This time, she couldn't even use the bus. Lu Mingran walked alone in the thick fog. After a long time, the fog finally dissipated, and the gate of a residential area appeared before Lu Mingran.
"Yixin Home".
A newspaper was blown by in the wind, and Lu Mingran grabbed it easily. The headline read, "Three Families in Yixing Garden Mysteriously Murdered in Succession," a truly shocking headline.
"The police will be here soon."
After the system finished speaking, it added, "Those people will come too."
"who?"
"The folklore department and its group."
Lu Mingran now knew what her mission was.
Perhaps every man harbors a dream of becoming a high-ranking official. Even when writing supernatural stories, he might create a fictional department and then write about how the protagonist later goes there, grows up, and rises to power, eventually becoming a person with a title, stepping on various male supporting characters who were once big shots, and witnessing the vicissitudes of life.
What he needs to do this time is to make sure the male protagonist of the ghost story doesn't get tricked into joining some folklore department. He can just wander the world and live a free and easy life.
Before meeting the male lead, Lu Mingran was a staff member responsible for receiving a certain big shot.
From afar, Lu Mingran saw a black sedan parked on the side of the road. A man with a full head of white hair but a strong physique stepped out of the car, and had the face of a cold and aloof male lead from an idol drama.
As soon as he got out of the car, other people went over and held umbrellas over his head to shield him from the light drizzle that was actually only a few drops.
The man ignored everyone else, coldly staring at the direction of Yixin Garden, and sneered:
"evil creature."
This is the person who kidnapped the male protagonist. This person is truly mysterious and knows how to put on airs; no wonder they attracted the male protagonist's full attention the moment they appeared.
"system……"
Lu Mingran said, "His white hair is too conspicuous."
"Uh-huh."
Lu Mingran continued:
"I want to dye that thing green."
Chapter 37 Want to Rise to the Top Quickly? No Way (1)
Green is so much better; it symbolizes life and hope, and it looks much better than white.
Lu Mingran said, "I truly believe that."
The system then hummed in agreement and said:
"Why don't you learn how to dye hair tonight and dye it green yourself? Don't be shy, I'll pay for the hair dye."
After saying all this, the system transmitted the relevant plot points from the novel to Lu Mingran, and then spoke earnestly and sympathetically:
"I can pay for the hair dye, but I won't pay for your medical expenses after you get beaten up."
"Oh, by the way, if Yan Wu beats you, he'll probably beat your body and soul, so be prepared."
Yan Wu, that's the name of that white-haired man.
Yan Wu is 28 years old this year and is a director in the so-called folklore department.
It might not sound like anything special, but the things this person was in charge of were terrifying, and his methods were extremely ruthless, so much so that everyone called him Old Yan despite his young age.
Fortunately, Lao Yan's hair turned white early because of his extraordinary talent, so everyone called him "Lao Yan" without any sense of incongruity.
At that moment, Lao Yan stopped the people behind him from following and walked towards the entrance of Yixing Jiayuan residential area. Lu Mingran realized that he was looking at her, so she quickly went to meet him.
"Xiao Lu?"
Old Yan stopped, squinted at him, and smiled slightly:
"Old Hu told me yesterday that I know you."
Old Hu was an old friend of Old Yan, though he wasn't actually that old. He knew Old Yan often offended people with his actions and worried about him. Since Old Yan happened to be working in his city, Old Hu sent someone over to check on him.
Lu Mingran was the young man who was summoned.
Once she was actually close to Lao Yan, Lu Mingran recalled the fear of being controlled by her superiors. At that moment, she had no interest in dyeing someone else's hair green. Looking at Lao Yan's smiling yet stern face, Lu Mingran was afraid of saying the wrong thing.
Fortunately, another person's voice interrupted, drawing Lao Yan's attention away.
He was a man around forty years old. Although he was dressed in what appeared to be ordinary black clothes, Lu Mingran immediately recognized him as a policeman based on his posture and aura.
The police officer became very agitated after seeing Lao Yan:
"I heard this morning that you were sending someone over. What are you doing here?!"
Faced with this person's extremely unfriendly tone, Lao Yan remained calm: "I'll just do my job."
Then, before the policeman could answer, Old Yan asked him:
"Three families died. The first family was an elderly couple, the second was an old man living alone, and the third was a young couple and their three-year-old son, right?"
The man grunted. This news had already spread in the media, so it wasn't surprising that Old Yan knew about it.
However, Old Yan frowned, and the next sentence he uttered sent a chill down the man's spine:
"No, you've missed finding one body. Go check the new basement the third family bought; there's a pressure cooker there with the baby that should have been in her womb inside."
...This was information they were desperately trying to keep from the outside world. The deaths of these people were gruesome; the woman's stomach had been ripped out. Orders had been given from above not to leak this information.
The man was absolutely certain that their secrecy was foolproof. And in this situation, Lao Yan not only guessed how the woman died, but also actually told him where to look for the missing child.
Ahem. Lu Mingran stood to the side and coughed twice.
This is the scene when Lao Yan first appears in the novel, and it's fair to say the author is showering him with excessive praise. In many subsequent episodes, Lao Yan is portrayed as a god-like figure, omnipotent.
But what is Lao Yan's real role? His real role is to guide the protagonist's growth, and then ultimately lose to the protagonist, thus elevating the male lead's status.
Right now, Lao Yan is at the peak of everything; he has no idea that he will die a more tragic death than the victims of these three families. Watching him slap the policeman's face, Lu Mingran felt both satisfied and somewhat saddened.
On the other side, after being lectured by Lao Yan, the man's tone finally softened a bit, though he still remained somewhat stubborn:
"This case needs to be resolved."
Old Yan seemed to have heard this kind of talk many times, and shrugged:
"I know that in the end I will send you a murderer, a living one, someone who can run and jump, someone with a motive and a chain of evidence."
"But..." the man hesitated.
At this point, Lao Yan didn't have time to waste any more time with him, so he simply pulled a file folder out of his clothes and handed it to him:
"See for yourself."
The man didn't open the file folder; instead, he gripped it tightly. After squeezing it for a long time, he finally managed to squeeze out a reluctant sentence through gritted teeth: "Fine, let's call it a day."
Not long after, all the police officers left. Old Yan watched them leave, then looked away and glanced at Lu Mingran, who was still standing beside him.
"Xiao Lu, do you want to come with me?"
"Uh, okay." Lu Mingran nodded, though she was actually terrified.
Upon hearing his answer, Lao Yan immediately laughed, strode into the residential area, and before leaving, tossed him a sentence and a black bag:
"I see your legs are shaking. Why don't you go to the hotel and help me pack my things?"
————————————
Compared to the bloody murder scene, a warm and comfortable hotel was indeed Lu Mingran's best refuge.
Following Old Hu's instructions, Lu Mingran booked a pretty good hotel for Lao Yan. The only problem was that he booked it a bit late. This room used to be one of those "fun" rooms for couples. When Lu Mingran pushed the door open, he saw a pair of handcuffs and a black cloth used to blindfold him, which were shyly piled in the corner.
Lu Mingran calmly glanced at the two items that hadn't been cleaned up, then called the front desk. She was told that a dramatic adultery-catching operation was underway in room 708, and the cleaning lady wanted to go and watch the show first.
...Lu Mingran silently kicked these things under the bed.
After that, Lu Mingran put down the bag that Lao Yan had given him. The bag was very heavy, and the system told Lu Mingran that it was all unimportant stuff. Lao Yan always carried his tools with him when he was doing things.
After putting away her bag and finishing her meal, Lu Mingran sat on the soft bed and remembered something:
"System, where's the male lead?"
"Oh, you mean Xu Lingqiu..."
Two years ago, Xu Lingqiu lost a friend.
Two years ago, Xu Lingqiu was a junior in college. During his vacation, he signed up for a charity event in a mountainous area. Because the destination had harsh conditions, all applicants underwent rigorous testing, including rolling in the mud when it rained and eating wild grass. In the end, only a dozen or so people passed the test.
The team set off during the summer vacation and quickly arrived in the mountains. The conditions were truly harsh; everyone slept in a large, single-story house in the mountains. The house had two rows of kang beds, and men and women shared the rooms. The windows were broken, and the wind howled in through them.
Fortunately, everyone was chosen, and no one complained. During the day, they visited the left-behind children, led them in classes and games, and returned to the camp one after another in the evening.
The incident happened at night. For some reason, many people sleep with their feet facing the window. At that moment, a small, thin boy started making a fuss:
"In my hometown, only the dead sleep like this!"
This boy was the most hardworking one among them, but unexpectedly he would care about such trivial matters. Immediately, some people laughed at him, saying that he was a college student of the new era, but how could he be more ignorant than these people in the mountains?
The only person he cared about was Xu Lingqiu, but he was a man of few words. At this moment, he simply took the initiative to walk over and let the boy sleep with him, so that he would not be ridiculed by others.
Everyone was exhausted and fell into a deep sleep. However, in the middle of the night, Xu Lingqiu vaguely heard the sound of a pair of shoes pattering on the ground. The sound traveled from one end of the kang (a heated brick bed) to the other and then back again.
The next morning, someone was shouting that he had lost his shoes.
Xu Lingqiu, who had just woken up, looked at the person and suddenly realized that the person had been sleeping with their toes pointing towards the window last night.
Xu Lingqiu stared intently at that person.
He had a very bad feeling and premonition, but from childhood to adulthood, Xu Lingqiu had always hidden and suppressed himself, so after thinking for a long time, he finally just calmly reminded everyone:
"It's windy at night, so it's best not to sleep with your feet pointing towards the window."
"Hey, how about facing the window? But your head will get cold if the wind blows."
Soon, some people started laughing, except for the skinny boy who looked like he was about to cry.
That night, Xu Lingqiu continued to sleep with the boy.
This time, Xu Lingqiu was more careful and stayed awake. In the middle of the night, the clattering of shoes continued as usual, and Xu Lingqiu quietly opened her eyes a crack…
He saw that the boy who should have been sleeping next to him was now wearing a pair of old-fashioned military green cloth shoes, and was standing with his head down in front of a classmate's head.
If he lowered his head just a little more, his lips would be able to touch that classmate's forehead.