At the end of the pitch-black sky of Night City, within that eternally unchanging dense fog, a thin blood-red fissure silently appeared. Read full story at novel⦿fire.net
What emanated from the fissure was neither light nor deeper darkness, but an indescribable, heart-palpitating "malice."
It was as if the curtain of the entire world had been sliced open by a sharp blade, with something terrifying lurking behind, peering into this dreamscape.
The fissure appeared only for an instant before quickly closing, fast enough to seem like an illusion.
The surrounding crowd seemed oblivious, continuing to hurry through the bizarre and gaudy street scenes, busy with their own interests.
Fang Cheng slowly withdrew his gaze, not lingering here any longer.
This place was even more eerie than imagined, and unless there was something that needed to be dealt with, it was better to avoid it.
With a thought, his figure slowly faded away, eventually disappearing completely from the bustling street.
The TV in the living room was on, broadcasting the morning news.
"...affected by the end of the Qingming Festival holiday, our province is seeing a peak in return travel, with major transportation hubs operating over capacity."
"Statistics show that the return traffic volume on the province’s major highways has reached its peak, and ticket sales at the provincial airports and train stations are tight."
"We remind all citizens and tourists to plan their trips in advance and travel off-peak..."
The female anchor’s articulate voice echoed in the quiet room.
The morning sunlight filtered through the slits of the blinds, cutting the floor into bright slanted stripes.
The light and shadow slowly shifted with time, casting onto the sky-blue walls, making the entire room appear tranquil and spacious.
The heavy black punching bag hanging in the center of the living room was still swaying gently in a rhythmic motion.
The clear fist marks on its surface recorded a recent intense beating.
And the instigator of all this was currently in the bathroom.
The sound of running water continuously emerged through the door gap.
About ten minutes later, the door was pulled open, and the steaming mist carrying the fresh scent of shower gel poured out.
Fang Cheng walked out, bare and muscular, his contours becoming even more pronounced under the morning light after being rinsed by the hot water.
He grabbed a dry towel, roughly rubbing his damp hair.
Then he draped the towel over his shoulder, giving his head a slight shake.
Droplets of water scattered as his short, jet-black hair fluffed up, appearing fresh and crisp.
"My hair grows so fast..."
Fang Cheng looked at his slightly unfamiliar appearance in the mirror, unable to resist lifting his hand to brush his fringe aside.
Ever since his constitution broke through the 60-point threshold, his metabolism sped up tremendously.
The newly grown hair was not only dense and black but also had a peculiar resilience.
If he collected the fallen hair, it might be possible to weave it into a sufficiently tough bowstring.
Fang Cheng touched his head, indulging in his thoughts for a while.
Then he walked out of the bathroom, his gaze sweeping across the living room and landing on the coffee table.
There sat a white enamel basin almost the size of a regular washbasin, tightly covered with a stainless steel pot lid.
Beside the basin lay a stack of documents printed on A4 paper.
Fang Cheng quickly walked over and lifted the pot lid.
An overpowering scent, mixed with rich seasonings, instantly filled the nostrils.
A basin full of steaming hot instant noodles, with a layer of inviting red chili oil sheen floating on the soup surface.
The noodles were richly laden with whole braised eggs, sliced ham sausage, crispy pickled vegetable dices, and dotted with green scallions.
Fang Cheng picked up his chopsticks, grabbing a large mouthful of noodles, and slurped them into his mouth without any hesitation.
The noodles, engulfed in the spicy, boiling broth, slid down his throat, bringing a sense of fulfilled satisfaction.
"So refreshing, it’s been a while since I ate this kind of junk food..."
Fang Cheng couldn’t help but exhale, and then, bowing his head again, his chopsticks quickly snatched up a slice of ham sausage, promptly stuffing it into his mouth.
Having a bowl of instant noodles to fill his stomach first, there’s no hurry to make a formal breakfast later.
While enjoying this simple delicacy, he reached out and picked up the stack of documents beside him.
The cover page of the document was printed in bold font: [Tian Nan Province Chen Family Curse Case].
This was the intelligence report he had purchased at a high price from Naihe Bridge in the early hours of yesterday morning.
After leaving that ghost place called Night City, Fang Cheng immediately found an all-night internet cafe, downloading the intelligence onto a USB drive.
During the day, when he went to work at the club, he borrowed the company’s printer to print the information into a booklet, compiling it into the stack of documents he had now.
At this moment, while eating noodles, he re-examined the file.
The report wasn’t particularly detailed, mainly covering the Chen family background, case process, and initial investigation results, amounting to only a dozen pages.
The Chen Family wasn’t just ordinary wealthy merchants; they were a noble family with bloodline abilities rooted in Tian Nan Province for over a century.
Their main business was in jade and jewelry, with deeply entrenched local influence, navigating both the underworld and aboveboard with ease, veritably a financial conglomerate.
This time, they issued a reward through Naihe Bridge of up to eight figures, a hefty sum of 18 million, quite generous indeed.
Of course, this number could have been partially deducted by the unscrupulous organization in advance.
The case began half a month ago.
The family head of the Chen Family’s youngest son mysteriously died in his own villa, the forensic autopsy stated heart failure, but he died in terror, as if seeing something extremely frightening before he passed.
Following that, one after another, core members of the Chen Family met with incidents; some turned suddenly mad, others were seriously injured in car accidents, and some died quietly in their sleep like the first victim.