Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Zhou Benxin’s family lived in City Z. He had originally planned to drive Yun Jianyue back to City A, but she turned him down and chose to take the high-speed rail instead.

What a joke. The high-speed train only took four hours, while driving took nine.

Her poor old back couldn’t endure nine hours of agony.

As soon as Yun Jianyue returned to City A, she sent Du Minghao a message.

By the time she arrived downstairs at the Paranormal Bureau, Du Minghao had just come down to meet her.

“I was just about to ask when you’d be back in City A when you messaged me. Your timing’s perfect. Come upstairs. There’s something we need to discuss.” Du Minghao led Yun Jianyue into the elevator and swiped his employee badge.

This was Yun Jianyue’s first time visiting the Paranormal Bureau during the day, but she discovered it was no different from coming at night.

There was practically no one working at their desks!

“The Paranormal Bureau barely has any staff, yet you take up an entire floor. Isn’t that a waste of government resources?” Yun Jianyue remarked.

Du Minghao gritted his teeth. “That’s because most of us are usually out in the field. Everyone you see here is technical staff. They’re mainly responsible for data support and logistics.”

He often worked in the field himself. Today was one of the rare days he happened to be in the office, yet he still had to put up with Yun Jianyue’s jabs.

Yun Jianyue pointed at Si Wuming, who was fast asleep at his desk. “Doesn’t he get his pay docked for slacking off?”

“He’s different. No one dares dock his pay,” Du Minghao said.

From Du Minghao, Yun Jianyue learned a little about Si Wuming.

Si Wuming was the junior martial brother of the Lingxi Sect’s current sect master and held considerable seniority in the metaphysics community. Aside from a handful of old men, anyone who met him had to address him as Junior Martial Uncle at the very least. Those even further below him in seniority practically had to call him Ancestor.

He was also an unrivaled genius in the entire metaphysics community. It was said that his accomplishments in metaphysics were comparable to those of any great grandmaster still alive today.

The Paranormal Bureau had paid a fortune to recruit him. Whenever a particularly difficult case arose, Si Wuming would be temporarily transferred wherever he was needed. When nothing major was happening, he clocked in at the Paranormal Bureau’s City A branch.

Eight hours a day, weekends off, and all statutory holidays observed.

Forget sleeping at his desk. Even if Si Wuming cooked hot pot and threw a party in the office, the higher-ups wouldn’t do anything to him as long as he clocked in.

Actually… they wouldn’t do anything even if he didn’t clock in. All that mattered was that he carried out his missions whenever he was transferred elsewhere.

“Go on in. Old Cai is waiting for you.” Du Minghao opened the door to Cai Zeyu’s office and let Yun Jianyue enter alone.

Inside, Cai Zeyu was typing something on his computer, his fingers clattering rapidly over the keyboard.

Yun Jianyue casually poured herself a cup of tea, then stood in front of the bookcase with the cup in her hands and browsed Cai Zeyu’s collection.

“You’re so comfortable in here, anyone would think this was your office.” Cai Zeyu walked over and handed Yun Jianyue a stack of documents. “Take a look.”

Yun Jianyue rapidly read through the documents. A rare look of gravity settled over her fair face. “What is this supposed to mean?”

Every document in the stack was about her late mother.

Cai Zeyu knew Yun Jianyue was smart, so he didn’t beat around the bush.

“You know your situation is unusual. There was no way we wouldn’t investigate you. According to our investigation into your life, you had been no different from an ordinary person from childhood up to the present. So we turned our attention to your blood relatives and unexpectedly discovered that your mother’s identity might not be so simple.”

The documents contained a record of Yun Jianyue’s mother, Yun Xiangrong, and her life.

According to the records, Yun Xiangrong had been taken in by the Yun Family and was not related to them by blood, but she had never known the truth her entire life.
The file also stated that Yun Xiangrong had disappeared ten years ago.

But Yun Jianyue distinctly remembered her mother dying in a fire. Everyone in the family had said she’d burned to death as well.

“I know you have a lot of questions right now, but the facts are right in front of you. We secretly opened your mother’s grave. There was no body and no ashes inside. It was only a cenotaph. I think you should go home and ask your relatives what this is all about.”

Cai Zeyu opened the bookcase, picked out more than a dozen books, and handed them to Yun Jianyue. “Return them once you’ve finished studying them.”

“Why are you telling me all this?” Yun Jianyue asked.

With the Paranormal Bureau’s capabilities, they could have investigated the matter themselves, then created a file and archived it.

“Because we couldn’t uncover anything else, unless we used secret arts to pry the truth out of your family. But we’ve dealt with each other a few times now. If we did that, you’d probably hack us to death one night while we were on our way home.”

Cai Zeyu shrugged. There was something fiercely resilient about Yun Jianyue, a strength that had grown wild and untamed. Once she began studying metaphysics, she was certain to become someone extraordinary. He didn’t mind doing her this favor.

“Once you find out the truth about your mother, you’ll probably have the answers to all those mysteries surrounding you.” Cai Zeyu smiled at Yun Jianyue. “I’m sure you want to get to the bottom of them too.”

They said ignorance was bliss, but that didn’t apply to Yun Jianyue in the slightest.

Despite having met her only a handful of times, Cai Zeyu could clearly tell that the girl before him was someone who would pursue the truth at any cost.

Yun Jianyue gathered the heavy books into her arms. Her solemn expression instantly vanished, and she rolled her eyes without restraint. “Cut the pretentious crap. You’re a Mary Sue fan who reads That Guy Was Cool.”

With that, Yun Jianyue strode out of the office.

After a moment of stunned silence, Cai Zeyu rushed to the bookcase and searched it carefully. He found That Guy Was Cool wedged into a corner of the bottom shelf.

“Damn it! Didn’t I hide that? How did it end up back in the bookcase?!”

He could have sworn he’d hidden every last Mary Sue novel before Yun Jianyue arrived!

After leaving the office, Yun Jianyue glanced across the Paranormal Bureau’s main office. Everyone was hard at work. Only Si Wuming was sleeping like a baby.

As she passed his desk with the books in her arms, Si Wuming silently extended a hand without opening his eyes and offered her another book.

Yun Jianyue looked down. Splashed across the garish, multicolored cover was the title: Eighteen Babies in One Pregnancy: The CEO’s Wife Runs Away with His Child.

“Cai Zeyu’s book?” Yun Jianyue asked.

“Mm.” Si Wuming placed it on top of her stack. After a pause, he pulled out one of the books underneath and used it to cover the novel.

In her mind, countless flies were rubbing their little forelegs together in anticipation.

Hadn’t she hidden her taste in Mary Sue novels perfectly? How had this man figured out that she liked them too?

Eighteen babies in one pregnancy! She could tell at a glance it would be outrageous. It was exactly her kind of story!

Du Minghao noticed that Yun Jianyue had come out and hurried over to escort her downstairs.

Yun Jianyue hailed a cab and went home.

She had only just arrived and hadn’t even changed her shoes when her phone began to ring.

She took it out and saw the caller ID: Maternal Aunt.

The file and Cai Zeyu’s words were still vivid in her mind. Yun Jianyue gripped her phone in silence for a long time. Only when it was about to stop ringing did she finally answer.

“Hello, Auntie.”