Chapter 63
I learned from Si Shi that there will be a banquet in three days, after which the event will come to an end.
The hotel has a wide range of facilities. Xiao Shengyun walked from the first floor to the top floor. There is an outdoor swimming pool on the top floor, and around the pool are four huge metal tanks used to fill and change the water in the pool.
A man and a woman were playing in the pool. The man had also completed the fusion surgery and now had two blue-gray fish fins on his face.
He and his female companion embraced and kissed as they sank into the water together. After a while, the woman's body floated to the surface.
What was supposed to be a place for vacation and entertainment quickly turned into a murder scene.
A few gasps came from the side, not because someone had died, since the people here were all "well-informed," but probably simply because the body had soiled the pool.
Several hotel staff members pushed a cart over and placed the body on it.
"Hey, don't you guys need to change the water? It's all dirty, how are we supposed to take a bath!"
"Change the water right away."
Seeing that the staff were about to leave, the people who had just been brought ashore because of the corpse complained.
"Excuse me, gentlemen, this water is for the banquet three days from now. We will clean the pool afterwards. Guests are welcome to try other recreational facilities. We will provide appropriate compensation afterward. We hope you have a great time."
The waiter who came to collect the body smiled, but the guests fell silent; no one dared to speak again.
It seems the owner behind the hotel is quite influential.
The polluter who had just committed murder walked to the poolside and casually opened a bottle of wine.
Xiao Shengyun sat down next to him and asked, "That woman upset you, so why did you suddenly kill him?"
As he spoke, a crack appeared in his arm, and a tentacle emerged from deep within, helping him lift the cup.
After two days of investigation, he discovered that the polluters were very friendly to their own kind. These humans who had turned into monsters together could not survive normally in society and could only huddle together for warmth in the dark.
Moreover, there is no possibility of pollutants fighting each other, except for those with common interests.
Sure enough, upon seeing someone of his own kind, the man seemed much friendlier. He spat and said, "She came up to me right after I finished surgery. What a clueless thing. I'll just use her to test out the new parts I installed."
The man raised his arm, revealing sharp barbs on the inside of his arm that blended seamlessly into his skin.
"Brother, what kind of part did you photograph? It looks like a high-end product. How come it can move?" The man curiously touched the small tentacle that had crawled into the wine glass.
"I forgot the name. I installed it but found it useless. It can't do anything except eat." He retracted the small tentacle.
Xiao Shengyun waited patiently, eager to see if the person hiding in the shadows would appear.
The area is very spacious, with shimmering water as far as the eye can see, unlike the hotel's interior which is decorated in a complicated way and has many secluded spots.
Bang!
Just as the man was about to drink his second glass of wine, the assassin hidden in the shadows appeared.
Just like last time, a bullet from the shadows pierced the man's head, and he fell backward into the water, creating a huge splash.
"There's someone lurking in the shadows—"
"It's the assassin from the hall last time!"
The guests began to scream. It was like a food chain—assassin-polluter-ordinary person. They turned a blind eye when their own kind killed humans who were one level below them, but when someone tried to kill them, they jumped up and down.
The two waiters who came to collect the body silently and quickly threw the man's corpse onto the woman's corpse.
They finally became serious. This assassination attempt was related to the hotel's reputation, and the top floor was quickly sealed off. The awakened one from last time investigated the suspects one by one.
After undergoing the examination, Xiao Shengyun quietly walked to the wall, picked up something from the ground—the "bullet" that killed the man.
This thing is a black sphere, not made of metal, but more like the body tissue of some kind of pollutant.
Could it be that the killer isn't a human being, but some kind of pollutant?
If it's pollutants, then it can be explained. Killing someone right under the noses of so many polluters is extremely difficult.
He was very close to the man at the time and was able to pinpoint the direction from which the bullet was coming.
It appears to be underwater.
The area is spacious, and the five-meter-deep swimming pool is the best hiding place.
Xiao Shengyun silently placed the black thread into the pool, where it gradually split into a large network.
There were no clues in the pool, but he found some source material in the drain hole.
In the drainage pipe that stretches for tens of meters, black threads rush forward, splitting at forks in the road before continuing to extend deeper into the pipe.
As they approached the pipeline exit, Xiao Shengyun finally discovered the pollutant.
This is a snake-shaped pollutant, entirely black, with a slender body; no wonder it can move freely underwater.
The snake seemed to sense something; its red eyes flashed, and it slithered swiftly in a certain direction.
The winding black line suddenly stopped.
There isn't enough source material.
Like a ball of yarn, when completely unraveled, it only has a fixed length.
"We will be conducting an investigation in this area. Please be patient and go back to your rooms to rest. The hotel will definitely give you a satisfactory answer."
Finding no suitable staff, the waiters began to usher people out.
Xiao Shengyun also went downstairs, lost in thought.
These two incidents were clearly orchestrated by someone behind the scenes. The timing and location of the pollutant's release were meticulously planned. Therefore, his initial thought was to suspect the Awakened Ones, rather than the pollutants.
Since the person who just committed the murder did so on a whim, the person who orchestrated it must be in the pool on the rooftop.
All he needs to do is find out who attended both the banquet and the rooftop pool event that evening, since both locations require an ID card to enter, and the hotel's back-end system must have data on personnel coming and going.
Just as Xiao Shengyun found a way out, he suddenly sensed something was wrong and instinctively dodged away.
The Awakened One who was being questioned that night had his hands raised. He lowered his hands somewhat awkwardly: "Sir, I am a staff member of the hotel. You were quite close to the victim when the assassination occurred. I would like to ask if you noticed anything unusual?"
"No, what kind of security are you guys doing? People have died twice during parties, and this time the bullet almost grazed my ear!" Xiao Shengyun cursed.
The other person seemed a little embarrassed, asked a few questions casually, and left after confirming their information.
...
7 o'clock
Xiao Shengyun arrived at the place Qin Nian had indicated on time.
This is a small storage room, piled with plates and glassware, seemingly untouched for a long time, covered in a layer of dust.
The other person had arrived ahead of time and was sitting on the windowsill, idly twirling the mask in their hand.
"Don't worry, those people have been left behind. Although I'm working for them, I still have some standing in the organization."
Xiao Shengyun nodded. He believed this person's abilities were too outstanding; wherever he went, he would be treated like royalty by any organization.
"Are you sent by the authorities?"
"That's right."
What evidence do you have?
No, they didn't bring anything that could reveal their identities before they came here. They even changed their cell phones, but unfortunately, the cell phones had no signal.
"Never mind, I was just joking. If you want to eliminate the organization, I can tell you everything I know. Of course, I have one condition: I want you to help me find someone."
Qin Nian spoke to himself, looking like a puppet suddenly injected with consciousness, feeling unfamiliar and fearful in the face of this strange world.
But when he mentioned that person, there was a different kind of gentleness in his tone.
"Sure, but you have to tell me his name first."
Xiao Shengyun felt that he might know who this person was looking for.
"I don't know his name, nor do I know how to describe his appearance."
Qin Nian showed a somewhat conflicted expression. As his memories returned, his original personality seemed to be returning as well, gradually becoming closer to the cunning persona he remembered, rather than the exquisite doll he was not long ago.
"He was very fair-skinned, with black eyes, and this long scar on the right side of his face."
He gestured the length of his little finger. Xiao Shengyun had a bit of a headache; the description was a little too abstract. But when Qin Nian pointed to a spot on his cheek, he suddenly thought of Si Shi's tattoo.
However, if these two know each other, they can't both have amnesia, right?
"How did you become an Awakened One?" Xiao Shengyun asked.
Qin Nian was silent for a few seconds, then told a very long story.
He was born into an extremely poor family. His father died shortly after his birth, and his mother abandoned him when he was eight years old.
That memory is hazy; I only remember eating one meal a day and going hungry the next, doing everything I could to survive.
Stealing, robbing—anything goes, as long as we have enough to eat.
Later, he joined a local gang. Qin Nian was smart and ruthless. He had no relatives in this world and didn't care about the consequences.
With this mindset, he made a lot of money for the gang and quickly became the boss's confidant.
During this process, he met a boss who didn't want money, but asked for other things.
He betrayed his former boss, using everyone in that gang as leverage to join the new company, and he didn't care whether his former colleagues lived or died.
Qin Nian sometimes felt like he wasn't human, but more like the dog he often saw by the trash can when he was young, acting without considering the consequences and using any means necessary. He wanted a lot; before, he wanted food, and later he wanted money and status.
He will keep chasing these things until the day he gets his leg broken like that dog, only then will his greedy heart stop.
His life took a turn for the better when he met someone.
He began to learn about freedom and dignity, and to resist fate.
But he failed, and he became one of those experimental subjects.
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