Xiajing Village

This sudden shout drew everyone's eyes over.

Liu Zheng strode over, parting the gathered crowd, and asked concisely, "What did you find?"

"Take a look at this college student's chat logs."

Old Bai grinned, pointing proudly at his screen.

The others immediately crowded around. Several heads squeezed together, the glow of the monitor illuminating their exhausted yet excited faces.

Level Eight Gale: "I just ran into a kid who grabbed my pant leg, saying he was starving and begging for money to buy food. I knew right away he was a little scammer, so I just kicked him. He rolled away so fast, it was hilarious."

Lethal Kafka: "Just a stray on the roadside. Good kick!"

Virtuous Mrs. Lie: "How do you know he was a scammer? What if it was real?"

Level Eight Gale: "He has hands and feet but still begs. A kid that age, if he was truly hungry, he could just go to the police station. The cops would give him food."

Virtuous Mrs. Lie: "I guess you have a point."

The rest of the chat logs were just irrelevant banter.

However, Liu Zheng and his team accurately latched onto a few keywords.

"The kid. Make this a priority. Check the surveillance cameras and trace where this child went."

Like peeling silk from a cocoon, they slowly unraveled the truth hidden behind the case.

The next morning.

Morning sunlight pierced through the blinds, casting warm shadows across the conference room.

However, the air still lingered with the smell of stale cigarette smoke and the bitter scent of instant coffee from their all-nighter.

On the whiteboard, a map of Licheng was densely marked with various colored markers, with a red arrow ultimately pointing to a village.

"The conclusion is clear. The fierce ghost is that missing child."

Xia Zhi rubbed her throbbing temples, her voice hoarse from a sleepless night. "He asked ten people for help. The first nine either coldly refused or beat him up. Only the tenth person gave him a meal and let him get in their car."

She paused, glancing around at her colleagues with dark circles under their eyes.

"But in the end, it was a ride straight to the underworld."

Fierce ghosts are born from resentment. That child was undoubtedly dead.

Through road surveillance, they had even locked onto the vehicle's final trajectory, which pointed directly to Licheng.

"Bang!"

Liu Zheng slammed his palm on the table, rattling the cups and plates. He stood up abruptly, his eyes bloodshot but filled with intense excitement.

"To hell with analyzing! Let's move out! Even if we have to dig three feet into the ground, we must find the child's body! Only then will Shouzhen have a way to summon that fierce ghost."

At his command, the harsh screech of chairs scraping against the floor echoed in unison as everyone stood up, their movements carrying a long-suppressed fury.

Their destination was also Licheng.

Meanwhile, in another car heading toward Licheng, the atmosphere was completely different.

It was October, long past the season for ripe lychees. But for Licheng, the value of the lychee was just beginning to extend further.

For example, lychee wood.

Because lychee wood produces almost no black smoke when burned and releases a faint, fruity fragrance.

As a hard fruitwood, it possesses high density and moderate oil content, allowing it to burn at high temperatures for a long time.

This made it perfect for roasting chicken and goose, the classic Cantonese roasted meats.

Along the sides of the road, mountains of lychee wood waited to be sent into the ovens of various restaurants, destined to become that enticing, crispy red skin on roasted chickens and geese.

Lin Mo rolled down the car window, letting in a faint, fruity fragrance mixed with the scent of firewood.

He leaned back lazily and said, "Should we find a farmhouse restaurant at noon to try the lychee wood roasted chicken around here?"

"Huh?" the four girls in the back seat replied in unison, their faces displaying identical expressions of astonishment.

"What do you mean, 'huh'? We came out to play, aren't we going to eat?" Lin Mo glanced at them, finding it somewhat amusing.

They looked at each other in dismay. Chu Miaomiao was the first to lower her head, whispering, "I... I don't have a problem with it."

"It's not that we can't, but we..." Xie Yuling frowned.

"It's fine, it won't delay us."

Lin Mo interrupted her, his divine sense having already silently enveloped all of Yangcheng and its surrounding areas.

He saw Liu Zheng's group speeding in several cars toward the same direction.

And he also conveniently used his divine sense to see which farmhouse restaurant was the most delicious.

"The heat control at this one is lacking. What a waste of a good chicken."

"Hmm? This one is not bad. The boss raises his own free-range chickens and uses aged lychee wood that's over three years old. The roasting technique is masterful."

Lin Mo's divine sense could even accurately observe the moment the roasted chicken came out of the oven. The high heat forced the fat out from under the skin, soaking the chicken meat in the fruity wood aroma, making the outer skin crispy while the inside remained tender and juicy.

Then he would settle on this place. After resolving a few minor issues, they would go eat.

At this time, Liu Zheng and the others, who were getting closer to Licheng, were discussing the information they had found in their car.

"Another incident has been linked. Two weeks ago, a house in Xiajing Village caught fire. None of the family members made it out; they all burned to death inside."

Xia Zhi said, looking at the printed report.

"And what is the unusual part?"

"Xiajing Village is the last place the child we've been investigating was seen. Furthermore, this was originally a family of four, yet five bodies were found."

"What about the bodies?"

"They should still be at the funeral parlor. We've already told the funeral parlor staff to keep them untouched for now."

Therefore, they now had to head straight to the funeral parlor.

The car drove into Xiajing Village. The sound of tires crushing gravel over the newly paved concrete road seemed especially abrupt in the quiet village.

The village wasn't large. The afternoon sun lazily spilled over the eaves and brick walls, and the air was filled with the mixed scent of dirt and the fishy odor of ponds.

A few elders sitting by doorways playing cards and waving palm-leaf fans stopped what they were doing in unison. Their cloudy eyes all turned over, constantly scrutinizing the approaching car with the unique wariness typical of villagers.

"Uncle Zhao, just wait for us in the car."

"Understood, Young Master Lin."

Lin Mo and the four girls of varying styles stepped out of the car, immediately becoming the center of attention.

Against this dusty gray background, their glamorous appearance felt somewhat unreal.

The villagers' gazes weren't malicious, but their undisguised curiosity and sizing up still made the girls behind Lin Mo slightly uncomfortable.

After all, most of the people in this village were elderly residents. They weren't exactly rustic, but they weren't very fashionable either.

Watching the handsome young man and beautiful girls step down from the car, they were all curious about who they were looking for.

Lin Mo didn't say anything. He simply led the four of them to a small convenience store by the road with a faded sign.

The lighting inside the store was dim. The shelves were stocked with daily necessities and snacks, and the air carried a mixed scent of firecracker gunpowder and a hint of mildew.

Behind the counter, a slightly plump middle-aged woman was looking down, calculating something on an abacus. Hearing the commotion, she lifted her eyelids and cast a glance at them.

Lin Mo walked straight to the freezer and took out five glass bottles of soda, condensation still dripping from the glass.

"Boss, check please."