The sirens sounded and the car took off with the people.
The seats are firm but feel secure.
Ji Heng: "Sleep for a while, I'll call you when we get there."
Sur nodded, leaned back to a comfortable position, closed his eyes and rested.
The police officer in charge of guarding nearby frowned and said, "Be more polite."
Su Er didn't open his eyes. Ji Heng said slowly, "We reported the case last night. Although there are some discrepancies between the transcript and the online comments, the core difference is not big."
To be honest, it can't be considered as malicious spreading of false information.
The police officer subconsciously looked towards the passenger seat, but unfortunately he could only see the back of the head and could not judge the captain's thoughts from his expression.
The man with the scar on his face turned his head and said, "My last name is Li."
Su Er opened his eyes at this time: "Hello, Captain Li."
Li Shuo was a bit surprised. He had thought this young man was a troublemaker, but he turned out to be quite polite. He turned off the siren and asked the driver to drive slower. "Tell me, what is your purpose?"
Soul raised an eyebrow.
"I've read the transcript," Li Shuo said. "It's well-written, but it's a little off."
When he is not sure, Su Er usually chooses to keep quiet, suggesting that Ji Heng take over the right to speak.
"We are Taoist priests," Ji Heng said surprisingly. "When we stumble upon something bad, we have a responsibility to eliminate evil and defend the Dao."
It was ridiculous to talk about this openly in a police car.
Ji Heng took out his ID card and said, "You can ask around. I'm a bit famous in the industry."
Li Shuo took the ID and took a photo. He didn't know to whom he sent it, but he received a message back not long after.
Because of the privacy screen, Sul couldn't see the specific content, but he guessed that it had probably been verified.
He crossed his arms and closed his eyes again, not worrying much.
The host is generally reliable. Since Princess Camellia asked them to investigate the temple as Taoist priests and persuaded the abbot, the players' identities should have been arranged in advance.
The facts were similar to the speculation. The resume sent over showed that Ji Heng was indeed a capable Taoist priest. As for Su Er, he was subconsciously classified as a Taoist priest and his identity was not further verified.
"Everyone better cooperate," Ji Heng said calmly, "It's not an accident that a pregnant woman is giving birth prematurely. Someone must be behind this."
Upon hearing this, Su Er opened his eyes slightly and could see that the other party's eyes were as cold as a pond, as if he was born to be able to plan and strategize.
"…"
He knew a long time ago that Ji Heng was better at pretending than himself, and this ability seemed to be growing day by day.
Even someone like Su Er who lied without batting an eyelid was stunned for a moment, let alone others.
Li Shuo: "Are those people in the temple also together?"
"We're just in the same circle." Ji Heng's tone revealed a hint of impatience: "I don't want money, I just want to clean up the mess."
Li Shuo only believed 40% of what he said, but there was one thing that could become the premise for cooperation between the two parties. Overall, they did not lose out.
After a brief consideration, he made it clear: "We can cooperate, but there is a confidentiality agreement, and your lives will be monitored to a certain extent during this period."
At present, the possibility that these two people are undercover agents cannot be ruled out.
Ji Heng: "That's all?"
Li Shuo: "We won't let you get involved in core matters."
"Can."
They were taken to a hotel and received by a special person.
"Captain," the young man asked hurriedly after the others had gone away, "Isn't it too hasty to allow two people of unknown origin to join us?"
"We're just using them as thugs," Li Shuo said calmly. "If we're capable, we'll reward you later. If we're not, we won't have to do anything. Those two will pay the price in this fight."
hotel.
The mattress is much softer than the one in the temple.
I checked carefully to make sure there were no eavesdroppers in the room.
Su Er stretched comfortably and said, "You really made the right bet."
Ji Heng: "Whether it's the dark resurgence mentioned by the host or the disaster in the deception clues, both indicate that this is a disaster with far-reaching consequences."
Before a disaster strikes, it is impossible for the government to have no feeling at all.
Pulling the curtains shut, Soul analyzed, "Based on the information we've got, it seems to be related to a parasite." After a moment's contemplation, he asked, "The mission is to eliminate the initial invaders. Does that mean we need to find the parasite's mother?"
The evidence was insufficient, so Ji Heng did not draw any conclusions. He shook his head and said, "Let's get some rest early. Let's see if we can get some information out of those people tomorrow."
At 4:30 in the morning, the message alert sounded.
Su Er was a light sleeper now, and he woke up immediately and found that it was a photo uploaded by Xu Yangyang.
The young man in the photo had his eyes filled with flower branches. When zoomed in, the branches seemed to have grown out of his body. His way of death was similar to Xu Fan's.
Barely making out the name on the badge, Su Er frowned: "It's Liu Lang."
Xu Yangyang: @Su Er @Ji Heng; bro ran just in time!
Less than thirty seconds after the message was sent, the system prompt came:
-Xu Yangyang has been banned by the administrator for three hours.
Su Er laughed: "He is a talent."
On the surface, it was a joke, but in fact it was to let them know the information over there, which was a disguised favor.
The electronic screen was too dazzling in the darkness, so Su Er turned on the bedside lamp: "Liu Lang was quite powerful, but he died."
Ji Heng had seen the same thing many times before, so he simply said, "Flexibility is sometimes very important."
Suer lay down again. Three players had already died in just one day, making it the highest initial mortality rate he'd ever encountered in a dungeon. He stared blankly at the ceiling. "Shouldn't insect eggs melt with mucous membranes? Why can flowers still grow inside them?"
"There are many possibilities." Ji Heng casually mentioned a few: "Quantitative change leads to qualitative change. The ability of the eggs will increase at night, or maybe..."
Before he finished speaking, he suddenly sent a private message to Xu Yangyang, asking him to help check whether Liu Lang had had sexual relations before his death.
Half an hour later, Xu Yangyang replied: [I was busy running for my life, so I went to check it out. It looks like it's been used. Want a photo?]
Ji Heng rejected this "consideration" and looked at Su Er.
Su Er immediately searched for photos of Xu Fan's death on the Internet, but most of them had been censored. It took him a lot of effort to find one.
At the time, they focused solely on the appearance of death, overlooking many details. For example, the deceased's clothing was extremely disheveled, and the zipper of his jeans was only halfway zipped. It had only been a day since the murder, and the police had yet to release a cause of death.
Unless players are crazy, they will vent their desires in the dungeon. If they are forced, the possibility is not high. With props, they can still commit suicide.
Su Er was silent for a moment, then made a poor judgment: "The thing that killed them has the power to bewitch people."
This method of killing, where eggs are laid in the body through sexual intercourse and death occurs, is the first time I have seen such a method of killing.
Ji Heng: "Maybe killing isn't the goal, laying eggs is."
Su Er was stunned.
·
I didn't sleep well that day.
During his nap, he dreamed of being chased by a ghost. At night, he dreamed of being crushed by insects. He woke up the next day feeling a bit groggy. Sur glanced at his tablet. A minute ago, Camellia Princess had sent him a message. It was concise and to the point... Get back here.
He responded with the tone of a victim: [Save us.]
At seven o'clock, someone rang the guest room doorbell, and soon the two got into the same car as yesterday.
There were red bloodshot eyes in Li Shuo's eyes, obviously he was busy for a long time last night.
It's so hard... Su Er thought that when he graduates and looks for a job, he must first exclude government agencies.
To avoid being tricked, Li Shuo asked frankly, "How much do you know?"
Ji Heng shared the information he had deduced last night and naturally turned the topic to Lu Lanxin: "She's probably one of the few who successfully conceived."
Li Shuo's eyes flashed.
Sur was sitting on the right side and successfully captured the change in his expression. The corners of his lips curled up. This detail was enough to prove that the conclusion just now was correct.
"The first thing an alien species does after invading is reproduce," Li Shuo said in a deep voice after a moment. "It's an instinct. Investigations into invasive species have been ongoing for several years, and Tianjia Temple has been a key area of observation recently."
Ji Heng: "Why not close the temple earlier?"
Li Shuo's tone was somewhat helpless: "It's not easy to find traces, so we must observe first."
Without observation, it is impossible to take samples, let alone study methods of control.
Sur, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly asked, "You let the monsters lay eggs?"
"Of course not," Li Shuo said. "In fact, this kind of thing can't use the human body as a breeding ground. That's why nothing has happened for a long time. Until recently, researchers discovered through insect eggs that they are evolving and have a chance to parasitize the human brain. Just in case, we immediately conducted an investigation and finally targeted the new employee Zhao Bo."
He glanced at the convenience store and realized that since he had called the person out in a hurry, he probably didn't have breakfast. He parked the car on the side of the road and got out to buy something.
Su Er: "It turns out that we still have to cooperate with the formal departments."
The information is reliable and comprehensive, and occasionally quite considerate.
In comparison, players and ghosts risking their lives to play games and get information bit by bit is simply the model of a black-hearted small workshop.
Thinking of this, his face became solemn, and he sent a message in the group: [@Camellia Princess, my lord, times have changed.]
I was caught off guard and was silenced again.
Just as he was about to complain, he caught a glimpse of someone outside and swallowed his words back.
Li Shuo fastened his seat belt and handed over water and bread.
"Unfortunately, we alerted the enemy, and Zhao Bo escaped secretly." He continued the topic he had not finished before: "The higher-ups mean that other forces are also secretly observing. If Lu Lanxin is isolated, it will easily attract attention. And the intruder's camouflage ability is a recent discovery and cannot be leaked."
"A great hermit hides himself in the city." Ji Heng said calmly, "So you pretend nothing happened and wait until the baby is born before taking action?"
Li Shuo nodded. "The premature birth disrupted our deployment." A hint of anger flashed across his eyes. "But your transcripts are enough to prove it wasn't an accident."
The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind it.
After connecting the dots again, Suer couldn't help but shook his head. Who would have thought that these people were tricked?
"We've already investigated the forces that stole the child. A fight is inevitable, and we need your help," Li Shuo deliberately omitted the key information, saying only, "There will also be experts from within who will take action."
Ji Heng nodded calmly and suggested going to Lu Lanxin's residence: "It would be great if we have some experts. Bring a few with you. There are other secrets there."
In front of them, Li Shuo called and sent someone to check near the rental house to prevent any sneak attack.
Ji Heng didn't say much, as it would be good for both parties to express their suspicions openly.
Sur's eyelids twitched as he watched everything unfold. The rental house was one of the three locations the host had given him, so ghosts were bound to be there. He wondered if this was a real-life example of uniting all the forces that could be united.
Ji Heng suddenly turned his head to look at him and mouthed: It's easier to get things done with the support of the organization.
·
As a dilapidated old community, Mingjiayuan has very few residents. After the ghost rumors and human trafficking incidents, everyone was in danger for a while. Li Shuo took advantage of the situation and temporarily relocated the surrounding residents to other places.
There was a car parked outside the unit door, and someone was carrying equipment in.
Sur was delighted to see the prey and walked quickly forward to find out what was going on.
"Ghost detector?"
Li Shuo shook his head: "Now is the age of atheism. We call it a kind of distorted magnetic field."
The man in charge of the test pressed the 'locate' button, and the pointer on the machine began to vibrate, finally stopping near the refrigerator. The man sprinkled some strange powder on the ground, and the whole process was done with ease.
After holding my breath for a few minutes, a pool of strange substance appeared out of thin air. It was fluid and similar to transparent slime.
The creature that suddenly appeared struggled in the circle drawn by the powder, as if it was trapped and unable to escape.
Seeing that the time was almost right, the man opened a square box and put the things in it.
At this moment, the pointer suddenly trembled violently. He frowned: "There is another one, and it ran away."
"It's okay, thank you for your hard work." Li Shuo said.
After the inspection personnel and equipment were withdrawn, Ji Heng began to wander around the rental house, taking in almost no details in the palm-sized space.
Su Er guessed that Li Shuo's order to catch ghosts in front of them was a deterrent, a warning not to get carried away with just a few skills. After all, the organization was most afraid of one or two people who disobeyed orders and were too opinionated.
Pretending to be calm, he walked over to Ji Heng and asked in a low voice, "Where do you think the escaped ghost went?"
"Complain."
"…"
·
Tenga Temple.
After a night of fleeing, the exhaustion from running around hit him doubly hard the moment daybreak.
Jia Kanhua leaned against a tree, waiting for the numbness in his body to dissipate. The white fluff visible in the air gradually faded. He struggled to support himself and prepared to find something to fill his stomach.
Because I was lucky enough to survive, a packet of instant noodles now seems especially delicious.
Princess Camellia yawned and walked into the middle of the players: "You've been making noise all night, and it's affecting my sleep quality."
Then he said hypocritically, looking in the mirror: "My wrinkles are showing up."
Zhu Yu smiled bitterly, the game was really cruel. Liu Lang died in a miserable way, his body still hanging upside down on the tree, but the host only cared about beauty sleep.
The bitterness in his eyes had not yet dissipated. His hand holding the chopsticks paused, and he suddenly took out the props from his arms, looking at the door vigilantly.
Although Xu Yangyang's fighting power is average, his spiritual power is high. He was able to detect the invasion of dirty things faster than her and hid at a safe distance.
Princess Camellia put down the mirror in her hand, her narrowed eyes revealing a subtle danger: "Absent from work?"
The dirty thing turned into a water ghost and started howling: "We've been captured! Our teammates have been captured by the superiors!"
"…"
Princess Camellia said expressionlessly, "Tell me more details."
The water ghost revealed everything about Su Er and Ji Heng bringing military personnel to the rental house to raid it, and pinned his last hope on asking, "You will go and get it, right?"
The captured ghosts are so innocent!
Princess Camellia heard these words as if she had seen them before yesterday.
Xu Yangyang was close enough to see the storm in the host's eyes and was sure that there were indeed some fine lines at the corners of his eyes.
I quietly took the instant noodles and ate them in the corner, secretly wondering what the two troublemakers were doing and whether there was any way to get any clues from them.
In another corner of the city, Sur didn't know that someone was crazy about him in his heart, so he hurried to join the search.
Li Shuo stood aside and asked, "What are you looking for?"
He had other plans and didn't want to stay here too long.
Ji Heng picked up the photo frame on the table and said, "A new life is coming, but there are not many baby products in this house."
Li Shuo's expression was stunned for a moment, but soon became extremely serious. He scanned the surroundings with his eagle-like eyes. Not only was there no stroller, but even basic diapers were missing.
"Why did you target Zhao Bo in the first place?"
Li Shuo: "Found some traces."
As for the specific detection methods, he did not say.
Ji Heng suddenly laughed: "At first your attention was on Zhao Bo, and now all your attention is on the lost baby. How interesting."
Li Shuo understood what this was implying, and during the whole process, he only did not consider Lu Lanxin as a suspect, and even treated her as a victim.
"Who is Lu Lanxin's suspect?" His ears twitched and he turned his head... The woman standing outside the unit door had a pale face and dropped the things in her hands.
Su Er looked over and exclaimed, "Discharged from the hospital?"
Lu Lanxin picked up the things on the ground and said, "The hospital bills are too expensive." Her fingers clenched the edge of the plastic bag. She must have heard their previous conversation: "I didn't buy baby products because I didn't have enough money."
Repressed to the extreme, she slowly stood up, her face pale. "I don't know what you're talking about, but it sounds like Zhao Bo and the child's disappearance are related to me."
Li Shuo did have this suspicion, but the woman had tears in her eyes and her lips were trembling, so he didn't dare to ask more questions.
Ji Heng remained calm. "You've actually been aware of the possibility of being exposed for a long time. Luckily, they've only discovered that you're evolving, and their specific target is still being investigated."
Lu Lanxin was confused and angry, and seemed to not understand the meaning of the words.
"First, you used your boyfriend to attract attention, and then used your child as bait to get many forces to scramble for research. As a result, you paid less attention to yourself."
This sentence was like the last straw that broke the camel's back.
"Using the child as a bargaining chip, planning how to use him before he was even born, and letting someone who didn't know the details take him away..." Lu Lanxin completely exploded, shouting hoarsely, "Can you imagine there is such a mother in this world?!"
The hoarse questioning made even a man with a heart of steel like Li Shuo tremble.
In silence, Ji Heng glanced at Su Er and answered her: "Yes."
"…"