Free Web NovelHua City, Peony Street.
Hua City, a southwestern ancient city with a considerable history.
The city has many streets with green tiles and white walls, full of ancient charm, and Peony Street is one of the more famous ancient streets among them.
At the entrance of Peony Street stands an antique archway, with green tiles on top, and four majestic stone lions at the four corners, their surfaces smooth, as if glowing faintly, surrounding by peony and fire cloud patterns, a plaque above reads the three characters 【Peony Street】.
In the center of the street, a flowing canal winds from north to south, conforming to the terrain, and on both sides are nearly a hundred crisscrossing, net-like cobblestone alleys, with high walls and narrow lanes, ancient and secluded, bearing a resemblance to a water town in Jiangnan.
But all of this is not the true appearance of Peony Street, but rather an antique-style landscape built a few years ago to attract tourists from other regions.
Only a portion of older Hua City locals know that surrounded by those antique buildings, the small, inconspicuous street, no more than two hundred meters long, with a dilapidated road surface and narrow confines, is the true Peony Street.
And the true Peony Street is also where the Hua City Night Watch Headquarters is located.
At ten o'clock in the morning, the sun had fully risen into the sky, and Bai Kai, who had worked all night, strode out of the entrance of Peony Street, chewing on a large meat bun and stretching lazily.
From a distance, a rather luxurious-looking black sedan drove along the road and stopped at the street entrance, its body almost completely blocking the already narrow street.
Seeing this, Bai Kai spit out the half-eaten meat bun from his mouth and held it in his hand, rolled his eyes, and let out a very displeased sound, "Tsk, how unlucky..."
The person who arrived was Jiang Li, who was on duty today.
Because of the hurtful words Jiang Li had said to him last night, Bai Kai thought it over and over and ultimately blamed Jiang Li for Lu Yibei blocking him. freёwebnovel.com
I'm so good to Xiao Bei, I almost wear his pants and sleep in his bed!
How could he really hate me?
That's right! Xiao Bei doesn't hate me! It's all Jiang Li's fault, she's so unlucky, her words are always poisonous, like a curse!
As Bai Kai was thinking, he stuffed the bun back into his mouth and took a ferocious bite. Just then, the Little Maid got out of the car and opened the door for Jiang Li.
Jiang Li got out of the car and saw Bai Kai standing at the street entrance, like an old dog with a large meat bun in his mouth. She lowered her eyelids and simultaneously frowned slightly, squinting, revealing an expression of extreme disdain, as if she had stepped in dog poop the moment she left the house that morning.
When such an expression appears on a young girl's face, especially on the face of an ice-cold beauty, its destructive power is almost invincible. After a brief exchange of glances, Shui Ge was defeated, covering his chest and scurrying away to clear the path.
I didn't lose! This is just a senior showing deference to a junior! Bai Kai comforted himself, but why did he feel a little like crying?
Could it be...
That's right, it's onions! The bun has onions in it!
Jiang Li retracted her gaze, completely ignoring Bai Kai, who was looking up at a forty-five-degree angle, and walked with difficulty towards the building at the end of the street, which resembled an ancestral temple, leaning on her cane.
Just then, Bai Kai called out to her.
"Oh, right, at the same time we were investigating on Changsheng Road yesterday, there was also an attack in the suburbs. I think you should take a look at the file!" Bai Kai reminded.
Dislike is dislike, but work is work. Bai Kai felt it was necessary to remind Jiang Li.
"Mm." Jiang Li nodded, responding coolly.
...
The ancient ancestral temple was nestled beneath several strong ginkgo trees. The grey-white stone steps were covered with strands of moss, and a brass-colored metal plaque hung on the peeling red stone pillar in front of the main gate, inscribed with the words 【Huacheng Folk Culture Research Administration】.
Upon entering the ancestral temple, there were few pedestrians, and the atmosphere was quiet and solemn. Walking further inside, into the room directly facing the main gate, the view suddenly opened up to a brightly lit, simply decorated corridor that stretched forward as if endlessly.
If anyone were to see the interior of this building, they would surely be puzzled as to how such a long and wide corridor could be fitted into such a small space.
On both sides of the corridor, heavy metal doors faced each other in pairs. The first seven doors were marked with numbers from 1 to 7, representing the different main duty officers for each of the seven nights of the week.
Some of these numbers were in traditional Chinese characters, some were Arabic numerals, some were Greek numerals, and there were even hieroglyphs, ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ not uniform, which was inextricably linked to the identity of the room's owner.
Further down the corridor was swallowed by darkness. Although it instinctively made one feel there was a vaster space beyond, it could no longer be explored with the naked eye.
Jiang Li walked inside, all the way to the metal door marked "V", twisted the doorknob, and entered her office.
This was a room with a sense of age, a square desk with a glass top, covered with a layer of white lace dust cover.
On the desk were a desk lamp with a green glass shade, a rotary dial telephone, and an enamel tea mug inscribed with "Serve the People."
If not for the brand-new computer on the desk, this 1970s or 1980s office decor would certainly give anyone entering it for the first time a sense of temporal disorientation, as if they had traveled through time.
Although it was Jiang Li's turn to be on duty today, generally speaking, Weird tale incidents rarely occurred before dark, which meant she still had seven or eight hours to do what she wanted.
It was still early, so Jiang Li patiently watered the flowers on the windowsill, slowly brewed herself a strong cup of tea, and then sat down in front of the computer to play Mahjong Soul.
For a seemingly ice-cold beauty like her, holding a tea mug like an old cadre and playing a two-dimensional mahjong game on a top-configuration computer, it all felt incongruous.
Half an hour later.
Jiang Li won two mahjong games with overwhelming dominance, then closed the game and clicked on a crescent-shaped icon on her desktop. Immediately, the words 【Night Watch Archive Management System】 popped up on the screen.
She began reading the Weird tale files uploaded during her off-duty period.
"Click—!"
"Strange Tale Incident No. 1032
Strange Tale Alias: Mr. Rabbit, Energy Reaction Level C
First Incident Date: May 5th.
Case Summary: A series of disappearances occurred in Hua City. Each missing person shared 4 commonalities.
1. All were alone before disappearing, including at their workplaces, communities, residences, etc.;
2. White lagomorph fur was found near the disappearance sites.
3. All missing persons received an advertisement flyer from a person in a rabbit mascot costume at different times and locations.
Description of the flyer's properties: It is a paper-like material made from unknown animal fur, whose composition is currently unknown after analysis. Size 17.
First discovered at the scene of the first victim's disappearance, it is entirely pure black with bright yellow patterns and text.
【Image】, 【Image】, 【Image】
..."
Jiang Li hadn't had time to carefully examine the flyer yesterday. After reading the text on it today, she frowned slightly and murmured to herself, "Is it a curse written in Hebrew? Why would it possess something like this?"
In Jiang Li's memory, Twilight Woman did not understand such curses, so Mr. Rabbit's curse could certainly not have come from her.
But if not Twilight Woman, then where did it learn this curse?
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"Hmm... a triggered curse? It seems that rabbit uses this to lock onto targets."
Through their long-standing experience with the Night Watch and Weird tale, they had summarized the theory that sunlight suppresses the power of Weird tale.
For Weird tale like Mr. Rabbit, whose power is not yet particularly strong, it is very difficult to successfully hunt their targets. Using the curse on the flyer to lock onto targets and acting under the cover of night is the normal procedure.
"Tsk, why do people always read the contents of such strange things after receiving them? If they just found a way to dispose of them directly, the danger would be greatly reduced. What a bunch of idiots!"
Jiang Li continued to scroll the mouse, browsing the files related to Mr. Rabbit, and soon stopped at an audio file.
"【No. 103203, Victim Lin Kexin's Pre-Disappearance Emergency Call Recording 01.wav】"
"Oh? An emergency call?" Jiang Li muttered to herself thoughtfully and clicked on the audio file.
"Click!"
"Shhh—shhh—!" After a series of annoying static, a trembling voice came from the speaker.
"Hello... hello? Is this the police station? I, I want to report a crime!"
"Hello, ma'am, this is the Linjiang Road Police Station. How may I help you?"
"Officer! I feel like someone, someone is going to kill me!"
"Ma'am, please don't joke, we..."
"I'm not joking!" the woman interrupted.
After a pause, the operator patiently asked, "Is that so? Then... what makes you say that?"
"At first, there was a man constantly walking back and forth downstairs at our company, continuously looking at my cubicle... I, I saw him, although I couldn't see his face clearly, I'm sure he saw me too!"
"He, he followed me, followed me to my doorstep. He, he's outside! I heard his footsteps, every time he got to the door, he, he disappeared..."
"He, he's back again... Let me show you!"
... The other end of the phone was dead silent, not a sound.
"Strange... why does he seem to have left?"
"Haha, ma'am, you might be overworked and a bit fatigued. I suggest you take a hot bath, drink a glass of milk, and get some rest early. Have a pleasant life!"
"Beep—!"
"【No. 103204, Victim Lin Kexin's Pre-Disappearance Emergency Call Recording 02.wav】"
"Click!"
...
"You must save me... I just called, I just took a bath and came out, and, and found he's back again, right outside my door, please, please I beg you! I don't want to die!"
From the woman's tearful voice, it was clear she was extremely scared, and her trembling voice was often muffled by her soft sobs.
The operator was clearly stunned for a few seconds upon hearing this, and his tone immediately became serious and anxious. "Ma'am, please don't worry, we will definitely help you. Please tell me your address! I'll contact them to dispatch officers immediately!"
"I live at Fuming Road, Building 3, No. 28! My name is, is Lin Kexin!" the woman said rapidly.
"Alright, ma'am, I..."
Before the operator could finish speaking, the woman almost hysterically growled, "Wait! Are you going to hang up? Don't! Don't hang up! Don't! Please!"
"You misunderstood, ma'am. I will stay on the line with you at all times. Please don't panic. I've already notified our police officers, and they are rushing over as fast as they can."
"You... why did you hang up on me!?"
"Ma'am, I didn't..."
"Why did you hang up on me?! Why?!" the woman cried, then began to scream incoherently, "What do I do? What do I do! He, he's right outside my door, I've barricaded the door with the sofa, but I can feel he's about to come in! He's about to come in!" frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
"Wait? My, my bedroom..."
...
"Ma'am? What's wrong with the bedroom?"
...
"Ma'am? What's wrong with you, ma'am!?"
The operator shouted anxiously twice, but the only response was dead silence from the other end of the phone.
...
"Click—click click—!"
In the dead silence, there was a soft sound like a rodent gnawing on a hard object, and then the recording stopped.
...
"Sigh!"
Turning off the audio file, Jiang Li frowned and fell into thought.
The unknown curse, multiple attacks, and the ability to pass through walls were all things Mr. Rabbit couldn't do before. It seems Bai Kai was right, it's evolving!
As she thought, just as she was about to continue reading, the office door was pushed open. It was her Little Maid, holding a stack of documents and several photos.
"Miss, there's a new lead. This morning, two bodies with high psychic residue were found in an apartment complex near University City, suspected to be derivatives of Mr. Rabbit. These are the data analysis documents from the scene, and these are the photos from the scene."
Is there an entity in this apartment complex capable of killing Mr. Rabbit's derivatives, causing its operation to fail?
Is it a human or a Strange Tale? This kind of behavior is equivalent to marking out territory, it's declaring war on Mr. Rabbit!
That unknown entity must be quite powerful; it seems very confident in itself.
Jiang Li picked up the documents and quickly skimmed through them, then turned her attention to the photos. Soon, her gaze fixed on a young man, and she frowned.
Black Coat and sunglasses, wearing a mask, acting suspiciously...
"This person..." Jiang Li said, pointing at the young man in the photo, "It's human nature to enjoy a spectacle. When he encountered a group of people gathered there, he not only deliberately concealed his appearance, but from his expression and eyes, he appeared overly calm and indifferent. I think he's very likely problematic."
"Is that so? Then, Miss, what should I do now...?"
Jiang Li's slender finger gently tapped the photo, pointing at the young man, and said coldly, "Bring this person back."
"Yes, Miss, I understand. I'll go now!"
