Lie Huo Jiao Chou Volume 1 Chapter 15

____

Maybe we are b.u.t.terflies, too. We just don't know who we are, still playing 'police catching a thief' family game here.

_____

　　Xuan Ji : "Where?"

　　"Head Office isolation cell, hurry up!"

　　Xuan Ji's drowsiness dissipated the moment he got up. He did not even have time to think about this matter, and it had already made his head ache. He grabbed his sword, heading straight to the Deviant Control Office building.

　　The 60th floor underground of the headquarters of Xishan Deviant Control Office, the entire floor was an "isolation cell" for detaining various "dangerous" things that were temporarily unknown of how to deal with at the moment.

　　From far away, Xuan Ji saw Xiao Zheng waiting for him at the door. As he was just about to go inside, he was called: "Director Xuan, hold on, first apply protection!"

　　The protective clothing had three layers outside and three layers inside, three staff had to surround him and cover him up. Xuan Ji stretched out his arms and let them fiddle, casually joking: "How good these Zongzi wrapping craftsmans.h.i.+p are. Is it sweet or salty?"

　　Sheng Lingyuan, who was in the sword, could hear his breathing and heart beating clearly - the little demon had the fastest heartbeat when he put down the "transmitter of a sound to thousands of miles". Then he held his breath for a moment, and walked all the way slowly, and when finally here, his heartbeat was almost the same as he when he was lying down and sleeping.

　　"It is actually somewhat sophisticated." Sheng Lingyuan thought.

　　"Oh, you are all ordinary people? How do ordinary people think of doing this... oh, who is not, our work is dangerous and confidential, everyone is brought in by an acquaintance ." He heard Xuan Ji's first few words, chatted about the family backgrounds of few staff members. The antecedents and family background were all that was talked about, then he put on an act and said, "Wrap me tight a little more, don't let it loose when I go in. Old Xiao that son of a b.i.t.c.h, he had let me come here, and of course their field workers can do no wrong. For our logistics workers, have you ever seen any big occasion? Hey, my entire tiny life is in your hands, guys."

　　From Sheng Lingyuan's detached point of view, it looked a little ridiculous. This little demon belonged to innate fire spiritual beings, and the whole person was totally a purification furnace for evil spirits. A single test tube of blood could burn a can of "human face b.u.t.terfly" into ash and yet he's here pretending to be weak.

　　Because innate spiritual beings were excellent and unrivaled from birth, most shunned the world, lived isolatedly, always believing themselves as half-G.o.ds, underestimated all living things, purely arrogant, so later they almost became extinct. Because "extraordinary" people tend to rely too much on their own "extraordinary", whether relying on strength, talent, beauty or wealth, their reliance was a shackle.

　　After all, they have colorful wings that could be held back without showing to people, and they were willing to roll with the crowds in the mud.

　　"It's not easy to handle." Sheng Lingyuan thought.

　　When Xiao Zheng called, Sheng Lingyuan had his eyes closed to rest in the sword - at first he didn't want to close them. The surrounding scenery was very different, he also would like to see more, but this little demon slept with the sword until broad daylight, sprawled out on his back, and his arms and legs were flying in disorder. Sheng Lingyuan had the intention to cut the half of the arm that had been thrown over him. Unfortunately, he was trapped in the sword and had a powerless mind. He had no choice and act as 'what the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over'. If he was not careful, he actually would get some tiredness.

　　The phone at the bedside suddenly vibrated, Sheng Lingyuan was awakened from his half-asleep and half-awake state. When he woke up, his heart was cold in an instant.

　　Because the turbulent sea of ​​knowledge had already been completely calm, the unbearable pain could hardly be felt. This sword was like a gentle town, once not careful, people would be tempted to indulge in it.

　　Sheng Lingyuan disliked things that appeared too beautiful.

　　The reason was very simple. If people wanted to get something, they have to pay the price. The "cost", of course, was suffering. On the other hand, if someone else wanted to get something from him, they would flatter him and coerce.

　　Anything that did not bring pain, or even made him feel comfortable, would make his heart on guard, because the other side must certainly will ask for something.

　　Sheng Lingyuan had a bit of a strange temper, he might have grown up among the clump of conspiracies during his lifetime, so he did not believe in destiny or coincidence and also did not believe in luck. If one thing was very coincidental, then in his opinion, there must be some eight or nine times out of ten that someone pushed it behind.

　　The last time he was awakened by the gloomy sacrifice, although he did not understand too much about what the other party was saying, but he understood the resentment and murderous intent behind the gloomy sacrifice and guessed roughly what was going on.

　　So who did it this time? What did that person want to do?

　　The little demon himself was also very suspicious. Though he appeared to be completely ignorant, he even calmed his heartbeat and cleared his breath, but when there was a ghost on the side of the bed, he really didn't feel anything?

　　Sheng Lingyuan did not believe it.

　　In comparison, he was more willing to believe that some beasts would deliberately show their bellies in order to show harmlessness and frankness, and then wait for an opportunity to give a fatal strike.

　　"What's going on?" After a long delay at the door, Xuan Ji finally entered the isolation area. Before there was still time to ask clearly, he saw several people pus.h.i.+ng a cryopod and ran quickly. "Who is this?"

　　"A field worker. When we searched for the boy, he was on the front line," Xiao Zheng said. "After touching the boy, several front-line workers showed symptoms similar to 'sudden transition', but they were all reflected in some small things. If it's not for the Mirage b.u.t.terfly that caused people in the office to panic, it may have been ignored and the consequences would be unimaginable. From infection to death of the Mirage b.u.t.terfly, it is approximately about fifteen to thirty days. We've now handled and secretly isolated everyone who the boy touched within a month - come and see ."

　　Xiao Zheng led him to a room with a huge "dangerous" sign on the door. In the middle, there was a gla.s.s cover with three layers outside and three layers inside, covering the b.u.t.terfly which was about the size of a grain of rice.

　　"This has just been taken from the boy. It's still alive."

　　There was a magnifying gla.s.s on the gla.s.s cover for convenient observation. Xuan Ji moved closer. The b.u.t.terfly was very beautiful. On the body, there was a flickering colorful fluorescent light, but there was a small human face on the left and right wings. That "human face" unexpectedly moved. Initially, there was a pair of smiling faces, but when Xuan Ji approached, the "smiley face" disappeared, and the left half of the face changed to fear and the right half of the face was crying.

　　No wonder it was called "human face b.u.t.terfly."

　　Before he could see it, the b.u.t.terfly wings quickly flicked up, and it flew in the gla.s.s cover for a moment, knocked against the four walls, and suddenly disappeared.

　　Xuan Ji unconsciously looked up.

　　"Rest a.s.sured, it can't run out of the closed box," Xiao Zheng said. "This b.u.t.terfly will be invisible, and it will come out later - Say, what is wrong with you? Cats don't like to see dogs, this b.u.t.terfly has not moved for a long time and when you came, it becomes invisible at once."

　　"It may be that my bright and intelligent eyes are full of electricity*. Will staring impregnate someone?" Xuan Ji sighed, blinked one side and other side looked at Xiao Zhao, "How about Director Xiao, do you now have any symptoms of nausea and vomiting?"

*there is a slang 放电 (fàngdiàn) literally 'to discharge electricity',
meaning to create an atmosphere of feminine attraction

　　Xiao Zheng: "......"

　　Why didn't the more than eighty thunders strike this thing to death?

　　Xuan Ji looked for the chair from the side to sit down and stuck the heavy sword on the ground: "How do you know that this b.u.t.terfly will breed?"

　　Xiao Zheng opened a magnified photo from the computer next to him: "On the left, this is the b.u.t.terfly isolated from the body of Bi Chun Sheng's husband, and it has three black lines on the abdomen, that's where the special treatment has been done - this is what you only see on the right side."

There was nothing on the b.u.t.terfly's abdomen.

　　Xiao Zheng said: "And now it seems that it may be contagious."

　　Xuan Ji was silent for a while and said dryly: "Awesome, even the zombie virus in the Resident Evil still needed a bite."

　　"This is why the mirage b.u.t.terfly is positioned as a 'primary dangerous' species. Even if it is stored in our internal archives, it must be treated." Xiao Zheng paused, saying with difficulty, "Now it seems ... there might be some that were not treated thoroughly enough."

　　"Who is the boy? Why did Bi Chunsheng choose him as a bait?"

　　"I don't know, this boy only went to junior high school, and his life experience was clear at a glance. We have looked through all the files in the last ten years. He has never been in contact with a Deviant Control Office before, and has not been involved in any case. The b.u.t.terfly cannot be implanted in an incident."

　　"That is to say, there are two possibilities," Xuan Ji's finger was stroking on the sword. "Either, Bi Chun Sheng got a living Mirage b.u.t.terfly by some means, and implanted it into the boy's body. If by any chance her plan was exposed, he would be used as a bait to divert your attention."

　　This was the ideal situation, because if that was the case, there was only this b.u.t.terfly that had a breeding capability, and since the boy did not die, the time of infection was not long. Junior high school students do not interact with many people everyday, so the situation was still controllable.

　　But...

　　"At the moment, there is no intersection between this boy and Bi Chun Sheng." Xiao Zheng said, "We searched all the residences and office places of Bi Chun Sheng and found no results."

　　"If it wasn't her, then it's a little concerning." Xuan Ji said, "This matter must be checked from the beginning. All the staff in your office are suspects, also the ordinary people. Since your office does not make public recruitment, most of them are introduced by seventh sister-in-law or eighth sister-in-law, all kinds of relations.h.i.+ps which are linked in countless ways, so they are also suspects. If the b.u.t.terfly on this boy is infected from other places, where is the source of infection, how many people had he infected before, when did it start being transmitted - you all don't know. Maybe it's all human beings now, except the two of us, everyone has become a b.u.t.terfly-operated walking dead...Maybe we are b.u.t.terflies, too. We just don't know who we are, still playing 'police catching a thief' family game here."

　　Xiao Zheng: "..."

　　His theory made him break out in a cold sweat.

　　"Director Xiao, let us embrace the spirit of revolutionary optimism and think about it from a rational point of view." Xuan Ji sighed and his voice changed. "All things in this world are nothing new. If a large-scale infection occurred, it had happened a long time ago in history. It is impossible to have waited only until now to place it on your head. You are not the chosen one."

T/N: Lie Huo Jiao Chou has recently been licensed for an audio drama! Please look forward to it ^^