Chapter 62: Sixty: Sluggish

Sixty: Sluggish

Considering Xin Junmao's family situation, She Zi'an decided not to bring his entire team to visit. Including himself, there were five members in total; three remained in the vehicle, and he brought only one female teammate, Zhao Jing, to the door.

Zhao Jing was one of only two women in the team. However, because her pure, lovely appearance and well-behaved demeanor were completely at odds with her actual cunning and sharp personality, she was highly deceptive and often served as the team's diplomatic soul. This was the reason She Zi'an decided to bring only her along.

She Zi'an knocked on Xin Junmao's door. The person who opened it was Xin Junmao's mother. Seeing the official air of She Zi'an and Zhao Jing, the woman, who was over fifty, could not help but feel suspicious.

"Hello, may I ask if this is Xin Junmao's home?" She Zi'an took out the Enforcer credentials he had prepared in advance and showed them to Mother Xin.

Upon seeing that it was actually an Enforcer at the door, Mother Xin's face turned deathly pale on the spot. She stammered, "En... Enforcer comrade, do... do you... do you have some matter?"

Seeing Mother Xin's reaction, She Zi'an felt somewhat helpless. He glanced at Zhao Jing beside him. Zhao Jing understood immediately, stepped forward, and put on a gentle smile. "Ma'am, don't be nervous. Actually, we just came over to ask Xin Junmao a few questions. A small shop on Sanhe Street was robbed last night, and surveillance saw Xin Junmao jogging past at the time, so we came to ask if he saw the thief or got a clear look at their appearance."

"Ah... ah... is that so? So that's how it is." Hearing this, Mother Xin's tense, hunched shoulders immediately slumped, and she let out a sigh of relief. She then chuckled dryly, "Please come in, both comrades. Our Junmao is in his room right now. I'll take you to him. I, I, I'll go prepare some tea for you."

"Oh my, Ma'am, there's no need for such trouble," Zhao Jing said with a sweet smile. "It will only take a moment."

"It's necessary, it's necessary. You Enforcers run around so hard every day, you must be tired. Would you like some fruit or snacks? If not, you still must have some tea..." Mother Xin had the habit of chattering that most middle-aged women had. Looking hospitable, she led She Zi'an and Zhao Jing to the closed door of Xin Junmao's room while she spoke.

Mother Xin knocked on her son's door: "Maomao, open the door. Two comrades from the Enforcer Safety Bureau are here to ask you about something."

There was a silence inside the room. Mother Xin turned back to She Zi'an and Zhao Jing, looking somewhat embarrassed. "Sorry, my child ran into some bad things recently, and he's being a bit difficult right now."

"Bad things?" Zhao Jing asked, following her curiosity.

Mother Xin sighed with a look of misfortune and said, "It's just about that person who jumped onto the tracks at the subway station a few days ago. My child was supposed to go for a job interview that day, but who knew he would run into that kind of thing first thing in the morning... Sigh, the employment pressure has been high these past few years. My child studied hard from childhood to adulthood, finished four years of undergraduate studies, and still couldn't find a job the moment he graduated. You tell me, this world is..." Mother Xin began to complain incessantly again.

Zhao Jing smiled and echoed Mother Xin while exchanging glances with She Zi'an.

She Zi'an, however, frowned slightly. He naturally knew about that track-jumping suicide incident; it was the mission that brought the Tiger Team to Cuizhu City. It was said that the person who jumped onto the tracks was linked to a numbered Alien God from the Forbidden Archive of the Xuanmi Group: No. 4, Daughter of Gluttony.

Almost every numbered Alien God recorded in the Xuanmi Group's Forbidden Archive was a dangerous Alien God that had appeared in the Shenzhou Region. The lower the number, the greater the threat the Alien God posed and the more murders they had caused. Currently, the Forbidden Archive recorded a total of 108 Alien Gods, and almost every one of the top ten ranked Alien Gods was linked to at least 2,000 human lives.

Therefore, when She Zi'an and Zhao Jing heard that Xin Junmao was involved in that track-jumping incident, they both felt a sense of foreboding. Could this Hell Concert also involve the Alien God known as the Daughter of Gluttony?

One incident linked to two Alien Gods—one was enough to make one's scalp tingle, and now there were two? The members of the Snake Team felt extremely unsettled inside, like a storm on the ocean, surging with waves.

Captain She Zi'an had led the Snake Team for thirteen years without ever encountering a Heaven-Level Abnormal event. Now that they had finally encountered one, it might directly involve two Alien Gods. It seemed their good luck as a team had all been spent during those previous thirteen "peaceful" years.

After Mother Xin spoke for a while, seeing there was still no response from inside the room, she became somewhat displeased and knocked on the door a few more times.

Just as Mother Xin was about to lose her temper, the group finally heard the sound of a lock opening from inside the room.

Mother Xin's tightly furrowed brows relaxed slightly. She opened the door, looked at Xin Junmao, who was sitting on the windowsill with his back to everyone, and said, "Maomao, cooperate well with the two Enforcer comrades. I'm going to pour you some tea and get some snacks."

After saying this, Mother Xin let She Zi'an and the others enter the room, then closed the door behind them.

Once the door was closed, the entire room seemed to fall silent.

Due to the orientation of the room, Xin Junmao's bedroom seemed somewhat poorly ventilated. Once the door was closed, that stifling, hot feeling became even more apparent. Furthermore, the soundproofing of this room seemed to be designed too well, making the room both stuffy and quiet; such an environment would only make one's mood more anxious and restless.

"Mr. Xin Junmao?" She Zi'an did not move, secretly signaling Zhao Jing to stand behind him, closer to the door. He tried to call out to the young man who was motionless, like a corpse.

Xin Junmao looked out the window with a blank expression, his face hollow and listless, like a lagging machine with high-latency feedback. It was a long time before he responded: "... Is there something?"

She Zi'an and Zhao Jing both saw the other party's obvious abnormal behavior. She Zi'an slowly and silently took a step closer and asked, "Last night, did you go to the Citizen Sports Center?"

"I... did I go?" Xin Junmao seemed confused.

"We saw your figure in the surveillance records of the Gymnasium from last night." She Zi'an took another step forward and stood behind Xin Junmao. "What were you doing there?"

"Doing what..." Xin Junmao's brain seemed to be operating very slowly. He said sluggishly and hesitantly, "It seems I went there..."

"Were you listening to the concert?" She Zi'an leaned in to look, seeing only a pale, haggard face.

Xin Junmao slowly turned his eyeballs to look at She Zi'an, his neck then stiffly twisting over. His lips opened and closed perfunctorily. "It seems... that was the case."

"What did you hear?" She Zi'an pressed.

"I don't remember." Xin Junmao pulled at the corners of his mouth, a strange smile appearing on his exhausted face. His hollow eyes glowed with an unusual luster, as if mentioning the "concert" reminded him of other wonderful things.

Facing such a broken expression, She Zi'an felt the pores all over his body itching.

While She Zi'an was questioning him, Zhao Jing was also observing Xin Junmao's room. She suddenly noticed something incongruous in the room: a comb on Xin Junmao's desk.

If there were only one type of comb in a boy's room, and it happened to be a style used by women, that wouldn't be worth noting. But there were two combs of the same type in Xin Junmao's room, and that particular female-leaning style made it seem strange, because under normal circumstances, one would have no use for two combs of the same type.

Moreover, the material and design of that comb were too high-end and exquisite; it did not look like something a common family like Xin Junmao's would possess. It was even less likely that Xin Junmao, who was still unemployed, would purchase such an item.

"Is this comb yours?" Zhao Jing picked up the comb and asked Xin Junmao.

Xin Junmao turned to look at the comb, tilted his head, his face full of confusion, and his hand reached out unconsciously: "It seems... it seems it is mine."