Familiar Residents

The edge of the city.

The Shadow descended slowly.

Qin Yiguan gazed at the cluster of buildings before him.

This is not much different from a human city.

To be precise, it's not much different from human cities in the old days.

It's not like a city in the Metaverse, where skyscrapers are hundreds of stories high, there are no three-story highways, no flying machines, and no vacuum tube trains.

Although there are many high-rise buildings, 20 stories is considered a tall building among them; most of the buildings are low-rise residential houses.

But none of these are very important.

Importantly, these buildings have no color; they are all gray and white.

Not just the buildings, nothing had any color.

You can see the traffic lights on the road in the distance; all three lights are grayish-white. Directing traffic? They're doing nothing!

The scene before me is like that of a highly skilled cartoonist who has drawn every detail of the city, but forgot to add color.

However, Qin Yiguan's original attire consisted of a brown jacket, black jeans, and the only white element on his body was the upper of his canvas shoes. Even the God's Abandoned on his shoulder was now a new body with black paint.

It matches this black and white city perfectly.

Qin Yiguan turned around and looked at Black Calamity, whose head was now the only thing remaining. "Is this Ghost City?"

Black Calamity nodded, "Yes!"

Qin Yiguan frowned. "It is indeed a bit mysterious."

Walking into the city.

"2.4 million people live here?"

Qin Yiguan continued, "I find it hard to understand why such a large number of people, not just one or two people, not just a family, and not just any organization, would live in such a secluded place?"

Black Calamity also looked ahead and said, "They were born to exist here."

It was at this time.

Qin Yiguan saw the first resident.

He was a middle-aged man, wearing a gray-white suit and gray-white glasses, but his face was the normal color of flesh.

He was carrying a briefcase under his arm, rushing around as if he were heading to work.

suddenly.

The man saw Qin Yiguan, and then he saw the Black Calamity floating beside Qin Yiguan's body.

"Tui~"

The man spat at Qin Yiguan, glared at him, and then hurriedly continued on his way.

"???"

Qin Yiguan was taken aback.

Immediately.

Qin Yiguan then looked at a little kid who was dribbling a gray-white basketball while running around.

The little brat stopped in front of Qin Yiguan.

"Tui~"

The little brat spat out a curse and then ran off.

A flamboyant woman, dressed in a tight, greyish-white miniskirt, walked by, raising an eyebrow, "Oh? Tui!"

She spat, then wiggled her hips and walked away.

Keep walking forward.

Ahead lay a bustling street, with at least a hundred people around.

"Tui~"

"Tui~"

"Tui~"

Countless tui~

Qin Yiguan didn't get angry, but pondered, "I've never been here before, nor have I ever seen them. Their spitting..."

At this moment, Qin Yiguan turned his head and looked at Black Calamity beside him, "They spat on you, Ghost King, didn't they?"

Even if they despise me, I am still the king here!

Black Calamity's face twisted in pain as he growled.

"Oh."

Qin Yiguan sneered, "Then, Lord Ghost King, do you have a place to stay in this city?"

Inside a huge, luxurious mansion.

Qin Yiguan stared at the furnishings inside the room. The beams and pillars were carved and painted with various dragons and phoenixes, and there was even an antique display shelf with various items that looked like antiques and curios.

The long, narrow hall was covered with a thick carpet.

And the inside of the hall.

A huge dragon throne, measuring 3 meters wide and 5 meters high, was placed there.

certainly.

Everything was gray and white.

At this moment.

Black Calamity's head was 'placed' on the dragon throne.

He looked at Qin Yiguan.

Qin Yiguan looked at it too, "You seem like... a balloon that can be popped by someone sitting on it at any moment."

"..."

Black Calamity: "A tiger fallen into the plains is bullied by dogs. I was once a perfect match for this dragon throne."

Qin Yiguan shook his head and smiled.

We arrived at the floor-to-ceiling windows in the lobby.

This mansion is 10 stories high, and you can look down at the streets below from here.

Many pedestrians passing by, even if they couldn't see Black Calamity's face, still spat in front of the mansion as if taking a photo.

Is this Ghost City?

"Is it just called Ghost City?"

Qin Yiguan slowly said, "Those passing by outside are clearly real people, but everything here lacks color. This must be intentional on the part of the city's designers. Why create this phenomenon?"

He didn't wait for Black Calamity to answer.

Qin Yiguan suddenly narrowed his eyes.

He spotted a familiar face among the people passing by below.

He was wearing a black trench coat, his face was covered in stubble, and he had a half-smoked cigarette between his teeth. As he walked, the police badge on his waist could be seen, but the once brass-colored badge had now turned gray.

"Officer Wang?"

Qin Yiguan was puzzled, "What's he doing here? Is he investigating a case?!"

And in that very moment...

Qin Yiguan's communicator beeped.

The message came from a stranger, but the person's profile stated that he was from the B Sector General Police Bureau.

"Hello, ' Perversion Detective '"

"I am an internal affairs officer from the B Police Bureau."

"Please forgive me for accessing classified police files and obtaining your contact information."

"I did this because I felt there was something I needed to tell you."

"Your former partner, your collaborator for three years, with whom you solved dozens of cold cases, was Comrade Wang Shiwei, then Deputy Chief of the B5 Sector Police Department..."

"Three hours ago, during an investigation, he was pushed into the turbine engine of an aircraft by criminals, suffering severe burns and dying on the spot."

"Unfortunately."

This is an obituary.

"If it's convenient for you, you can come to our B5 General Police Bureau at 8:00 AM tomorrow to attend Officer Wang's memorial service."

My condolences.

Qin Yiguan read the message word by word, then froze.

Officer Wang... Sacrifice while solving the case!?

Qin Yiguan's eyes widened, his Pupil contracted sharply, and his heart was filled with immense grief and shock.

He stared at the figure in the black trench coat downstairs.

--Who is he?!

now.

Officer Wang, who was hurrying downstairs, suddenly changed direction, turning his back to Qin Yiguan instead of facing him.

Qin Yiguan felt a chill run down his spine.

But then they saw that the trench coat on the back of the ' Officer Wang ' had been burned, revealing the body underneath. It wasn't a normal body; it had been burned to a crisp!

As Officer Wang walked, a considerable amount of completely carbonized skin was falling off in a soft rustling sound!

And at this very moment.

The internal affairs officer just added another message.

"If you come, please be prepared. Officer Wang's body is somewhat incomplete; his body has been burned and charred, leaving only his face."