The man sitting beneath the dim oil lamp…
was the same figure Lin Wan had glimpsed earlier that day.
Tall. Silent. Hidden under the resort's drifting shadows.
The one wearing a baseball cap and mask.
Now, the mask was gone.
Revealing a pale, gaunt face carved with sharp lines. He looked to be in his thirties, eyes sunken yet unnervingly bright—like twin blades catching firelight. He wore a faded work jacket, washed to near colorlessness.
Both hands rested calmly on the table.
Long fingers. Prominent knuckles.
And on the back of his right hand—
a fresh, scabbed scratch.
When the door creaked open, he lifted his head.
His gaze locked instantly onto Er'gou.
That single look carried a storm of emotions.
Assessment.
Shock.
Disbelief.
Then—
Recognition.
A heavy, almost painful certainty.
Only after several seconds did his eyes shift to Lin Wan. He gave a slight nod, voice low and rough, as if unused for far too long.
"Miss Lin… you arrived faster than I expected."
A pause.
"Sit."
The tone was steady.
Casual.
As if this were not an underground hideout in an abandoned harbor warehouse—but a long-delayed meeting.
Lin Wan froze at the doorway, flashlight beam trembling.
Beside her—
Er'gou stepped forward.
Positioning himself squarely between Lin Wan and the stranger.
His fur bristled.
A deep growl rolled from his chest.
Those piercing blue eyes fixed not on the man's face…
but on that fresh wound.
The shape was unmistakable.
Claw marks.
The man didn't seem surprised by the hostility.
In fact, a faint, bitter smile tugged at his lips.
"Relax, Your Highness," he said softly.
The title hit the air like a silent explosion.
Lin Wan's breath caught.
Er'gou's growl sharpened.
"If I meant you harm," the man continued calmly, lifting his injured hand, "I wouldn't have lured you here. And I certainly wouldn't have gotten this trying to confirm your identity."
His eyes darkened slightly.
"You still scratch like before."
Er'gou's ears twitched.
The growl weakened—but vigilance remained.
Lin Wan forced herself to move, stepping into the room. She didn't sit.
Didn't lower the light.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
"Did you send the notebook?"
"'Celebration fireworks,' 'bloodline scent,' 'beware the celebration'—what do they mean?"
"And the people who attacked us today… were they connected to you?"
The man didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he lifted an old enamel mug from the table, took a slow sip of the cloudy liquid inside, then exhaled.
"My name is Chen Lin."
A beat.
"I used to be Shen Mo's bodyguard."
Another pause.
"And his olfactory consultant."
Lin Wan blinked.
Bodyguard made sense.
But—
"Olfactory consultant?"
Chen Lin nodded faintly.
"Shen Mo's sense of smell was… abnormal."
"Not merely sensitive. Something beyond that."
"He could deconstruct and memorize scent profiles most humans wouldn't even perceive. More importantly—he linked smells to memory, emotion, even situational patterns with frightening accuracy."
His gaze drifted toward Er'gou.
"At times, it gave him an edge."
"Risk assessment. Environmental awareness. Even performance enhancement."
"Other times…"
His voice lowered.
"It made him traceable."
Lin Wan's heart pounded.
The notebook's words echoed in her mind:
He trusts his sense of smell more than anything…
Chen Lin continued.
"The celebration banquet wasn't just a party."
"The fireworks that night carried a modified signal compound. A blend of rare aromatics and chemical agents."
"When burned, the scent temporarily overstimulated and disrupted Shen Mo's olfactory system."
"Disorientation. Impaired judgment."
"Hallucinations."
Lin Wan's fingers tightened.
"So it was planned…"
Chen Lin's eyes hardened.
"Yes."
"A coordinated operation."
"By an organization called Entropy."
"A company. A lab. A syndicate."
"No one knows for sure."
"But they specialize in one thing."
He leaned forward slightly.
"Acquiring anomalies."
Lin Wan's throat went dry.
"They'd been tracking Shen Mo for years. His olfactory ability wasn't a gift in their eyes."
"It was an asset."
"A tool."
"A living tracker superior to machines in certain fields."
The words landed like falling ice.
"The fireworks masked the abduction."
"And neutralized his greatest advantage."
Silence thickened.
Lin Wan whispered, "Then… how did he become…"
Her eyes dropped to Er'gou.
Chen Lin closed his eyes briefly.
Pain flashed across his hollowed features.
"I tried to extract him."
"I failed."
"They had numbers. Preparation."
"I only managed to recover Shen Mo's body."
Lin Wan's blood ran cold.
"He wasn't dead," Chen Lin added hoarsely.
"But something was wrong."
"His vitals fluctuated. Cellular responses unstable."
"He was changing."
"I had no choice."
He flexed his scarred hand.
"I injected him with a prototype concealment agent."
"A biological suppressor designed to alter detectable traits—metabolic signals, scent signatures, partial morphology."
"Emergency camouflage."
Lin Wan's pulse thundered.
"And?"
Chen Lin's eyes opened slowly.
"I didn't account for his condition."
"The chemical interference from the fireworks… combined with whatever Entropy had done…"
"The agent triggered an uncontrollable transformation cascade."
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"By the time I found him again…"
He looked at Er'gou.
"…Shen Mo was already a dog."