"Ding-dong—Welcome!"
Lin Qiye pushed open the door of the firm and saw Hongying sitting upright on the sofa, lost in thought. He waved to her.
"Good morning, Sister Hongying."
"Morning, Sister Hongying...." Lin Xi Chen spoke sleepily.
"Qi Ye! Xiao Chen! You've finally arrived!" Hong Ying jumped up from the sofa as soon as she saw Lin Qi Ye.
"What's wrong?"
"Something's happened." Hongying said seriously, stepped forward, grabbed Lin Xi Chen and Lin Qiye's wrist, and quickly walked down to the ground.
This was the first time Lin Qiye had seen Hongying with such a serious expression. His brows furrowed slightly. "The mysterious... has arrived?"
"Yes, and it's tricky."The two pushed open the door and entered the activity room, where Lin Qiye discovered that everyone from Team 136 had already arrived.
When Chen Muyi, who was leaning against a pillar, saw Lin Qiye arrive, he walked to the conference table, sat down, and remained expressionless.
"Everyone's here. Let's get ready for the meeting."
After everyone was seated, Chen Muye tapped the table with his knuckles and slowly began to speak:
"Last night, we received news that another suspected mythical creature had appeared."
The location is... Cangnan No. 2 Middle School."
"Second Middle School?!" Lin Qiye was taken aback.
"Yes, it's the school you guys attended." Chen Muyi nodded. "And it seems the person who reported it was an old acquaintance of yours."
Chen Muyi called out to the room behind, "Hey kid, are you awake? Come out if you're awake!"
Everyone looked over, and soon the door to the room was slowly opened, and a boy with bloodshot eyes walked out.
Upon seeing him, Lin Qiye exclaimed in surprise, "Li Yifei?"
Li Yifei was taken aback. He saw Lin Qiye sitting at the conference table, rubbed his eyes, and confirmed that it was indeed him.
"Lin Qiye? Is that your sister?? What are you guys doing here? You guys saw that monster too?"
"No, they're one of us," Wu Xiangnan said, shaking his head.
"Temporary team members," Chen Muyi corrected.Li Yifei stared at Lin Qiye with his mouth agape, and it took him a while to react. "Holy crap! They said you joined the army, but you actually joined this place!"
Lin Qiye shrugged. "Something unexpected happened."
"You can talk about your matters later; let's discuss the case first," Chen Muyi reminded them, then, as if remembering something, added...
"Normally, if a case is suspected to be involved in a mysterious matter, it is usually reported to the police first, and then they will transfer it to us. But this kid went through the Ghost Mask case last time, contacted us, and even signed a confidentiality agreement, so he called us directly, skipping the intermediate process.
"This is an isolated case; our normal case-handling procedure is not like this."
Everyone nodded, but Lin Qiye knew very well that Chen Muye's words were meant to be explained to him.
"Tell me about it."
"Okay." Li Yifei swallowed, recalling, "Last night, I went back to school to get my homework and happened to see..."
Li Yifei recounted everything he had seen and heard yesterday, and the more they listened, the more their brows furrowed.
After Li Yifei finished speaking, Wu Xiangnan nodded.
"If what this kid says is true, then there's a 95% chance this matter involves something mysterious." He turned to look at Li Yifei.
"You should know what the consequences will be if you report something false, right?"
"I know, I know, everything I said before was true, it couldn't be more true!" Li Yifei replied sincerely.
"Alright." Chen Muyi turned to Wu Xiangnan. "Tell me your thoughts."
"Based on the information we have so far, this mythical creature possesses an extremely strong ability to disguise itself. While transforming into someone else, it can still communicate normally without giving itself away."
Wen Qimo sighed, "A pretense... another troublesome guy."
"In addition, it is also suspected of having the ability to assimilate the organisms it swallows, which is what we really need to be wary of," Wu Xiangnan said.
"Like zombies in the movies? Endless infection?" Hongying asked.
"Although the modes of infection are different, their effects are indeed quite similar."
"So all we have to do is storm into the school and chop Liu Xiaoyan up?" Hongying's eyes lit up.
"It's not that simple," Lin Qiye, sitting at the other end, suddenly spoke up. "Since it can infect others, we can't be sure if Liu Xiaoyan is its original form... because she might have been infected by someone else."
"Qi Ye is right," Wu Xiangnan nodded. "The biggest difficulty in this mysterious event is that we don't know the source of this bizarre infection route. It's like when we're fighting zombies; if we can't find the mother zombie, even if we kill all the other offspring, it's useless."
"Furthermore, we don't know how long this mythical creature has existed or how many people it has infected," Wen Qimo added. "Liu Xiaoyan might have been its first infected person, or it might have been its umpteenth infected person, though we don't know how many."
"We should even prepare for the worst-case scenario…"
"The worst-case scenario?" Hongying asked, puzzled.
"That means the entire No. 2 High School... has become a monster school." Wu Xiangnan spoke slowly, his eyes filled with solemnity. "Furthermore, this monster has infected not only the school, but also other parts of Cangnan City."
Upon hearing this, Li Yifei suddenly shuddered. "What...what do you mean by this?"
"Have you ever thought about..." Wu Xiangnan slowly stood up, looked directly into Li Yifei's eyes, and spoke calmly.
"In this school you're in, besides you, all the other teachers, classmates... are monsters in disguise?"
"No, even you, already standing here...It's also possible that, without realizing it, one has become part of the mystery?"
Li Yifei's pupils suddenly contracted, and he felt a chill rush from the soles of his feet straight to his brain, leaving his mind completely blank!
"Alright, Xiangnan, stop scaring him." Wen Qimo stood up with a smile. "If that were really the case, the [Crow of Calamity] would have crowed long ago. Since it hasn't made a move yet, it means the situation hasn't reached that dangerous point."
"[The Raven of Calamity]? What is that?" Lin Qiye looked at Hongying in confusion.
"It's a crow, and also a forbidden object with its own ominous aura," Hongying patiently explained. "When a major disaster is about to strike Cangnan City, it will scream as a warning; you could call it a detector."
"Oh." Lin Qiye nodded.
"In short, now that the mystery has emerged, we must investigate it thoroughly. If we allow this monster to continue developing, the future Xiangnan described may not be far off." Chen Muyi slowly began, "Xiangnan, what are your plans?"
Wu Xiangnan sat down, adjusted his glasses, and said seriously, "I think the most urgent task is to find out where the mythical creature is located and to find out how many people it has infected. So I propose that we split into two groups this time."
"One group, centered on the Second Middle School, radiated outwards to search for any traces of other infected individuals."
"One team infiltrated the Second Middle School, followed the clues, and quickly located the main body."
Chen Muye nodded, his gaze sweeping over everyone.
"Since we're going to infiltrate No. 2 High School, we can't arouse their suspicion; we have to fit the image of a high school student..."
"Hongying, Xiaonan, Xiao Chen and... Qiye."
"The task of entering the Second Middle School and finding out its true form is now entrusted to you."