Eating More and More

The man was a very handsome dance teacher who contacted the two girls online.

One girl was looking for a place to commit suicide, while the other was tricked into thinking they were going on a long hiking trip together.

The man, citing the need to break free from social constraints and completely liberate themselves, asked the two girls to throw away their cell phones and keep it a secret from their families and relatives. He then instructed them to make up an excuse to leave and meet him.

What happened next was no longer known through the phone; it was clear that the three stopped communicating via phone after their meeting.

Perhaps those two girls really didn't bring their phones at all, just as the man had requested.

Based on the information he had, Zhao Feng deduced that the three men had probably hiked a long way, setting up tents to rest along the way and using cash to buy food and water from locals, eventually reaching the depths of Purple Huan Mountain.

Then, in that very remote and secluded cave, the man drugged the two girls until they were unconscious, killed them, and then took his own life—based on the sleeping pills in the man's bag and the initial findings of the scene in the cave, this seems to be the case.

Of course, the specific cause of death and details of the three deaths will only be determined after the forensic report is released.

Zhao Feng sat in front of his computer, looking at the various pieces of information his colleagues in the technical department had copied from that phone, wondering why the "Many-Armed Monster" had guided him in his dream to discover those corpses.

The deceased man was indeed very handsome, with a great physique, clearly defined chest and abdominal muscles. His phone album contained many shirtless selfies, which he frequently posted on various social media platforms and sent to various female netizens through chat logs.

It's safe to say he's a playboy who dates many women simultaneously, is very popular, and knows exactly how to please and deceive them.

The two girls easily developed feelings for and trusted him, and gave their relatives and friends reasons for leaving, as he requested. So, even though they had been missing for almost a year, no one had reported them missing to the police.

But being promiscuous and having casual sex is a moral issue, not a legal or criminal one, and is fundamentally different from what happened in Purple Huan Mountain. This change was too sudden.

Why would someone like that suddenly do something like this?

Does he not want to live anymore?

Or perhaps there are other hidden circumstances, or another murderer?

With three lives at stake, the bureau leaders naturally took it very seriously, and they had no choice but to organize everything that needed to be organized overnight.

His colleagues jokingly complained that Zhao Feng had a "Conan-like constitution," able to uncover such a major case even on weekends.

Zhao Feng woke up very early in the morning. He had been running around in the mountains all day, and now his calf muscles were a bit strained, making it difficult for him to walk. He had also been hungry and cold for most of the night. Logically speaking, he should be exhausted by now.

However, he refused Old Xu's suggestion that he go back to the dormitory to rest first, and continued to work with his colleagues to sort out evidence and various information, and fill out various reports.

Seeing how hard he was working, his colleagues stopped joking and complaining about him.

Only Xu Zhao vaguely felt that Xiao Zhao wasn't embarrassed to go home and rest early because he had discovered the case and made everyone work overtime in the middle of the night, but rather that he genuinely wanted to stay and work.

He still felt that there were other hidden reasons behind Zhao Feng's discovery of the three corpses deep in Purple Huan Mountain today, and that there were some channels through which he did not know and Zhao Feng could not tell him.

Old Xu wondered to himself, what kind of channel could it be?

February 16th, Sunday.

Wang De'an had a rare day off today, so he dressed casually and went for a walk alone.

This is a green belt next to an artificial lake. Because it is still under construction, it is a relatively remote area without streetlights, so various accidents or incidents often occur here.

Just like a few years ago, a drunk man accidentally fell into the lake here and was rescued by patrolling police officers.

The following evening, a young couple was making out on the grass when they were provoked by two drunk thugs. The couple ended up beating the two thugs so badly that they were seriously injured.

On the night of the first day of the Lunar New Year, three scoundrels drove to the lakeside with a girl they had drugged and molested her. Fortunately, a blind woman stopped them.

That night, after the blind woman called the police, Wang De'an and his partner, Officer Han, were the officers who responded to the call.

The case itself was not complicated and was quite clear. The three suspects confessed to their crimes, so the interrogation was completed quickly, and the suspects were handed over to the prosecution.

However, the strange behavior of the three suspects that night, their description of the situation, and the footage recorded by the dashcam in the car raised some doubts for Wang De'an. He discussed these doubts with Zhao Feng, his old classmate from police academy who now works in Citong City, Haixi Province.

He hadn't really taken it seriously; he was just chatting casually with an old classmate.

Unexpectedly, a few days later, a similar incident occurred in Zhao Feng's city, with some suspects also experiencing hallucinations of "terrifying monsters with many arms."

This time, however, the suspects turned themselves in voluntarily.

Then Wang De'an and Zhao Feng began to compare and summarize the commonalities between the two cases. Zhao Feng reported this to his superior, Old Xu, who also took it very seriously and suspected that the two groups of people might have used the same new type of "banned drug" to cause similar hallucinations.

However, the investigation revealed that the two groups had absolutely no connection whatsoever.

None of the three suspects in Citong City had a history of drug use. Although two of the three suspects on Wang De'an's side had a history of drug use, their blood and urine tests showed that they had not used any drugs or been drugged on the night of the incident.

The investigation has reached a stalemate, Old Xu has made it clear to Zhao Feng not to waste any more time on this matter.

However, Wang De'an and Zhao Feng would still talk about this matter from time to time in private, and follow up on the situation of the six suspects who had experienced that hallucination.

Yesterday morning, while Wang De'an was still asleep, he received a WeChat from Zhao Feng, who said he had a very strange dream in which he rode that "Many-Armed Monster" and flew into the mountains.

When Wang De'an woke up and saw the message, he didn't find it strange. He figured it was just a dream, something he'd been thinking about during the day. They'd been discussing this topic frequently lately, so dreaming about it wasn't unusual. He simply replied casually, asking what he'd dreamt about.

However, Zhao Feng has not responded to this day.

Wang De'an didn't press the matter. He guessed that his old classmate might have suddenly had an urgent task and didn't have time to check his phone, which was normal for their profession.

He was off work today and had arranged to go to the movies with the girl he had a crush on, but she had something come up and stood him up. He sat alone in the movie theater for a while, but couldn't stand it anymore, so he left early and unknowingly ended up here.

Recalling the events of that night, especially the later review of the dashcam footage at the police station, he was actually quite interested in the blind woman Li Jun's "guide bird."

That bird's behavior was truly... very peculiar and bizarre.

He had considered going to see the blind girl again and check on her guide bird, but remembering his partner Lao Han's warning and the blind girl's uncle, Li Sheng, a senior colleague at the Municipal Bureau, he had to give up the idea.

Don't let Li Sheng's gentle and mild-mannered demeanor fool you; he actually has a terrible temper and is notorious in the city police department. If he had a legitimate reason, it would be fine, but if he came to the police station under the pretext of "investigating the monster hallucinations seen by three suspects in a closed case," and Li Sheng found out, he'd probably get a beating.

As he was thinking this, he suddenly noticed a yellow canary on a tree not far away, which seemed to look a bit like the "guide bird" of the blind girl Li Jun.

So he instinctively walked towards the bird, stood under the tree, and looked up at it.

Interestingly, the bird also leaned down slightly, as if it were looking at him too.

"Hi, how are you?" Wang De'an greeted him with a smile and raised his hand.

However, he immediately shook his head and chuckled, thankful that the place was secluded enough that no one saw him greeting a bird; otherwise, they probably would have thought he was crazy.

He certainly didn't really believe that the bird could understand human speech, nor did he really think that the canary was the blind girl's "guide bird." It was just a subconscious action that happened to be thinking of that bird.

A clear chirping sound suddenly rang out overhead, startling Wang De'an. He looked up at the canary and saw it chirping at him a few times and spreading its wings, as if responding to his greeting.

While he was still in a daze, his phone suddenly rang, startling him again.

Wang De'an picked up his phone and saw that it displayed the name of his old classmate Zhao Feng. He quickly answered the call.

"Sixth Brother, why are you only calling me now?"

"I went to the mountains yesterday, and there was no cell phone signal most of the time..."

"I knew you were probably on a last-minute mission," Wang De'an said with a smile.

However, Zhao Feng on the other end said, "It wasn't a mission. Didn't I tell you on WeChat that I had a dream where I rode that monster into the mountains? I recognized it in the dream; it was Purple Huan Mountain in our city. I even remembered the flight path and the location I flew in the dream very clearly, so after I woke up, I went there..."

Zhao Feng described his dream and his exploration of the mountain yesterday again, then said, "I really found that cave."

Wang De'an frowned as he listened. "The caves in the mountains... aren't they all pretty much the same?"

"No, I'm pretty sure that cave is the one the monster in my dream led me to."

Wang De'an casually asked, "Is there really someone inside?"

"There are people, but they are dead." Zhao Feng didn't keep them in suspense and said directly, "There are three highly decomposed corpses inside."

"Huh?" Wang De'an's mouth dropped open. After a few seconds of stunned silence, he subconsciously said, "It's a coincidence... right?"

"I don't think it's a coincidence. I've never been to that place before, and it's extremely difficult to find. It took me almost a whole day to find it," Zhao Feng said, then gave a brief overview of his investigation.

Although the case has not been officially announced yet, based on various pieces of evidence and the preliminary report from the forensic doctor this morning, the internal authorities have basically determined the nature of the crime, which is consistent with their initial assessment last night: the male victim killed two female victims and then committed suicide. Furthermore, since Wang De'an is also part of their system, Zhao Feng's disclosure of this information is not against regulations.

After ending the call with Zhao Feng, Wang De'an subconsciously checked his phone calendar to make sure it was April Fool's Day.

The information he had just heard gave him a strong sense of unreality. Throughout the process, he kept having the thought that "Zhao Feng is joking with me." But judging from the actual information and his understanding of Zhao Feng, he knew that it was not a joke, not a lie; that thing had really happened.

After standing there for a long time, Wang De'an suddenly remembered something, looked up at the ceiling, and saw that the canary that had just "greeted" him was nowhere to be seen.

A room on the outer side of a residential building in a community a few kilometers away from the artificial lake.

After sensing that "Gold Glitter" had flown into the room, "Little Apple" closed the window, then stretched out a finger and lightly tapped "Gold Glitter's " head twice, scolding him playfully:

"I only recognized him as Officer Wang, who helped us catch the bad guys before. I didn't ask you to say hello. Why did you take it upon yourself to do this?"

"Gold Glitter" shrank its head, then puffed out its chest and chirped twice.

"Little Apple" said helplessly, "He greeted you not because he recognized you, and he didn't know you could understand him. He was probably just playing around."

"Gold Glitter": "Chirp chirp."

"Little Apple" said "Oh," and nodded, "That's true, Officer Wang probably can't understand what you're yelling at. But don't yell randomly next time, or you'll get arrested and locked up."

"Gold Glitter" chirped several more times.

"Little Apple" laughed, "Alright, here's some good food for you! Everything's ready... Sigh, you're eating more and more these days. Your appetite has increased so fast, it's probably three or four times more than when you first came, right? I can hardly afford to feed you anymore..." As she spoke, she skillfully took out the birdseed she had prepared earlier from the cabinet next to her and accurately poured it into "Gold Glitter's" special feeding trough.

The entire movement was very accurate and smooth. If someone else had seen it, they would never have believed that "Little Apple" was blind and could not see anything.

During this time, "Little Apple" often let "Gold Glitter" fly around, and she used her special connection with "Gold Glitter" to perceive the sound information that "Gold Glitter" collected.

If it weren't for "Gold Glitter's" limited stamina, "Little Apple" would also be worried about its safety, fearing it might encounter some natural enemies or be caught or injured. She would wish it could roam outside 24 hours a day, or even leave this city and fly all over the country.

From childhood to adulthood, her father and uncle often took her out to play, to the mountains, to the seaside, to experience all kinds of sounds of nature.

But she also knew that her father and uncle were both very busy with work, and when they took her out, their attention was all on her. For them, it wasn't really a time to relax or have fun; it was simply about keeping her company and making her happy.

So after she turned ten, she rarely asked her father or uncles to take her anywhere to play. They would take her out when they had free time.

After graduating from junior high school, I mostly stayed at home. When I occasionally went out, it was usually with my father or Aunt Yang, just to sit for a while in a small park near my home, trying not to cause trouble for my family.

But things are different now. After establishing a special sensory connection with "Gold Glitter," she feels that when she goes out with "Gold Glitter," she is no different from an ordinary person, and she can take care of herself completely.

Of course, because her uncle later told her father about her sneaking out on the first night of the Lunar New Year, she couldn't go out alone for the time being. But having "Gold Glitter" as her ear outside was a strange and unique experience.

Over the past two weeks, she has explored about half of the city they live in through "Gold Glitter." Moreover, most people are not wary of a canary, and she has "accidentally" overheard many interesting things.

For example, today, after recognizing Officer Wang, who helped her catch bad guys on the night of the Lunar New Year, by his voice, "Gold Glitter" did not fly away immediately. "Little Apple" used its senses to listen to the whole process of Officer Wang making a phone call.

She noticed a few keywords:

"Many-Armed Monster", "dream", "corpse", "Purple Huan Mountain".

From the conversation between Officer Wang and the "Sixth Brother" he mentioned, "Little Apple" vaguely suspected that the "Many-Armed Monster" they were talking about might be the same "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster" she summoned through her uncle's wooden carving and the Object-Sensing system.

Officer Wang has been investigating that monster, and it even appeared in Citong City?

Isn't Uncle Xiang's hometown Citong City?

Just as she was thinking about telling Uncle Xiang this "information," her phone rang. She picked it up skillfully, used the accessibility function, opened the WeChat group, and clicked on the newly received voice message. Yang Zhen'er's clear voice came through:

"Little Apple! Little Apple! Calling Little Apple!"

"Little Apple" replied, "I'm here, Sister Zhen'er. Is it time to start testing the game?"

Lately, besides touring the city and learning about all sorts of voices and information through "Gold Glitter," the thing she's been doing most lately is testing Uncle Xiang Kun Sister Nana and Zhen'er.

I must say, that game was really fun, and it was perfect for her.

She can also use her sensitivity to sound to find ways to enhance the audio experience, add more sound elements, and adjust the volume of various sounds to improve the overall gaming experience.

Many of her suggestions for improvement were directly incorporated into the updated version by her uncle, which gave her a great sense of accomplishment.

Yang Zhen'er sent another voice message: "It's not about playing games. Do you have QQ? Log on! There's a little girl I want to introduce you to! Her kindergarten has started, and the teacher asked them to learn a nursery rhyme. Your sister Nana isn't here, so I can only contact you."