The weapon refiner is not doing her job properly

Chapter 35: One Starry Street (1)

Zou Shuyi doesn't have much savings. Xingyuan said that his family conditions are ordinary, and the drinkers he knows are all living paycheck to paycheck.

The richest person is probably Wu Mo, but his whereabouts are unknown.

Xiaoliu kidnapped her out of greed for money.

Was he seeking revenge against Zou Shuyi? Su Ninglong instinctively felt that this was the reason, after all, he and Zou Shuyi had a conflict.

But the conflict between Zou Shuyi and him escalated to the point where he kidnapped her, which seems inexplicable.

Just now he asked her if she was from the Star Alliance.

Combined with what Zou Shuyi said before, Xiaoliu has no helpers and cannot accept the mission.

Does she need to deal with the mysterious spiritual incident?
But she is just a child.

Also, what was the purpose of that helper, Viper Brother, helping Xiaoliu? Was he after his money, or his food?
Xiaoliu laid her flat on the back seat of the car, took off her bracelet and threw it out the back door of the bar, then put a thick coat on her.

The thick clothes did not fit her well, and Su Ninglong could smell a musty odor, but at least she was not going to freeze to death.

The vehicle started silently, adjusted its center of gravity slightly, and then drove away at full speed.

The night scene of the lights of a bustling big city passed by my eyes, and the cold wind blew on my face. It turned out that this was not a car, but a leaky motorcycle.

Could you please turn your head? The cold wind is hitting my face and I'm almost unconscious.

Su Ninglong knew that he couldn't just sit there and wait for death. Xiaoliu looked strange, as if he was possessed by a demon.

The drug caused her spiritual power to flow poorly. She concentrated her energy on her dantian and worked hard for a long time before she pushed her spiritual power forward, slowly brushing the meridians that had been infiltrated by the drug.

Su Ninglong thought Xiaoliu would take her to a place where few people go, but in the end, the car only drove for about ten minutes.

A pungent smell wafted past, neutralizing the drug.

Damn, if I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have wasted my spiritual energy.

Su Ninglong opened her eyes and felt sore all over.

Elder Su assessed the situation and asked, "Where are you taking me, Brother Xiaoliu?"

"You are a student of the Star Alliance. Before you can see the secret spirits, do me a favor. I need to take the upgrade exam. As long as you help me complete it, you will be rewarded."

Is there such a good thing? If there is a reward, Su Laozu can agree to it at his discretion.

"What can you offer as a reward?"

Xiaoliu pretended not to hear: I was just talking, why did you take it seriously?

Okay, Old Ancestor Su understood what Xiaoliu meant. The boss was just making empty promises and letting the junior employees work for free to fulfill them. What good was he thinking?

Xiaoliu dragged her out of the car with a crazy look on his face. Su Ninglong had just been drugged and her legs were still a little weak. She staggered to a house as she was being dragged.

The style of the house is similar to that on Xingkui Street, except that the front yard is smaller. In order to prevent the grass from growing too lush, many large stone slabs are laid.

In the gaps between the stone slabs, weeds about 20 to 30 centimeters high have sprouted, probably because no one has set foot there for a long time.

Xiaoliu took out a secret token from the plastic bag and rubbed it on the black and white seal on the gate of the courtyard, and the black and white seal disappeared.

Xiaoliu raised the corner of his mouth, "You didn't lie to me, it really is the Secret Master's Order."

"You need to apply for the secret order to hold it for a short period of time. Did you apply for it?" Su Ninglong asked.

She had just learned that hunters who left the Star Alliance campus had to submit a physical and mental fitness report to the head of the intelligence branch before they could apply for a secret order.

"you do not need to know."

"Brother Xiaoliu, you need someone who can't see the secret spirit to help you, but I can see it. Even ordinary people who can't see the secret spirit will be affected." Su Ninglong stated after stepping into the yard that he did not meet his "employment standards."

As he spoke, he looked around curiously, sizing up the building.

Something flashed through the upstairs window. Su Ninglong wanted to take a closer look, but there was only a dark, broken window.

"You're lying. You can't see. You said you could see, but you were just trying to attract attention. I've experienced this before, too. Don't think I don't know."

Xiaoliu muttered to himself, set up a machine by the door, then took out a mechanical rope and buckled it around his waist.

"See this? This is a rescue rope. If something happens, or I'm contaminated and can't control myself, help me press this button on my waist. The mechanical rope will automatically drag me to the machine at the door, and then I'll be saved."

Su Ninglong came back to her senses after gazing at him. "You're saved, but what about me?"

Xiao Liu said, "A fledgling of the Star Alliance should see the world early. You should be content that I can bring you here. This is an honor for you."

Not only did he treat her as a free worker, but also caused her death or injury, and he also wanted her to think it was a gift from him?
Only a fool would do that. It's obvious that they are bullying her because she is young.

When Su Ninglong passed by the front door, he grabbed the door handle with one hand and shouted, "I'm not going in."

"You have to go in even if you don't want to." Xiaoliu was very strong. He easily dug Su Ninglong's fingers out of the door handle and carried her inside.

Su Ninglong yelled for help, "There's arson, there's murder."

No one cares, and the neighbors around don’t even bother to come out and take a look. Are the people in the interstellar world so indifferent?
Xiao Liu sneered, "There's no point in yelling. You can hear children screaming all the time here. I advise you to be quiet. No one will bother you."

The age difference is there, his legs are shorter than others, his strength is less than others, and he has no information at hand, so Su Ninglong admitted defeat.

To ensure her own safety, she fumbled for the mental anchor from her belt and hung it on her ear.

Su Ninglong began to extract information: "Where is this?"

"No. 1 Xinglaier Street." Xiaoliu turned on the light switch on the wall.

The light bar flickered for about ten seconds before officially lighting up.

At this time, a rustling sound came from the wall, as if many insects were crawling inside, and a trace of ominous aura spread throughout the house.

On the white wall at the end of the entrance hall were written in big red words: "Warm Home". Perhaps because of the humidity some time ago, the paint on the font spread and dripped down, forming strange "blood words".

There is an antique clock built below, which is at least 1.7 meters high. However, the clock is at the bottom and the pendulum clock is at the top, and the positions are reversed.

At first glance, you might wonder if you have made a cognitive error.

It's very abrupt, but it also adds a personalized design to this home.

The glass on the clock's face was broken and two of its hands were missing.

Only the hour hand is there, the second and minute hands are missing, and I can't tell whether it is broken or not.

There are some irregular scratches on the side, and I don’t know whether they are from the clock itself or made by a child.

Su Ninglong continued to look around. Even if he wanted to escape, he had to understand the terrain first.

As a private residence, the style here is too dark and depressing. After entering the entrance hall, you can see two black leather sofas placed under the black and red blackout curtains.

There was a sunken spot in the hall, as if someone was sitting there, watching everything in the hall.

Number One, Xinglaier Street—I seem to have heard of it somewhere before. "Did anything happen here?" Su Ninglong asked.

Apart from the dull style, the furnishings here are normal and it doesn't look like anything unexpected has happened.

"My neighbors say they keep hearing a baby crying. I want to dig out the secret spirit disguised as a child and take it into the Secret Order."

After being reminded by Xiaoliu, Su Ninglong remembered.

Before going to the distribution center for testing, she heard a news report: "A fire broke out at 1 Lyle Street in Gemini for no apparent reason. Residents reported seeing a fight inside and hearing the sound of a child crying. However, Star Police searched the house and found no signs of children or a secret room. The house has been sealed off. Star Police will be working with specialists to conduct further investigations. Please stay away..."

Su·Gossip·Old Ancestor complained that these confusing news were bothering him because he hadn't heard any strange things or scandals.

It turns out that it was news released to hunters, no wonder ordinary people couldn't understand it.

"Two weeks, and no hunters have come to deal with it?" Su Ninglong then asked, "How much do you know about this place? Who lived here before?"

After entering the house, Xiaoliu regained some of his sanity, but he still held Su Ninglong's arm tightly, his hands shaking.

"It doesn't matter who lived there before. Other hunters did come here, but they didn't trigger any mysterious spiritual events."

Secret spirits can directly affect the real world, but here, the energy factors are even less than those left after many secret spirits are eliminated.

Some people believe that there is no mysterious spirit here at all, but the residual energy factor has not disappeared, so the house can only be left vacant temporarily.

Xiaoliu heard about this and decided to investigate. He wouldn't die anyway.

"It's also important to know who lived here before. What if they're missing? If they're missing, they could become a mysterious spirit. If they're dead, their souls could also become part of a mysterious spirit."

Xiaoliu disagreed, "We've all carried out missions like this before. The missions were urgent, so there was no time to understand what happened in the past."

"Hehe, what's your mission sacrifice rate?"

Su Ninglong's question touched Xiaoliu's sore spot, and he looked unhappy because his abilities were not outstanding enough and he often teamed up with people of similar abilities.

I don’t know how many times I’ve been laughed at.

All teammates who have formed a team have had a bad ending.

"Do you think you can do something that other hunters can't do?" Su Ninglong continued, "Are you gifted or just smart?"

"That's enough." Xiao Liu shouted at the top of his lungs. "No hunters have died here. For me, this is the most suitable place to advance to the Hunter level. I've chosen this place specifically. What else do you want from me?"

He stubbornly believed that he could not break away from the identity of White Hunter because there were no suitable secret spiritual events for him to deal with.

Now that he has one, he won’t need teammates when he is promoted to level 2 hunter.

"Look at this moldy, starched outfit. I've never worn anything this bad since I was born. I'm here because you dragged me here." Su Ninglong added, "What's the matter with the intelligence? You have the equipment and can evacuate at any time. How can I, with my short legs, run? I have plenty of time left in my life. Who doesn't want to live?"

Looking around, she saw that Xiaoliu had become autistic because of her annoyance, so she continued to ask, "You want to do the secret spirit mission, so you must have a direction, right? Let's take action."

"Shut up, I'm thinking."

There was a moment of silence. "You didn't prepare anything before you acted? Where's the Qiankun Shrine? You should have made more preparations before you come. We still have time to leave now."

"Everyone said shut up. No hunters died here. What are you afraid of?"

"Are you sure I'm the one who's scared?"

His body was shaking like a winnowing basket. Who was he afraid of?

Being looked down upon by the children, Xiaoliu felt humiliated. He tried hard to recall and came up with one thing, "There was a fire upstairs. Let's go there and take a look."

Su Ninglong didn't know whether going deeper was a good thing or not, but she couldn't stop Xiaoliu's actions and was dragged towards the stairs again.

There was a carpet in the middle of the stairs, which felt soft to step on, but Su Ninglong's heart sank.

There was no light upstairs; the circuit was blown.

As we walked up step by step, the dark frosted wallpaper absorbed some of the light, and when we reached the second floor, it was pitch dark.

Xiaoliu raised the flashlight and shone it around. When the light came on and swept across the wall, rustling sounds were heard again from inside the wall.

One can't help but think of cockroaches, spiders, centipedes... many insects biting and gnawing at the wallpaper.

It was an indescribable, creepy, and uncomfortable sound, like nails scratching on a blackboard.

Su Ninglong: "Did you hear those voices?"

Xiaoliu's light suddenly stopped on the charred door, and he asked in confusion, "What's that sound?"

"So obvious, like crawlers, shadow crawlers. Wherever you shine the light, there's this sound."

"Are you kidding? Shadow Crawlers can replay the scene, and there's nothing here. You must not have paid attention in class." The flashlight flickered here and there, and Xiaoliu pricked up his ears suspiciously to listen, but still heard no sound.

"They won't recap the scene every moment. You have the flashlight on and there is light. It will definitely not look for you. You are the one who didn't pay attention." Su Ninglong read the information about the Shadow Crawler several times.

With Xingyuan's explanation in front and Teacher Yang and Naviko helping me deepen my memory, I will definitely not make any mistakes about the Shadow Crawlers.

But this is the reality. There is too much secret spiritual knowledge that she doesn't understand, and she can't judge the true face of the secret spirit.

We can't be 100% sure that there are shadow crawlers lurking here.

Xiaoliu had no room for rebuttal because he only remembered the Shadow Crawlers' characteristic of retracing tragedies.

The ceiling was black and cracked, licked by flames.

Following the deep and shallow traces of smoke, it can be seen that the fire that occurred in the past spread from the bedroom next to the stairs.

Xiao Liu pushed Su Ninglong and said, "Go open the door."

"You're an adult, be brave, okay?"

A sharp knife was pressed against her back, right at the position of her heart. "Are you going or not?"

Everyone must die, but one cannot die in vain. Su Ninglong said, "Just go. What's the point of scaring a child?"

The thick wooden door had been burned to charcoal, but it stood firmly on the door frame, half-hidden and not completely closed.

Su Ninglong pushed it, and the deformed metal buckle made a "creaking" sound.

Inside is a master bedroom that is a combination of a study and a bedroom, about 70 square meters. There are many clothes hangers hanging in the large wardrobe that reaches the ceiling. Only a few pieces of cloth are left from the burnt clothes, and the original colors cannot be seen.

"Where exactly is the secret spirit?" Xiao Liu glanced around the bedroom warily, muttering repeatedly, "There must be a secret spirit here. Where is it? Where is it?"

Su Ninglong shook his head. Xiaoliu was indeed a gangster with an empty head and unrealistic ambitions.

Having learned some detective techniques, she looked around, walked to the bedside table, and picked up the blackened photo frame.

The frame was made of very good fireproof material and the photo was not burned.

(End of this chapter)