sinovels Chapter 105 Knocking on the Door at Midnight
Chapter 105 Knocking on the Door at Midnight
Chapter 105 Knocking on the Door at Midnight (5k)
When Li Jiuhe set up the mission to leave the Dragon Ridge Mountains region five days ago, the mission information at the time startled him.
I never expected the task to be so difficult, reaching "Level I, Grade A", which is the same difficulty level as when the Morning Bell appeared on February 7th.
In other words, if relying solely on one's own abilities, since finding a way is not one's forte, one can only try and fail by resetting the mission, so it is highly likely that one will not be able to get out of this mountain range.
Given its high difficulty, the rewards for completing this task are naturally quite generous.
Li Jiuhe wasn't worried at all, because with Tong Cheng's abilities, although it would take a while, he should be able to get them out.
So he didn't say anything and just silently followed the group.
Now that we've left Dragon Ridge Mountain, the pathfinding quest, which we've reset several times, is finally complete.
He checked the rewards: his maximum points increased by 4, bringing his total to 16. He was also rewarded with one time anchor reset and one chance to carry items from before the reset.
The rewards are secondary; the main thing is that Tong Cheng basically completed the task, but his own task definition ability can be improved more and more.
With more settings and repeated attempts, the ability to define tasks will eventually evolve.
Without much thought, Li Jiuhe readily redefined the mission as "ensuring personal safety".
The group stood there, looking around.
"This is outside Nanfeng Town, about four or five kilometers from the town center," Luo Shuo quickly determined.
His tracking ability has been working, and over the past few days, he can now even mark all the places they've been on the hand-drawn map of Tongcheng.
This will then be an even more detailed map of the Dragon Ridge Mountains.
Tong Cheng glanced back at Ma Li and reminded her, "Wrap your body up in the sheet so the residents of Nanfeng Town don't see you."
.
Then he looked at Luo Shuo and said, "Put the biggest coat in the backpack on her."
"Okay." Luo Shuo immediately complied.
The coat also had a hood, which Mali simply pulled over, covering most of her already anthropomorphic head.
Although she looks human at first glance, there are still some differences if you look closely, especially her skin and oil.
If someone saw it, it would give them a creepy feeling.
The group quickly headed towards Nanfeng Town.
Tong Cheng withdrew his stage power and breathed slightly. For more than five days, he had been consuming his sequence energy. Although he could still continue, he was really starting to feel the strain.
Fortunately, they only got lost during this time and did not encounter any further strange events.
Now, after entering the mountains, they not only encountered the Queen Ant, but also the so-called mountain god's illusion.
Tong Cheng suspected that it might be that this "mountain god" wanted to protect the abandoned wooden house, since their group might pose a certain threat to the house.
"State! As long as I can find this special state?" Tong Cheng muttered to himself.
They soon entered Nanfeng Town.
Almost simultaneously, Luo Shuo suddenly stepped forward and whispered to Tong Cheng and Li Jiuhe, "Something's wrong with this town! What happened?"
Li Jiuhe was surprised and looked up, only to find that there was no one on the street.
At the same time, every household had its doors tightly closed, and no one could be seen at the doorway.
"How could this be?" Tong Cheng was also somewhat surprised.
Only Mali felt good about herself. Since entering the town, she had retrieved the lynx that was carrying her and was now slowly walking with the three of them.
If they walk slowly, Ma Li can still keep up with them, since she uses a crawling motion.
Moreover, she had already hidden her body under the large bed sheet, so no one could see her feet.
Tong Cheng quickly added, "Most of these houses are occupied, but I don't know why they don't go out."
As he spoke, he glanced at his phone, which was charging with a power bank, and then called the Mingzhu City Investigation Bureau to ask which investigator they had sent to Nanfeng Town.
Six days ago, when entering Longjishan, Tong Cheng instructed Mingzhu City to send an experienced investigator to assist the local police in investigating the midnight knocking incident in Nanfeng Town.
They've been stuck in the mountains for several days now, and they really don't know what the situation is like now.
Soon, the investigation bureau gave Tong Cheng the contact information of the investigator they had sent.
After connecting the investigator's call, Tong Cheng asked, "Is this Huang Guozhong?"
A man's voice came quickly from the other end of the phone, sounding somewhat listless: "Yes, this is Tong Cheng, a top-level investigator from headquarters. Where are you now?"
Upon hearing the name "Tong Cheng," Huang Guozhong immediately raised his voice and replied, "Investigator Tong, I'm at a resident's home, handling a case in Nanfeng Town."
"Have you found any clues?" Tong Cheng asked.
"Well, we have some clues, but it's still not very clear," Huang Guozhong replied.
Tong Cheng then told the other party the location of his rented house and asked him to come over and report to him.
The three of them quickly returned to the rented room. They told Ma Li to stay in the inner room and not to come out until she received instructions.
Tong Cheng sat down to rest and recover his sequence energy, Li Jiuhe quickly tidied up the room, and Luo Shuo rekindled the charcoal fire to boil water.
Shortly after, a police car pulled up on the side of the road, and three people got out of the car, two of whom were police officers supporting a man in the middle.
The man was Huang Guozhong, an investigator sent by Mingzhu City.
Huang Guozhong has an ordinary appearance and is about fifty years old. At this moment, his face is pale and bloodless, and he has difficulty walking. He is quite weak.
But you can't tell from its appearance where it is injured; it just seems to be seriously ill.
"How did he end up like this?" Tong Cheng was also surprised.
The two policemen helped Huang Guozhong into the house. After finding him a stool to sit down, one of the middle-aged policemen wiped the sweat from his forehead and explained, "Officer Tong, I am Mu Guangquan, the director of the Nanfeng Town Police Station. Investigator Huang became like this because of the residents of Nanfeng Town. Without him, the death toll in our town might have already risen to more than ten."
Li Jiuhe and the others were greatly surprised.
Huang Guozhong waved his hand and said, "Let me speak. Director Mu, please find a place to sit down."
He then recounted the events of the past few days in detail.
Shortly after Li Jiuhe and his group entered Longji Mountain, Huang Guozhong received orders to rush to Nanfeng Town and join the police officers at the police station to conduct an investigation.
But starting the following night, strange things began to happen one after another. First, a resident of the town broke his leg in his home.
Actually, breaking a leg isn't unusual; what's unusual is that the next day, two more family members broke their legs, also at home.
Then on the third day, all the remaining family members broke their legs and were all bedridden at home.
Not only this family, but at the same time, residents of other towns also had strange encounters.
Some people claim that their homes have become haunted, hearing someone sitting by the bed combing their hair in the middle of the night, and that there is a human face in the large water tank in the kitchen, but it can only be seen at night.
Once the people in this house fall asleep, they will dream of that human face crawling out of the water vat and tearing at their limbs.
Strangely, when they woke up, their limbs indeed looked like they had been torn apart, covered in blood.
On the floor beside the bed lay a large amount of long hair, believed to have been left behind by the vengeful ghost who had been combing his hair.
Among these people were victims who had been bitten horribly, with almost no part of their bodies intact. If it weren't for investigator Huang Guozhong, several of them would have almost not been saved.
Even so, some elderly people were still scared to death, and others died on the spot due to severe injuries.
Many residents did not experience ghosts, but instead became paranoid, their emotions were constantly on the verge of collapse, and some suddenly became violent, beating up anyone they could. Currently, all of them have been detained in the police station as a family.
In just five or six days, the entire town of Nanfeng was in chaos and people were filled with fear. The remaining residents dared not go out, let alone contact others.
While pondering, Li Jiuhe asked the director, Mu Guangquan, "Are all the families experiencing unusual behavior the ones whose doors were knocked on at night?"
Director Mu nodded: "Yes, Investigator Huang also discovered it later. We checked around and found that all the families with problems had heard the knocking at night."
Luo Shuo's eyes widened, his expression conveying a strong sense of foreboding.
Because he knew very well that someone had knocked on their door the night they moved into the rented room, and even once in the early hours of the morning.
They were knocked on the door twice. Could something even worse happen to them?
"And now? Has anyone else reported hearing knocking at the door in the middle of the night?" Li Jiuhe continued to ask.
Director Mu shook his head: "No, we specifically visited and checked. No one has heard anyone knocking on the door at night in the past few days."
Tong Cheng looked at Huang Guozhong expressionlessly and asked, "Are you a 'medicine practitioner'?"
Despite the pain, Huang Guozhong nodded: "Yes."
Tong Cheng's face immediately turned ashen, and he hissed in a low voice, "Director Fan of the Mingzhu City Investigation Bureau is a complete incompetent! He sent an investigator here specifically to handle the current situation, and he sent a doctor like you? Can you handle this important task?"
Huang Guozhong's face was grim, but he quickly revealed a defiant expression: "Investigator Tong, you may look down on my sequence abilities, but this is not our director's fault—"
Before he could finish speaking, Director Mu, a seasoned official, quickly interrupted him, speaking on Huang Guozhong's behalf: "Leader Tong, things are a little different from what you think. As I just said, if it weren't for Investigator Huang's help, the death toll would be even higher. He's done us a huge favor!"
"A big help? Helping means catching the guy knocking on the door immediately, not being a passive rescuer." Tong Cheng remained expressionless.
Another officer, who had been standing silently to the side, finally couldn't help but speak up: "Um, rescuing people is also..."
Helping is not worth it—human life is too precious.
"Shut up! Leader Tong just doesn't know the situation very well—"
Director Mu was worried that Tong Cheng would get even angrier and then take his anger out on Huang Guozhong, so he quickly glared at the police officer.
Tong Cheng didn't even lift his eyelids. He let out a cold snort, spread his legs apart, put his left hand on his knee, and changed his sitting posture to a powerful, imposing one.
He then raised his right hand, his demeanor changed abruptly, and he let out a loud shout that echoed in all directions.
"A dark and windy night~ yah yah yah~ cough cough cough cough————"
Before he could even finish singing a single line, he started coughing violently.
Li Jiuhe patted Tong Cheng on the shoulder: "Don't get too excited, Brother Tong. You've been singing for five days straight, you should get some rest. Leave this case to me."
There's actually something else he can't say: Tong Cheng always sings in the same tone, no matter what play he's performing. I'm so tired of hearing it these past few days, my ears are practically calloused.
After he finished speaking, Luo Shuo quietly gave him a thumbs up.
Clearly, this guy didn't want to listen to Tong Cheng's opera singing anymore.
Tong Cheng finally stopped coughing, took a deep breath, and nodded slowly with a blank expression. Although it was impossible to tell what he was thinking, he seemed a little embarrassed.
Huang Guozhong and Mu Guangquan both knew that Li Jiuhe and Luo Shuo had come with Tong Cheng.
Since they came from headquarters, they must be more capable than ordinary investigators. Seeing that Tong Cheng didn't say anything more, they didn't say anything more either.
Tong Cheng slowly stood up and walked into the inner room.
"Jiuhe, you handle it. With Luo Shuo around, finding that guy shouldn't be difficult. If you can spare his life, that would be best; if not, killing him is just that—killing him."
After he finished speaking, the door to the inner room closed.
Luo Shuo muttered to himself from behind, "It has to be Master Tong. He's always so classy, no matter what."
To be honest, Li Jiuhe also liked Tong Cheng's personality. He didn't waste words and would do whatever he wanted if he didn't like something. Otherwise, he wouldn't have helped him kill Meng Chao and the special operations team in an instant.
Li Jiuhe still remembers that when they came out of the General Administration, the sentence that Minister Shao said to Tong Cheng most earnestly was: "If you need to use your sequence ability, remember to handle it discreetly."
It is said that Minister Shao would say something similar every time Tong Cheng went out on a mission.
But it doesn't seem to make much sense. For example, when Tong Cheng went to Wangchuan City to find Li Jiuhe last time, he still used swift and decisive methods to kill Meng Chao and the others in front of everyone.
However, those familiar with his behavior have already grown accustomed to it.
Because of his outstanding abilities, headquarters would side with him and turn a blind eye to his problems.
After returning to the inner room, Shuaicheng lay down on the bed.
He was indeed exhausted. He had never performed operas for two days in a row before. Now he was not only physically tired, but also mentally exhausted.
Only by getting a good night's sleep can one recover and be ready to fight again.
Seeing this, the Queen Ant, standing motionless in the corner, kept her mouthparts tightly shut and just stared at Tong Cheng without making any move.
After a moment, Hou Cheng spoke softly: "Let's exchange blows."
Ma Li slowly wriggled her plump body closer to the bedside.
Embarrassed and ashamed, she took off the loose coat she was wearing and prepared to climb into bed.
Hou Cheng's eyes widened: "What are you doing?"
Ma Li was taken aback: "This cold noodle master, Inspector, aren't you from the Gluttonous Inspector's family—"
"Shut up!" Tong Cheng shouted in a low voice, and goosebumps rose up on his body.
He reached up and grabbed his face, then slapped a mask onto Zong Mali's oily face.
Ma Li was startled and quickly backed away. Her round body almost fell to the ground. She quickly stretched out her short limbs to touch her oily face.
"Now that you've ruined my stage, don't even think about escaping."
Cheng Fanzong turned himself in, saying, "While I'm resting, keep a close watch on things for me."
Ma Li finally realized what had happened, nodded, and replied tremblingly, "Understood."
The inspector outside didn't hear the commotion inside the room.
Because Li Jiuhe, Luo Shuo, and Huang Guozhong and other prosecutors had already left the Zongzu rental house, boarded the police uniform, and headed towards a private residence.
As a "physician," Huang Guozhong's sequence ability was known to Li Jiuhe, and it was the kind that focused on saving lives and healing the wounded.
This is also why Cheng was angry just now, because the doctor's ability is not in investigating cases, but in treating patients.
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Their methods of rescue and examination are also very special. Although the word "medical" is in the sequence name, the way doctors conduct rescue and examination is to exchange lives for lives.
They can transfer the injuries from the person they are treating to themselves, allowing the person to recover quickly and easily.
Because the healers themselves have strong healing abilities, these injuries are quickly removed once they are transferred to the group.
Even if someone is critically injured and on the verge of death, as long as the healer has strong healing abilities, they can be fully recovered in about three days.
For minor injuries, recovery is even faster, usually within one or two hours.
Each healer has different recovery abilities and different methods of transferring injuries.
Some medical professionals are so skilled that, at the moment of successful transfer, what was originally a serious injury to themselves has been reduced to a minor injury.
However, Huang Guozhong's abilities were not that strong, and in addition, he treated a lot of patients. Before the old injuries had healed, new injuries were added, which kept him in a weak state.
Even so, he saved the lives of several prosecutors and spared them much pain from their injuries, for which the police station and local residents were very grateful.
That's why Chief Mu and that police officer couldn't help but speak up for him earlier.
As Li Jiuhe sat down, he redefined his current task.
[Task definition successful. The task is temporarily named "Solving the Midnight Knocking Case".]
[Title: Solving a Late-Night Knocking Case]
[Level: II B]
[Requirements: 1. Successfully catch the door-to-door checks at midnight; 2. Break the curse placed upon the town's residents.]
【奖励：1、任务总时长增加30分钟；2、奖励1个重置时间锚点；3、奖励1次可携丛重置之前任一物品的机会。】
【说明：1、你目前可定义的任务总时长为2小时30分；2、该异常事件背后还有更多线索待挖掘；3、如挖掘出更多线索后，可能会导致任务等级晋升。】
In the past, the missions would at most only have a brief explanation, but this time it's different; a third one has appeared.
Li Jiuhe carefully read Zong's third explanation.
"Wow! This might lead to a mission level upgrade, which means the difficulty might increase?" He was somewhat puzzled.
I never expected to encounter such a high-level abnormal mission in this small town. In other words, the sequence ability that led to this search might be very strong, or it's currently difficult to predict.