4 Chapter 4
◎Feudal superstition is unacceptable◎
A few hours ago, Blue Country Abnormal Investigation Bureau.
"Om-long——"
A bell-like tremor erupted from the ground, shaking the entire building and startling the investigators working on 24-hour shifts.
"Earthquake? A strange invasion?"
"No! It seems like the Ghost Suppression Monument is shaking!"
An ancient stone tablet stood in the center of the General Investigation Bureau, extending straight through all floors and pointing to the highest point. When it suddenly shook, people realized that only a small corner of its towering mountain was exposed above the ground.
The bottom stone surface of the stele has long been mottled, leaving gray and white blurred marks, as if it has stood from a long, long time ago. Only some words can be seen at the highest point.
"Look! There's a line of blurred names rising on the stele! The General Administration was originally built around the Stele to Suppress Strange Things. It's said that long ago, the stele could monitor all resurrected strange things, but now it can only detect high-risk strange things above Level B. Could it be that a new Level A strange thing has appeared?!"
"No, that's impossible..."
The investigators' tense discussions came to an abrupt halt when the red light of martial law came on. All the responsible persons at the highest levels of the General Investigation Bureau had already arrived at the fastest speed.
"Director!" "Director Zhang!"
The woman with sparse white hair nodded slightly to them, her eyes always fixed on the stone tablet.
The topmost stele was once again covered in densely packed characters, resembling a pale red ant colony. The further one went up, the wider the spaces between the characters, and the darker the color. The characters at the top were so red they were almost black, as if written in actual blood.
Each line of record represents a terrifying weirdness.
A line of blurred names was rising rapidly, passing over the blurred records below level B, and even over the level B records. The vibration and humming of the stone tablet did not stop.
The top brass of the Investigation Bureau gathered around the stone tablet, their anxiety growing as they waited. "The last time the Stupendous Monument shook was over a decade ago. Could it be... that a new A-level anomaly is about to appear outside of the several restricted areas that have fallen?"
"No……"
Someone pointed at the stone tablet with a gloomy expression, "No..."
In a short time, the vague name that had just appeared overcame all the weirdness.
"Above A-level weirdness...?!"
No one paid any attention to the broken scream. The blurred words at the top flickered slowly, and the heartbeats around the stone tablet were deafening, almost jumping out of the throat.
Deep in a high mountain, a shadow suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, which splashed onto the miniature monument in front of it.
"Failed to capture the aura...?"
The words on the stone tablet finally stopped flickering.
A strange name loomed, shrouded in a pitch-black chaos, and paused at the highest point. Everything about it remained unknown.
"Without a name, we can't determine the approximate range... Has Consultant Tushan's monitoring also failed?"
Director Zhang frowned. "Retrieve the sealed paper files from Vault No. 1 and check each other's memories. Determine if any cities or Western Alliance countries have become dens of evil, forming new no-go zones for the living. Review the feedback from each action team within 24 hours to see if there have been any unusual loss of contact or operational failures. We can't rule out the possibility that they've been controlled by strange hallucinations..."
The instructions were carried out in an orderly manner.
"Records cross-checked, no memory loss of any location has been detected."
"The information department has not detected any large-scale regional anomalies..."
"When the earthquake occurred, several action teams in Jiang City and other places were taking action..."
All the inspections seemed to be normal, but Director Zhang and other senior executives looked increasingly serious.
Someone laughed bitterly, "The weirdness is getting more and more terrifying. A-level is already a natural disaster, what is above A-level? A catastrophe? In the face of weirdness, the hope we maintain is as thin as paper, precarious..."
Director Zhang interrupted him, "A hope in jeopardy is still hope. Consultant Tushan said he will arrive at the headquarters soon to confirm the location of this strange creature with us. The abnormal vibration of the Stupendous Monument cannot be concealed. To avoid causing panic, this strange creature is temporarily named [A-Chaos].
"Everyone, the appearance of a Beyond Grade A anomaly will inevitably have a huge impact on the situation. In these troubled times, we need to work together. Next, we will focus on investigating areas where ancient and bizarre legends exist..."
-
In a corner of the Jiangshi Farmers' Market, a vegetable vendor spitted, "It really can't be any less! This little girl is willing to spend over 20 yuan a cup of milk tea and wait in a long line, but why does she have to haggle over a few cents when buying vegetables?"
Ye Pingan took a sip of the cream on top of his milk tea and refused to budge. "Auntie, these radishes have sprouted, and you still want to mix them together and sell them to me? Fifty cents is still money!"
"Well. Then let me install the good one for you. Can you move it?"
"You only have one piece of ginger left, can you give it to me?"
"Okay, okay, okay." The vegetable vendor finally sent the man away. "I've never seen a young man so good at choosing vegetables."
Ye Ping'an closed his shop that morning and headed straight to the heart of the university town with his newly earned money. From early morning to afternoon, he would go to places where business was booming.
Fried rice, chicken fillet, stinky tofu, wraps, sandwiches, milk tea. Get a variety of spices from the market and try all the sauces.
Even when the business is closed, you can't sit idle. It's a good opportunity to get familiar with the surrounding area and explore the common ingredients in the New World.
The farmers' market is already closing down in the afternoon, and you can clearly see which vegetables are selling the best and which store is selling the fastest.
The food supplier that the store had worked with for many years suddenly disappeared. The inventory was running low, and the food supply for the reopening had to be prepared.
"Coming late gives you a glimpse into business, but you won't be able to buy fresh, delicious food. What's left is either wilted or looks bright, but they're varieties that have been refined for transport and preservation. They're expensive and taste so-so. On the first day, you can only eat what's in the store. Come early tomorrow morning. It's time to pick up the meat you ordered..."
Ye Pingan caught sight of a small stall in the corner and paused. "Toona sinensis? They weren't there when I entered the market. Did you just get here?"
Perhaps in a hurry, the stall hadn't even been spread out. With his pocket half-open, clusters of purple-red toon shoots peeked out, as if freshly plucked from the branches. Having eaten most of the spring vegetables this season, finding toon was a pleasant surprise.
The stall owner was a young girl with a pale face and dark circles under her eyes. She squatted in front of the stall, her head drooping like a chicken pecking at rice, and she was so sleepy that she couldn't open her eyes.
While the astute old men and women hadn't noticed the stall yet, Ye Pingan walked up and patted the stall owner, "How much is the Chinese toon?"
“…Ghost!” The stall owner shuddered and sat down on the ground.
Ye Pingan: ...
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
The stall owner got up in shock and scratched his head, "When did I even get to the market? Damn it, did I sleepwalk here?!
"Toona sinensis! Yes, thank goodness I didn't forget to bring it. They're all freshly picked from our own old trees. They're so fresh. This is the last crop of the year, and there are only a little over four pounds left. If you miss it, you'll have to wait a whole year!"
Ye Pingan picked out some dishes and said, "Not bad, let's weigh them and take them away."
"A total of one hundred... one hundred... yawn." The stall owner didn't say a few words and became confused again. He pressed the calculator for a long time but couldn't get it right.
"137.32." Ye Ping'an couldn't bear it any longer and quoted the price. "Did you stay up all night last night? You had nightmares and sleepwalking. Go back and get some rest after you finish selling."
The stall owner lowered his voice, "It's not a dream! I think I encountered something dirty!
"I'm here to help a classmate's family with their stall. Yawn... This week, they've been inexplicably sick one after another. It's nothing more than drowsiness and nightmares. Their vegetables used to be the best in the village, a small-scale, boutique product. But once they fell ill, the vegetable vendors were reluctant to come, fearing it was a contagious disease. The vegetables from the fields can wait, but the toon can't be missed for even a few hours, so I'm running an errand for them."
"I didn't believe it before. But when I first fell asleep, it was like... yawning, like something was pressing down on me. I was clearly conscious, but I couldn't move or wake up. I was getting colder and colder, and more and more stiff..."
As he spoke, the stall owner shuddered, "Exactly like them! No wonder my classmate is planning to go to the temple to worship, and I'm planning to go too. Alas, it's so hard for cheap college students to make a little money."
"If you don't sleep well, you're more likely to have nightmares. You fell asleep in that sitting position just now, so it would be strange if you didn't feel stiff all over. Don't be superstitious. If you're really worried, go to the hospital."
Ye Ping'an said seriously, "If you don't want to go to the hospital, my restaurant has medicinal food certification. Come and have a few meals to replenish your body and I guarantee you'll sleep well. It's not expensive, a special price of 99 per bowl!"
“……?” Just kidding, isn’t the map of Yan State a little short?
The stall owner was speechless for a moment, his attention unconsciously shifted away from the nightmare.
She pointed to Ye Ping'an's phone case. On the left was a message "Congratulations on your prosperity", on the right was a message "Making a fortune", and in the middle was a lucky cat.
"You don't believe in feudal superstitions, so you believe in attracting wealth?"
Ye Pingan argued confidently, "How can making money be called superstition?
"By the way, you just said that the vegetable vendor broke the contract and refused to buy vegetables? I run a restaurant. Add me as a friend. If the photos look okay, I'll go to the village to take a look when I'm free these days."
The stall owner took out his phone and said, "It's a deal. I'll take pictures of the vegetable patch for you when I get back. My last name is Xia, Xia Zihan, and I'm a senior at Jiangda University. I'm familiar with the university town. Boss, where is your shop? I went to the temple with them, so I'll go there. If the food is good, I can help you advertise it. I'll pay you based on the number of people I attract!"
After checking each other's eyes, I can tell that they are all people who love to make money.
As the sun sets, the street lights come on one after another.
Xia Zihan packed up the stall and walked to the bus stop, just in time to see Ye Ping'an walking out of the butcher shop.
Just when I was about to say hello, the person disappeared in a blink of an eye.
Xia Zihan rubbed his eyes and said, "I'm so sleepy that I'm dizzy. I didn't see any car coming..."
The more I think about it, the more scared I get.
Xia Zihan hesitated and opened the chat interface: "Boss Ye, are you back to the store? It seems we all need to take bus No. 140, but today I'm going in the opposite direction, to the village first. There are many kinds of vegetables in the fields, do you want to see them all?"
"Master, let's go to the food court."
Ye Pingan closed the door of the white taxi and replied, "I'll take a taxi back. Please take a picture of the food. Thank you."
The university town is large and meat spoils easily, so I can’t slowly walk back to the store like I can during the day.
The restaurant used to have suppliers delivering goods, so we didn't have to worry about transportation. Now we have to wait until we make some money before we can even consider buying a car. Fortunately, the shortest taxi ride is only a dozen yuan, which is still affordable.
The taxi started silently, and the sunset seemed to dim in an instant, turning into night.
The car's voice sounded intermittently, mixed with electrical noise.
"Hello, hello, welcome aboard the Jiang City Hearse."
【Author’s words】
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These few days I try to post at the time when most people read it, and then I will set a fixed time.
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