Extremely Dangerous

After the bedroom door was opened, there was no sound for nearly ten seconds, and no one continued to walk into the room. Everyone crowded in the area just inside the doorway, staring intently at the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving displayed in the glass cabinet.

They were all trying to feel the fear experienced by those who had seen the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster" in previous investigations.

Mi Qiao, Ye Chong, and the others subconsciously thought of the description they had heard from Old Du that afternoon, and the different emotional effects that the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Giant illusions recorded by Zhao Feng and Wang De'an in Montamira had on various people.

Fang Pingfang, Li Shiping, and Zhou Rui, on the other hand, recalled their mission in the Qinling Uninhabited Zone. Influenced by the Rabbit Woodcarving, they had bizarre dreams featuring rabbit meat. Fang Pingfang, in particular, after returning from the Qinling Uninhabited Zone, saw the illusion of rabbit meat again in a conscious state in the underground laboratory of the "Shenxing Technology" secret research center in Ironpeace Town, and also witnessed a series of bizarre influences. This made her even more wary of this Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving, which seemed to be of the same type as the Rabbit Woodcarving, and filled her with a mixture of apprehension and a tiny bit of "expectation."

Xiao Liu hadn't taken it too seriously at first, and was about to walk towards the glass cabinet after opening the door. However, influenced by Fang Pingfang, Zhou Rui, Zhao Feng, and others, he suddenly felt the atmosphere in the room become tense and heavy. So, he subconsciously stopped moving and remained silent.

Looking at the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving in the glass case, he couldn't help but recall the news he'd seen online about the impact of the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Giant illusion of Montamira.

At this moment, if a vision of an "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster" were to appear, the nine people would probably think "Just as I thought," "Let's experience it!" and "Wow, awesome!" more than they would be frightened or scared.

Unfortunately, they stood by the door for almost a minute, and nothing happened.

What should have been the most normal situation actually left them somewhat "disappointed".

"Xiao Liu" finally stepped forward and walked to the glass cabinet. He placed his hand on the glass and said to Fang Pingfang, "Before my uncle went in, I had only seen this wood carving four times. The first three times were before we moved to Tongshi Town, and the fourth time was when we moved. You can tell from the fact that it was placed in the bedroom that my uncle treasured this wood carving very much."

"Then if you bring us in to see, your uncle will be angry, right?" Fang Pingfang said, giving Ye Chong a wink. He immediately understood and took out his camera from his bag to start taking pictures.

Although it's a bedroom, it's nearly 40 square meters, bigger than the living room in most homes. And there's not much furniture or decorations, so even with nine people, it doesn't feel crowded at all; it's quite spacious.

"Xiao Liu" waved his hand. "It's alright. After my uncle-in-law went in, I've been managing this house. I can make the decisions. My godfather said to treat you well and cooperate fully with you, so my uncle-in-law certainly won't object. To be honest, I'm quite interested in your investigation about the giant illusion in Montamira. If this wood carving can really help you find relevant clues, that would be great. I only have one request: if you find anything, I hope you can tell me. I'm also very curious."

"No problem," Fang Pingfang asked, "Could you open the glass case so we can inspect the wood carving?"

After hesitating for two seconds, "Xiao Liu" finally nodded. "Okay." Then he helped open the glass and let Fang Pingfang take out the wood carving.

That wooden carving was over a foot tall, carved from solid wood, and very heavy in the hand. You could tell the maker had excellent craftsmanship. Compared to that, the Rabbit Woodcarving from the Qinling Uninhabited Zone looked like a child's doodle.

Aside from its excellent craftsmanship, the wood carving didn't seem particularly special. At least, Fang Pingfang thought that in terms of sheer eeriness, even if the Rabbit Woodcarving didn't have the ability to create illusions or influence dreams, its shape alone was far more bizarre than this wood carving.

"Can we take this wood carving back for some testing? Don't worry, we guarantee it will be back before Mr. Qi comes out, it won't be long," Zhou Rui asked.

"Xiao Liu" quickly waved his hand. "That's definitely not allowed. It's fine for you to look around here, but taking it out of this house is absolutely not allowed."

Zhou Rui didn't say anything more. He had only mentioned it casually because he thought "Xiao Liu" was cooperative, and he was fine with it if he was rejected.

Of course, if needed, they would have other ways to "borrow" the wood carving.

However, those were not their tasks; they were only responsible for experimental research and positive investigations.

Fang Pingfang and the others stayed in the bedroom for a while, took some photos, and then left the villa with "Xiao Liu".

After dropping Fang Pingfang and the other eight people off at the hotel, he sent another driver who had come with him to pick them up away, and then "Xiao Liu" drove a minivan back to his place.

"Xiao Liu," now alone in the car, finally put away his warm and sincere smile, his brows furrowing slightly as if deep in thought.

Today he received three phone calls. The first was from Old Du, who had a nurse make the call. The call was brief, simply asking him to cooperate with an interview and filming, and to say whatever came to mind. The second was from a media platform inviting him for an interview and filming, and they even faxed him a very formal cooperation document, which he verified as genuine. Shortly after the second call, he received another call from his cousin-in-law Qi Haoguo, through his lawyer. The lawyer only said ten words:

"Cooperate to the best of your ability, don't hide anything, and follow your instincts."

It didn't say who they were cooperating with, nor did it say there was nothing to hide, nor did it say to follow one's intuition. If it were "Xiao Liu," who had just been released from prison a few months ago and hadn't yet started working for Qi Haoguo, he would have been completely confused upon hearing this conversation. He would have definitely asked his lawyer for more details, and might even have wondered if the lawyer was up to some trickery to swindle him.

But now, "Xiao Liu" immediately "understood" it—an understanding that can only be felt, not explained.

Connecting the two phone calls he received earlier, he didn't need to confirm anymore to roughly understand what Old Du and Qi Haoguo meant. So he still didn't know exactly what to do or how to do it, but he already "understood" it in his heart.

After receiving Fang Pingfang and the others, he followed the instructions of Old Du and Qi Haoguo to the extreme, basically fulfilling every request and answering every question.

He quickly realized that Fang Pingfang and her group's true purpose for their trip was definitely related to Qi Haoguo's Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving and the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster that Old Du often painted.

Moreover, from Zhao Feng's question, he realized that these people were also paying attention to Xiang Kun.

If it weren't for the phone calls from Old Du and Qi Haoguo, "Xiao Liu" certainly wouldn't have revealed a single detail. Even now, he hasn't told the whole truth; he's still cooperating while holding back some details—that's his intuition. He's also observing Fang Pingfang and the others, trying to glean information from their reactions and words.

His statement to Fang Pingfang, "I'm also very curious," was genuine; he was indeed very curious about the investigation of the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving and the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster.

He had been curious about this ever since he went with his cousin's husband to visit Old Du.

At first, he couldn't understand many of his cousin's husband's actions. If it were him, he would never have given up his thriving business in the provincial capital to spend a lot of money on various projects that obviously had no return in such a godforsaken place as Tongshi Town.

But as he spent more and more time in Tongshi Town and by Qi Haoguo's side, he gradually changed. He developed a strange and inexplicable feeling towards this small mountain town.

Especially when Qi Haoguo was extorted and coerced by the "Duck Foot" but cleanly and decisively called the police and turned himself in, his behavior at that time made him feel like he had suddenly broadened his mind, as if he had broken through the dark clouds and basked in the sunshine along with his uncle.

He had a vague feeling that his uncle had seen something unusual, and might even have gained some extraordinary abilities—just like Old Du.

They possess an enviable sense of certainty.

Moreover, according to his observation, Chu Xiuwen, Liu Feibao, Liu Caifu, and others all seemed to "know something."

When the Montamira incident suddenly occurred and the internet was abuzz with rumors, "Xiao Liu" had a vague suspicion that the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster that his uncle and Old Du were so concerned about was likely the source of the Montamira incident. After all, he had seen Old Du draw the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster and hear him say things like "Eight-Armed Yama suppresses evil," "Death is not the end," and "Fear reveals the true self," which predated the Montamira incident by far.

However, he understood his uncle's personality well. Since he hadn't told him these things, he didn't intend for him to know. Asking would be useless, and trying to spy on him in private would be suicidal.

The arrival of Fang Pingfang and others has made "Xiao Liu" even more certain that the collective illusion of Montamira, the incredibly majestic and awe-inspiring Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Giant depicted by the media, is the same being that Old Du and his cousin's husband are searching for.

He was also a little excited because he knew he might be coming into contact with those kinds of things soon.

In the hotel room, Zhao Feng and Fang Pingfang were looking at the photos they had just taken at Qi Haoguo's villa of the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving" on the large computer screen. Ye Chong, Zhou Rui, and others were gathered together discussing the next action plan. They had already reported the information they had gathered to Mr. Liang and believed that a more specific mission objective would be provided soon.

"I'll sleep in that villa tonight, and you guys watch over me, okay? Let's see if I can dream about that Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster," Zhou Rui suggested, a mix of excitement and fear.

"Let's wait for Mr. Liang's follow-up tasks. Maybe he'll send someone to retrieve the wooden carving, replace it with a fake, and then let us take the real one back to the lab for research," Mi Qiao guessed.

"But wouldn't doing this anger that... the person behind the scenes?" Zhou Rui asked with some concern.

"Well, probably not. If it's unhappy, it'll probably give us some 'warnings'." Mi Qiao said, glancing at Fang Pingfang. She remembered Fang Pingfang seeing the rabbit meat illusion in the underground laboratory of the research center in Ironpeace Town, something she had only recently learned about.

As they were talking, Ye Chong suddenly said, "The information gathering department has found the maker of Qi Haoguo's wood carving."

Upon hearing this, the other seven people gathered in the hotel room stood up and looked at him expectantly. In their view, the creator of the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving, even if he wasn't the creator of the various illusions with eight arms and eight eyes, was certainly involved.

Ye Chong didn't keep them in suspense and directly revealed the information about the master woodcarver. But before the others could discuss the master woodcarver's situation, he continued, "We've also found photos of the woodcarving that Feng Xiuye took to 'cast a spell' on Old Master Du. Back then, Old Master Du's so-called 'consulting company' had quite 'formal' procedures. All the items that were 'cast spells' had photos from multiple angles, and there were even videos..."

As he spoke, Ye Chong picked up the tablet computer and faced the others. "This is Feng Xiuye's wood carving."

Everyone except Ye Chong was stunned when they saw the photo of the wood carving on the tablet. Even the Fang Pingfang couldn't help but lean forward, subconsciously craning her neck, frowning, and squinting as she stared at the photo carefully.

"This... are you sure you're not mistaken?" Zhou Rui asked, his brows furrowed. "If Feng Xiuye sent this... wood carving to Old Du, then the one in Qi Haoguo's room... is fake?"

Ye Chong said, "According to the information we found, Qi Haoguo ordered this wood carving after returning to the provincial capital from Tongshi Town. Judging from the timeline, it was a few months after Feng Xiuye took the wood carving to see Mr. Du. Therefore, the wood carving that Mr. Du mentioned is definitely not the same one."

"That one's fake... then this one..." Mi Qiao seemed a little unable to accept it either.

It wasn't that they couldn't accept that the wood carvings from Qi Haoguo weren't genuine, but the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving in the photo Ye Chong showed them was quite different from what they had imagined.

The wooden carving in Qi Haoguo's bedroom, although it didn't evoke any fear or monster illusions in them, did look quite convincing. The details and the overall design had an antique, heavy, and mysterious feel, with a strong religious or divine flavor.

But the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving in Ye Chong's photo looks too cartoonish. Although it's a wooden carving, it has a strong "figurine" feel, and is even a bit cute?!

They simply couldn't accept that this thing could be the source of the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster, Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Giant that had terrified so many people, made them repent, and brought them to a complete awakening.

"You can't judge a book by its cover, and you can't judge a wood carving by its appearance either." Fang Pingfang shook her head and couldn't help but laugh, "But looking at it, the craftsmanship is actually quite good. Do you know who made this wood carving, and where they are now? Do they have any direct contact with Mr. Xiang or Ms. Tang?"

"Feng Xiuye got it from his father, but the specifics are still under investigation, and we should have results soon," Ye Chong said.

But as soon as he finished speaking, Fang Pingfang's personal communicator rang. Everyone looked over because they all knew that at this moment, the Fang Pingfang directly through the communicator was most likely Mr. Liang.

After Fang Pingfang answered the call, she indeed heard Mr. Liang's signature hoarse, metallic voice. "Disengage from all investigative contacts, suspend all missions, and go to the villa you were staying at to await further instructions. Do not leave without prior notice."

After explaining, Mr. Liang did not offer any further explanation and ended the call directly.

Fang Pingfang put down the communicator, took a deep breath to calm her suddenly racing heart, and then relayed Mr. Liang's words to the other seven people.

Apart from Zhao Feng and Wang De'an, who had just joined the secret department of "Shenxing Technology" and rarely communicated directly with Mr. Liang, everyone else had carried out several field missions. In particular, Li Shiping and Gao Shu, who were in charge of security, immediately realized the current situation.

Previous similar situations have all meant that the targets they are currently in contact with or may come into contact with are extremely dangerous, and they are incapable of dealing with them.