Inside the house.
Auntie looked up at the clock on the wall, lost in thought.
On the table in front of her, the dishes were already cold, not much different from when Lin Qiye left.
After a while, Yang Jin reached out and used chopsticks to pick up a piece of meat and put it in Auntie’s bowl.
“Mom, let’s eat.”
“Ah…” Auntie shook her head and sighed, “You said your brother left halfway through the meal, why hasn’t he come back yet? Did something happen?”
“Don’t worry, he won’t get into trouble. Maybe his classmates saw that his eyes were better and insisted on taking him out to eat.” Yang Jin comforted softly.
Upon hearing Yang Jin’s words, Auntie’s expression visibly relaxed, but then she became worried again.
“But he didn’t bring an umbrella when he went out.”
“Mom…” Yang Jin stood up, pointed outside the window, and calmly said, “The rain has stopped.”
…
Indeed, the rain had stopped.
Dim moonlight pierced through the clouds and sprinkled on the silent night. Everything was quiet.
On the empty ground not far away, the broken billboards had been taken away, and the bloodstains on the ground had been cleaned up, leaving only grim knife marks on the ground, silently telling the story of last night.
Perhaps tomorrow morning, someone would discover these mysterious cracks. They would make countless speculations, but they would never know the truth.
A few drops of rain slid down the eaves and fell into the muddy puddle, creating ripples.
Plop!
A foot stepped into the puddle, splashing water.
In the dark night, on the scarred ground, a small black mongrel dog walked leisurely.
Around its neck hung a small cloth bag.
It walked through the cracks and stopped by a clean area on the ground. It was where a man’s body had been lying just ten minutes ago.
It lowered its head, and a faint light appeared in its pitch-black eyes.
Suddenly,
It opened its mouth,
And spoke in a deep and grand voice!
“The soul returns…”
…
Cangnan City, Heping Bridge.
Heping Bridge was a large bridge in the outskirts of Cangnan City. Underneath the bridge was the Jiangnan Grand Canal that crossed the entire city. Countless pedestrians and vehicles passed by this bridge every day, making it one of the landmarks of Cangnan City.
On the bridgehead of Heping Bridge, there were rows of diverse small shops. Among them, there was a seemingly inconspicuous shop with an old, red signboard.
– Heping Agency.
Just like the other shops near Heping Bridge, it was not big, only a little over 200 square meters, slightly larger than the Lanzhou Ramen shop near a typical school.
It was considered inconspicuous not only because its name was too common but also because the shops on both sides were too eye-catching.
On the left was a festive wedding company decorated in red and purple, called “Heping Wedding.”
On the right was a funeral one-stop shop with white satin and flower wreaths hanging everywhere, called “Heping Funeral One-Stop.”
Laughter and joy on the left, mourning and sorrow on the right.
In between these two extremes, Heping Agency was like a transparent shop that couldn’t attract anyone’s attention.
If there was anything distinctive about it, it would be its name. Other agencies specialized in different fields, such as law firms specializing in litigation, detective agencies specializing in solving cases, accounting firms specializing in bookkeeping…
But this shop had no prefix, only the word “Heping,” making it impossible for people to figure out what it was for.
At this moment, underground in Heping Agency.
In the spacious and bright hall, a young man sat on the sofa, looking down at the floor tiles in silence.
There were six other people sitting in the hall.
“So, you’re the Seraph agent that Old Zhao asked to find?” Wu Xiangnan sat on another sofa and asked Lin Qiye.
“That’s right.”
After a brief silence, Wu Xiangnan slowly spoke up.
“I’m Wu Xiangnan, the deputy captain of the 136th Night Watchman Squad stationed in Cangnan City. The one leaning against the pillar in black clothes is Captain Chen Muye.”
Lin Qiye followed Wu Xiangnan’s gaze and looked at the man standing not far away, hands in his pockets, silently watching him.
Noticing Lin Qiye’s gaze, Chen Muye nodded slightly.
Wu Xiangnan turned his head and looked at the remaining four people. “Don’t just stand there like fools, introduce yourselves.”
At this moment, a woman sitting alone on a single sofa, hugging her legs, with wet hair, raised her head slightly, revealing a pair of reddened eyes.
“136th Night Watchman Squad, frontline combatant, Hong Ying.”
Lin Qiye knew her. He was here because Hong Ying brought her.
After Hong Ying finished speaking, a man standing beside her, holding a towel in his hand, smiled and said, “136th Night Watchman Squad, frontline combatant, Wen Qimo.”
Then, a girl who had been crying and huddled up in a ball also raised her head slightly and said softly, “136th Night Watchman Squad, combat support and part-time military doctor, Si Xiaonan.”
“136th Night Watchman Squad, long-range firepower support, Leng Xuan.” The man sitting on the side with a sniper rifle said coldly.
After everyone introduced themselves, Wu Xiangnan spoke again.
“Lin Qiye, right? Regarding Zhao Kongcheng’s death… do you have anything else to add?”
“I’ve already explained it clearly.” Lin Qiye said calmly, “Zhao Kongcheng activated the No-Restrictions Zone and fought the Ghost-Faced King alone, ultimately dying together.”
“When they were fighting, were you at the scene?”
“I was.”
“How did you enter the No-Restrictions Zone?”
“I glared at it, and it opened.”Wu Xiangnan opened his mouth, his eyebrows slightly furrowed, “Can you describe in detail the scene of their battle? For example, how did Zhao Kongcheng kill the Ghost Face King?”
“He swung his sword, slashing out a huge black crescent, and chopped off the head of the Ghost Face King,” Lin Qiye said.
“Black crescent…” Wu Xiangnan frowned in thought.
At this moment, the always silent Chen Muye suddenly spoke, “It’s the ‘Annihilation Flash Moon’, Old Zhao used the Ghost God Pull… to trigger his own Forbidden Ruin.”
Wen Qimo exclaimed in surprise, “Sequence 083’s ‘Annihilation Flash Moon’? That’s a high-risk Forbidden Ruin!”
“I didn’t expect… Uncle Zhao really did it, I used to think he was just narcissistic…” Si Xiaonan pursed her lips and spoke weakly.
“No, he is narcissistic.” The corner of Chen Muye’s mouth curled up slightly, a trace of reminiscence flashing in his eyes, “I think, that guy probably couldn’t believe it when he saw his own Forbidden Ruin, could he?”
“If we were there at the time, he would definitely have been pestering us, saying his Forbidden Ruin was the most handsome of all…” Hong Ying seemed to think of something amusing, the corners of her mouth curling up slightly, but the light in her eyes quickly dimmed.
Wu Xiangnan looked into Lin Qiye’s eyes and spoke again, “There’s another question. Judging from the corpse of the Ghost Face King, its fatal injury was a series of sword wounds, and there were inexplicable burn marks… But the ‘Annihilation Flash Moon’ doesn’t seem to have this characteristic. What’s going on?”
Lin Qiye’s eyebrows furrowed as he looked into Wu Xiangnan’s eyes, speaking word by word:
“I’ve already made it very clear. Zhao Kongcheng faced the Ghost Face King alone, fought to the death…
In the end, he single-handedly killed the Ghost Face King!”