The “officer” claimed he had urgent business, but his pace was unhurried as he left through the complex’s east gate.

  Meanwhile, Chang'an came out through the south gate—the same one we’d entered through—and met up with me.

  The moment he saw me, he told me everything that had passed between him and the “officer” without holding anything back. Then, clearly worried, he said, “I might be in real danger now. Probably shouldn’t go to school for a while. You’d better stay away from me too—don’t get dragged into this.”

  While keeping tabs on the “officer’s” movements, I replied, “Got it.”

  “But why did he send you away earlier?” Chang'an asked, puzzled.

  “Probably to keep case details from leaking. You’re half-involved, so it doesn’t matter, but I’m basically an outsider.” I gave the simplest explanation I could manage as a layperson. “This incident involves victims who were almost all local elites. It’s likely not just about a few deaths. Until the truth comes out, nobody wants rumors spreading everywhere and turning into a city-wide panic.”

  Chang'an nodded in realization. Then he checked the time on his phone and said, “I’ve got somewhere to be this afternoon, so let’s say goodbye here.”

  “Don’t you have class this afternoon?” I asked, confused. “You’re not skipping again to go to some club, are you? I mean, with everything going on right now…”

  One of the main reasons Chang'an had such a bad reputation at university was the persistent rumor that he frequented shady entertainment venues.

  Worse still—it wasn’t just a rumor. It was true.

  With his looks and money, getting female company was effortless for him. Even with his current notoriety, plenty of women threw themselves at him. So I never understood why he felt the need to pay for it.

  “No, no—it’s not that. I’m going to the hospital to visit my mom!” he hurried to explain. “As for class, I already requested leave. I’ll be at the hospital at least until tonight. It’s a military hospital with tight security—perfect place to lay low for a bit. My sister will probably come by in the evening too. She keeps nagging me about not visiting Mom enough…”

  “That’s good then. But you really should stop going to those places. Zhu Shi’s always criticizing you for not keeping yourself clean, right?”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know, I know… Sigh. I don’t even know how to talk to her anymore. She probably already thinks I’m crazy.” He grumbled.

  “Just act like nothing happened. Zhu Shi won’t bring up the ‘you’re insane’ thing on her own.”

  “I’m not insane!”

  He protested loudly, muttered a few more complaints, then said goodbye and left.

  I secretly attached another “firefly” to his back—just in case. There was still no concrete evidence he’d be targeted by the serial killer, but his family background matched the previous victims’ profiles, and he was now tied to the case. A little precaution was necessary.

  Once that was done, I found a fried chicken shop on the street, sat down, and quietly monitored the “officer’s” movements.

  —

  Not long after Chang'an and I parted ways, the “officer” stopped by the roadside, took out his phone, and dialed a number.

  The “firefly’s” perception was omnidirectional—no blind spots—so I could clearly make out every digit he pressed. On my end, I silently pulled out my own phone and noted the number while continuing to watch.

  The call connected quickly.

  “I did what you asked. There really are unusual traces at Zhu Chang'an’s residence,” the “officer” spoke first. “I didn’t see the ‘hole’ he mentioned when he called the police, but the ‘magic circle’ is definitely there—and it’s almost a complete ritual array.”

  “Thank you, Agent Kong,” came a young woman’s voice from the other end—crisp, meticulous, all business.

  Agent Kong?

  So the “officer” was surnamed Kong—but why “Agent”?

  In my understanding, police officers in our country didn’t usually get called “agents.” I’d only been mildly suspicious before, but now it was clear: this man wasn’t actually police.

  The young woman on the phone continued.

  “You said the ritual array is ‘almost complete.’ What do you mean?”

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  “I mean it shouldn’t be functional,” Agent Kong explained patiently. “I’m no hunter myself, but I did train in ritual theory at Luoshan for a while. From what I can tell, the array is over ninety percent complete. Its purpose is to open an overlapping異空間—an alternate space layered over real spacetime—but it’s missing one or two final spell symbols, so it can’t precisely locate and connect to the target異空間.

  “To put it simply, the array is like a line of dominoes missing the first few pieces. No matter how perfect the rest is, without the critical trigger, it won’t start.”

  The woman understood immediately. “I see… But there really was an anomalous phenomenon there, right?”

  Agent Kong shook his head. “That I don’t know. I believe Zhu Chang'an isn’t lying, but I can’t explain why the array suddenly activated.”

  Wait—what were they suddenly talking about?

  Ritual array? Alternate space?

  Hunter? Luoshan?

  Did he mean hunter as in “demon hunter”—someone who hunts supernatural creatures?

  As for Luoshan…

  I’d never heard of any organization or group by that name, but I knew the concept.

  In Taoism, the underworld is called “Fengdu,” also known as “Luofeng Mountain” or “Fengdu Luoshan.” Luoshan refers to the realm of the dead, the netherworld. According to Taoist texts like the Dongyuan Ji, Luofeng Mountain lies in the north, in the land of Gui (癸), the root of death and darkness. The mountain is 2,600 li high and 30,000 li in circumference, and within it are cavern palaces—all capitals of ghosts and spirits.

  I suddenly realized I had stumbled—without warning—into another hidden world I knew nothing about.

  Who exactly were these people?

  The conversation continued.

  “Maybe the source of the phenomenon isn’t the ritual array itself?” the woman identified as a hunter speculated.

  “That’s beyond me. I’m just a ‘probe’—my job is to report the existence of anomalies to you people. The follow-up investigation is your hunters’ responsibility.” Agent Kong distanced himself, then added, “By the way, there was another person there—should be Zhu Chang'an’s friend. His name is Z. Does that ring any bells for you?”

  Hearing my name suddenly mentioned, I sat up straight in the fried chicken shop.

  “Z…” The hunter woman repeated my name thoughtfully.

  “I’ve heard of him too. He’s a well-known occult enthusiast in Saltwater City—always chasing supernatural phenomena.” Agent Kong actually knew quite a bit about me. “Three or four years ago, wasn’t there that overseas feng shui master who came to give advice to one of our local tycoons, only to get exposed on the spot by him? I heard he even helped the authorities in other provinces dismantle some feudal superstition rings.

  “Now it looks like he’s already noticed a lot of suspicious points in this case—like why that ritual array was only discovered now…”

  “It’s because we at Luoshan lack proper criminal investigation experience. If real police had handled it, they wouldn’t have missed such an obvious clue.” The hunter woman sighed. “Luoshan’s methods these past few years have been problematic. At the very least, we should deepen cooperation with the public security system on case handling. How can we insist on monopolizing everything and still do it poorly?”

  “That’s not something frontline personnel like us should discuss.” Agent Kong sidestepped the topic and returned to the earlier point. “From the look of him, he’s never given up on pursuing the supernatural.”

  “You mean…” The hunter woman’s tone grew serious.

  Agent Kong nodded on his end of the line. “You know the trend over the past two years. Z might already have come into contact with the hunter world—maybe even gained a certain level of power.”

  Huh? I’d already come into contact with the hunter world?

  Was I aware of that?

  And what did he mean by “the trend over the past two years”? From his tone, it sounded like the last couple of years had been a period when people like me were more likely to encounter the “hunter world.” So why had I never come across it before?

  “Are you suggesting the source of the anomaly isn’t the ritual array—but him?” the hunter woman asked in return.

  Hearing that, I reined in my racing thoughts and had to admit the speculation wasn’t unreasonable.

  If I really had been influenced by Alice’s jinx constitution that attracted anomalies, and Chang'an—as my friend—got caught in the fallout, then tracing it back to me made perfect sense. Even if the root cause was Alice and not me, I still bore responsibility.

  Agent Kong and the hunter woman’s analysis might actually be correct.

  “I’m just throwing out a possibility. There’s no real evidence pointing that way. At the end of the day, we still don’t even know why a fallen hunter would leave an incomplete ritual array in that apartment…” Agent Kong only skimmed over his suspicion of me. “Let’s move on to practical matters. Do you have time later to go deal with the ritual array in that apartment? Something like that isn’t convenient for an ordinary person like me to touch. It needs a hunter.”

  “I have something to handle at the hospital tonight, so this afternoon works. I’ll head over soon to take care of the ritual array.” The hunter woman answered decisively. “We still don’t know the exact cause of that hole, though. If worst comes to worst, we can just break open the entire living-room floor and physically remove the conditions allowing the hole to form.”

  “That’s one way,” Agent Kong agreed.

  But inside, I felt a massive surge of urgency.

  They wanted to destroy the hole?

  No—I hadn’t gone down to explore it yet.

  I couldn’t accept that.

  To me, everything Alice had spoken of—“the apocalypse” and “Blessed Monks”—and everything these two were now mentioning—“Luoshan” and “hunters”—were still just abstract concepts, intangible words.

  But that hole was different. It was the only supernatural phenomenon I had personally witnessed so far. It held unique, irreplaceable value.

  It could disappear—but only after I had explored it.

  I had to do something to stop them.

  At that moment, Agent Kong spoke again.

  “Also, I’m a little worried the fallen hunter’s next target might be Zhu Chang'an. If someone of that level has him in their sights, no place is truly safe. I can’t provide any real protection either. It’ll have to be you. Didn’t you repel a fallen hunter head-on last time? If you don’t have other leads right now, I suggest you go stake out Zhu Chang'an’s location and see what happens.”

  “Understood. I’ll head over to protect him right away.” The hunter woman agreed readily, then paused. “But that means I won’t have time to deal with the ritual array and the hole for now.”

  “It can wait, right? Nothing fatal has happened there so far anyway.”

  “No—unknown anomalies must be resolved as quickly as possible…” The hunter woman thought for a moment. “Tomorrow morning then. I’ll ask another hunter to temporarily take over protection duty. I’ll go handle it myself—or have them take care of both the ritual array and the hole.”

  The conversation ended there.