What do you mean you also want to return to the world?

As dusk settled, the sunset painted the entire venue in a pale gold hue.

However, the breathtaking scenery before them did nothing to ease the mood of the archaeologists inside the museum. On the contrary, the atmosphere inside the museum became even more oppressive due to days of overtime work, especially with the sunset.

"Xiao Lei, this is the information for artifact number 233." A document, still smelling of fresh ink, was handed to a young woman. "Please register and organize it as soon as possible; the deputy director needs it first thing tomorrow morning."

The young woman's desk was already piled high like a small mountain, and now another document appeared. Although it looked the same as before, it was like the last straw that broke the camel's back. She suddenly raised her head and roared, "I want it! I want this and that! Why doesn't he just die?!"

The person delivering the documents was startled by the young woman's sudden outburst, because in his memory, she had a gentle personality like a ragdoll cat and had almost never lost her temper.

Although he knew that the other person's breakdown stemmed from the inhuman overtime work of the past few days, which was completely understandable, such hysteria still frightened him a bit.

"Ahem, keep your voice down, Xiao Lei." He kindly pointed to the surveillance camera above their heads. "You don't want the deputy director to see you, do you?"

"So what if they see it?! So what?!" She showed no sign of backing down, roaring at the camera like a lioness, "Everyone who makes me work overtime should die! Die, die, die!"

The camera beeped and recorded the entire event, which was then transmitted to the deputy director's laptop via electrical current, and finally appeared in the eyes of Shi Yan, who was sitting in front of the laptop.

In Shi Yan's eyes, there were two Ms. Lei who were yelling at the camera.

They wore identical clothes and swore the same swear words, as if they were copied and pasted together.

But the difference is that one of them was in the office area, and the other was next to the mass grave.

What's even more different is that one of them is human, and the other is a demon.

"The one in the mass grave is a monster," Shi Yan concluded.

"What are you standing there for? You already know all this!" Crimson's annoyed voice echoed in my mind. "Go and finish it, okay? I need to go back to my book!"

Shi Yan ignored Fei Hong.

At present, Gao Ping has handed over his office to Shi Yan and left with Qi Fei and Tang Shi.

Clearly, Qi Fei had no intention of providing any further assistance with this assessment; he would handle everything else himself.

The sun has already set, and if Shi Yan still hasn't defeated the monster by the time it rises again, he will fail the test. In other words, Shi Yan only has one night left.

But Shi Yan only recognized the monster for the first time now, and he did so in the most foolish way possible—by guarding the security camera.

The monster's incarnation only lasts for ten minutes, so if two identical people appear on the camera at the same time, the one that stays on the camera longer is the human.

This method is considered cumbersome because it requires two conditions: first, both individuals must appear in the same camera's view simultaneously; second, at least one of them must remain in the view for more than ten minutes continuously. While this may sound simple, with hundreds of staff members and over twenty cameras throughout the venue, accurately identifying the target is extremely difficult.

Even if it were locked on, it wouldn't be of much use. By the time Shi Yan arrived at the cafeteria, the monster had already left.

However, Shi Yan did not intend to use this method to capture the monster. He was just observing it, observing its every movement and every expression.

When the time came and she left the camera's view, Shi Yan leaned back in his chair, gently pinching the bridge of his nose.

Just as he suspected, the monster was indeed constantly refining its disguise, becoming more and more like the person it was disguising.

Actually, when it first appeared on camera, it wasn't nearly as natural. Its expression was stiff, its speech was hesitant, and even its clothes were a bit off—in the first few times, it was wearing work clothes that were several years old and had already been phased out.

Shi Yan speculated that this was because the source of its disguise was not only living people, but also the photos of "outstanding employees" hanging on the wall. The outstanding employees at that time were naturally wearing the clothes from before.

This strange situation naturally aroused the suspicion of many people, but since the people here did not know about the existence of monsters, they did not think about it in the supernatural sense.

Until it was first exposed—it was disguised as a deceased "outstanding employee," who was also the father of Deputy Director Gao Ping.

But after that, it never slipped up again, as if it had realized its mistake and quickly corrected it.

As a result, its subsequent disguises were based on real staff members, rather than the outstanding employees in the photos. Furthermore, its previously somewhat stiff expressions and hesitant speech were quickly improved.

Finally, she became just like Ms. Lei from before, even her emotions were exactly the same.

This is its evolution.

But why is that?

According to Qi Fei, these low-level monsters have no thoughts, but they have their own instincts, which are mostly influenced by reality, and may even be influenced by human spirit.

Yes, the influence of the human spirit.

"Is it possible for the human spirit to influence a demon?" Shi Yan couldn't help but ask.

"Huh?" Crimson pointed her finger. "You're asking me?"

"No, I'm asking about that little dragon woman," Shi Yan said irritably. "Could you please wake her up and see if she has any ideas?"

Although Crimson's thought process was often a bit strange, she still understood Shi Yan's obvious sarcasm. So she sneered, "You're asking me if this is your attitude? This is already outside the scope of our transaction, why should I tell you?"

"If you help me resolve this sooner, I can go home sooner, and if I go home sooner, I can show you 'Phoenix Clan' sooner."

"Ha, do you think I don't understand?" Scarlet said. "Even if you fail, you'll still have to go back tomorrow. So whether I help you or not, you'll give me the book at that time anyway."

Damn, this guy is actually starting to use his brain.

Shi Yan had a headache. He wanted to say directly, "If you don't help me, I'll go back on my word," but he felt that if he said that, the trust he hadn't yet built with Fei Hong would immediately collapse, and there would be no more such harmless transactions in the future.

Therefore, this case must not be opened. Even if it must be opened, it should be opened when it is of greater value.

So how can we convince Scarlet?

Shi Yan thought about it for a moment and then had an idea.

So he took out his phone, tapped it a few times, and placed it in front of Scarlet.

"What are you doing again?" Crimson glanced at it. "I have no interest in this little human contraption of yours... Holy crap, Phoenix Clan!"

Just as Scarlet was about to indulge in her meal, Shi Yan quickly snatched the phone back with his right hand: "So, how about a deal?"

"What are you trading? You promised me 'Phoenix Clan' in the first place."

"I promised you a physical book," Shi Yan corrected. "This is an electronic version. You'll have to go back to read the physical book, but you can read the electronic version now. You just need to answer my question... okay?"

"Ha, what kind of demon do you take me for?" Crimson crossed her fingers and sneered, "I've lived for who knows how many years, and I've been dead for who knows how many years. You think I can't wait this long? Ridiculous!"

Shi Yan thought about it and realized that it did seem to be true, but he still had other ideas, so he tapped his phone again: "What about other books? There are many books similar to 'Phoenix Clan' here."

Books similar to "Phoenix Clan"?

Scarlet immediately became interested: "There are still books like that?"

"Yes." Shi Yan originally wanted to say there were still several hundred more, since there were certain times to it, and fanfiction of "Phoenix Clan" was everywhere. But then he felt that saying that would make the deal seem cheap, so he changed his words to, "There are still a few, and they're not in print, you can only read them on your phone. If you miss them, you won't get them... Do you want to read them?"

Of course I have to watch this!

These are all martial arts manuals!

The more you see and the more experience you gain, the more likely you are to return to the world!

But Scarlet didn't want to be too obvious. What if Shi Yan became wary?

So she pretended to ponder for a moment, and then said in a reluctant tone, "Fine, I'm bored anyway, I might as well take a look."

"The deal is done," Shi Yan said immediately. "Answer my question: can a human's spirit influence a demon?"

"Although I don't know your definition of a monster, if you consider all beings of that level outside as monsters, then that's fine," Crimson replied. "You humans always like to treat incomprehensible creatures as monsters. You think mythical beings like me are monsters, and you also think those mindless spirits are monsters."

Ignoring the subtle sarcasm in Fei Hong's words, Shi Yan asked again, "What kind of influence?"

"That's just mental influence, you just said it yourself," Crimson said impatiently. "Mental influence is such that the big crushes the small, and the mental power of monsters far exceeds that of humans, so usually it's humans who are influenced by monsters. But in very rare cases, those extremely weak monsters can be influenced by humans, especially those with unified, concentrated, and massive mental power."

A unified, concentrated, and immense spiritual force?

Shi Yan instantly thought of the mass grave that was being excavated at the venue. Wasn't that a perfect match for Scarlet's description?

In other words, the current actions of this monster are very likely related to the ancient people who were killed two thousand years ago.

But where is it related?

Even if it is related, shouldn't it be the resentment of the collective tragic deaths? Then it should be a ferocious demon wanting revenge, so why is it just pretending?

What exactly is the problem?

Before Shi Yan could even figure it out, Scarlet started yelling, "Alright, alright, deal's done! Give me your... what-what ...

Helpless, Shi Yan could only find her a book, glance at the title and synopsis, and toss it over: "Here, this is it. Be quiet while you read, don't bother me!"

"Okay, okay, let me see... 'Who Hid My Body Parts?' What a strange title!"

Scarlet started reading with a murmur, and because she was using a mobile phone, each page turn looked like she was kowtowing.

After watching for about five minutes, just when Shi Yan thought she would calm down and allow him to think things through...

"Damn it, this writing is awful!" she yelled. "Get another one! I'm not reading this one!"