Chapter 64: Soul-lost
Just as Xin Junmao was about to take that comb, Xin Mother entered the room with tea and snacks, and Zhao Jing instinctively turned around, causing Xin Junmao to miss the chance to take the comb.
“How’s the talk going?” Xin Mother chuckled as she placed the teacup and snacks on the desk and asked.
Zhao Jing smiled and said, “We still have some questions we haven’t asked. I wonder if you could… um?”
Xin Mother understood and got the hint, dryly laughing, “Okay, okay, I’ll go out first then, won’t disturb your conversation.”
After saying that, Xin Mother gave an eye signal to her dazed son, as if hinting “cooperate a bit yourself,” then chuckled and exited the room, closing the door. Before shutting it, her gaze scanned the comb in Zhao Jing’s hand.
“His condition is off.” After Xin Mother left, She Zi’an quietly locked the room door, glanced at Xin Junmao, and said softly to Zhao Jing, “This young man has been marked by the Gluttonous Daughter as described in the files, in a state similar to ‘soul loss.’ Most of his spirit and thoughts are in another space like a dream, leaving only minimal instinctual thinking to maintain his body’s functions.”
“What kind of state is this?” It was also the first time Zhao Jing had heard of this “soul loss” phenomenon, so she couldn’t help but ask curiously.
She Zi’an thought for a moment and explained, “Do you know about sleep paralysis? This is the opposite: in sleep paralysis, the body is still not awake but consciousness is; in soul loss, the body is awake but consciousness isn’t fully awake.”
“How to resolve this?” Zhao Jing opened her small mouth in surprise; this didn’t sound like something a normal person could solve.
“Don’t know.” She Zi’an gave a bitter smile. “In my memory of roughly browsing the files on the Gluttonous Daughter, I’ve never seen a precedent of anyone waking up after being marked by her.”
“So what happens to those who are marked in the end?” Zhao Jing glanced at the dazed Xin Junmao with some worry.
She Zi’an shook his head and sighed deeply, saying, “Only lives favored by the Gluttonous Daughter get marked by her. It’s called favor, but it’s really like assigning an eating order number. The Gluttonous Daughter just put Xin Junmao on hold for now, as a target yet to be eaten, digested, and absorbed.”
“What a principled one.” Zhao Jing clicked her tongue, gritting her teeth inwardly. Facing someone in imminent danger right in front of her yet being powerless made her feel angry at her own incompetence. Zhao Jing also had her own sense of duty, mission, and justice; being helpless made her feel pain and sorrow.
“Let’s try asking a few more questions, see if he can still answer now. Best if we get some answers.” She Zi’an said to Zhao Jing.
Zhao Jing nodded silently, put the comb back on the desk, and together with She Zi’an questioned the dazed Xin Junmao.
Ten minutes later, She Zi’an and Zhao Jing left the Xin home. After getting in the car, they had their companion head straight to the Tiger Group’s current location to rendezvous with He Jia’an and the others.
“Captain, how’d the questioning go?” In the car, one of She Zi’an’s team members asked him.
She Zi’an said with a heavy expression, “Big issue. The Hell Concert incident may need to be merged with the murder track-jumping incident for investigation. These two events have a tenuous connection through Xin Junmao’s existence.” Then, he explained to the team member his and Zhao Jing’s investigative discovery, and shared his analysis and views.
Upon hearing that one anomaly event actually involved two Abnormal Gods at once, the team members felt a massive headache.
“Don’t panic.” She Zi’an snorted through his nose, comforting the suddenly subdued team members, “The problem is huge, but panicking won’t help…”
“Junmao, what did you just talk about with those two law enforcement officers?” Xin Mother walked into Xin Junmao’s room holding a spatula. She saw her son sitting silently by the windowsill, back turned to her, and sighed inwardly nonstop. She then glanced at the desk and noticed the comb that Zhao Jing had held earlier.
Xin Mother picked up the comb and looked at it curiously, thinking it was pretty. She couldn’t help asking Xin Junmao again, “Junmao, where’d this comb come from? Looks pretty expensive.”
Xin Junmao didn’t speak, so Xin Mother didn’t press further. She looked at the comb in her hand and then at Xin Junmao, deep in thought.
Xin Mother sighed inwardly, put down the comb, and quietly exited the room. Just as she was about to close the door, she heard Xin Junmao suddenly say, “Rented.”
Xin Mother froze for a moment. Since Xin Junmao spoke too curtly, and she had never heard of renting a comb, she didn’t understand what he meant for a while and thought he said “go out.” Feeling a bit downcast, she exited the room.
After Xin Mother left, Xin Junmao slowly turned his head, his lifeless eyes looking at the comb on the desk that several people had picked up and put down today, then slowly reached out, as if his body’s survival instinct was driving him to touch the comb.
The moment he grasped the comb, Xin Junmao felt as if struck by lightning. His whole body shook violently, his vision went black, and he completely fainted to the ground. But even collapsed, his hand still clutched the comb tightly, as if it were his lifeline rope to escape the abyss.
Color returned to Xin Junmao’s face. In his coma, he gasped desperately, brows furrowed like someone who had just escaped drowning. Cold sweat soaked his body, his limbs’ muscles tensed and trembled forcefully until a fair hand wearing prayer beads on its web gently placed on Xin Junmao’s hand, and only then did his tense body and spirit suddenly relax.
That fair hand gently stroked Xin Junmao’s face and messy, tousled hair, then took the comb from his hand and gently, meticulously combed his hair, smoothing out every tangle…
He Jia’an and the other Tiger Group members personally saw off Li Jiahong and his daughter at the hotel entrance, watching them board the bus and leave. Then they received a message from the Snake Group about important intelligence that required an immediate rendezvous to discuss.
Thus, the two groups rendezvoused at the Black Rose Hotel entrance, nine people squeezing into a van.
“What, the Hell Concert is actually related to the Gluttonous Daughter too?” After hearing the news, the four Tiger Group members exclaimed in shock like the sky had fallen.
Hearing this, Bu Gaojun nervously bit his fingernail and said, “If the Gluttonous Daughter was at the scene too, then where was she at the time?”
“If Xin Junmao sneaking into the Civic Sports Center last night was still normal, then the Gluttonous Daughter appeared during the time Xin Junmao sneaked into the Civic Sports Center, and that’s when she marked him.” Li Yingqi glanced at him, suppressing her inner unease, and calmly analyzed, “In other words, wherever Xin Junmao was hiding then, that’s where the Gluttonous Daughter was.”
“Have to go back and recheck the concert scene?” Two Snake Group members rubbed their foreheads in headache; this wouldn’t be easy.
While everyone was frowning, a fair hand timidly raised high. Everyone’s gazes instinctively turned, seeing Yu Lianyun force a smile and say, “I think… I might know where they were hiding last night.”
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