Private Detective (New Book Seeking Monthly Votes and Investments)

"Does the interval reset to zero?"

Han Su fell silent in thought. "That would mean I'd be trapped in the Ancient Castle forever. Even if I escaped, I'd be caught and dragged back immediately?"

He didn't dare think about it.

Being dragged back every half month was already enough to keep him on edge every day.

If that interval shrank again, becoming even shorter—or even zero—Han Su felt he might as well find a tall building, climb to the top, and experience what flying felt like.

"Ding. Central City Library has arrived."

By the time Han Su stepped out of the subway station, it was already seven in the evening.

Outside the station, neon lights filled the streets. At some point, a fine rain had begun to fall, cloaking everything in a hazy, damp atmosphere.

He had no time to admire the city's bustling, sprawling grandeur. He hurried through the crowds of people just getting off work, laughing middle school students, and elderly scavengers. He did not even stop for dinner, merely buying a loaf of bread from a roadside stall.

Walking briskly, he arrived at Central City Library, the largest library in Qinggang City. In the religious culture section, he saw only row after row of bookshelves stretching so far that their end was nearly invisible.

He pulled out one of the books and began searching through it patiently.

He still remembered several strange markings from the dark Ancient Castle. Whenever he returned to the present, he would habitually investigate their origins, hoping to find some clue.

Although the investigation into the Kidnapping Case had always gone terribly poorly, he still did not want to give up so easily.

Every day, he thought about just giving up, yet every time, he forced himself to pull it together.

Maybe if he searched a little longer, he would find a clue?

Second by second, time passed. This collection area was quiet, with barely anyone coming by. In the empty rows of benches, only the sound of Han Su turning pages could be heard.

"Hello, classmate..."

While he was reading, a voice sounded beside him. Han Su turned around and saw a long-haired girl holding several books.

Her face was slightly red. She had been choosing books behind the shelves, and when she turned around, she saw Han Su.

Although Han Su's face was scarred on this timeline, he habitually wore sunglasses whenever he went out, concealing the scars. From afar, the sight of him seriously flipping through books was rather pleasing to the eye. After hesitating for a while, she hugged her books and came over to speak.

"I saw you looking through materials from the Radiation Era. Are you interested in that period of history too?"

"..."

"The Radiation Era?"

Han Su paused slightly before realizing that the book in his hands was an ancient religious text from one of the lost eras before the Reconstruction Era.

This world had once gone through a historical period filled with war, radiation, disease, and disaster. Only after rebuilding, multiplying, and developing atop the ruins had it reached the boundless prosperity visible today.

Using modern civilization as the reference point, those vague eras before it were called the Flare Era, the Radiation Era, and the Reconstruction Era.

However, while the names remained, those eras were far too distant from the present. In particular, there had been severe breaks in civilization during that time. Language, writing, and records were all badly incomplete, and many exaggerated myths and legends had emerged.

Modern people always felt a profound sense of distortion when reading records from that period.

Han Su flipped through the book in his hands without commenting, then asked curiously, "Did you take a history elective on that period?"

Without any ceremony, he pulled out a sheet of paper from his backpack, borrowed the girl's pen, and carefully drew the mysterious symbol from his memory.

Enthusiastically, he said, "Then, classmate, could you take a look? Do you recognize this symbol?"

The long-haired girl happily sat down, examined it closely, and said, "It looks like the style used by certain tribes during the Radiation Era..."

"At the time, civilization had not yet been rebuilt, and people as a whole were lost and ignorant. They believed Gods existed in this world, so they designed their own totems and sacrificial rituals, hoping their voices could be heard by the Gods."

"Of course, they couldn't make them too complicated. They were afraid the Gods wouldn't understand."

"But because they were too simple, they were easy to duplicate. I heard that quite a few tribal wars started because of that..."

Han Su looked curious. "Did Gods really exist?"

"History from such distant times always becomes heavily distorted and twisted. Besides, because of disasters, wars, and so on, there were severe breaks in civilization back then. Writing, language, and historical records were all badly incomplete."

The long-haired girl waved her hands. "According to those surviving religious texts, there was more than one God in the world back then..."

"Machinery, Sea Beasts, Chaos, Calamity, disease..."

"Legend says these Gods ruled the entire Radiation Era for thousands of years. But before the Reconstruction Era began, they were sealed away in the dust of history by the ancestors of modern civilization."

"Even now, religious believers in certain regions claim that these abandoned Gods will return and take revenge upon all of human civilization!"

"..."

Seeing that Han Su was engrossed, she became embarrassed instead. "That's only what I've heard. There's no guarantee those myths are true. Historians say the Radiation Era had severe radiation, causing humans to experience frequent large-scale collective hallucinations."

Han Su listened and nodded. He had actually looked into this sort of legend before. Every time he heard them, he became somewhat absorbed, but when he investigated carefully, he found only scattered fragments.

After a pause, he pointed at the symbol on the paper and looked at the girl with concern. "So, do you recognize it?"

The long-haired girl shook her head awkwardly. "Not for now..."

Then she turned happily and said, "The coffee over there is pretty good. Classmate, why don't we go—"

Han Su had already lowered his head coldly. He casually removed his sunglasses and set them aside, fully exposing the rather horrifying scars on his face. Expressionless, he stared at the girl in a way that was quite frightening.

"Having coffee so late at night? Aren't you afraid you won't be able to sleep?"

"..."

The long-haired girl suddenly saw Han Su's grayish-white eye and was visibly startled.

Covering her mouth slightly, she stood frozen for a moment. Seeing that Han Su had no intention of saying anything else, she awkwardly packed up her backpack and left. First, she sat two rows behind him. A while later, she simply picked up her bag and quietly left altogether...

Han Su felt nothing about it.

After being kidnapped back into the past time and again, his life had long since been cut into unstable fragments. School, career, black stockings—none of it meant anything anymore.

The only things that could help him were clues related to the dark Ancient Castle and plans to rescue the other children...

After the girl left, it seemed as if Han Su was the only person remaining in this section of the library. Although his head was already swimming from reading, he continued searching patiently.

Second by second, time passed. The surroundings were so quiet that it felt like entering a clean grave.

"Hello, classmate..."

Another voice suddenly rang out. Han Su stiffened slightly and looked up with extreme impatience.

To his surprise, this time it was not a long-haired female student, but a middle-aged man in a suit. He wore a black baseball cap and looked refined, yet his brows were filled with worldly calculation.

Looking at Han Su, he smiled obsequiously and extended a hand. "My surname is Chen. I work at a detective agency..."

Han Su did not shake his hand, merely raising an eyebrow. "What do you want?"

The man sat down of his own accord and smiled. "It is indeed a small matter."

"Not long ago, our agency received a commission. Someone hired me to investigate a Kidnapping Case from ten years ago."

"I heard that Student Han was the only person to escape from that case. I haven't got the wrong person, have I?"

Upon hearing that, Han Su immediately understood what the man was after. Leaning back slightly, he said, "How far has your investigation gotten?"

The man in the baseball cap paused, then smiled. "I've only just started. Isn't that why I came to visit you so presumptuously?"

"I have a few questions for Student Han. I hope I'm not disturbing you too much... Please rest assured, if you provide valuable clues, I will definitely reward you properly..."

Han Su endured it and smiled politely. "You've already disturbed me."

"Besides, I've already said everything I had to say—many times. The Public Security Bureau has records of it all. With so many clues, have you investigated any of them?"

The man smiled instead. "Student Han, this claim about a monster kidnapping case is simply too bizarre. I'm afraid it would be difficult to satisfy my employer."

"I think perhaps you had some unspeakable reason at the time, so you casually made something up?"

"But now that so many years have passed, shouldn't you..."

Han Su cut him off and said seriously, "Are you going to get lost?"

The man froze. "Huh?"

Han Su stood up. "Then I'll get lost!"

He was already irritated.

That Kidnapping Case ten years ago had brought him countless troubles.

Once the Public Security Bureau had confirmed that he remembered nothing, they had no choice but to let him return to normal life according to procedure. But the victims' families had never been willing to give up.

The reasonable ones merely wanted him to remember some clue, and those were still tolerable.

Many more victims' families had spent enormous sums hiring private detectives or supposedly "capable" people, demanding that they uncover what had happened ten years ago at any cost.

Whether they were truly capable or just frauds, these people often chose to target him. They seemed convinced that Han Su had deceived the Public Security Bureau back then, and that once they stepped in, they could pry out the so-called truth behind the Kidnapping Case.

Stalking, secret photography, harassment, planting listening devices—in the beginning, some had even tried to kidnap him and use vigilante justice.

All kinds of methods had made his life unbearable.

As he watched Han Su efficiently pack up his things, the smile plastered on the baseball-cap man's face slowly faded away.

He did not say anything to stop him. He merely leaned back slightly and snapped his fingers.

When Han Su slung on his backpack and prepared to leave, a muscular man wearing sunglasses stepped out from behind the bookshelves, folded his arms, and stood in front of him.

Han Su turned around and saw another man behind him, dressed in a floral shirt with a cigarette dangling from his mouth. He wore a leering grin and idly played with a knife.