Chapter 23: Guards? Clean the Floor Thoroughly!

"Who are you?"
"Ah Quan?"
"Are you really Ah Quan?"
"What happened to you these past few days... How did you end up like this?"

When Gu Changqing returned to the Public Security Bureau, everyone who saw him was stunned, unable to believe their eyes. His transformation was simply too drastic: his height had shot up from one meter eighty to one meter ninety, his skin now gleamed like jade, his features radiated sharp heroism, and star-like light flickered within his phoenix eyes. His entire being was suffused with an incredibly unique aura. Even those who had known Gu Quan’an intimately before now hesitated to recognize him.

"Where's Zeng Shiqian?" Gu Changqing scanned the room.

"Zeng Shiqian was gravely injured and still hasn't regained consciousness!" someone replied through gritted teeth. "No one knows which bastard did it—there were almost no traces left at the scene!"

A police officer had been attacked after his shift and severely wounded; it was discovered only because a late-night commuter happened upon him, otherwise, by morning, he might have been gone. One could imagine the shock among the others.

Gu Changqing pondered for a moment—this was more or less as he'd expected. Still, Zeng Shiqian was lucky to have survived.

"Is the captain in the office?" Gu Changqing asked.

"The captain was badly hurt too... Both he and Zeng Shiqian were attacked the night before last..."

Upon hearing this, Gu Changqing realized he needn't bother greeting the captain.

"So, where did it happen? Any clues? I'll go check it out again," Gu Changqing said casually, preparing to head to the livestock market.

Someone relayed the details, then, curiosity piqued, asked, "But how did you end up like this... Are you really Ah Quan?"

"Just a minor incident," Gu Changqing replied, deciding he needn't explain further since the captain wasn't around. Hands in his pockets, he prepared to leave.

Just then, a man in his forties appeared at the door, speaking sternly, "There's an emergency at Building 9 in Xinhai Gardens. Team Three, head over. Do not enter; your job is to seal off the area. The Guards will arrive shortly."

"Remember, your only task is to secure the scene!"

As he spoke, his gaze lingered on Gu Changqing—after all, Gu Changqing's new height, appearance, and aura were too remarkable.

But before the man could question him, Gu Changqing turned to the others, "Who the hell is this guy?"

He meant no harm; he simply found the man's commanding tone irksome.

"That's Captain Cao of Team Two... Since our captain's in the hospital, Captain Cao is in charge here for now..."

"Oh," Gu Changqing nodded, hands still in pockets, and set off.

If the Guards were involved, it likely pertained to some bizarre incident. Gu Changqing was intrigued and decided to go see for himself.

"Wait, who are you?" Captain Cao called after him.

Gu Changqing couldn't be bothered; he casually kicked the corridor wall.

Boom!

A large hole appeared in the wall, bricks and debris flying into the adjacent room. That wall separated Team Two; the few remaining members were startled by the sudden destruction.

Captain Cao and the team members at the entrance stared, faces frozen in disbelief and awe. They could hardly trust their own eyes.

Gu Changqing slowly withdrew his leg and tossed out, "I'm off to Xinhai Gardens!"

Then strode off.

"Who is he..." Captain Cao watched Gu Changqing's retreating figure and turned, astonished, to Team Three.

"That's Gu Quan’an..." someone replied, mouth slightly agape, then quickly hurried after Gu Changqing.

"Gu Quan’an..." Captain Cao recognized the name, but the face and manner bore little resemblance to his memory—let alone that kick.

Awakened?

Someone in the bureau had awakened?

He didn't know much, but he knew enough: ten years ago, strange things began to appear. Some people suddenly gained extraordinary powers. Videos of such individuals were posted online, causing quite a stir. Soon after, rumors and movie clips flooded the web, suppressing the uproar.

Afterward, countries began to control the spread of such information, forming organizations to absorb and manage these people. Fortunately, the phenomenon didn't escalate; the number of anomalies and awakened individuals remained low, most of whom were recruited by agencies, keeping the news contained.

Every country had such departments. Here in Southern Chu, they were called the Guards.

Captain Cao stood in place, thoughts whirling, then rushed toward the commissioner’s office.

...

"Ah Quan, what's going on with you?" Several police officers from Team Three followed him, a touch of awe in their eyes at Gu Quan’an's sudden display of power, though their curiosity was barely contained.

"My body has undergone some changes lately," Gu Changqing replied offhandedly.

That was the story he'd planned to tell Xu Yong anyway. In a world with anomalies and Guards, a sudden transformation seemed reasonable enough—a straightforward explanation.

If anyone found it unreasonable, let them come question him directly; he'd be happy to have a talk.

Gu Changqing got into the car, following the other police vehicles straight to Xinhai Gardens. From afar, he could see a crowd gathered around the building, craning their necks to watch. Most had no idea what had happened; they simply followed the crowd, drawn by the commotion, whispering among themselves, suspecting a murder.

They weren't far off.

Two security officers stood at the front of the crowd, nervously keeping people from approaching. The rest of Team Three stretched the police tape. Gu Changqing pulled aside the two officers and asked, "Which floor? What's the situation?"

"Fourth floor, unit two... Someone called it in, we came to check, then a woman's screams erupted upstairs. We rushed up..." One of them said, clearly shaken, nausea creeping in as he spoke.

Seeing their state, Gu Changqing didn't press further, heading straight for the entrance.

"Ah Quan! Shouldn't you wait for the Guards? It's too dangerous to go alone!" Team Three called after him.

"Right, go fetch a couple of mops. When the Guards arrive, hand them over so they can clean up upstairs," Gu Changqing said, pointing at them. Then, with a sneer, swaggered up the stairs.

He'd been irritated with the Guards for a long time. He wasn't one to hold grudges, but he couldn't stand that humiliation.

Inside the stairwell, a woman's painful moans could be heard. The higher he climbed, the clearer the sound became, mingled with sobs and heavy breathing.

Gu Changqing arrived at unit 2 on the fourth floor; the sound came from within, the door ajar, a fetid stench wafting out.

He pushed the door open, greeted by a scene bathed in blood.

The walls, floor, and ceiling were smeared with blood and fragments of limbs—arms, legs, chest, liver, lungs... Even stranger things seemed to sprout from the walls and ceiling. A length of intestine dangled from the ceiling fan.

Clearly, these parts weren't from a single person. Embedded in the wall behind the sofa was half a young woman's head, barely twenty, tears streaming from her eyes.

"Help me... Please, save me..."

Her voice echoed through the room and into the corridor.

Several other heads protruded from the walls and ceiling, all turning toward him.

"Save me..."

"Save me..."

"I beg you, please..."

Multiple voices overlapped, growing more haunting and chilling.

"You lot are a bit ugly... but I'm a good guy!" Gu Changqing grinned.

Though they looked miserable...

He was delighted.

"Save me, save me!" The closest head suddenly began to writhe, face twisting into a snarl. The skull stretched from the wall, blood-soaked tendrils binding it tightly.

Fragments of limbs in the room began to squirm.

"Call your mother, will you!" Gu Changqing stepped into the room, impatience etched on his face, and slapped the head. Half the skull shattered, bone fragments and other matter flying.

"Huh?" Gu Changqing stared at the remaining half, surprised to see it still intact.

He shook the remnants from his hand in disgust.

But the head began to wriggle, blood and flesh filling the missing half—though now entirely made of tissue, grotesque beyond measure.

The other heads twisted into monstrous visages.

"Why won't you save us? Why are you different from us?"

All the limbs embedded in the walls came alive, even the blood on the floor slithered around Gu Changqing's feet, trying to drag him in, to fuse him with them.

"Damn you all! My shoes and pants are expensive!" Gu Changqing cursed, blood energy surging through him, a faint wail of a thousand ghosts echoing in the air.

The jade knife spun in his hand; with a stomp, the blood on the floor exploded.

Gu Changqing appeared before a heart, his foot landing hard, shattering blood and limbs beneath. He stabbed the heart with the jade knife.

Yet nothing was absorbed or refined.

Gu Changqing instantly understood—the room's horrors were a single entity, with one heart as its core.

"Seems this isn't the one..."

He flashed through the room like lightning, each step shaking the floor, blood and tile bursting apart. The jade knife pierced heart after heart.

Still, no change.

Gu Changqing crashed into the adjacent bedroom, finding not just blood, but a man embedded in the wall.

His back was fused to the wall, only half his body visible, blood vessel-like tendrils stretching from him, crawling over the wall.

As Gu Changqing entered, the vessels came alive, writhing like serpents toward him.

"Hey, little cutie, so you were here!" Gu Changqing grinned, stomped, and shot across the room like a cannonball, slamming into the man.

The blood vessels wrapped around him, but couldn't stop his charge.

A flash of cold light—the jade knife stabbed into the man's heart.

Scarlet threads crawled up the blade, rich blood energy pouring into Gu Changqing.

A hint of intoxication appeared on his face as he felt the blood energy surge within, then he began to refine it through his cultivation method.

Invisible, intangible spiritual energy condensed from every bit of flesh and blood, every vessel in his body, gathering like streams into a river, forming a thread that coursed through him.

"So this is spiritual energy..."

Gu Changqing slowly savored the sensation, while outside, everything in the room began to wither.

The man on the wall, the blood vessels in the air, the limbs and blood, all crumbled into powder.

All flesh was drawn into the jade knife, then into Gu Changqing.

Ten minutes later, Gu Changqing opened his eyes, a hint of crimson in their depths.

Absorbing all that flesh and strengthening himself felt wonderful!

A surge of desire to fuse everyone with himself rose within him.

But he suppressed it at once.

"You think you can influence me?" he sneered at the jade knife, suspecting the impulse wasn't entirely his own, but connected to the blade.

He spun the knife in his hand, then slipped it into a leather sheath at his waist.

"That felt great!" Gu Changqing stretched lazily, then strolled downstairs.

He hadn't reached the ground floor when two people came up. One was a familiar face—the woman he'd seen in the nightclub booth. The other, a young man with glasses.

Both looked surprised to see him.

"Who are you? How did you get in here?" the man asked sternly.

Gu Changqing's gaze swept from the woman's face downward, flashing a smile of white teeth. "Guards?"

"When you go up, make sure to mop the floor!"

He laughed heartily, brushing right past the two.