Chapter 98: Ninety-six: The Missing Brother (Two-in-One)

Ninety-six: The Missing Brother (Two-in-One)

Shang Wei and his two team members were all running frantically, fleeing the black temple underground. Although they had not seen clearly what the flashing blue-black figure actually looked like, they could imagine it must be a hideous and abominable fish-man monster.

Those monsters were in hot pursuit of all of them; their rapid, strange footsteps followed closely behind the three humans, and they emitted bursts of whispers from their mouths.

"... Hai-da... Hui-ke... Hai-da! Hui-ke!" Shang Wei heard the monsters growling like this. He gritted his teeth, looked back at the darkness behind him, drew his pistol, aimed at the moving lightbulb-like eyes in the dark, and fired continuously.

He heard the sound of bullets striking metal, and also the sound of flesh being torn apart; he had successfully hit the group of monsters.

Among the three, only Shang Wei could remain calm enough to counterattack. The other two C-rank Occult Investigators seemed to have lost their minds, knowing only how to flee and run blindly, without feeling fatigue.

It was unclear if it was Shang Wei's counterattack that made those fierce and violent fish-men wary, but they suddenly stopped their pursuit. They stood in the deep darkness where the oil lamp's flame could not reach, quietly watching them, staring into Shang Wei's terrified eyes, as if wanting to carve his image into their minds.

They rushed out of the tunnel and returned to the surface.

Noticing the abnormal expressions of the three who rushed out of the tunnel, Yu Lianyun did not hesitate to have the iron door of the tunnel closed immediately, using several pieces of wood to wedge through the door handles to block the iron door.

"Run, there's something down there..." Shang Wei paused, bracing his knees and panting heavily. The two C-rank Occult Investigators who ran out at the same time as him seemed completely unaware of the fact that they had already escaped the underground and were temporarily safe; they ran past their teammates, out of the woodshed, and kept running even after exiting the ancestral hall.

"Hey!" Yu Lianyun also failed to react in time to stop the two panicked Occult Investigators.

Shang Wei gritted his teeth, "Don't worry about me for now, go catch up to those two idiots, I'll follow slowly."

Yu Lianyun nodded, left one person to accompany Shang Wei, and led the others to chase out the door.

But no one expected that when they caught up to the two who had lost their souls, they had already reached the cape and jumped off the cliff with almost no hesitation, embracing the sea that was constantly roaring with man-eating fury.

Seeing this scene, everyone's expressions changed in shock. They came to the place where the two Occult Investigators had jumped, looked down at the crashing waves, but could not find a trace of either of them in the rolling surf, as if they had been swallowed by this terrifying giant beast of an ocean, leaving not even a scrap of residue behind.

When Shang Wei arrived late, supported by an Occult Investigator, Yu Lianyun couldn't wait to ask about Shang Wei's experience underground.

The riddled black temple, the giant fish statues engraved with terrifying text, the blue-black fish-men that pursued them relentlessly... everything sounded so thrilling.

Shang Wei's teeth were chattering as he whispered, "I know those two who jumped into the sea didn't do it voluntarily. Like me, they heard those sounds, the growls coming from the depths of the black pipes in that black temple. That sound, deeper and more violent than a steam train accelerating out of control, must have made them see hallucinations, which is why they didn't realize they were already temporarily safe. Their bodies escaped the temple, but their souls were still being pursued."

"We must return to the mainland immediately." After hearing Shang Wei's experience, Yu Lianyun immediately realized that those crazy fish-men hiding in the darkness had set their sights on them for trespassing on forbidden ground. They absolutely, definitely would not let any of them go; fleeing this small island quickly was the best strategy.

However, Yu Lianyun still felt a sense of unease.

Soon her inner anxiety was confirmed; the boat they had arrived in was torn to pieces, with only a few fragments remaining floating on the sea, covered in claw marks.

"It was those things, those monsters..." Shang Wei said with certainty, a trace of fear showing in his eyes, cold sweat dripping from his forehead.

"The signal is also being heavily jammed," a C-rank Occult Investigator accompanying them said with a dry voice.

The group's faces were grim; they were trapped on this isolated island hiding extreme danger.

Drake finished listening to Li Nuowei recount the origin of the Jiaoren Disease, learning that the Jiaoren Disease came from the Curse of the God of the Peaceful Sea. Those cursed by the God of the Peaceful Sea would slowly transform into the fish-men he saw in his dreams, becoming hideous monsters with dull expressions and strange behavior.

At the same time, Drake finally guessed the origin of his other half of his bloodline. At least one of his parents must have been a believer cursed by the God of the Peaceful Sea, and the Curse of the Jiaoren Disease had been passed down to him through his bloodline.

He had longed for the Shenzhou Region since he was a child, wanting to find his origins in the land of his bloodline. It turned out it wasn't just an instinct of falling leaves returning to their roots in his genes; a significant part of the reason might have been the malice hidden deep in his blood influencing him, including the fact that he chose the "Mysterious Disappearance in Liuhua Port" mission at a glance might not have been a coincidence.

This was a fate he could not bypass or avoid. Drake suddenly realized he had never had freedom; he was locked in a cage of destiny. Those existences outside the cage looked at him just as humans looked at monkeys in a zoo. He was the same as those monkeys enjoying the comfort of their cage, thinking his actions stemmed from his free will, unaware that the "people" outside the cage were mocking his "freedom."

However, Drake felt not a shred of anger, only a deep sense of powerlessness, filled with resignation.

Drake looked at his wrist, which was bandaged, and tremblingly pulled back the gauze. When he saw dense, tiny blue-black Scale growing from his wound and spreading outward, his heart grew even heavier.

"Jiaoren Disease... is there a way to cure it?" Drake asked in a low voice. He looked at the young man beside him, a glimmer of hope in his eyes, wanting to get a positive answer from the youth.

However, Li Nuowei shook his head: "I don't know, but no matter how you think about it, the only method I think is worth a try is to destroy the source of the Curse."

Hearing this, Drake was stunned. The youth's casual words sounded as if he were talking about something that was a matter of course.

"Kill... the God of the Peaceful Sea?" Drake swallowed his saliva, swallowing his rationality along with it, "Is this something humans can do?"

The youth displayed a kind of confidence and arrogance that Drake could not understand. Although the youth himself did not realize it, he smiled and said: "There is always a way, you'll know once you try."

Try? Die?

Drake couldn't help but ask about Li Nuowei's identity again: "Who exactly are you?"

"Me?" Li Nuowei grinned, "Just an ordinary university student who is about to go crazy."

An ordinary university student? Drake did not believe it.

Dawn broke, and their clothes were dried. After putting their clothes back on, Li Nuowei intended to say goodbye, but Drake did not intend to give up following him; he still had many questions he needed to ask the other party.

Li Nuowei seemed to have known all along that Drake would do this. He didn't stop him, only saying: "I don't intend to run away, there is no point in you following me. When the time comes, I will definitely come to find you, so... please don't do what you did last night again. I won't be able to save you in time every single time."

Facing Li Nuowei's serious expression, Drake was somewhat taken aback; he actually saw a sincere request in the other party's eyes.

Drake was silent for a moment, then gave an almost imperceptible nod.

Although Li Nuowei had advised him that he didn't need to follow him, Drake finally obtained the other party's current residential address from him, in a student apartment near Liuhua Port Comprehensive University.

From this, Drake couldn't help but believe Li Nuowei's identity a little; perhaps he really was a university student, but definitely not an ordinary one.

The two separated after coming out of the summer house. Drake walked the path he took yesterday and once again arrived at the deep, dark, and narrow Tunnel.

Feeling the loneliness and chill emanating from the Tunnel, Drake felt as if it were yesterday.

But just like yesterday, he passed through the Tunnel safely.

Just as he exited the Tunnel, Drake saw the Enforcers' vehicles parked on the side of the road not far away. A pair of anxious-looking middle-aged parents were stopping passersby at random with the Enforcers, holding a photo of a lively and cheerful twin boy, pointing to the boy with the bright smile on the left side of the photo, asking passersby if they had seen their child.

And when Drake saw the photo from afar, he immediately recognized that the person the middle-aged couple and the Enforcers were searching for was the boy he met at the Tunnel entrance yesterday. The other party had fantasized about sending his precious items to his brother who had already gone to Heaven by passing through the somewhat eerie and terrifying Tunnel behind him.

Remembering the boy's innocent appearance, Drake felt a sense of heaviness in his heart.

Thus, he took the initiative to walk toward the couple and the Enforcers, saying bluntly: "I saw this child yesterday."

"Really? Where is he!?" The boy's parents grabbed his arm excitedly and asked hurriedly.

The Enforcers also put on serious and solemn expressions. One of the middle-aged Enforcers said with a serious look: "Please tell us, where did you last see this child, and what was he doing at the time?"

Drake told them everything he knew, "I saw the child right here, at the entrance of that Tunnel. At the time, he was holding a box of things, like beauty photo magazines, game consoles, and movie discs, packing all the things he liked into a box, and then placing it at the Tunnel entrance, saying that this way he could send the things to the person who had died... The boy and I didn't chat much, I was so hungry that I immediately went to find breakfast."

When the missing boy's parents and the Enforcers finished listening to Drake's account, the Enforcers looked confused and glanced at the deep Tunnel behind Drake, while the missing boy's parents, after a moment of daze, suddenly turned pale, terrified, as if they had discovered some cruel truth.

Noticing that the boy's mother was about to faint, the Enforcer and the boy's father hurriedly supported her. Drake also noticed something unusual from the couple's expressions.

The boy's father, with slightly red eyes, looked forcefully into Drake's eyes, wanting to find signs of lying in Drake's eyes, confirming repeatedly, and asking again: "Are you sure the things he was holding at the time were photo magazines, game consoles, and these things? Did he say himself that he liked these things?"

Drake nodded and affirmed: "That is what he said."

Hearing this, the boy's mother suddenly broke down in tears, while the boy's father covered his face in remorse.

Seeing this, Drake and the Enforcers could only soothe the couple's emotions; only after the couple had calmed down, their hearts dead with grief, did they learn from them the answer that had caused their breakdown.

"I have twin sons; the older brother is named Yang Zuo, who likes to read books and is quiet and gentle, while the younger brother is named Yang You, who likes watching movies and playing games and has a cheerful personality..." The couple sobbed, yet as they spoke, Drake and the Enforcers had already guessed the reason for the couple's true breakdown.

It turned out that all this time, the couple had mistaken which child had died; they thought the child who died in the car accident was the younger brother and the child currently missing was the older brother, but in reality, the result was exactly the opposite.

The one who actually died in the car accident was the older brother, and the one who was alive, and who is now missing, is actually the younger brother.

The reason for switching identities is currently unknown; perhaps the child did not want the couple to be sad, so he came up with the plan to pretend to be his deceased brother.

Although the truth was cruel, there were more pressing matters than the cruel truth; while one Enforcer was soothing the couple, another Enforcer brought Drake back to the Tunnel entrance and pointed at the empty box there, "Was the box placed there at the time? Where is that box now, and where did the items go?"

Drake shook his head: "I don't know either; I left after hearing him explain his reason for placing the items here."

"Could you come with us to the Enforcer Security Bureau, sir?" the Enforcer said; although he was asking, he gave no room for refusal.

Drake saw the look in the other's eyes; as a high-quality detective who had often dealt with Enforcers in the past, he was all too familiar with this look—it was the expression one used when looking at a criminal suspect.

Although he felt a bit between laughter and tears, Drake knew that according to standard procedure, he indeed had the suspicion of committing a crime, and being identified as a suspect was understandable.

Drake let out a laugh, then took out his F-rank Occult Investigator credentials from his pocket; this credential instantly stunned the Enforcer who was still suspecting him of being a murderer.

"You are an Occult Investigator?" The Enforcer swallowed his saliva; his tone was as if he had seen a worker with no presence pouring concrete at a construction site suddenly transform into a superstar experiencing life.

"It's in black and white; I am." Drake smiled, then immediately looked back at the Tunnel.