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Chapter 64 - Holiday, Upload Appraisal!
Chapter 64 - Holiday, Upload Appraisal!
Chapter 64: Chapter 64 – Holiday, Upload Appraisal!
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
April 20, Grain Rain (solar term): Auspicious day for burials, restoring graves, and planting. Inauspicious day for residence relocation, sacrifice, and breaking ground for tombs.
“Hey, stop sleeping, it’s time to go, it’s time to go!”
Rensuo, who had been sleeping on the passenger seat, woke up in an instant. He opened his eyes and saw Chen Kun knocking on the window from outside the car.
Rensuo rubbed his eyes and got down the car, saying, “Sigh, Brother Kun… I’m quite tired today.”
“You have been like this since the morning and even fell asleep face-down on your braised pork rice! Young man, you must take care of your body,” said Chen Kun.
Chen Kun sighed again and added, “It’s my fault, I shouldn’t have given you the link to the website.”
The sleepy Rensuo was too lazy to think about what Chen Kun was trying to joke about, when suddenly a familiar voice came from behind, “Rensuo, if you sway any more, you’re going to hit the lamppost!”
With a dull thud, Rensuo’s head met the hard metal of the lamppost. Immediately, laughter from two different people behind could be heard.
Rensuo turned his head to see who they were as he finally became more alert. He said, “Xiao Qiao? Wei Shao?”
Indeed, the two people behind him were Qiao Muyi and her partner, Wei Shaojun. Wei Shaojun was a handsome, short-haired girl who wore a pair of spectacles and also dressed more like a guy. The members of Team 3 of the Countermeasure Division all called her “Wei Shao”.
They exchanged greetings with Rensuo. Qiao Muyi asked, “What brings you two here?”
Rensuo looked at Chen Kun for an answer. A helpless Chen Kun said, “You’re really in such a daze… We are here to investigate what’s going on with the Long Hui Building.”
“Oh…” said Rensuo as he raised his head and looked at the construction site a short distance away. The building being constructed was over ten stories tall. He finally remembered what he was here for, saying, “The construction site that was reported to be haunted?”
“Yes,” said Chen Kun. He continued, “It was reported by the person-in-charge of the construction company. He said that there seemed to be weird sounds on the construction site during the night, and for consecutive nights, there have been workers who suddenly collapsed and die when they were doing work then. When the chief labor contractor also died in a similar way, the construction company finally decided to report the matter to the police. But the Public Security Bureau of Heitu did not manage to identify any problems and thus handed the investigation over to us.”
Apart from carrying out the orders from the higher-ups, the Countermeasure Division also had to solve unexplained supernatural mysteries. Rather, the latter was the main task of those who worked in the Countermeasure Division.
If it was an Awakened person who was causing trouble, Team 1 and Team 2 of the Countermeasure Division would take charge; otherwise, the rest of the teams would have to settle the problem.
Rensuo looked at Qiao Muyi and her partner, saying, “What brings both of you here then?”
Wei Shaojun replied, “We are handling a reported missing person case. Seven to eight children from a primary school nearby have gone missing in just half a month. We checked their location of residence and their school and found that they were all not far from this construction site. More importantly, though, was that a child told us that the missing children would play around here, near the construction site, occasionally.”
“Then it must be the same case,” said Rensuo. He shrugged and followed the rest into the construction site which was fenced up.
Numerous seals of the Public Security Bureau were hanging outside the entrance of the construction site, and the main gate was locked with a large metal chain. Rensuo and the rest did not have the key to unlock the chain, but it did not matter to them – they climbed over the wall instead.
There was not a single person on the construction site, but it was not unexpected. As much as the workers wanted to earn money, any normal person would not want to risk their lives either, after witnessing a number of their co-workers suddenly dying in their sleep. No one from the management of the construction company did not dare to appear at the construction site either. However, this made the work easier for Rensuo and the rest – they could search wherever they wanted without any hindrance.
Silently, Rensuo equipped himself with the “Clothes” skill and began searching for clues amongst the cement and rebar. He had not learned how to conduct a detective investigation before. However, for them, searching for clues naturally did not mean using their eyes to look for physical clues. If there were visible clues, they would have been found by their colleagues in the police force anyway.
As a Practitioner, they naturally depended on their mature, generated breathing currents to detect presence of Reiki onsite.
After their generated breathing currents matured, they would be particularly sensitive to changes in the flow of Reiki. If there were supernatural events that had occurred and obvious traces of Reiki were left behind, they would naturally be able to feel it.
Almost two hours passed and the sky was turning dark, but they had not found any problems. Chen Kun lamented, “It looks like we have to come back and continue with our investigation tomorrow. If we still can’t find anything tomorrow, we will have to come back the next day again then.”
Supernatural cases like the one they were working on all had an investigation deadline. If they were unable to find any leads for three consecutive days, they would give up on the investigation as they could not afford to waste manpower on such cases.
Wei Shaojun said, “Maybe it’s because the problem only happens at night?”
Rensuo looked back at the construction site under the darkening sky and said emotionlessly, “If that is the case we would have to report this up to the higher-ups and wait for approval from Team Leader to work overtime at night.”
The rest of them nodded their heads in agreement. Although the Countermeasure Division was a civil service unit, they were all originally from different departments and did not have grand, noble visions. Rather, most of them were fortunate commoners who would abide by the rules and guidelines in their work, and not embark on a risky adventure trying to uncover the “one and only truth” in the heat of the moment.
Just as they were about to leave the construction site, however, they suddenly heard a wailing from very far away.
Chen Kun’s face turned pale as he said, “This case… I think we should hand it over to Team 1 and 2.”
As Practitioners with a palm of “steel”, they were no longer as afraid of strange and mysterious occurrences, but such a supernatural case still gave them goosebumps.
The increasing prevalence of popular culture and horror movies played an instrumental role in influencing the way people viewed the world, values, and their lives. Even though they possessed combat skills much stronger than ordinary people, they were still not immune to and totally unafraid of such supernatural occurrences.
They quickly returned to the Ministry of State Security with their cars to report their findings and mark their attendance at work. When they were about to leave, Qiao Muyi suddenly turned to Rensuo and asked, “Oh, I just remembered that we are going to train at the training facility tonight, are you coming along? The members of Group 8 from our group training are all invited and we are planning to catch up with one another at the same time.”
Rensuo asked, “Eh? Why am I not aware of this?”
Qiao Muyi said, “Did you not read your WeChat messages?”
Rensuo slapped his forehead as he realized that he had been in a daze since he turned off the Small World game console the night before and spent a sleepless night thereafter. He had been half asleep throughout the entire day and naturally was not aware of the meeting.
Rensuo agreed, although he originally wanted to decline the invitation but also did not want to return home too early that day. He rode the subway with Qiao Muyi to the stadium in Tianhe District.
“We agreed to meet at 7.30 p.m. so we still have some time before that. Shall we eat first?” suggested Qiao Muyi.
Rensuo had no reason to decline and they decided to eat fried chicken at a KFC fast food stall.
Throughout the entire meal, Rensuo appeared to be preoccupied and weighed down with trouble, prompting Qiao Muyi to ask, “Did anything happen? Do you need any help?”
I am thinking if I should do it… Rensuo looked at Qiao Muyi and casually asked, “Would you be willing to help?”
“Eh?” said Qiao Muyi. She had only asked casually but noticed that Rensuo seemed to be asking a serious question. She slowly swayed her head from side to side and said, “It depends on what help you need… Between the both of us, I am willing to help you with a 500-dollar matter, at the most.”
“A 500-dollar matter?” asked a slightly dazed Rensuo.
Qiao Muyi explained, “Yes, this is how I group my friends. 500 dollars means I am willing to lend you up to 500 dollars. It is alright if you end up not returning the money to me, but we will never be friends again.”
“That’s such a straightforward way to determine the value of your friends…” murmured Rensuo under his breath. He asked, “What about Wei Shaojun then?”
“1250 dollars, I suppose,” said Qiao Muyi. “So, how much do you want to borrow from me?”
Who knew that the value was so precise, to the tens digit… Rensuo shook his head and said, “No, it actually does not have anything to do with you, but if you really want to know –”
“No, I don’t want to know,” interrupted an unfeeling Qiao Muyi. She continued, dealing another blow to Rensuo, “It’s about time, let’s go… over…”
As Qiao Muyi was about to finish her sentence, her body suddenly slanted to one side and was about to fall over. Fortunately, Rensuo reacted in time and held her up, or else she would definitely have fell right to the ground.
“I…” said Qiao Muyi. Her face was extremely pale and Rensuo began feeling a repulsive force from his hands which made him release Qiao Muyi from his grip.
Qiao Muyi had initiated her “Clothes” ability!
In theory, “Clothes” was able to repel all negative forces around the user, but it did not appear to have much effect as Qiao Muyi sat on the chair, her face dripping with sweat. She persisted in holding onto the table for more than ten seconds, but suddenly closed her eyes and passed out.
“What happened?”
“Should I call the ambulance?”
The customers who were sitting at the tables around them asked quickly when they saw Qiao Muyi suddenly pass out when she was energetic and alive just moments ago.
Rensuo immediately understood the gravity of the situation. He carried Qiao Muyi up from the chair and ran downstairs immediately. He quickly flagged down a taxi and told the driver the address of the Third Affliated Hospital of Lianjiang Medical University.
The driver asked, “Is this an emergency? We would need at least one hour to get there, why not go to a closer hospital?”
Rensuo said, “This is a recurring disease and only that hospital has the imported medical equipment to treat it. Please get there as quickly as possible!”
Rensuo knew that Qiao Muyi was afflicted with some damaging form of Reiki and it was no use going to an ordinary hospital. Only that hospital which specially dealt with and studied Practitioners and those who were Awakened would be able to save Qiao Muyi’s life!
The construction site, the wailing, and the sudden deaths…
Although Rensuo could not be certain if the problem at the construction site was related to the wailing, he was sure the truth was not far from it. Qiao Muyi had activated “Clothes” but was not able to protect herself from it, making it obvious that the mysterious force hidden at the construction site was definitely not part of a typical supernatural incident.
To put it simply, they must have encountered a highly-skilled entity at the construction site previously.
As the taxi sped towards the hospital, Rensuo informed You Xulong of what happened to Qiao Muyi, who said he would inform the hospital immediately. At the same time, the Long Hui Building case would be handed over to Team 1 and 2 of the Countermeasure Division.
Amidst the rush, it was fortunate that Qiao Muyi was a Practitioner herself and was able to slightly resist whatever mysterious force was affecting her. When they arrived at the hospital, she was still able to maintain an extremely weak breathing. The doctors and nurses who were already waiting at the main gate of the hospital quickly rushed Qiao Muyi into the hospital for emergency resuscitation on a stretcher.
Rensuo wanted to enter the hospital but the doctor whom he met before, Yao Meilu, stopped him. She said, “Don’t worry, she will be fine once she goes in. Although this is a rare incident, we have previously encountered similar cases before and have already developed a complete treatment plan. Practitioners like you cannot enter the hospital if there is no official business.”
Seeing that Yao Meilu, who was a professional medical personnel, was extremely confident and serious, Rensuo had no reason to believe her. Furthermore, Rensuo did not want to enter the hospital which was an area devoid of Reiki…
At this moment, he received another call from You Xulong.
He said, “Members from Team 2 of the Countermeasure Division have went to investigate the construction site, and they are still investigating. Those who entered the construction site today are Qiao Muyi, Wei Shaojun, Chen Kun, and you. The Deputy Director has instructed the remaining three of you, excluding Qiao Muyi, to temporarily join Team 2 in their investigation into this construction site incident.”
You Xulong then gave Rensuo the contact number of Lu Luo, the Assistant Team Leader of Team 2, saying, “The Deputy Director must think that there is some special information on you to let you all continue taking charge of this incident… Don’t worry, at the most, Team 2 would only ask for your assistance in their investigation and would not make you do much work.”
Rensuo returned to the city centre on the taxi he had arrived at the hospital in as he called Lu Luo.
“Hello, is this Lu Luo, the Assistant Team Leader of Team 2? I am Rensuo from Team 3…” started Rensuo.
Lu Luo interrrupted Rensuo, saying, “You’re Rensuo? Great, although the Deputy Director has given orders, but we Team 2 do not require any of your help.”
Rensuo was slightly confused and said, “But…”
“Please convey the message to the other two members, just don’t come and bother us. We, Team 2, will handle and close this case perfectly. That’s all,” said Lu Luo.
Rensuo looked at his phone and his thoughts were in a mess.
They truly don’t need much of our help.
In fact, they totally don’t need us to work for them.
Rensuo informed the other two members of the news, and was puzzled:
Team 3 had instructed me to work for Team 2,
But Team 2 does not need me to work,
So… I don’t need to work, then I am on leave?
————
By the time Rensuo reached home, it was past 11 p.m.
He immediately turned the Small World game console on and opened the “Inventory”.
It was empty, except for two keys.
One was a “1-star wind blade key”, and another was a “1-star resentful key”!
The first key was the one Rensuo had retrieved from Wu Jianming, the junior high school student, and the second key was the one he had just retrieved from Qiao Muyi!
When Rensuo had rushed Qiao Muyi to the hospital earlier, he had a full hour during the taxi journey. Furthermore, Qiao Muyi was barely conscious. Although Rensuo had no such intention earlier, he already fulfilled the time required for him to retrieve the key halfway through the journey!
That was perhaps an unexpected gain, although the only reason he could obtain the key was because Qiao Muyi was unlucky today…
Rensuo looked at the time and realized it was 11.30 p.m.
15 minutes more and the day would be over.
Should I buy it? Should I buy it?
If I miss the promotion today, there would not be any discount anymore!
The reason why Rensuo could not sleep the previous night and remained dazed and unfocused for the entire day was simply because he was considering if he should buy it!
Should I buy it? Or should I not buy it?
It was now 11.40 p.m.
Rensuo looked at the screen and took out a coin. He decided to let fate decide if he should buy it or not.
Heads and he would buy it, tails and he would not.
Rensuo flicked the coin with his thumb. Just as the coin was dropping back down, he reached out and grabed the coin.
He took a deep breath, and a wave of relief rushed over him.
The moment he flicked the coin, Rensuo already made a decision.
Rensuo –
He was a gamer,
And merit points could be earned again,
But it was not everyday that a discount would be given!
More importantly, Rensuo really wanted that specialized reward!
Bought it!
Although he had decided to buy it, Rensuo quickly immediately entered the game “Over My Dead Body” and uploaded the game save.
The game rewards would have to make up for the insufficient merit points!