Chapter 212: 208 The Price of a Transaction

Wei Jiang was still the same Wei Jiang from his memories, only he could no longer return to the past; he said he had a mission he had to complete, and rather than saying it was "had to," it was more that this was what he most wanted to do right now.

It wasn't just him; Li Yingqi and Yu Lianyun were the same, as they both had long-cherished wishes they wanted to fulfill.

Hearing this, He Jia'an actually guessed that Yu Lianyun had likely already met with misfortune; he felt a bit dejected in his heart, yet he couldn't help but feel a sense of relief for Yu Lianyun, along with a tiny bit of envy.

Living in such a world as a human is truly too bitter; he hoped that if there were a next life, they could be stones.

Afterward, Wei Jiang introduced him to the owner of the Forest Cabin, the "never seen in his true form" Lin Laoban.

When he first saw the youthful-looking Lin Ling, He Jia'an also felt it was somewhat absurd, but when he saw his former subordinates maintain a consistently respectful attitude toward Lin Ling, he couldn't help but cast aside his worldly perspective and re-examine the other party.

After some scrutiny, He Jia'an could be certain that this "person" was absolutely a madman, and the most terrifying kind of madman at that.

Emotionally indifferent, transcendent in logic, insane but not frenzied... this type of rational madman could create disasters regardless of what weapon they held.

And this type of madman was precisely the final destination for all fortunate Investigators, and also the most perfect professional state that Investigators had to pursue.

In He Jia'an's heart, Lin Ling possessed a pair of eyes that could see through the human heart; his every move held no privacy for the other party, and his every thought could be understood, to the point where He Jia'an had no opportunity to probe the other's background at all, and instead was quickly led by the nose, eventually even paying money for a Red Envelope in a daze.

Seeing that he had somehow produced two red banknotes out of thin air from his pocketless hospital gown, He Jia'an knew in his heart that what he had paid was likely far from as simple as "money."

Every transaction that everyone made in this Forest Cabin absolutely cost a "price" far more cruel than life itself; it was just that it was paid out in a form and manner we could understand.

"What does 200 yuan represent?" He Jia'an asked, handing the money into Lin Ling's hand; he hesitated for a second, but in the end, he gave it without looking back, as the power of the Red Envelope was what he needed most right now.

Lin Ling smiled and told him: "Yuan is the foundation, and also the source..."

He Jia'an weighed the "gold and silver" in his pocket, thought for a moment, and decided to go to a convenience store to buy a few of the cheapest energy bars as food for the coming days, then find a place to stay temporarily; he estimated he would be staying on this small island for quite some time, and would make other plans after settling down a little.

Walking into a chain convenience store, He Jia'an stood before the shelves, carefully selecting and weighing his options, thinking about which kind of energy bar would be better to buy.

One kind was delicious but small in quantity and expensive, while another was not delicious but large in quantity and... also not exactly cheap.

After thinking about it, He Jia'an decided to buy the one with the larger quantity; just as he was about to go to the counter to pay, he heard a scream. Instinctively looking toward the sound, he saw a pair of local high school girls who seemed to have been frightened by something on their phone, throwing the phone away in a panic; the dropped phone happened to land face-down on the ground.

"Customer, what's wrong? What happened?" The convenience store clerk also rushed over upon hearing the sound, seeing the two girls hugging each other and shivering with pale faces; their helpless and pitiful appearance made the clerk curious, and then he noticed the phone lying on the ground.

Just as the clerk was about to pick up the phone, one of the high school girls was about to speak, seemingly wanting to stop the other's action, but she was quickly silenced by her companion, whose expression had changed drastically, her eyes fixed intently on the clerk as he picked up the phone.

But just as the clerk was preparing to flip the phone over to the screen side, a pale hand pressed down, snatched the phone, and without even looking, closed the flip phone and returned it to the two high school girls.

He Jia'an smiled at the two and said, "Be careful now." His tone was flat, but to the two high school girls, it carried deep meaning.

The two high school girls immediately appeared very guilty, their eyes darting away; the high school girl who had just covered the other's mouth hesitantly took back the phone, and then the two held hands and left quickly.

Although to the clerk, He Jia'an's act of snatching the phone from his hand looked like the behavior of a socialite trying to act like a gentleman to pick up high school girls, the clerk thanked He Jia'an out of politeness, while also feeling that the behavior of the two high school girls just now was quite strange.

"Um... sir, thank you for your help." The clerk thanked him without much sincerity.

"You're welcome." He Jia'an shook his head.

He watched the direction the two high school girls left in, lost in thought, tilting his neck, and then suddenly frowned. "Hiss... could those two high school girls have seen... no way, no way..." he muttered to himself, then quickly denied it to himself.

He Jia'an looked at him: "What do you think they saw? It couldn't be anything lewd, could it?"

Hearing this, the clerk gave a dry laugh and waved his hand, "No, no, I was just letting my imagination run wild." Having said that, he bowed slightly and went back behind the counter to work.

He Jia'an thought for a moment, looked at the three energy bars in his hand, turned to pay, and asked again while checking out: "Do you have any idea what those two girls saw?"

The clerk looked up at He Jia'an, his shiny bald head and unkind face making the clerk purse his lips nervously; he was afraid that if he didn't speak honestly, the other party might not only refuse to pay but might even beat him up.

Seeing that there were no other customers in the store, the clerk stopped stalling and said bluntly: "Hasn't there been a story circulating recently that's like an Urban Legend... that kind of story?"

"Sorry, I'm a bit old-fashioned and rarely go online; tell me in detail." He Jia'an blinked, leaning half his body on the counter, listening patiently as the clerk explained.

The clerk's mouth twitched slightly and he said: "Isn't video calling popular now? Recently, some people's phones have inexplicably received video call invitations from people with all-black avatars and names displayed as 'Unknown,' but this person clearly isn't even a friend."

"A phone virus?"

"A virus? It's even more terrifying than that." The clerk seemed to get a bit excited, leaned in closer, and whispered suspiciously in He Jia'an's ear, "Anyone who answers this video call invitation will soon see a woman with a strange, terrifying appearance, and then that woman will say she's coming to find you to play... about seven days later, the person who answered the call will vanish!"