Yuanxin Matchmaking Agency (17)

Before this, Bai Ci had always thought this place was similar to a normal world.

After all, whether it was the news or online posts, they were barely any different from her previous world.

Under a normal worldview, if someone reported a curse on their family to the police or officials, they would most likely be treated as mentally unstable and brushed off.

But in a worldview with an organization like the Bureau of Investigation that specifically handled anomalous incidents, bizarre things like curses would actually be treated as serious business.

Thinking of this, Bai Ci couldn't help but feel she had made a major miscalculation.

If she had known earlier that this world shared the same worldview as her second instance, she would have sought help long ago instead of wasting so much time going on blind dates over and over again.

Still, thanks to the blind dates, she had gotten rid of quite a few scumbags, so it was still pretty worthwhile.

“It's all in the past,” Bai Ci said, putting a mental period on her reminiscence with a generic phrase. “Mom, let's clean up quickly, or the cabinet will get ruined by the water.”

Mother Bai nodded and busied herself again.

Bai Ci thought to herself that she should deal with the scumbags first. Once today's blind date was over, she would go to the Bureau of Investigation for help.

Even if they couldn't solve the curse directly, she could at least get some clues about anomalies from the Bureau of Investigation, which was better than investigating blindly on her own.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Investigation building was a scene of bustling activity.

A team of investigators from the Regular Investigation Unit had just finished their field duty. Looking somewhat exhausted, they walked while discussing last night's case.

The Regular Investigation Unit was just like that—they handled ordinary cases, which were safe and mostly didn't involve confidential information, allowing them to gossip with neighboring units at any time.

Aside from the lower pay, there were no other downsides.

Besides, it was precisely because of the safety that their salary was lower than the Special Investigation Unit's. No matter what, it was still a stable, government-funded job.

One middle-aged investigator, looking somewhat relieved, said to his colleague beside him, “It's a good thing that heavy rain fell just in time last night, or we would have been in big trouble.”

“Exactly,” the investigator next to him agreed. “That household had a gas leak, and the smell of gas was already wafting out.”

“Fortunately, it rained heavily and blew hard, which helped disperse some of the gas. Otherwise, if a fire had started... those houses in the old residential area are all ancient with mostly wooden structures. They would have burned too fast. The entire neighborhood might have been wiped out.”

Another investigator sighed. “It's a blessing in disguise that there was only one fatality in this accidental incident.”

Just then, An Shu dragged her exhausted body through the adjacent corridor.

She had pulled another all-nighter. Her eyes were bloodshot, her face pale, and the dark circles under her eyes prominent. Clutching a stack of documents, her steps felt a bit floaty.

After sorting through things for an entire day, she had already found some patterns among the recent homicides.

But that wasn't enough.

If she wanted to pursue this further, she had to find a more direct connection between these victims.

And to do that, she needed the captain to help apply for field and investigation authorization from higher-ups, and then recruit a few teammates to go out into the field with her to dig deeper into the clues.

Just as she was hurrying toward the Unit One office, the conversation of the Regular Investigation Unit members drifted into her ears.

The words “accidental incident” in particular made her freeze instantly.

An Shu whipped around, quickly strode over to the regular investigators, grabbed one of them by the arm, and asked urgently, “Wait a minute, what was the name of the deceased in the case you just mentioned?”

“Did he die in an accident? Had he ever been to the Yuanxin Matchmaking Agency? Also, was there something wrong with him to begin with? Like, had he done bad things?”

The investigator was startled by An Shu's sudden movement and froze for a moment before recovering.

Looking at An Shu's bloodshot eyes and anxious expression, he said, somewhat bewildered, “It... it was an accident. Poisoning caused by a gas leak. There were no unusual traces at the scene.”

“As for some Yuanxin Matchmaking Agency, we didn't check. We don't know if he'd been there.”

He paused, recalled carefully, and added, “If you're talking about problems, he did have some. I overheard a bit of gossip from the neighbors.”

“He seemed to have gotten into gambling, lost a lot of money, and was up to his neck in debt. People often came to his door to collect debts, so he had a pretty bad reputation.”

“Gambling, debts...” An Shu's face lit up with excitement, and she clapped her hands hard. “That's it! That's it! He must have been to the Yuanxin Matchmaking Agency!”

With that thought, An Shu didn't bother to say any more to the Regular Investigation Unit investigator. Releasing his arm, she spun around and sprinted toward the Special Investigation Unit's Unit One office, her steps frantic.

The investigator who had been grabbed and then released stood dazed in place again, staring blankly at An Shu's departing back.

He scratched his head and asked in confusion, “What's up with her? Why so excited?”

The middle-aged investigator next to him patted his shoulder and said with a smile, “Oh, what's so strange about that?”

“Investigators in the Special Investigation Unit, especially those who deal with written files and specialize in hunting for clues, are the most prone to this. What was that technical term again...”

“Oh, right, Inspiration. Their Inspiration values are generally higher than ours, making it easier for them to perceive information that ordinary people overlook. But by the same token, their mental state is also easily affected by this information.”

The investigator nodded in realization and stopped dwelling on it, following his colleagues toward the Regular Investigation Unit's office.

On the other side, An Shu sprinted all the way into the Unit One office.

At this moment, the captain was sitting at his desk, sorting through the follow-up files on Wa Yeyao's cult case, with the glasses-wearing investigator helping beside him.

The young investigator was learning how to organize scene investigation records from his mentor investigator.

“Captain!” An Shu shouted the moment she walked in, her voice brimming with excitement. “I've got it! I've found the common thread among all the deceased!”

The people in the office were startled by her sudden voice, and they all raised their heads to look at her.

But the captain was indeed the captain; he was completely unfazed, his tone calm. “Speak slowly. What clues did you find?”

An Shu raised her hand and gestured a three.

“First, all of them died in accidents. Although every single accident was incredibly bizarre, the verification department verified them multiple times, and they were indeed accidents.”

“Second, none of these people were good to begin with. Although that guy named Jie Zhuoshi didn't have any murder cases on him, I spent quite some effort investigating him and found out his family was planning a marriage fraud.”

“If it had actually succeeded, that girl would have been miserable, which counts as harming someone.”

She paused, took a deep breath, and stated the most critical point: “Third, all of these people have an overlapping point of contact—the Yuanxin Matchmaking Agency.”