Transformed into a heartthrob's simp, every day is a battleground.

Chapter 320 Holy Embryo

Yan Xun lowered his head to wash his hands, then looked at himself in the mirror.

The man in the mirror had brilliant blond hair. Although his appearance was the same as his original one, he had some mixed-race features.

In this instance, his name is Ryan, an ordinary private investigator whose daily work mainly involves investigating extramarital affairs and finding lost pets.

He returned to his office on the second floor of a pharmacy, where an elderly woman sat opposite him, currently holding her frequently lost pet and chattering incessantly to Yan Xun.

“I’m not joking,” she told Yan Xun, “but Milo really is pregnant.”

Yan Xun sat behind the desk he'd picked up from the street, in a spring-loaded office chair. "What?"

"I think I might have misheard."

“You heard me right,” the old lady muttered, lifting Milo high in the air. “I said Milo is pregnant.”

Yan Xun remained in the same posture, unconsciously playing with the pen in his hand. "But I remember Milo... is male?"

“Yes! That’s the strange thing.” The old lady placed Milo on Yan Xun’s desk. “Ryan, look.”

“Milo does indeed possess male characteristics…”

Yan Xun didn't really want to look at Milo's little lipstick, so he avoided his gaze and said, "Yeah, I can see it very clearly."

He has been in this instance for half a month, and so far, the main storyline has not appeared. His daily task is to help the neighbors in the vicinity deal with some daily events. In the middle of this, he also got involved in a couple who suspected each other of cheating. The private investigator hired by the husband mistook him for the "cheating partner", which led to the husband coming to his door to cause trouble.

Yan Xun toyed with the pen in his hand, sighing inwardly, "Wasn't it a misdiagnosis?"

“This kind of thing has been happening frequently lately.”

For example, the client mentioned above believed her husband was cheating on her because he suddenly became pregnant.

—It was very sudden and without warning, but after the investigation, Yan Xun was quite certain that the other party had no affair.

The couple later went to Yan Xun's house together.

After realizing he had misunderstood, the man apologized to Yan Xun first, and then said that he had not cheated on her.

If someone commits adultery, their soul will be sent to hell to be burned in flames after death.

Yan Xun thought to himself, "Hell doesn't have that much space to burn your soul," but on the surface he still put on a considerate act, "So it's a misunderstanding?"

He looked at the woman and said, "He is not pregnant."

"No," the woman said solemnly, "he is indeed carrying a child."

"But he definitely didn't cheat on me."

Yan Xun made a curious expression.

“I’ve checked,” the woman said.

Yan Xun: "...?"

He wasn't particularly interested in how the other party conducted the examination.

"So you mean, this child suddenly appeared in his belly?" Yan Xun said, "like an angel descending."

"Maybe," the woman said hesitantly. "In fact, a similar incident happened to one of my colleagues..."

“He’s single, and I’m sure no one would want to have anything happen between him.”

He said that when he woke up, he was pregnant.

"Maybe it's not the child, it's just gas," Yan Xun said.

“No, it’s the child,” the woman said definitively, exchanging a glance with her husband. “We’ve checked.”

Yan Xun: "..."

He glanced at the woman, then at the man, "...Congratulations to you both?"

Back to the present, Yan Xun looked at Milo lying on his desk and said, "Maybe this kind of thing will happen more and more often."

The old lady couldn't hear what Yan Xun was saying.

She only came here to complain about this bizarre thing, and she didn't think that Yan Xun, a mere detective, could do anything.

She lifted Milo off the table. "This is not a good sign."

“Who says otherwise?” Yan Xun leaned back in his office chair, looking at the uncleaned window glass. Outside was a huge advertisement. He wasn’t really sure about the time period of this instance, but it was definitely from the last century.

No cell phone, no computer, no internet.

His only source of information was the newspapers sold by newsboys downstairs. There was no television in his office; he didn't know if it was because televisions weren't common at the time or if he simply couldn't afford one.

"Have you heard?" the old lady asked again.

"what?"

“In the south, some people are saying that this year will be the end of the world.” She squinted, holding Milo in her arms. “Even Milo can get pregnant, I think this is indeed a sign of the end of the world.”

Yan Xun thought about all the pregnant men on the street and realized that the old lady might be right.

“My nephew sent a telegram.” She then shared the strange news with Yan Xun, “saying that a new sect has emerged in the south because of the end of the world, it seems to be called the Angel Church.”

Upon hearing this name, Yan Xun stopped twirling his pen. He felt a headache coming on because of this familiar keyword.

"What do they believe in?" Yan Xun asked.

“I don’t know,” the old woman said. “They do say that the end of the world will give us some insights.”

The old lady stood up, holding Milo, and said, "Perhaps Milo's pregnancy is one of the revelations."

She looked at Yan Xun sitting behind his desk and said, "You haven't paid your rent from last month."

Yan Xun chuckled dryly. He was willing to talk to the old lady for so long because she was his landlady, and the pharmacy downstairs belonged to her.

“I promise… next week,” Yan Xun casually suggested a time, “I will definitely pay all the rent.”

"That would be best," the old lady said.

She bent down and put Milo on the ground. "I'll help you find some jobs."

Yan Xun hesitated, as he didn't really want to continue investigating those extramarital affair cases.

"Don't worry." The old lady seemed to see through Yan Xun's thoughts. Before leaving, she suddenly remembered something. "I heard from people in that sect that there will be some signs before the end of the world."

Yan Xun turned his gaze to Milo.

“No, that’s not it,” the old woman said, after thinking hard for a long time. “It is said that when the first angel appears, the end of the world will come.”

Do you understand what this sentence means?

Yan Xun didn't understand, but he had a bad feeling about it.

He shook his head, saw the old lady off, and then returned to the window of his office. There were only a few people downstairs, and there was a lot of dirty puddles on the ground. A little further ahead was a slaughterhouse.

Many of them work at that slaughterhouse, and most of the time, the air is filled with a strong, fishy stench.

Yan Xun leaned against the window, muttering to himself, "Am I here to participate in a reality show?"

Once inside the instance, the main system became eerily quiet, as if it were dead.

According to him, Yan Xun would naturally know when the mission came, and it would be inconvenient for him to remain on standby, as that would be noticed.

So Yan Xun fought alone for half a month.

He peered out the window for a while and noticed a brown-haired man in the building across the street winking at him.

"Still no business today?" he asked.

“…Haha.” Yan Xun chuckled dryly twice.

“I’ve seen your skills,” he said to Yan Xun. “You should consider changing jobs.”

Yan Xun roughly knew what the brown-haired man across the street did. They would gather downstairs in the evening. This was a new immigrant neighborhood, and many people relied on this group for protection.

"Once you come here, you'll quickly become the second-in-command."

The brown-haired man waved aside the clothes drying in the sun and said to Yan Xun.

But soon, he heard a woman's voice behind him. His mother scolded him and grabbed his ear, telling him to get out.

She then kindly told Yan Xun that she had prepared a large meal that evening, and that Yan Xun could share it with them.

They are a large family of eight. The brown-haired man is her second son. Her husband and eldest son work at the slaughterhouse up ahead. Yan Xun met her because he helped her carry a box of vegetables she bought at the market.

"No, thank you," Yan Xun said. "I have some work to do tonight."

This instance world is too realistic. The NPCs here are too much like living people. After interacting with them too much, Yan Xun has the illusion that these people are real.

The woman was a little disappointed, but she just nodded.

After she left the window, her second son sat on the windowsill, probably not wanting the smell of smoke to drift into the house, so he sat halfway on the windowsill.

What were you talking about just now?

"Didn't you hear me?" Yan Xun asked.

“I’m talking about you and your landlord,” the brown-haired man asked Yan Xun, a cigarette dangling from his lips. “I saw her put that vicious dog on your table.”

"Did it finally get beaten up?"

Yan Xun glanced at the other person, "You were bitten by it?"

"Haha." He held the cigarette between his fingers. "Of course."

He gripped the window frame with one hand to keep himself from falling, and then asked Yan Xun, "Why did she come to see you?"

"Is she going to ask you to find her a pet again?"

"Or did I introduce you to one of those lousy jobs again?"

“Ryan, my boss also thinks highly of you,” he said to Yan Xun. “I’ve seen your…”

Perhaps worried that others would hear, he simply mouthed, "Gun."

“I know you’re not just a simple private investigator,” he said to Yan Xun. “What brings you here?”

Yan Xun thought to himself that this was definitely something his boss had taught him; he wasn't smart enough to come up with such rhetoric.

Yan Xun touched the exorcism pistol under his jacket.

“I’m not just a simple private investigator,” Yan Xun nodded. “I’m actually an exorcist.”

He told the brown-haired man, "That's an exorcism pistol."

"Inside are silver bullets soaked in holy water."

He told the truth, but he felt the person on the other end wouldn't believe him.

Sure enough, the brown-haired man opposite him gave him a look that said, "Are you kidding me?" "That's a lame excuse."

"Exorcist?" he repeated, laughing. "Where's your crucifix?"

"Would you take a crucifix and tell them to get out of here?"

"No," Yan Xun said.

He made a prayer gesture, "I will send them straight to heaven."

As they were talking, a man appeared downstairs, walking unsteadily. He was dressed in tattered clothes, looked somewhat drunk, and seemed to have just come from a pub.

“He’s drunk again,” the brown-haired man said.

"You know him?"

"He also worked at the slaughterhouse, I mean a long time ago."

He told Yan Xun everything about the other person without any reservations, "However, one of his arms was cut off by a machine and mixed with other things to become animal feed."

"From then on, he was always drunk."

Yan Xun looked down at the man downstairs.

Because they were on the second floor, the man was actually very close to them.

He walked very slowly, and his hair was already in clumps. Yan Xun noticed that his clothes were unusually thick.

It was as if there was something behind him.

Soon, as he was walking, he suddenly convulsed and collapsed to the ground.

People around quickly noticed what was happening, but his convulsions were too bizarre, with his limbs arched backwards as he supported himself on the ground.

He began to foam at the mouth, his body covered in filth from convulsing in the dirty water.

Nobody wanted to get close.

He finally rolled over again, and something was wriggling rapidly behind him.

The man screamed as something suddenly ripped through his clothes from behind, emerging from the gaps—

Pure white feathers, like a broken down pillow, appeared all around him.

He lay on the ground, but behind him emerged huge, blood-stained, pure white wings, a stark contrast to the filthy, chaotic community.

“…God…” The brown-haired man’s cigarette fell onto his thigh, and he cried out in pain from the burn.

Looking at the unconscious man lying on the ground, and the enormous white wings that enveloped him, Yan Xun felt that his mission should be starting soon.

"An angel has appeared again! This time it's a very important person!"

The newsboys downstairs were shouting today's big news, and Yan Xun leaned out the window, indicating that he wanted to buy a newspaper.

The newsboy, who was somewhat familiar with him, immediately climbed up to the second floor and handed Yan Xun today's fresh newspaper.

"A lot of angels have appeared lately?" Yan Xun handed him the change.

“Yes! A lot!” he whispered to Yan Xun. “They say it might be a new plague.”

"Everyone who develops wings will die within three days."

Were all the dead homeless people?

“It’s not like that starting today,” the newsboy told Yan Xun, pointing to the man in the headline. “He has wings on his back now too.”

Yan Xun recognized him as one of the city's richest men.

Someone photographed wings appearing on his back.

Looking at the panicked face of the man in the newspaper, Yan Xun remembered something else: "Are there many pregnant men on the street lately?"

“Not many,” the newsboy said in a low voice, “but I’ve heard it’s not just men.”

"Women too?"

“Everything you can think of,” the newsboy said. “Even animals.”

Yan Xun thought of Milo from the landlord's house, "They both got pregnant suddenly, without any warning?"

"Of course not." The newsboy seemed to know all the gossip in the city.

He gestured for Yan Xun to lower his head.

Yan Xun bent down, and the newsboy came closer.

"I heard that they all had the same dream."

“A voice in their dream told them that the thing inside them was a sacred fetus, and that they needed to protect it well.”

Yan Xun recalled the couple she had met, "Someone I know didn't seem to have received this message."

Otherwise, why not explain it to his wife?

“Impossible,” the newsboy said. He glanced around to make sure no one could hear him before turning to Yan Xun and saying, “Because they want to go to that church in the south.”

"The church will give them a large sum of money as soon as they get there, that's what it said in the dream."

"They just don't want to tell anyone," the newsboy said solemnly.

"How do you know so much?" Yan Xun asked curiously.

The newsboy's expression turned flustered. After hesitating for a moment, he finally spoke to Yan Xun, "My brother is too..."

"So our family will probably be going to the south for a while."

“I feel it’s very dangerous here right now,” he said to Yan Xun. “You should leave quickly too.”