushed forward, supporting her up by the shoulder as she stood back up.

"Tianci? Tianci? You okay?"

"She’s gone... You should have just opened the letter yourself. The powder here is just basic baking soda."

As Tianci’s alternate voice appeared, Xiaoyun quickly grabbed the letter for himself before realizing what had caused her to change.

"Fuck."

---

Xiaoyun, you think your prank was funny, didn’t you? You think we had forgotten about how you tried to scam us?

Small tricks have big prices to pay. Enjoy your break while it lasts, or else you’ll be met with a bad fever.

Oh, wait, you’re probably having it right now. Or maybe someone else has a bad fever if they had opened the letter for you.

Regardless, make sure you stay awake next week. You wouldn’t want to miss out on a great show coming your way."

If you’re still alive reading this, tell Tianci that I said hello. Such a shame, all her potential being wasted in some tiny little lab.

Signed, doctor Tian.