I Went Crazy Killing in the World of Gods and Demons - Chapter 66

Chapter 66

Afterwards, Yu Wei still gave Xie Qingling a brief explanation of what had just happened.

“Just now… I was just thinking about some things, so my reaction was a bit slow. It won’t happen again.”

“I understand.” Xie Qingling smiled and said, “Brother Yu’s daughter must be very cute, right? Brother Yu is a good father, so it’s normal that you couldn’t bring yourself to do it.”

Upon hearing this, Yu Wei was momentarily stunned, then quickly smiled and said, “You’re wrong about that.”

Huh?

What was wrong?

Xie Qingling froze for a moment, but Yu Wei didn’t say anything more.

He pulled out a handful of colorful candies and handed them to Xie Qingling, saying, “The teachers over there were handing out candies. My daughter would probably like them, so I took a few. Have some too. Oh, and remember to save the wrappers for me.”

Xie Qingling took a pink one from the bunch, peeled off the wrapper and handed it to Yu Wei, then put the candy in her mouth and fell silent.

Peach flavor.

So sweet.

Brother Yu’s daughter must really like it too.

After that, the two of them silently guarded Guangming Elementary School without leaving until 3 p.m., when the Children’s Day carnival activities ended and the children were gradually picked up by their parents.

When they returned to the office, Xie Qingling found Ling Fang and the others all there.

“You’re back. Take a seat, let’s have a meeting,” Ling Fang said.

Once everyone was seated, Ling Fang turned his gaze to Yu Wei: “How many Ghouls did you encounter today?”

He asked how many Ghouls, not whether they had encountered any.

Xie Qingling hadn’t thought much of it at first, but upon noticing the subtle difference in Ling Fang’s question compared to before, she suddenly froze.

Yu Wei replied, “Two. One was a ghost infant, and the other was a Little ghost.”

Ling Fang then looked at Shen Huaizhou.

Shen Huaizhou said, “Three Little ghosts.”

Ye Anran said, “I only encountered one.”

Dai Xingyu’s expression was somewhat grim: “I encountered a whole group…”

Damn, the Herdsman is professional.

“Fortunately, they were all Little ghosts, so they were easy to deal with. But there were too many of them, which made it quite troublesome.”

Xie Qingling realized that the department’s encounter rate with Ghouls had significantly increased today.

Although Singularity Events occurred occasionally in the past, they didn’t happen every day. As Ye Anran had said, there were still rest periods.

But today, everyone in the department had encountered Ghouls all at once, which was truly rare.

Was it because it was Children’s Day? That didn’t seem right.

Xie Qingling cast a puzzled look at Ling Fang.

Ling Fang said, “I encountered five, all of them were Little ghosts.”

“Everyone should have noticed that this year’s Children’s Day is quite unsettled.”

Ling Fang’s expression was inexplicably gloomy as he said in a low voice, “The main purpose of today’s meeting is to remind you all to pay attention to any abnormalities in the Ghouls during future missions. It would be best if we could find out the reason for their frequent disturbances. Future City is becoming restless; there might be something behind this causing trouble.”

The others also looked serious.

“Understood.”

“Understood.”

“Understood.”

…

Fortunately, in the following period, Future City returned to its usual calm, with no more frequent disturbances or appearances of Little ghosts like before.

However… whether it was an illusion or not, Xie Qingling always felt that the department members had fallen into an invisible state of oppression.

This atmosphere, in turn, began to affect her as well.

“Let’s go, what are you thinking about?” Shen Huaizhou tossed a bag of steamed buns into Xie Qingling’s arms. “Time for patrol.”

Xie Qingling lowered her head and sniffed, muttering quietly: “Meat buns again? Can’t we have something different?”

“Don’t like meat buns?” Shen Huaizhou responded readily. “I’ll get you vegetarian ones next time.”

“How about mushroom filling?” he asked.

Xie Qingling: “…” Was that what she meant?

“I think I’m going to become malnourished,” Xie Qingling said while biting into a bun. Too lazy to argue further with Shen Huaizhou, she sighed and said, “Let’s go, time for patrol.”

Munching on her bun, Xie Qingling climbed onto the back seat of Shen Huaizhou’s motorcycle. After a moment’s thought, she asked: “Shen Huaizhou, is this situation serious? I mean the little ghost incident.”

“Not serious,” Shen Huaizhou’s muffled voice came from ahead.

“Then why are you all… so tense?”

“The ghost isn’t the problem. What the director is worried about is people.”

“How so?”

They arrived at their destination.

Shen Huaizhou parked the motorcycle and turned to look at her: “When I taught you Hidden Flower Under the Leaf, I told you that in some situations, our opponents aren’t just ghouls.”

Xie Qingling nodded and replied: “There are also people.”

Shen Huaizhou gave her an approving look and continued: “Ordinary people aren’t frightening either. What’s frightening are Spirit Users with malicious intentions.”

“They’re a bunch of lunatics who can’t be restrained by ordinary means. They do as they please, following their own whims – complete scum who specialize in causing trouble for others.”

“They’re mentally ill. You can’t use normal thinking patterns to guess their motives or behavior. What you want to protect might be exactly what they want to destroy, and what you despise might be what they want to preserve. Basically, they’re sick.”

“There was an incident in the department before, so the director is particularly cautious about these matters. Sometimes he even seems unreasonable. You haven’t been with us long, so you don’t know much about these things yet. With time, you’ll naturally come to understand everything.”

Shen Huaizhou didn’t elaborate further.

Five days later, Chen Yinghui rushed into the department office.

At that time, Xie Qingling was on duty at the office.

Chen Yinghui carried a thick briefcase under his arm, moving with hurried steps. His walk under the scorching sun had left him sweating profusely – when he removed his sun hat, droplets of sweat fell continuously, but he didn’t bother to wipe them away as he headed straight for Xie Qingling’s station.

“Big trouble,” Chen Yinghui said as he placed his briefcase on the desk, glancing at Xie Qingling. “Director Ling isn’t here, so I’ll tell you directly.”

Chen Yinghui wasn’t picky about who he spoke to – Ling Fang wasn’t always available for face-to-face conversations. He remembered Xie Qingling and knew she had resolved the previous troublesome incident, so he had considerable trust in her.

“Come here first and look at these photos,” Chen Yinghui said, opening his briefcase and pulling out a stack of photographs and documents.

Xie Qingling walked over and picked up the photos.

The photos showed a male corpse discovered in a mountain forest.

The male body lay face down, back to the sky, prone among the grass. He carried a hiking backpack and wore outdoor sportswear suitable for mountain climbing – appearing to be someone who had met with disaster during a hiking expedition.

Of course, if this were just an ordinary corpse, Chen Yinghui wouldn’t be here.

The surface of the body was covered in mottled wounds.

Scratches, bite marks… The corpse was covered in bloodstains, appearing gruesome and unrecognizable.

Xie Qingling examined it carefully, frowned, and asked, “Was this caused by a wild animal attack?”

Chen Yinghui shook his head, indicating he didn’t know either.

“This is a case we received this morning. The body was discovered in a valley outside Future City. At first, we also thought it might be a wild animal, but…” Chen Yinghui paused, “When our experts were dispatched to handle the body, they found that all the blood had been drained from the corpse.”

“This doesn’t seem like something a wild animal could do.”

Xie Qingling nodded, processing the information in her mind and realizing something was wrong.

Leaving aside whether wild animals capable of inflicting such damage on an adult male even existed in the outskirts of Future City, let’s assume they did.

Generally speaking, as large mammals, humans rarely fall prey to wild animals even when walking in the wilderness.

Humans aren’t small in size, and their upright posture casts a shadow that makes quadrupeds misjudge their actual size. In the eyes of wild animals, humans appear tall and intimidating, making them cautious about launching attacks.

Moreover, humans often carry tools with offensive or defensive capabilities. Wild animals that hunt merely for sustenance wouldn’t choose such tough prey unless they were starving and had no other choice.

While special circumstances couldn’t be completely ruled out, the information conveyed by the photo Chen Yinghui brought was sufficient to minimize the possibility of the victim being attacked by wild animals.

The corpse, though severely damaged, showed no missing body parts or signs of being eaten.

Combined with what Chen Yinghui said about the blood being completely drained, this strongly suggested a Singularity Event.

“The scene has been sealed off now, no one can enter,” Chen Yinghui said. “I suspect this matter might be somewhat unusual, so I haven’t notified the family or issued an obituary yet to avoid complications. We need your department to investigate what exactly happened here first, to confirm there won’t be any Corpse Transformation or similar occurrences before our people can take over. You know ordinary methods don’t work with these kinds of things.”

Xie Qingling asked, “Have you identified the victim so quickly?”

“More accurately, we found him rather than identified him,” Chen Yinghui said with an extremely serious expression. “We received a missing person report about the victim a month ago. His file was temporarily classified as a disappearance. We’ve been searching for him throughout this month, deploying numerous rescue teams, but found nothing until today.”

“Along with him, four other individuals also went missing. They were a group of five travel companions who had agreed to go on an outdoor adventure together, hiking and camping. But once they left, there was no further news. Hikers going missing happens frequently, with countless deaths occurring each year due to exploration. We initially treated it as a normal case, but now it seems the situation is far more serious.”

Chen Yinghui said, “The other four individuals remain unaccounted for, their fates unknown. I fear they are also likely in grave danger.”

“Here are the profiles of the other four individuals, along with the deceased’s information. Review them carefully. This matter is now assigned to your department.” Chen Yinghui stood up, his brow furrowed deeply. “It’s best to resolve this quickly, as four other lives might be depending on your rescue. Until we see their bodies, we cannot give up hope.”

“Understood, Captain Chen.”

After seeing Chen Yinghui off, Xie Qingling immediately contacted Ling Fang. “Director, we have a situation.”

After hearing Xie Qingling’s report, Ling Fang immediately responded, “I’ll return to the department right away to make some preparations.”

He added, “It seems this time we’ll need to venture outside the city.”

By the time Ling Fang returned to the office, Xie Qingling had already reviewed all five individuals’ profiles.

The exploration team consisted of four men and one woman. The deceased was named Luo Yuancheng, while the remaining three men and one woman remained missing.

Ling Fang asked her, “Did you notice anything significant?”

“Not really.” Xie Qingling wasn’t a professional investigator. She had only gained a general understanding, and without conducting a field investigation, her ability to deduce details was limited.

Ling Fang said, “Come with me.”

The two proceeded to the preparation room on the second floor.

Ling Fang explained, “I plan to have you and Dai Xingyu investigate the situation first. Both of your talents lean toward exploration. If there are any Demonic Entities causing trouble, you should be able to detect them easily.”

After a moment’s thought, he added, “Let’s include Shen Huaizhou as well. With you and Shen Huaizhou working together, no matter what dangers we encounter, our chances of success will be much higher.”

“The outskirts can be complex. Since this is your first time leaving the city, having Shen Huaizhou accompany you would be more secure. He joined the department two years before you and is quite experienced. Once you’re out there, follow his lead.”

Actually, sending Yu Wei would have been even more secure.

However, since Xie Qingling was assigned to the task, Shen Huaizhou was the better fit.

Although Shen Huaizhou could be difficult to manage, he worked well with Xie Qingling. The two had never caused any issues when partnering up, which was quite remarkable.

Xie Qingling nodded to indicate she understood.

“These are the weapons you’ll need for this mission outside the city.” Ling Fang retrieved a compass and handed it to Xie Qingling. “This was developed by the Technology R&D Department specifically for missions beyond the city.”

The compass had a unique design. On the surface, it resembled a traditional compass used for geomancy and orientation and indeed, it functioned as one. However, it possessed an additional feature that traditional compasses lacked:

Satellite navigation.

It not only provided voice guidance but also featured an electronic display.

It could be described as both peculiar and impressive.

“In the deep mountains and old forests, many areas remain unconquered by humans. No matter what happens, you must never lose your sense of direction,” Ling Fang cautioned.

Xie Qingling nodded in acknowledgment.

She always felt that the current Ling Fang resembled the dean grandmother who had seen her off at the station when she left for university.

He talked a lot.

“Do you have any additional tools you need to prepare?” Ling Fang asked. “You can choose them yourself.”

After thinking for a moment, Xie Qingling said, “Director, I also need a set of dissection tools.”

Ling Fang was taken aback but quickly understood her meaning.

This was Xie Qingling’s old profession it seemed she wanted to examine the condition of that corpse.

“I’ll have the Logistics Department deliver them immediately. They should be ready within an hour.”

Ling Fang activated his earpiece and simultaneously contacted Shen Huaizhou and Dai Xingyu: “You two, return to the office now. I have a special mission to assign you.”

Shen Huaizhou and Dai Xingyu quickly acknowledged the order.

About two hours later, all preparations were complete, and the other tools had been gathered as well.

Xie Qingling and the others each carried their own cases and walked out of the office building’s main entrance.

At the entrance, an off-road vehicle had long been parked, clearly waiting for some time.

The person sent by Chen Yinghui had been waiting there all along.

The three of them got into the vehicle one after another.

Xie Qingling said, “Let’s go.”

The vehicle responded immediately, the engine humming softly as the off-road car sped away.

Their destination was precisely the valley outside Future City’s suburbs.