Wei Nian lit a cigarette, listening to Old Qin from the gatehouse vividly describing.
"That sound was just like thunder."
"At that time, my entire ears were buzzing, and I almost had a cardiac arrest."
"I was so angry, thinking it was some heartless guy causing trouble, so I went door-to-door asking around, but found nothing. Logically speaking, a noise that loud should have left some traces, but there weren't any. You tell me, isn't that strange?"
It was a bit strange, Wei Nian pondered.
Initially, he thought it might have been someone throwing something from a height or a resident smashing stuff. He even wondered how such a trivial matter could be classified as an abnormal event. Now that he was here, it did seem somewhat abnormal.
Of course, the probability only slightly increased; the chance of actually hitting the jackpot wasn't great.
There aren't that many mysterious evils. If they were to occur every day everywhere, it'd be the end of the world.
Adhering to a cautious professional attitude, Wei Nian and Ke Yuan, two investigators, went upstairs and knocked on doors again.
Naturally, it wasn't them knocking.
These investigators were accustomed to wearing black trench coats, looking strong and capable. Stationed at the doorway, they would only intensify the current tense atmosphere. He guessed not many people would dare to open the door.
At this time, it was the turn for the friendly young lady to step in.
Communicate, go upstairs, knock on doors, communicate again.
Everything seemed normal.
Apart from a few households that were either not home or pretending not to be, Wei Nian didn't sense anything wrong until they knocked on the fifth floor.
When asked if there had been any abnormal situations, the resident said, "It's quite strange that so many people come knocking at the door. If Old Qin wasn't with you, I definitely wouldn't have opened it."
"But if you're talking about strange occurrences, yes, someone did come knocking yesterday. They didn't use the doorbell; they just knocked like this, thump thump thump, shortly before that loud noise happened. It was pretty loud too; didn't their hand hurt?"
"At the time, I was in the bathroom and came out a bit late, so the knocking had already stopped. When I looked through the peephole, I didn't see anyone..."
Having said this, the person on the fifth floor looked suspiciously at Wei Nian and the others, "Could the person yesterday be a fugitive that you brothers are hunting down?"
He had already conjured up a whole backstory in his mind and shuddered, unaware that Ke Yuan and Wei Nian, who had stepped aside, were growing even more solemn.
Knocking wasn't strange; it could be due to the inability to see the doorbell, children playing pranks, and so forth. But given the context of today and the suspicion of that kind of entity lurking, Wei Nian couldn't be anything but cautious.
Especially since...
"Over the years, the Investigation Bureau has collected and recorded some Mysterious Evils with specific behavior patterns..." This was one of the key points that investigators like them had to memorize during training, and even a veteran investigator like Wei Nian sometimes needed a refresher.
He recalled one, "There's a kind of Mysterious Evil that likes to knock on doors and, coincidentally, that kind of Mysterious Evil is also capable of producing a 'boom' sound."
All the clues added up!
No way, there couldn't really be a Mysterious Evil in the Tai Ping Residential Complex. Bumping into two Mysterious Evils in one day, even investigators don't have such absurd luck!
Wei Nian couldn't quite describe his own luck. This was supposed to be a favor from another team, allowing him to pick first and choose just one; how did he manage to pick the red code from a bunch of lower and middle-tier suspected cases?
He took a deep breath, "Xiao Yuan, report the situation here to the bureau. We'll go up to the sixth floor by ourselves. You follow behind me. Get the stuff ready."
By then, the sunset slanted, the light was fading, and darkness was about to descend upon the earth.
Carefully and cautiously, Wei Nian ascended, step by step. Reaching the sixth floor, he didn't stop, continuing upwards, occasionally casting some powder with vigilance.
Suddenly, he halted. His eyes were fixed on the corner of the stairwell from the sixth to the seventh floor, where there was a smudge of black on the wall.
It looked as if it had been seared by fire and was inconspicuous. Many walls around this old building were blackened.
But it was the surroundings...
Wei Nian stepped forward, crouched down and ran his hand over the floor, grabbing some dust and bringing it close to smell.
"No mistake, there has definitely been a Mysterious Evil active in this building, but this one has already..."
"Died!"
How did it die?
Ke Yuan was astonished, but so was Wei Nian himself.
Every incident involving a Mysterious Evil in Baijiang City was handled by them; no one else had the ability to deal with them, yet a Mysterious Evil had died here silently?
No, it wasn't completely silent, the two loud noises last night were it.
The last wails of the Mysterious Evil.
He made eye contact with Ke Yuan and, after confirming the understanding in their gaze, thought of the same person.
"It's him!"
The man from yesterday, with that mysterious man's inconceivable ability, had killed a Mysterious Evil here, and it couldn't have been more normal.
So very reasonable!
But who exactly was that man? Could he be the legendary special investigator?
Thinking of how Black Blade dealt with the Mysterious Evil skillfully and decisively, Wei Nian felt certain that it was him; the case was cracked! He'd ask Director Zhou later if there was any news about that person, and it'd be best to thank him face to face.
Out of caution, even though he had confirmed that the Mysterious Evil had been eradicated, Wei Nian still didn't leave, and he pressed the doorbells of the two apartments on the sixth floor to inquire about the situation.
One apartment was empty.
In the other lived a single young man, handsome, indeed, but who looked as white as a sheet and completely drained when he opened the door.
"Ahem, no worries, we're just asking around, won't bother you any longer."
"Young man, take care, get plenty of rest."
Youngsters nowadays, ah, they really don't know moderation, [beep beep beep——] what's the point? A real man should lift weights and wrestle.
Seeing them lift weights every day, those eight-pack abs, such amazing bodies are truly intoxicating.
Young folks don't get it.
But after all, he's just an investigator; he can't manage others' private lives.
Just silently lamenting that the youth don't cherish themselves, without knowing they've just had a brush with death.
Alas, time to go.
.....
"Damn, he finally left."
With a snap, Fang You closed the security door and melted into a puddle just like a heap of mud.
He recognized that these two were the same officials who had appeared in Black Blade's field of view this morning...
Fang You had no intention of taking the opportunity to probe for information.
He was somewhat confident in his acting abilities, nothing like the flawless performers in novels; he was not up to the task, just an ordinary gamer.
Aside from being a bit handsome.
No need to take risks.
Isn't it the job of the Apostle of Fate to take risks? All he needed to do was quietly lie low and focus on his gaming.
Especially now that he...
"I'm completely drained, not a drop of energy left."
"But compared to last time, I'm in better shape, if it had been like last time I might not have even had the strength to get up and open the door."
"Hmm, a slight improvement, or am I just getting used to it?"
Fang You went back to his bedroom, snapped on the game, and pulled up his personal information.
'Savior of Destiny'
'Physique: 1.6→1.9'
From 0.8 to 1.3, then to 1.6, and now to 1.9, more than doubled.
"Is this what power feels like?"
"Is this the pleasure that comes with a strong physique?"
Even though he was greatly fatigued at the moment, Fang You could still feel the powerful beating of his heart, a surge of strength with just a light clench of his fist, whereas his past self, who would be out of breath just from running a few hundred meters, seemed like a cripple in comparison.
Having a physique with eight-pack abs was truly... magnificent!
Though still not on par with Black Blade, he might already be more macho than those two investigators.
This was a body of strength he had never experienced before.
And he, could get even stronger.