The black van slowly pulled up in front of the villa. Lin Qiye and Hongying got out of the van and pushed open the door to enter.
The familiar living room, the familiar sofa, the familiar bedroom... everything was the same as when they left, without the slightest change.
"You should pack your things. It seems the captain isn't finished with his work yet." Hongying glanced at the time, frowned, and said, "Weren't we just supposed to get a feel for the situation...? How come the whole afternoon has passed and there's still no progress? Is the captain deliberately stalling because he doesn't want to cook dinner?"
"Sister Hongying, are we having lunch at the firm today?"
"Yeah, the captain prepared the food last night, saying he wanted to welcome you and celebrate your official joining of Squad 136. I guess dinner will turn into a midnight snack." Hongying sighed helplessly.
Lin Qiye nodded, dragged his suitcase back to his room to pack, and about half an hour later, Hongying's voice came from downstairs.
"Qiye, are you ready? You can go eat now!"
"They've arrived."
Lin Qiye put the straight sword and cloak into the house, and kept the emblem close to his body. Then he quickly walked down the stairs, got into the car, and drove towards the agency.
A few minutes later.
Ding-dong!
Welcome!
Lin Qiye pushed open the door of the agency and found that apart from Chen Muye who was busy in the kitchen, the other team members were already sitting at the table. When they saw Lin Qiye walk in, a smile appeared on their lips.
Lin Qiye stopped at the door, took a deep breath, and said:
"Lin Qiye and Lin Xi Chen, Night Watch Squad 136, reporting for duty!"
The group exchanged glances, their smiles widening. Wu Xiangnan turned to the side and called out to the kitchen, "Captain Chen, a new recruit has arrived."
The noise in the kitchen suddenly subsided. Chen Muye came out of the kitchen, carefully looked Lin Qiye over for a while, and said with a smile, "Alright, we're Squad 136, we don't have so many rules. Go sit down, the food will be ready in a bit."
Lin Qiye walked to his seat and sat down, eanwhile, Lin Xi Chen chose to sit near Si Xiaonan so they could easily chat. Wen Qimo patted him on the shoulder and said gently, "It's good that you're back. The night watch teams in those big cities have so many rules and regulations, and their tasks are heavy with a high casualty rate. They can't compare to our Cangnan."
Leng Xuan looked into Lin Qiye's eyes and calmly said, "A temporary setback is not important. Gold will always shine."
Lin Qiye was taken aback, feeling both amused and exasperated.
The members of Squad 136 still think their performance in the training camp wasn't ideal, and they're trying to comfort them in various ways... I guess I should explain it to them.
Just as Lin Qiye was about to speak, Hongying asked first.
"Wu Xiangnan, what have you been doing all afternoon? Why are you only finishing now?"
The moment this question was raised, everyone's attention was drawn to it. After all, the arrival of a human genius in Cangnan was a major event.
Wu Xiangnan shook his head bitterly, "The work report only lasted ten minutes, and for the remaining hours, he kept us chatting and drinking tea... I really don't know what he was thinking."
After speaking, Wu Xiangnan glanced at Chen Muye in the kitchen, seemingly unintentionally.
During the last ten minutes of their conversation, Wu Xiangnan was deliberately distracted by Chen Muye. He actually suspected that the teacher had spent the entire afternoon drinking tea with them just for these ten minutes.
But... what could one of the five greatest human beings possibly have to talk about with a captain of the Night Watch from an ordinary small city?
Although Wu Xiangnan was puzzled, he didn't say anything or ask. If Chen Muye could have told him about this, he would have already.
Now, he can only pretend that this never happened.
"Did he leave Cangnan?" Hongying continued to ask."I don't know. His whereabouts are beyond our ability to guess," Wu Xiangnan shrugged.
"Idiot."
"...?"
Just as their eyes met, Lin Qiye looked at Wen Qimo and suddenly spoke:
"By the way, I heard there's been another 'mysterious' thing appearing in the city?"
"It's still unclear." Wen Qimo sighed. "This morning, someone reported that a body was found in the backyard of a tavern in the east of the city. The victim's ten fingers were severed, and the body was nailed to the wall. The way the body died was extremely gruesome, as if the victim had witnessed some extremely terrifying scene."
Lin Qiye nodded thoughtfully, "Based on this alone, it's indeed difficult to determine whether it's 'mysterious' or not..."
"But the problem is that this is the fourth death this month. The previous three deaths had no connection with this one and there was no pattern to their lives, but the manner of death was exactly the same, and even the facial expressions were the same."
"The police investigated the case for a long time but still had no clue. What truly convinced them of the involvement of supernatural forces was this morning's case."
Wen Qimo frowned slightly and spoke with a grave expression, "According to the clues we got from the police, the tavern was holding a party on the night of the incident. After recording the party with a video camera, the tavern owner forgot to turn it off and left it on the bar. The camera was pointed directly at the door leading to the backyard, which is where the victim was nailed to the wall."
"Was the whole thing filmed?"
"That's the problem. The process was indeed filmed, but... the whole thing was too bizarre!" Wen Qimo took a sip of tea and continued.
"In the scene, there was no one else besides the deceased. He suddenly and eerily floated up, and iron nails on the ground flew up automatically, nailing into his limbs and heart. Then, his ten fingers seemed to be gnawed by something, and disappeared in a few seconds."
After hearing Wen Qimo's description, Si Xiaonan felt goosebumps all over her body, and her face turned a little pale.
"No wonder... this really doesn't seem like something a human could do." Wu Xiangnan nodded. "Did you make any progress today?"
"...No, this matter is too bizarre, I... don't know where to begin." Wen Qimo scratched his head somewhat awkwardly, "Besides, we also have to be constantly on guard against'secret thieves'."
"A thief of secrets?" Lin Qiye was taken aback.
"Didn't I tell you before that every time we wipe out a mysterious creature, a part of its corpse mysteriously disappears?" Hongying explained. "So far, he has stolen parts of four mysterious creatures, so let's call him the 'Mystery Thief' for now."
"You still haven't caught him?" Lin Qiye asked in surprise.
"No, his whereabouts are too strange. Half a year ago, after the lizard's corpse was stolen, we cleared out a frost vine from the 'Chuan' realm. The team responsible for transporting the vine's corpse was attacked halfway, and everyone in the vehicle was knocked unconscious. When they woke up, half of the vine's corpse had disappeared."