Chapter 14: So, Missions Always Come with Accidents?

Ye Yeying ignored Lin Yu’s attempt at praise—words so overblown they seemed to have used up his entire vocabulary. Instead, she unclipped a palm-sized, disc-like metal device from the belt of her ornate combat uniform and tossed it into his arms.

“Energy sample collector.”

Her voice was clipped, carrying only the tone of command.

“The mission requires retrieving the residual energy sample from the pollutant’s core for headquarters analysis. You do it.”

Lin Yu fumbled to catch the cold piece of equipment. He glanced at the still-smoking, foul-smelling ash scattered across the floor, then at Ye Yeying’s spotless, elegant uniform. In that instant, he understood exactly why this task had been passed to him.

Though reluctant, the thought of his pitiful D-rank evaluation and the fragile thread of his livelihood left him no room to refuse. He swallowed all protest back down.

“O–okay, senior!”

He forced out a smile uglier than crying, pinched his nose, and resignedly walked toward the mess.

But after fiddling with the device and the foul remains for a long while, he realized he had no idea how to start.

“Um… senior…”

He scratched his cheek and looked back with an embarrassed expression.

“How… do you use this?”

Ye Yeying gave him a look that screamed, As expected, you’re useless, then walked over impatiently.

“Extend the probe. Aim for the area with the highest residual energy concentration—the darkest, stickiest part.”

She pointed at the pollutant’s core remains.

“Activate it, then hold the probe steady until the indicator turns green. Be aware, the process may trigger a mild rejection reaction from the residual energy. It’ll have… a certain smell. Endure it.”

With that, she stopped paying him any attention, leaned against a pillar, and opened the team comms to report to Manager Qian aboveground.

Lin Yu squatted, holding the collector’s probe against the sticky, half-solidified ashes.

The device emitted a low hum—followed by a stench ten times worse than before, so putrid and acrid it shot straight up into his skull. He gagged several times, nearly vomiting.

Meanwhile, behind him, Ye Yeying’s flat voice was reporting away.

“Manager Qian, the target has been purified. Mission accomplished.”

“Haha! As expected of little Ying! Always efficient!” Manager Qian’s exaggerated flattery boomed through the earpiece.

“But,” Ye Yeying’s tone remained icy as she cut him off, “regarding the newcomer Gray Crystal’s first combat evaluation, my conclusion is—very unsatisfactory.”

Lin Yu’s hands trembled at once.

“Oh? How so?” Manager Qian sounded curious.

“Slow in response under pressure. Mental fortitude, extremely poor. Marksmanship… completely undisciplined.”

Her critique was merciless.

“Against a single D-rank target, he wasted five standard psionic rounds. Hit rate: zero. Had I not intervened, he’d already be a corpse awaiting cleanup.”

Lin Yu lowered his head, ready to accept his dismissal.

“However…”

Ye Yeying’s voice paused.

“…considering he at least obeys orders, and is willing to handle cleanup tasks, I can temporarily keep him around for a few days to familiarize him with the basics of D-rank missions. But as for having him as my long-term partner, I remain unconvinced. Should his performance continue at this level, I’ll recommend reassigning him as an assistant to Li Qing or Chen Bing.”

Her tone made it sound like: This piece of trash—I’ll reluctantly use him for a while, then pass him on to whoever wants him.

Lin Yu’s chest filled with frustration.

(Damn it, it was that old fox Manager Qian who tricked me into signing that contract! If only I hadn’t…)

Seething, he sped up the collection process, the hum of the device rising in volume.

That was when he noticed something strange.

Apart from the collector’s hum and his own breathing… there was another sound.

A faint scratching, like countless nails lightly raking across concrete—mixed with a whispering airflow, thin and eerie.

It seemed to come from everywhere… or perhaps, directly inside his skull.

(…Am I imagining this?)

He stopped, tilted his head, and listened closely.

“Sha… sha… sha…”

The sound was still there! Clearer, even!

“Uh… senior…”

Lin Yu’s girlish voice tightened with nerves.

“Do you… hear something strange?”

“Sound?”

Ye Yeying ended her report, turned her head, and fixed him with eyes full of impatience.

“All I hear is that broken collector buzzing, and your mosquito-like breathing.”

“N-no! It’s real!”

Lin Yu grew anxious, pointing toward the tunnel’s darkness.

“It’s that kind of… ‘sha-sha’ sound, like… lots of things crawling!”

For three whole seconds, Ye Yeying just stared at him. Then, at the corner of her lips, the faintest cold smirk appeared.

“Newbie,” she said, “auditory hallucinations after a first mission are a common stress response. I suggest you apply for a psychological evaluation once we return. Don’t use your so-called ‘special constitution’ as an excuse.”

Her gaze sharpened.

“Or is it just that you’re too scared, looking for an excuse to avoid this dirty, tiring task?”

“I am not!”

Lin Yu felt personally insulted and protested.

“I really heard it! If you don’t believe me, listen carefully!”

Ye Yeying seemed amused by his stubborn look. Though her expression didn’t change, her tone carried obvious ridicule:

“Fine. Let me hear it. Let me hear what kind of pathetic nonsense your rattled nerves can conjure—”

Her words cut off.

Because at that instant, every emergency light in the subway station began to flicker wildly in a grotesque rhythm!

Pop! Pop! Pop!

The sickly green glow strobed, painting the entire platform into a haunted hellscape.

At the same time, that scratching sound surged a thousandfold louder!

“Sha-sha-sha-sha-sha-sha——!!!”

No longer whispers—now a tidal wave of hideous noise crashing from every direction, an unholy symphony that made the scalp crawl.

Lin Yu’s eyes darted upward.

From the darkness of the tracks… behind the grates of the ventilation shafts… within the jagged cracks of the ceiling…

Pairs upon pairs of crimson points of light suddenly ignited.

They were eyes.

Countless, blood-red eyes, glowing in the dark like demons rising from hell—glaring down hungrily at the two fresh, psion-scented prey standing on the platform.

For the first time, the mask of icy calm cracked on Ye Yeying’s face, revealing shock and disbelief.

“…A nest?”

Through clenched teeth, she spat the words.

The report hadn’t said—there would be this many.