It’s A Monster Chapter 33: Spirit Bone

Chapter 33: Spirit Bone

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

The banquet continued as planned. A few guests failed to show, but their absence didn’t raise much suspicion. As for poor little Wei, who had the misfortune of getting tased, Song Tao and his team arrived just in time to carry him away. To the public, the incident was explained as a case of a security guard suffering from low blood sugar, so thankfully it didn’t turn into a bigger scene.

By the time Shi Wenze and Si Longqiu rushed back to Jiayong Auction House, Lin Su was already seated in the lounge, surrounded by colleagues from the Investigation and Pursuit departments. Everyone treated him with great courtesy—some even softened their footsteps when passing by. It wasn’t entirely clear whether they were showing deference to him or to the stun baton.

Si Longqiu, clearly feeling guilty, inquired after the injured colleague. Everyone quickly assured her it was no big deal, just a misunderstanding. Little Wei was tough as nails—he’d be up and about after a nap at the hospital.

Lin Su turned and gave Shi Wenze a long, heavy look. A chill ran down Shi Wenze’s spine. His hands twitched with the urge to throw them up and say, I’m sorry, seriously.

Across the room, Song Tao was giving his statement. It was only then that Shi Wenze learned the fish-headed man was actually an informant for the Investigation Department. Apparently, the guy had grown disgusted with Song Lie and Wang Yong’s illegal activities and feared their actions would bring down the entire auction house. So he played the part of the righteous traitor and turned himself in.

Whether the full truth matched the story he told remained to be seen. But with intelligence like that, he clearly didn’t need the national anti-fraud app. It seemed that in the art world, the only pure idiot was still Cang Daming.

The operation was basically wrapped. Some agents stayed behind to handle the aftermath, while others returned to Kunlun Tower.

Si Longqiu needed to give a brief statement, and Shi Wenze offered to drive her and Lin Su back to HQ. Technically, the five-seater had room for two more, but their colleagues all suddenly became model gentlemen, waving off the offer with exaggerated politeness. “No, no, we’re good! We’re terrified of tasers—uh, I mean, we’ve got our own cars!”

Lin Su rubbed his temples with one hand and declined the front seat. He needed time alone in the back to collect himself. With Si Longqiu in the car, Shi Wenze couldn’t say much, so he simply floored the gas pedal, hoping to shorten the painfully silent drive.

The atmosphere eased only once they arrived at the brightly lit office at Kunlun Tower. Si Longqiu went off to file her report, while Lin Su sat silently at Shi Wenze’s desk. He was in a foul mood—his stun baton had just been confiscated. Apparently, it was a monster-grade enhanced model, and owning one required passing a specialized exam.

“I told someone to keep an eye on you before I ran off to chase the perp,” Shi Wenze offered.

“I didn’t need protection,” Lin Su replied coldly.

Honestly, Shi Wenze agreed. He really didn’t. But how was he supposed to know Lin Su came equipped with his own hardware? He crouched down in front of him and gently wrapped his fingers around Lin Su’s. “Are you mad at me?”

It was hard to say. Lin Su wasn’t exactly mad. If he had to break it down, maybe five percent of his emotion was guilt for poor little Wei, and the remaining ninety-five percent was directed inward—deep, bitter regret. Why had he so casually whipped out the stun baton? In an instant, he had gone from brooding, aloof artist to some buff, high-voltage enforcer from Monster Power Co.

Shi Wenze studied the tightly knit frown on Lin Su’s face—those sharp little eyebrows pulled into a solemn arc. He resisted the urge to smile and instead kept stroking the fine fingers in his grip, eyes softening into something that might be called pathetically endearing. A classic Ronawi move. Finally, Lin Su spoke. “Will your other colleagues find out about this?”

“No. I already reported it to Director Zhou,” Shi Wenze said. “That baton was a bit over spec. Normally you’d get slapped with a public security fine, but given the circumstances, they handed the ‘official warning’ job to me. The others won’t say a word.”

Lin Su let out a tiny breath of relief. He didn’t really mind the penalty—what he did mind was the gossip. If word got out that he’d taken down a two-hundred-pound man, but they conveniently left out the part where he used a stun baton, how would the people in Kunlun Tower react? Would they imagine him as some kind of human-shaped wrecking ball? A brawny behemoth? Ugh. The horror.

Shi Wenze slowly leaned forward until his chin rested on Lin Su’s knee.

“Did you lock the door?” Lin Su asked calmly.

“Yeah, I did.”

But locked doors couldn’t stop Xu You. Too lazy to walk and fully capable of flight, he swooped in through the window. He’d just finished packing up for the day and was expecting a smooth clock-out—not to stumble onto something that looked like the climax of a steamy workplace drama.

Okay, maybe not steamy, but one roommate with his head in the lap of a member of the Inspection Team, hands clasped like lovers? It was giving forbidden office romance at the very least. Xu You recoiled dramatically, nearly flinging himself back into the night sky.

With a burst of black smoke, Shi Wenze slammed the window shut. Xu You smacked into the glass and groaned. “What the hell are you two doing?”

Shi Wenze raised a brow. “What do you think?”

Xu You glanced at Lin Su, then back at Shi Wenze. Understanding dawned on him. He beckoned Shi Wenze to the corner and whispered, “So you lied to me earlier, huh? That whole thing about bribing the inspector—total crap. You’re totally dating him!”

Shi Wenze wasn’t sure where his obsession with the Inspection Team came from, but he didn’t bother denying it. “Yeah.”

Xu You grinned. “In that case, can you put in a good word for me? Maybe I can skip the exam?”

“In your dreams,” Shi Wenze replied.

Xu You narrowed his eyes. “What, Lin Su doesn’t love you enough to give you that one little favor?”

“No,” Shi Wenze said firmly. “I’m not giving you that favor. Now get back to studying.”

Still hoping to haggle, Xu You was promptly scooped up—bag and all—and tossed out the window. Chiwen, the winged beast circling outside, did a few indignant loops. Shi Wenze shut the curtains.

“…Damn it!” Chiwen cursed.

Lin Su asked, “How’s his exam prep going?”

“Not sure about the efficiency, but at least he’s taking it seriously this time,” Shi Wenze said, dragging over a chair to sit across from him. “Auntie’s side should wrap up soon, but I might need to head over to the Investigation Department again. Want me to call a car for you and Longqiu?”

“No need. We’ll get a cab,” Lin Su replied. “You go do your thing.”

“Not mad anymore?” Shi Wenze held out his hand. “Get some rest. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

But Lin Su’s mind was still on the baton. It really was hard to control. If he could rewind time, he’d have locked eyes with little Wei and raised an elegant, aloof brow—like a pure, untouchable flower. Someone too naive to recognize danger, too noble to fear it. A perfect little white lily, floating through Kunlun Tower with the mystique of a fallen star. But time refused to turn back. What had happened, had happened. And so, for now, he’d continue to serve as the beastly, overpowered Monster Power Co. mascot. Letting melancholy rise like a river.

Shi Wenze eventually asked a coworker to drive Si Longqiu and Lin Su home, then buried himself in files for yet another meeting. The monster caught at Qinghu Garden, the toad-like idiot who proposed at the Taotie restaurant, and now this raid at Jiayong Auction House—all of it pointed in the same direction: illegal underground research and genetic modification on monsters. As for Qiongqi… no explanation needed. He was a modified subject himself.

The monster who had proposed mysteriously disappeared after the incident hit the trending searches. According to the Investigation Department, he had been just an ordinary sheet metal worker in the human world. But in the monster world, he was a metal skeleton assembler who had performed many illegal surgeries. Yu Feizheng was introverted and quiet—in a way, he could even be considered a bookish, honest type. Proposing was probably the most extroverted and outrageous thing he’d ever done in his life.

As for Jiayong Auction House, they had been secretly collecting the spirit bones of ancient phoenixes. Everything had been going smoothly behind the scenes—until the growing number of bones in their secure vault began to accumulate more and more spiritual energy. Last month, it even attracted the attention of a patrol team.

Song Lie grew anxious about being exposed. There wasn’t enough time to discreetly move the spirit bones bit by bit, and with Song Tao constantly fanning the flames, he felt more and more like the Monster Regulation Committee was watching him. That was why he took the risk of hosting a private banquet—hoping to move all the goods in one chaotic sweep and hand them off to the buyer.

A new intern had asked, “What does collecting spirit bones have to do with illegal modifications?”

“They’re trying to use the bones to reconstruct a mechanical phoenix—the kind of mythical beast that only exists in legends. One that can fly all the way to the Desolate Realm.”

“The Desolate Realm?”

“It’s a vast plain floating above the clouds of the South Sea. Without external help, it’s nearly impossible to reach.”

That area was rich in resources and overflowing with spiritual energy, which was why it had long been designated a top-tier protected zone. Naturally, such places attracted criminal intentions.

Shi Wenze asked, “How many pieces of the spirit bones have we recovered so far?”

“Roughly one-third,” Zhou Yuansong replied. “The higher-ups think that no one really knows how many spirit bones are needed to build a mechanical phoenix. So for now, we’re aiming to recover them all and store them together under one seal.”

It wasn’t an easy task. Like searching for a needle in the ocean. The meeting lasted nearly three hours. By the time Shi Wenze stepped out of the Kunlun Building, the sky was already beginning to lighten.

There were no new messages from Lin Su on his phone. Not wanting to disturb him, he headed back to the tattoo parlor, took a quick shower, and collapsed into bed—planning to visit Qinghu Garden after a good nap. Instead, he ended up sleeping straight through to the afternoon—and it wasn’t because he woke naturally, but because he was startled awake.

Xu You stood right beside the bed, his eyes filled with wounded, offended misery, like a jilted husband. Shi Wenze yanked the blanket over his head, unwilling to witness this pitiful scene.
“Get out.”

“Lin Su’s here,” Xu You said.

Shi Wenze sat upright instantly. “Where?”

“Downstairs.” Xu You sounded deeply aggrieved. “I was just working through some practice problems when, out of nowhere, someone appeared behind me and coldly said, ‘Question three: C. Question four: A.’ Do you know how terrifying that was? I seriously wanted to cry.”

“You got half the questions on the page wrong. Why cry? That’s good news.” Shi Wenze pulled open the wardrobe.

Xu You paused. “There were only four questions.”

Shi Wenze sighed. “…Then why aren’t you back studying already?”

Studying was absolute torture. It really was. Xu You grabbed Shi Wenze’s arm. “How about you go downstairs like this—bare-assed. Give Lin Su a little surprise.”

“Get lost, I’m wearing underwear!”

“Yeah, but that underwear is very square-cut.”

“Let go!”

“Nope!”

Xu You might’ve broken something mentally from all the studying, and the jump scare earlier didn’t help. With both effects stacked like a cursed combo, he was currently in a highly excitable and delirious state. Shi Wenze couldn’t shake him off and ended up being dragged to the floor. The wooden boards let out a loud crack as they hit, and Lin Su stood in the doorway, his expression unreadable.

“I—just… get up and put on some pants.”

 

 

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