3:00 AM The air inside the S-Rank Containment Center of the Supernatural Investigation Bureau reeked of a putrid stench strong enough to shatter an ordinary person's sanity on the spot. It was a sickly blend of fermented aged soybeans, industrial additives, and the indescribable carrion odor of high-dimensional creatures.Su Yaoguang sat on an interrogation chair forged entirely from alloy. The shadowless lamp above cast a frigid white glow, illuminating the black umbrella resting on the metal tabletop. On the umbrella's fabric, that faint brown soy sauce stain blazed offensively under the harsh light—like a mocking symbol, scorched deeply into the career of this S-Rank investigator.The chief of the Bureau's Technical Department, a veteran logician with only three hairs clinging to his scalp, trembled as he held a high-powered scanner to sample the soy sauce blot. His movements were painstakingly cautious, as if he weren't handling a condiment but a vial of antimatter explosive capable of detonating the very fabric of reality in an instant."Section Chief Su—are you absolutely certain… this is just a random bottle of Old Chen's Light Soy Sauce he grabbed from the convenience store?" The chief pushed up his wall-thick glasses, his voice quivering.Su Yaoguang stared expressionlessly at her right arm. Beneath the skin woven from black ink, crimson patterns flickered faintly. The two characters Chu Lin seemed to pulse with a life of their own, throbbing in time with her heartbeat. With every beat, she caught a whiff of that inescapable soy sauce stench, a smell so grating it made her near-pathological obsessive-compulsive disorder feel like it was burning through her sanity."He invoked Amendment Article 404," Su Yaoguang's voice was as cold as ice. "He forcibly reclassified a Grade-A anomaly—one that wielded the causal law of guaranteed death—as a debtor who damaged private property and cannot repay the debt. Under that logic, the ghost's killing rule was demoted to nothing more than labor for debt."The scanner in the technical chief's hand blared a shrill alarm. Dense red text flooded the screen:
LOGICAL COLLAPSE RESIDUES DETECTED. STABILITY COEFFICIENT: 0.0001%
"The precision of this logical restructuring surpasses every algorithm we've ever developed," he said, staring at Su Yaoguang in terror. He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Section Chief Su—this means that within his domain, physical constants are nothing more than pliable clay. He didn't take that nine hundred yuan for soy sauce. It has to be a metaphor."Su Yaoguang's eyes flickered. Nine hundred. In ancient numerology, nine was the ultimate digit—the end of all counting. Was he declaring that he'd mastered the very pinnacle of reality? Or was he hinting at the conclusion of some endless cycle?"Precisely!" The technical chief drew a sharp breath, his expression morphing into one of fanatical overthinking. "He's a being who can stand alone against the anomaly dimension—how could he possibly care about a few lousy coins? That nine hundred yuan is definitely a logical anchor. Through this transaction, he's forcefully tethered the Bureau's fate to his own. This is the highest form of strategic game!"Su Yaoguang fell silent. She thought back to how Chu Lin had counted the money, painstakingly checking each bill like a miser terrified of being shortchanged. At the time, she'd dismissed him as nothing more than a greedy scoundrel—but now, listening to the chief's analysis, a cold dread coiled in her gut.Could every trivial gesture of his hide a profound, unfathomable agenda?Just then, the interrogation room door slid open automatically. Two agents clad in heavy hazmat suits wheeled in a custom-built cryogenic container. When they lifted the lid, inside lay a brand-new, unopened bottle of Old Chen's Light Soy Sauce."Reporting, Section Chief. Per your orders, we retrieved this same-batch sample from seventeen convenience stores across the city," the agents' voices rumbled muffled behind their face masks, stern and formal.Su Yaoguang stood up, and the black umbrella flew into her hand of its own accord. She stared at the soy sauce bottle as if it were a covert spy. Slowly, she extended her right hand—the ink-woven arm etched with crimson patterns—and brushed her fingertips against the bottle's surface.At that instant, the lights in the interrogation room dimmed abruptly.Su Yaoguang felt a strange, rhythmic thrumming. It wasn't the soy sauce that was moving—it was the space around them, recoiling from the bottle as if in revulsion. Her mind flashed to Chu Lin's dead-fish eyes, and his offhand remark about an "addendum to the amendment.""This bottle's batch number… it's 0714," Su Yaoguang murmured.The technical chief pulled up the files in an instant. "0714—that's the exact date of the Great Logical Collapse seventeen years ago."Su Yaoguang's pupils constricted violently. So that was it. Chu Lin hadn't grabbed the soy sauce at random. He'd used a logical vector marked with the original collapse date to counter the Red Umbrella anomaly. The sheer computational power, the mastery over the timeline… how long had he been lying low in that tiny convenience store?Meanwhile, Chu Lin—the man now mythologized as a mastermind, a god of logic—was squatting beside the convenience store's trash can, his heart aching so badly he could have cried."I'm ruined. Totally and utterly ruined," he muttered, picking at a soy sauce stain on his notebook with a toothpick. "That bottle was on clearance for seventy percent off—and it was the last one in the store! Now I'll have to restock at full price. Out of that nine hundred yuan, five hundred goes to the landlord. The rest has to cover electricity, water, and lubricant for this broken sensor door…"He glanced up at the fluorescent light fixture buzzing overhead. To eyes untainted by ordinary perception, the current wasn't flowing—it was devouring itself, snarling and gnashing like rabid beasts. It was a sign of logical instability, proof that the world's "authenticity" had just dropped by another 0.5%.Chu Lin reached under the cash register and pulled out a rusted pair of scissors. He snapped them shut once, slicing through the empty air.A dull, fabric-tearing sound echoed from the void. The rabid current instantly went docile. The fluorescent light stopped flickering, and the unsettling snarl faded into silence."Quiet down. You're interrupting my bookkeeping," Chu Lin yawned, slumping back onto his wobbly swivel chair.He flipped open his notebook, its cover emblazoned with the title False Notes. Under his earlier entry for the "Red Umbrella Incident," he'd doodled a crude sketch: a tall, icy woman holding an umbrella, with a scribbled annotation beside it:
DANGER LEVEL: EXTREME (risk of job loss)
"Su Yaoguang…" Chu Lin murmured the name, his fingers brushing the page gently.He could sense the logical brand he'd planted on her arm humming to life. It wasn't a soul correction—not in his book, anyway. He just thought the woman's fighting style was a colossal waste. She'd wanted to draw her umbrella and tear the place apart when a single bottle of soy sauce would have solved the problem. That kind of recklessness would've sent the entire block's logical depletion rate skyrocketing.For the sake of world peace (and mostly to keep his convenience store from getting demolished), he'd had no choice but to slap an energy-saving patch on the violent beauty."Hope she's smart enough not to come back and cause more trouble," Chu Lin grumbled. He was about to close his eyes for a nap when the sensor door blared that piercing ding-dong once again.Chu Lin instantly switched into "slacker clerk mode," calling out without lifting his head: "Welcome! Toilet paper's twenty percent off after midnight—lightning rods are full price!"No reply came from the door.An oppressive chill crept up his ankles. Chu Lin sighed, lifting his head from his notebook.Standing in the doorway was none other than Su Yaoguang.But this time, she was dressed differently. The light-absorbing charcoal-gray trench coat was gone, replaced by a sleek, tailored white suit. Her ink-woven right arm was hidden beneath a silk sleeve, covered completely. In her hand, she held an elegant gift box—looking less like an anomaly hunter and more like a woman on a blind date.That said, her stunning face—one that would make A-list celebrities green with envy—still wore that icy scowl, the kind that screamed you owe me five million yuan and you're never paying it back."Mr. Chu," Su Yaoguang spoke, her voice echoing through the empty convenience store, laced with an unplaceable magnetism.Chu Lin's eye twitched. Mr. Chu? The honorific sent goosebumps crawling up his spine."Officer Su—if that Red Umbrella ghost escapes, that's a post-sale issue. No refunds," he said, clutching the cash box defensively. "I already deposited the money in Yu'e Bao—withdrawing it would cost a service fee."Su Yaoguang took a deep breath, forcing herself not to glare at his shamelessly mercenary face. She stepped up to the counter and set the gift box down gently."This is a vial of Top-Tier Logical Stabilizer, issued exclusively by the Bureau. I thought it might be more useful to someone like you—someone who frequently manually corrects reality—than nine hundred yuan," she said.Chu Lin squinted at the gift box. Through the wrapping, he could see a faint blue liquid swirling inside—stuff with astronomical logical purity, worth a fortune per drop.But after one glance, he turned away in disgust."Not interested. That stuff gives me diarrhea. You'd be better off using it to clean your umbrella," he said, pushing the box aside casually. "So, Ms. Su—what's the real reason for this late-night visit? I doubt you're here just to be nice."Su Yaoguang stared at him, searching for any crack in his lazy demeanor. The more nonchalant he seemed, the deeper her doubts grew. According to Bureau records, only two types of people could resist the temptation of a Logical Stabilizer: lunatics… and monsters who no longer needed it."The patterns on my arm," Su Yaoguang said, suddenly leaning forward, her hands slamming onto the counter. She locked eyes with him, her gaze intense.Standing this close, Chu Lin could smell the faint, cool fragrance of her perfume, mixed with a metallic edge—and, of course, that stubborn hint of soy sauce."What did you do to me?" she whispered, each word ground out between her teeth. "Why is my high-dimensional vessel rejecting the Bureau's repair protocols… but greedily absorbing those crimson patterns you left behind?"Chu Lin stared at the stunning face inches from his own, leaning back in his chair with a sigh. "Ms. Su—this is just a system compatibility test. Your original logic was way too rigid. You're always itching to go all 'violent demolition' at the drop of a hat. I just installed a throttle valve—to make sure you don't accidentally correct me out of existence next time you pick a fight.""A throttle valve?" Su Yaoguang froze. She'd imagined every possibility—curses, branding, dark pacts—but "throttle valve" was a term that had never crossed her mind."Basically: from now on, every time you want to use a big move, you have to ask my permission first," Chu Lin said, pointing to her right arm. "Without my authorization, that ink arm of yours is only good for writing—not for tearing down buildings."Su Yaoguang's face turned a kaleidoscope of emotions: shock, rage, confusion, and finally, a sense of absurd defeat."You… you restricted my power?""No—optimized your resource allocation," Chu Lin said, spouting nonsense with a straight face. "Think about it: how much reality logic does it take to demolish a building? If you can solve a problem with a punch, why use a missile? I'm just helping you save energy."Su Yaoguang glared at him. She'd thought he was trying to control her, to infiltrate the Bureau through her. But no—this man was actually telling her to cut back on expenses?It was like a legendary warrior gearing up to slay a demon king… only for the demon king to pull out a Household Frugality Handbook and start lecturing her on turning off the lights when she left a room."Chu Lin," her voice came out hoarse. "Do you have any idea who I am? I'm an S-Rank investigator. My very existence is meant to combat the end of the world.""Even the apocalypse needs to pay its electricity bill," Chu Lin replied, yawning again. "Ms. Su—if you're not here for anything else, can you tidy up that shelf over there? The Red Umbrella ghost messed up all the potato chips while she was mopping. In exchange, I'll teach you how to manually disable the authorization."Su Yaoguang stared at his utterly unapologetic face, and the last thread of her sanity snapped clean in two.Her—Su Yaoguang, heir to a wealthy dynasty, the Bureau's unshakable pillar of strength—being ordered to tidy shelves by a slacker convenience store clerk?"You… want… me… to… restock?" she said, each word enunciated through gritted teeth."Well, yeah. This is a convenience store—not a charity," Chu Lin said matter-of-factly, pointing at the jumbled pile of potato chips.Su Yaoguang let out a cold laugh, feeling a humiliation like no other. She held out her modified right arm, and black ink swirled at her fingertips. Even with her power restricted, the oppressive aura she exuded made the air crackle with static."And what if I refuse?"Chu Lin didn't say a word. He just stared at her, and for a split second, the dead-fish glaze in his eyes cleared—revealing a chaotic storm of TV static beneath.The lights in the convenience store went out instantly.The world seemed to hit a mute button.Su Yaoguang's eyes widened in terror as her prized perception vanished completely. She couldn't see Chu Lin. She couldn't hear her own breathing. She couldn't even feel the ground beneath her feet. It was as if she'd fallen into a bottomless void—a place without logic, without definition, without anything at all.In that void, only one thing existed: Chu Lin's voice."Ms. Su—I'm a pretty laid-back guy, but my convenience store has rules."His tone was no longer lazy. It was vast, overwhelming, sending shivers down her spine—like every word was forged from the destruction and rebirth of a thousand worlds.
Rule One: If you break something, you pay for it.
Rule Two: If you're not buying anything, don't block the door.
Rule Three: The clerk's word is final.
A pale, jade-like hand rested gently on her shoulder, light as a feather—yet it felt like the weight of the entire universe pressing down on her."Now—can you help me tidy the shelves?"Light flooded back in an instant.Su Yaoguang gasped, her eyes flying open as she sucked in huge breaths of air. She was still standing at the counter. Chu Lin was still there, looking half-asleep, holding an expired rice ball and about to tear it open.Everything that had just happened felt like a hallucination that lasted less than a second.But the cold sweat on her forehead, the way her fingers trembled uncontrollably—they told her it was real.At that moment, she knew for certain that the man sitting in front of her was no mere "logic corrector."He was the largest, most terrifying, and completely undefinable anomaly in the entire world—the ultimate supernatural entity.Su Yaoguang didn't say another word. She walked silently to the shelf, reached out with hands that had only ever been used to sever logic—and began straightening the potato chip bags one by one.Her movements were stiff, mechanical, each gesture precise as if she were performing a sacred ritual.Chu Lin sat on his swivel chair, munching contentedly on his rice ball as he watched the S-Rank investigator work like a minimum-wage temp."Yep, that's it—face the tomato-flavored ones outward," he mumbled around a mouthful of rice. "Ms. Su—tidying shelves is actually a form of logic correction, y'know? When you put chaos back in order, the world thanks you for it."Su Yaoguang bit her lip so hard it almost bled, her fingers squeezing a cucumber-flavored chip bag until it crinkled. But she didn't dare to snap.Just then, Chu Lin's phone vibrated again.He unlocked the screen. It was another text from the unknown number—but this time, the message was different:She's got a knack for tidying shelves, but you missed a detail. Check the homeless guy in the alley behind the store. He's eating the shards of the soy sauce bottle you threw away.Chu Lin froze.Slowly, he turned his head to the small, locked window at the back of the store.Outside, the scattered drizzle of red rain had turned into a torrential downpour. The crimson liquid slammed against the window, leaving not water stains—but tiny, twisted human faces, squirming and writhing on the glass.Chu Lin set down his rice ball. For the first time, his eyes showed a flicker of genuine annoyance."People are even fighting over the shards of Old Chen's soy sauce now?" He sighed, grabbing a dusty mop from under the counter. "Ms. Su—forget the chips for now. I've got a business deal to handle. Watch the store for me, will you? And if anyone buys condoms, add a fifty percent Late-Night Single Tax to the bill."Su Yaoguang whipped her head around. "Where are you going?"Chu Lin was already carrying the mop toward the back door. His figure was thin, almost fragile, as it flickered in the flickering light—and yet, there was something deeply unsettling about it."Just handling a post-sale issue," he said.The moment Chu Lin pushed open the back door, a wave of overpowering soy sauce stench hit him.In the rain, a hunched figure knelt on the ground, frantically licking the broken glass shards. With every swallow, his body began to twist and contort in a horrific transformation—red umbrella ribs piercing through his skin, prying his body open into a massive, blood-soaked canopy.When the homeless man looked up at Chu Lin, his face split into a grotesque, ingratiating smile."Boss… this batch… not pure enough…" he gurgled.Chu Lin stared down at the rusted mop in his hand, then at the creature that had once been a man—now a soy sauce umbrella ghost. His mouth twitched in exasperation."Batch number 0714 light soy sauce… and you dared to eat it on an empty stomach?"Chu Lin lifted the mop and brought it crashing down onto the blood-soaked canopy."I said SPIT IT OUT! Those shards are my expense report receipts!"Inside the convenience store, Su Yaoguang clutched a potato chip bag, listening to the dull thuds and inhuman screams echoing from the alley. Her mind was a whirlwind of thought.She glanced down at her right arm. The crimson patterns were glowing wildly, as if cheering on the violence unfolding outside.Suddenly, she realized that everything she'd ever thought about Chu Lin had been wrong.This man wasn't maintaining order.He was enslaving the world with a logic that was far more insane, far more unreasonable than any anomaly—the Chu-style logic.In the shadowy corner of the store, an old radio flickered to life of its own accord. Beneath the crackle of static, a mocking laugh echoed:"Chu Lin—did you notice? When you swung that mop… your shadow swallowed the entire street."Su Yaoguang's head snapped down to the floor.In the dim glow of the cash register light, Chu Lin's shadow was spreading across the tiles, flowing outward like a tide. And the shape of that shadow was unmistakable—a colossal red umbrella, large enough to blot out the sky.The potato chip bag slipped from Su Yaoguang's hand, hitting the floor with a soft crinkle.She finally understood the meaning of the text message.Chu Lin wasn't correcting anomalies.He was the nightmare called reality—and he was waking up.Outside, Chu Lin stood with his foot planted on the soy sauce umbrella ghost's head, cursing loudly as he pried a bloodstained glass shard from the creature's mouth."How many times do I have to say it? RECYCLE YOUR SHARDS PROPERLY! Do you even know what 'sorting for recycling' means?!"The red rain fell harder and harder.