Under the night sky, a familiar cell phone ringtone sounded.
"Deputy."
"Seven Nights, we've found the car." Wu Xiangnan's voice came from the other end of the phone. "Five minutes ago, it drove out of the intersection of Huashan Road, crossed Zhufang Road, and the last surveillance camera captured it at the entrance of Erdao Lane."
"Second Alley?" Lin Qiye frowned deeply.
The roads there are so narrow, can a minivan even drive through?
Perhaps, but what would he do there? There's nothing there except for old, abandoned buildings.
"Also, I checked the owner information for that car and found that the owner isn't a local from Cangnan, and the car should have been a red Toyota; it's probably using a fake license plate."
"I see."
Lin Qiye hung up the phone and, without the slightest hesitation, sped off towards Erdao Lane.
Fortunately, he was a native of Cangnan, otherwise he might not even know where Erdao Lane was. As an old alley that had been unknown for decades, it could be said that it had completely faded from everyone's sight. According to most locals in Cangnan, there was no such old alley in this modern city.
In other words... the person who stole the corpse was also a local from Cangnan?
But why did he steal those three corpses?
Wasn't he only stealing the "mysterious" corpse? But those three were just ordinary people... Could it be that he wanted to investigate the "mysterious" creature and find its location before the Night Watch?
Given the current situation, this seems to be the most reasonable explanation.
After finding out his destination, Lin Qiye hopped around the city. He went straight to the outskirts of the old city and, relying on the route he remembered, quickly ran towards Erdao Alley.
Soon, he arrived at the entrance of Erdao Lane.
On a remote suburban road, a dilapidated alleyway is dark and gloomy, with old factory buildings standing on both sides that have been abandoned for more than a decade. This place is completely devoid of any human presence.
Lin Qiye narrowed his eyes slightly and strode into the dark alley.
His mental perception had long since covered the maximum range, constantly monitoring every rustle and movement around him. Within a radius of a hundred meters, no detail could escape his perception.
After walking along the alley for about ten minutes, Lin Qiye stopped and his expression changed slightly.
In the old factory building to his right, there was a familiar black van. The license plate had been removed, but Lin Qiye had no doubt that this was the van he had just seen.
Because there were traces of the sealed bag containing the body in its trunk.
Lin Qiye squatted down, gently rubbing the muddy ground beneath his feet with his fingers, a hint of doubt appearing in his eyes.
The old factory buildings here don't use cement floors; instead, they're just ordinary ground, like the old earthen workshops. Dragging a sealed bag containing a corpse across such a surface would inevitably leave marks.
If a cart or other tools were used, wheel tracks should be left. Furthermore, if the person carried the body themselves, deep footprints should be left behind.
But now, the ground is completely bare, without even a trace of footprints or pressure marks.
Could it be that the other party also possesses a forbidden artifact that can enhance agility, just like me?
Next, Lin Qiye searched the nearby old factory buildings, but there were no traces of human life at all. The van's sudden appearance here was simply illogical.
Both the caregiver and the sealed bag containing the body seemed to have vanished into thin air.
At this moment, Lin Qiye recalled Hongying's assessment of the "Secret Thief": "He's like a ghost in this city; we can sense his presence, but we can never get close.
"Ghost..."
Lin Qiye narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked up at the moonlight in the sky. In the distance, several bats were rapidly approaching, and various insects emerged from the soil, swirling around Lin Qiye.
More and more nocturnal creatures surrounded Lin Qiye, and then, as if they had received some kind of command, they scattered in all directions in unison.
"Even if you're a ghost, as long as you're in Cangnan City, I can still find you," Lin Qiye said calmly.
...
Cangnan City.
Underground.
A surging swarm of rats swept through the sewers, moving methodically between the passages and meticulously searching every corner.
In one of the underground caverns, four glass jars filled with formalin contained the bizarre remains of monsters: a grotesque snake head, half a lizard, a black finger, and a tangled mess of vines...
Behind these specimens are several neat operating tables. Although they look a bit old, they are fully functional in all aspects. Surgical instruments are neatly arranged in a stainless steel tray next to them, spotless.
At this moment, three pale corpses lie on the three operating tables.
A young man dressed in white, wearing black-rimmed glasses, stood in front of the three corpses, holding a scalpel, deep in thought, his brows furrowed with confusion.
"No...this is different..."
Just as he was deep in thought, an earthworm landed at his feet. He glanced at it indifferently, then stomped on it and killed it.
The next moment, a millipede fell to the other side of the hole, wandered around aimlessly for a while, and was then torn to pieces by the surging swarm of rats.
He glanced ahead again, his brow furrowing slightly. "There are way too many bugs today..."
At this moment, scenes like this were happening throughout the entire sewer system.
...
In the darkness, Lin Qiye suddenly opened his eyes and looked down at his feet.
"In the sewers?" His eyebrows rose slightly.
He couldn't share vision with the nocturnal creatures in real time, but that didn't mean he couldn't know what was happening underground. Of all the nocturnal creatures he released, only the group that entered the sewers died the fastest, which in itself speaks volumes.
The next moment, a bat flew up from the nearby sewer and circled around Lin Qiye for a while.
"A rat swarm?" Lin Qiye was taken aback, but quickly thought of the rat he had seen in the tavern earlier that day, and his eyes narrowed slightly.
It seems we've finally found the right place.
He walked to a manhole cover, hesitated for a moment, then reached out and pressed his hand in the air, and a dazzling magic circle unfolded in his palm.
As the light faded, a small white mummy quickly ran to Lin Qiye, excitedly looking around...
Then he shrugged regretfully.
"Mumu, there's still no food this time." Lin Qiye patted its head a little embarrassedly.
Although he knew he couldn't provide Mumu with weapons anytime soon, Lin Qiye always felt a little guilty whenever he saw the disappointed look on Mumu's face.
"Then I'll trouble you to come with me underground for a while."