Something was off. After consulting with the experts, Huang Yi’s mind was even more muddled. He felt something was wrong.
In the morning, there was a meeting to discuss the Octopus Tentacle Monster. When the Acting Person-in-Charge asked him to stand up and speak, his mind was still on the Magical Girls.
“How do they reproduce?” he blurted out.
It wasn’t until the various experts in the conference room stared at him in shock that he snapped back to reality.
“Good question.”
The Acting Person-in-Charge’s eyes lit up.
“That octopus is so huge and destructive—can it reproduce? How does it reproduce? We need to figure that out too. Keep going on the reproduction issue. What are your thoughts?”
Huang Yi froze for a few seconds, then quickly covered his slip.
“Regarding the octopus monster’s reproduction problem, we must raise our awareness, set new benchmarks, grasp the harm, keep pace with the times, and strive to explore new heights in this research area, seeking new progress. We need new approaches, new technologies…”
A few minutes later, the Acting Person-in-Charge scratched his head. He wanted to stop Huang Yi but felt awkward doing so.
The other experts were also nodding off.
The meeting dragged on until noon.
In the afternoon, there were no more meetings. Huang Yi had something to do—he had to go to the Forensic Identification Center to meet the suspect’s mother and child and finalize the remaining matters.
Since the family of three were implicated in the Abyssal Demon Incident, the security personnel conducted a very thorough search on both the mother and child. They weren’t allowed to carry any metal objects, and they also had to prevent them from bringing non-metal weapons like those commonly seen in movies.
Not to mention areas like underwear—even private parts were checked.
In short, the search was meticulous. Only after confirming they were safe were they allowed through.
After passing through layers of security, they finally met with Huang Yi. Today, the mother and child were much calmer, though they looked haggard. Yet a trace of anger lingered on their faces, and they regarded Huang Yi with more hostility.
Huang Yi could see it. If he were a true villain, he would have killed these two people right now to eliminate future trouble. Unfortunately, he wasn’t bad enough.
Considering the risk of not uprooting the problem, Huang Yi had already reported the situation. His superiors would assign personnel to keep full surveillance on the mother and child to prevent them from doing anything harmful to humanity.
He led them through numerous checkpoints and finally arrived at the morgue.
The moment they saw the body, they nearly collapsed emotionally again, wailing and crying.
The child shook the already stiff corpse, then turned to look at Huang Yi with undisguised hatred in his eyes.
Huang Yi sighed inwardly. He wasn’t optimistic about what would happen next. If that child grew up, he had a high chance of becoming a menace. No one could guarantee he wouldn’t join the Star Summoning Society. If he made that move, the surveillance team would act—they wouldn’t show mercy even to a child.
‘I hope… it doesn’t really come to that.’
After confirming the identity of the corpse, some documents were brought over. The child covered his mouth and wept bitterly. The woman signed the autopsy consent form.
Before leaving, she found a moment alone with Huang Yi and asked in a low voice,
“What if the autopsy confirms poisoning? You said it before—you suspected he was poisoned to death.”
Huang Yi replied,
“If it really is poisoning, then the case will be wrapped up in stages soon. The result probably won’t be what you want.”
He stared at the woman, hoping to glean something. But unfortunately, Huang Yi wasn’t an expert. It would be hard to trick the truth out of her with simple words, and he couldn’t use micro-expressions to tell whether she was the one who killed her husband.
The autopsy was about to begin. The mother and child didn’t leave; they waited in the corridor. Normally, people weren’t allowed to wait here.
Huang Yi handled some administrative work while accompanying them there, waiting from afternoon until evening.
The child didn’t fuss or make noise. He waited quietly, though it was obvious he was hungry.
Unlike in the movies, the autopsy didn’t yield immediate conclusions. The forensic doctor still had to write the report, organize his thoughts, and put the conclusions down. That process would take more time.
Huang Yi ordered takeout, delivered by security—three portions.
He didn’t say anything. He took one for himself and handed the remaining two to the mother and child.
At first, they refused to eat. But when Huang Yi ate with great relish, the child couldn’t hold back anymore. His small hand reached for the lunchbox several times, and the mother, unable to bear it, allowed him to eat his portion.
His mother still didn’t eat, not until late into the night.
The report was finished. The forensic doctor called Huang Yi over and they talked for half an hour.
As soon as he opened the door, the haggard mother and child were waiting at the entrance. Huang Yi walked to the corridor, sat down, and slowly communicated with them.
“We found it. It was indeed poisoning. He killed himself. No one forced him.”
Those few simple words brought the most shocking result to the mother and child.
“Why? What… what really happened? I don’t understand…”
The child’s mother, eyes still red, wiped away fresh tears.
“The pill can release a deadly toxic substance, but it takes more than thirty hours to activate. I’m not sure exactly how long. Before he was arrested, he held a Sustained-Release Pill in his mouth.”
Huang Yi looked at the child, who was listening calmly. He knew what he was about to say was cruel, but he continued.
“He had over thirty hours to ask for help, or he could have spit out the pill. But he didn’t. He hid that fact and chose suicide. It was to protect his organization, to avoid revealing too many of their secrets.”
With that, Huang Yi stood up and left.
When he reached the door, he saw it was raining outside. He hadn’t brought an umbrella, so he went to ask the security for one.
While waiting for the umbrella, the mother and child also came out.
Surprisingly, the woman’s emotions were somewhat stable. She walked over to Huang Yi again and asked,
“You tortured him, didn’t you? A forced confession?”
Huang Yi:
“Yes. It was torture that no human could endure.”
Woman:
“So he held out for a day?”
Huang Yi:
“Yes. He wavered for a while. If he wanted to end the pain immediately, he could have bitten the pill to die faster. But he didn’t. He still held out for a day before making that decision.”
Originally, Huang Yi didn’t want to say that, because it was even crueler.
The arrested man was involved in the Demonic Creature issue. Under current Human Alliance law, anyone who betrays humanity has their human rights temporarily revoked. Since he wasn’t even considered a human anymore, they could use any means to extract information from him.
Under that inhuman torment, the man endured for a whole day, revealing only a few secrets.
The reason he kept living was probably for his family.
But in the end, he chose to die protecting the organization rather than actively seeking to survive and embrace his family.
After hearing Huang Yi’s words, the woman’s expression turned blank. She walked out of the door woodenly, getting drenched in the rain, and disappeared into the rainy night together with her child.
This was practically a textbook case of “releasing a tiger back to the mountain, waiting for the right moment to take revenge.”
Huang Yi raised his guard once again.