Chapter 102 (Catching Bugs)

Xu Ming actually had some doubts in her heart about her brother's invitation.

Although it sounds a bit heartless to say so... But to be honest, Xu Ming really didn't have deep feelings for her so-called "brother".

Of course, with the disappearance of Xu Ling, her memory of her brother had long returned to normal. To be fair, although the real relationship between her and him was not that stiff, it didn't seem to be much better.

Firstly, due to her physical condition, she had lived with her aunt since elementary school. At that time, the Internet was not well developed, and the interaction with her parents was limited to occasional phone calls, monthly money transfers, and meals during festivals. This was the case with her biological parents, not to mention her brother, who she was not close to in

the first place. Especially when she was in school, her brother was rebellious and hated going out with his family, which led to them not seeing each other many times. Later, her aunt disappeared, and she returned to her original family. Not long after, she went out to college. She basically lived outside all the time. The last impression she had of her brother was a year ago after her parents' funeral, when the inheritance was divided, she was packing things at home to move out, and she noticed her brother looking at her from the crack of the bedroom door - his eyes were full of fear.

Xu Ming had no intention of paying attention to him, but he suddenly ran out of the bedroom, holding something in his hand, whether it was salt or something else, and sprinkled it on her. In his other hand, he held a very thin plastic stick, and kept beating the floor at Xu Ming's feet, saying "Get out of here!" "Get out of here!"

Qiu Yufei was there at the time, and she was so angry that she almost got into a fight with him. Xu Ming was exhausted physically and mentally at the time, and she was too lazy to bother with him. She stopped Qiu Yufei and left directly. In the more than a year that followed, she never cared about the situation of this big brother again, and never contacted him again.

...Well, at least she never contacted the real him.

Thinking about it now, the only thing I regret is that I didn't say a few more harsh words before leaving. As for the other party taking the initiative to ask her out for dinner, she had never even thought about it.

So much so that Xu Ming was somewhat suspicious whether there was something new going on on his side, such as a Xu Ling No. 2 following him around...

With such a lucky mentality, Xu Ming finally chose to keep the appointment - after all, at this time, it would always be good to have more clues about doors and keys.

Anyway, she is not afraid now. She has a warehouse light.

- However, it was not until they arrived at the agreed restaurant that Xu Ming had to admit that she was probably wrong.

The restaurant was brightly lit and full of a lively atmosphere. She saw her brother as soon as she entered the door. He was sitting by the window, and there was another strange girl sitting next to him. She

was dressed very fashionably, looked very beautiful, and was very close to her brother. She was wearing rings on her hands that were obviously a pair...

So that's it.

Xu Ming suddenly understood.

No wonder he came to her suddenly.

The child is older now, so he can pay for the wedding gift, right?

*

However, facts proved that Xu Ming seemed to have thought about something else again.

In the next half hour filled with awkward chat, her brother did mention that he was getting married, and asked Xu Ming for the address to send the invitations in the future. But as if afraid that she would misunderstand, he specifically mentioned that there was no need to prepare money for the wedding gift.

"It's good that you are willing to come." Brother Gu said, with a bitter smile on his face, and then he let out a breath softly, and held his fiancée's hand next to him tightly as if seeking encouragement.

"I... I have thought a lot in this year. In fact, I wanted to contact you before, but I never dared, I..."

Brother Gu said this and pursed his lips hard. His fiancée stood up at the right time, saying that she was going to the bathroom, and soon disappeared.

Almost at the moment when she walked away, Brother Gu let out a sigh of relief again.

"I'm sorry." Xu Ming heard him say.

"..." After cutting the lamb chops for a while, Xu Ming looked up in surprise, not quite believing his ears.

Her brother seemed to be relieved, his expression relaxed a lot, and his subsequent words became more fluent:

"I know that I am a bad person, both as a son and as a brother. Especially what happened after my parents' funeral... You, you see it better than me. Obviously, you were the most scared at that time, but I didn't do anything decent except making you more scared. It's been so long since the incident, and there's not even an explanation or comfort...

"Of course, I'm not saying that you have to forgive me if I apologize. I just feel that I have to give you an attitude. As a bad son, I no longer have the chance to change. At least as a brother, I want to...I want to try my best to be less of a bad brother..."

To be honest, he had been struggling with this matter for a long time. If he was still uneasy and didn't know how to bring it up, Xu Ming's previous greeting text message gave him hope of breaking the ice -

so not long after replying, he took the encouragement of his fiancée, mustered up the courage, and sent Xu Ming an invitation message.

He hoped that Xu Ming would be serious about attending the wedding. As he said, he still didn't know. Now that he has a chance to make up for his parents, the only thing he can do now is to try his best to make up for his only sister and repair his relationship with her...

After all, blood is thicker than water, and the two of them are each other's only remaining family.

Thinking of this, Gu Ge's heart was filled with emotions. Thinking of the past, he felt mixed emotions. Although he tried hard to remain calm, the eyes behind the glasses couldn't help but become wet.

Looking at Xu Ming again, he saw that the fork with the lamb chop on it was suspended in the air. He just widened his eyes slightly, and after a moment, he seemed to realize something and suddenly frowned.

"No, wait a minute. "She said, putting the lamb chops back on the plate, looking up at him seriously and confusedly, "What did you mean just now?"

... ?"

Brother Gu was stunned by her question, and felt that all his emotions were stuck in his chest. After a pause, he replied: "I mean, I hope we can keep in touch and get along well in the future..."

"No, no, no, I'm not talking about this... Of course I have no objection, I'm fine with anything." Xu Ming said quickly, leaning forward slightly, "I'm asking, what do you mean by 'you see it more clearly than me' just now? "

The incident after the funeral, Xu Ming could probably guess which one it was. After all, the only real conflict between her and her brother was the incident in which her brother drove her away. But why did she see it more clearly than him?

And why did she say that she should be most afraid at that time? Why should she be afraid?

"You... Oh, right, I didn't tell you that." Brother Gu said, and suddenly raised his eyes and looked around, and then whispered, "Actually, I can see a little bit."

"?" Xu Ming's eyes were even more surprised, "You mean, you can also see those..."

"Yeah. But just a little. I can't see clearly at ordinary times. I can only see more clearly when I'm in a bad mood." Brother Gu pursed his lips, "And unlike you, you can see since childhood, and it will go to strange places..."

Unlike Xu Ming, he could only see vaguely when he was in junior high school. Because he was afraid of being sent away by his parents like Xu Ming, he kept it to himself.

Fortunately, the problem was not big. At most, he was a little scared occasionally. Until a year ago, when his parents passed away in an accident, he could see very clearly because of emotional problems - it was also at that time that he saw it.

"...There's something on your back." Brother Gu said softly, and even though he tried to control himself, his tone still became a little unstable. "I was in the bedroom at the time and saw it clearly. On your back, there was a large black shadow, divided into two wings, moving constantly, like the wings of a beetle... I, I'm very afraid of death..."

And at that time, Xu Ming's own condition was not quite right. His face was pale and he looked listless, but his eyes were frighteningly bright. It was even more frightening to him.

"......???"

Xu Ming had no recollection of this, but after hearing this, he gradually understood, "So you were throwing salt at me at that time..."

"That was something I looked up on the Internet." Brother Gu showed a bit of illiterate shame on his face, "I had just come back from camping at that time, and there were seasonings and kites in my bag. In fact, it is said that beating the floor with a peach wood stick is the most effective, but I don't have one, so I had to use the kite's support bone..."

Xu Ming: "..."

So what you wanted to say at the time was not "get out of here", but "get out of here, monsters and demons", right?

"...Is that so." The truth came so suddenly that Xu Ming didn't know what to say for a while. Not to mention the black shadow that he had no impression of...

Is it related to his previous investigation? If so, the time does match.

Xu Ming had some guesses in his mind, and he was startled when he noticed the slightly worried look on Gu Ge's face. He paused for a few seconds before changing the subject stiffly: "So, can you still see 'those' now?"

"Not much." Gu Ge said immediately, "I can only see a little strange shadow occasionally..."

"That's good." Xu Ming nodded, "Anyway, don't sprinkle salt on me next time. Don't use a peach wood stick..."

Fake. All fake.

"Oh, oh..." Gu Ge nodded inexplicably, and opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but his fiancée came back at this time.

His fiancée's surname is Du, and her given name is Rong. Xu Ming heard Gu Ge always call her Rongrong. Du Rong sat back in her seat with a smile on her face. While cutting lamb chops, she naturally told the two about the interesting conversation she had just heard in the bathroom. After she finished speaking, she vaguely realized that the atmosphere was not right, and then she reacted and covered her mouth belatedly.

"Oh, did I come back too early?" She said a little embarrassedly, "Then how about you two continue, I'll go to the bathroom again..."

"No, no, no, no need!" Xu Ming quickly stopped them, "We have already talked about it, sister-in-law, don't bother."

The lamb chops were cold after another trip.

Hearing her say this, the other two were stunned. After a moment, they laughed at the same time. Rongrong stayed in her seat with peace of mind, and started a new topic very familiarly, while talking, she poured Xu Ming's drink.

Maybe it was because of the previous conversation, but the atmosphere at the table was not as stiff as before. Xu Ming also gradually relaxed and chatted about some trivial matters in life. Then she turned her eyes to Brother Gu who was sitting opposite.

"By the way, what about you?" She rarely showed interest in the other person's life. "What are you doing now? Are you still

working in the same company as before?" Her brother was not much older than her and had just entered the society a year ago. Xu Ming vaguely remembered that he seemed to be a programmer in a big factory.

Brother Gu shook his head.

"No, I quit." He said, "Now I set up a studio with my friends to make independent games."

...?

Xu Ming paused while taking the drink.

Going to make independent games these days... How can you not be afraid of death? Obviously very brave.

"We are making a horror game now." Her brother followed, "We will probably have a demo next year. You'll be invited to play it then."

"Oh... ok." Xu Ming nodded nonchalantly, silently giving her elder brother another thumbs up in her heart.

Making an independent horror game gives her more courage.

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but look at Rongrong who was sitting next to her brother. Xu Ming had noticed before that the girl's phone case was quite special, with a three-dimensional zombie pattern and a claw protruding outwards.

"Sister Rong is also from a studio?" she asked casually.

"No, no..." Rongrong waved her hands quickly, but Gu Ge laughed: "But we did know each other because of this project."

Xu Ming: "?"

"I'm the consultant they found." Rongrong saw that she was curious and took the initiative to explain, "Do you know 'Bai Candle Square'?"

"..." Xu Ming recalled carefully and shook his head lightly, confirming that he had never heard of this term. Seeing this, Rongrong took out her phone and showed it to her:

"This is a small forum about the supernatural, and I am one of the old users and moderators. Your brother and his friends went to this forum to collect materials and consulted me. After a while, we got to know each other."

Later, due to work needs, we added each other's contact information, and because we were in the same city, we made several dinner plans... and that's how we became a couple.

"Oh..." Xu Ming nodded in a confused manner and looked at Rongrong's phone again. The screen showed an old-fashioned forum interface, which was designed quite refreshingly, with the main color being a cool mint green. If Rongrong hadn't told her in advance, she really wouldn't have thought that this was a supernatural forum.

Because he often got involved in ghost stories when he was a child, Xu Ming was never very interested in forums that treat the supernatural as their meal, so he just glanced at it and looked away. Rongrong seemed to have thought of something, took back her phone, and quickly operated on the screen.

"By the way, there are psychics in our forum! He also shared a lot of tips on self-defense and self-rescue. If you have time, you can take a closer look, maybe it will come in handy!"

She said, and handed the phone over. Xu Ming looked over in the direction of her movements, but saw that the interface on the screen had changed, from the forum's homepage to a user's personal column.

The user's name is "Blood Water Tea", which should be the big guy Rongrong mentioned. Below the username were the posts that the other party had recently posted. Xu Ming took a quick look and saw posts like "Thirteen Ways to See Ghosts", "The Infallible Pen Summoning Technique", "Taboos and Introduction to Viewing the Underworld" and

so on.

I don't know if there are any tricks, but it's true that there are a lot of tricks.

Xu Ming fell silent for a moment, and his eyes continued to scan down. When he saw another explosive headline, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. Rongrong seemed to take her reaction as a surprise, and continued to introduce enthusiastically:

"How is it? Looks dazzling, right? Let me tell you, many of his posts have been verified by forum friends, it's amazing."

"Verified?" Xu Ming was amazed, "It seems that he... knows a lot, professional?"

"More than that." Rongrong nodded seriously, opened her mouth as if to say something, but suddenly held back, then looked around, and seeing that no one was paying attention to this place, she carefully lowered her voice, "You are Xiaojuan's sister, so I won't hide it from you. This big guy once revealed to one of our management that he not only specializes in this, but also has a background."

Xu Ming: "...What background?"

"Official." Rongrong blinked at her, "404 Unknown Mysterious Affairs Agency, have you heard of it?"

... Of course not. The only official one I know is Anxin Gardening.

But I have to say, this name sounds good, and it is indeed cooler than Anxin Gardening.

"It's normal that you haven't heard of it. This big guy said that their unit has a strong confidentiality attribute. It can't be found on the public network. In the early years, it mainly cooperated with the program team of Approaching Science, and now it is responsible for investigating some mysterious events..." Rongrong said seriously, and coughed lightly.

"Although it may not be good to say this, but I heard Xiaojuan mentioned that you and him... have similar troubles, right?

"If that's the case, then you have to take a closer look. The boss once revealed to us that in the next few months, the world will experience a great catastrophe, and the precursor to the catastrophe is the chaos of yin and yang. The first to be hit will probably be people like you who are in trouble... So I think it is important to prepare for a rainy day. "

Xu Ming: "..."

Xu Ming was silent for a moment. Between laughing it off and exposing the fake, she decisively chose to cooperate.

She nodded in cooperation while regretting in her heart - I have to say, this 404 mysterious agency is really more and more exciting the more you listen to it. Why didn't she think of it when she was working in the demolition office?

Du Rong was originally a passionate and outgoing person. Seeing that Xu Ming was willing to listen to her, she was even happier. She quickly and seriously recommended to Xu Ming several posts that she thought would be useful to Xu Ming. Of course, most of them were still from this bloody fried Mr. Tea.

Seeing that she was really kind-hearted, Xu Ming was helpless but he still saved them all. In return, she also enthusiastically recommended an APP to the other party, called the National Anti-Fraud Center.

And as the two girls were sharing with each other in a friendly manner, the meal finally came to an end.

Rongrong had something to do, so she left first. Only Xu Ming and her brother were left at the table again. Seeing this, Xu Ming quickly picked up his phone to send a text message to Shi Mian, intending to ask her about the "blood tea", but heard her brother speak again, with a little more hesitation in his tone:

"Well, I wanted to ask just now... Are you and your boyfriend okay?"

"......?"

? !

Xu Ming looked up from behind the phone, and the surprise in his eyes reached a new high: "What friend?? ”

“You, the one.” Her brother coughed to cover up, “The one who came home with you after the funeral and almost attacked me for you later…”

“So which one… wait a minute.” Xu Ming felt more and more that something was wrong, “Wasn’t it Qiu Yufei who was with me at that time?”

“???” This time it was her brother’s turn to be dumbfounded, “Who is Qiu Yufei?”

“My friend, who was with me at that time…” Xu Ming explained subconsciously, and noticed the other party’s blank look. She simply found a photo of her and Qiu Yufei and pointed it to the other party, “Her. Haven’t you seen her?”

In response, her brother shook his head decisively.

“No. This girl has never been to the house. Did you remember it wrongly? "Brother Gu said, then thought about it and added, "The one I'm talking about was a man. About this tall, carrying a big bag, with a puppy beside him, and his face was scary and gloomy... I'm sorry, I just realized that this is my problem."

He seriously reflected on the situation at that time. If it were anyone who was familiar with Xu Ming, it would be strange if their face was not gloomy after seeing his crazy and rude behavior.

...Xu Ming listened, but his eyes became more subtle.

"Do you remember the name of that person?" She tried to confirm with the other party, "Is his name...Landuo?"

"It seems to be pronounced this way." Brother Gu recalled carefully and nodded, "I heard you call him Landoduo, Landoduo all the time. "

Xu Ming: "..."

Maybe it was because she was too stimulated by "Yang Duoduo" recently, but when she heard the name "Lan Duoduo", she felt numb from the bottom of her heart.

...Of course, it is also possible that this name is simply too scary.

So why use the overlapping word? It sounds too... No, no, this is not the point.

Xu Ming closed her eyes tightly, trying to get rid of all the strange thoughts that were crazy flooding in her brain, trying to grasp the key to the problem -

"So why do you think he is my boyfriend?" She couldn't help asking.

"...Feeling?" Brother Gu asked uncertainly.

Xu Ming looked over even more puzzled, and Brother Gu pushed his glasses, not knowing how to explain to her:

"Just at that time, wasn't I in a bad mood? As a result, after just a few struggles, the man came up to stop me and let the dog bite me... Don’t mention it, the dog looked small, but for some reason, I felt it was particularly scary. I was afraid of death, so I hid back in the room..."

When I came out again, Xu Ming was gone.

"I went to the window to see the situation. I happened to see you two downstairs." Brother Gu concluded with his last scene, "It just, it looks a lot like, uh..."

"What do you mean a lot like?" Xu Ming raised his eyebrows, "Did you hug or kiss?"

Brother Gu: "..."

"And." He changed the subject decisively, "About a week after that incident, I actually tried to contact you. "

Although he was afraid, he was still a little worried about the dark shadow on Xu Ming's back. He didn't know why, but he couldn't get in touch with Xu Ming since he left home that time. He had already lost his parents, and he didn't want to lose his last sister as well, so he went to find Xu Ming by himself, but saw that man again around Xu Ming's school.

He was sitting on the curb outside the school, carrying a single-shoulder travel bag, with most of his face hidden under his hood. Although there were all laughing students nearby, he was as quiet and silent as a gloomy plant.

...For some reason, it makes people think of stray dogs.

Or the kind that were once raised by someone. So after being abandoned, the dog didn't even know to leave, and just waited there stupidly.

Of course, all this was thought of by Brother Gu afterwards. At the time, he was in a complex mood of anxiety and uneasiness. When he saw someone who knew his sister, he rushed over and anxiously inquired about Xu Ming's condition.

In response to him, the other person suddenly raised his eyes - as heavy as a pool of stagnant water.

"Don't worry." He said to Brother Gu, his voice was hoarse and unpleasant, "She will be fine."

"Nothing will happen to her in the future."