Chapter 60

In the morning of Laoshugou Village, red firecrackers were hung all along the way and began to explode. People coming and going greeted each other on the road and gave each other New Year's goods and their own specialties. It was as lively as the nearest town gathering.

Everyone was gossiping about other people's affairs, and they greeted each other, never letting the words fall on the table.

On the morning of New Year's Eve, Zheng Qiuji woke up and found something inexplicably wrong.

Are Lao Chu and Brother Gu... a little closer than before?

Zheng Qiuji boasts that he has a strong ability to feel emotions, which is different from the naive and simple young master who can only eat, take pictures and curse.

He always felt that... Chu Zhongyuan's smile today was particularly disgusting.

Although his smile was usually disgusting, it was never as disgusting as it was today... It was so disgusting that it was as if something great had happened to him.

Zheng Qiuji couldn't help but start making dark speculations.

While Chu Zhongyuan was not paying attention when he went to get more rice, he poked Gu Qingming, who was picking up the rice grains that fell on the table and would never waste a drop of food, and asked, "Brother Gu, do you think he...was confessed to by some girl?"

Just as Gu Qingming was about to speak, Chu Zhongyuan came back with the meal served. He tilted his head with a smile on his face, which made Gu Qingming secretly think that something was wrong.

If the airplane ear is broken, guess what's missing.

This is a sign that the Cow Cat is starting to go crazy.

Chu Zhongyuan: "What's wrong? Is there anything that doesn't suit your taste? It's okay, baby, for you, I can stew myself in an iron pot~"

After saying that, he pushed Zheng Qiuji aside and sat next to Gu Qingming to show his determination.

Zheng Qiuji's eyes widened and he was greatly shocked.

Chu Zhongyuan turned around and said to Zheng Qiuji with a smile: "Why, are you envious?"

Zheng Qiuji's chopsticks fell into his bowl.

Looking at Chu Zhongyuan, who was listless last night but became an excited swordsman this morning, Gu Qingming shook his head helplessly:...What an annoying guy.

"Lilalalala, twenty-nine! On the twenty-nine, we steam buns, and on the thirty, we stay up all night!"

The children in the village were jumping around on the road in their new cotton-padded jackets, singing Northeastern nursery rhymes. They were running around with red paper Spring Festival couplets, like lucky dolls delivering New Year's goods.

"Let's go, brothers, and put up Spring Festival couplets."

Chu Zhongyuan and Zheng Qiuji held the tall ladder and called out to the other two.

Luo Dong was mixing the paste for pasting Spring Festival couplets when Gu Qingming came in from the courtyard gate, holding a large basket of freshly steamed buns with a chalk stick in his hand.

"Uncle Zhang's family steamed buns for the New Year and gave us a lot."

Gu Qingming raised the steamed bun in his hand, and his hands, which were so casually wielding the bronze spear, suddenly felt sore.

"Really...what was it, really cool."

Zheng Qiuji called it nb.

"We will definitely get rich this year."

Chu Zhongyuan smoothed the paste, threw the Spring Festival couplets up, and sighed.

"Of course. Don't you see how big a deal Ceope is doing in Linling? He's adding points all the time. Maybe within a few years, my dad will be able to buy shares in CPA!"

Luo Dong showed that familiar arrogance again, and said it as if jokingly. However, it can't be called arrogance, but youthful spirit.

The sound of firecrackers rang out all day long, and the sounds of people greeting each other outside continued 24 hours a day. Even though the sky was dyed in ink, it could not stop the strong New Year atmosphere from spreading throughout the village.

Before dinner in the evening, after a few people finished making a pot of dumplings stuffed with sauerkraut and pork, Chu Zhongyuan grabbed several fireworks from a grandfather at the entrance of the village. The packaging was all in highly saturated pink and purple colors.

The sky was completely dark. Chu Zhongyuan lit up the fireworks and watched the red, yellow, blue and white fireworks bloom in the small square box. The four people shouted "Wow!"

Luo Dong's mirrorless camera is back in business. Fireworks are not allowed in the city, and his father is afraid of danger and has never let him get close to such things.

The dazzling fireworks shook together, like a peacock's spread tail feathers, exploding into the air with flashes like a nebula.

Above the fireworks from every household, the sky was also filled with a fireworks show by the entire village.

The east wind blows thousands of flowers into bloom at night, and blows down stars like rain.

No one felt lonely at this moment. Gu Qingming and Chu Zhongyuan stood side by side, while Zheng Qiuji very tactfully pulled Luo Dong over and turned aside to play with the fairy wand.

"Student Xiao Ming."

The boy's face was illuminated by the light and shadow, becoming a warm color even at night, and his shoulder-length black hair was stained with the dim yellow fireworks in the house in the sunlight.

His gray eyes curved into a smile as he stretched out his hand towards Gu Qingming.

"Can you hold my hand?"

He looked confident yet nervous as he spoke.

"……sure."

Gu Qingming glanced at Zheng Qiuji and Luo Dong, and inexplicably felt guilty.

But he did not hesitate and followed his heart and held it.

What are you afraid of? We are all friends.

Gu Qingming thought.

Although it was a bit strange, the boy's palms were very warm, so warm that even he would indulge in it.

Chu Zhongyuan tilted his head and felt his face suddenly getting hot. He didn't expect that Xiao Ming would actually hold his hand.

The boy's fingers were slender, long, clean and beautiful, but with a thin layer of calluses from fighting, which made his heart itch.

The fireworks continued to crackle and bloom in the black sky, blending pink, blue, yellow, white and red together.

"Happy New Year!"

The cheers from every household overlapped.

In the distant woods, the rescue team had already dismantled the emergency equipment that had been built and began to evacuate.

Deeper in the woods, in the ranger's cabin, several rangers gathered together to drink. Fox Mask sat on one side, looking at Yuga, a foreigner who claimed to be a northern ethnic minority with deep facial features, speaking in a local accent that smelled of corn, and urging the local rangers to drink.

"Come on, come on, give me some face! Wine is the essence of grain. The more you drink, the younger you become!"

The fox mask was silent for a moment: "...I took cefuroxime."

Yuga: “… nb.”

The forest ranger of Linling was a tall young man with dark skin and a CPA medal on his shoulder. He was a CPA man. Seeing this, he stopped bothering Fox Mask and instead enthusiastically put his arm around Yuga's shoulder, saying, "As expected of a northerner like you, you can drink. Come on! Another box!"

Yuga blew into the bottle, trying to drink the green wine bottle with some elegance of a bard, but the bottle under him had already fallen to the ground with a crackling sound, indicating the fierceness of the battle just now.

"Okay! Brother, can you open that box of grain wine? I've been craving it for a long time!"

Yuga patted his fellow ranger on the shoulder, his eyes almost glowing with gold.

Fox Mask: ...You really came to Linling to be a ranger just for this box of wine, right? Not to help at all...

He wordlessly summoned the Five Emperors' Coins and found an excuse to leave: "I'm going fishing."

Yuga: "...How can there be fish in this icy and snowy place? Has this fisherman finally gone crazy?"

Different from the bustle of Linling, on New Year's Eve, the CPA headquarters in downtown Linling was still brightly lit with a tense atmosphere.

When Fox Mask arrived, Cao Sheng was leaning against the wall alone, waiting for the results of the online investigation.

As footsteps were heard frequently in the cyber investigation studio, a strange roar was heard from inside: "Brothers, stop playing the opposite role! We don't have enough online water armies!"

It seems that Lu Ze is still busy with the follow-up decision of the rescue team and is not on the cyber investigation side.

As a leader among CPA psychics, Cao Sheng was standing outside the Cyber ​​Detective Department anxiously, waiting for the results nervously, fearing that the clues would slip away.

Although Ceope's rash action this time took away the Wooden Guardian, it also completely tore apart the secrets of the entire organization, leaving behind countless clues.

The technicians of the Cyber ​​Investigation Department followed the clues all the way, stacking web addresses one after another, and finally found the truth that had been so secretive for Ceob.

The cyber investigation technician handed Cao Sheng the newly typed report that also included the printer temperature, with a helpless tone.

"This is a truth that no one expected... Ceobe, there is no headquarters."

The technician looked grim, with dark spots under his eyes from staying up all night for several days.

In other words, Ceobe was more disunited and loose than they had imagined, with a kind of beauty that was like a bunch of psychopaths getting together to open a mental hospital for themselves.

Why couldn't they find Ceob's headquarters? Because Ceob didn't have a headquarters, only a website. That boss could grasp the most vulnerable part of people's hearts with just a few words, making countless people rush forward and willing to become wandering supernatural beings to work for him - the moment of making a wish.

Legend has it that the moment the secret realm in the sea of ​​the South Sea, codenamed PL, is opened, a moment of time and space interweaving will occur due to its wonderful special mysterious fluctuations. Any wish made in that short minute, as long as it is strong enough, will be realized by the Wheel of Fortune that controls destiny.

The boss used this publicity to win the support of a group of "like-minded people" who had the desire to "realize it at all costs" and established the special website Ceobe, which became the base for promoting his plan.

"Unfortunately, they set up mysterious technology on the website, or some kind of supernatural power. As soon as we looked up the address, the website was automatically destroyed."

The technician said this almost with his eyes closed.

"Okay... I get it. You've worked hard. Go get some rest."

Cao Sheng patted the other person's shoulder and watched the entire Cyber ​​Detective Department walk towards the elevator at the end of the corridor in scattered groups as if they couldn't find their way.

"They are crazy enough to open PL... Now it is enough to serve as a wooden talisman. The wooden box that once contained the Jade Ruler has been taken away by them. Where do you think they will go next?"

The fox mask frowned and asked almost with an answer.

"All the supernatural items that can be used as talismans are kept under wraps by the CPA, the Night Watchmen, or even the Volunteer Association..."

Cao Sheng's voice was a little hoarse, and it sounded unclear whether it was due to anger or fatigue.

"The only thing exposed, besides the supernatural items in the Forbidden City Headquarters, is..."

He stretched out his tone.

“In the place closest to the sky.”

Fox Mask frowned even more tightly when he thought of Gu Qingming's inexplicable luck of being involved in big events no matter what the circumstances.

The task that Gu Nanfeng assigned to him was not easy at all.

"That place... in the regional mystery rating of the CPA headquarters, its level is higher than Linling."

The mysterious factors are scattered everywhere in the world like water molecules, but there are always some places with higher concentrations of mysterious factors, and correspondingly, there are more mysteries.

"yes."

Cao Sheng let out a long sigh.

"But at least we know when their next move will be. It will definitely be next year... ah, it's 0 o'clock, which means this summer."

He leaned against the wall, changed himself into a more comfortable standing position, and looked a little more relaxed.

"That place is too mysterious. If it's not summer, when there are many mysterious creatures active, the secret place won't be revealed."

He shrugged his shoulders. "That boss is a very smart man. He would never waste time on boring things. Besides, the wooden box made into a talisman is enough for them to be busy for a while. What's more, the undercover agent has also sent news."

"It's just that... in the summer, we will have to race against time with the three-headed dog,"

Cao Sheng paused.

"Overlooking the snow-capped mountains."

A bright red light flashed in his hand, like burning blood, turning the document into fine red ashes, which fell into the void and disappeared.

"I understand. I'll contact them shortly. But, Cao Sheng, I have something to ask you."

The fox mask suddenly spoke. After so many days of cooperation, his attitude had become much softer.

"If you don't want to tell Lu Ze and those high school students, at least let me be prepared."

"Are you okay now?"

Cao Sheng paused, as if the freeze button was pressed.

"Cao Sheng, the highest form of spatial ability, Tunguska, is not a force that humans can bear. It is called Tunguska because the power released is as terrible as the Tunguska explosion back then. What's more, your normal attack is this. Your medical examination report has been hidden all this time."

The fox mask's voice was still as gentle and calm as ever.

"Since the last physical examination until now, the first time you used your real name to release yourself was when you saved Gu Qingming and Chu Zhongyuan, and..."

Moreover, when the other party used his supernatural powers, he was obviously mentally prepared.

He knew that Cao Sheng's situation might not be very good. Even before he had any contact with Cao Sheng, he was worried that the situation was so bad because the other party chose to give up on himself... He never expected that reality would be so unreasonably bad.

What kind of situation would be so serious that Cao Sheng would have to be mentally prepared to use his supernatural power to release his true name?

"Phew—how sharp."

Cao Sheng touched the back of his hair, as if to express his helpless emotion.

"Who knows? I only know that they all said I wouldn't live past 20, but haven't I lived until now?"

"...I hope you can hold on until this is over."

Fox Mask sighed.

"Those four high school students can't live without you right now."

He thought about it and added.

"Now the seal of the underworld cannot be separated from you."