Otherworldly Affairs Office

The searchlight on Pei Yan's shoulder rose slightly with his gaze, and the pitch-black water surface was illuminated by a strong light, revealing an unexpectedly beautiful scene that caught his eye.

Long, jet-black, glossy hair floated in the water, her white long coat moved with her actions, and the dark blue skirt slowly expanded with the flow of water as Pei Yan looked up, resembling a lotus flower in bloom.

This rare, ink painting-like beauty entering the water captivated Pei Yan, but the scene was abruptly shattered by an ugly, large face of a gray-skinned monster emerging right behind Zhao Yuanhu, attempting to enter the water.

Just as Pei Yan was about to shout a warning, his head was violently shaken. Upon focusing, he saw that the monster he was controlling, unable to break free from his grasp, rammed its head into his helmet.

"Damn it!" Pei Yan cursed viciously in his heart. If it wants to butt heads, let's see who's tougher!

Thinking this, the helmet on his face immediately transformed, entirely covered in steel, with two small cameras embedded in the metal. A projection appeared within the completely sealed helmet, allowing Pei Yan to clearly see the outside world.

Then the metal on the helmet continuously shifted, revealing three high-speed rotating circular saws and four extending electric drills. Having completed all these changes, Pei Yan, disregarding everything else, rushed to collide head-on with the monster.

"Boom boom boom!" Countless splashes and bubbles churned, blue light flashed incessantly on the monster's head, and their actions resembled kids stubbornly butting heads, though it terrified Zhao Yuanhu who had just dived into the water.

She recalled Mei Simiao's evaluation of Pei Yan when she was assigned to this team, noting that his behavior since joining the Investigation Bureau suggested mild impulsive personality disorder. Although he grew up in a relatively harmonious family environment, giving him a nearly proper worldview and values.

However, as the youngest child, he inevitably received extra attention from his elders, parents, and older sister. Combined with an adolescent need for recognition and understanding, his strong personal awareness didn't surface daily, but when provoked or restricted, he would react intensely.

This was one reason the bureau placed him under strict control and trusted him less, fearing he'd make poor decisions if he lost emotional control.

To Zhao Yuanhu, the scene unfolding was direct evidence that this seemingly harmless and sunny young man had a fierce streak deep down.

Unaware of Zhao Yuanhu's many thoughts, Pei Yan was now paying the price for his impulsive headlong actions. Even though his system automatically provided shock absorption for head-on impacts, after numerous reckless collisions, his head was buzzing.

What on earth is this guy's head made of!? Such impacts couldn't break its defenses, even the iron plates on his helmet had been dented and replaced several times!

Pei Yan couldn't tell if it was the continuous collisions or the lack of oxygen, but his breathing became increasingly labored and his face flushed red. However, having reached this point, he had no choice but to fight with his life on the line.

At this moment, Zhao Yuanhu arrived, gesturing "OK" towards Pei Yan underwater, then flipped and swam to the back of the monster. Right after, countless thick black lines issued from her wide sleeves, wrapping around the monster's neck.

Despite being attacked from front and back, the monster's resistance remained fierce. Zhao Yuanhu signaled to Pei Yan and pointed upwards toward the ice surface. Understanding her intentions, Pei Yan nodded.

Two mechanical legs shot out over ten mechanical cables into the waterbed, anchoring them before Pei Yan detached his body, and controlled the severed cables with his mind to tightly bind the monster's thighs.

After completing this, Pei Yan nodded toward Zhao Yuanhu again, released his grip on the monster, and kicked its belly before propelling upward with the propellers on his hands and feet.

Meanwhile, Zhao Yuanhu swept her large sleeves, and the thick black lines kept entangling the monster, dragging its body towards the bottom of the pond.

During his ascent, Pei Yan remained vigilant, keeping an eye on Zhao Yuanhu to see if she was following and scanning the surroundings for the second monster that had entered the water.

"Splash!" Before long, after a brief underwater skirmish, Pei Yan finally surfaced. Before he could gulp air, a hideously ugly monster face appeared above the ice surface, catching his eye.

It turned out the second monster hadn't dived into the water. Its body was halfway through when two of Shangxing's clones pulled it back up, now grappling on the ice.

"Whoosh!" The sound of water being parted was heard again. Pei Yan turned to see Zhao Yuanhu shaking off water droplets from her hair, also turning to him, "Get ashore! You're not suitable for water battles!"

Without arguing, Pei Yan swam over, wrapping his left arm around Zhao Yuanhu's waist, while raising his right hand to shoot three mechanical lines with drills from his palm, securing them into the soil at the pond's edge. The lines then retracted, pulling both of them out of the ice hole in a flash.

"Phew, phew, phew! Are you alright?" After escaping, Pei Yan supported himself on the pond's edge, panting heavily, and turned to Zhao Yuanhu with concern.

"I'm fine!" Zhao Yuanhu subtly pushed Pei Yan's hand away, her entire body released a silvery white glow that quickly dried the moisture on her surface. In a flash of light, her wet clothes disappeared, replaced by a fresh, elegant crossover collar dress.

Seeing Zhao Yuanhu, Pei Yan couldn't name her attire, but by the style, he knew it was a type of Hanfu, and asked in surprise, "You don't carry only these clothes with you, do you?"

"Is it against bureau regulations for me to have this hobby, or do you have a problem with it?" Without even glancing at Pei Yan, Zhao Yuanhu focused on the battlefield, casually tying her long hair into a ponytail with a hair tie, spoke coldly.

"Ahem, no problem!" Pei Yan coughed awkwardly twice, shifting his gaze to the ice surface. It was only then he realized the ice had transformed into a chaotic scene!

His friends and Shangxing were fighting while retreating; apart from Shangxing's clones delaying the enemy, most people had withdrawn to the pond's edge. However, Pei Yan was shocked and puzzled as to why the newcomers, the nauseating creatures, were fighting not only with the bureau's people but also with the earlier arriving, normally human-looking individuals from the realm.

Longswords, magical artifacts, and spells danced magnificently in the air. In a short time, five or six individuals from the Daoist Realm had been decapitated or brutally slain on the ice or their corpses lay along the pond's edge.

What is going on?? Civil strife or a multiverse invasion battle?