Chapter 17: The Carousel Incident (Part 4)

Very soon, in less than five minutes, a six-person squad armed with guns and live ammunition and dressed in special protective combat uniforms appeared before Chen Yi.

The two captains and the four people whose names had been called were there. Wang Ping’an was also among them.

Everyone was looking at the sword case on Chen Yi’s back. This consultant seemed rather unusual.

Wang Ping’an’s gaze was even more complicated. He did not understand why Chen Yi had appeared here.

Chen Yi naturally would not say much. He followed them onto the operation vehicle.

Pang Sen and Tang Qirui also came along.

Perhaps they could not help, but at a time like this, they could not hide.

No one spoke along the way. By the time they reached the old amusement park, the sky had not yet gone dark.

The amusement park where the deaths had occurred had been sealed off, especially the carousel. Some guard personnel were also standing nearby.

With one glance, Chen Yi saw the dark brown stains on the carousel.

The young couple had only died a few days ago. What a pity for the child who had seen that scene with their own eyes.

Afterward, the experienced Captain Ye began describing the contents of this mission, as well as the killing rules.

“…We simulated a reenactment of the deaths. After 9:10, three people sat on the carousel, and during the seventh scene reenactment, we successfully entered the aberrant domain.

Old Wang and Little Liu died during that mission.

For now, we still haven’t found the rule for counter-killing it. With my ability fully defending, I can probably withstand the first round of rules, so I’ll sit at the very front.

Vice-Captain Jiang will provide support from behind, protect the third team member, and carry out observation to look for a flaw.”

After speaking, Captain Ye looked at Chen Yi. “Consultant Chen, is there anything you need to add?”

Chen Yi shook his head.

This captain was truly remarkable. Without any certainty, he was willing to make himself the “shield” to create an opportunity for his teammates.

But that was not the method Chen Yi wanted. He had his own method.

“Continue. Don’t mind me. I’ll take a look.”

After speaking, Chen Yi vaulted over the carousel’s railing.

After both feet landed, he reached one hand behind him. Not very skillfully, he drew the peachwood greatsword from the sword case and held it in a reverse grip behind his back.

Then he slowly, slowly walked across the equipment.

Chen Yi’s actions drew the others’ attention, mainly because this greatsword was truly too large. At 1.5 meters in length, it was almost as tall as a little girl.

Most importantly, one could see that this was a wooden sword, so light it looked like a toy.

Chen Yi’s sword-holding posture was composed and elegant. When he held the sword in a reverse grip behind his back, he carried the air of an expert who had practiced for a long time.

It also made this wooden sword seem very unusual.

Captain Ye looked at Pang Sen in confusion.

So after arranging a pile of theoretical expert consultants, headquarters had chosen to send over an otherworldly expert this time? He couldn’t be some Daoist priest from a famous mountain or great river, could he?

The sky gradually darkened. Everyone’s nerves tightened little by little, but because it was not yet the time specified by the killing rule, the captain temporarily dismissed them and had the team members stand by in place.

When Chen Yi circled around the carousel once more and came back, he heard Wang Ping’an call him. “Chen Yi.”

“Mm.” Chen Yi raised his head and looked at the familiar person from his memories.

“You…” After calling him, Wang Ping’an did not know how to ask. In the end, he could only remind him, “Be careful.”

Chen Yi was so smart. He was the only top student in the village who had tested into a national key university. It was normal for him to work in a special department after graduating.

Their village’s only key university student in all these years!

How had he been assigned here to handle uncanny incidents?

What if something really happened to him?

Wang Ping’an felt regretful in his heart. It made him feel even worse than being called over himself to take on this mission with a death rate of over half.

There was a kind of innocent fearlessness on Chen Yi’s face. Seeing that Wang Ping’an did not speak, he said, “I only returned to the village from the provincial capital three days ago. I saw Uncle Wang and Auntie Wang. They’re both doing pretty well, healthy and full of energy when they speak. It’s just your younger brother. He’s still playing around at home, with day and night reversed. He’s so thin he looks like firewood. Your parents don’t seem able to control him. You should talk to him…”

“Then what should we do?” Pang Sen now trusted Chen Yi deeply.

Chen Yi directly gave the answer.

“Identify the locations, assign urban-legend aberrations numbers and record them, then regularly clear out the urban legends. Recovery always takes time.

“Also, establish a Demon-Suppression Bureau in every city, one with thunderous means of suppressing aberrations. Once aberrations reach a certain level, they will also have a basic ability to seek fortune and avoid disaster. If they dare to do evil, they’ll have to weigh the consequences first.

“Beyond that, cultivation still needs to be incorporated into the system for all citizens.

“If you trust me, then the enemy of all humanity is absolutely not aberrations. Even more terrifying existences will appear.”

If, the first time Tang Qirui heard Chen Yi say these things, he had still carried a bit of doubt, then after Chen Yi used thunderous means to easily eliminate an aberration, the weight behind his words became something else entirely.

“Demon-Suppression Bureau…”

Tang Qirui looked deeply at Chen Yi. “With Sect Master Chen’s strength, you could lead the Demon-Suppression Bureau.”

He had a clean background, graduated from a key 985 university, and his father was an old village chief who had served for twenty-one years. His father had merits and no faults, diligent and conscientious. Furthermore, from Chen Yi handing over the system, one could see his trust in the state. He was a talent who could be cultivated.

Especially since he held a sect inheritance in his hands. He heard that the cultivation techniques in the Scripture Pavilion were densely packed. Firearms, ammunition, tanks, and planes were strategic weapons, but cultivation techniques were even more a cornerstone weapon of the state after Spiritual Energy Revival.

Having Chen Yi serve as the head of the Demon-Suppression Bureau—although he lacked qualifications, in special times, the capable took the post. As long as he and Pang Sen supported it, the chances of this matter succeeding were still quite high.

After Tang Qirui finished speaking and was thinking about how to report this matter upward, Chen Yi shook his head like a rattle-drum.

No, no, no!

He did not want to be the head of the Demon-Suppression Bureau. A target set upright could be aimed at by everyone. Most importantly, he would have to wake earlier than chickens and sleep later than dogs. If a single matter was handled poorly, it would mean large-scale civilian deaths. He asked himself and knew his abilities were limited. He could not bear that much pressure.

Compared to being the seemingly high-ranking and powerful, but actually more exhausted than a production team donkey, head of the Demon-Suppression Bureau, he would rather receive some idle official post, idle and slack off every day, raise the children, avoid provoking the protagonist, and let the protagonist be beautiful on his own.

Chen Yi thought this, and so he said as much.

Of course, his original words were different. He only said, “I have children at home, and I don’t have much ambition. Besides, I still have to manage the sect. No one knows what missions may come later. My cultivation is tied to the techniques in the Scripture Pavilion, and it is probably also related to the opening of other facilities and equipment.

“I should just focus on cultivation. If anything comes up, you can arrange it for me then.”

Chen Yi’s refusal exceeded Tang Qirui’s expectations.

For a moment, he did not know what to say.

Pang Sen, on the other hand, understood Chen Yi a little more and also believed that what he said was what he thought. People from mountain villages were simple and honest. They could not do things one way openly and another way behind people’s backs.

So Pang Sen said, “Regarding arrangements for Sect Master Chen, I don’t think there will be only this one. In fact, I can more or less guess what the higher-ups are thinking. That would be fine too.”

“You mean?” Tang Qirui looked thoughtful.

“Special warfare training camp, or a cultivation school,” Pang Sen said.

Chen Yi: “…”

After Pang Sen finished speaking, he smiled at Chen Yi again. “So, Sect Master Chen, which do you think is more suitable?”

Chen Yi: “…” A cultivation school was a little ridiculous.

They chatted idly for a while. Wang Ping’an had already been sent away. The surrounding buildings were brightly lit, and old people who had finished dinner had come to the park again to stroll and digest their food. Not far away, there was also the laughter of children.

Pang Sen remembered something and frowned again. “Sect Master Chen said aberrations can’t be eliminated. Then can we move the carousel away?”

Chen Yi nodded. “Yes. Destroying the magnetic field will accelerate their dispersal. After all, once it can’t be seen, it won’t be remembered.”

“Then!?” Pang Sen’s eyes lit up.

“Some aberrations are inside buildings, in the sea, or in rivers. There will always be some that can’t be moved. Those will require warning points to be set up and regular clearing…”

As they chatted, they did not avoid Captain Ye.

The look Captain Ye gave Chen Yi became increasingly strange.

What was all this?

A cultivation school?

Chen Yi gave quite a few suggestions, but he clearly did not want to take responsibility. The two people present were shrewd people too, and they could tell at a glance.

They exchanged a look, suppressed the smiles in their eyes, and returned to the residence together with Chen Yi.

However, in the car, Chen Yi asked, “The carousel aberration was a child of only four or five. Can you look into that?”

When he killed the aberration, he had not been softhearted.

But when he recalled it afterward, he felt uncomfortable. It proved that a child of that age had once died there. Only five years old, still attending kindergarten, like a little flower bud, yet withered before she had even bloomed.

It made one sigh.

Because of this aberration, Chen Yi thought of his own children. After returning to the hotel, he video-called them.

Children were like this. The more they loved someone, the more they wanted to cling to them. Earlier, they had clearly agreed properly, their little heads nodding like chicks pecking rice, but once the time came, they cried miserably, looking terribly pitiful.

In the end, it became Chen Yi soothing them to sleep over video. The older brother and younger sister each wore one of Chen Yi’s T-shirts as pajamas. While saying it had Daddy’s smell, they looked pitiful and adorable, then fell asleep while sobbing.

As soon as the children fell asleep on this side, Xiang Lan and Chen Jiankang each wrapped one child tightly and, stepping through the moonlight, returned to the sect.

Da Huang even slept directly at the Mountain Gate entrance, ears pricking up at the slightest stir.

The next day, after Chen Yi ate breakfast and prepared to go back, the first person he saw was Wang Ping’an.

Wang Ping’an had not stayed in the hospital. After the hospital examination found nothing serious, he returned to the team to rest. The team also had its own doctor.

So early in the morning, Chen Yi saw Wang Ping’an in the cafeteria.

When Wang Ping’an saw Chen Yi, he wanted to speak but hesitated. He had far too many questions about Chen Yi’s current abilities.

Chen Yi knew the rules of the Martial Protection Team and did not say too much. He only told him, “When you have a chance to return to Lishui Village, make sure you come back. I’ll be waiting for you in Lishui Village.”

After that, he left the cafeteria.

When Chen Yi went back, there was no helicopter escort.

However, there was a dedicated car taking him back by highway. They could reach Lishui Village in a little over four hours.

Returning with him were Tang Qirui and Captain Ye.

Pang Sen did not come with them this time. He still had work to handle.

The nine-seat Jinbei van had been modified into a six-seater and was very spacious. Chen Yi and Tang Qirui sat in the back row, while Captain Ye sat in the passenger seat.

As soon as they got into the car, Tang Qirui handed Chen Yi two document envelopes.

Chen Yi opened the first envelope. Inside was supplementary material on 018 Carousel Murder Incident.

According to the investigation, a five-year-old girl had once died on the carousel twenty-one years ago.

After 9:10 at night, accompanied by her parents, she rode the carousel. However, during the ride, her parents began arguing over the issue of divorce and therefore neglected their daughter. During the carousel’s operation, she got off the wooden horse and was accidentally pulled beneath the carousel’s rotating platform, where she died.

Amusement facility safety measures twenty years ago were limited. After this vicious incident, the state imposed strict requirements on the design of carousels to prevent more accidents from happening.

But the dead child’s blood had still been spilled across the ground. It was said that her negligent parents’ argument continued until the carousel finished for the third time. Only when blood flowed out from the base did they realize the child was gone.

When the child was found, she was almost unrecognizable.

After this incident occurred, it had a major impact. At the time, everyone in the provincial capital knew about it, and fear of the carousel gathered into some kind of cognitive information.

More than twenty years had passed. Most of the people who knew about that accident were still alive, and after Spiritual Energy Revival, their thoughts of fear and pity bestowed birth upon this urban-legend aberration.

This was precisely the origin of the Carousel Aberration.

018 Carousel Aberration

Killing Rules:

Time: after 9:10 p.m.

Location: carousel

Event: when three people ride the carousel and begin arguing, two people randomly die.

Note: From the revenge of a daughter with deep resentment.

The second document envelope was opened.

Yingchi Hotel Death Case

040 Yingchi Hotel Human-Head Aberration

Killing Rules:

Time: 10:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.

Location: third floor of Yingchi Hotel

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