The Year Eater's Whereabouts

"First question, nowadays, am I the current one in charge, or are you, the former one?"

"You! You're in charge."

"Good, you're sensible. Tell me, what exactly is this Spirit? What's this novice mission about? Are there any shortcuts?"

The cat-shaped relief seemed a bit troubled. "What exactly this Spirit is, I really can't say. Its usual form is a talisman. When it enters your body, it's like a being with its own consciousness. And most of the time, it's petty, picky, flirty, mischievous, and sometimes incredibly small-minded..."

He attributed every flaw he could think of to the Spirit.

Former occupants generally didn't speak well of the current one; that was only natural.

"As for novice advice, I can only say you have to give it your all to complete it, otherwise, you'll truly be unlucky."

"Of course, completing the novice mission usually comes with a rather generous novice gift package. Although this thing has many flaws, at least it's generous with its rewards."

"You said I'm the eighty-first. So, the previous eighty former occupants all had novice missions, right? How did you all complete them?"

"How we completed them has nothing to do with your novice mission."

"This Spirit is a weirdo. Every time it restarts, its settings are completely different. So, everything the Spirit arranges for you is brand new, depending on the era. You can't refer to the experiences of the previous eighty occupants at all."

"To put it plainly, there's no difference between the first occupant and the hundredth. To the Spirit, they're just random options."

This Spirit seemed like a real trap, with completely new settings each time it activated.

Could it really work like that?

It seemed everything depended on himself.

"Oh right, what's your novice mission?" the cat-shaped relief asked curiously.

Jiang Yue didn't hide anything and told him truthfully.

"Your novice mission is to hunt monsters. That difficulty is no joke. Although I don't know what this Year Eater is, just by its name, it doesn't sound like a pushover."

"Right, according to the Spirit's usual behavior, you need to ponder every name, every location, and every number it mentions."

"Based on my past experience, these things often contain multiple layers of meaning, hiding some clues. For example, this 24 hours you mentioned, there's definitely a clue in there."

"Before, when I first received the talisman, it also mentioned the 24-hour detail."

"That was to remind you that you had to reach Villa No. 9 within 24 hours."

"What if I hadn't arrived in time?"

"Heh heh, then you'd be out. The shortest-lived former occupant would be born."

"It's that bad?" Jiang Yue suddenly felt like breaking the contract.

"There are plenty of times it's worse than this, you'll experience it slowly."

"However, given the Spirit's usual tactics, repeatedly mentioning 24 hours must be revealing something. I suspect it's related to your novice mission."

"Of course, I won't spout any more nonsense about the specifics."

"This is your first interaction with the Spirit, I can't interfere with your thought process. Otherwise, if it messes up in the end, we'll both be in trouble."

Jiang Yue understood that what the other party said was likely the truth.

He had thought that this talisman summoning him to Villa No. 9 would have some huge surprise waiting for him. At the very least, it would give him a golden finger, allowing him to soar to the peak of life.

Who knew, he didn't get a golden finger, and instead inexplicably got a novice mission.

He didn't get to steal the fish, but he ended up covered in mud.

Having an extra mission would have been fine, but the rumored terrible consequences for not completing it were unbearable.

Jiang Yue's mental state was collapsing.

But since it had come to this, no matter how much he collapsed, he had to piece himself back together, accept reality, and accept the mission!

Year Eater?

What on earth was that thing?

Up to now, Jiang Yue didn't even know what it was, how could he track it?

Even if he had to track it, there should be some clue, right?

Jiang Yue was at a loss.

While he was thinking, his phone rang in his pocket.

"Little Jiang?" On the other end of the line, Officer Han's voice was urgent, sounding very anxious.

"Officer Han, have you found any clues?"

"This is big trouble. Little Jiang, I need your help. Where are you? I'll come pick you up."

Officer Han's decisive action was fitting for his profession.

Jiang Yue hesitated for a moment and said, "I'm at the Elm Street night market."

The Daozi Lane Villa Area was within the large commercial district of Elm Street, not far from the night market, only about a ten-minute walk.

"Okay, I'll pick you up at the entrance of the night market. I'll be there in half an hour."

Officer Han hung up the phone immediately after speaking.

Jiang Yue put away his phone, pondering the ins and outs of this case. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration seemed to leap out from his chaotic thoughts.

Year Eater?

Eat, to consume.

Year, years, time.

"So that's how it is!" Jiang Yue slapped his thigh. It was truly a case of finding something without even looking.

The nurse at Star City Second Hospital, his neighbor Sister He, the taxi driver...

And San Gou's strange pants...

All the details shared a striking commonality: it was as if years and time had been instantly stolen.

This perfectly matched the three words "Year Eater," fitting together seamlessly.

If that was the case, were the twenty-plus years lost by those three people devoured by the ICU patient, Ke Yunshan?

What a terrifying ability!

Was this a monster of a Great Demon King level from the very start?

It was only because Jiang Yue had long been mentally prepared for the world's mutations, coupled with his family background, that his acceptance of such things far surpassed that of ordinary people.

Otherwise, if he were suddenly told that such a horrifying thing was happening, he would also be scared stiff.

As the eighty-first successor, there were still benefits to be had.

For example, this Villa No. 9 was left by the previous predecessor. According to the principle that successors inherit all assets, Villa No. 9 naturally became Jiang Yue's property.

Of course, Jiang Yue had no time to be happy right now.

The 24-hour mission deadline was like a tightening golden fillet.

Jiang Yue couldn't afford to slack off. Although he had a head full of questions he wanted to ask, he still hurried out.

Having completely merged with the Spirit, he could now enter and exit the villa's doors freely.

Just as he reached the entrance of Elm Street, Officer Han's car caught up.

"Officer Han, next time you're looking for me, can't you use a regular car? It makes it seem like I've done something wrong, and gossip is a terrible thing," Jiang Yue joked.

He could also see that Officer Han was highly stressed and needed to lighten the mood.

"Xiao Jiang, it's a headache. We've received four more emergency calls. That means, as of now, there are already seven victims."

"This matter has already started to cause localized panic in society."

The speed of information dissemination now was truly too fast. Even with various technological means to block, delete posts, or ban accounts, small-scale spread was still unavoidable.

"Officer Han, let's cut to the chase. Does the police have a general idea of its location?"

With surveillance cameras all over the city now, as long as the initial clues weren't lost, they could trace their way to the general area of activity.

Although the figure in the surveillance footage was peculiar, making it impossible to fully identify the face or use facial recognition.

However, Star City Second Hospital would definitely provide the patient's information, and the police had many ways to find it.

Officer Han handed over a folder.

Only a few hours had passed since Officer Han took San Gou's pants and left that afternoon. And there were four more victims.

The police had already collected information from all the victims and recorded their statements.

This efficiency made Jiang Yue deeply impressed.

If this were for ordinary cases, they would have solved them long ago with this efficiency. Unfortunately, this time they weren't facing brutal criminals, but unknown evil spirits that ordinary people couldn't even imagine.

The contents of the folder were very detailed.

The first page of the file was a screenshot from a video surveillance.

The time was 11:44 AM, and the taxi carrying the ICU patient Ke Yunshan stopped at White Deer Park.

Ke Yunshan got out of the car. Of course, whether it was actually Ke Yunshan was another matter.

The second page was a screenshot of the taxi driving around for six or seven minutes before Jiang Yue and the others got in.

The third page was a screenshot of Ke Yunshan's back as he entered White Deer Park. As usual, it was eerie; Ke Yunshan always appeared as a blurry mass in the videos.

There were six more pages of screenshots, showing Ke Yunshan appearing in different areas and being captured by surveillance cameras at various times between 12:00 PM and 7:00 PM.

The rest were document files, respectively recording the statements of the four new victims and the analysis of their activity areas.

The unfortunate thing was that these victims were completely caught off guard. They themselves had no idea where exactly they had encountered this evil affair.

According to the victims' accounts, their activities throughout the day were no different from usual, they didn't feel anything strange, and they didn't encounter any peculiar people.

Their state of mind regarding everything that happened could be described in two words: bewildered!

After reading all the documents, Jiang Yue didn't rush to comment. He organized his thoughts in his mind.

A preliminary concept of the general activity area slowly formed in his mind.

Jiang Yue was actually very familiar with these areas.

The area from Star City Second Hospital to White Deer Park was not far from Jiang Yue's home, within a twenty-minute car ride, including factors like waiting for traffic lights.

It was only a thirty to forty-minute walk.

Seeing Jiang Yue's silence, Officer Han couldn't help but ask, "Xiao Jiang, any thoughts?"