TTAETSC Chapter 21.2 - Chief!

Translator: Deyonna

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"Officer Hu... Officer Hu?"

Jon's voice brought Hu Changchuan back to reality. The latter lifted his head and realized that everyone was looking at him.

Jon carefully chose his words. "Officer Hu, you were shaking your head strongly just now. Did you think something was wrong with what Mr. Yuan Ye said?"

Ah?

What?

Who does he think said something wrong?

The man in floral underpants paused, suddenly feeling the urge to clean out his ears.

At that moment, Hu Changchuan happened to meet Yuan Ye's expressionless and stern face. The latter raised one eyebrow slightly, seemingly interested in knowing what he thought was wrong.

Hu Changchuan: "..."

No.

He screamed frantically in his mind!

No! No! No!

The man in floral underpants shook his head even more firmly this time.

"Absolutely right, incredibly right! Couldn't be more right! Chief... Oh, I mean, Mr. Yuan Ye, what you said is absolutely right. Your analysis is better than mine, far better than mine!"

Yuan Ye stared at him for a few seconds, let out a sneer, and said no more.

The little octopus looked at Yuan Ye, then at the uncle in floral underpants, who was covered in sweat. He suddenly became curious about what Yuan Ye had done in the past to cast such a significant psychological shadow on the other man.

Nevertheless, Hu Changchuan was a truly dedicated decontamination officer, and he was very meticulous when it came to work-related matters.

After this episode, the uncle in floral underpants quickly regained his composure and focused on the matter at hand.

"Mm, the king creature will only hatch when it has consumed enough flesh and blood and gathered sufficient energy. It is indeed unusual for the king creature to be underdeveloped."

The man in floral underpants rubbed his chin and suddenly changed the topic.

"Although it may seem rare and unusual, it has happened before."

As soon as he said that, everyone's expressions froze in unison. Even Yuan Ye furrowed his brow and looked at Hu Changchuan.

It was evident that Yuan Ye, who had previously held the position of decontamination chief, was actually unaware of the special case that Hu Changchuan had mentioned.

Feeling a chill down his spine from the gaze, the uncle in floral underpants quickly continued to explain.

"Speaking of which, it was a coincidence, just a coincidence. When I passed the assessment and became a decontamination officer, I would often go browse the files in the otherworldly creature archive. At that time, I lacked experience and was relatively low in rank within the organization, so I wanted to learn from my senior colleagues' experiences to avoid..."

Yuan Ye gave him a cold look and spoke impatiently, "Get to the point!"

"Yes… yes!"

Hu Changchuan indeed had a tendency to ramble and stray from the main point. He quickly reorganized his words and then spoke again.

"At the time, I had nearly gone through all the files, and I happened to come across a record of a similar case. It mentioned an instance where a king creature had hatched prematurely. However... that was a long time ago, back before the establishment of the empire as we know it today, when human settlements were still scattered bases and the major bases were divided against one another…"

Yuan Ye stared at him expressionlessly, reaching out to grip the hilt of his knife.

Hu Changchuan suddenly snapped out of it, nearly biting his tongue in the process.

"Get to the point, yes, I will immediately get to the point!"

It seems that his habit of rambling off-topic only improves dramatically with the presence of the chief.

"In short, it was roughly sixty years ago. The king creature from that otherworldly plane was also underdeveloped, like a premature, deformed human."

"But due to the limitations of the historical context, no one seriously investigated the reasons behind it. However, later on, researchers of otherworldly creatures speculated that something may have appeared, forcing or inducing the king creature to hatch prematurely."

Forcing or inducing the king creature to hatch prematurely?

Ye Yunfan was frightened.

He suddenly remembered that not long after he woke up, the "door" opened, and all the otherworldly creatures from the otherworldly plane, including the later appearance of the little monster that was the king creature, had desperately tried to eat him.

So, could he be the catalyst for the premature hatching of the king creature?

Even though it had an underdeveloped body and the danger of exposing itself, it still wanted to break free immediately to eat him?

This speculation made the little octopus's heartbeat suddenly accelerate.

As Hu Changchuan uttered the last sentence, Chen Xinyue was stunned, and she instinctively looked at Yuan Ye's left arm.

—But the place was empty.

The "little jellyfish" that had been resting on the wrist guard seemed to have vanished without a trace.

She instinctively wanted to go look for it, but as she lifted her eyes, she met the cold and icy gaze of the young man.

It seemed like a warning.

A chill ran down the woman's spine, but immediately after, Yuan Ye shifted his gaze to Hu Changchuan and calmly spoke.

"Assuming this catalyst does exist, and the king creature was able to immediately track down the location of the supply station with the investigation team, can we speculate that the catalyst is related to human settlements, or perhaps something within the settlements?"

Chen Xinyue was immediately stunned.

That's right.

If the "little jellyfish" really is the catalyst, then why did the king creature choose to follow her to the supply station as its first target, rather than directly pursue the "little jellyfish"?

Captain Chen quickly regained her composure and returned to her line of thought.

The decontamination officer, who was supposed to arrive yesterday afternoon, had been inexplicably attacked on the safest transportation route, while Bard and the gifted person's goal was only to obtain the corpse of the king creature.

Her initial speculation was that the king creature's attack on the supply station had been influenced by some form of human intervention, which coincided with Yuan Ye's conjecture.

That's right! The supply station... Someone turned the supply station into a catalyst!

At the same time, the little octopus hidden in the young man's collar also froze in place.

Eh?

What?

Ye Yunfan was truly frightened by Hu Changchuan's words just now. Chen Xinyue had witnessed the otherworldly creatures relentlessly chasing him underwater, and Yuan Ye had personally witnessed the king creature's frenzied attempt to eat him.

So, combining Hu Changchuan's words just now, as long as they both think about it for a moment, it was easy to guess that Ye Yunfan was ninety percent likely to be the catalyst.

Hence, the little octopus immediately wanted to hide and minimize his presence as much as possible.

He instinctively darted back into Yuan Ye's collar, shrinking himself and curling up snugly in the hollow of the young man's collarbone.

At that moment, the curled-up little octopus was roughly the size of a human toddler's palm, so even though he was hiding in Yuan Ye's collar, Chen Xinyue couldn't spot him at first glance.

The only thing Ye Yunfan didn't expect was that Yuan Ye's guess was completely the opposite of his own, heading in an entirely different direction!

Yuan Ye's Adam's apple moved slightly as he tried hard to ignore the round, damp, cool sensation in the hollow of his neck.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The little octopus's ears pressed against the young man's warm, smooth skin, clearly hearing the rapid beating of the youth's heart.

Ye Yunfan had noticed this the first time he hid here. This position made it easy to hear the young man's heartbeat. And now, Yuan Ye's heartbeat was fast, very fast, as if all the blood in his body was rushing and accelerating.

[Yi, why is it a bit warm?]

[Getting warmer, getting warmer.]

[Strange, strange.]

The little icy tentacles quickly noticed this anomaly, such as the fact that the skin they were sticking to was rapidly warming up.

Meanwhile, amidst the rapid heartbeat, the little octopus heard the young man's usual calm and indifferent voice.

"Or perhaps this catalyst doesn't exist. Assuming that the king creature's intelligence is comparable to that of humans, it may possess human-like arrogance and a sense of urgency. So, upon discovering the investigation team, it may have simply chosen to hatch ahead of schedule."

"At the same time, it may have deliberately threatened away the investigation team, causing them to flee back to the supply station, and then proceeded to track down the nearest human settlement to obtain enough flesh and blood for its transformation as quickly as possible?"

"Hey! That actually makes a lot of sense!"

Hu Changchuan didn't notice the strange looks the two of them had exchanged just now. He carefully considered the two conjectures Yuan Ye had put forth and felt that both were plausible.

But soon, his expression turned serious and worried.

"But if it's the former, it's not too bad. We can search the supply station, conduct a thorough investigation, and easily find the real catalyst. But if it's the latter, then…"

—It's terrifying.

Because that would mean the otherworldly creatures have evolved human-like intelligence. If this is really the case, then the future of humanity will be incredibly difficult, bordering on hellish.

"..."

For a moment, the entire room fell silent.

The little octopus was also very quiet.

Because he had just heard Yuan Ye's entire analysis and speculation, which seemed very organized and logical.

But Ye Yunfan could hear the young man's rapidly increasing heartbeat.

And also—

He raised his tentacles and looked down at the flushed, feverish skin.

The little octopus tilted its head, unable to resist a rather unlikely thought.

Could it be that Yuan Ye was covering for him, and that's why he was feeling guilty?

If that's the case, then this guy, Yuan Ye, is really bad at hiding things.

The little octopus sighed lightly, then stretched out his body and grew a bit larger, flattening himself and pressing his icy-cold body against Yuan Ye's skin to cool it down.

—Then, he would be kind and help him cool down.

Right after, the young man, who had just been so calm and rational, suddenly stood up.

Bang!

His sudden movement caused his clothes to rustle.

The three who had been quietly contemplating were all startled. In the next second, all eyes were focused on the young man, who had a grim expression.

Hu Changchuan reacted the most strongly. He quickly grabbed Jon and backed up to the door, bracing his hand on the floor.

Suddenly, a wall of earth abruptly rose up from the ground, blocking the two of them.

Rumble—

Jon's eyes went blank, his expression dull.

???

What?

What's happening???

"Chi... Chief, Chief! You, you, you calm down, calm down…"

At that time, the uncle in floral underpants crouched down, half of his head sticking out from the side of the wall, his face pale.

"Let's talk things out... talk things out nicely. I will listen to you, I will listen, I will listen! Just tell me where you want to hit and I'll do it!"

Hu Changchuan's crouched posture was very strange, as if he were about to break into a run at any moment.

Chen Xinyue's gaze darted back and forth between the two, full of doubt and uncertainty. She had no idea what major event had just occurred.

Jon was even more confused. He just stared dumbly at the sudden earthen wall that had risen in front of him, then instinctively glanced over at the uncle in floral pants beside him.

…This is a gifted person's ability.

This uncle is really a gifted person... and also a true decontamination officer.

For some reason, even though he had already confirmed the other's identity under Yuan Ye's verification, at this moment, when Jon was witnessing it with his own eyes, he still felt like his entire worldview had collapsed once again.

The little octopus also didn't understand why Yuan Ye had suddenly gotten angry. He was just as anxious, so he gently stroked the other's shoulder with his little tentacles, hoping to pacify him.

However, this had no effect.

Yuan Ye appeared to be struggling to hold something back. He gave Hu Changchuan a cold look, his gaze like a sharp knife, and spoke in a suppressed voice.

"Get out of the way!"

Okay!

Hu Changchuan immediately complied, quickly dragging Jon to the side. Simultaneously, the earthen wall blocking the doorway crumbled, almost as if obediently clearing a path for the chief.

Yuan Ye: "..."

Jon, who was dragged: "???"

Chen Xinyue looked at the suddenly formed yellow mud path, hesitated for a few seconds, then tentatively asked.

"Mr. Yuan Ye, you…"

"..."

The young man closed his eyes briefly, taking a deep breath—

"I'm going out to calm down."

After saying that, he took a big stride out the door and disappeared.

……Ah?

Chen Xinyue was dumbfounded. She blankly turned back and saw the man in floral underpants hugging the curly-haired puppy, with a look of having just escaped disaster, weeping bitter tears.

"Wuwuwu, still... still alive... I Old Hu haven't had it easy, I really haven't had it easy ahh—"

Jon was completely distraught.

"Hey, uncle! You're wiping your snot on my face!!!"

☰