The police officer in front of him saw Shen He's serious expression. Although he didn't know what had happened, he didn't refuse. After asking his superiors for instructions, he also received approval.
Shen Yun briefly spoke with his sister's family before leaving with the officer.
Most of the media gathered here looked disappointed, but they quickly turned their sights to Shen Yun's family, who had stayed behind. The story of this family... seemed to have many sensational details worth digging into.
Meanwhile.
Most of Shen Yun's nervousness had faded. He was welcomed into an office in the municipal department, where a female staff member in her forties was already waiting behind the door.
"I am Zhong Huiyun, the Deputy Director of the Spiritual Power Special Service Bureau," she introduced herself, her smile radiating approachability. "I originally wanted to welcome you personally, but the work here is truly overwhelming. I hope Master Leiting won't take offense."
"It doesn't matter." Shen Yun waited until everyone else had left. After closing the door securely, he cut straight to the chase. "Are you aware of the Gu bugs inside people's bodies?"
"Gu bugs?" Zhong Huiyun's expression changed slightly.
"It seems you aren't," Shen Yun said, his expression grave. "At least tens of thousands of people have been infected with Gu bugs. They are located in the heart and are incredibly small. Ordinary scanning equipment would likely have a hard time detecting them. I suspect that everyone infected has taken medication from the Three Medicine Group."
Zhong Huiyun didn't ask if this was true or not. Her face gradually grew solemn.
If this was really happening, it wouldn't just be the biggest abduction case since the Spiritual Qi revival—it would be the greatest hostage crisis in human history! Since the Spiritual Qi revival, the absolute order of many countries had completely collapsed. Powerful Cultivators claimed territories as their own, creating an apocalyptic landscape. Hua Xia was barely maintaining order. Even so, the death toll from various accidents had reached a terrifying number, and the public's dissatisfaction had peaked. If this man-made crisis were to erupt...
RING RING—
At that moment, the phone on the desk suddenly rang. Zhong Huiyun didn't mind Shen He being present and answered it directly.
"Yes, okay, let her in." After a few brief words, she hung up. Zhong Huiyun's expression softened slightly, and she turned her head with a smile. "Master Shen, the other Golden Core Master has arrived. Let's discuss the details once she gets here."
Shen Yun's expression remained unchanged, but his attention sharpened.
"Another Golden Core..." he thought.
Even now, he still didn't know what being a Golden Core actually felt like. However, the fact that Little Nine could detect the tiny bugs in people's hearts made him a bit nervous.
They didn't have to wait long. Following two light knocks on the door, a girl in a white dress walked in, carrying a small travel carrier in her hand. She was tall with a delicate and refined appearance, her long black hair straight and silky. She boasted a pair of long legs that clearly exceeded the golden ratio. But the most eye-catching detail was that she wasn't wearing shoes. Instead, her small, crystal-clear bare feet naturally drew everyone's gaze the moment she appeared.
But Shen He held back.
"Is this the other Golden Core? The Wudang Sect's Master Miaoyun?" he wondered.
When the barefoot master saw Shen Yun, her eyes visibly lit up. She strode over on her long legs, hesitated for a moment as if thinking about what to say, and finally uttered a single sentence.
"Fellow Daoist... are you Master Leiting?"
Her voice was soft and gentle, and she looked very shy.
"This is what other Golden Cores are like?" Shen Yun thought. He suddenly felt that his facade of cold, domineering arrogance was completely pointless.
"Yes," he spat out a single word, treating it like gold.
He had to keep up his persona, after all.
"Hello." Master Miaoyun didn't mind Shen Yun's coldness; in fact, she felt a surge of joy. "My name is Lu Yue. Fellow Daoist can just call me Miao Yun."
Shen Yun nodded in acknowledgment. Miao Yun carefully observed Shen Yun. On her way here, she had watched the video of this Master Leiting. Crossing such a long distance at that speed was super impressive! If it were her, not only would she fail to reach that speed, but she would also definitely end up exhausted.
"Perhaps this is what a true master Cultivator is like," she thought.
Miao Yun's eyes brightened slightly. As if suddenly recalling something, she turned to Zhong Huiyun and spoke in her soft voice, "Director Zhong, I noticed a problem when I arrived just now."
Hearing this, Shen Yun couldn't help but look at her. "Did she discover the Gu bugs too?" he wondered.
"The driver you sent to pick me up might have been poisoned," Miao Yun said earnestly.
"Poisoned..." Shen Yun frowned.
"Why poisoned? Does the enemy have more than one trick up their sleeve?" he thought.
"Could you elaborate?"
Zhong Huiyun's brows had also knitted tightly together. Evidently, she and Shen Yun were on the same page. Since the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi revival, many seemingly ordinary antiques had gradually revealed miraculous properties. They could very well be magical treasures or divine artifacts handed down from ancient times, meaning no one truly knew what kind of fortuitous encounters some people might have obtained.
If someone else was trying to fan the flames and muddy the waters... things would get troublesome.
"I wasn't too sure at first, but later I realized that the aura over the driver's forehead was genuinely an aura of death." Master Miaoyun paused, then added, as if afraid they wouldn't understand, "I mean the space between his eyebrows was turning black."
Watching such a pretty young girl earnestly spout the jargon of a fortune-teller created an indescribable mental image.
"Aside from that, you didn't discover anything else?" Shen Yun asked mildly.
"It was precisely because I didn't find anything else wrong with his body that I thought it might be poison." Miao Yun felt a bit flustered under their intense stares. She even subconsciously looked down at herself. Aside from not wearing shoes, there was nothing wrong with her.
"Have they already discovered this too?" she wondered.
"Advisor Lu, Master Shen just revealed some news," Zhong Huiyun said, taking a deep breath. "Nearly a tenth of the people in East City might have been infected with Gu bugs."
"Gu bugs?" Miao Yun's eyes widened. A tenth of the population—wouldn't that be hundreds of thousands of people?
"Did you really not notice?" Zhong Huiyun pressed. "Master Shen said there's a tiny bug located in the heart."
"No." Miao Yun shook her head, her face flushing slightly. She looked a bit insecure.
She was only nineteen this year and had inexplicably reached the Golden Core stage. She always felt it was just due to sheer luck, and now, sure enough, she had been outdone by another Golden Core.
"Master, I've discovered..." Shen Yun suddenly heard Little Nine speak in his mind.
"Are you sure?" he asked mentally, a surge of joy welling up within him.
"There is a ninety percent probability that this is the case," Little Nine replied.
Shen Yun understood. If Little Nine said so, then it was highly likely to be true.
"Forget it," he suddenly spoke up. "Since you're all out of options, I'll take charge of this matter. I'll notify you if I find anything."