Chapter 65: Knowing It’s Futile
A group of Mystic Investigators were now gathered with strange expressions in front of a narrow slit that extended through to the inside of the stadium, connecting the concert scene with the temporarily sealed outer second floor of the stadium.
“How’s it going? Can you hear my voice from here?” Bu Gaojun’s voice came from the other side of the slit, that is, from the concert scene.
“Yes, very clear.” He Jia’an replied, then turned around, shaking his head with a sigh to everyone, “That kid is also a talent. Others borrow light by chiseling a wall, but he eavesdrops.”
“Now we can confirm that Xin Junmao was hiding here that day to freeload the concert.” He Jia’an turned on the violet flashlight, and under the illumination of the special light, some invisible unknown substance remaining at the scene trailed along, leading a pair of size 43 shoe prints toward the outside. “We can also confirm that Xin Junmao has come into contact with an anomaly and was induced.”
Afterward, everyone followed He Jia’an, guided by the unknown substance illuminated by the special light, and finally stopped about fifty meters from the stadium’s back door, in front of a manhole cover.
“Down there?” Li Yingqi blinked her eyes and gently brushed aside her graying temples. “Underground, subway—are the two related?”
Initially, they had also discovered a hidden secret passage in the subway’s underground tunnel, but due to the unknown dangers hidden within the secret passage, after the previous wave of branch organization Mystic Investigators acted as meat buns and probed inside only to have no return, the Mystic Investigators no longer dared to send people into that underground secret passage that humans could not easily enter; they only stationed people nearby to watch and wait for an opportunity.
Although they couldn’t confirm what was in the underground secret passage, it wasn’t hard to guess that the underground secret passage definitely led to an unknown realm, which might be a gathering place for the fanatic followers of the Gluttonous Daughter, such as the female killer who slaughtered passengers on the last subway, the subway driver responsible for driving at that time, and other such outlaws outside the law, or possibly the current hidden residence of the Gluttonous Daughter.
Thinking of this, She Zi’an had a flash of inspiration and asked, “Is the nearest subway line here the No. 3 line where the anomaly event occurred?”
Bu Gaojun was very active; even before She Zi’an spoke, he had already started querying the Cuizhu City subway traffic route map on his portable tablet computer. Soon he raised his discovery excitedly and said, “This place is not only very close to the No. 3 line but also quite close to a Line 14 under construction.”
Everyone gathered around Bu Gaojun, leaning down to look at the electronic map in his hand. Yu Lianyun looked at the map and asked, “Where is the hidden passage’s approximate location on the map?”
“Here.” Li Yingqi gestured with her hand, using the tablet’s electronic pen tool to draw a dot on the map.
Zhao Jing seemed to understand something. Her finger then marked a red dot at their current location in front of everyone, connected Li Yingqi’s red dot with her own red dot, and drew a circle with this red line as the diameter. Her eyes suddenly lit up as she pointed to the area she had marked in red and said, “That means there’s a high probability that within this circular area is hidden the Gluttonous Daughter’s residence, as well as the activity area of Her followers.”
“Prepare, depart in two hours, split into two routes.” He Jia’an took a deep breath and made the decision without hesitation, then looked at She Zi’an and lifted his chin slightly. “Which route do you want?”
Facing He Jia’an’s question, She Zi’an pondered silently for a moment, clenching his fist with cold sweat in his palm, pointed to the manhole cover here with one finger, his breath clearly audible, and said, “Our Snake Group takes this side.”
“Sure?”
“Yeah, does everyone have any issues?” She Zi’an nodded to himself, then looked at his companions, asking for his teammates’ opinions, and the Snake Group members like Zhao Jing all chimed in agreement with their captain, saying they would take this one.
He Jia’an nodded slightly and said, “As long as you’ve thought it through. Since the Gluttonous Daughter has appeared on this route before, the probability of Her appearing again is higher. Facing that Abnormal God… forget it, I don’t hope you actually encounter that Abnormal God.”
So far, there were no survival records of Mystic Investigators who escaped from the hands of the Gluttonous Daughter, this Abnormal God.
“Your side isn’t much better than ours. No one who actively entered that hidden tunnel has come out again; two waves have already gone missing, which means there must be certain unknown dangerous factors on that route. Taking that route is almost guaranteed to encounter trouble.” She Zi’an said gravely. “In short, let’s encourage each other.”
The Mystic Investigators looked at each other, silently sending blessings to one another.
“Urgh, my head feels so heavy.” Xin Junmao crawled up from the ground, feeling the discomfort of recovering from a serious illness, sore all over, head dizzy. He struggled onto the bed, lay there looking at the ceiling, as his fragmented memories gradually pieced together, accompanied by the fear of devouring bewilderment.
He remembered everything he saw that night at the concert and also recalled how he had “flirted” with an eyeless qipao woman, falling into darkness together.
“What the hell did I do…” Xin Junmao trembled as he sat up from the bed, feeling a chill wrapping around him.
He looked at the bloodstone comb in his hand, sensing a gentleness from its cold material, and murmured, “Did you save my life?”
Xin Junmao licked his dry lips, swallowed some saliva, and showed a bitter smile. “Can I make another wish now? Compared to finding a job I want, I now want more to preserve my own life…”
But when he recalled the admonition and instructions from the shop assistant at that small shop, he felt some despair. Once he made the first wish, he didn’t dare act rashly before it was fulfilled, because the shop assistant had said that if he made another wish before one was fulfilled, he would bear the consequences himself.
“Junmao, time to eat!” Outside the room, Xin Mother’s voice came into the house; Xin Mother stood at the door and knocked.
Hearing his family’s voice, Xin Junmao rubbed his heated eye sockets and hoarsely replied, “Got it, I’ll come out in a bit.”
He sat up from the bed, looking at the mirror reflecting his face. Xin Junmao breathed heavily for a bit, gritted his teeth, and still raised the comb, combing it through his hair, saying lowly, “Please bless my whole family and keep us from danger.”
As soon as he spoke, Xin Junmao suddenly felt a chill in his heart, his pupils contracted, and he widened his eyes, staring straight at the mirror.
In the mirror reflecting his face, a pair of cold, withered hands appeared: one hand holding a string of prayer beads, the other a bony hand with sharp finger bones. The two hands slowly extended from behind his head, like a crawling giant spider, slowly climbing above his eyes, and soon his vision was left only with blackness and the scene in the slit.
One poke!
“Ah!!!” Amid the heart-wrenching scream, the sound of flesh tumbling down from a height was mixed in, and Xin Mother outside the door shuddered all over.
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