Chapter 36: Thirty-five: Young Girl (Two-in-One)

Thirty-five: Young Girl (Two-in-One)

"I originally wanted to go feed the child, then I discovered a strange human silhouette in the room. I had just wanted to warn them that one couldn't just enter here at will, but who would have thought that as soon as the other party turned their head..." The young nurse who had let out a shrill scream in the night was now recalling it painfully.

Yu Lianyun recorded what the young nurse said, then comforted her: "You are just too tired, go back and rest for a few days. Don't worry, I have already spoken to your leaders for you; they won't deny your leave request."

The young nurse did not speak, only holding her forehead and smiling bitterly where she stood; what she saw tonight would become a Dream Demon that would haunt her for the rest of her life.

Yu Lianyun came to the window and balcony where the strange female bird had broken in. When she leaned her head out past the floor, she clearly saw several claw marks on the building's exterior from top to bottom.

"Still unable to definitively determine the source," Yu Lianyun thought to herself. She crossed her arms and fell into deep thought. Judging by the current situation, while she could not completely rule out that the strange bird had nothing to do with the Huogu, it was highly probable that it did not belong to the same system.

Although the strange bird had launched an attack on her and Li Jiahong, it had not caused any substantial harm to anyone. If the strange bird were a bio-engineered creature of the Huogu faction, the first to bear the brunt should have been Li Jiahong's wife, Jiang Gu. Yet the strange bird did not attack Jiang Gu, but instead watched the child in the greenhouse?

A strange bird that likes children? Yu Lianyun thought. She decided to use this as a clue and have her colleagues in the organization check the organization's Tushuguan and past archives.

Just as Yu Lianyun pulled her head back in, she suddenly discovered a pitch-black hand crawling onto the wall. The owner of the hand was a deformed woman wearing a tattered white dress, crawling on the wall like a human spider.

"Yao Zhenzhen, what are you looking at?" Yu Lianyun asked the Avatar of the Blessing before her in confusion.

Yao Zhenzhen did not answer. She only let out a low, hungry growl, her eyes peering through her hair, staring straight at a large tree directly across from the balcony.

"Is there something wrong with this large tree?" Yu Lianyun followed the other's gaze and also saw the large tree.

Judging by the height of this tree, it was already quite ancient, perhaps even older than the history of this hospital.

She went downstairs to the base of the tree and looked up; it was lush with foliage, and the visible range was limited.

Yu Lianyun had just intended to walk around the tree once when she discovered that Yao Zhenzhen had already climbed up the large tree, and the shadow beneath her own feet performed another magical leap. That other Avatar of the Blessing that wouldn't let her go, her father, also followed behind Yao Zhenzhen and climbed onto the branches.

"Up there?" Yu Lianyun suddenly realized, and then she looked embarrassed, because she had never climbed a tree, and it was impossible for her to do something that defied Newtonian physics like Yao Zhenzhen and her father.

She looked left and right, and seeing no one around, she had an idea.

Placing both hands on the large tree, Yu Lianyun gritted her teeth and pushed hard. After finding she couldn't push it, she kicked it directly, and then followed up with a running flying kick.

After quite a bit of effort, Yu Lianyun finally saw the large tree begin to sway, with a few fallen leaves drifting down.

Yu Lianyun was tired and leaned against the tree to rest in frustration, but before she had rested for even a few seconds, she was startled by the cold, fishy, foul-smelling mucus she felt on the tree bark, and she immediately retreated a few steps.

At this time, the sky had not yet brightened, and Yu Lianyun could only barely make out in the dark night that her hand was stained with some kind of dark liquid, which carried a familiar scent amidst the fishy stench.

"Blood?" Yu Lianyun raised an eyebrow. She took out her flashlight to illuminate the hand that had touched the unknown liquid and found that the liquid was yellow-green, stretching and sticking between her fingers. As the light moved to the tree bark, she saw that the yellow-green unknown mucus was sliding down in large quantities from high up in the tree.

Rustle!

Yu Lianyun heard movement in the foliage above her head and faintly heard the sound of something constantly hitting branches and falling from high up. She immediately retreated a few steps, and then saw a mass of pitch-black flesh break through the leaves and branches and fall to the ground. A hole had opened in the foliage, and the two Avatars of the Blessing high above peered down with wide eyes, letting out low growls.

Yu Lianyun was already used to the living habits of these two Avatars of the Blessing and didn't pay them any mind, but when her flashlight illuminated the appearance of that mass of flesh clearly and brightly, she instantly felt as if her entire scalp was about to peel back.

It was a humanoid but definitely non-human monster corpse. Its form was a hairless pest with skin close to a human's, more like a silverback gorilla, with a near-human face, fangs growing in its mouth, limbs—especially a pair of thick and powerful arms—and short, small lower limbs, with strange tumors covering its back.

On this green-faced, fanged monster corpse, Yu Lianyun could clearly see that the monster's fatal wounds were on its chest and back. Its chest had been torn open by sharp claws, and its back had been pierced straight through by a single strike from a bird of prey-like creature. But looking at the currently known natural creatures born on Earth, there existed no bird of prey with such large claws. Yu Lianyun could naturally imagine that the one who killed this pest was the humanoid strange female bird that had attacked her before.

"Not eating it, just killing it," Yu Lianyun thought to herself, and suddenly she remembered Li Jiahong's wife.

Didn't Jiang Gu say she could feel the peeping of Abnormal creatures like the Huogu?

So, was this the creature of the Huogu lineage that she and Li Jiahong were looking for?

Thinking of how Li Jiahong had mentioned that Jiang Gu was afraid of red eyes, Yu Lianyun squatted down, endured the nausea, and used her hands to peel back the eyelids of the humanoid pest. Upon flipping them open, it was indeed a deep red pupil with a dilated iris.

Seeing this, Yu Lianyun immediately felt that she had grasped the truth.

If her guess was correct, the strange female bird she and Li Jiahong had seen before was related to the Feather that Li Jiahong had obtained from Lin Laoban. Perhaps, just like her relationship with the two Avatars of the Blessing, that Feather could summon that strange bird, and the strange bird would temporarily protect the holder of the Feather.

The reason Jiang Gu hadn't felt the peeping of the Huogu lineage these days wasn't because the Feather had soothed her tense spirit, but because the strange bird summoned by the Feather had killed the monsters peeping at her in the dark.

Rustle, rustle, rustle...

Suddenly, the trees overhead swayed wildly. Yu Lianyun's heart trembled, and sensing the danger from above, she threw herself away without hesitation, jumping out of the range of the large tree's shadow.

Thump, thump, thump—

After a series of dull falling sounds subsided, Yu Lianyun looked back and couldn't help but clench her fists, her whole body trembling.

One, two, three, four... twelve!

A full twelve pest corpses with completely different facial features and forms had actually been hiding on this large tree, and now they had been brought down from the tree by Yao Zhenzhen and her father.

"Can't handle this, I can't deal with this alone." Yu Lianyun looked at the time; there were still two hours until sunrise. Her scalp tightened, and she hurriedly called people from the organization to come and help handle the corpses of the Abnormal creatures at the scene.

And so, during this time before sunrise, the new Mysterious Investigator Yu Lianyun was busy and flustered for a long while to deal with the Abnormal creature corpses...

Discovering twelve Abnormal creature corpses, the strange giant bird being witnessed by more than one person, involving a nationwide serial disappearance case... These pieces of news, no matter which one was taken alone, would be enough for the Xuanmi Group to dispatch a main force and all members of the local Xuanmi Group branch to act collectively.

Therefore, four hours later, Yu Lianyun saw her two teammates with gloomy faces.

"As expected, we still can't let you act alone for the time being," Li Yingqi said, crossing her arms and shaking her head with a sigh. Compared to over a month ago, her appearance had undergone a certain degree of obvious change; wrinkles had appeared at the corners of her eyes, making her look more mature, with a bit less ethereal spirit and a bit more mature charm.

He Jia'an also had some changes. He had shaved his hair clean, and with an unlit cigarette in his mouth, he rubbed his shiny, oily head and said: "As expected of our Tiger Team's investigation radar, with someone like you with such high intuition, what Abnormal event could we possibly fail to discover?"

Yu Lianyun gave a dry laugh. This wasn't something she had volunteered for either. If it weren't for the sudden discovery of so many Abnormal creature corpses, she actually wanted to handle the Huogu incident secretly by herself. After all, this matter involved the mysterious and powerful Lin Laoban, but unfortunately, her plans had fallen through.

"No more jokes, tell us about the situation you investigated." Seeing Yu Lianyun's embarrassed expression, He Jia'an stopped the teasing.

Yu Lianyun felt as if she had been granted amnesty and let out a long sigh of relief, then informed He Jia'an and Li Yingqi of her investigation progress.

"Let's go, let's go see that Mr. Li." After hearing this, He Jia'an didn't state his own opinion, but instead took the cigarette from his mouth, put it back into the cigarette case in his pocket, and with his hands in his pockets, led the two female teammates up to the inpatient building.

Arriving at the ward where Li Jiahong and his wife were, Jiang Gu was already asleep. Seeing the several people in black clothes knocking and entering, Li Jiahong immediately seemed to understand the trio's intent. He made a gesture for silence with an apologetic expression, then signaled for everyone to go outside to talk.

He Jia'an nodded with a smile, but also made a gesture indicating to wait a moment.

He took Yu Lianyun and Li Yingqi to the balcony of this ward, and Li Jiahong followed them in confusion.

After arriving at the balcony, everyone immediately discovered the holes and cracks on the balcony wall. It was not hard to see that these were also traces left by the strange female bird, which meant that the strange female bird had once appeared in this ward.

"No wonder she was so terrified." Seeing this, Li Jiahong's expression turned heavy, and he felt deeply self-reproachful inside.

Yu Lianyun, however, had a puzzled look on her face and said: "Strange, why did that strange bird never hurt anyone else besides me, Mr. Li, and those monsters sent by the Huogu?"

"Monsters sent by the Huogu?" Li Jiahong's pupils shrank, and he hurriedly asked in a low voice what was going on.

Yu Lianyun told Li Jiahong about her discovery on the large tree in the inpatient courtyard.

Li Jiahong's expression was instantly stunned, and he murmured to himself in a low voice: "So, everything I saw was not a dream..."

"Let's find a place to talk about it later." Hearing Li Jiahong's words, He Jia'an didn't ask anything further, but just turned back and said.

Following this, Yu Lianyun and Li Jiahong arrived at the rooftop once again.

Returning to the rooftop, the two saw the thick steel door of the top floor had been easily torn apart and was riddled with holes; their hearts grew cold, and they felt fortunate that they had run fast enough last night.

He Jia'an and Li Yingqi took the opportunity to investigate the rooftop before turning back to ask Li Jiahong a few questions.

The questions were all simple, but what Li Jiahong found strange was that the focus of He Jia'an's questions was entirely on his wife rather than himself, which Li Jiahong could not understand.

"Why do you keep asking questions about my wife? Do you have some kind of suspicion?" Li Jiahong asked sternly; involving his wife, his demeanor at this moment became somewhat firm.

"I do indeed have some doubts." He Jia'an put a cigarette back in his mouth but did not light it. "I think your wife held back information from you regarding her involvement in the mysterious cult back then."

Li Jiahong furrowed his brows and did not refute this; it seemed he had also sensed this himself.

"Regarding the Huogu summoning ritual that once circulated, I happen to know a little about it myself." He Jia'an bit down on the cigarette filter and said slowly, "The so-called summoning ritual is actually reaching an exchange contract with a Huogu: you make a wish to the Huogu, the Huogu fulfills the summoner's wish, and then the Huogu takes away the child they give birth to in the future."

"Mr. Li, I believe you yourself must be quite curious about what kind of wish your wife actually made back then, right?" He Jia'an said.

Li Jiahong fell silent; of course he was curious, but he had been avoiding this question, or rather, he actually already had a clear answer in his mind, but he did not want to delve into it because that might shatter all the harmony he currently had.

He Jia'an seemed to read Li Jiahong's heart as well; he smiled and said, "Is that so? It seems you have already guessed an answer yourself."

Subsequently, he changed the subject: "What is your opinion on that strange bird from last night?"

Facing this question from He Jia'an, Li Yingqi and Yu Lianyun both looked at He Jia'an in surprise—wasn't the answer obvious?

Yet Li Jiahong gave an answer that was unexpected to both of them: "I don't think she is evil."

"She wanted to kill you yesterday," Yu Lianyun emphasized.

Li Jiahong was silent, and only after a long while did he reply: "There is no special reason; it is just a gut feeling."

……

Li Jiahong felt very surprised, because the people from the Xuanmi Group had let him go after asking him only a few questions; although he had always been very honest, he did not think the Xuanmi Group would trust him completely.

Perhaps the people from the Xuanmi Group had other plans, Li Jiahong guessed.

Returning to his wife's side, his wife had already woken up, and with a rosy complexion, she suddenly said earnestly: "I want to be discharged."

"But your body hasn't fully recovered." Li Jiahong wanted to refuse immediately.

But his wife's attending physician then entered the ward and handed him the report on his wife's healthy body; the doctor couldn't help but exclaim: "This is truly a miracle."

It was indeed a miracle; Li Jiahong had seen many miracles these days, to the point that now, as he calmed down, he felt a trace of an eerie and unsettling aura within it.

In the end, Li Jiahong could not withstand his wife's pleading, and he agreed to process the discharge.

While leaving the hospital with his wife, on the way, Li Jiahong saw He Jia'an and the others standing in a corner of the hospital from afar; they also seemed to have seen him and his wife, waving goodbye to them from a distance, with no intention of stopping them from leaving at all.

Li Jiahong took his wife back to his parents' home; the expenses spent on searching for their child and medical treatments over these years had exhausted the wealth he had accumulated in his youth, including the warm home he, his wife, and his child had shared. He could not bear to let his wife squeeze into his cold, damp rental room of less than ten square meters with him, so he had no choice but to swallow his pride and ask his parents to take them in.

Fortunately, his parents were both understanding and agreed without a second thought; even before they moved in, they had long since tidied up the room for them and prepared a sumptuous lunch, saying it was to welcome them home.

That meal was eaten with immense satisfaction, and it was also a meal that made one feel nostalgic.

After lunch, Li Jiahong pondered for a while and decided to specifically call Xue Hanlei, not only because she had met with him just yesterday, but also because she, like him, was investigating the Huogu matter; he believed that as long as the people from the Xuanmi Group kept investigating, it was hard to guarantee they wouldn't find Xue Hanlei.

In his impression, Xue Hanlei was still a relatively fragile woman, and out of a sense of inexplicable camaraderie, Li Jiahong wanted to give her a warning.

The call went through quickly, but the voice on the other end made Li Jiahong feel surprised.

"Hello, hi there, who are you looking for?" A cute, childish girl's voice came from the phone's earpiece.

Just as Li Jiahong was about to answer, he quickly heard Xue Hanlei's voice from the other end of the phone; in her words, Xue Hanlei was quite doting toward the girl who had answered the phone.

"Ningning, whose call is it?"

"I don't know, the caller name is... Li Jia... Li Jia-bird!"

"... That character is read 'Hong', come here, give the phone to Mommy."

"Okay!"

Li Jiahong couldn't help but smile, listening to the sound of bare feet running, and then the person on the line became Xue Hanlei: "Hello, Brother Jiahong?"

"It's me." Li Jiahong laughed, and he quickly heard the background noise on the other end of the phone.

"Wow, Mommy bought so many candles, eh, and so many paints, and there are even pretty stones!"

"Don't touch those things, be careful not to get them dirty!" Xue Hanlei's mood seemed somewhat tense at this moment, and she whispered a reprimand to the girl, upon which the girl let out a dejected, obedient "Oh."

"Sorry, I've embarrassed myself; it's my remarried partner's daughter, she turns four the day after tomorrow," Xue Hanlei said.

"Not at all, she's a very cute child." Li Jiahong said with a smile; he was actually quite surprised, because he had never known that Xue Hanlei had remarried.

"Is there something you need?"

Li Jiahong then told her about the possibility of the Xuanmi Group looking for her; however, Li Jiahong did not expect the reaction on the other side to be so intense after hearing the news.

He only heard a clatter—it was the sound of the phone falling.

Then, Xue Hanlei's somewhat flustered voice came from the other side of the phone: "I... I understand, thank you for telling me this."

Saying this, Xue Hanlei hurriedly hung up the phone.

Li Jiahong looked at the hang-up screen displayed on his phone in astonishment, but he didn't pay much attention to it; perhaps they were indeed busy over there.

Candles, paints... were they renovating the house and painting the walls? Li Jiahong thought to himself, but a sentence Xue Hanlei had said yesterday inexplicably surfaced in his mind.

"How soon is 'soon'?"