I’m Really Scared
Chapter 43: Breakthrough Mission

Xia Lei's face was solemn.

The current Shen Dinghua was definitely not the former Shen Dinghua, without a doubt.

But the critical questions were: who exactly was she? What was her purpose? And was she related to Guan Shan's abnormal behavior? These three questions would determine the nature and severity of the entire matter.

"Troublesome..."

Xia Lei leaned back, feeling a headache. "I thought Guan Shan was difficult enough, but it turns out the real problem was Shen Dinghua, whom we didn't even notice at first."

The logistics department had yet to analyze what Guan Shan's abilities were. They could only categorize them as trait-type, with a preliminary grade of C-level.

From his current behavior, it was clear that he combined space-type, physical enhancement-type, and curse-type abilities, with other ambiguous ones not yet accounted for.

It made people wonder if he had a bit of every type.

Such a unique case had only appeared once since records began. Without energy level responses, there was no way to determine his destructive power.

The higher-ups were hesitant about how to handle Guan Shan.

His psychological evaluation was green, indicating he could be utilized, but the uncertainty of his abilities and energy level made him uncontrollable. If they wanted to recruit him, they needed to gain his trust and obtain information.

Neither approach was ideal.

In the end, they followed Xia Lei's suggestion, who had officially interacted with him, and agreed to give him a special external personnel status.

This matter was supposed to end there.

Who knew another Shen Dinghua would appear...

"Too little intelligence."

Xia Lei pondered, "If it weren't for Xiao Man's ability, she might never have been exposed."

"But Xiao Man had always been following Guan Shan. For Shen Dinghua, it was irrelevant. This means she released a warning signal to us for Guan Shan's sake."

"Then... the reason for impersonating Shen Dinghua might be Guan Shan."

Xia Lei thought of the information collected about Guan Shan. He and Shen Dinghua had grown up together as childhood sweethearts...

But this childhood sweetheart might have been switched halfway.

And Guan Shan remained completely unaware.

It was chilling.

"Not right."

Xia Lei frowned, looking at the photos in the data, his gaze deep. "The point of change for Shen Dinghua is related to Guan Shan..."

In high school, Guan Shan's parents died in an accident, causing him to stay home for six months, during which Shen Dinghua visited him daily to take care of him.

"Could it be that she was influenced by Guan Shan?"

Xia Lei felt increasingly perplexed. From his brief interactions with Guan Shan, he seemed very normal, except for being a bit fierce when killing. Other times, he was quite ordinary.

He even acted heroically.

How could someone like that possibly switch his childhood sweetheart without noticing?

Xia Lei sighed, having no clues, scratched his head, and snapped his laptop shut.

"Have the logistics department investigate their experiences during high school. I don't believe there's no trace left!"

Then, Xia Lei used his authority to access the Special Security Group's special incident archives.

These records included incomprehensible events and many abnormal biological records. He needed to find similar incidents to determine what Shen Dinghua was.

The world had not only gifted humans but also had some abnormal phenomena. Some were resolved, others were not.

Conflicts among Espers were just a small part of it.

The archives were unimaginably vast.

Xia Lei spent the entire day investigating.

When his thoughts were interrupted by a phone call, he looked up to find it was already afternoon.

Although there were special earphones, they consumed mental energy.

For non-mission times, normal communication methods were better.

The caller was Gao Ye, "Instructor, we are ready. The operation will start in an hour. Reporting to you, we have already spotted the Worker Bee, confirming the intelligence. They are converging on the factory."

Xia Lei took a deep breath, "Good, wait for the right moment, stay vigilant, confirm the enemy's numbers, and break them down one by one."

Gao Ye replied firmly, "Yes!"

——

Meanwhile.

At the cast iron factory on Bin Yi Road.

"Worker Bee One" sat atop the factory crane, squinting as he surveyed everything below.

His real name was Du Xiao, a C-level trait-type Esper, with the domain ability "Fog."

The entire factory was within his view. With this broad perspective and the sensing between Worker Bee Pendants, he could clearly know his people's and the enemy's positions.

"Tsk tsk, not even trying to disguise, how much do they look down on us?"

"Worker Bee One" toyed with the pendant in his hand, "A C-level Esper from the Special Security Group, seems like a little girl. How could they let her into the lion's den so easily..."

"You want to catch us all in one go? We're also ready to trap you in a jar."

"Let's see who is stronger."

Other Worker Bees were bringing experiment subjects into the factory, gradually converging toward the center.

Within 300 meters, the sensing between Worker Bees would be extremely clear.

In Du Xiao's mind, it almost formed a map, marking everyone's positions.

Enemies and allies, as time passed, were getting closer and closer.

Finally, two of the points collided.

"The time has come."

Du Xiao stood up, spread his arms, and closed his eyes.

Thick fog instantly erupted from the darkness, spreading and covering the entire factory.

——

After resting for a whole day, Guan Shan prepared all his tools and checked his equipment.

He quietly waited in the living room for midnight to arrive.

"Click."

Finally, the hour and minute hands overlapped.

The familiar mechanical prompt of the simulator arrived as expected.

[Breakthrough Mission: Edge of Hell (Activated)]

[Please proceed to the designated location for scenario simulation according to the prompt]

Guan Shan took a deep breath, and the world before his eyes distorted and changed in an instant.

Endless darkness emerged, covering everything visible, leaving only Guan Shan himself.

"Damn, it really came... Good thing I was prepared."

Guan Shan clicked on the flashlight, a bright beam instantly illuminating about three meters of the road ahead...

In front was a vermilion torii gate.