"...Mr. Raven?"
The customer service representative's voice trembled with disbelief, as though she was confirming whether she had misheard him.
"May I... presumptuously confirm your request one more time?
You need... the uniform and credentials of the... Urban Management Administrative Law Enforcement Bureau?"
"Yes, that's right." Qin Feng's tone was firm.
"Our equipment warehouse has the latest Exorcism Spirit Light Gun, High-Purity Holy Water Grenades capable of instantly purifying an entire city block, and even a Spirit Binding Net Launcher..."
The customer service rep took a deep breath. Seemingly assuming he did not know what good equipment was available, she enthusiastically recommended them with all her professional dedication.
"I won't need any of those." Qin Feng cut her off decisively. "Trust me, when dealing with street-vendor-type supernatural incidents, an Urban Management Uniform works better than holy water. It's a perfect professional match, understand?"
"...I... I understand." The customer service rep sounded as if she was about to burst out laughing, yet she forcibly maintained her professionalism.
"Your request... is truly unprecedented. I'll submit it immediately. This requires special approval, so please keep your phone available. Once the application is approved, the field logistics team will deliver the equipment to your designated location within an hour."
After hanging up, Qin Feng let out a long breath.
Less than fifty minutes later, a black business van without any markings silently stopped at the entrance to the residential complex.
A man in a black suit and sunglasses handed Qin Feng a sealed document envelope. He did not say a word throughout the entire exchange, and after completing the handoff, he got back into the van and left without hesitation.
Back in his rented room, Qin Feng impatiently opened the document envelope.
Inside lay a brand-new, neatly pressed light-blue Urban Management Uniform, complete with shoulder insignia and armbands.
Beside it was a small red booklet. When he opened it, his photograph was printed inside, along with his name, Qin Feng, and his unit: Donghai City Urban Management Enforcement Brigade, Direct Mobile Squadron.
"Full marks for attention to detail." Qin Feng praised.
Clothes made the man, as a saddle made the horse. Once he put on the uniform, his entire bearing changed.
His face, which had still carried a hint of youthful innocence, instantly gained an unquestionable authority under the uniform's effect.
Facing the mirror, he unconsciously straightened his back, and even his gaze became several degrees sharper.
"Comrade, this is a routine inspection. Please cooperate with our work." He cleared his throat and practiced before the mirror.
Mm, that was the right feel.
At eleven that night, Qin Feng took the last bus to the old district in the north of the city.
This was one of Donghai City's last patches of "old land" not yet swallowed by skyscrapers: narrow alleys, mottled walls, tangled electrical wires overhead like spiderwebs, and old streetlamps at the alley entrance flickering erratically, stretching people's shadows long and short.
The air was thick with a damp, complicated smell mixed with cooking fumes and household garbage.
Deep in the alley, an old man selling roasted sweet potatoes, a young couple selling fried skewers, and a middle-aged man pushing a cart of fried rice noodles were making their final sales of the night.
Qin Feng took a deep breath, adjusted his collar, and walked out from the flickering shadows at the alley entrance with steady, composed steps.
The moment he appeared, the alley's modest liveliness instantly froze.
It was as if someone had pressed pause on time.
The old man selling roasted sweet potatoes trembled, and a freshly baked sweet potato slipped from his hand with a smack into the charcoal fire, scattering sparks.
The young couple selling fried skewers exchanged looks as though the end of the world had arrived, and the husband instinctively pulled his wife behind him.
Even the middle-aged man selling fried rice noodles froze mid-motion as he reached for his spatula.
Seeing them act as if they faced a formidable enemy, Qin Feng secretly laughed, though his face remained stern and businesslike.
He walked up to the old man selling roasted sweet potatoes and tapped the cart with his finger. "Sir, let me see your business license and health certificate."
The old man's lips trembled, and he forced a smile more painful than crying onto his deeply wrinkled face. "Officer... I, I'm just trying to earn a living..."
"So earning a living means you can occupy public roads? That you can operate without a license?"
Qin Feng was expressionless. His voice was not loud, but every word struck everyone's hearts like a small hammer.
He swept his gaze around, pausing for two seconds on the young couple's oil fryer, which clearly did not meet sanitary standards.
The wife's face turned pale in an instant.
The air in the alley chilled to freezing, and even the wind seemed afraid to blow.
Just as the oppressive atmosphere reached its peak, Qin Feng suddenly sighed and waved his hand. "Forget it. It's late, and nobody has it easy."
He pointed at his uniform and gave a self-mocking smile. "I just got off work too. I was passing by and decided to take a look. We're all workhorses—why make things hard for fellow workhorses?"
Those words were like an incantation that broke a curse, and the frozen air in the alley instantly began flowing again.
The old man selling roasted sweet potatoes let out a long breath and nearly collapsed onto his little stool.
The young couple selling fried skewers also revealed relieved smiles, like survivors of a disaster.
"Oh my god! Young man, you scared us to death!" The woman selling fried skewers patted her chest and complained, her voice full of lingering fear and relief.
"Exactly. I thought you were going to confiscate our carts tonight."
Qin Feng waved his hand, pulled out ten yuan from his pocket, and handed it to the old man selling roasted sweet potatoes. "One roasted sweet potato. Give me the sweetest one."
Holding the steaming sweet potato, Qin Feng ate while casually making conversation. "I'm just looking around. We recently received a report that there's someone selling buns around here late at night, with terrible sanitation. Have you seen him?"
"Selling buns?" The old man selling roasted sweet potatoes thought for a moment and shook his head. "Not during the day. All the bun shops around here are on the main street."
"Not during the day," Qin Feng emphasized. "After midnight."
"After midnight?"
The man selling fried skewers frowned.
"We've packed up by twelve. Who would still be around here?"
"There is one!"
The middle-aged man selling fried rice noodles, who had remained silent until then, suddenly spoke. He lowered his voice. "There's an old man selling soup dumplings. A Hunchbacked Old Man."
Qin Feng perked up and leaned closer. "Oh? You've seen him?"
"A few times." The man selling fried rice noodles lit a cigarette and took a deep drag.
"Sometimes I pack up late and run into him. That old man is strange. He pushes a broken wooden cart with a red lantern hanging from it. No sooner, no later—exactly at midnight, he appears at the alley entrance on the dot, like a ghost announcing the hour."
"His buns smell wickedly good." The woman selling fried skewers chimed in as well, still shaken. "Once, I forgot something and came back to get it, and I caught that smell. Good lord, I'd just eaten, but the moment I smelled it, my stomach started growling and I couldn't stop salivating. If my husband hadn't held me back so hard, I really would've bought a couple to try."
He appeared precisely at midnight.
The aroma could unnaturally provoke hunger.
Cash only, leaving no trace.
Qin Feng nodded, having gained a general understanding of the situation.
"Alright, thanks, everyone."
After finishing the last bite of sweet potato, Qin Feng tossed the trash into a bin. "It's getting late. You should pack up and go home early too. It isn't safe out here in the middle of the night."
The vendors looked as though they had been granted a pardon. They nodded and quickly packed up their things, soon pushing their carts out through the other end of the alley.
The entire world instantly fell silent.
The light at the alley entrance flickered twice more, then went out completely.
Qin Feng stood alone in the empty alley. The night wind swept past, lifting a few rotten vegetable leaves from the ground and bringing a bone-chilling cold with it. He glanced at his phone.
The time was 23:58.
He walked into the deepest shadows of the alley, completely concealing himself within them. Only his eyes remained exposed, locked onto the alley entrance like a hawk's.
The second hand ticked silently across the screen.
The instant the time changed from 23:59 to 00:00—
A rich, nauseating scent of meat abruptly flooded the entire alley like an invisible thick fog!
The fragrance seemed alive, brutally forcing its way into his nostrils, bypassing his taste buds and hooking directly into the hunger buried deep in his soul!
Then came the slow, rhythmic sound of wheels rolling over the ground, echoing through the deathly silent midnight.
Creak—creak—
Before you continue