[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-national-guardian-s-gone-and-we-re-done":3,"chapter-national-guardian-s-gone-and-we-re-done-national-guardian-s-gone-and-we-re-done-chapter-220":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","National Guardian's Gone and We're Done",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1743906,2228,"Chapter 220 - 219: The Victims’ Common Point","national-guardian-s-gone-and-we-re-done-chapter-220",220,"\u003Cp>Chu He said with confidence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That makes sense.\" Bi Hongda and Qi Chaoyu nodded in solemn agreement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If anyone else had said such a thing, they would have been laughed out of the room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But coming from Chu He, it sounded perfectly normal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Go investigate the victims’ backgrounds. See if they have anything in common,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>like if they’ve hurt people, committed any crimes, or even just bullied others.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Chu He was walking, he suddenly seemed to think of something.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Understood. I’ll start the investigation right away.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bi Hongda immediately turned to his aide,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>and relayed the order, demanding a thorough report in the shortest possible time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After leaving the airport, the group got into their cars. The original plan was to take Chu He for a meal and some rest,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>but Chu He insisted on going directly to where the victims were being kept.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon, they arrived at the local Defense Team headquarters in Huamen City.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside a large morgue, rows upon rows of assorted Papermen were on display.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The morgue was located in the building’s basement, the B1 level, a place perpetually shrouded in pale light.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This light held none of the warmth of day; instead, it carried a bone-chilling cold and desolation,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>as if it could pierce straight through to the deepest fears of the human heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The former solemnity and chill of the space had been replaced by a strange atmosphere.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The refrigerated lockers and slabs that once held the deceased, granting them a final peace, had now vanished without a trace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In their place were carefully arranged sections where rows of Papermen stood silently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These were no ordinary Papermen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were not merely simple constructions of paper and ink, but rather the tangible manifestations of some supernatural force.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each Paperman exuded the faint scent of paper, yet in the interplay of light and shadow,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>they revealed an indescribable liveliness and eeriness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was as if they had once been truly living beings, now imprisoned in these fragile forms by some unspeakable power.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their eyes were vacant yet profound, seemingly capable of perceiving the darkest corners of the human soul.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They also seemed to be silently telling unfinished stories, sending a chill down one’s spine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Chu He, Bi Hongda, Qi Chaoyu, and the members of the Defense Team stepped into this forgotten domain,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>the air seemed to freeze in an instant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was as if all the Papermen were brought to life at the same moment. Their once-motionless eyes now seemed to possess souls, turning in unison to face the newcomers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a gaze that transcended physical boundaries, sending a shiver down their spines and making them feel as if they were being choked by countless invisible hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even more horrifying, their pale faces were smeared with garish, blood-red blush, like dried bloodstains—both jarring and grotesque.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under the pallid light, this splash of color added a touch of the demonic and ominous.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If you looked closely, you would notice that the Papermen’s gazes weren’t fixed directly on the group.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instead, depending on their positions, they stared into different points in the empty space.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But it was this very indirect stare that created a terrifying sensation of being completely surrounded with no escape,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>making one suspect that every minute movement was being witnessed by these Papermen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The low temperature in the morgue seemed to invisibly intensify this feeling of oppression and unease.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone’s breathing grew heavy and ragged, and the air was thick with an indescribable tension and fear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If not for Chu He’s insistence, they might never have stepped into this forbidden place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But now, they had no choice but to steel themselves\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>and venture step by step into this world of Papermen, filled with the unknown and the terrifying.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Mr. Chu, the investigation report is here.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bi Hongda’s voice suddenly shattered the morgue’s silence. He hurried over, holding a laptop.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An aide had just handed it to him. It contained the latest intelligence gathered according to Chu He’s request.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bi Hongda said with a solemn expression, \"Mr. Chu, your suspicions were correct. All of these people had problematic pasts, to varying degrees.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This Paperman is Zhang Jiancheng, a Martial Arts Teacher at an academy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because a student refused to bribe him as requested, he arranged for other students at the school to ostracize them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This student came from a poor family and, despite never having access to good Martial Arts training resources,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>their grades at the academy were excellent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even so, they were treated with extreme unfairness,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>which eventually drove them to hang themself in the mountain forests, ending their young life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Jiancheng, however, was completely unaffected by the incident and continued to work as a teacher at that Martial Arts Academy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reason was that the dean of this Martial Arts Academy was Zhang Jiancheng’s father-in-law.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhang Jiancheng’s father-in-law pulled some strings and arranged for reporters to manipulate public opinion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the end, the story became that the student was insecure and overly sensitive at the academy due to their poor family background.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The narrative claimed that Zhang Jiancheng had tried to counsel the student multiple times and even paid out of his own pocket to support them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But, the story went, the student unexpectedly developed a sense of vanity and began to compare themself with others.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They pretended to be from a rich family at school, only to be mercilessly exposed by other students, leading to them being ostracized and despised.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This led many people who didn’t know the truth to attack the student,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>and some even began to point fingers and gossip about the student’s family in their daily lives.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eventually, the student’s entire family also chose to end their lives.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Bi Hongda recounted this story, his face was filled with rage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This Paperman was dressed in an elegant suit, with a fountain pen tucked into the breast pocket.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Its hair was combed back into a meticulous slick-back style. Even as a Paperman,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>you could still see the slick, black sheen of its hair.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But its face was frozen in the form of a Paperman, though it looked to be less than forty years old.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Judging by its appearance alone, you would never guess it was such a sanctimonious monster.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This woman is named Xu Lanping. She’s a villager from a village in Huamen City who had eight sons and five daughters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the village, having many sons meant you could do as you pleased, and her family was infamous as local tyrants.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Lanping coveted a piece of land belonging to someone else—an old man in his seventies,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>whose life had been extremely unfortunate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His wife had passed away from illness long ago, one son had drowned while swimming in the river, and his daughter, who went to the city to work, died in a car accident.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the end, only the poor old man was left, relying on that small plot of land to survive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Lanping offered to buy the land from the old man for ten thousand yuan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man staunchly refused.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So, Xu Lanping had her sons and daughters take turns tormenting him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For example, whenever the old man planted new crops, they would be completely uprooted the next day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The dog he kept at home was poisoned with rat poison.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His windows were smashed while he slept at night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Later, seeing that the old man still wouldn’t sell the land despite his circumstances,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xu Lanping actually started a rumor, claiming the old man was a lecherous bachelor who had designs on her daughter and wanted to rape her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The old man had lived an honest life and couldn’t bear the humiliation. He drowned himself in the village reservoir.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And that piece of land was then claimed by Xu Lanping as her own.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bi Hongda took another step forward, stopping in front of the Paperman of a middle-aged woman.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The woman had an exceptionally cruel-looking face, with a mouth that jutted out like a rooster’s beak.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even as a Paperman, its eyes were still glaring forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For the Defense Team, with its high-level clearance, investigating such information was not difficult.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This is outrageous! Doesn’t anyone do anything about this?\" Qi Chaoyu seethed with anger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Our Defense Team is only responsible for handling incidents involving Evil Spirits. We have no jurisdiction over matters that don’t involve them,\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bi Hongda said helplessly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He then took another step forward, stood before another Paperman, and said, \"This person is named...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chu He held up a hand. \"You don’t need to continue. If I’m not mistaken, every Paperman in this morgue got what they deserved.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That’s correct.\" Bi Hongda handed the laptop back to his aide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Who was the first victim?\" Chu He asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It was the Martial Arts Academy teacher, Zhang Jiancheng,\" Bi Hongda replied.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"In that case, the killer is likely acting with a sense of vigilante justice. Since no one else would deal with it, they decided to take matters into their own hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And people like that are often ordinary individuals with no power or influence, which means their sources of information are extremely limited,\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chu He said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Mr. Chu, you mean there’s likely an overlap between the first victim, Zhang Jiancheng’s, social circle and the killer’s.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bi Hongda’s eyes lit up.\u003C\u002Fp>",1549,"2026-06-06T16:46:32.086Z",1,"novelbin.me","c80953a075ddd0a9cbccb30539df81f08ea9bb470fdddf3c4a3f62065c67c82e","national-guardian-s-gone-and-we-re-done-chapter-221","national-guardian-s-gone-and-we-re-done-chapter-170",274,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fnational-guardian-s-gone-and-we-re-done-cover.jpg"]