Monster Profile Investigation

Midsummer, Capital City.

The weather in the evening shifted from scorching to stifling. Qian Youshui’s mind was somewhat dazed; he blinked hard and shook his head from time to time, pacing anxiously at the mouth of the alley.

Qian Youshui was a real estate mogul—a textbook wealthy man, nearly forty, with a plump face and ears, thinning hair, dressed head to toe in designer casual wear, a small belly protruding, a genuine leather clutch tucked under his arm, and a Patek Philippe on his wrist. Yet his face was bloodless, and his lips, hands, and body trembled ever so slightly.

He glanced back at the way he’d come. This shaded path was quiet enough to avoid unnecessary trouble. He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a thick stack of diagnoses from various major hospitals, reading through them carefully once more. The results were consistent, yet contradictory.

“Symptoms indicate excessive blood loss; examinations show no abnormalities.”

“Nonsense!”

He crumpled the diagnoses into a ball and threw them away. Finally making up his mind, he strode into the alley.

The meeting had been arranged by a fixer known as “Flower,” who had put him in touch with a reclusive mystic waiting for him at the end of this alley.

Qian Youshui had found the fixer, codenamed “Flower,” through the dark web, and through him had been referred to this so-called expert in treating unexplainable maladies. But Qian had never interacted with anyone from the dark web, with Flower, or with this mystic before—not to mention trusting them. If not for a