The man-eating anomaly event

Since arriving at the Lishan Investigation Office, Ma Lian had never encountered a newcomer who dared talk back to him like this. He took off his leather gloves, flexed his hands, and walked toward Gao Ming.

Gao Ming said nothing more. He picked up Zhu Miaomiao's fire axe, which had been leaning against the desk. Its blade gleamed coldly.

The corner of Ma Lian's mouth twitched. He didn't believe Gao Ming would dare strike him. Reason told him Gao Ming would never actually attack, yet his steps involuntarily slowed.

"Watch yourself, Ma!" Chen Bing stepped between them. In that instant, Ma Lian actually felt a little relieved.

"Stay out of this!" Ma Lian stopped and pointed his leather gloves at Gao Ming. "When I get the chance, I'll teach you newcomers a proper lesson!"

With that, he walked out of Investigation Team One's office.

Chen Bing was Chen Yuntian's daughter and knew her father thought highly of Gao Ming, so she didn't say much else. "Investigation Team One has no one to relieve you right now. Get some rest while you can, both of you. You leave at midnight."

Once everyone had left, Zhu Miaomiao hurriedly put away her fire axe. "Come on, man, that really wasn't necessary. Just let him run his mouth."

"I didn't do anything. I was just taking a look at your axe." Gao Ming opened the break room and made a bed for Wan Qiu. "Qiu, sleep here tonight. If you need anything, just tell me. Here's my phone number."

After settling Wan Qiu in, Gao Ming pushed some chairs together, planning to get a little rest himself.

"You really don't let anything bother you." Seeing Gao Ming fall asleep so quickly, Zhu Miaomiao smiled helplessly. She didn't know what to make of him.

She could call him selfish, but when their lives were in danger, he had charged to the front, hoping to save everyone.

She could call him cold, but he looked after that orphan with a brain disorder like an older brother.

She could call him hotheaded and careless, but there were two beds in the duty room, and after making one for Wan Qiu, he had willingly left the other for her. He knew Zhu Miaomiao had been working hard all day and was exhausted too.

"He has his flaws, but he really is a good person."

Zhu Miaomiao set an alarm and lay down on the other bed in the duty room. Soon, she was asleep.

At eleven thirty that night, Gao Ming opened his eyes, put on his jacket, and left the Investigation Bureau.

He rode his electric scooter back to No. 4 Minlong Street.

Normally, several people were supposed to patrol together at night, but Gao Ming felt he alone was enough.

Entering the building, Gao Ming found a badly damaged chair. With a bag of Posthumous Photographs on his back, he sat in the middle of the fourth floor.

If any of the original residents came out now, the sight would probably scare them half to death.

"A haunted house, Posthumous Photographs, and me. All three elements are here. Next, I need to imitate the deceased's habits from when they were alive."

"The boy in 405 seems to be alive, but judging by his condition, he's hardly different from a Ghost."

Holding a Posthumous Photograph, Gao Ming tried to understand the child's thoughts, allowing pain and fear to grow inside him. He seemed to hear the sounds of an argument and a scuffle.

A plate shattered, and soup spilled across the floor, seeping into the bedroom through the gap beneath the door.

The sound of a wardrobe door closing suddenly rang out. Gao Ming snapped his eyes open. No shadows had appeared, but the anomaly had already begun.

He picked up his bag, pushed open the door to Room 405, and entered the bedroom where the little boy had once lived.

"The sound came from here."

Slowly opening the wardrobe door, Gao Ming saw an ugly Cloth Doll.

"I remember the Cloth Doll was already taken to the Investigation Bureau. How did it get back here on its own?"

Gao Ming pulled the Cloth Doll out again. Some snack crumbs fell to the floor, and he peered into the wardrobe.

Someone had scrawled a few words in crayon on the moldy inner wall of the wardrobe—I won't hert anyone! Go awey!

"Is this... supposed to be a threat?" Gao Ming felt the child in 405 probably wasn't a Ghost, because he had never designed a Ghost that used phonetic spellings in its writing.

Picking up the crayon, Gao Ming thought for a long time before writing a few sentences on a blank section of the wardrobe—Minlong Street is the territory I look after. If there are any snacks you want, I can leave them in the wardrobe for you. Toys, game consoles, textbooks for every school grade—if you want anything, you can tell me.

Running out of space on one side, Gao Ming climbed into the wardrobe and wrote on the other—If you feel lonely, I can chat with you too. I hope you won't hurt the adults trapped in the shadows...

Soon, another wall was covered in dense writing. The wardrobe looked as though someone had put a curse on it.

Putting down the crayon, Gao Ming shook out his left hand. He had been writing left-handed the entire time to keep anyone from recognizing his handwriting.

Returning the Cloth Doll to its original spot, Gao Ming began his long wait.

At around two in the morning, Gao Ming's Black Ring suddenly vibrated. Its red and yellow signal lights flashed alternately.

"Have I been caught up in an Anomaly Event? No, wait. Why are both lights flashing?"

After reading the information on his Black Ring, Gao Ming's expression grew complicated. He immediately set off back to the Lishan Investigation Office.

After he ran out of the bedroom, the ugly Cloth Doll picked up the crayon. As though possessed by something, it crossed out the words "textbooks for every school grade."

Riding his electric scooter, Gao Ming hurried back to the Lishan Investigation Office as fast as he could. The investigators on duty in the other teams were all on high alert too.

Soon, Chen Yuntian appeared in a video projection inside the Investigation Office. His expression was grave, his face frighteningly dark.

"Office Director, everyone's here." Ma Lian stood at the front. He didn't even dare speak too loudly now.

"We just received confirmed information. All the investigators from Team One sent to assist with the investigation in the East District have become lost."

No one could believe what they heard from Chen Yuntian. Bai Xiao was the Lishan Investigation Office's ace, possessing extraordinary intuition and keen senses. He had survived four Level Three Anomaly Events in Xinhu.

Investigation Team One was the Lishan Investigation Office's most elite team, yet now only two members remained. One had joined the Investigation Bureau just two days ago, and the other hadn't even received a Black Ring.

"Office Director, what exactly is going on with that Anomaly Event in the East District?" Ma Lian was shaken.

"I'm on my way to the special hospital built by the East District Investigation Bureau. Since that Anomaly Event began, only two Investigators have escaped successfully. One had all four limbs hacked off and died despite treatment. The other just regained consciousness, but the doctors say he seems to have been driven insane by fear." Chen Yuntian's gaze lingered on Gao Ming for a moment. "I'll be back before dawn. Carry on with your normal work. The other investigation teams will take over Team One's assigned duties for now."

The projection ended. The Investigation Office was so quiet that every breath could be heard clearly. No one had recovered from the news yet.

"How many people has this anomaly event in the East District 'eaten' already? Qin Tian, Bai Xiao, and the elites from the other branches..." The more Gao Ming thought about it, the more something felt wrong. The more terrifying a game is, the slower it invades reality. I can clear strange tale-level games ahead of time, and strange tale-level games can also grow faster if they're fed. Could someone be deliberately feeding a strange tale? Using investigators' lives to fill its maw?

The moment that thought occurred to him, Gao Ming felt a chill. No! I can't let that "game" in the East District keep growing! Tomorrow night, I have to take everyone in!

Picking up his phone, Gao Ming decisively called Yan Hua, asking her to come to the Lishan Investigation Office in the morning.

She didn't wait until dawn. Two hours later, Yan Hua was already outside the Lishan Investigation Office. Her muscular body and hideous Giant Ghost tattoo drew the attention of almost every investigator.

"Why are you here so early? Didn't you have a match tonight?" Gao Ming brought Yan Hua into Investigation Team One's office.

"What do you need me to do?" Yan Hua's answer was direct.

"The situation's changed. Tomorrow night, I want to enter an anomaly event..." Gao Ming told her everything that had happened in Hanhai.

"If you're lying to me, you'll be the first person I kill." Yan Hua chose to trust Gao Ming. She tore the silver badge off her sleeve and tossed it onto the desk. "My contestant number in the underground ring is 17. Just call me Number 17 when we're out."

"No problem, Number 17."

While Gao Ming prepared for the following night's operation, Chen Yuntian returned to the Lishan Investigation Office. He assigned tasks to the other investigation teams before finally heading toward Investigation Team One's office.

He had recruited Gao Ming, yet less than forty-eight hours later, the entire team had gone missing except for two people.

With a disappearance rate that high, he would definitely quit if he were in Gao Ming's shoes.

Remembering how he had told Gao Ming to build good relationships with his coworkers only made Chen Yuntian's head hurt.

As he opened the office door, Chen Yuntian had already braced himself for Gao Ming to quit. But when he looked up, he saw Yan Hua, who stood nearly two meters tall.

"Who is this?"

(End of chapter)