Chapter 182 Old Zheng
After sending Irene back early, Yu Sheng returned to the living room and saw Little Red Riding Hood sitting on the sofa and talking with the young man in his twenties.
The latter still looked exhausted, and it was obvious that he had not had a good rest for many days as he had been taking care of his relatives' funeral.
Seeing Yu Sheng coming out of the bedroom, the young man stood up slightly and greeted him, then pointed to the hot milk tea on the coffee table and said, "Thank you for your hard work. I just bought it."
"Um...thank you." Yu Sheng didn't bother to be polite with the other party. He sat next to Little Red Riding Hood, and the two of them sipped milk tea together.
The young man sitting opposite broke the silence: "Did you find anything?"
Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood exchanged a glance. The latter thought for a moment and nodded gently: "I did find some clues... But I want to confirm first, do you know the 'nature' of your uncle's work? To what extent do you know? I mean... about the things he collects, and the 'specialness' of the things he usually comes into contact with."
"I know a little bit. He mentioned the 'Strange Items Association' to me and showed me some... relatively 'safe' things," the young man nodded. "I know he deals with those unusual things, which are sometimes quite dangerous. In fact, I am also interested in them. I even almost took the external recruitment of the Secret Service. But my uncle didn't let me do this. He said that I was too curious and had a... oh, spiritual talent. It belongs to the high sensitivity and low stability type. It would be very dangerous to do this."
"Your uncle is right. If you are highly sensitive, indifferent, and too curious, you really can't do this job. You may not even make it through the internship." Little Red Riding Hood sighed. "Since you know so much, I'll give you a rough idea of the situation. Lao Zheng may have been exposed to extremely dangerous pollution and was in contact with illegal cults, but at present, he should be just a victim. This is all I can say. The Secret Service may be willing to reveal more information to you, the 'family member', later."
The young man just sat there quietly, saying nothing, or perhaps not knowing what to say.
Yu Shengze broke the silence: "Did your uncle come into contact with any suspicious people during his last days? Did he do anything suspicious? For example, a strange 'friend' suddenly appeared, or he suddenly developed some habits or taboos that he had never had before."
"I don't know," the young man shook his head and said slowly, "My uncle seldom contacted our family for more than 20 years. He was a volunteer in an orphanage back then. Then he seemed to have encountered something. Some said it was emotional, and there were also rumors that he was frightened by something. Then he moved here to live alone. I didn't remember much at that time. I heard these things from the adults at home."
He paused for a moment, and then hesitantly spoke again, "But I occasionally receive messages from him. If I must say, he seems to be quite happy recently. About two months ago, he said that he finally had a chance to let go of the burden in his heart. Recently, he also said that he planned to go home in two days. There was a notebook in the old house at home, and asked me to help find it to see if it was still there... But after that, something happened to him."
"Notebook?" Yu Sheng's heart moved when he heard this, and he hurriedly asked, "Did you find it? Did you bring it here?"
"I brought it," the young man said, and he stood up and walked to the TV cabinet, rummaging in a black suitcase. After a moment, he pulled out a thick book with a dark blue cover from the innermost layer of the suitcase and held it in front of Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood. "This is it - I haven't read the contents inside, I brought it here intact."
Yu Sheng exchanged glances with Little Red Riding Hood, then immediately took over the notebook which was more than 20 years old and flipped through it quickly.
Most of the records there seemed to be just some mundane trivia, including daily memos, and some observations and work records as a volunteer at the orphanage. There were also some records that could help Yu Sheng understand the situation at the orphanage more than 20 years ago, but this part of the content obviously had nothing to do with what he was investigating now and the death of Lao Zheng.
This notebook that spans time, perhaps it is just a "voucher" for the nearly fifty-year-old Zheng to suddenly recall his youth? Just as Yu Sheng was thinking this, he suddenly noticed the content of the page he had just turned over, and he quickly reached out and turned the page back.
It turned out to be a painting - it was drawn by the owner of the notebook himself with a pencil. The technique was not very good, but it was obvious that he had painted it very carefully.
On the slightly yellowed paper, a woman who looked to be about 26 or 27 years old was standing in front of the swing in the orphanage, wearing a simple long dress and smiling calmly and gently.
Yu Sheng frowned, subconsciously wondering who this young woman who appeared in the notes was, what kind of story she had with the deceased "Old Zheng", and why she appeared in the orphanage where Little Red Riding Hood lived - she was obviously an adult, but she was not wearing the clothes of a council employee.
Then he heard Little Red Riding Hood beside him suddenly exclaim "Huh".
Instead of asking questions, Little Red Riding Hood quickly took out her cell phone and dialed a number: "Long Hair, please take a picture for me. The picture in the middle on the wall of the East Building Exhibition Room... yes, that's the one of 'Cinderella'. Take it and send it to me."
Then she hung up the phone. After a while, her cell phone vibrated. Yu Sheng leaned over to take a look and saw a photo appearing on the screen.
She was a young woman in her twenties, almost exactly like the portrait in Lao Zheng's notebook.
"What is this...?" Yu Sheng asked curiously.
"There was a Cinderella many years ago... She lived to be twenty-six years old," Little Red Riding Hood said softly, looking at the smiling figure in the notebook, "the longest-lived one in the orphanage's history. After her death, the 'role' of 'Cinderella' was vacant for ten years. It was not until more than ten years ago that a new Cinderella appeared. We all say that she used her life to temporarily suppress the operation of the 'Eternal Ball' subset, although there is no basis for this statement."
Little Red Riding Hood pursed her lips and continued, "It is said that she was even considering whether to try the life of an ordinary person."
Yu Sheng listened silently, raised his head and looked at the table not far away.
The portrait of Lao Zheng stood there quietly - he was nearly fifty years old, the skin on his face had become loose, wrinkles had quietly crept up to the corners of his eyes, and the fatigue in his eyes seemed to record a journey that lasted for more than twenty years.
He searched for a "magic object" for twenty years to fight a recurring curse, but in the end, he lost to a scam.
He wasn't the first to try to fight the "fairy tale," nor would he be the last.
Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood stood up, and the latter solemnly handed the notebook back to the young man opposite.
"Thank you for the clues you provided," Yu Sheng said in a deep voice, "We will help Lao Zheng get justice."
"Thank you," the young man took the notebook. He seemed to want to ask something, but in the end, perhaps remembering his uncle's warning to him, he held back and just waved at the two "detectives" in front of him. "I won't see you off. There are still many things to pack here."
"Well," Little Red Riding Hood nodded, then remembered something and reminded, "There is something under the carpet in the bedroom. Although it has theoretically lost its power, you'd better not touch it and wait for professionals to deal with it."
"Okay, I understand."
After coming out of the apartment building, it was completely dark outside.
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Neon lights illuminated this huge city that seemed to have no boundaries. The wolves took Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood to the roof of the tallest building nearby. Yu Sheng stood there overlooking Jiecheng and saw the lights flowing among the forest-like buildings. The huge city continued to be noisy in the night.
How many people live in this strange city? Millions? Tens of millions? How many of them are ordinary people? How many are detectives and investigators who have come into contact with the "other side"? How many are the city's protectors and keepers of order? How many hide in the shadows of those lights, like the tentacles of some crazy and shapeless thing, spying on the careless victims...
For the first time, Yu Sheng felt that this strange, weird, and even eerie city was alive with flesh and blood.
Little Red Riding Hood broke the silence: "I will continue my investigation after I return. I will go to the headquarters of the Association of Strange Objects. I also plan to meet other spirit world detectives and investigators that Old Zheng had contact with during his lifetime."
Yu Sheng: "Do you need me to follow you?"
"No," Little Red Riding Hood shook her head, "I want to ask you to go to the Secret Service."
Yu Sheng frowned: "Go to the Secret Service?"
"Go and tell them about Lao Zheng. Although the information about the Angel Cultists will certainly attract the attention of the Secret Service, if you come to them in person, they will surely pay more attention to it."
Yu Sheng thought about it and was not sure: "...will it?"
The girl looked helpless: "...Do you really have no self-awareness at all?"
Yu Sheng smiled awkwardly, then nodded seriously: "Okay, I'll go tomorrow."
Then the two of them fell silent at the same time. After a few seconds, Yu Sheng spoke thoughtfully: "What do you think is the connection between the 'Dark Angel' and the 'Fairy Tale' foreign land?"
Little Red Riding Hood thought seriously, and after a long while, she shook her head: "I have no idea - although many things happened coincidentally at the same time, there is a lack of the most critical 'connection' between them. Those angel believers found Lao Zheng who wanted to fight against the fairy tale curse, and used him to lead me to the white exhibition hall, but the most important thing is, what are they eyeing? Are they eyeing my identity as a member of the 'fairy tale', or are they just looking for a 'sacrifice' with enough strength? "In the final analysis... there is more than one dark angel in the world. We still don't even know which 'angel' those angel believers are following, so naturally we can't determine what their purpose is. "
(End of this chapter)
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