Chapter 56: 54 Daughter of Gluttony

54 Daughter of Gluttony

Xin Junmao woke up with a start again, sitting bolt upright in bed. Only when he saw the bright sun outside the window was he certain and convinced that he had truly woken up this time.

He let out a long sigh, thinking that he had encountered too many bad things recently, which had made him so anxious and uneasy that he had fallen into such an agonizing form of dream-within-a-dream.

Gradually recovering from the nightmare, his senses slowly returning to sharpness, Xin Junmao felt as if he were holding something in his hand. He looked down and was instantly drenched in a cold sweat, his face drained of color.

He saw that he was holding a comb. The comb was small, handleless, slightly shorter than a palm, about three fingers wide, with dense teeth. Its entire body was red but featured uneven white spots and irregular brown-black gradient lines. Its texture was as smooth as jade and felt ice-cold to the touch.

"Chicken-blood stone comb..." Xin Junmao gritted his teeth and tremblingly raised the comb in his hand. He recognized the texture of the comb not because he was knowledgeable about jade, but because he had rented it in that mysterious little shop in his dream-within-a-dream and had received an introduction to the comb from a shopkeeper with an honest and sincere face.

Clearly, what he had dreamt last night was not a dream, or rather, it was not an ordinary dream.

At the very least, he had never been able to remember the details of his dreams in the past, yet now he could remember every scene and detail he had seen in the little shop as if he had experienced them personally.

It was all real—the mysterious little shop that collected a whole room full of Abnormal objects, the shop assistant in red, the shopkeeper who dressed like someone living in the modern era... All those bizarre experiences, which transcended common sense, were condensed into this comb in his hand as evidence of his intimate contact with Abnormal things.

Xin Junmao looked at the comb in his hand, feeling an indescribable mix of panic and excitement.

"Can this comb really make my wish come true?" Xin Junmao recalled that when he had stated his wish in the shop, the shopkeeper had immediately recommended this somewhat feminine-looking comb to him, saying that it could help him.

Thinking that he could even bring a comb out of a dream—if such an unscientific thing could come true, then it didn't seem impossible for the comb to possess the power to grant his wish.

The moment he thought about how he was like Aladdin meeting a genie, having unexpectedly gained an opportunity to ascend to the heavens in a single step, he felt very happy.

But at the same time, his fear also stemmed from this comb. He clearly remembered that when he rented it, he had received a warning from the shopkeeper and the assistant: "Once this comb is used by someone, it belongs to the first person who uses it to comb their hair. As you comb your hair, think of your wish, and the comb will hear your wish and quietly help you realize it.

But remember, once you start making a wish, the wish cannot be changed, and you must not stop the act of combing your hair every day until the wish is fulfilled. Furthermore, before the wish is fulfilled, you must not let a second person use the comb.

The rental period lasts for one wish-fulfillment cycle. Once the first wish is successfully granted, the comb must be returned. If you insist on keeping the comb, we cannot help with any consequences that may arise, nor will we bear any responsibility."

Thinking of these taboos and precautions, Xin Junmao had felt it was strange at the time, but now he felt it was best to comply with the shop's requirements.

Half-doubting, he sat down at his desk, picked up the mirror on the table, and while looking in the mirror, he combed his hair, muttering, "Please let me succeed in my next job application."

There was no special feeling, but suddenly he felt as if something had lightly brushed against his hair, like the gentleness of a mother's caress.

"Can this really work?" Xin Junmao looked at the comb in his hand, lost in thought.

"This is the house of the driver from that last subway train on October 17th. I... I leave everything to you." Huang Cheng covered his mouth, speaking in a somewhat dazed manner; his apprentice was the same, and both of them were injured.

The two Enforcers, who had been full of righteous indignation while going to catch suspects the day before, were now listless and dispirited. After hurriedly explaining the situation to the arriving He Jia'an, Li Yingqi, and Yu Lianyun, they left with bitter smiles on their faces.

After watching the two Enforcers leave, the gazes of He Jia'an and the others shifted to the interior of the room, which was messy yet strangely orderly.

The scene was a wash of cyan and red; everywhere there were cyan and vermilion ropes, winding around the house and weaving one irregular, deformed, and strange pattern after another. In the center of the room, something resembling a Strange Array had been set up; the core rune of the array was an unidentified creature that looked like a pile of maggots mixed with the features of various cattle, horses, and sheep.

"This pattern... there's no mistaking it now." Li Yingqi glanced at the pattern of the Strange Array as if she had already reached an answer, and looked at her two teammates.

He Jia'an scratched his round head and said, "It's indeed as obvious as can be. It's truly a headache."

Compared to the experienced Li Yingqi and He Jia'an, Yu Lianyun, a newcomer who had been in the business for less than half a year, seemed somewhat hesitant. She guessed uncertainly, "Could this pattern be the number four Alien God recorded in the organization's files, the Daughter of Gluttony?"

Soon, Yu Lianyun received affirmative nods from both Li Yingqi and He Jia'an.

Upon receiving the affirmative answer, Yu Lianyun felt no joy at having guessed correctly; instead, she wore a heavy expression, as if she were looking at an approaching tsunami.

"The Daughter of Gluttony, her true appearance is unknown. According to the fanatical worshippers and believers of this Alien God, she is not only the King of Gluttony but also the Daughter of Evolution and Mother Earth... She possesses the ability to devour all living things and perfectly record all the genetic traits of those organisms, capable of infinite transformations. She is an Alien God born since the primordial times of Earth," Li Yingqi said. "It is said that the Daughter of Gluttony usually does not appear in her true form, but instead appears in an image that her believers are happy to see. In the eyes of different believers, her appearance is also different.

Only those believers who receive the 'favor' of the Daughter of Gluttony will have the chance to catch a glimpse of this Alien God's appearance, and then obtain eternal life together with the Alien God. The price is that from then on, those people's lives will be symbiotically bound with the Daughter of Gluttony, becoming a part of the Daughter of Gluttony's true body."

He Jia'an lit a cigarette butt and said, "If it really is the Daughter of Gluttony, then nothing is strange anymore. Seven Mysterious Investigators have gone missing, an Enforcer investigation team, and two local Enforcers were also nearly killed on the spot by the driver of the last train—a fanatical worshipper of the Daughter of Gluttony—who fought two people at once."

It turned out that just yesterday, after members of the local Xuanmi Group branch in Cuizhu City learned from Zhang Xiaoxiao and the Enforcers about the existence of a hidden subway line beneath Cuizhu City, they immediately set out to investigate. As a result, even though they were fully armed, they never returned from the underground of Cuizhu City, and there was a high probability that there was no chance of survival.