Chapter 474: Her Older Brother Is Called Feng Mu?

Luo Ji understood this well; his low voice carried a kind of great enlightenment born of having experienced life and death:

"After I was expelled from school, I signed a life-and-death waiver and joined the Vanguard Team, entered the Hidden Gate to pioneer, serving as a human flesh detector for the Investigation Corps, using my life to fill the cannon fodder of unknown regions.

Having survived several brushes with death, I came to understand a principle."

Cui Cui's pupils contracted slightly; she didn't know much about the Hidden Gate, but she had also heard that the Vanguard Teams entering the Hidden Gate faced nine deaths for one life.

The nine deaths for one life here was not an exaggerated metaphor, but a pure mathematical probability.

Zhang Liyou, on the other hand, stared at Luo Ji, a thoughtful expression appearing on her face; she hesitated before asking:

"So that mirror of yours that can absorb into the body was brought out from the Hidden Gate?"

Since Luo Ji had already exposed the mirror, and now mentioned his Hidden Gate experience, he also meant to explain to the two of them; he nodded and said:

"Yes, the mirror was brought out by me from inside the Hidden Gate, from a terrifying palace; it was precisely because it could hide in the body that it wasn't searched out by the Investigation Corps.

This mirror can reflect a person's 【Fate Pattern】; unfortunately, the mirror is already broken now."

After Luo Ji explained concisely in two sentences, not wishing to say more, he turned the conversation back to before and continued:

"When I came out of the Hidden Gate, I understood that people only get protection if they have value, while people without value are nothing but living two-legged sheep."

Luo Ji paused, the corner of his mouth hooking into a near-ferocious cold laugh:

"Very obviously, in this world, in the eyes of certain people, the man-eating monsters are more valuable than the people being eaten, right?"

Cui Cui felt as if she had fallen into an ice cellar; her lips trembled, wanting to retort, yet not knowing how to retort.

Zhang Liyou pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked:

"The mirror can see a person's 【Fate Pattern】?"

She recalled the corridor of paintings seen from inside the mirror, recalled the names of those few paintings, and felt a vague realization in her heart:

"Are those all the 【Fate Patterns】 of 【Masks】?"

Luo Ji gave an "Mm."

Zhang Liyou thought for a bit and asked again: "Then what is Feng Yuhuai's 【Fate Pattern】? You should have reflected her, right?"

Cui Cui also hurriedly pricked up her ears, her breathing also stagnating along with it.

Luo Ji's Adam's apple rolled, he slowly exhaled a mouthful of turbid air, and said word by word: "Mu, Zhi, Bi, You."

"Bi You?!" The two girls exclaimed in unison, their voices echoing in the cramped room.

While speaking, Luo Ji also used his finger dipped in water to write those four characters on the tea table:

"Before I still didn't understand the meaning of this 【Fate Pattern】; now I vaguely have some guesses. That 'Mu' character perhaps represents the person protecting Feng Yuhuai."

Seeing the two of them staring dead at the tabletop simultaneously, Luo Ji added:

"That person's name very likely contains a 'Mu' character?!!"

Zhang Liyou's pupils violently contracted; she lowered her voice and said:

"I remember Feng Yuhuai has an older brother; it seems his name also has a 'mu' in it. That's right, I remember now; her older brother is called Feng Mu, just don't know if it's this 'Mu' character?"

Cui Cui also seemed to have been enlightened; she hurriedly nodded repeatedly, agreeing:

"That's right, I remember too; Feng Yuhuai mentioned her older brother, he was called Feng Mu."

"Wait!" Luo Ji's face showed shock; he cried out involuntarily: "What did you just say her older brother is called? Feng Mu?!"

………

"Zheng Hang!!!"

A sudden cry of alarm rang out in the conference room, interrupting the busy work of the crowd of constables.

The technician in the corner abruptly stood up; the chair scraped a piercing sound on the floor.

"The photo matched with the database! This man, oh no, the 【Mask】's true identity is called Zheng Hang!!!"

The technician pointed at the face on the projector, his excited voice trembling.

The air froze instantly.

The Special Commissioner sat on the spacious sofa to the side; his index finger, originally rhythmically tapping the tabletop, also stopped.

All constables' gazes shot toward the screen like sharp arrows; even breathing sounds became clearly audible.

Feng Ju still had a fixation clip wrapped around his nasal bridge; his whole face appeared comical and bedraggled.

But at this moment no one could laugh — he abruptly stood up, rushed to the front of the screen in two or three steps, eyes dead fixed on that face, looking at the match results above.

The projector's cold light reflected a cold stern face; the database's red frame clamped his facial features tight like a shackle; in the right-side info column, the two bold characters "Zheng Hang" stood grimly erect.

"Which case?" Feng Ju turned his head and barked at the technician.

The technician hurriedly operated the computer; the projection screen immediately switched, a wanted order clearly projected onto the screen.

The Zheng Hang on the wanted photo wore a school uniform; his brows and eyes still carried a youthfulness not yet faded.

Compared to that deranged 【Mask】 in the live broadcast, they were simply two different people.

But the machine would not lie.

The arc of the brow ridge, the width of the nasal wings, the angle of the jaw — all biological features had nowhere to hide before the algorithm.

At the bottom right of the screen, the bright red "99.4%" match rate, like a judge's falling gavel, nailed the 【Mask】 and Zheng Hang dead as one person, one face!

The technician hurriedly also pulled up the case data, projecting it onto the large screen.

The technician said: "Zheng Hang! The fugitive suspect of the No. 47 Middle School Curse of the Evil Sacrifice case!"

The Special Commissioner narrowed his eyes: "Curse of the Evil Sacrifice case?"

Feng Ju froze for half a second: "No. 47 Middle School?"

On the projection screen, relevant data scrolled rapidly on the screen; bloody scene photos flashed past one after another.

The final freeze-frame close-up showed an inverted pentagram altar outlined in coagulated blood on the cement ground, emitting an eerie luster.

The female student's corpse lying supine on it presented an unnatural gray-white — her skull was caved in by more than half, all blood in her body extracted until not a drop remained, withered skin covered in dark red incantations.

The Special Commissioner frowned and looked at Feng Ju: "Curse of the Evil Sacrifice case, such an important clue, why was it overlooked?"

Feng Ju's face was dark with haze; this was indeed an oversight in his handling of the case.

He steeled himself, feigning composure as he explained:

"What the Special Commissioner doesn't know is that in our Lower City, cases branded with 'Curse of the Evil Sacrifice' actually occur in no small number each year; it's just that most only bear the name, having only a sacrificial ritual but no true Curse of the Evil Sacrifice descent, so..."

Judging by the Lower City Patrol Office's inherent experience, Lower City 'Curse of the Evil Sacrifice' cases are mostly the one-sided enthusiasm of madmen or cultists, belonging to the category of having mere appearance — unrequited love.

Therefore, the Patrol Bureau never took 'Curse of the Evil Sacrifice cases' too seriously.

But analyzing in hindsight now, clearly, Zheng Hang was different from those false 'Curse of the Evil Sacrifice cases'; the Curse of the Evil Sacrifice truly responded to him.

The Special Commissioner let out a cold snort: "Who handled this case?"

Feng Ju glanced at the technician; the technician understood tacitly, fingers striking the keyboard rapidly, quickly pulling up the case investigator's signature, then hurriedly replied:

"The case occurred around March 18th; the investigator was Captain Li Shang Li."

(End of Chapter)