Chapter 96 Investigation 2

We arrived at a busy street in the new urban area, and our target location was right across the street.

It appeared to be a lavishly decorated bar, but judging from the sign outside, it was actually a members-only liquor club. Occasionally, a few people would enter or leave through the opulent entrance, all dressed in impeccably tailored clothes. Even the waiters and waitresses were impeccably dressed and appeared highly trained.

This is clearly a high-class place where unauthorized personnel are not qualified to enter. In fact, ordinary people wouldn't even have the thought of entering just by seeing this kind of grandeur, let alone whether they have the qualifications to do so.

Although the Shadow Man targets local elites, he himself seems to be wealthy and influential, otherwise he wouldn't be able to freely enter such a members-only high-end place.

Or perhaps his identity is not that of a customer, but rather a waiter or a business owner?

Instead of approaching rashly, we stood at a distance and observed carefully, while also keeping an eye on the people coming in and out of the wine tasting club.

"Is this the place?" I asked.

Asaho said with certainty, "This is it."

"Do you know what's going on inside?" Zhu Shi asked.

“I don’t know, the extracted footage is too fragmented. If I had a few more days, I could piece it together. But with only one night, all I can know is that ‘that strange person comes and goes here from time to time,’” Asaho said.

“From time to time… In other words, that strange person might not be in here right now, right?” Zhu Shi asked.

“That strange guy doesn’t necessarily come every day, and even when he does, he usually comes at night.” Mazao thought for a moment, “But I think he’s most likely in this wine tasting club right now.”

"What's the basis for that?" Zhu Shi asked curiously.

“Because I’m right here,” Asaho said matter-of-factly. “I’ve already come to the strange thing, so it’s bound to appear nearby. Although that strange person seems to be barely human, or at least has human self-awareness, he can still be classified as a strange thing. It wouldn’t be surprising if he attacked right now.”

If before I met Asa, my investigations into strange events were 100% bound to end in failure, then Asa is 100% bound to encounter ghosts when investigating strange events.

She doesn't even need to actively investigate strange events; instead, strange events come to "investigate" her.

The situation is similar now. If we consider the mission of tracking down the strange man as an investigation into bizarre events, then the target location she follows will almost certainly be haunted. Saying "100%" might be a bit of an exaggeration, but thinking about it with the premise of hitting the bullseye shouldn't be too problematic.

What an enviable physique! Fortunately, I can now benefit from it too.

Unlike me, Zhu Shi's knowledge of Ma Zao's jinxed nature was mostly hearsay. She simply exclaimed, "That's outrageous," then took out her phone and contacted Lu Youxun. She told Lu Youxun the name of the wine tasting club and asked him to find relevant information.

As expected of Lu Youxun, who specializes in intelligence gathering, not long after Zhu Shi hung up the phone, Lu Youxun sent over detailed information.

During this time, I also released "fireflies" to infiltrate the wine tasting club across the street.

The current "Firefly" has been upgraded, and it can not only store more preset commands, but also store information about its surrounding environment. In other words, it can record what it sees, making it convenient for me to review the "recording" later.

Unfortunately, these upgraded features are not currently available. I simply manually controlled a few "fireflies" to sneak into the wine tasting club. Although it probably wouldn't attract much attention even if someone witnessed these "sparks," just to be on the safe side, I didn't let them enter directly through the main entrance. Instead, I let them slip into the ventilation openings and window gaps.

A few "fireflies" roughly circled around inside, and before long I had a basic understanding of the inside story of this wine tasting club.

This place is far less glamorous than it appears on the outside.

In short, this place is all show and no substance.

Almost simultaneously, Zhu Shi also seemed to have learned about the true situation of this wine tasting club through the documents sent to his phone by Lu Youxun.

"This is actually a 'nightclub'..." Zhu Shi said with disgust.

"Nightclub?" Asa asked, puzzled.

"Simply put, the outer area of ​​this wine tasting club is, as its name suggests, a place for tasting and appreciating fine wines, while deeper inside there are many women providing 'special services,' as well as a full range of massage, bathing, and accommodation facilities." I observed the situation inside.

Whether it was to protect privacy or for fun, the customers in this nightclub all wore different styles of headgear, and some women wore fancy masks, making it impossible to see their true faces; it was practically a masquerade ball.

The customers' headgear seemed to have built-in voice changers, making their voices sound very strange.

Looking at Mazao's youthful face, I couldn't give a more direct description, so I could only gloss over it with "special services".

However, in the apocalypse, there might be women who exchange "special services" for survival resources, and it's possible that their practices might be even more explicit than in peacetime. I only briefly mentioned this, and Ma nodded knowingly without showing any surprise.

"Can you see what's inside?" She was even more curious about that.

I first briefly explained my "Firefly" ability, and then said, "Even if the Shadow Man is in there right now, he's definitely in human form, and I can't tell from it. Asahi, did you manage to find out what his human form looks like from that finger?"

"No." Mazao shook her head.

Even if people in nightclubs wear hoods and masks, I can still capture their true faces by immersing myself in the ambient heat. However, if I don't know what the target looks like, there's no way to do that.

In that case, we can only try to track the features of other parts of the target.

For example, "scars".

"You cut off the hand of the Shadow-Switch monster last night. With the monster's regenerative abilities, is there any way to restore the hand without a trace overnight?" I asked.

“If it’s a demon from the apocalypse, that’s fine. But if it’s a weirdo from this era…” Asahi was a little uncertain.

Zhu Shi gave a definite answer: "According to Lu Youxun's information, if it is only an injury of the degree of loss of the palm, the strange man can fully restore it in less than half a night."

It seems that the route of "finding the target through the scars" is not feasible... While thinking, I asked Zhu Shi: "When the monster is in human form, can your 'Mount Buzhou' directly see through the other party's true identity?"

“That’s possible, but if we can’t know who it is beforehand, we’ll have to check them one by one,” Zhu Shi pondered.

“Karmic demons…strange beings can usually sense the aura of souls. Although they have difficulty distinguishing the differences between ordinary souls, they are quite sensitive to the souls of those with powerful magic and can identify them accurately.” Mazao shook his head. “We have fought with strange beings before, and they must have remembered our auras. If we check them one by one, we might alert them, and they might run away before it’s even their turn.”

"Can't this aura be concealed? You seem to have said before that you can use meditation to create a state of concealment of your aura," I said.

Zhu Shi offered his opinion tactfully: "Although I am not incapable of concealing my aura, for a strange person who can sense soul aura, the sudden appearance of someone who does not emit soul aura nearby, checking suspects one by one, would also arouse their vigilance."

It seems we've encountered a difficult situation.

I have a way to observe everyone without being detected, but I don't have the eye to see through strange people; while Zhu Shi, despite having that eye, doesn't have a way to observe everyone without being detected.

If only I could connect my senses with Zhu Shi's... No, even if such a method existed, it wouldn't be easy to use. Lu Youxun once tried to transmit information directly into my mind, but it was repelled by my own power, and he himself seemed to have been seriously injured. Attempting to connect my mind with another person's would likely be fraught with enormous risks.

"Perhaps I can stay here and wait for that strange man to walk out the door on his own," Zhu Shi suggested.

“That probably won’t work.” Mazao shook her head. “Although I haven’t investigated very clearly yet, that strange person hasn’t been using normal methods to enter or leave this place for the past two months… It doesn’t look like shadow teleportation; the footage I’ve traced doesn’t show any sudden blackouts. He’s probably using teleportation to move between here and other places.”

“Using that kind of movement method is probably to create an alibi that one has never been to a brothel, making it easier to protect one’s social relationships and identity as a human, which I can understand… But why use teleportation instead of shadow teleportation?” Zhu Shi pondered. “Is it because shadow teleportation is more energy-intensive… or is it that even to monsters, infiltrating the shadow world is risky?”

“If he’s using teleportation, then even if I monitor everyone inside through ‘Firefly,’ I won’t be able to detect anything. His shadow clones can mimic human forms, and the original and the clones are indistinguishable in posture the instant they switch places,” I said. “But if that’s the case, I might be able to narrow down the suspects to ‘certain people who haven’t left this club for a long time.’”

“I can continue investigating that strange man’s fingers. I’ll definitely be able to identify the target strange man in a few days, but…” Asahi seemed to realize other problems.

“That strange man fought with us last night. He probably already knows that he’s being targeted by Luo Shan Wuchang. Will he really stay in Xianshui City for a long time afterward?” Zhu Shi pondered.

"But if he really had that sense of crisis, why would he go to a nightclub to have fun at this time?" Ma Zao pondered.

I offered my perspective from a male point of view: "Perhaps it's because of the immense pressure of survival that we develop a need for a more intimate and comfortable environment."

Asahi nodded as if she had been taught a lesson: "I see..."

Zhu Shi gave me a hesitant look, as if she wanted to say something but hesitated. Junior Sister Zhu, if you have something to say, you can just say it directly. Doing it like this is only hurting me.

I refocused my attention on the problem at hand.

If the Shadow-Switch Monster does indeed choose to flee Saltwater City, we will no longer be able to track him down. Once an enemy with the power of shadow teleportation escapes, finding him will be like searching for a needle in a haystack. The Monster Creator, the Humanitarian Division, and all clues related to the apocalypse will also be cut off.

I naturally have a great curiosity about these clues, and on top of that, I also have a personal grudge against the Shadow Changer.

I cannot accept that the murderer who intended to harm Chang'an has simply escaped.

Just then, Zhu Shi's phone rang.

She glanced at the caller ID, paused slightly, and then answered the phone. I hadn't used "Firefly" to eavesdrop on the call, and I didn't know what the person on the other end was saying, but she immediately showed a shocked expression.

"What?" she exclaimed in shock, "My brother is missing?"

(End of this chapter)