Deity Investigation Report

Chapter 68 Crystal Plague (Third Update)
Miss Ai, could you please send me the quest information related to the Crystal Plague Gate?

On his way to this place, Han Su stared intently at the task being carried out by the strange bird investigator, and endless doubts arose in his heart. Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he asked Miss Ai on his phone.

[Permissions detected. Data being sent. Good luck, Mr. Butcher!]

Surprisingly, things went exceptionally smoothly; the identity of the strange bird investigator's assistant helped him gain access.

[Level B3 Quest: Investigate the Portal of the Crystal Plague]

[Mission Description: Traces of crystal plague have been detected in multiple locations in Qinggang, but effective spread and deep infection have not yet occurred. It is suspected that members of a mysterious organization with a cult of personality are releasing the plague in a planned manner. The relatively mild level of contamination has actually made the investigation more difficult.]

[The responsible parties are requested to investigate the patterns and locations of the release of the crystal plague, locate and resolve the source of the crystal plague, and stop its spread.]

【…】

Further down, there is a lengthy description of the crystal plague.

The gist of the statement is that the source of this plague is a crystal skull unearthed from the radiation era. Its texture is like crystal, like a work of art, but after testing, it has been confirmed to be a human skull.

Furthermore, a certain activity was detected in it.

Reason for crystallization: Unknown

However, it has been proven that this living crystal skull has the ability to affect people who observe it closely or those who are in the same space with it. If the contamination reaches a certain level, it can cause physical and mental changes in the contaminated person.

The physical mutation causes the bones of the contaminated person to transform into those of an abnormal human, giving them crystalline qualities and a strange power and physical regeneration ability.

The mental mutation refers to the fact that these corrupted individuals firmly believe that they hear the crystal skeletons speaking, that they have received divine revelation, and that they are willing to sacrifice their lives for certain goals.

These groups who came into contact with the crystal-contaminated skeletons are the illegal and mysterious organization registered with the Qinggang City Disaster Management Bureau.
Crystal Skull.

……

……

'This is the mysterious organization Zhang Chiguo mentioned, the one connected to that woman?'

I felt a sense of surprise and delight.

She had promised Zhang Chiguo that she wouldn't rashly contact this mysterious organization until she was able to protect herself, but she never expected to encounter it during a mission...

He hesitated, intending to send a message to Zhang Chiguo about his discovery, but the message could not be sent. Upon closer inspection, he found that the signal on his phone had disappeared.

Why is there no signal in Qinggang City? Or is this also part of the strange phenomenon?

'...'

He didn't have time to think it through; he just quickly went through it in his mind:
"It's confirmed! Song Chu came into the city through the door the investigators investigating the strange bird were looking for!"

'This good-for-nothing has searched three places in a week, and these three places happen to be locations that appeared during the Song-Chu era. Now, this North Street is the fourth place he's heading to...'

'No way, he really found the door the strange bird investigator couldn't find in just half an hour?'

'...'

"We've arrived at Beidi Street. Our purpose in coming here is..."

As Han Su was thinking to himself, the taxi driver dropped him off at the entrance of Beidi Street. Of the four people, three of them looked at Han Su with curiosity.

"Let's take a look first."

Han Su slowly put away his phone and looked up. It was a bustling street with many pedestrians and shops lining both sides. In the air, neon lights seemed to form a cloud, giving everything on the street an unreal feel.

Beneath the clouds, people of all kinds hurried by.

But when Han Su frowned and looked around, he found that the people walking on the street were all perfectly normal, with no blurry faces.

Although I had a gut feeling that something was amiss, I didn't actually see any signs.

Did Song Chu make a mistake?

As he was thinking to himself, his gaze slowly swept across the street, and suddenly his body stiffened slightly. In an instant, he saw a familiar figure sitting in front of the cake shop across the street.

It was during Song Chu's time; he looked exactly the same as when he last saw him, with a briefcase beside him.

He looked calmly at himself in this direction, smiled, and nodded slightly, as if to say hello.

Then, he slowly raised his right hand.

He snapped his fingers lightly!
Snapped!
In that instant, the flow of people on the entire street seemed to pause for a moment, as if a videotape had stopped. The next moment, the flow of people continued, but countless blurry shadows began to appear on people's faces, in clusters and patches.

There was even another one that passed by Han Su less than two meters away.

Han Su felt a chill run down his spine: "So that door really is here?"

The infiltration of this place had clearly begun long ago, but not only did the strange bird investigators not react, but even the Qinggang Disaster Management Bureau did not notice it. Yet Song Chushi found it so quickly.
As Han Su felt a sense of shock and regret, the doctor beside him suddenly stopped and whispered, "Did you see it?"

Black Tiger asked in surprise, "What's wrong?"

"Face."

The doctor said in a low voice, "On this street, it seems like there are many people whose faces disappeared instantly... or rather, they just became invisible."

Black Tiger tensed up as well: "Where?"

"Was it the strange phenomenon we encountered while following that investigator on a mission near Line 2?"

Miss Raven also noticed something was wrong. She switched her black briefcase to the other hand and whispered, "Why are we in a place related to that previous mission? And what are these things?"

"It's a plague source released by the Crystal Skull."

Han Su turned his gaze away from Song Chushi, thinking about the information Miss Ai had sent, and slowly said:

"The information says that this plague has the ability to infect the memories and self-awareness of normal people. It can lie dormant in a person's body and turn a normal person into their puppet within three to five seconds."

"Those with strong willpower and who are prepared in advance can last for about thirty seconds. Those who have achieved mental penetration can last until the moment their mental strength is exhausted. If they do not fight back, they can last for about three to five minutes."

"Electric shocks can effectively repel them; you can try it."

“If necessary, killing their host can also delay their actions for a certain period of time.”

"As for this phenomenon now... it can only be said that this pollution was originally very shallow, or rather, deeply hidden, and could not be detected under normal circumstances. It was only because someone used some means to activate this pollution that it suddenly appeared in front of us."

"..."

He recounted his experiences and observations from the previous Line 2 mission, bit by bit, in concise language. Upon hearing this, the doctor next to him immediately stepped back for a second.

Beside him, Black Tiger and Raven looked at him with somewhat strange eyes. The Doctor calmly shook his head and said, "My willpower is not very strong."

'Why did you bring me here during the Song-Chu period? Was it to meet me here?'

Han Su was undecided. If Song Chushi brought him here, then why did he have to look for this door?
I was only able to chase him here because I benefited from the strange bird investigator.

But if they can find it themselves, how could the strange bird investigators not find it?

He even suspected that the strange bird investigator might have already arrived nearby and even discovered Song Chushi just like he had.

In that case, will you still see me?
As they spoke, they noticed that more and more people with blurred faces were appearing around them, even more than Han Su had encountered on Line 2. However, these people were not disturbed, so they simply walked around them calmly.

"Come to me, all of you!"

Just then, Miss Crow suddenly said, "The level of pollution on this street has exceeded expectations. Stand beside me, and I can protect you."

As he spoke, his voice was heavy, as if he were trying to remind Han Su: "The right choice is to get away from this street immediately, go to a place with a signal, and notify headquarters that there is a plague here, so that they can send someone over to deal with it."

As Han Su listened to his words, he glanced across the street and suddenly saw that Song Chushi had stood up, paused slightly, and then turned and entered the door behind him without hesitation.

The door of that cake shop!
At the same moment he entered, all the blurry figures walking in the crowd on the entire street suddenly seemed to freeze, pausing for a moment as if their computers had crashed.

The next moment, they all suddenly turned their heads and looked in the direction of the cake shop.

"Is this the 'door'?"

Han Su also felt a chill run down his spine, realizing that Song Chu had not only found the area where the door appeared and discovered the hidden pollution, but had even determined the location of the "door".

Before they could react, another figure suddenly jumped out of the car from the other side.

It's Mr. Strange Bird.

He seemed to have a kind of fanaticism on his face as he followed closely through the crowd on the street, holding a gun in one hand and a briefcase in the other.

His figure faded as he walked, as if he had disappeared, and he quickly passed through the dazed figures on the street, following Song Chushi into the door.

'He went too?'

(End of this chapter)