Atlas of Heaven and Man

After ending the call with Lao Qi, Chen Chuan checked that area on the Realm Interface. He discovered that this matter had actually made the news yesterday, which was quite rare.

You should know that Hongsheng District is the least noticed area in the Central City. Old and backward are synonymous with it. It is inhabited by a large number of residents without citizen status and is filled with gangs of all sizes. Even the city patrol rarely comes here.

Therefore, this is one of the areas with the most frequent occurrences of strange tales. In the past, the headquarters of the Golden Shrimp Team was located here. However, the street now in trouble is in the southeast of Hongsheng District, extending towards the city center. Perhaps this is the reason why it has attracted attention.

But according to his understanding, even if this matter receives more attention, there is no hope of anyone solving it. It would be easier to suppress the news directly.

The occurrence of mass disappearance events, if it is really a strange tale, indicates that it is becoming more powerful. If it is not dealt with now, it will soon cause even larger-scale deaths and injuries.

He pondered for a moment and decided to go and deal with it.

He prepared, putting things he might need, including ritual materials, into a bag. After changing into casual clothes, he went downstairs, took the car, and drove towards the location where the strange tale occurred.

On the way, Lao Qi sent him a photo of a missing colleague. It was a woman in her thirties with short hair, wearing glasses and an employee uniform, looking very capable. The reason for her disappearance was that a client had commissioned her to find a list of check-ins from last year at a hotel.

Because the client offered a high price, and based on past experience, there was basically no danger as long as one didn't stay overnight, Lao Qi's colleague accepted the commission.

However, unexpectedly, this hotel was no longer like before, where it was fine as long as you didn't stay overnight. Now, it was a case of only entering and not exiting, and she was trapped inside.

It had been more than ten days since this incident, so he was not optimistic about Lao Qi's colleague.

Around two o'clock in the afternoon, he drove along the avenue to the front of this area and found that someone had placed a pile of obstacles in the middle of the road, but it didn't completely block the wide street entrance.

He slowed down and drove in through a gap on the side. Without the obstacles, the view became much clearer. The street was empty with hardly anyone around. He could almost see to the end at a glance, only seeing some shadowy figures in the corners of buildings and alleys.

Those seemed to be some gang members. He ignored them and drove straight inside, quickly seeing the hotel.

However, he noticed that there were no parking spaces in front, and the ground nearby was full of messy debris and garbage. Fortunately, there was an empty parking lot about a hundred meters away, so he parked the car there.

He got out of the car with the Snow Monarch Blade, pushed the car door shut, and walked towards the hotel.

At first, he didn't feel anything strange, but when he was about thirty or forty meters away, the Second Self began to show faint signs of illusory transformation.

"Hey, don't go in!" A shout came from behind him.

Chen Chuan stopped and looked back in a certain direction. He saw a dirty-faced child shouting at him from a residential building on the side of the street. However, as he looked over, the child retracted his head.

Lao Qi told him that there was no one here anymore, but when he came over, he could feel that many people were watching him. Only when he walked around this hotel did this gaze gradually decrease.

Thinking about it, it made sense. How could the ordinary people here give up their shelter? Those who had the ability to run outside were probably only those with some wealth.

He turned back and said, "I'm here to solve this matter."

Saying that, he continued to walk forward, but after a while, just as he was about to walk into the hotel door, the boy shouted again, "Don't solve it!"

Chen Chuan thought for a moment and could roughly understand the thinking here. This anomaly was certainly dangerous, but perhaps because of this, few people came to exploit and control them. But if it was really a strange tale, then the range would continue to expand, and those hiding here would eventually be completely drawn in.

Or wait for those who deal with the problem to come, but compared to dealing with the problem, dealing with people is actually simpler and the cost is the lowest. And without people, the strange tale will naturally disappear.

He replied, "Stay where you are and don't wander around."

While speaking, he stepped onto the hotel steps. After a few steps, he pushed open the glass door. Almost the moment he crossed the door, the Second Self showed strong signs of illusory transformation.

After entering, he glanced around and found the lobby was empty. The half-drawn curtains and old chandeliers were clean and dust-free, as if they had been carefully wiped. The floor tiles were as smooth as a mirror.

The dining tables in the lobby were neatly arranged, and there were still guests' clothes on the backs of the chairs. The bowls, chopsticks, and the food on them seemed to have just been placed. He could even smell the sweet aroma of a half-cut cream cake.

But the problem was that the situation had occurred almost last month. With the current weather, it would have rotted long ago, but now it still looked as fresh as ever.

He touched the Realm Interface. At this moment, under the influence of strong illusory transformation, this thing could no longer be used, which was expected.

He first walked around the lobby on the first floor. Besides the traces left by the guests, there was nothing else, so he had to go upstairs to take a look.

At this time, he found that the elevator was still lit and could still be used, but after thinking about it, he didn't go in, but walked up the stairs.

Not long after he entered the hotel, five cars drove into this street. The people inside had their hair styled into moss-like shapes and dyed in colorful ways. At a glance, they were people from the Moss Gang.

After driving the cars in for a while, the vehicles stopped. The gang leader sitting in the front stood up and waved to an alley on the side. Immediately, two people ran out. He put a cigarette in his mouth, and his underling immediately lit it for him. He took a puff and asked, "Has there been any movement these past two days?"

That person replied, "Boss, those scumbags are very honest. No one dares to cause trouble. Just now, a car went in, looking like it was heading for the hotel."

The gang leader was very surprised, "Someone actually went in to seek death?"

The underling next to him said, "Big Brother, maybe it's someone from a commission company. Those guys are never afraid of death as long as they get enough money."

The gang leader spat out a mouthful of phlegm outside the car and sneered, "I don't care where they're from. If they want to seek death, let them go. We'll do as the higher-ups instructed. Don't let a single person who goes in come out." He pointed with his hand, "You few, put the roadblocks at the intersection back in place."

"Yes, Big Brother."

Watching the group of underlings busy, a trusted gang member asked, "Big Brother, we're just going to stare here like this. How long are we going to stare?"

"At least two months."

The gang leader glanced at him, "Blow it up? Are you going to blow it up, or am I going to blow it up? Didn't you hear people say that those who walk to the door go in like they've lost their souls?"

"Is it that weird?"

"It's that weird!" The gang leader finished smoking a cigarette and seemed to have discovered something. He called over a few more underlings. "Come with me and take a look."

They came to the front of the armored car in the parking lot. The gang leader circled around it, clicking his tongue. "Another new car in just a few days? Get a few people to take it back."

At this time, an underling suddenly saw a child across the street secretly looking at him. He picked up a gun, aimed, made a 'bang' sound, and the boy immediately retracted his head. Everyone burst out laughing.

An underling looked at the car and said, "Big Brother, this is the car of someone from the commission company, right? To take on this kind of job, they must not be simple."

The gang leader said dismissively, "Are you out of your mind? Is there any way to survive in that hotel? Get it out of here quickly."

However, several underlings went up and fiddled with it for a long time but couldn't find a way to start. One of them looked up and said, "Big Brother, this is a modified armored car. The glass is thickened and bulletproof. The car lock is a torsion knob. We can't pry it open."

The gang leader didn't believe it. He walked over and looked at the car lock and couldn't help but curse, because the car lock in front of him was actually a rotating disc with only a shallow two millimeters.

You Xing's modified car doesn't use a normal lock, but is modified according to its own characteristics. If the finger strength and power haven't reached a certain level, don't even think about twisting open this car lock. Of course, it was naturally no problem for Chen Chuan, who could open it with a casual twist, but ordinary people can't even get a grip on it without special tools.

"I don't believe it. Damn it, get me a car to come over and tow it away with a cable."

Inside the hotel, Chen Chuan went from the first floor to the twelfth floor and found that the rooms and corridors were all empty, and the scenes inside seemed to be frozen at a certain moment. The owners inside seemed to have just left not long ago.

And from the moment he entered here, he had a feeling of being spied on.

At this moment, he had been to almost all the places, including the rooftop, but there was still one place he hadn't checked, which was the basement of the entire building.

This is an old building and doesn't have an underground parking garage. According to the schematic diagram, the basement should be the storage location for the backup generator and cold storage.

He walked down from the upper floor, pushed open the two safety doors, and walked down to the first basement floor.

……

……