Yin Chen had been hiding inside the gas cylinder for a long time.
He admitted that, out of a certain subtle and childish impulse, he had originally wanted to make a flashy entrance.
The plan was as follows.
He would lie in wait near the suspicious NPC ahead of time. Then, when Song Zang encountered danger and was frightened until his eyes filled with tears and his body trembled, Yin Chen would transform into a dazzling, blazing, terrifying inferno and make a brilliant entrance.
He would roast the NPC into a miserable blackened human stump, then forcefully warm Song Zang’s damp, chilled cheeks and maybe sneak a couple of licks.
A hero saving the beauty. So cool.
But Yin Chen was soon forced to abandon that idea.
Not only had Song Zang already discovered that he was hiding in the gas cylinder, but… when Song Zang stared at him with flushed cheeks and curved his lips into that brilliant smile, it was too strange.
Beautiful, attractive, yes.
But inexplicably eerie too. And a little perverted.
Yin Chen felt his scalp prickle under Song Zang’s stare.
He felt like Song Zang wanted to eat him.
Song Zang had not been like this before. What crucial information was missing from his memories? Just what kind of relationship had they become?
Of course, after thinking himself in circles and finding no answer, Yin Chen did ultimately succeed in making his flashy entrance.
Irritated, he slipped into the police car and suddenly transformed into a savage mass of sinister blue flame, wrapping tightly around Zhang Da Qiang, whose expression changed drastically, and giving him no chance to escape.
Blood boiled. Flesh roasted and charred. Layer after layer melted eerily away inside the invisible flames, creating a spectacular visual effect.
Amid Yang Mei’s terrified, piercing screams, Yin Chen burned the man completely away.
Only several dozen large yellow teeth, still threaded with blood, remained. They scattered through the air with a clatter onto the leather seat.
Zhang Da Qiang, a key suspect in a major case, died just like that, ignominiously.
No. More accurately, he had died long ago.
An evil force no one had noticed had been hiding inside his rotting, foul-smelling brain for a long time, parasitizing the dense network of hundreds of billions of neurons and controlling his every word and action.
That force was not strong, especially against living people.
It was like an annoying fly or mosquito. Maybe it could transmit a stomach bug and give you diarrhea, maybe it could sting you and leave a few itchy welts… but as long as a person’s mental state remained stable, its existence did little harm.
Yin Chen, however, knew perfectly well that from a player’s perspective, things like this that could neither be seen nor touched were the most troublesome to deal with.
So he simply exterminated it completely, preventing the invisible force from taking the chance to escape, find another route, and continue parasitizing someone else’s brain to wreak havoc.
“So cool…”
When the dust settled and Yin Chen heard Song Zang murmur in admiration, all the irritation in his heart vanished.
He immediately shrank down into a snow-white baby cobra and landed with a tiny pat in Song Zang’s palm.
He remembered that Song Zang really liked this form.
His slender, cool tail wrapped around Song Zang’s wrist, rubbing and sliding against the delicate skin with practiced ease. Yin Chen narrowed his scarlet vertical pupils in contentment.
Who could have expected that in the very next instant, Song Zang’s reaction would make Yin Chen freeze completely?
Song Zang’s cheeks flushed. Pinching the little snake’s head, he stroked down its body again and again, completely unable to stop himself from manhandling him.
“Baby, you’re so cute…”
Song Zang was wildly excited. His breathing deepened slightly, his voice deliberately soft and gentle, while his perverted behavior was utterly undisguised, almost kneading the cold-blooded animal until his entire body grew hot.
“Baby, baby, pretty little soft white snake. Oh my god, I want to bite you to death in one bite.”
Song Zang really did want to eat him!
What the hell was going on?!
Yin Chen was profoundly shaken. Song Zang’s repeated touching gave him a strangely subtle tingling sensation that made him involuntarily want to relax, even to surrender control of his body and let Song Zang play with him however he wanted.
Habit had become instinctive trust. Yin Chen thought this in disbelief and reflexively curled his body, only for Song Zang to force him straight again, soft fingertips pressing into the snow-white scales and rubbing hard…
His tail went rigid from all the handling. He bared sharp fangs and lightly sank them into the web of Song Zang’s thumb in an attempt to threaten him, but obviously, resistance was useless.
Song Zang was not afraid of him at all. He even smiled and told him to bite a few more times, praising how cute and pretty he was and saying even his venomous fangs were adorable.
What was adorable about venomous fangs? Yin Chen’s whole body went weak, attacked from front and back. In the end, he could only collapse lifelessly in Song Zang’s palm and stare into space… He would let Song Zang get his fill of playing with him first.
There was no helping it. Song Zang really did miss him.
And the smooth, snow-white little venomous snake really was adorable.
Song Zang felt entirely justified. Cute aggression was a psychological phenomenon everyone experienced. He was unable to resist an adorable version of Yin Chen. Completely normal!
Of course, Chen Jing Sheng and Yang Mei did not think so.
Because aside from Song Zang, no one could see Yin Chen’s existence.
From beginning to end, Chen Jing Sheng had only felt invisible waves of terrifying heat flood the police car. He had watched Zhang Da Qiang’s flesh rapidly melt away before his own eyes, burned by such extreme temperatures that it turned to ash and evaporated into nothing.
Sweat covered Chen Jing Sheng from the heat, stinging his eyes. He was just about to ask Song Zang what was happening when he turned his head and looked…
Song Zang’s face was flushed, the curve of his lips slightly frightening, his black eyes glittering with a strange, excited light. His long, pale fingers repeatedly toyed with empty air as he kept speaking softly to nothing, communicating with who knew what.
Chen Jing Sheng’s vision almost went black. He badly wanted to faint on the spot. With a grave expression, he tightened his grip on the steering wheel so he would not lose control and flip the entire car.
He forced down the unease in his heart, kept his eyes fixed straight ahead on the traffic light, and tentatively asked in a low voice, “Brother Song, are you okay?”
Song Zang tilted his head slightly, smiling brilliantly. “Everything’s fine now. My baby came to find me.”
“…The one from the TV?” Chen Jing Sheng froze.
“That’s right. He’s the one who killed Zhang Da Qiang. The light’s green. Stop spacing out. The sooner we go, the sooner we get back.” Song Zang was in a wonderful mood. He pinched the little snake’s pretty tail and urged him on with a smile.
Chen Jing Sheng relaxed slightly.
He had been terrified that Song Zang had inexplicably gone insane too. If that happened, the players would not be far from a total wipeout.
Seeing was believing. The strange man on the television had genuinely appeared, and everyone had seen him clearly. He definitely was not a delusion produced by Song Zang losing his mind… Thank god. As long as Song Zang had not gone crazy.
Chen Jing Sheng put away his worry, stepped on the accelerator, and sped toward their destination.
＊
Anning Police Station was neither particularly large nor particularly small.
The interior facilities had been renovated many times and had everything they ought to have, while the building’s exterior still faintly showed the wear of passing years.
The staff parking lot was packed with police cars and sedans bearing out-of-province plates. Several more vehicles simply could not fit and had been neatly parked along the roadside. The scale of the response showed just how seriously the authorities were taking the suicide case.
Yang Mei had been frightened senseless. When Chen Jing Sheng grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the police car, she was almost eager to go.
At this point, she would rather live in a detention cell than go back alone. Pale and panicked, she said, “Officer, you saw it, right? There’s a ghost. There really is a ghost. There’s a ghost in your car…”
Song Zang took the opportunity to collect the teeth from the back seat and stuff them into his pocket.
He wore a mask to hide his rather eye-catching pretty face and quietly followed behind Chen Jing Sheng into Anning Police Station.
The station was packed with people. The newly arrived investigation team kept holding meetings over and over, while temporarily reassigned officers handled residents’ reports. Unfamiliar with the work environment, everyone was busy, confused, and running around at full speed.
Chen Jing Sheng took advantage of the chaos to avoid notice and brought Song Zang into Lin Yao’s office.
“Brother Song, drink some water first. I’ll register Yang Mei. The interrogation room is right next to the office and has one-way glass, so you can listen from outside.”
“Okay.”
Chen Jing Sheng turned away and also pretended to be extremely busy, walking everywhere at a furious pace.
He hurriedly called over the forensic staff and told them to process the pieces of flesh and identify the victims, then pulled in a newly transferred patrol officer to help him take the statement.
Song Zang did not drink any water. Sitting in Lin Yao’s seat, he cracked the computer password, opened the special investigation team’s personnel roster, and rapidly scanned their personal information.
He had a feeling he would continue dealing with this group.
Yin Chen silently jumped onto the desk, wrapped his tail around a tiny Bluetooth speaker, and fixed Song Zang with his cold scarlet vertical pupils.
“Hiss!”
The little snake flicked out his thin blood-red tongue and tapped the speaker with his tail, apparently wanting to tell Song Zang something.
His baby was unbearably cute. Song Zang smiled and obligingly picked up the speaker, holding it against his ear.
The next instant, electrical static burst out of the speaker.
After repeatedly adjusting the frequency, Yin Chen finally managed to speak.
He talked very quickly. “Song Zang, that invisible force controlling Zhang Da Qiang wasn’t an isolated case. It’s like a brain virus in parasitic form, but it has some degree of intelligence and can come and go freely. Your little player friends could be parasitized at any time.”
“But don’t think you can rely on me to solve it. I only know how to kill people. I don’t know how to cure illness.”
Bzzzt!
The moment he finished, the Bluetooth speaker short-circuited under the strain. A thin curl of black smoke rose from it, and it nearly exploded beside Song Zang’s ear.
Song Zang meaningfully pinched the little snake’s head and set the hot, ruined speaker back where it had been.
“Got it. Don’t worry.”
Of course he would not rely entirely on Yin Chen. Song Zang had always had a sense of what was going on with those invisible forces.
Song Zang simply preferred… waiting for his prey to come to him.
He checked the time, estimated it was about right, then opened his system interface and entered the player group chat created the night before.
[Song Zang: @Xiao Xiao Xiao @Ye Xiao Xi, how are things? Has Lin Yao woken up?]
[Ye Xiao Xi: Hehehe, hehe… save me hehehe!]
[Song Zang: @Xiao Xiao Xiao, where are you?]
[Xiao Xiao Xiao: Lin Yao woke up! It’s hard to explain everything right now. Brother Song, come back quickly! She thinks she’s a bride!]
[Song Zang: Don’t panic. Play along with her for now and improvise. Call her Yang Mei. Her husband is Zhang Da Qiang, the married couple from the fifteenth floor. Remember that.]
[Song Zang: If you genuinely can’t keep acting, hack her to death. Trust your own strength. I sharpened all the kitchen knives. Hack until she’s dead.]
[Song Zang: If I get any more clues, I’ll tell you right away.]
[Xiao Xiao Xiao: Okay! I can do it!]
…
Ten minutes earlier.
Ye Xiao Xi was bent over the toilet, vomiting large chunks of bloody raw flesh.
More and more and more.
An endless stream of raw meat clogged her throat and esophagus. She had never eaten any of it, yet cold, gamey flesh kept surging violently up from her stomach.
Ye Xiao Xi vomited until her eyes were bloodshot. Her vocal cords, burned by stomach acid, had become weak and hoarse. Her head felt weightless and dizzy, while endless fear and intense panic rose inside her.
Xiao Xiao Xiao stood beside her in frightened helplessness, pouring her water, wiping away sweat, asking if she was all right… but unable to truly help her.
A twisted, uncontrollable malicious thought abruptly surfaced in Ye Xiao Xi’s mind.
If only Brother Jing Sheng were here.
If Brother Jing Sheng were here, he would hold her, comfort her, pat her back and help her breathe, and use the best and fastest method to stop her vomiting.
Instead of handing her a useless towel and a cup of warm water that might choke her to death.
Eyes red, Ye Xiao Xi rasped sarcastically, “You want to watch me die here, don’t you? Song Zang wants to steal him from me, and you want to steal him too?”
“…Xiao Xi, what are you talking about?”
“Heh. Forget it if you don’t understand.”
Xiao Xiao Xiao looked completely baffled. She blinked, then suddenly exclaimed in delight, “Oh! You finally stopped vomiting! Brother Song has stomach medicine at home. Come on, come on. Let’s go back and take two pills. You can lie down and rest.”
Carefree as ever, she helped Ye Xiao Xi back to Song Zang’s apartment, only to stop in astonishment at the entrance.
Lin Yao was awake.
At some unknown point, she had sat up by herself on the sofa. Wearing women’s slippers, she frowned as she examined the furniture in Song Zang’s home.
“This is our marital home? Why is it so small?”
“The curtains are pale green linen with white gauze? This isn’t what we agreed on, is it?”
Wearing heavy bridal makeup, Lin Yao slowly wandered around the living room, tilting her head and loudly complaining to someone invisible, a few coy traces of a smile appearing in her eyes.
There was no one else in the room.
Who had put the makeup on her?
Xiao Xiao Xiao tugged at the dizzy Ye Xiao Xi and lowered her voice. “Don’t go over there. Let’s run…”
Before she finished speaking, Ye Xiao Xi suddenly tore her hand away, shoved Xiao Xiao Xiao into the apartment, then turned, slammed the security door shut from the outside, and ran.
Xiao Xiao Xiao stared in utter disbelief.
“Who are you? The designer?” Lin Yao suddenly turned her head.
Xiao Xiao Xiao hurriedly asked Song Zang for help and forced herself to answer, “I-I’m the designer.”
But Lin Yao was already getting angry. She scolded her imperiously, “How did you design this living room? There’s not even room on the wall for our wedding portrait, and there’s no nursery. Where is the baby supposed to live after we have children?!”
Rustle!
The curtains moved without wind. Beneath the thick old-fashioned mascara and deathly pale foundation, the anger blazing in Lin Yao’s eyes suddenly became hideous and eerie, openly revealing murderous intent.
It looked as if the slightest disagreement would make her kill someone.
Xiao Xiao Xiao knew she could not run anymore, and instead stopped being afraid.
Gathering her courage, she moved closer while subtly shifting toward the kitchen. “I’m very sorry, Ms. Yang. We can still negotiate the specific details…”
“Call me Mrs. Zhang!”
“Of course, Mrs. Zhang. I’m very sorry for the inconvenience. May I ask what style of nursery you want? During the preliminary design process, Mr. Zhang never communicated any needs in that area to us.”
“What?! Zhang Da Qiang, are you trying to die?!”
By redirecting the disaster toward someone else, Xiao Xiao Xiao successfully stood off to the side and watched the show, secretly messaging Song Zang to report that she was safe.
Song Zang was not surprised. He had already suspected something like this.
In front of him, Ye Xiao Xi would never expose any malice or abnormality. Even Lin Yao might refuse to wake.
Only after he left would a string of changes be more likely to occur.
Because the dangerous things hidden in the shadows clearly possessed some degree of independent intelligence.
And Song Zang was too strong. His advantage in raw power was overwhelming.
Aside from the true body of [Happiness Community], Song Zang was confident that any monster daring to show itself could be killed by him alone.
That was why leaving Xiao Xiao Xiao and Ye Xiao Xi alone together as bait was the most suitable choice.
After all, this was only a rookie instance.
When danger appeared, rookie players could directly use weapons to fight back or simply turn and run as fast as possible.
Or… they could comply with various unknown rules and borrow one force to strike another.
There were many ways to stay alive. If they could not handle even the monsters here, then even if Song Zang protected them all the way through this instance, they would still die horribly once they entered formal instances.
Xiao Xiao Xiao was fairly capable. She kept Lin Yao occupied while continuing to send Song Zang live updates, with plenty of room to spare.
Standing outside the interrogation room, Song Zang read the constantly updating group chat while dividing his attention to listen to Chen Jing Sheng’s interrogation.
Chen Jing Sheng did not obsess over the exact source of the raw meat. He focused entirely on the married couple’s past.
“Why haven’t you and Zhang Da Qiang gone home for five years?”
Yang Mei froze. She clearly had not expected such a sudden question. After hesitating for a long time, she answered in a trembling voice, “Zhang Da Qiang didn’t want to. He said the apartment was haunted and we had to move.”
“Haunted? Do you have evidence?”
“N-No. He said as long as we moved away and stopped living in Happiness Community, he’d do whatever I wanted, even if we still set up our stall right beside the community… But if I said one more word about the apartment, he’d beat me half to death. He’d beat me viciously.”
It sounded absurd.
Puzzled, Chen Jing Sheng asked, “Zhang Da Qiang has a history of domestic violence and his mental state is unstable. Why did you stay with him?”
Yang Mei smiled. “He works hard and makes money!”
Chen Jing Sheng did not quite believe her. He glared, slammed the table with a vicious expression, and roared, “Tell me the fucking truth!”
Yang Mei jolted in fright.
“…I can’t escape. He’s very traditional. He’ll only have one woman his entire life. The moment I think about leaving him, he comes looking for me and beats me half to death all over again.”
Yang Mei rolled up her sleeve, revealing bruises layered across her arm, some old and some new. Her arm was not the only place. Every part of her body covered by clothing had been beaten at least once. One time he had even broken her leg. She truly did not dare call the police, and no matter what she tried, she could not escape on her own.
She sniffed and forced a helpless smile. “But Officer, if you really want the truth, I did stay for the money too. You have no idea how good Zhang Da Qiang is at making money. From morning to night, he works without sleeping and makes money for me. I planned to save it all so we could buy our child a home someday.”
Chen Jing Sheng steadied himself and gradually drew out more detailed information.
It turned out Zhang Da Qiang and Yang Mei had left a perfectly good apartment empty and spent all their time living in the temporary workers’ shanties by the steelworks, flimsy structures thrown together haphazardly in an urban village.
The two of them also worked extremely hard, setting up stalls everywhere. In the morning they sold freshly cooked breakfast beside Happiness Community, at noon they sold boxed meals to workers near the shanties, and at night they went to the night market to sell pre-marinated braised foods and chicken feet. They stayed frantically busy and made a fairly substantial income.
Zhang Da Qiang handled sourcing and preparing all the ingredients, as well as doing the cooking.
Yang Mei’s only job was to call for customers, serve dishes, clear plates, collect money, and count it.
As long as she did not mention Happiness Community and did not actively try to escape, Zhang Da Qiang was very permissive toward Yang Mei in everyday life.
He tolerated her hitting and scolding him, handed over all the money, and buried himself in work. Described out of context, he could even sound like a relatively ideal husband.
Of course, Zhang Da Qiang was not the only one with serious problems in that relationship. Yang Mei was strange too.
After repeatedly confirming her personal information, Chen Jing Sheng asked as if casually, “You two don’t have children, and you’re approaching menopause. When exactly are you planning to try for a baby? Who are you saving all this money to buy a house for?”
The more he spoke, the more aggressive his pressure became, but it worked.
“…Who says I don’t have a child? I have a child! I have a child! I have a child!”
Yang Mei suddenly shouted it three times like a madwoman, her face twisting. Without waiting for Chen Jing Sheng to speak, she continued screaming hysterically, “Xinjiang City Third People’s Hospital! Director Guo Jian Chun from obstetrics and gynecology! She delivered my baby!!! Her! She can prove it!”
The table fixed to the floor rattled under the force of her shackled hands, a frightening sound.
“Brother Chen,” the patrol officer taking notes hesitated, “the suspect’s emotions are unstable. Maybe…”
Chen Jing Sheng did not speak. His gaze drifted toward the one-way glass.
[Don’t stop. Keep going. She can’t hurt you.]
Playing with the little snake’s tail, Song Zang sent him a message.
Chen Jing Sheng glanced down at it and nodded almost imperceptibly.
He stared into Yang Mei’s bloodshot eyes. “Your medical records show that you were diagnosed as infertile at twenty-five. When you were younger, psychological factors caused a case of pseudocyesis. Medication and psychiatric counseling improved it.”
“Yang Mei, did you never go back to psychiatry for a follow-up? You’re sick again. And you have never been pregnant.”
“Aaah! Ah! Go die!! Guo Jian Chun, go die!!”
Yang Mei completely lost her reason and could no longer answer any questions normally.
She slammed her head against the table and repeated the same two points over and over.
She had a child. She had truly given birth to a child.
And she hated obstetrics director Guo Jian Chun, viciously cursing her to die.
The temporary patrol officer dragged in to take the statement was frightened senseless and hurriedly suggested that Chen Jing Sheng contact a psychiatrist.
“Fine. Go check the staff records at Third People’s Hospital. Find out which psychiatrist diagnosed her pseudocyesis and bring that person and Guo Jian Chun in together.”
“Yes!”
After receiving the order, the patrol officer practically fled. Chen Jing Sheng remained where he was, unhurriedly prodding at Yang Mei’s fragile nerves, hoping to dig out different clues while he had the chance.
At the same time, a tall man in a black trench coat walked into Anning Police Station alongside Officer Sun.
His appearance made the station abruptly fall into a strange silence.
The man curved his lips and waved, separating from Officer Sun halfway inside and strolling deeper into the building.
He stopped briefly outside Lin Yao’s office, then slowly walked over to Song Zang.
“Who are you?” Hands in his pockets, he tilted his head as he asked.
Song Zang turned toward the voice and met the man’s gaze.
Upturned phoenix eyes, lips red as cinnabar, an elegantly high nose casting a shadow over the cold-pale side of his face.
An impeccably handsome man. And once again, exactly Yin Chen’s type.
Song Zang had an almost trauma-like reaction and instantly thought of that deranged lunatic Xu Ming.
Speaking of which… could Yin Chen’s sudden memory confusion have something to do with Xu Ming?
That branch of reasoning immediately opened up. Song Zang suddenly felt Xu Ming was the most suspicious possibility.
Because Xu Ming was a living creature.
Yet he had been forcibly placed inside Yin Chen’s storage space.
That should have been impossible. It violated the game’s rules.
He was like a ticking time bomb. Carrying a living NPC out of an instance was bound to have many hidden consequences.
Unfortunately, Yin Chen had never mentioned it, and Song Zang had no experience. He had no idea what might happen.
Song Zang badly wanted to go home right now and properly discuss every possible cause of Yin Chen’s amnesia with him.
But… the man in front of him had latched onto him.
Xu Qing, captain of the First Brigade under Lin Province’s Major Crimes Unit, Special Confidentiality Division.
Xu Qing’s hometown was Xinjiang City, and his birthplace just happened to be Happiness Community.
He was only in his early twenties. While still a minor, he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, but later, after doctors reassessed him, they said it had been a misdiagnosis.
Xu Qing had an odd, difficult personality, but when it came to solving cases, he possessed extraordinary talent, almost as if aided by divine intervention.
At ten years old, he exposed a serial killer at his school, who received the death penalty.
At fifteen, he exposed a serial killer in the old city district, who received the death penalty.
During university, he exposed several serial killers operating across cities and provinces, all of whom received the death penalty.
Every case Xu Qing personally solved was a major case, and every criminal was sentenced to immediate execution. To this day, not one remained alive.
Song Zang had deliberately looked him up in Lin Yao’s office. Among public-security personnel, Xu Qing was nicknamed the Most Beautiful Butcher in China.
His surname matched Xu Ming’s, and his history was so dramatic that Song Zang naturally did not dare lower his guard.
Without saying a word, Song Zang skillfully activated the third ability of [Mask], conveniently using it to test whether this was one of them.
The man’s pupils contracted. He said softly, “Who are you? I want to become your pursuer.”
Song Zang: …
Yin Chen bit his wrist. It hurt.