Softshell Turtle Detective Agency

An hour passed.

Carrot finished her counseling session and came to Su Bai's hospital room.

She was wearing a milky-white dress with a scattered floral pattern. Its neckline was slightly open, and a ruby pendant hung around her neck. She had a slender figure, translucent collarbones, delicate features, and clear skin.

Yesterday, Carrot had looked like a demure girl from a modest southern family. Today, perhaps because she was wearing high heels, her added height gave her an air of aloof pride.

Click, click, click.

The moment Carrot saw Su Bai's miserable state, her eyes reddened. Her heels clattered rapidly across the floor as she took three steps in two, flung herself into his arms, and burst into tears.

Every girl hid an incomparably valiant Great Sage Equal to Heaven in her heart.

They often fantasized that, when they were at their most helpless and desperate, a monkey would suddenly descend from the heavens and say, "Come with old Sun. I'll take you back to the Water Curtain Cave on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, and we'll have a whole bunch of little monkeys!"

The hero saving the beauty was a somewhat trite formula, but it worked every time.

Yesterday, the sight of Su Bai descending from the sky without a thought for his own safety had made Carrot's heart tremble. At that moment, she knew her Great Sage Equal to Heaven had come.

Su Bai gently patted Carrot on the head and said with a stern face, "Don't think pretending to be pitiful will soften me up. I'm telling you, this was a work-related injury. You'll definitely have to pay the medical bills, and you can't deduct them from my fee!"

Lin Luo rolled their eyes, got up, and walked away.

Carrot's sobbing stopped abruptly. She stared blankly for a moment, then came to her senses and punched Su Bai in the chest. Getting up, she wiped the tears from her face. "I turned down the hottest variety show around just to come see you. Don't you have anything to say?"

Su Bai thought for a moment, then said gravely, "Miss Wang Luobo, actually, I wanted to say this the moment you came in... You came all this way, so why did you come empty-handed?"

Carrot gritted her teeth and said in embarrassed annoyance, "I... I was in such a hurry to see you!"

"All right, all right, let's get down to business." Su Bai waved a hand and sat up straight. "We want to know if anyone's told you the story of 'Soul Binding and Corpse Raising' recently."

Carrot looked momentarily startled. "How did you know?"

Su Bai and Lin Luo exchanged a glance and nodded to themselves.

Just as they had thought.

Lin Luo walked over to the windowsill, glanced at the scenery outside, and asked casually, "When did you hear it, where did you hear it, and who told it to you?"

Carrot pulled a chair up to the bed. After sitting down, she frowned and thought for a while before saying:

"I remember it was more than ten days ago. I took part in a lifestyle variety show as a special guest. The basic idea was to go to a small village, work alongside the villagers, and experience a different kind of life.

"There was an old man in the village with a grizzled beard. He often sat on a tree stump at the village entrance, basking in the sun. While we were filming the show, I asked him a lot of questions about farmwork. He was very kind. Not only did he patiently teach me all sorts of things, but in his spare time, he also told me a lot of strange folk tales.

"The old man was the one who told me the story of Soul Binding and Corpse Raising. It gave me quite a fright at first, but afterward I thought it was pretty interesting, so I suggested that the production team air the footage of him telling stories. But because of the show's time limit, those clips were cut after all."

Carrot's animated account made Lin Luo's and Su Bai's scalps tingle and cold sweat stream down their bodies.

Without a doubt, the old man who had told Carrot the story was a complete and utter madman. By telling the story of "Soul Binding and Corpse Raising," he used "Adam" to contaminate the people listening. This was entirely conceptual Contamination.

One of the most important characteristics of a strange tale was that it could spread through any medium.

Just imagine: if the footage of this madman telling his story had aired on the variety show, at least a hundred million people across Great Xia would have seen it, heard the story, and been contaminated. Then, with rebroadcasts through various media, clips on public accounts... The consequences were simply unimaginable!

Even if Section Seven discovered the problem in time, it would still be days later, and in those few days, hundreds of millions of people might already have been contaminated!

Strange tales were both the easiest and the hardest supernatural incidents to deal with.

As long as one understood the rules of a strange tale, even an ordinary person could easily handle it. But if even the lowest-level strange tale spread on a large scale, it could cause casualties as terrifying as a plague.

This madman wasn't trying to kill Carrot. He was trying to kill everyone in Great Xia!

Lin Luo suddenly stood up, killing intent spilling from every pore.

Lin Luo kept their emotions well under control and turned to Carrot. "Tell me where you filmed the show. I need the full address."

Carrot noticed nothing amiss and pondered for a moment. "I don't remember very clearly, but the village was local, also in Sanya. I think it was called... Star Anise Village? Here, I'll go out and call the assistant director to ask."

After Carrot left, the hospital room fell utterly silent, filled with an oppressive atmosphere.

Su Bai pulled off his bandages, shook out his aching, stiff right arm, and got out of bed. He changed into his clothes, slipped on a black coat, and said thoughtfully, "There's more to this than meets the eye."

Lin Luo tossed Su Bai the bone sword lying on the table. "I know."

Su Bai caught the bone sword, swung it a couple of times, and tucked it into his sleeve. "We need backup. Let's contact the local Grave Keepers and tell them what's going on."

Lin Luo nodded. "I have their address."

Creak-

Carrot pushed the door open and came in, holding a small slip of paper. "I asked the assistant director. I remembered right just now; it was Star Anise Village. I wrote the full address on this... Ah! Your injuries haven't healed yet. Why are you up?"

Su Bai took the slip, glanced down at it, and handed it to Lin Luo. He gave Carrot a slight nod and smiled.

"Miss Wang Luobo, I'm pleased to inform you that yesterday we dealt with the pervert who sent you those letters. You won't be in danger anymore, so the security services we provided for you end here."

Carrot started to speak, then hesitated. "Ah... but?"

Lin Luo put the slip into a pocket and hurried past Carrot. "The contract was for three days. We're the ones breaking it first, so you don't need to pay our fee. We're very busy. Goodbye."

The two left the hospital room one after the other, briskly and without the slightest hesitation, politely closing the door behind them with a bang!

Carrot was completely bewildered, a blank look on her face. "Huh?"

It was as if the incomparably valiant Great Sage Equal to Heaven had not only failed to take her to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit to have little monkeys, but had instead run off hand in hand with the Bull Demon King.

Sanya, Softshell Turtle Detective Agency.

Smoke curled through the room.

Three men sat around a table playing cards, cigarettes hanging from their mouths.

"Pair of threes!"

"Double jokers!"

"Liu Feng, what the fuck is wrong with you? I played a pair of threes and you beat it with double jokers?"

"What, can't I?"

"Fine, you little punk, play your hand. Just don't let me get hold of you!"

"Pair of queens, pair of kings, with a three and a four. Hehe, I'm down to my last card! Baldy, weren't you so impressive? Why don't you bomb me?"

Knock, knock, knock!

Liu Feng glanced at the door and put the cards he was holding on the table. "I'll get it. You two don't swap cards."

Creak-

Standing outside the door were none other than Su Bai and Lin Luo.

Su Bai frowned and studied Liu Feng for a moment. "We're here to..."

"Holy shit, Su Bai!!"

Liu Feng's eyes widened. He grabbed Su Bai's hand, his gaze burning. "I'm not fucking dreaming, am I? It really is you! Holy shit, holy shit, quick, give me your autograph! Baldy, Monkey, put your cards down and come see who's here!"

Su Bai stared. "You... know me?"

Liu Feng gripped Su Bai's hand tightly, his excitement plain to see. "No, but I've heard the legends about you! You smashed the Hunter Guild all by yourself, Quark Company put a ten-million-dollar bounty on your head, you're a super rookie with an S-rank evaluation, a cold-blooded madman trained personally by Li Ming the Killing God. Your photo and exploits have practically gone viral on the Grave Keepers' official website. I hear even one of your fingers is worth millions! Everyone's been shouting about teaming up to go to Suzhou, chop you into pieces, and cash you in! Haha, I never thought you'd fall into my hands today!"

Su Bai let out a long sigh and started to speak, but stopped.

Liu Feng picked up his phone and stood beside Su Bai. Click! He took several photos, then swiftly opened the Grave Keepers' official website and made a post.

The title was "That Night: The Story of Me and Ten Million Dollars That Had to Be Told."

As soon as an administrator saw it, they pinned the post and marked it as featured.