Chapter 209: At the Gentleman’s Feet, There is No Shadow.

Chapter 209: Beneath a Gentleman’s Feet, There Is No Shadow.

Meng Siyou returned to the Anomalous Affairs Bureau, his head lowered as he vigilantly watched the shadows' every move.

Standing before Captain Jiang You's desk, Meng Siyou was mentally drafting his words, still unsure how to succinctly summarize the progress of the A University anomaly investigation and request the deployment of local Ability users. Suddenly, he saw Jiang You shudder violently.

Jiang You seemed to have caught sight of something extremely glaring, quickly turning his head away and raising a hand to cover his eyes. With his other hand trembling, he rummaged through a drawer and pulled out a pair of sunglasses, which he promptly put on.

"…Captain?"

Meng Siyou's face showed confusion as he turned to look around.

With the sunglasses on, Jiang You finally dared to open his eyes slightly, glancing swiftly in Meng Siyou's direction—where a humanoid sun was radiating brilliantly indoors.

So dazzling!

After just one glance, Jiang You couldn't help but close his eyes tightly again.

From that brief observation, Jiang You realized that this intense, sun-like brilliance was essentially the result of an unending flow of luck converging and coalescing.

Ordinary people's luck fluctuates over time, but it would never be like Meng Siyou's current state, where all positive karma seemed to be drawn to him, swirling around him in a grand river of light, almost blinding to those with Fate domain Abilities.

Jiang You's expression grew serious.

He even began to seriously speculate whether the Narrator had taken a godson, ahem, or a divine favorite?

But Meng Siyou, a Silence domain individual, shouldn’t be someone favored by fate!

Jiang You probed, "What did you go out to do just now?"

Hearing the question, Meng Siyou shifted his attention, no longer curious about the sunglasses on Jiang You's nose—after all, ability users in the Fate domain were always unpredictable, and he was quite used to it.

He cleared his throat and began his report: "I just visited University A and conducted a series of investigations regarding the abnormal incidents reported over the past week..."

Jiang You listened, nodding in understanding:

Indeed, he went to University A.

—The place where the human half of that deity, or rather, the "heart," resided.

It seemed that Meng Siyou must have done something to earn the deity’s favor, receiving such astonishing good fortune.

How enviable.

Jiang You thought with mixed feelings, if he were to compare his luck with Meng Siyou’s now, even as a high-level Fate domain ability user, he might end up on the losing side.

But if Jiang You were to step into Yi Fengchu’s territory, he wouldn’t dare; like a weaker beast in the jungle instinctively avoiding the more intimidating presence of a predator, he would cower and tremble at the mere scent of danger.

Watching Meng Siyou basking in his current good fortune, Jiang You sighed, only able to envy him secretly.

Envy this kid who knew nothing and still dared to interact with that deity as an equal... Was this what they called fools having fools' luck?

Meng Siyou was completely unaware of what his captain was thinking beneath his calm and serious exterior.

After finishing his report, he saw Jiang You pull out a transfer application form, fill it out swiftly, stamp it, and blow on the paper.

In the next moment, the application folded itself into a paper crane and flew out the window.

"Your request is approved," Jiang You said, "Within two days, a fifth-stage Shadow domain ability user from the neighboring City B police department will arrive to assist with the investigation."

"As for your shadow..."

Jiang You's gaze shifted downward to glance at Meng Siyou's shadow and stated confidently, "The mutation should not be severe; there will be no problem."

Given Meng Siyou's current streak of luck, nothing could possibly go wrong.

No one understands the terror of fate better than an ability user in the domain of destiny—

Should the shadow dare to act, fate would inevitably destroy it first.

In the face of extreme luck, every enemy's action and struggle merely becomes a link leading to their predetermined end, only hastening their own destruction.

After speaking, Jiang You waved his hand at Meng Siyou, the gesture reminiscent of shooing away annoying flies, urging, "If there's nothing else, you can leave now."

...It's still too glaring.

His eyes couldn't bear it.

...

"Your shadow has come to life as well?"

On the campus of A University, Yi Fengchu received a call from Meng Siyou.

Though it was a question, Yi Fengchu's tone was completely calm, prompting Meng Siyou to wonder, "Why do you sound so unsurprised?"

"Indeed, I had some suspicions early on," Yi Fengchu laughed, "I was just reading a post on the campus forum about a suspected shadow encounter."

"What did you find?"

"I find the poster quite interesting."

Meng Siyou was somewhat surprised: "The poster?"

He had also gone through the related posts one by one before, but he mainly focused on the posting times and content to determine their authenticity, without paying attention to the identity of the posters.

Moreover, Meng Siyou himself was not from A University, and he hadn't even attended college, so he wasn't particularly sensitive to the identities of these various ordinary students.

"Yes, the poster."

Yi Fengchu presented an angle that Meng Siyou had never considered before: "Most of the accounts behind these posts are classmates from the same college as me and Li Yin."

"And for the remaining part... I think their names can probably be found on Li Yin's elective course student list."

Meng Siyou was taken aback for a moment, then reacted: "You mean the activation of the shadows is centered around Li Yin? It could be that people who have direct contact with her might be infected with the symptoms of shadow activation?"

Yi Fengchu nodded and continued his analysis:

"There must be some kind of contaminant hidden in Li Yin that can pollute shadows and grant them activity."

"This contaminant is well-hidden, it should not be in the material world; and its rank is not low, at least seventh level, otherwise it wouldn't be able to affect your shadow."

Meng Siyou pondered, "Not in the material world... Could it be in Li Yin's shadow, or perhaps in a spiritual realm like a dream?"

After thinking for a while, Meng Siyou suddenly realized something was off and couldn't help but ask: "Wait—"

"You already guessed all this, but didn't tell me. Were you using me as a test subject to observe?"

"..."

Ah, discovered.

Yi Fengchu maintained his smile, hung up the phone, and left Meng Siyou with a series of busy tones.

Putting down his phone, Yi Fengchu’s gaze fell upon the shadow at his feet.

The shadow still clung obediently to his heels.

Clearly, the rank of that contaminant was insufficient to taint the shadow of a true deity.

Lowering his eyes in thought for a moment, Yi Fengchu reached out toward the shadow and then clenched his fist—

Instantly, the dense black shadow began to boil, its dark edges starting to surge, twist, and undulate, as if countless pitch-black limbs were slowly extending between the auditorium seats, like the gnarled branches of an ancient tree or the entangled, coiled bodies of countless snakes deep in the rainforest.

On stage, most of the students continued their rehearsal, oblivious to the changes occurring among the rows of seats below;

Only a small number of naturally sensitive individuals felt a chill creeping up their spines, their body hairs standing on end.

And some minute elements of nature were far more perceptive than humans.

Dust particles floating in the air trembled in a rhythm imperceptible to the human eye. It seemed that with the transformation of Yi Fengchu’s shadow, some unimaginably terrifying creature was awakening, and all things trembled under the invisible force of its presence.

Amidst the boiling shadow, several threads of fate materialized from the ethereal, one end growing from the depths of the shadow, the other held firmly in Yi Fengchu’s hand.

Yi Fengchu’s shadow could not be activated or contaminated by external factors, but he felt that perhaps only within the world of shadows could he glimpse more—more of what was unseen in the material world.

Thus, he personally wove fictional fates for his shadow, granting it a degree of mobility.

But it was merely “mobility.”

In this state, the shadow lacks true vitality.

Unlike Li Yin and others whose shadows have been activated, Yi Fengchu does not possess the authority of "Shadow," and thus cannot bestow his shadow with independent thought, emotion, or energy.

At this moment, his shadow is more like a marionette, manipulated by the threads of fate between his fingers, moving under his command.

However...

Yi Fengchu looked at his own shadow, feeling a rare headache.

—It was his first time acting on his shadow, and he had not anticipated that the shadow's "birth" would cause such a commotion.

At this point, the phone’s notification finally arrived: “Because there is no closer or more natural mystical connection in this world than that between a shadow and its original form.”

“Your rank is True God, which means—”

As the mechanical voice from the phone continued, the humanoid shadow at Yi Fengchu’s feet began to disintegrate, transforming into countless writhing, twisted serpentine forms.

The shadow’s area kept expanding, the snake-like shadows intertwining and rapidly spreading outward, like an endless black sea surging across the ground.

Large patches of darkness surged like rising tides, sweeping over the steps, dark red seats, and the feet of students, even approaching the brightly lit stage...

A pulse throbbed between Yi Fengchu’s brows as he recognized this as the shadow of his divine form.

The phone calmly concluded, “Your shadow is also a shadow of the divine rank.”

Yi Fengchu seriously doubted that the phone was deliberately teasing him, speaking up only now.

In fact, without Yi Fengchu’s command, the shadow had not moved at all from the beginning, but it grew too quickly, its edges seemingly extending infinitely.

If the edges of the shadow were allowed to expand into the light, most of the people in the auditorium would notice this strange shadow—thus, indirectly witnessing the form of a deity and simultaneously descending into madness.

At the critical moment, Yi Fengchu looked at the stage and snapped his fingers.

“Click.”

With an almost imperceptible sound, the lights above the stage instantly went out, plunging the entire auditorium into darkness.

Shouts of surprise came from the students:

“What’s happening?”

“It must be a sudden power outage!”

“I’ve heard that this auditorium has been around for quite some years; old wiring is pretty common…”

Taking advantage of the pitch-black darkness, Yi Fengchu quickly grasped the threads of the shadow's fate, bundling the vast, growing shadow as if it were an unusually large blanket, compressing it into a small patch.

After folding, the shadow, though not restored to its humanoid form, had compactly shrunk back between two rows of seats, looking somewhat pitiful at first glance.

Yi Fengchu gave a low, cold laugh and asked his phone, “Would you die if you reminded me a few seconds earlier?”

“A little unexpectedness in life also serves to maintain human emotions, my liege.”

Having explained, the phone was still being squeezed by Yi Fengchu until it creaked, then went black and pretended to be dead.

Yi Fengchu was long used to the phone’s occasional mischief… He even suspected that this might be part of his past self’s design.

A strange, cold sense of humor.

Sitting motionless in the audience, Yi Fengchu took advantage of the darkness to let his shadow slip into the cracks beneath the floor and wander elsewhere on campus.

The shrunken shadow, like a nimble snake, slipped into the narrow crevices and vanished.

After a while, a student's voice came from the corner: "I checked, it seems to be an overload that tripped the circuit. How sudden, luckily we found it before the evening party, or it would have been disastrous during the performance."

"I'll try to reset the breaker... Ah, it works!"

The lights came back on, illuminating the stage and the young man with black hair and eyes sitting below it.

Yi Fengchu wore a faint smile, dressed in formal attire and holding a cane, like a gentleman eagerly anticipating a refined theatrical performance.

No one noticed—

There was no shadow beneath the gentleman’s feet.