Chapter 20: Captain Ye Smiles Crookedly, Part 1 (Part 1)

Chen Yi could sense the shift in the atmosphere, but he did not deny it.

In an era of peace, possessing a treasure was itself a crime. But in the apocalypse to come, ancient life would descend, and countless sects that had been isolated in small worlds, ruling like tyrants within them, would emerge. Every last one of them treated the humans of the ancient-source region as livestock to be harvested.

He would not say that he and the sect were humanity’s only means of resisting ancient life in the future, but they were important, even central, forces.

They were all adults. What they discussed was shared interest.

Chen Yi’s silence was his answer. After that, Tang Qirui grew much quieter.

Lou Ting, however, was in high spirits. What he was about to plan was the grand blueprint for a provincial-level project! What an honor that was!

“Come, come, come. I have a few ideas.” Lou Ting could not be bothered with his neatly pressed suit pants. He simply sat cross-legged on the floor, took out paper and pen, and began sketching casually.

Chen Yi listened and nodded along. As expected, professional matters should still be left to professionals.

Time passed unnoticed in Peach Valley.

When he came back to himself, it was because Captain Ye reminded him, “Sect Master, we need to set out.”

Chen Yi looked up. Only then did he remember that he had promised to help Modu resolve an aberration incident.

“Let’s go.” Chen Yi stood. “Captain Ye is going too?”

Captain Ye nodded. “I looked into this Modu aberration a little before. I’ll explain it to you in detail on the way.”

Chen Yi was not actually very interested in the background of an aberration’s former life.

With his current strength, he could simply bulldoze his way through.

Setting aside the fact that it was still the early stage of Spiritual Energy Revival, and the Night Watchers were still in a state of confusion, knowing only the surface and not the deeper truth, even summarizing an aberration’s killing rules was still very difficult for them.

The real issue was that every time Chen Yi appeared near an aberration, the aberration would smell his “sweetness.” One after another, they would act as if they had swallowed some supreme tonic, ready to bite him even if their arms and legs were broken.

Something like “the background of an aberration’s former life” was useless to Chen Yi.

He could just treat it as a way to pass time on the road.

They set out from the helipad in Lishui Village and spent nearly two hours before arriving at the Modu airport.

Along the way, Captain Ye explained the Ghost Apartment Incident in great detail, but after talking for half the day, there was basically nothing concrete.

Time: all they knew was that it happened every night from 11:25 to 11:30 p.m.

Location: Fuguang Tower had gained an extra third floor in a different space.

Incident: starting five days ago, during those five minutes, anyone riding the elevator might enter the third floor of the different space. The target selection was random, and seven people had already disappeared.

At first, it was a couple who went missing. Since both of them were migrant workers in Modu and their families were not around them, it was not until two days later that their coworkers reported it to the authorities.

There was also a mother and son, along with a single man, who disappeared after taking the same elevator.

It was because that single man, who had gone downstairs to throw out the trash, failed to return late at night for a long time that his mother called the authorities. After the security personnel pulled up the elevator surveillance footage, they discovered that the elevator doors had opened early, and the three had vanished just like that.

The whereabouts of the couple were also discovered because of this.

Three days ago, after two local Guard Team members also went missing, the incident was classified as a special incident and sent to Modu’s Special Action Team.

After a basic investigation, the captains of the Special Action Teams across the country conducted an online deduction meeting. That was how Captain Ye learned about the matter.

Aberration incidents were still in the early stage, and the Special Action Teams were still at the level of “everyone eating from the same big pot.” As a captain with outstanding performance, Captain Ye had once been invited to Modu to handle this aberrant murder incident.

Only, at the time, Captain Ye still had to resolve the Carousel Aberration Incident. Later, he encountered Chen Yi and was assigned to come over and understand the situation with the sect, so the matter was delayed.

That was all Captain Ye knew. It was more or less the same as the files Modu had sent over, just missing the latest accidents involving two more people that Modu had later added.

After all, they had to send people to investigate.

Including the two security personnel sent in earlier, along with the ordinary citizens who had disappeared, seven people were missing in total. No one had been seen alive, and no bodies had been found.

Because aberration incidents had an extremely high fatality rate, all missing persons were basically presumed dead by default.

After Chen Yi got off the helicopter, he directly got into the dedicated car waiting at the airport. He had no time to admire the prosperous side of this international metropolis before he was rushed to the scene at lightning speed.

After the incident occurred, taking into account Chen Yi’s warning that “cognition was contamination,” the entire security deployment around the incident was very low-key.

Residents in the building were still entering and exiting normally. They would only complain a little while waiting for the elevator about the one that had been locked, then take the other two elevators and leave as if nothing were wrong.

Chen Yi got out of the car and looked up at Building Two of Fuguang Tower. Petals flickered indistinctly in the depths of his eyes. As they slowly rotated, the world before him faintly became something different.

There was an aberration haunting this building. Not only could his nose faintly smell that stench, but the building before him also had a spatial rift that could barely be seen. The magnetic field inside was distorted, giving off a nauseating aura.

The feeling was like using a public restroom in a remote park. Even from far away, it made people imagine how worrying the hygiene inside must be.

After staring at it for a while, Chen Yi withdrew his gaze and saw Captain Ye speaking with the members of Modu’s Special Action Team.

Chen Yi was clearly an important figure in handling this incident, yet neither side in the conversation thought to introduce him or get to know him at first.

The Concealment Art was beginning to show results.

The Concealment Art had the effect of lowering one’s sense of presence. The more proficient one became in cultivating it, the lower one’s sense of presence became. In the later stages, even members of the Guard Team who specialized in criminal investigation would ignore Chen Yi’s existence, and afterward, they would be completely unable to recall him.

This cultivation technique suited The Lurker Sect very well. Its only nemesis was modern cameras. If someone truly became suspicious and investigated, Chen Yi’s presence could be clearly seen on camera.

Chen Yi had an idling system. After a day, his Concealment Art had already reached minor mastery, and it had begun to blur his own presence. Even Captain Ye, who had just been sitting together with him, quickly pushed him to the back of his mind once his gaze left him.

Of course, if Chen Yi actively approached and spoke, the other party would still “see” him.

“Captain Ye, introduce me,” Chen Yi said, coming to Captain Ye’s side.

Captain Ye froze for a moment, as if he too was startled by his own strange behavior. Then he hurriedly said, “Old Sun, let me introduce him. This is our special consultant, aberration expert Chen Yi. Whether we can resolve this case depends on him.”

Captain Sun also had not expected himself to ignore someone who had gotten out of the same car as him to this extent. He quickly shook Chen Yi’s hand with a face full of guilt. “Sorry about that. Hello, Consultant Chen. My name is Sun Wen, captain of Modu’s Special Action Team. Do you have any suggestions regarding this matter?”

Chen Yi said, “Open the elevator. I’ll go in and take a look.”

“Now? That works too. It isn’t time yet, so it’s currently safe.”

Chen Yi did not explain. Instead, he looked toward Captain Ye.

Captain Ye knew that with their current attraction to aberrations, the “Three Iron Laws” were no longer effective. Chen Yi taking the elevator this time was meant to save people directly.

He said, “I’ll go with you.”

Chen Yi nodded. That was what he had been thinking too.

Captain Ye was already at the first layer of Qi Refining. He had the basics of Spirit-Charge Fist and Sword Manipulation, as well as abundant experience in handling aberration incidents. What he needed now was to adapt more quickly to his current abilities. Ideally, he would immediately form combat strength, and if anything else happened in the future, Chen Yi would no longer need to personally intervene. Captain Ye alone could handle it, cough!

In any case, Chen Yi would be watching. Nothing major would happen.

“Let’s go.” Chen Yi nodded to Captain Sun and took his sword case from the trunk of the car.

The huge sword case was slung diagonally across his back. Its top rose above his head, and its bottom reached his knees. The sword case was twenty-five centimeters wide and wrapped in black velvet. It was a gift from Pang Sen, and he liked it very much. Its exterior looked plain and unadorned, yet it contained an indescribable sense of understated luxury.

Even though Chen Yi was wearing nothing more than a simple T-shirt and jeans, once the sword case was on his back, he somehow carried the air of an expert.

One second earlier, Captain Sun had still been admiring how this consultant looked different, as if he really had something to him. The next second, when his gaze swept toward Captain Ye—

Chen Yi, who had just left a deep impression in his mind, seemed to fade away.

Captain Sun’s attention instantly shifted as well.

“Where’s your aberrant tool? You didn’t bring it this time?”

“And that thing, a peachwood dagger? Haven’t the facts already proven that peachwood daggers are useless? Or has the higher-up side developed something new again?”

At the mention of his Zhong Kui scroll, lingering fear rose in Captain Ye’s heart. But when he thought of the function of these two peachwood daggers, his heart settled again.

He deliberately acted mysterious and said, “Just wait a bit. You’ll know later. There are plenty of good things.”

After saying that, he followed Chen Yi and left.

Captain Sun trailed behind them, muttering things like Old Ye was being untrustworthy. He opened the locked elevator and watched the two of them enter one after the other, still not forgetting to remind them, “Don’t stay inside the elevator between 11:25 and 11:30. And especially don’t ride the elevator downward from upstairs. If the elevator doors really don’t open on the first floor, you absolutely can’t go out, understand? Hey, how about I go with you?”

Captain Ye pried Captain Sun’s finger off the elevator button. He knew very well that going up this time meant directly facing the aberration. Even he himself did not have complete confidence, so of course he would not let Old Sun follow them inside.

“We’re just taking a look. Don’t worry about us.”

As he spoke, the elevator doors slowly closed before their eyes.

In that instant, Captain Ye felt an indescribable chill inside the elevator.

If that was only his imagination, then the stench that soon filled the elevator proved that they had been targeted by the aberration.

Sure enough, to aberrations, cultivators were delicacies that could drive them mad. There were no more so-called killing rules.

As long as they appeared within an aberration’s sensory range, the aberration would show itself and devour them.

Accompanied by the gradually intensifying stench, the elevator’s number changed from one to two, then from two to three.

The scarlet “three” appeared before them. The ascending elevator stopped, and the elevator doors slowly opened.

The stench grew even stronger.

Looking at the corridor ahead that seemed completely ordinary, Captain Ye pulled a peachwood dagger from his tactical vest and gripped it in his hand.

He glanced at Chen Yi, who had not even taken out a weapon, and nervously swallowed. The two of them walked out of the elevator one after the other.

When they first stepped into the corridor, there was nothing unusual. This floor had two elevators and six apartments, and one could see all the way to the end at a glance. Chen Yi did not linger on this floor either. Instead, he chose the emergency staircase and headed downward.

The tap, tap, tap of footsteps echoed through the stairwell. What made Captain Ye uncomfortable was that the stench here had become very strong, but aside from that, there was no other change.

He glanced at Chen Yi’s calm back. He wanted to say that he did have abundant experience, at any rate, but after holding back for a moment, he still could not help asking, “Have we entered the aberrant domain?”

Without looking back, Chen Yi said, “We have. When you smelled the odor, the aberrant domain was already infecting us.”

“So we already entered the aberration in the elevator?”

Chen Yi took a moment to glance back at him. “Are you wondering why this place is different from what you imagined? No rotten flesh, no withered bones, no pus and blood?”

Captain Ye was also very smart. After hearing this, he thought for a moment and said, “This is the real world you see?”

“Yes.”

In the past, Captain Ye had not understood why cultivating meant one would no longer be infected, or what this so-called infection actually was.

Now he understood.

If he had not cultivated, what he saw would not be the scene before his eyes. As the aberrant domain twisted and infected him, the world before him would become increasingly warped. It would become hell on earth, terrifying enough to strike straight into the soul. Even if he reminded himself that all of it was fake, he still would not be able to control himself and would sink deeply into it.

But now things were different.

At the first stage of Qi Refining, he could already count as a proper qi refiner and had a certain degree of control over spiritual energy. Around his own body, he formed a stable spiritual energy magnetic field. The aberration could no longer distort what he saw, heard, or smelled.

Of course, the distorted spiritual energy magnetic field would still make people feel uncomfortable. The first was the bone-chilling temperature, and the second was this stench.

As for the stench, Chen Yi had no solution either. A distorted magnetic field always had to manifest through some form. In the book, the protagonist only secured his spiritual platform after Foundation Establishment and was no longer affected by external distortions in his perception.

If he wanted to breathe fresh air, he would have to reach Foundation Establishment.

At this moment, Captain Ye asked curiously again, “Then in your eyes, what kind of existence is an aberration?”

Chen Yi said, “It varies. It depends on what others think it looks like. Then that is what it looks like…”

Before he could finish, Chen Yi and Captain Ye both heard a strange sound at the same time.

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