A few minutes later, a faint breeze stirred the stuffy air of the shop.
"I only sense sothing wrong with those two houses," Anna's voice materialized beside them, clear enough for everyone to hear. "The others feel normal."
"Does that an the rest of the houses are safe?" Plis ventured.
Lu Li wasn't so sure. "Not necessarily," he countered. "It might only an that just two of the 'man-eating houses' have awakened."
The cafe, for instance.
Before the anomaly developed a consciousness, Anna hadn't sensed anything out of the ordinary. It was only Lu Li's heightened sensitivity—a side effect of his low Mind Level—that had allowed him to hear the whispers coming from inside.
Plis took the file from one of his team mbers and handed it back to Lu Li. "We're ready to cooperate. What's our next move?"
"Elm Street, numbers 33 and 63..." Lu Li closed the wooden box, muttering the addresses to himself before looking up. "Let's go check out number 93."
...
Elm Street, number 93.
The house stood near the far end of the street.
If the rain had let up even slightly, they might have been able to see the edge of the Elm Forest, a hundred ters away.
Number 93 was occupied. When Lu Li ran his fingers over the door, he heard no whispers. A knock was answered promptly by the hoowner.
A mber of the Night's Watch briefly explained the situation, and he and Lu Li were allowed inside to investigate. Lu Li touched the walls, the floor, the sofa, the coat rack—but heard nothing. The house was cleared of suspicion.
It seed the numbers of the first two houses had been a re coincidence.
Back out on the street, Lu Li rejoined the others.
Plis, having more or less grasped Lu Li's thod, spoke, his voice muffled by the downpour. "It looks like we'll have to check every house."
Lu Li nodded. With no better alternative, they would have to rely on this thod—inefficient, perhaps, but effective.
To save ti, the eight-man Night's Watch team split into two groups. Plis took one to notify the residents and prepare them for the inspections, while the other group remained with Lu Li as protection.
Starting with number 118 at the end of Elm Street, Lu Li and his escort began their sweep, checking one house after another.
By the ti they reached number 114, the alerted residents were waiting with their doors open, which sped up the process. Lu Li could clear a house in about thirty seconds.
The second Night's Watch group marked the empty houses. For those, Lu Li simply swept his hand over the door; if he heard nothing, he moved on.
Ten minutes in, at the seventeenth house—number 101—the owner was waiting for them at the entrance.
Glancing at the man's anxious face, Lu Li raised a hand and ran it across the door.
"Hee-hee-hee... that tickles..."
Amid the drumming of the rain, a faint, barely audible giggle reached him.
Lu Li's pupils contracted. He turned to tty, who stood nearby. "The third one."
A third 'man-eating house' had surfaced.
tty understood and gestured for the resident to step away.
Lu Li took a small stone from another team mber and tossed it into the entryway.
The pebble landed on the floor with a distinct clatter, bounced a few tis, and ca to a stop. Lu Li held his breath, listening intently.
A grumpy voice grumbled up from the floorboards. "That guy threw a rock at !"
There was no longer any doubt.
tty asked if anyone else was inside, then escorted the bewildered resident to the commandeered shop.
To avoid alarming the consciousnesses that had yet to awaken or fully form, the Night's Watch didn't share the grim details with the residents.
Two team mbers stayed behind to guard the house, while the last one followed Lu Li to the next building.
...
Elm Street, number 85—the fourth 'man-eating house'.
Plis escorted the family of three living there to the shop. By now, all the residents of the block had been warned.
"Next one," Lu Li said.
Two team mbers set up a cordon as Lu Li and Plis proceeded to the next house.
...
Elm Street, number 41—the fifth 'man-eating house'.
Plis asked the residents to vacate, but he t with resistance—a married couple refused to leave until they saw the police. They had never heard of the Night's Watch and didn't trust their authority.
After a mont's thought, Plis dispatched one of his n to the nearest police station, left two to watch the house, and continued the sweep with Lu Li.
The miserable weather helped them remain unnoticed.
...
Elm Street, number 10—the sixth 'man-eating house'.
The owner of this house was a rather sharp middle-aged man. When Lu Li and the others arrived, he was already waiting under the awning by the entrance with his wife and a suitcase. The Night's Watch escorted them to the shop.
...
Elm Street, number 3—the seventh 'man-eating house'.
Unfortunately, Lu Li and his group were too late. By the ti they arrived, the anomaly's consciousness had already awakened. The residents' clothes lay discarded by the door, soaked by the rain.
Just fifteen minutes earlier, when the Night's Watch had first passed by, nothing had seed amiss.
An hour after the operation began, the Night's Watch had finished checking every house on Elm Street.
Three anomalies had awakened; four had not.
"I never thought there would be so many..." Plis whispered, wiping a mixture of cold sweat and rainwater from his brow.
What was even more alarming was that they were all the sa type of anomaly. That usually ant one thing: there could be far more of them.
On the way back to the shop, Plis turned to Lu Li. "I'm going to request authorization to inspect the neighboring blocks. What do you think?"
They needed to find out as quickly as possible if 'man-eating houses' had appeared on other streets. If this phenonon was spreading, the situation would beco extrely dangerous.
"Good," Lu Li replied curtly, his mind still racing.
Was the ergence and transformation of these anomalies connected to the rain...?
But the first 'man-eating house' had appeared before the downpour began.
Inside the commandeered shop, the evacuated residents huddled in a corner, murmuring quietly amongst themselves. The door swung open, admitting a gust of cold air and a few dark figures, and they fell silent, turning to look at the entrance.
"Have the n from the precinct arrived?" Plis asked one of his team mbers warming himself by the fire.
"Yes, I've posted them to guard the seven houses where we found anomalies."
"tty, contact the base, report the situation, and request reinforcents," Plis ordered, removing his cloak and sitting by the window next to Lu Li.
"What do we do now?" Plis asked, his voice laced with anxiety.
"Are you familiar with the concept of contagion?" Lu Li looked up at him, posing a question of his own.
"Yes, it's the only piece of knowledge we're permitted to—" Plis faltered, a sudden realization dawning on him. "You suspect..."
"The suspicion is very strong," Lu Li confird with a nod. "Tell
what you know about contagion."
Plis took a deep breath.
Suddenly, one of the team mbers interjected, "But my contamination detector didn't show anything."
Lu Li's expression didn't change. "They don't always work, do they?"
Plis gave a bitter smile. "That's right. The Contamination Detector can't pick up on passive contagion—the kind that doesn't lower one's Mind Level, for instance."
And the 'man-eating houses' did not affect a person's Mind Level.
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