"Little Jiang, what do you think?"
Jiang Yue pondered, considering how he should phrase it.
"It's okay. You don't have to hold back. Just say what you think. And I don't mind telling you, everything that happened today has completely shattered my worldview of more than thirty years."
"Then I'll be blunt."
At this point, there was no need to be tactful.
"First, this isn't an infectious disease. An evil entity is behind it. Second, I suspect the entity is evolving. It wasn't very intelligent at first, but it's evolving quickly. Third, I have a feeling we have to deal with it within twenty-four hours. Otherwise, things could get out of hand."
The first two points were technical analysis. The third came from Jiang Yue's own private concerns.
Officer Han drew a long breath and gripped the steering wheel tightly. He was afraid that hearing all this would unsettle him and make him crash.
"Officer Han, forgive me for asking, but what's the government's bottom line on this?"
"Bottom line?"
"When dealing with something like this, if we stick to the usual approach and keep hesitating, I'm worried the situation will spiral further out of control and more innocent people will get caught up in it."
Officer Han replied decisively, "If it really can't be controlled, we can take it out. In fact, we're not the only department involved anymore. The counterterrorism and riot-control departments, the security department, and a special department are all moving in quickly because this incident is so bizarre."
"It's just that the different departments haven't reached an agreement yet. Some want to destroy it, while others want to capture it alive and take it to a lab for study."
Jiang Yue was speechless.
The situation was already on fire, and they still had time to study it?
If they wanted to study it, they could rest assured—there would be plenty of days like this ahead. The only concern was whether they could keep up with all the research.
Spirit Intelligence had given him a beginner's task: track the Year Eater.
Jiang Yue figured all he had to do was track the target and pinpoint its location. What to do after that was probably outside the scope of the task.
As for how to deal with it, Jiang Yue had no authority to decide—and didn't want to make that call.
So many departments were involved; just thinking about it gave him a headache. If he got dragged in, he wasn't sure he could handle it. He'd leave the departments to argue among themselves.
The car drove near the area where the last victim had been.
To avoid causing panic, none of the victims' neighborhoods had been put under lockdown.
Jiang Yue retraced the route the victim had described in his statement.
Although there were streetlights at this hour, it was still too dark, making the search for clues much more difficult.
Officer Han was patient and followed Jiang Yue's lead, helping him out without being asked.
"Here!" Jiang Yue quickly pinpointed a bench in the victim's residential complex.
It stood beside a landscaped greenbelt, with a gravel path cutting through it.
The victim's statement had mentioned that he'd taken his dog downstairs for a walk that evening. The dog had broken free of its leash and run off, disappearing from sight.
While looking for it, he'd walked along this gravel path.
"Officer Han, look at the grass beside that osmanthus tree. Doesn't it seem strange? And look at this bench, and the color of this whole area..."
The difference wasn't obvious until they compared it. Afterward, with San Gou's bizarre pants in mind, the clues stood out.
Officer Han's eyes lit up as if he'd found a new lead.
"Little Jiang, you're incredible. My colleagues investigated here, but they didn't notice any of this."
"Like I said before, you won't find these things if you rely only on conventional thinking. Your colleagues didn't consider this possibility, so it makes sense they missed them."
"Besides, this thing's intelligence is evolving. Look at the spot it chose. The neighborhood cameras can't see it, and it's a relatively secluded corner."
"How exactly does it attack its victims?"
"From Sister He's case, it doesn't even need to get close to attack someone. So it makes sense that the victims don't notice anything."
At that point, Jiang Yue couldn't help grumbling about Spirit Intelligence again.
Couldn't it at least have given him some detailed information about the Year Eater? It hadn't offered a single clue. He was completely in the dark.
"Officer Han, I have a question."
"Yeah?"
"With your capabilities, you could've searched the area block by block and pinpointed the target—or even eliminated it—before nightfall. Why did it drag on until dark?"
It was a pointed question.
Officer Han looked a little embarrassed.
He knew the reason better than anyone. He'd been the first officer assigned to the case.
In fact, after receiving the physical evidence Jiang Yue had given him, he'd returned to the station and requested authorization from his superiors to seal off the affected roads and set up a full-scale search.
But he couldn't openly mention what Jiang Yue had told him. Besides, he'd promised Jiang Yue he wouldn't put it in writing.
With no written documentation and no solid evidence, just a hunch, there was no way the station's leadership would agree.
After all, sealing off the roads was tantamount to imposing a lockdown. It could easily provoke unnecessary speculation among the public, and even spark panic.
Officer Han still remembered the look on his superior's face: pure disappointment and criticism.
From his superior's perspective, making such a reckless request was making a mountain out of a molehill and showed political immaturity. It was completely unlike his usual steady, dependable self.
Then one incident after another occurred, and the situation deteriorated at an astonishing rate.
Other departments rushed into action, while his station became a peripheral player in the case.
Worst of all, the early delay had let the situation spiral out of control, causing a degree of public panic.
The station's leadership was then singled out and criticized by higher-ups, who accused them of being lax and of occupying their posts without doing their jobs.
Of course, the station's leadership wasn't about to take the blame. They called Officer Han in and gave him an earful, even though he'd already submitted the request and laid out the potential consequences.
In a chain of command, those facts didn't matter. What mattered was that when it was your turn to take the fall, you had to shoulder the blame and not try to pass it around.
Officer Han had no choice but to grit his teeth and accept the blame.
The case still needed to be handled.
At a loss, he'd thought of Jiang Yue.
A strong intuition told Officer Han that the young man, who seemed to carry an air of mystery wherever he went, might be the key to solving the case.
Seeing Officer Han fall silent, Jiang Yue didn't know the details, but guessed he had his reasons. He tactfully stopped asking.
Just then, Officer Han's phone rang.
He'd taken so many calls that day that the psychological shadow was immense; even the phone ringing had started to sound like a horror-movie cue.
"Captain Han, we've received another call. A drunk person reported an incident in Sprout Alley off Changlong Road. It's the same as the previous cases."
Officer Han was already numb to it. He glanced helplessly at Jiang Yue.
"Quick, summarize the person's movements and send them to me as fast as you can."
As he spoke on the phone, he started the car and sped toward Sprout Alley.
Sprout Alley...
At the sound of those three words, Jiang Yue felt a sudden pang of unease. The alley was only a ten-minute walk from New Moon Bay, where he lived.
Looking at the victim's route, Jiang Yue couldn't help worrying. The evil entity seemed to be drawing closer and closer to New Moon Bay. That wasn't reassuring.
He pulled out his phone and called his sister, Jiang Ying.
"Xiaoyue, is the gathering over? What time will you be home?"
"Jie, I probably won't be back until tomorrow morning. Listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you, and remember every word."
Ever since they were children, Jiang Ying had always been the one who lectured him.
She was always the one giving Jiang Yue earnest advice. So when he suddenly started telling her what to do, she was caught off guard.
"From now on, lock the front door and don't go outside! Remember, don't open the door under any circumstances. Even if someone knocks, don't open it! And don't go near the door. Stay as far away from it as possible!"
"Jiang Yue, are you looking for a lame excuse to stay out all night?" That was Jiang Ying's first reaction.
Jiang Yue cut her off bluntly. "Jiang Ying, shut up! I'm serious! If you don't want to end up like Sister He next door, you'd better remember every word I said!"
Beep!
As soon as he finished, Jiang Yue hung up without giving Jiang Ying time to respond, then switched off his phone.
She was his sister, and she loved him dearly, but still... it felt pretty good to lecture her like that!
The middle section of Sprout Alley was so narrow that only two-wheeled vehicles could pass through. There were no cameras or anything like that at the crime scene.
The cameras at the entrance were quickly pulled up.
The time was set to one hour earlier.
This was Jiang Yue's first time at a crime scene. Without Officer Han bringing him along, an outsider like him wouldn't have been allowed anywhere near it. After all, any of the people from the various departments at the scene could have kept him out.
Jiang Yue didn't ask the others what they thought.
As he approached the scene, he saw little beyond some peeling, mottled wall plaster. There weren't many other traces, though a faint aura of evil still lingered.
The aura was weak, but hadn't completely dissipated.
After inspecting the area for a while, Jiang Yue headed out of the alley.
Officer Han hurried after him. "Little Jiang, where are you going?"
"Like I said, if we follow conventional thinking, we'll always be led by the nose. We'll drag things from day to night, then from night to morning, while the monster keeps evolving."
Jiang Yue understood that every department had procedures and rules to follow.
But he didn't have to.
So he'd decided to act alone.
Spirit Intelligence had given him a lousy beginner's task, but at least it had given him a gift for their first meeting.
The Hundred Evils Immunity Halo!
The catch was, it only lasted twenty-four hours.
So he had to act while the iron was hot. He had to find the Year Eater before the halo disappeared.
Before you continue