"Black-eyed boy? Isn't that an urban legend in New York?" Chen Yu rubbed his arms, as early morning at around 4 AM in New York was very cold, and one could see a puff of white breath when Chen Yu opened his mouth.
[The urban legend of the black-eyed boy comes from....]
Radiance directly pulled up the urban legend of the black-eyed boy, and Chen Yu glanced at it.
It was a simple story, basically about encountering two children late at night on the street who would talk to passers-by and then ask to be taken to some very strange places, or make some outrageous requests, whereafter their eyes would be completely black.
No pupils, no whites, perfectly matching the frequently mentioned demonic figures in the West.
"Demons? No, those bastards surely don't play such weak games." Chen Yu thought about his old friends, whom he was very familiar with, and he even knew a deeply hidden sensitive spot on the succubi.
Chen Yu grew interested. Demons were not the same as evil spirits; they had more demonic energy that could be extracted from them.
Some uniquely bred demons could even be kept and continually drawn for demonic energy, which would make it no problem to unlock Radiance-class warships if you had these "demon brand" batteries.
However, demons were also very dangerous. Even the lowest-grade inferior demons could throw fireballs that exploded like grenades.
"Where did the person who posted say they encountered the black-eyed boy?" Chen Yu asked another question, and Radiance provided a landmark that was just a street away, which relieved Chen Yu; he was worried that it might be too far to reach conveniently.
Braving the cold wind all the way to the destination, Chen Yu only saw the empty streets. He specifically went to the spot where the photo was taken by the poster, but there was nothing there, and Chen Yu couldn't smell anything either.
A wasted trip.
"Radiance, authorize access to New York Police Department's internal case reports, summarize paranormal cases, and filter recent incidents occurring closest to here," Chen Yu gave up the idea of searching online, even though Radiance, being a super-brain, was very quick at filtering through this information.
After all, this is Earth, not the Federation from his past life where data hardly had any errors. It's somewhat difficult to find accurate and real information on the internet, where lies are so easily fabricated.
Better to check out the cases in the police files.
[Captain Chen Yu, authorization granted]
[Retrieval complete for a police report from three days ago]
[911 received a call from Mr. Michelle reporting his son kidnapped; Officers Andrei and Daya responded to the scene and found Mr. Michelle's son at home. However, Mr. Michelle vehemently claimed that the boy was not his son]
[Officer Andrei asked Mrs. Michelle, and she also stated it was not her son; officers took the child back to the station for questioning and DNA tests, which confirmed he was the son of the Michelle couple]
[The officers have provided the couple with psychological counseling]
It was a brief police report, and the conclusion had already been given. After all, the DNA report had come out confirming the couple seemed to be experiencing some sort of delusional disorder.
Yet, Chen Yu sensed something unusual from within it.
DNA is the same, but is DNA always accurate? Not necessarily.
Radiance had also marked the location. Chen Yu glanced at it—an entire block away from him, not too far, but close to where he had started from.
"...the internet harms people." Blasted by the cold wind, Chen Yu couldn't help but sigh. If he had thought about asking Radiance to search earlier, there wouldn't have been so much trouble.
It proved that official reports were more reliable; there were too many fakes online. Even a goddess might just be a big, toe-picking man in disguise.
With this thought in mind, Chen Yu walked back to the street he had been on and from a distance, he saw Xiao Hei crouching at a drain, poking at something with a long object.
Chen Yu glanced at him and didn't care. If that bag of leaves could be retrieved under these circumstances, it would be truly impressive. This Xiao Hei certainly didn't know a certain proverb.
Cutting the boat to seek the sword.
"Let me see, it seems to be this apartment, right?" Chen Yu looked at the building in front of him—a very old-fashioned apartment, its exterior quite worn, and the windows looked very small, which was what Chen Yu had expected too.
Not every American lives in a big house; more ordinary people still reside in these traditional apartment buildings.
Chen Yu walked in; there was no security or access control, which allowed him to blend in smoothly. The dim light of a low-wattage tungsten lamp shone in the hallway, flickering from time to time.
This scene could be used in a horror film without any additional set decorations.
"Let me see, room 404? This room number really is auspicious," Chen Yu sighed as he looked at the resident's room number given by Radiance. He had to go up to the fourth floor, but thankfully the apartment had an elevator; otherwise, he would have had to climb the stairs.
However, for Americans, the number thirteen is considered unlucky.
And the elevator buttons showing only the twelfth and fourteenth floors also proved Chen Yu's thought was right.
Chen Yu casually pressed the elevator button, then arrived at the door of room 404. Looking at the door in front of him, Chen Yu's nose twitched. There was no smell of demonic brats, which somewhat disappointed him.
"But at this hour, would I get shot if I knocked on the door?" Chen Yu checked his phone, it wasn't even five o'clock yet, the time when everyone was asleep.
Just as Chen Yu was debating whether to knock now or wait until daylight, a loud bang came from inside the room. Chen Yu's pupils constricted. Was that a gunshot?
A flurry of hurried footsteps came from inside, followed by the door opening abruptly, and a teenage boy ran out, looking terrified. When he noticed Chen Yu standing at the door, his eyes showed a flash of relief.
"Sir, run! My dad has gone mad!" the boy screamed, while noises started emerging from the surrounding rooms.
The gunshot had shattered the night's calm, but Chen Yu thought that these neighbors were definitely frantically dialing 911.
And within room 404, a man gasping for air, with bloodshot eyes and holding a shotgun, came into Chen Yu's view.
"You demon!" the man roared insanely. His bloodshot eyes seemed to see only the boy's figure, completely ignoring Chen Yu, who stood motionless at the side.