Free Web NovelOn the other side, at Sanxia Mental Hospital, the inpatient registration office.
“Name?”
“Thirty-six.”
“I asked for your name...”
“Oh, Tan Qiuming, thirty-six, male. Everything I have done so far has nothing to do with others; it was all my doing. I plead guilty.”
Jiang Li, “...” Why does he sound like Lu Yibei?
In a room where the walls were covered with Spirit Mark Power suppression and solidification Spells, Tan Qiuming, who had just woken up, was wearing a special restraint suit and was fixed to an alloy chair. He looked dispirited, his eyes somewhat unfocused, as if he hadn't fully woken up.
Jiang Li sized up Tan Qiuming, then withdrew her gaze and continued to ask, “Don’t be so quick to plead guilty. Whether you are guilty or not depends on how you explain the course of events.”
In fact, not all Psychic who have caused Spiritual Energy attacks are imprisoned. Often, they will atone in another way, for example, after strict review, by going to places like Shanhai Pass, where there are many urban legend, to participate in battles.
“...” Tan Qiuming opened his mouth, then smiled bitterly and shook his head, “I have nothing to say. You are professionals. Just handle me however you see fit.”
As soon as he realized that a monster would occasionally try to seize control of his body and, after briefly gaining control, would do terrifying things, he began waiting for the Night Watch... or, to be precise, the relevant departments that handle urban legend incidents.
Like most ordinary people, he did not know about the existence of the Night Watch, but he guessed that since there were so many urban legend incidents, and people like him who had “intimate contact” with urban legend, there must be an organization to deal with these incidents.
He firmly believed that only these special personnel who dealt with urban legend incidents could truly liberate him, rather than the temporary relief gained by desperately helping cancer patients, as if atoning for sins.
To prevent himself from completely losing control of his body and becoming a puppet of that monster before the Night Watch came knocking, he even left behind three paintings while his mind was clear.
Those three paintings recorded the scenes he glimpsed in a half-dream, half-awake state after the monster took control of his body.
Just as that monster seemed to know his deepest thoughts, he was certain that when the monster shared a body with him, it would inevitably reveal some of its innermost thoughts to him.
And those things he glimpsed were what truly made his soul tremble...
He not only saw the monster committing massacres but also saw it spreading corruption to every corner of the city after completely taking control of his body, and even saw the devastated city ruins after being completely corrupted by the monster.
As for how he knew that the Night Watch agents would come knocking today... perhaps it was because he had helped too many people and had too good a reputation?
This morning, he heard from a fellow patient living near Qixinggang Lower Lane that a group of strange people had sealed off his Hanye Studio. Then he heard from a patient at the central hospital that two Miss had a long talk with his former neighbor. He then knew that the people who could free him had finally appeared.
By now, they should have found those three paintings and should have learned about his past from Grandpa He. What else did he have to say?
Tan Qiuming’s mindset was like that of a criminal who had been on the run for many years, living in constant fear and sleepless nights. When the police finally came knocking, he confessed to all the crimes without a second thought.
As an agent in her probationary period, Jiang Li had gone to great lengths to secure the opportunity to interrogate Tan Qiuming, relying on the special nature of her Spirit Mark Power. Now, facing Tan Qiuming’s state of non-violent non-cooperation, she felt a headache coming on.
How could she make him speak?
If he says nothing, and he is locked in the lowest level of the mental hospital, I will have no chance to get information about my mother.
“Bang—!”
As Jiang Li was thinking, a muffled sound suddenly came from her ear, and the table also shook violently.
Zhong Huai had stood up at some point, pointing at Tan Qiuming, his eyes wide with anger.
“Don’t give me that. Do you think saying nothing now will solve the problem?”
“Do you know what we found in your residence and the rental house in Minhe Community?!”
“...” Jiang Li glanced at the burly figure beside her, speechless for a moment.
Clearly, Zhong Huai’s interrogation methods were all emotion and no technique.
Of course, he couldn’t be blamed for this, as he usually only handled management and combat, while interrogation tasks were left to Lin Kele.
Although Lin Kele also had no technique and relied entirely on intuition, her intuition was accurate!
She was always able to accurately capture important information from the interrogated person’s words, as if she had a cheat, guided by her intuition.
However, for some reason, Lin Kele found an excuse of feeling unwell and didn’t come today.
Jiang Li always felt that Lin Kele was intentionally or unintentionally avoiding her.
“I...” Tan Qiuming shook his head, “I’m not really sure, but I can guess that the monster that often tries to take over my body must have done something terrible.”
“If I disappear from this world, it should stop it from continuing to do evil, right?”
“You son of a...” Zhong Huai was about to say something, but he saw Jiang Li wave her hand at him, then write a line of text on the paper used for notes on the table.
【Senior, can I try?】
Zhong Huai looked at the note, then at Jiang Li, and after a few seconds of silence, nodded.
With his permission, Jiang Li looked up at Tan Qiuming and asked in a serious tone, “If you disappear, it might indeed stop the guy you mentioned from continuing to do evil, but have you considered what if it doesn’t stop it?”
“At that time, we will have no means of obtaining information about it, and our situation will become quite passive, even allowing it to do whatever it wants right under our noses.”
“But...” Tan Qiuming thought for a moment, then said seriously, “But everything I know has already been recorded in those three paintings. Since you have already investigated the Hanye Studio, you should have seen those three paintings...”
“Three paintings? What three paintings? Which three paintings?” Zhong Huai interrupted.
He had previously seen the inventory of items found in Hanye Studio, and there were seventy-four paintings recorded on the list... freewebnoveℓ.com
When Tan Qiuming just said “those three paintings,” who would know which three he meant?
As soon as Zhong Huai finished asking, and before Tan Qiuming could answer, Jiang Li wrote a line of text on the note paper and handed it to him.
【Senior, the informant who provided us and Lin Kele with information, specifically mentioned three strange sets of paintings when telling us about Hanye Studio.】
After reading the note from Jiang Li, Zhong Huai frowned and asked in a low voice, “Do you know which three paintings he’s talking about? Do we have them now?”
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Jiang Li gently shook her head and continued writing on the note paper.
【No, when we rushed to Hanye Studio to investigate, we found that someone had already taken those three paintings before us.】
After a pause, she added two more paragraphs to the paper.
【Suspect it was the Eclipse Society.】
【However, Senior, don’t worry, I will find a way to get information about those three paintings from Tan Qiuming.】
“Those sons of bitches...” Zhong Huai cursed under his breath, then withdrew his gaze and sat back down in his chair.
Although he had other ways to make Tan Qiuming talk, those methods were somewhat cruel, and he didn’t want ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) to use them unless absolutely necessary.
“Indeed, we saw your paintings.” Jiang Li looked at Tan Qiuming and spoke again, “However, since you are here in person now, isn’t it more direct for you to tell us yourself?”
“Additionally, if it’s convenient, we’d also like to hear about your detailed experiences over the past thirty-six years, such as your mother?”
Although Grandpa He had already recounted Tan Qiuming’s past experiences, his perspective was very limited. To understand the full scope of the incident, Tan Qiuming needed to provide some necessary additions.
“Mother...” Tan Qiuming asked, “Is that important?”
As he spoke, his expression was somewhat unusual, his brows furrowed, and the corners of his mouth turned down, as if he had recalled some unbearable past.
Jiang Li did not directly answer Tan Qiuming’s question, but simply said calmly, “That information may help our investigation and further analyze the source of the urban legend affecting you.”
From Grandpa He’s description of Tan Qiuming’s mother’s various activities, she had a deep influence on Tan Qiuming, and the “qigong” activities she organized and participated in sounded suspicious, possibly involving urban legend incidents, or even being gatherings of x god believers.
It is important to know that the 1980s and 1990s were when x god believers were most active in Z Country.
During that period, Z Country’s control over factory pollution was not as strict as it is today. x god took advantage of this loophole, using profit to entice some factory operators to discharge waste without restraint, creating smog.
Factory operators who gained profits from x god often had very prosperous businesses and could quickly obtain enough funds to expand their factory scale. As the factory scale expanded, x god would give them more help, and then the factory could further expand its scale...
This became a vicious cycle. In the end, in some villages near certain factories, an entire village, more than half of its villagers, suffered from serious illnesses due to smog and pollution.
After hearing Jiang Li’s statement, Zhong Huai cast a puzzled glance at her.
Why was she suddenly asking about his mother?
However, although he had some doubts, he did not voice them.
As the saying goes, professional matters should be handled by professionals!
The clues about Hanye Studio and Tan Qiuming were discovered by Jiang Li and Lin Kele. They knew more details, and their Spirit Mark Power were both somewhat special. If they felt it was necessary to ask, then it was necessary.
“...” After a moment of silence, Tan Qiuming raised his hands and rubbed his cheeks, saying calmly, “Okay, I can tell you if you want to know.”
“My mother’s name is Kang Yumin. I actually have very few memories of her and no feelings for her. Of course, she has no feelings for me either. Sometimes I even feel that I am just a pet she raised. She might play with me a little when she remembers, and just leave me aside when she doesn’t...”
“We already know that.” Jiang Li said expressionlessly, “I heard that when you were young, your mother often brought people home, and they would stay for several days?”
“Do you remember what they did? Or what they did to you? Was there anything suspicious?”
“I don’t know what they did...” Tan Qiuming shook his head with a bitter smile, “Every time that woman brought people home, she would give me a strange-tasting medicine beforehand.”
“After drinking it, I would sleep for a long time. When I woke up, those people would already be gone, and the house would be cleaned very thoroughly, as if nothing had happened.”
“You might not believe it, but I even learned from neighbors that that woman often brought people home.”
Although there was no important information, a mother feeding her child strange medicine was already very abnormal... Jiang Li rubbed her slightly throbbing temples, pondering whether to change the approach and continue asking, but Tan Qiuming continued to speak.
“I thought about it carefully, and if I had to say something abnormal, there is one thing that bothers me greatly...” Tan Qiuming said with a solemn expression, “Although they would clean the house before I woke up, there would always be oversights.”
“Once, after those people left, I unexpectedly found a torn piece of paper under the sofa. It had a strange pattern on it. Not long after seeing that pattern, I fell into a long coma. I don’t know if there’s any connection between them.”
“What pattern? Can you draw it?” Jiang Li asked.
“Yes.” Tan Qiuming nodded.
Jiang Li stood up and handed the paper and pen to Tan Qiuming. After taking them, Tan Qiuming recalled for a moment and, with his impressive drawing skills, quickly drew a highly complete pattern on the paper.
The pattern was not complete; at first glance, it looked like a chaotic and disordered dark cloud, but after staring at it for a long time, one could vaguely make out outlines resembling human limbs and wings.
Jiang Li’s expression changed immediately after seeing it.
What Tan Qiuming drew was precisely the totem pointing to x god. If the pattern in his memory had not been incomplete, x god’s attention would have immediately descended upon this place when he finished drawing it. In extreme cases, it might even have been directly summoned here.
————
After cutting off contact with Lin Nian’s Paper Cicada Immortal, Lu Yibei did not linger long at Angel’s Tea Story. She hailed a taxi outside and rushed back to Tao Hua Family Inn without delay.
Next, she might have to read the “little diary” of a certain evil god’s offspring, which could attract the attention of dangerous entities. At such times, staying by Smelly Girl’s side would be safer.
Even x god, in front of the esteemed Eight Hundred Li Peach Garden Master, should not dare to act presumptuously.
Of course, it would be even better if Smelly Girl didn’t keep thinking about playing with those strange “toys”...
After getting into the taxi and traveling through the city, just as they were about to arrive near Nine Street, Lu Yibei received a message from Lin Nian.
Clicking on the message, a screenshot of a log appeared.
【2001-4-11
They sing, they call, they offer their bodies, and I finally walk among humans...】
After reading the first screenshot, Lu Yibei was somewhat surprised, her eyebrows slightly raised.
Holy cow! That guy’s first log entry was more than twenty years ago?
