After the Reveler incident ended for the time being, the Amber City Investigation Bureau returned to its usual rhythm.
Yue Shi logged into the Supernatural Forum. His ID haunted countless posts where truth and falsehood were hard to distinguish, trying to catch any traces of the Su family, especially Su Yuanhe, the head of Lab 0.
However, this chaotic transcendent network platform was filled with a large amount of empty and useless false information. The ID Legal Vanguard, who had previously provided scattered clues, also remained silent with no new messages.
Several days passed peacefully like this.
One day, the front desk of the bureau received a reporter, a middle-aged woman surnamed Mrs. Li.
She looked about forty years old and was dressed decently, but her face was now haggard. The dark circles under her eyes were clearly visible, and her hands tightly gripped a handbag, her knuckles turning white from the force. Her eyes were fearful, like a startled bird, constantly scanning the reception hall, her body trembling slightly.
The receptionist saw her unease and immediately guided her to sit down, handing her a cup of warm water. "Ma'am, please don't be nervous. Is there something wrong?"
"I... I want to report a case..." Her voice was dry and trembling. She took the water cup, her hands shaking so much the water almost spilled.
"Ma'am, don't worry, take your time. What happened?" The receptionist tried to keep their voice gentle.
Mrs. Li took several deep breaths, struggling to calm down before starting her story intermittently:
"It's my daughter, Xiao Ya. She's eight years old. She used to be extremely mischievous, the kind of brat who'd tear the roof off. I worried about her quite a bit. But, about... about a month ago, she suddenly changed."
"At first, I was very happy. Xiao Ya became well-behaved and sensible. She would get up and make her bed on her own, stopped being a picky eater, did her homework proactively, and spoke politely. Sometimes she even helped me with housework... The neighbors all praised her for growing up and becoming sensible."
"But... but slowly, I started to feel that something wasn't quite right." Mrs. Li's pupils dilated slightly, as if recalling something terrifying.
"She's too quiet when she plays by herself—quiet in a way a child shouldn't be. Sometimes I catch a glimpse of the way she looks at me... it's very strange. It lacks the clarity children usually have. I even feel like she's sizing up a piece of meat."
"Maybe it's a mother's intuition. Even though Xiao Ya's tone and wording are the same as before—she'll still call me 'Mommy' sweetly and act spoiled—I just feel it's wrong! Everything is wrong!" Her voice took on a sobbing tone, her fingers unconsciously picking at the cup.
"When I hug her, my body instinctively tenses up, my skin crawls, and I subconsciously want to push her away... But I'm her mother! How could I want to push away my own child?! But I just can't control it. Whenever I get close to her, I... I'm just instinctively afraid..."
Speaking to this point, Mrs. Li suddenly grabbed the receptionist's hand. Her icy fingers made the receptionist shudder.
"Officer, believe me, she's definitely not my daughter! Although she looks exactly like Xiao Ya and sounds the same, the 'thing' inside is different. I can feel it. Xiao Ya must have been replaced! She's getting more and more impatient with me now, sometimes she doesn't even bother to pretend. Please, go see her, save my daughter!"
She had no substantive evidence, only a mother's near-breakdown intuition and fear.
However, the Investigation Bureau did not ignore the matter. The Special Operations Section took the case.
"Yue Shi, you handle it," Ling Xun assigned the task directly.
Yue Shi frowned slightly. "Why me?"
Ling Xun rolled his eyes at him. "Because you're the most idle. Don't think I don't know what you're 'busy' with in the office every day." He was referring to Yue Shi's behavior of appearing busy while actually slacking off, spending all day on the Supernatural Forum acting like an internet troll.
"Fine." Yue Shi didn't argue further and nodded.
He called over an assistant investigator responsible for technical and logistical support, who carried a silver-white suitcase. The two of them followed the uneasy Mrs. Li into the bureau's official car and drove toward her home.
Half an hour later, the car stopped at the entrance of Wutong District.
The location was good, with plenty of greenery and sophisticated building exteriors. People living here were generally well-off.
Mrs. Li opened the door with a slightly trembling hand and invited Yue Shi and the young assistant investigator inside.
The interior decoration was warm and elegant, but it was currently permeated with an unsettling silence. Mrs. Li didn't even invite them to sit; she impatiently led them through the living room to a tightly closed bedroom door.
"Before I went to report the case, I coaxed Xiao Ya to stay in her room and play." Mrs. Li lowered her voice, her face filled with undisguisable worry and lingering fear.
"In the past, if I left Xiao Ya alone at home for this long, she would have torn the house apart. But now, listen, there's no sound at all. She's just been staying in there quietly..."
Mrs. Li grew more frightened as she spoke, her voice sobbing. "Officers, do you think... do you think Xiao Ya has been haunted by some dirty thing?"
The young assistant investigator hurriedly offered comfort. "Ma'am, don't scare yourself. What if the child really just suddenly grew up and became sensible?"
Mrs. Li slowly turned her head and looked at him with a gaze that was almost resentful, her voice ethereal. "You haven't interacted with that child. You can't feel that indescribable awkwardness and dissonance. You can't empathize with me, so of course you'd think that."
The assistant investigator gave a sheepish smile. Yue Shi remained silent on the side. The abnormalities Mrs. Li described about Xiao Ya made his imagination run wild. With a bit of dark humor, he thought: Xiao Ya... could she have been possessed by a transmigrator?
He motioned to Mrs. Li.
Mrs. Li closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and turned the bedroom doorknob.
The door opened silently inward.
The bedroom was very dim. The thick curtains were drawn tight without a single gap, and the lights weren't on. Only the light from the living room filtering through the doorway barely outlined the room's layout.
In the middle of the small bed covered with pink sheets, a tiny figure was curled up.
It was an extremely exquisite-looking little girl with fair skin and long eyelashes, looking like a meticulously crafted doll. In the dim light, she was motionless, her face devoid of any expression, staring blankly at the wall ahead. She was indeed far too quiet, lacking the exuberant vitality a child should have.
However, the moment the door was fully opened and the figures of Yue Shi and the assistant investigator appeared at the doorway, the little girl's head snapped around, her eyes suddenly lighting up!
Those large eyes, which were originally hollow, instantly burst with a surge of fanaticism. Her gaze was like a searchlight, quickly scanning the two strangers at the door.
Then, without any hesitation, the little girl's gaze locked firmly onto Yue Shi's face.
Rate on N.U.
