Investigation

The taxi came to a steady stop on the edge of the old street.

It was the early hours of the morning, and the sky had not yet brightened.

Except for the streetlights, everything was pitch black.

Zhu Yan followed the route in his memory, twisting and turning to avoid the security cameras, and climbed the old staircase of the tube-shaped apartment building.

He was finally back.

Zhu Yan walked into the small guesthouse, turned on the light, and felt a long-lost sense of relaxation and exhaustion.

The Plague Ghost's house and clothes were too dirty—he desperately needed a hot shower and a deep sleep right now.

With this thought in mind, Zhu Yan sluggishly washed up, curled up under the covers in the air-conditioned room, and fell into a heavy sleep.

Perhaps because he was too tired, Zhu Yan did not dream.

He was startled awake at 7 a.m. by a knock on the door; someone was vaguely shouting something outside.

Zhu Yan got up with sleepy eyes. As he passed the living room, he casually stuffed the clothes and documents he had left on the coffee table last night into a cabinet.

He took a few steps forward, and the person outside the door shouted again.

Only this time, Zhu Yan heard it clearly.

Hello, we are from the community!

We are here for anti-fraud promotion, is anyone home?

Zhu Yan immediately realized what was going on and almost laughed out loud.

Instances had already begun appearing sporadically in Anwu City; this was exactly the time the police department should be panicking.

At a time like this, anti-fraud promotion?

More likely they were here to conduct a sweep.

After all, locking down his general area wasn't difficult.

With a thought, Zhu Yan changed his appearance, not forgetting to hide the player mark on his palm.

Someone is here, he called out, pulling the door open.

Two men stood outside the door, wearing red vests printed with the community's name.

Zhu Yan quickly looked the two men up and down, then silently grumbled in his heart.

Damn, they came fast.

Hello.

One of them, a taller middle-aged man, greeted him politely and showed Zhu Yan his work ID.

This was none other than Captain Huang.

He faced Zhu Yan, ensuring the miniature camera on his body could capture Zhu Yan's entire face.

We are doing anti-fraud promotion, it will just take 5 minutes.

If he hadn't been staring intently at Zhu Yan's face, Zhu Yan might have believed him faster.

He gave a perfunctory nod and asked, How do you promote it?

The middle-aged man was well prepared, pulling out a stack of questionnaires and a pen.

Just cooperate and fill out a questionnaire. Then we need to record your ID card...

Looking at Zhu Yan's obvious just-woken-up appearance, he added a sentence.

Just treat it as helping us complete a task. If it's inconvenient for you, then forget it.

Huh? Zhu Yan was subconsciously stunned for a moment.

Forget it if it's inconvenient?

If it was inconvenient, he would be listed as a suspect.

He scratched his hair and smoothed things over quite naturally.

Uh... it's fine, but I have to find my ID card.

That's no problem, Captain Huang smiled very kindly. Thank you, young man.

The young man before him, from his state to his age, met all the conditions of the person they were looking for.

If you also factored in living alone, he fit the criteria even better.

Seeing that Zhu Yan had already begun to seriously lower his head to answer the questions, Captain Huang peeked slightly into the door.

Do you live alone? Where are your parents?

Oh, Zhu Yan raised his head slightly. My parents are gone.

Gone? The other, younger man sharply confirmed. What do you mean gone?

You don't look that old, your parents...

If it really was death, then the hard criteria matched up almost entirely.

Oh... Zhu Yan looked up at him and explained with a sincere attitude. My parents have passed away, sorry.

He handed the completed questionnaire back to the middle-aged man and turned to walk into the room.

Wait a moment, I'll go get my ID card.

Captain Huang and the younger man exchanged a glance, both a bit tense.

Both parents passed away, this matched up too!

If there was a problem with the ID, then this person was nine times out of ten the one.

Zhu Yan came back very quickly.

He still had that nonchalant look as he shoved an ID card into Captain Huang's hand.

Here.

Ah?

Captain Huang was a little surprised and couldn't help but pause.

Giving it just like that?

Was it truly not him, or was the other party just highly skilled and bold, betting that they wouldn't make a move?

Oh... okay, okay.

Captain Huang remained polite and did not show any abnormalities.

He looked down at the ID card; the workmanship was exquisite, with all anti-counterfeiting marks present. It was absolutely impossible for it to be a fake.

The photo on the ID card also matched the person.

The name Zhoo Yen also did not quite fit the impression of a weird name described by Guan En.

Captain Huang took out the machine in his hand and entered the ID number.

The machine did not show an error or a warning; the name that popped up was Zhoo Yen.

Captain Huang was somewhat disappointed.

He took a picture of the ID, returned it, and thanked Zhu Yan.

Thank you, young man. That's all, go back to sleep.

Zhu Yan hummed a few times in perfunctory response.

He was too sleepy.

After the front door closed, he dove into the covers and slept like a log once again.

...

Are you sure the camera captured his face clearly?

In the car, Captain Huang held his phone and confirmed with his colleague once again.

The miniature camera on him transmitted in real time, synchronizing the video to the police department's computers so that his colleagues could see it.

Completely clear? No dark shadows, no blurring?

Extremely clear, Captain Huang, the colleague said. And I can still remember his face even now. This is definitely not that player.

Captain Huang glanced somewhat irritably at the black spot on his arm.

He didn't know when this thing had appeared. After waking up in the morning, he had been startled by this large area of faint shadow.

It felt like it had the tendency to turn into a mole.

Captain Huang sighed.

Alright. This Zhoo Yen's ID number has been recorded. I'll check into his family background later.

I remember before the Devouring Villa instance started, Xiao Guan had a hint that that player would get more things?

Yes. I remember that too, the colleague said. Do you suspect he used an item?

Captain Huang let out a breath.

It's fine. I had him do the questionnaire and hold the pen, we still have biological information to verify.

Got it. Oh right, Captain Huang, I want to take the afternoon off.

The colleague's words were normal, but the content sounded a bit eerie to Captain Huang.

I grew a large patch of spots on my body, and it seems to be getting darker. I'm worried it's a skin disease, so I want to go get it checked.

...

When Zhu Yan woke up again, it was already 2 p.m.

Warm sunlight poured in through the glass, and Zhu Yan heard the pleasant chirping of birds.

The only fly in the ointment was his phone buzzing every now and then, forcefully dragging his mind into wakefulness.

Zhu Yan stretched and turned on his phone screen.

Some messages were from group chats he had joined online, while others were news push notifications from apps and notification texts from unknown numbers.

Zhu Yan unlocked his phone and first tapped into the netizen group chat that had already exploded with activity.

He received messages from this group purely because the idiotic group owner had tagged all members.

Wake up, family! All Members

Family, are any of you from Anwu City or Bailu City?

Bailu City was the place Zhu Yan had lived in all his life until recently, and his aunt still lived there.

As he slowly scrolled up through the chat history, he noticed the group admin was acting insanely excited.

"Holy crap, holy crap! I'm so hyped! I seriously think it's the end of the world!"

"Let me just lay this out first. I'm currently in Anwu City, and I have a cousin I'm pretty close with over in Bailu City."

"He just ran into something completely mind-blowing!"

This message was immediately followed by a barrage of question marks from the other group members.

"You guys all know that Anwu City hasn't been peaceful lately, right? First, there was that cannibalism case here last night, and then the sudden traffic lockdowns."

"Honestly, I think these are all just warning signs!"

"My cousin received a weird envelope. Inside, there was a badge and a skill card!"

"Whoa, he also said he heard a broadcast! He even entered some place called the Player Forum!"

"He told me that the Horror is about to descend!"