Single Apartment
Pluto City
Located in the northernmost coastal city of the country,
There are relatively few Chinese immigrants here, less than 10% of the city's total population.
Although the number of people is small, they all chose to live in the same area and take care of each other, forming a unique Chinatown.
Both the architectural style and the types of shops are very similar to those in ordinary neighborhoods in Jupiter City. You can even see a resettlement community similar to the one where Luo Di used to live.
<We are about to arrive at Chinatown. Please prepare to get off the bus in advance.>
The moment Luo Di got out of the car, he felt like he was back in Jupiter City, a bustling metropolis where passersby were all communicating in Mandarin.
Although Chinatown looks lively on the surface, a closer look reveals some incongruities.
At the street corners, one can see many scattered pieces of paper money and burnt braziers.
Missing person notices were posted on utility poles and in front of shops.
There wasn't a single young man to be seen on the entire street.
Sister Lan's Noodle House
Luo Di, who hadn't eaten yet, walked into an ordinary noodle shop. It was already past lunchtime, and the female owner, who was nearly forty and wearing an apron, had just finished tidying up the shop and was about to rest on the table for a while.
He immediately stood up when he saw the guest enter.
When he discovered that the guest was actually a young man, his expression immediately changed. After glancing at the hiking backpack the man had placed on the table, he roughly guessed his identity.
"From out of town?"
I guess so.
"I'm not doing business with you anymore. Quickly grab your bag and get out of here. Don't come here. It's not that I'm against you, it's just that strange things have been happening here lately, and young men your age are prone to getting into trouble."
Don't stay in Chinatown, just go somewhere else.
"I'll eat the noodles and then leave."
"Alright."
The proprietress was a kind person; seeing that Luo Di looked somewhat thin and listless, she specially added a lot more beef toppings.
Perhaps because he hadn't eaten noodles from his hometown in a long time, Luo Di felt a bit emotional looking at the red oil noodles that were served, and tried to use the bionic arm that he had just attached to hold chopsticks.
Surprisingly, it works just like a normal arm; there's absolutely no sense of awkwardness when using chopsticks.
But as he stared at his incredibly realistic left arm, Luo Di's thoughts seemed to drift back to the past.
We returned to a newly built cemetery.
I smelled a burnt meat odor.
I remembered a photo of a friend engraved on a tombstone.
He shook his head vigorously to bring his thoughts back to reality, glanced at the slightly bulging backpack beside him, Luo Di quickly buried his head in the bowl of noodles, slurping it down in big gulps, even drinking the broth completely.
Get up to pay.
Although he spent three months in Mental Hospital, he still had money.
The "Fourth Middle School Incident" earned Luo Di a considerable amount of compensation, and the Research Bureau also applied for a talent grant for him, enough to cover his normal expenses for several years without any problem.
While scanning the QR code to pay, Luo Di casually asked, "Boss, do you know what these young people's disappearances are related to?"
"The Investigation Bureau has come to investigate several times. What could a noodle shop owner like me possibly know?"
I only heard some rumors, from some elderly people in the neighborhood, that it was possible that some widow was after the Essence Blood of young men and had used some means to abduct them.
You'd better leave quickly. If any woman tries to talk to you, don't respond.
"Thanks."
Such rumors are mostly unreliable. In a city full of cameras, the people a missing person came into contact with before their death would inevitably be filmed, and the Investigation Bureau could immediately follow up and catch the suspects.
Luo Di, who looked like a tourist, walked down Chinatown, he quickly attracted a lot of attention. Many kind people came up to remind him of his presence, but he just smiled and replied that he would be leaving soon.
[Youth Apartment]
Based on the housing location provided by the Investigation Bureau, Luo Di arrived at the densely populated apartment building, which was mainly occupied by single or double occupants.
The Investigation Bureau had already registered his identity information in the local community, so Luo Di only needed to move in with his bags.
While waiting for the elevator
Another woman pushing a stroller came back from outside. She wanted to go up and say hello, but she immediately took a step back after seeing Luo Di's young face.
Even when the elevator arrived, the woman showed no intention of getting on.
The woman simply didn't want to be involved in the disappearance, and given that she had just given birth, she couldn't afford to take such a risk.
The elevator doors closed.
Luo Di was riding the elevator alone, actually had a smile on his face.
Now that the disappearance has become so widely known, the young man who fits the victim's description should either stay at home or move away.
This makes him almost the only male who fits the description, making it easier to elicit the truth behind the incident and saving a lot of time.
only,
Luo Di wasn't thinking about the disappearance; he had another matter to attend to.
Stepping out of the elevator, he walked with somewhat hurried steps to the door of the bachelor apartment arranged for him by the Investigation Bureau.
Swipe your wristband! beep
As soon as you open the door, you can smell a fresh odor mixed with a slight formaldehyde odor.
Although the furnishings inside were a bit old, the room was very clean, and even the walls had been repainted.
A one-bedroom, one-living room studio apartment of about 40 square meters, small but perfectly formed.
The TV in the living room integrates computer functions and has many different types of interfaces on the side, which can perfectly accommodate the memory cards in the file folder.
Luo Di, however, was not in a hurry to watch the missing persons' videos.
He first locked the doors multiple times, closed all the windows, and drew the curtains.
They thoroughly inspected every corner and crevice of the room.
He searched even the easily overlooked corners and edges.
It has been confirmed that there are no cameras or recording devices here.
Everything is ready.
He carefully opened his schoolbag and took out the soft clothes, towels and other items from the top one by one.
Finally, reach your hands down along the inner edge of the bag.
Once the cold touch touches your fingers, gently pull them away to avoid letting the valuable item get scratched by the backpack zipper.
"You must have had a long journey."
Soft, black hair gently clung to Luo Di's arm.
A pale, stitched-up high school girl's head was removed.
Eyes closed, lips colorless.
It was completely lifeless, showing no signs of waking up at all; it was just a dead human head.
Luo Di had already placed two layers of tissues on the sofa beforehand, and gently and slowly placed the head on it, facing the television.
"Before watching TV, let's look at the video footage of the four missing people first."
Luo Di deliberately dimmed the lights in the room, inserted the video card of the first missing person into the television, and played the long and boring video at four times the speed.
Perhaps it was because of the Fourth Middle School Incident,
Perhaps it was because he spent a long time in Mental Hospital,
Perhaps there are other reasons,
He is now highly focused, able to capture every scene clearly, and is also very interested in the events themselves.
When a suspicious scene appears, Luo Di will pause to observe it carefully and say a few words to the head next to him, keeping his voice as low as possible so that it cannot be heard outside the door.
If someone were to peek through the window and see this scene inside, they would probably be quite frightened.
Downstairs in the Youth Apartment.
Because one elevator is under repair, only one is in normal operation, and missing one means waiting a long time.
The woman pushing the stroller finally got on the elevator after more than ten minutes. Just as the elevator doors were about to close, a hand suddenly got stuck in the door gap.
A middle-aged man with white hair and dark circles under his eyes walked in. His eyes were bloodshot. He didn't press the floor button until the elevator doors closed.
The woman had lived here for several years and had never seen this person before. Instinctively, she pulled the stroller back, her other hand already gripping the wristband, ready to call the police at any moment.
Suddenly, a voice came:
Do you know which floor that person went to?
The voice was devoid of any emotion, yet it made the woman feel uneasy. She subconsciously recalled the scene of waiting for the elevator, remembering the first pause in the elevator numbers after the young man boarded.
"11th floor."
"Thanks."
After pressing the button for [11], the middle-aged man moved his arm back in the process.
Her long-untrimmed nails had turned somewhat black, and she gently touched the stroller, almost touching the baby inside.
The woman was so frightened she couldn't breathe.
Sudden,
The finger stopped in front of the baby, and the middle-aged man's voice came again:
"Please don't report this to the police. I just need to talk to that young man. Otherwise... I might come looking for you."
"I... I understand."
Bite!
11th floor
As the middle-aged man left, the woman was so frightened that she almost collapsed to the ground.
Recalling what had just happened, she didn't dare to report it to the police. She just wanted to go home quickly to pack her things. She probably wouldn't stay here for a while until the disappearances in Chinatown were resolved.