Chapter 4: Chapter 3: [Madly Probing on the Brink of Death]
"Forget it, I’d better tidy up the room first. When my cousin gets back, he’ll kill me." He Xiaotian got up and started cleaning the messy room.
An hour later, it was spotless.
"Phew!"
He threw himself onto the sofa, a look of exhaustion on his face.
Cleaning a room might not sound that tiring, but you only realize it’s not so simple once you actually do it. It’s a real physical chore.
Not to mention all the nooks and crannies that need special attention.
"I have to say, a clean room really is pleasant to look at."
He Xiaotian was starting to understand why his cousin was such a neat freak.
"I’m back. I brought you dinner and your favorite drink."
After He Xiaotian had rested for a bit, his cousin walked in through the security door, carrying a takeout meal.
After placing the dinner on the living room coffee table, he added, "Make sure you clean up completely after you eat. If I get up tomorrow morning and find a single stain, you’re going straight back home, you hear me?"
"I know, Cousin. You’re as naggy as my mom," He Xiaotian replied lazily. Ever since summer vacation started and he’d returned to Z County, his mother had been pestering him about when he was going to bring home a daughter-in-law.
’Are you kidding me? I’m still young. Why would I want to get involved with a troublesome creature like a girlfriend?’
’Have games stopped being fun, or has anime stopped being good?’
In the end, he couldn’t stand his mother nagging him incessantly, so He Xiaotian decisively ran off to his cousin’s place to stay for a while.
He was living the life of a lazy bum!
Of course, during this process, he was inevitably influenced by his cousin.
For example, becoming more fond of cleanliness?
He Xiaotian wondered if his roommates would gang up and beat him to death when school started, now that he was becoming a neat freak.
After wolfing down his food and meticulously cleaning the coffee table again, he headed to the guest room, flopped onto the bed, and fell into a deep sleep.
The next day, after getting up bright and early, he saw breakfast laid out on the kitchen table on his way to the bathroom.
’My cousin is such a thoughtful person. I wonder which lucky girl will get to marry him someday.’
To be honest, if He Xiaotian were a woman, he would definitely want to find a man like his cousin.
Good-tempered, optimistic, from a harmonious family, young and wealthy, gentle and considerate—plus, he was muscular.
Of course, all of this was predicated on ignoring his obsession with martial arts.
Today, he planned to head to the food street where the disappearance had occurred to see if any of that strange black substance was still at the crime scene.
That stuff was all Experience Points, the key to leveling up his martial arts.
After washing up and quickly devouring his breakfast, he immediately set off for his destination.
He went downstairs, started his second-hand car, and began the slow drive to the food street.
Just thinking about the car filled He Xiaotian’s heart with resentment.
Other rich kids got to drive all sorts of sports cars, but he was stuck with a used one.
Worse, it was a hand-me-down from his own father.
He remembered how he’d almost passed out from excitement when his mom told him he’d be getting his own car after being accepted into Shanghai Medical University.
But when that second-hand Audi his dad had driven for ten years was parked in front of him, he was filled with despair, on the verge of a breakdown.
No wonder his mom had given him that "you’ll see" look when he’d asked if they needed to drive to a dealership in another city.
’So you’re telling me you’re just giving me Dad’s ten-year-old Audi and calling it a new car?’
Z County was a small, marginal county, not very large.
The concept of "school district housing" didn’t exist here. As long as you had a car, anywhere you lived was in a good school district!
And compared to other first or second-tier cities, its biggest advantage was the lack of traffic jams.
As long as you didn’t pass by a school when classes let out, you could experience the ultimate bliss of totally unobstructed roads.
His cousin lived in the west of town. The drive from his house to the food street was less than ten minutes.
SCREECH!
After parking the car, He Xiaotian walked onto the food street.
In the early morning, the street was like a Ghost City; you couldn’t find a single living soul.
After all, the vendors here were busy until two or three in the morning before they could close up and go to bed.
Before noon, every shop was shut tight, except for the small supermarket on the street.
He Xiaotian casually walked into a small supermarket, bought a bottle of water, and asked the owner, "Hey, boss, did you know the police came by yesterday? Said someone went missing."
"I know, I know. They even checked my surveillance footage! But they didn’t find anything," the middle-aged owner replied with a simple, honest smile.
"Oh? Which alley was it where the incident happened?"
He twisted open the water bottle, took a sip, and continued asking, pretending to be nosy.
"It was across from that most popular lobster stand. Normally, their stall is booming at night. If anyone had walked in there, a customer would have definitely seen them. But I heard the police questioned dozens of people and didn’t get any information."
The middle-aged owner lived up to his honest face; whatever He Xiaotian asked, he answered.
"Hm, thanks."
"Don’t mention it!"
After the two exchanged a few more pleasantries, he left the supermarket.
He headed straight for the lobster stand, putting on the face mask he had prepared.
The area in front of the shop was very clean, unlike some food stalls that are a complete mess after a night’s business, waiting for the cleaners to come.
Some simple tables and chairs were all neatly arranged at the entrance.
He did a quick scan of the surveillance cameras on the various shops.
He noticed that the small alley diagonally across was in a blind spot for the surrounding cameras.
Without any more hesitation, he strode forward and walked over.
The moment he stepped into the alley, he was hit by a wave of bone-chilling cold.
Even though the early morning sun wasn’t blazing, it was already getting a bit hot and stuffy.
Even if this alley was shielded from the sun year-round, it couldn’t possibly be this icy.
Worse, it was accompanied by a sudden, inexplicable heart palpitation.
He Xiaotian swore that if it weren’t for the fact that Experience Points were at stake, he would have turned around and left without a second thought.
Even though he was terrified, he steeled himself and pressed on.
’I don’t believe it. Is a ghost really going to pop out in broad daylight?’
Yesterday, his cousin and the others had investigated the crime scene, and every single one of them had been perfectly fine.
’So it’s my turn to be unlucky?’
If that was really the case, He Xiaotian would just have to accept his fate!
After entering, he saw the police tape that had been put up.
He stood outside the perimeter, observing carefully, and saw that it was just as his cousin had described.
The entire crime scene was spotlessly clean, without the slightest sign of a struggle.
No wonder his cousin had said that if so many people hadn’t heard the screams, they would have already arrested the person who filed the report and given them a lesson about the law.
He pulled shoe covers from his pocket, put them on, and then slipped on a pair of newly bought gloves. Only then did he carefully duck under the police tape and enter.
He didn’t want to get hauled into the police station for questioning about why he was at a crime scene.
Even with his cousin on the force, it was better to avoid trouble.
Ten minutes later, He Xiaotian looked disappointed.
The alley was so clean there wasn’t even a single cockroach.
"The lead on getting Experience Points is gone. What’s the point of having martial arts if I can’t even practice them!"
’Who the hell knows what that black substance even is?’
Besides, the black substance wasn’t the main thing. What was really important was the crystal it encased.
But he had already absorbed the crystal last night, converting it into Experience Points.
Even if the police took it for analysis, he probably wouldn’t get any good news.
’I was too naive. If I’d known, I would have waited until my cousin’s team finished their analysis before trying to figure something out.’
In truth, he was just grumbling. Once the black substance was in police custody, did he really think he could get it out?
Sure, Z County was just a small county town, but the police weren’t useless!
Letting some college student just sneak in and steal a clue from a case? That was just daydreaming.
"Sigh! I can only wait for news from my cousin’s side. Hopefully I’ll run into that black substance again someday."
Just as he turned to leave, he suddenly felt that something was wrong.
"Hm?"
He Xiaotian realized his left arm was colder than the rest of his body. It definitely wasn’t an illusion.
While he was searching just now, the temperature had been constant.
He stopped in his tracks and, following the icy sensation, walked forward step by step.
"A crystal?!"
A thumb-sized crystal lay quietly in a corner.
Without hesitation, he reached out and picked it up.
Cold! A bone-piercing cold!
It was almost enough to freeze his right hand stiff.
And an unknown gas flowed from his palm up into his arm.
Everywhere it passed, even his blood seemed to freeze!
[Ding! Absorbable Experience Points detected. Do you wish to absorb?]
"Absorb!"
He said it almost the instant the "ding" sounded.
’Any slower, and my right hand would probably need to be amputated!’
In an instant, the crystal shattered, turning into a fine powder that vanished without a trace in a faint breeze.
"Hiss!"
He Xiaotian lifted his arm and sucked in a sharp breath as he looked at the frost that had formed on it.
’What the hell is this thing?’
While he was wondering, the Experience Points section in the upper-left corner of his vision finally changed.
[Experience Points: 500
Function: Scan
Martial Arts: "Fire-refined Golden Body"- 0/50+ (Uninitiated).]
’Five hundred points?’
’An overnight fortune.’
For a pauper like him, five hundred Experience Points was a real fortune.
And a "+" sign had appeared after the "0/50".
It seemed this trip hadn’t been a waste, but he was only more confused.
’What exactly is the true nature of this white crystal?’
’Why is it the only thing that can be absorbed by the system and converted into Experience Points?’
He Xiaotian felt like he was lost in a thick fog.
Finding such a strange thing at the scene of a disappearance... no matter how you looked at it, this wasn’t a simple matter.
’Maybe I should warn my cousin to be more careful with his investigation?’
’Or maybe I should just tell him to stay away from this case altogether!’
It still came down to that old saying: every man for himself.
He Xiaotian couldn’t be bothered with other people, nor did he have the inclination to care.
But his cousin was different. He had always treated him well ever since they were kids.
’Thinking about it like this, why do I feel so cold-blooded?’
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he quickly left the alley.
Not long after, a police car drove up.
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