Parking Lot

Finding the Year Eater and completing the novice mission arranged by the Spirit is Jiang Yue's top priority.

Of course, there's another important reason.

The Year Eater's activity trail seems to be getting closer and closer to New Moon Bay. For the safety of his family, he must track down the Year Eater as soon as possible before it enters New Moon Bay.

He really doesn't want to go home and find his sister has become his aunt and his cousin has become his uncle.

The mere thought of such a thing sends shivers down his spine.

Officer Han was also quite embarrassed at the scene. The other departments simply looked down on their police station's capabilities. They were quite critical of them, constantly complaining that they were delaying things and hadn't reported the situation in a timely manner. This put everyone in a passive position.

While the complaints from these departments had some merit, Officer Han shouldn't have to bear the blame. Whether to report it or not wasn't something Officer Han's position could decide.

"Xiao Jiang, wait up, I'll go with you."

"Did you bring your gear?"

"Don't worry." Officer Han patted his waist.

He then added, "If we can avoid using it, let's try not to."

Jiang Yue nodded, "We'll play it by ear. Judging from the scene, this evil spirit is still in its seedling stage. Although it's evolving, it's far from a fully evolved form."

"What do you mean?" Officer Han's attitude towards Jiang Yue was now summed up in one word: admiration.

He had already made up his mind to follow Jiang Yue to the bitter end.

"Look at the time between its crimes; it's basically over an hour apart. This means it needs time to digest the years it has stolen."

This statement was a bit beyond Officer Han's comprehension.

Seeing Officer Han's bewildered expression, Jiang Yue explained, "Think of it as a monster that can steal the lifespans of normal people, and it'll be easier to understand."

Officer Han nodded thoughtfully, unsure if he truly understood or was just responding politely.

"Furthermore, every time it acts, it instinctively avoids crowded places. And it always strikes stealthily. This means it's also wary of humans. At the very least, it's afraid of direct confrontation."

"Evil spirits are afraid of humans too? Aren't those monsters in movies all-powerful?"

Jiang Yue gave a wry smile, "If that were the case, would humanity have any future? Would your investigation even have any meaning?"

This question had a profound philosophical depth, leaving Officer Han speechless for a moment.

"If it becomes a fully evolved form, its danger is hard to say. But at least now, it's still in the process of evolving. This means we still have a chance."

The difficulty with this monster lies in its inability to be identified by facial recognition, coupled with its erratic movements and instinctive ability to evade detection.

Therefore, tracking it in real-time is technically challenging.

However, Jiang Yue could vaguely sense the residual evil spirit aura at the scene just now, which injected great confidence into his pursuit of the Year Eater.

"Xiao Jiang, if it causes a certain amount of destruction wherever it goes, following this line of thought, it should be possible to locate it if we have enough manpower, right?"

"That's hard to say. Based on my assessment, it doesn't seem to leave many traces where it passes. Only when it lingers for a long time, or at the scene of the crime, will it leave traces. For example, that taxi, that long bench, and the peeling wall plaster at the bean sprout alley scene..."

"Most importantly, I feel it's getting better and better at concealing these traces. On the taxi, the traces it left even affected my cousin. And looking at the wall plaster on the long bench and in the bean sprout alley, the traces it left are clearly becoming more and more subtle."

This is evolution.

The Year Eater's evolution speed is faster than imagined.

It's not just its abilities that are evolving, but also its intelligence and its evil spirit instincts.

If he didn't have the Hundred Evils Immunity Halo, Jiang Yue would have absolutely no confidence in rashly pursuing and confronting this monster.

Night is the monster's natural barrier, the evil spirit's best cover.

Back in the car, Officer Han asked, "Where to next?"

He actually knew that if they always waited for bad things to happen before pursuing, they would always be one step behind, forever unable to catch up.

Not asking to be one step ahead, but at least trying to keep pace.

One step behind leads to being perpetually behind, and in the end, they would just be led around by the nose. If Jiang Yue's guess was correct, and this was the monster's doing, and the monster was constantly evolving.

Officer Han couldn't bear to think about how dire the situation would become.

Jiang Yue didn't speak. He opened his phone's map and started studying it.

Based on the activity areas between each previous victim, the distance between one victim and the next would not exceed 1.5 kilometers.

And the not-yet-fully-evolved Year Eater clearly disliked going into crowded places.

Starting from bean sprout alley, where would it go next?

Jiang Yue circled three locations, "Officer Han, let's make a loop around these three places."

Choosing these three places was not a whim. Jiang Yue had considered each location.

These three places have one thing in common: they are all relatively secluded, especially late at night, and generally do not have crowds gathering.

Based on the experiences of the previous victims, each victim was acting alone.

What does this mean?

It means the Year Eater doesn't have absolute confidence in dealing with several adults at once.

Its method has always been surprise attacks, which indicates it is doing its best to avoid risks.

The vigilance was truly terrifying.

Star City in spring was still a bit chilly. In quiet places, insects couldn't resist the loneliness and began to chirp softly.

The two of them shone their police flashlights, searching around.

Under the bridge, bushes, trash cans, and green belts were their key search areas.

Officer Han had been in the force for so many years, apprehending many vicious criminals. But this was the first time he felt such immense pressure that his back was actually breaking out in a cold sweat.

Even more absurd was that he was actually working with a teenager.

If this got back to the station, he didn't know how many colleagues would laugh behind his back, or even tease him to his face.

Of course, Officer Han didn't care about any of that.

He wasn't just working on this case now; he was fighting for his reputation. Only by solving this case could he legitimately wash his hands of it.

He checked the time; it was almost eleven o'clock.

More than an hour had passed since the last victim's incident.

The two felt immense pressure.

According to the monster's pattern of activity, its crime cycle was usually about an hour apart. Perhaps while they were searching everywhere, it was already attacking its next target somewhere else.

Every hour they delayed meant another victim.

While this wasn't a murder case, in terms of its bizarre and strange nature, and the social panic it caused, it was probably worse than one or two murders.

There was a parking lot ahead; this was the third location Jiang Yue had identified.

If they found nothing at this parking lot either, Jiang Yue would have to consider how to adjust his approach.

This was a public parking lot, heavily used by social vehicles during the day. At night, vehicles belonging to residents from the surrounding area would also park here.

The parking lot wasn't small, with two to three hundred spots. There was an access gate, and a security guard booth by the side.

Jiang Yue and Officer Han, holding their flashlights, walked towards the entrance of the parking lot from a distance.

Before they even got close to the entrance, a person carrying a briefcase and talking on the phone was walking out from the direction of the parking lot.

Out of professional instinct, Officer Han shone his flashlight directly onto the man's face.

The man, who was on the phone, was caught off guard by the sudden light. He squinted and cursed, "What the hell are you doing in the middle of the night? Robbery?"

Officer Han, in plain clothes, lacked authority. He flashed his police ID and said, "Police! What are you doing wandering around here so late at night?"

The man, around forty years old, with a styled "boss cut" and the air of a private entrepreneur, wasn't intimidated by the police ID. He sneered, "So what if you're police? Do police tell people they can't go home? Do police tell me I can't call my wife?"

Normally, Officer Han might not have been so polite to someone this arrogant.

But with an important mission today, he didn't bother arguing.

"Did you just come out of the parking lot?"

"Yeah? What about it? Is it illegal to park my car? Is it illegal to go home?" The man was like he'd swallowed gunpowder, seemingly having a natural aversion to police.

"Did you notice anything unusual in the parking lot?"

"Unusual? Does the security guard falling asleep on duty count as unusual?" The man grumbled and walked straight past.

Jiang Yue and Officer Han looked at each other speechlessly. The relationship between the police and the public didn't seem so tense these days.

"Let's go take a look."