What It's Like Being a Vampire

Chapter 577: Chapter 577: Extremely Dangerous=

After opening the bedroom door, for almost ten seconds, nobody made a sound, and nobody stepped further into the room. Everyone crowded at the entrance, their gaze fixed unblinkingly on the eight-armed, eight-eyed wood carving in the glass case.

They were all trying to grasp the fear that the people in their previous investigation, who saw the “eight-armed, eight-eyed monster” illusion, had experienced.

Without thinking, Mijoe and Ye Chong and the others recalled their conversation that afternoon with Old Man Du about his sighting. They also remembered how the illusion of the eight-armed, eight-eyed giant seen by Zhao Feng and Wang De’an in Myitkyina had affected various people differently.

People like Fang Pingfang, Li Shibao, and Zhou Rui remembered their mission in the Qinling uninhabited area. Influenced by the rabbit woodcarving, they experienced strange dreams involving rabbit meat. Fang Pingfang in particular, on her return from the Qinling uninhabited area, saw illusions of rabbit meat even in her waking hours. She also experienced various strange effects in the underground lab at Divine Technology’s secret research center in An Tie Town. She was filled with dread and a tiny bit of “anticipation” concerning the eight-armed, eight-eyed wood carvings that seemed to belong to the same category as the rabbit woodcarvings.

Xiao Liu initially dismissed it, but after opening the door and preparing to move towards the glass cabinet, he noticed the tense atmosphere in the room magnified by the reactions of Fang Pingfang, Zhou Rui, Zhao Feng, and the others. Instinctively, he too froze in place, not daring to make a sound.

Gazing at the wood carving in the glass cabinet, he recalled the news about the effects caused by the illusion of the eight-armed, eight-eyed giant in Myitkyina.

If at this moment, an illusion of the “eight-armed, eight-eyed monster” truly appeared, the voices in their minds exclaiming “I knew it!”, “I need to experience this!”, “Wow, that’s awesome!” would have probably outnumbered those filled with shock and fear.

But unfortunately, they stood by the door for nearly a minute, and nothing happened.

The most normal situation ended up making them feel somewhat “disappointed”.

Xiao Liu finally took the initiative and walked over to the glass case, placing his hand on it. He said to Fang Pingfang, “Before my cousin uncle went in, I only saw this wood carving four times. The first three times were before we moved to Tongshi Town. The fourth time was when we moved; I knew it then when I saw it in the bedroom. My cousin uncle really treasures this wood carving.”

“So, you brought us in here to see it, won’t your cousin uncle be angry if he finds out?” As Fang Pingfang was speaking, she gave Ye Chong a look, who immediately started to take pictures from his bag.

Although it’s a bedroom, it’s nearly forty square meters, bigger than most people’s living rooms, and there aren’t many pieces of furniture. So when the nine of them entered, it didn’t feel crowded at all. It was roomy.

Xiao Liu made a gesture with his hand and said: “No problem, I’ve been taking care of this house after my cousin uncle went in; I can call the shots. My foster father also said to treat you all well and cooperate with you. My cousin uncle certainly won’t object. Honestly, I’m also quite interested in your investigation about the Myitkyina giant illusion. If this wood carving can help you uncover related clues, that would be great. I only have one request, if you find out anything, I hope you can also tell me. I’m very curious.”

“No problem.” As Fang Pingfang responded, she asked: “Can we open the glass case and check out the wood carving?”

Xiao Liu hesitated for two seconds, and finally nodded: “Sure.” He then helped to open the glass, letting Fang Pingfang take out the woodcarving.

The woodcarving was over a foot tall and carved from solid wood. It felt very heavy in the hands, an indication that the maker’s skill was quite good. Compared to it, the rabbit woodcarving from the Qinling uninhabited area was mere child’s scribbling.

But apart from its good workmanship, there was nothing particularly special about this wood carving. At least, Fang Pingfang thought that if we were only judging by how strange it was, then even without its hallucination inducing ability and the ability to influence dreams, the rabbit wood carving, judged purely on its shape, was far more eerie.

“Can we take this woodcarving back for some testing? Don’t worry, we promise to return it before Mr. Qi comes out. It won’t take long.” Zhou Rui asked.

Xiao Liu quickly waved his hand: “That’s definitely not possible. There’s no issue with you checking it out here, but it’s absolutely not okay to take it out of this room.”

Zhou Rui didn’t say much more. He had mainly made the request because he saw that Xiao Liu was cooperative, but being rejected wasn’t a big deal.

Of course, if need be, they would find other ways to “borrow” this woodcarving.

However, that wasn’t their task. They were only responsible for the lab research and the front-line investigation.

Fang Pingfang and the others stayed in the bedroom a little longer, took some more photos, and then left the villa with Xiao Liu.

After sending the eight of them to the hotel and having the other driver, who had come to assist him, leave, Xiao Liu drove back to his place in a business vehicle.

Finally alone in the car, Xiao Liu dropped his warm and sincere smile. His brows furrowed slightly, lost in thought.

He had received three phone calls today. The first call was from Old Man Du, who had a nurse assist him. The request was simple – cooperate with the interview and be as candid as possible. The second call was from a media platform inviting them for an interview and shooting. They had even faxed a formal cooperation document which turned out to be genuine. Not long after the second call, he received a third call from a lawyer representing his cousin uncle, Qi Haoguo. The lawyer only said ten words: “Try to cooperate, no need to hide anything, follow your intuition.”

The instruction wasn’t specific as to whom he was supposed to cooperate with or what he was not supposed to hide. Neither was there any clue about what he was supposed to do by “following his intuition”. If it was a few months ago, when Xiao Liu was freshly released from prison and hadn’t yet started working with Qi Haoguo, he would definitely be confused by this conversation. He would have to further question the lawyer for details and might even suspect the lawyer of some trickery to defraud him.

But now, Xiao Liu understood immediately – an understanding that was unsaid but perceived.

Considering the two previous calls, he didn’t need to confirm anything further to roughly understand Old Man Du and Qi Haoguo’s intentions. So even though he still doesn’t know what specifically to do or how to do it, he “understands” in his heart.

After picking up Fang Pingfang and the others, he followed the instructions of Old Man Du and Qi Haoguo, giving his full cooperation. He was accommodating and responsive.

It didn’t take long for him to understand the real purpose of Fang Pingfang and the others’ visit. It was certainly related to Qi Haoguo’s eight-armed, eight-eyed woodcarving, and Old Man Du’s depictions of the eight-armed, eight-eyed monster.

Additionally, judging from the question Zhao Feng asked, he realized that they were also keeping an eye on Xiang Kun.

Had it not been for the advance phone calls by Old Man Du and Qi Haoguo, Xiao Liu would certainly not have divulged a shred of information. Even now, he wasn’t entirely truthful. While cooperating, he still retained some details – this was his intuition. At the same time, he was observing Fang Pingfang and the others in order to gather some information from their responses and conversation.

When he told Fang Pingfang that “I’m also very curious,” he was absolutely sincere. He had a burning curiosity about the investigation of the eight-armed, eight-eyed woodcarving and the eight-armed, eight-eyed monster.

Ever since the first time he accompanied his cousin uncle to visit Old Man Du, his curiosity had been piqued.

Initially, many of Mr. Qi’s actions were completely incomprehensible to Xiao Liu. He could not imagine himself abandoning a thriving business in the provincial capital to invest heavily in seemingly unprofitable projects in an obscure place like Tongshi Town.

However, as he spent more and more time in Tongshi Town and around Mr. Qi, his perspective started to change, and he found himself developing an indescribable attachment to this small mountain town.

Especially when Mr. Qi was being extorted and coerced by “Duck Feet,” and he calmly turned himself into the police – his attitude at that time gave Xiao Liu a feeling of suddenly seeing a bigger and brighter world; as if he had broken through the gloom with his uncle and bathed in sunlight.

He had a faint feeling that his uncle had seen something extraordinary, and might even have gained some unique abilities – much like Old Man Du.

They appeared to possess a kind of enviable “certainty.”

Moreover, from his observations, people like Chu Xiuwen, Liu Feibao, Liu Caifu, all seemed to act as if they “knew something”.

When the incident at Myitkyina suddenly occurred, causing a stir online, Xiao Liu began to speculate that the eight-armed, eight-eyed monster that his uncle and old man Du were concerned about, might be the origin of the Myitkyina incident. After all, he had seen Old Man Du sketching the eight-armed, eight-eyed monster and speaking of concepts like the “Eight-Armed Yama Suppression Evil,” “death is not the end,” and “fear reveals the true self,” long before the incident at Myitkyina.

However, he understood his uncle’s character well, and knew that if his uncle did not disclose these things to him, it was because his uncle did not intend for him to know. Asking would not help, and prying into the matter privately was downright suicidal.

Now, with the arrival of Fang Pingfang and others, Xiao Liu was even more certain that the mass hallucination at Myitkyina, the majestic eight-armed, eight-eyed giant reconstructed by the media, was the same entity that Old Man Du and his uncle were pursuing.

He felt a bit excited because he knew he might be about to get involved in those matters.

…

In a hotel room, Zhao Feng and Fang Pingfang were looking at their newly taken photos of the “eight-armed, eight-eyed wood carving” at Mr. Qi’s villa through a computer screen, while Ye Chong, Zhou Rui and others were discussing their next action plan. They had already reported their findings to Mr. Liang, and they believed that a clearer mission objective would be released soon.

“How about I sleep in the villa tonight while you guys watch over me? Let’s see if I can dream about that eight-armed, eight-eyed monster,” Zhou Rui suggested, his voice a mixture of excitement and fear.

“Let’s wait for Mr. Liang’s subsequent tasks. He might send someone to retrieve the wood carving, replace it with a fake one, and then let us take the real one back to the lab for research,” Mijoe speculated.

“But won’t that annoy the…the power behind all this?” Zhou Rui asked worriedly.

“Well, possibly not. If it is displeased, it will probably give us a ‘warning’,” Mijoe said, glancing at Fang Pingfang. She remembered that Fang Pingfang had seen the rabbit meat illusion in the underground lab of the An Tie Town research center, a discovery Mijoe had only learned of recently.

While they were chatting, Ye Chong suddenly said, “The information collection department has found the creator of Mr. Qi’s wood carving.”

Upon hearing this, the other seven people in the hotel room all stood up and looked at him expectantly. To them, the creator of the eight-armed, eight-eyed wood carving was likely involved in the creation of the various illusions, if not the perpetrator themselves.

Without beating around the bush, Ye Chong shared the information he had on the Master Woodcarver. But before anyone could discuss the Master Woodcarver, Ye Chong continued, “The wood carving that Feng Xiuye took to Mr. Du for ‘spell casting’ has also been found. There are photos of it. Mr. Du’s so-called ‘consulting firm’ was very ‘professional’, with all items ‘spell casted’ being photographed from multiple angles, and even videotaped…”

Saying this, Ye Chong held up the tablet in his hand to show everyone, “This is Feng Xiuye’s wood carving.”

Upon seeing the photo of the wood carving on the tablet, everyone except Ye Chong was stunned. Even the normally calm Fang Pingfang couldn’t help but lean forward, unconsciously stretching her neck, frowning, squinting, and carefully examining the photo.

“Is…is this a mistake?” Zhou Rui asked with a tight frown. “If this is the…the wood carving that Feng Xiuye showed to Old Man Du, then is the one in Mr. Qi’s room…a fake?”

Ye Chong replied, “According to the information we found, Mr. Qi commissioned this carving after his return from Tongshi Town to the provincial capital. In terms of the timeline, it was several months after Feng Xiuye took his wood carving to Mr. Du, so the carving Mr. Du described is definitely not the same one.”

“If that one is a fake…then this…” Mijoe also seemed to have trouble accepting it.

What was hard to accept wasn’t the fact that the carving in Mr. Qi’s room was a fake, but rather the eight-armed, eight-eyed wood carving shown in Ye Chong’s photo. It seemed so different from what they had imagined.

The carving in Mr. Qi’s bedroom, although it did not evoke any feelings of fear or monster hallucinations, did look quite similar to a real one in terms of detail and overall presence. There was a sense of antiquity, weight, and mystery to it, that made it feel very religious or mystical.

However, the eight-armed, eight-eyed wood carving in Ye Chong’s photo seemed way too cartoonish. Despite also being a wood carving, it had a very strong “figurine-like” feel to it, it was even a bit cute?!

They simply could not accept that this thing could be the source of the eight-armed, eight-eyed monster or eight-armed, eight-eyed giant that frightened so many people into losing their senses, reflecting on themselves, awakening, and gaining enlightenment.

“Don’t judge a book by its cover, and don’t judge a wood carving by its appearance,” Fang Pingfang shook her head, and laughed, “But looking at it, the craftsmanship is not bad. Do we know who made this wood carving, where they are now, and whether they have had any direct contact with Mr. Xiang and Miss Tang?”

“It originally belonged to Feng Xiuye’s father, but we are still investigating the specific circumstances. We should have results soon,” Ye Chong said.

However, as soon as he finished speaking, Fang Pingfang’s communicator rang. Everyone looked over, because they all knew that anyone who would contact Fang Pingfang directly through the communicator at this point, was likely to be Mr. Liang.

After answering the call, as expected, Fang Pingfang heard Mr. Liang’s characteristic, raspy, metallic voice, “Disengage from all current investigative subjects, suspend all tasks, return to the previous villa and await orders. You are not to leave without notification.”

After giving his instructions, Mr. Liang did not offer further explanation and ended the call.

Fang Pingfang put down her communicator, took a deep breath to calm her suddenly racing heart, and then relayed Mr. Liang’s orders to the other seven people.

With the exception of Zhao Feng and Wang De’an, who had just joined the secret department of Divine Technology and rarely communicated directly with Mr. Liang, everyone else had conducted several field missions. Especially Li Shibao and Gao Shu, the security officers, they all immediately realized the current situation.

Similar situations in the past implied one thing – the target they were currently in contact with, or potentially going to be in contact with, posed an extreme danger, and they were not equipped to handle it.