Monica tried hard to recall.

“Foundation? What foundation?”

“The Radiant Foundation,” Phil said slowly. “It sounds like an important clue.”

Monica suddenly grew tense. “Huh? Then should I not have knocked him out?!”

“It’s fine. Even if he were awake, he wouldn’t necessarily have answered honestly anyway.” Phil looked in another direction and gestured with her chin. “Besides, there’s another one.”

Only then did Monica remember the boy who had been buying the medicine.

On the other side, the boy was completely terrified. He was slumped on the ground, clutching the vial of pale gold liquid tightly, his face as white as paper.

Seeing Monica turn to look at him, “ah, ah” sounds came from his throat, but he couldn’t even manage a single complete sentence. He tried to stand up, but his legs gave out and he fell back down, sewage splashing all over him. In the end, he could only scramble backward on all fours until his back hit the cold, damp wall and he had nowhere left to retreat.

The boy finally shouted in a breakdown, “D-don’t come any closer! My father is Lu Jingyan! A director of Blue Ray Technology! If you dare touch me, he won’t let you get away with it!”

Monica stopped in her tracks.

“Lu… what?”

Thinking she was afraid, the boy hurriedly grasped at this final straw.

“Lu Jingyan! You know him, right? He knows a lot of big shots! There are people in SAVE who know him too! You can’t take me! You can’t—”

Thud.

Monica walked over and delivered another hand-chop.

The boy’s eyes rolled back, and he, too, fell unconscious.

The alley fell silent, save for the sound of the pouring rain.

Standing between the two unconscious people, Monica looked from one to the other, her expression somewhat depressed.

“Why do they all like to drop names I’ve never heard of?”

Phil couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

“Maybe they think those names are very useful?”

“But I really don’t know them,” Monica muttered aggrievedly, it sounded as if she were the one who was hopelessly ill-informed.

“Then doesn’t that just prove those names are actually useless?” Phil floated over to the boy’s side and pointed at the small vial in his hand. “Take that out and let’s have a look.”

Monica nodded and gingerly took the small vial of pale gold liquid from the boy’s hand.

The vial was small and light; the liquid inside emitted a soft glow in the rainy night, looking almost beautiful.

Yet for some reason, just holding it made Monica’s skin crawl, as if she were clutching a ticking time bomb.

Phil leaned in closer, gazing at the golden liquid in the vial and sensing it carefully.

“…Just as I thought. That same aura from the Metamorphosis Society Mutants is coming from the liquid in this vial.”

“The Metamorphosis Society…”

Monica’s fingers tightened around the vial.

“Miss Phil, what is the liquid in this vial for?”

“I’m not sure. We’ll need to analyze it further in a bit.”

Phil stared at the pale gold liquid, her expression turning playful for a moment before gradually growing cold.

“But you don’t even need a brain to realize that this isn’t anything good.”

What exactly was the Metamorphosis Society’s goal in spreading this medicine throughout the city…?

“We might have caught a big fish tonight.”

An hour later.

The members of SAVE, who had already gone to bed, had all been woken up by Lin Han, but none of them showed any signs of dissatisfaction.

After all, the reason Lin Han had woken them was that there had been a major breakthrough in the case.

The two individuals knocked unconscious by Monica had been tied up tightly and placed in two separate rooms, where they were undergoing interrogation by the Special Operations Division.

Why didn’t they contact the local authorities in X City and chose to handle it themselves, you might ask?

The reason, of course, was to prevent X City from interfering.

Lin Han didn’t plan on keeping them in the dark for long, but for tonight at least, he wanted to be completely undisturbed.

Several people from the Intelligence Processing Division were in Lin Han’s room, studying that small vial of medicine.

Monica was in the room as well.

Of course, she didn’t actually have much to do.

When it came to analyzing intelligence, she was no match for Mr. Lin Han and the others; when it came to researching medicines, she was completely ignorant; and as for combat…

Eh? What kind of combat would break out here?

A pillow fight?

If it were daytime, she would probably feel like a loiterer who had wandered into a high-level conference room, feeling out of place no matter where she sat.

But things were different now.

Although Miss Phil wasn’t here, apparently out of concern about being discovered by the people from SAVE, still…

Monica stole a secret glance at Lin Han, who was sitting at the table.

—Mr. Lin Han was one of Miss Phil’s people.

Once that fact was established in her mind, Monica instantly felt much more at ease, and sitting there felt far more justified.

Except…

Monica couldn’t help but steal another glance at Lin Han.

Just how did Mr. Lin Han become one of Miss Phil’s subordinates?

Was he also a Contractor?

If he was a Contractor, then between the two of them, whose status was higher in Miss Phil’s eyes?

Thinking of this, Monica suddenly realized that a faint, subtle trace of resentment had surfaced in her heart.

It was as if she had assumed she was the only one Miss Phil paid special attention to, only to suddenly discover that Miss Phil had other “insiders” all along.

This feeling…

Ugh…

Monica shook her head vigorously.

And so, Monica immediately sat up straight, trying her best to offer Lin Han a grateful and friendly smile.

“…”

Lin Han caught Monica out of the corner of his eye, peeking at him one moment, lowering her head in deep thought the next, shaking her head, and then suddenly flashing him a smile. He felt somewhat speechless.

Forget it.

He wasn’t particularly interested in understanding how Monica’s brain worked for the time being.

More important than that was the vial of medicine on the table.

Shen Qingshu sat by the table, carefully observing the vial.

She first held it up against the light to look at it for a while, then pulled out the stopper and gave it a gentle sniff.

Tang Xiaoman’s face turned pale at the sight.

“Qing—Qingshu, is it really okay for you to smell it directly?”

“It’s just a sniff, it’s not like I’m drinking it,” Shen Qingshu said calmly.

“But…”

“Don’t worry, I won’t die that easily.”

If anyone in Team 7 was the most knowledgeable about techniques, magic, and anomalous objects, it was undoubtedly Shen Qingshu. Although she usually crashed every computer she touched, she was truly a professional whenever she wasn’t in contact with electronic devices.

After a long while, Shen Qingshu finally set the vial down.

Lin Han immediately asked, “What did you find?”

Shen Qingshu didn’t answer right away. She stared at the pale gold liquid, her brow slowly furrowing. A rare look of solemnity appeared on her usually expressionless face.

“If my judgment is correct…” she said softly, “this medicine might actually be able to let ordinary people awaken abilities.”

Everyone’s breath hitched for a brief moment.