Li Chengyi couldn't shake the strange feeling from the last ti he’d been ho. The surge of malice that had appeared out of nowhere, only to vanish just as abruptly, had left him unsettled.
Even though the malice had ultimately dissipated, allowing him to absorb it and resolve any imdiate danger, its sudden appearance and disappearance left him feeling uneasy.
He’d tested his ability to absorb malice; it only worked within a range of about 30 ters. This ant that at his house, within that radius, soone had suddenly harbored a deep, terrifying malice toward him, only for it to vanish inexplicably.
Such intense fluctuations in emotion didn’t seem normal—no ordinary person could harbor such volatile feelings so abruptly. This left Li Chengyi wondering if this mysterious person might have a ntal instability.
He’d wanted to ask about this earlier, but the busyness of recent events had pushed it from his mind until now.
“Your sister?” Zhang Sinda replied. “We did notice she’s been involved with so rather complicated people recently. After she failed her Intellective Engineer exam and lost the registration fee, she got into a fight at school and beat soone up. Then, she started associating with people of... let’s say, questionable backgrounds.”
“People with questionable backgrounds?” Li Chengyi’s attention piqued. “Can we find out who they are?”
“It’s difficult. We’ve focused most of our resources on you. Your sister’s at a high-ranking military academy, where information is tightly controlled, and we can’t access much due to the military’s strict security. It’s expensive and challenging to get intel from a network-isolated academy,” Zhang Sinda explained.
“Of course, if you’re truly worried, we could assign soone to investigate, though we can’t guarantee results,” he added earnestly, glancing at Li Chengyi.
“If possible, I’d appreciate it,” Li Chengyi nodded firmly.
“Yes, your sister is... hard to describe,” Song Ran interjected. “You’re concerned about your parents, aren’t you?”
“A bit,” Li Chengyi admitted.
He wasn’t particularly concerned about Li Chengjiu herself; he knew her well enough from past mories. She was cold and selfish, so nothing she did would surprise him. What concerned him was the impact her associations could have on their honest, good-hearted parents, who could be put in danger by her reckless behavior.
“I don’t want to deal with any family issues while investigating dead-ends. If it’s feasible, I’d like to remove this potential threat entirely,” Li Chengyi stated.
His words cast a sudden chill over the car.
Zhang Sinda glanced at him, a little taken aback. Not long ago, Li Chengyi had been an unassuming newcor to dead-ends, seemingly still quite innocent. But now…
He wasn’t the sa person who’d entered that first dead-end.
“Seems like you’ve been through a lot in the dead-ends,” Sima Gui remarked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes. My first dead-end, and so far the only one, was much harder than Fog Street. Three of us went in, and only I made it out, barely surviving on my third entry,” Li Chengyi replied.
“Then you’re a tough one. Most dead-ends aren’t that dangerous; they’re just hard to escape,” Sima Gui nodded, giving him a thumbs-up.
The car suddenly braked to a stop.
“Alright, we’re here,” Song Ran, the driver, interrupted.
"I’m thirsty. Anyone want sothing while I grab drinks?" Sima Gui asked as he opened the car door.
“Sparkling water,” Zhong Ying said.
“Bean cola,” Zhang Sinda replied.
“Tata Tonic,” Song Ran added.
Li Chengyi shook his head, declining. He wasn’t a fan of the bean cola, a soda similar to regular cola, nor the Tata Tonic, a sweet drink with a mild stimulant.
They got out of the car one by one, with Li Chengyi putting on his AR glasses. A holographic overlay projected a map of Xuezhong Road from over a century ago.
They’d parked on an old street called Tianxing Road, where an elderly man in a dark green camo jacket approached, holding a ticket book to collect a parking fee.
After paying, Song Ran handed him a receipt, and the group began surveying the surroundings.
Tianxing Road was paved with small white tiles, giving it an old-world feel.
Buildings on either side stood around ten ters tall, their façades grayish-white with hints of a foreign architectural style. Each had rounded balconies and mostly arched windows, and stores lined the ground floor.
So shops were open, with rectangular signs, while others had closed their shutters.
Li Chengyi noticed soot stains on the walls near the buildings’ lower levels.
He walked to a store called "Blue Ocean Pearl" and inspected the sign attached to the building by three black tal clamps. He reached out, rubbing his finger along the back of the sign, and when he checked his fingers, they were coated in a layer of soot.
“Looks like there was a fire here at so point,” Song Ran said, approaching him quietly.
“Yeah, the smoke stains are still obvious,” Li Chengyi nodded.
“We’re just here for the Wu Ji Convenience Store. That’s where we think the slot machine ca from,” Song Ran reminded him.
“Got it. I’m waiting to see if I get a mory flash,” Li Chengyi replied.
If there was a dead-end nearby, he was likely to experience a mory flash due to his high ntal resilience, which made him sensitive to dead-end phenona. This was one of the primary thods they used for investigation.
“Alright, stay alert,” Song Ran nodded.
“Oh, by the way, when I experience a mory flash, what does it look like from the outside?” Li Chengyi asked, curious about his appearance during such monts.
“You disappear,” Song Ran replied seriously. “You vanish, and then when the mory flash ends, you reappear. The worst part is, whatever state you’re in when you return feels strangely normal to us. This causes a disorienting, conflicting feeling that’s hard to describe.”
“I see,” Li Chengyi replied thoughtfully.
“Alright, let’s split up and search,” Song Ran patted his shoulder and went to inspect shops on one side of the street.
Sima Gui took the right side, while Zhang Sinda and Zhong Ying checked the shops across the road.
Seeing everyone occupied, Li Chengyi strolled down the middle of the street, scanning left and right.
Tianxing Road had minimal traffic, so he only had to step aside occasionally.
He used his AR glasses to cross-reference the historical map from over a hundred years ago.
With each marked point on the map, they were increasingly convinced that Tianxing Road was, in fact, once known as Xuezhong Road.
He noticed Zhong Ying chatting up an old man sitting by a shop front, likely asking him questions. anwhile, Zhang Sinda was conversing with a passing young woman. The two seed to have their roles divided effectively.
“Based on the map, I’m at the approximate location of Wu Ji Convenience Store,” Sima Gui’s voice ca through the AR headset.
“I have drinks here, and if this map is correct, this should be where Wu Ji Convenience Store was.”
He paused.
“But… sothing’s not right.”
Everyone could hear him, as they were all connected through the AR comms system.
“What’s wrong? It’s normal if it’s no longer a convenience store. It’s been a long ti, so it’s bound to be sothing else by now,” Zhang Sinda comnted.
“No, it’s not that…” Sima Gui hesitated. “You should take a look yourselves.”
A sharp click sounded as he took a photo and uploaded it to the AR interface.
Li Chengyi tapped "Yes" to view the photo.
The image that appeared made him pause, surprised. He moved to the side of the street to avoid any oncoming cars as he studied the picture.
“This doesn’t make sense. Based on the map, this should be where the store was located?” Zhong Ying sounded frustrated.
“Yes, according to the map from over a hundred years ago. But tis change,” Zhang Sinda began, only to be interrupted.
“No matter how much things change, it doesn’t make sense for the area to beco this,” Zhong Ying said sharply.
“Indeed, in just over a hundred years, you wouldn’t expect this…” Li Chengyi added.
In the photo was no store, no building, not even a street. Instead, there was a wide, dark, greenish-blue lake with gentle ripples.
On the left side of the lake, they could barely make out the corner of the old buildings on Tianxing Street. To the right was a stark white stone bridge.
“Maybe the original building was demolished, revealing a body of water behind it?” Song Ran speculated.
“I asked one of the locals here. There were never any buildings in this area. This spot used to be an overgrown burial ground, completely undeveloped. Later, the governnt undertook a reclamation project, transforming it into Xuezhong Road, now Tianxing Street,” Zhang Sinda reported through the AR system.
“Could the map be wrong?” Zhong Ying questioned, beginning to doubt their information.
“We obtained the map from official records and cross-checked it with national archives. It’s highly unlikely to be incorrect,” Song Ran replied.
“So where is this Wu Ji Convenience Store?!” Zhong Ying’s voice betrayed her impatience.
Everyone remained silent. Their primary lead had now turned into a dead end, and they were at a loss on where to start.
“Sima, any mory flashes over there?” Zhang Sinda asked.
“Nothing,” Sima Gui replied.
“Sa
here,” Li Chengyi added.
“It seems that there are no dead-end phenona nearby. The Fog Street dead-end may not be connected to this place after all…” Zhang Sinda concluded.
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