Alien Hotel

After sending Irene back early, Yu Sheng returned to the living room and saw Little Red Riding Hood sitting on the sofa with the young man in his twenties, talking about something.

The latter still looked tired. It was obvious that he had not rested for many days because of the funeral arrangements for his relatives.

Seeing Yu Sheng come out of the bedroom, the young man stood up slightly to say hello, and then pointed to the hot milk tea on the coffee table: "Thank you for your hard work, I just bought it."

"Um...thank you." Yu Sheng was not too polite to the other party and sat next to Little Red Riding Hood, both of them sipping milk tea together.

The young man sitting opposite broke the silence: "Did you find anything?"

Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood looked at each other, and the latter nodded slightly after thinking for a while: "I did find some clues... But I want to confirm first. Do you know the 'nature of work' of your uncle? To what extent?" ? I mean...about the things he collects and the 'specialness' of the things he usually comes into contact with."

"I know a little bit. He told me about the 'Special Objects Society' and let me see some... relatively 'safe' things," the young man nodded and said, "I know he is dealing with those unusual things. There are some It was quite dangerous at that time. In fact, I was also interested. I almost went to the Secret Service for external recruitment - but my uncle wouldn't let me do this. He said that I was too curious, and I had something called... oh, spiritual talent. It is a high-sensitivity and low-stability type, so it would be very dangerous to do this.”

"Your uncle is right. If you have high sensitivity, low stability and too much curiosity, you really can't do this. You may not even be able to pass the internship period." Little Red Riding Hood sighed, "Since you know so much, let me give you a rough idea of ​​the situation. Well - Lao Zheng may have been exposed to extremely dangerous contamination and came into contact with illegal esoteric cults, but for now, he should be just a victim - I can only say this much, the Secret Service may be willing to talk to you as a family member later. 'Disclose more information."

The young man just sat quietly, saying nothing, or not knowing what to say.

Yu Sheng broke the silence: "Did your uncle come into contact with any suspicious people in the last period of his life? Did he do anything suspicious? For example, a strange 'friend' suddenly appeared, or something suddenly appeared that he had never seen before. Habits, taboos, etc.”

"I don't know," the young man shook his head and said slowly, "My uncle rarely contacted my family more than 20 years ago. He was a volunteer in an orphanage, and something happened to him later. , some said it was emotionally, and some said he was frightened by something, and then he moved here to live alone. I didn’t remember much at that time. I only heard these things from the adults in my family. "

Having said this, he paused, recalled it carefully, and then hesitantly spoke again: "But I occasionally receive messages from him. If I have to say it, he seems to be quite happy recently. He has been there for about two years. A few months ago, he said that he finally had a chance to let go of the burden on his heart. Recently, he also said that he plans to go home in two days. There is a notebook in the old house at home. He asked me to help find it and see if it is still there... But after that, something happened to him."

"Notebook?" Yu Sheng's heart moved when he heard this, and he quickly asked, "Did you find it? Did you bring it over?"

"Bring it," the young man said, got up and went to the TV cabinet, rummaging in a black suitcase. After a while, he pulled out a thick book with a dark blue cover from the innermost layer of the box, and put it in It was brought in front of Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood, "This is it - I haven't read the contents, I brought it here intact."

Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood looked at each other, and immediately took the notebook, which was more than 20 years old, and flipped through it quickly.

Most of the records there seem to be just ordinary trivial matters, including daily memos, as well as some experiences and work records as an orphanage volunteer. Many of them can help Yu Sheng understand the orphanage more than 20 years ago. However, this part of the content obviously has nothing to do with the matter he is currently investigating and Lao Zheng's death.

Perhaps this time-spanning notebook is just a "voucher" for the nearly fifty-year-old Zheng who suddenly wants to recall his youth?

Just as Yu Sheng was thinking this, out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly noticed the content of the page he had just turned over. He quickly reached out and turned the page back.

It turned out that it was a painting - it was drawn by the owner of the note himself with a pencil. His technique was not very good, but he was obviously very serious about the painting.

On the slightly yellowed page, a woman who looked to be about twenty-six or seventeen years old was standing in front of the swing in the orphanage, wearing a simple long skirt, smiling calmly and gently.

Yu Sheng frowned and subconsciously thought about who the young woman who appeared in the notes was, what the story was with the dead "Old Zheng", and why she appeared in the orphanage where Little Red Riding Hood lived - she Clearly an adult, but not wearing the clothes of a council employee.

Then he heard Little Red Riding Hood beside him suddenly say "Hey".

Not wanting to ask questions, Little Red Riding Hood quickly took out her mobile phone and dialed a number: "Long Hair, help me take a photo. The photo in the middle of the wall in the east building showroom... yes, that's the one." Cinderella's, hurry up and shoot me."

After that, she hung up the phone. After a while, her phone buzzed and vibrated. Yu Sheng leaned over and took a look, and saw a photo appearing on the screen.

It was a young woman in her twenties, almost exactly the same as the portrait in Lao Zheng's notebook.

"This is...?" Yu Sheng asked curiously.

"A Cinderella many years ago...she lived to be twenty-six years old," Little Red Riding Hood looked at the smiling figure in the notebook and said softly, "The one with the longest lifespan in the history of the orphanage - after her death, The "character" of "Cinderella" was vacant for ten years. It was not until more than ten years ago that a new Cinderella appeared. We all said that she used her own life to temporarily inhibit the operation of the "Eternal Ball". Although there is no basis for this statement.”

Little Red Riding Hood pursed her lips and continued: "It is said that she was even considering whether to give ordinary life a try."

Yu Sheng listened silently, raised his head and looked at the table not far away.

The portrait of Lao Zheng stood there quietly - he was nearly fifty years old, the skin on his face had become loose, and wrinkles quietly crept into the corners of his eyes. The tired look in his eyes seemed to record a battle that lasted more than 20 years. of the trek.

He searched for "wonderful objects" for twenty years, trying to fight a recurring curse, but in the end, he lost to a scam.

He wasn't the first to try to fight Fairytale, nor was he the last.

Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood stood up, and the latter solemnly handed the note back to the young man opposite.

"Thank you for the clues you provided," Yu Sheng said solemnly, "We will help Lao Zheng get justice."

"Thank you," the young man took the notebook. He seemed to want to ask something, but in the end he probably recalled his uncle's warning to him, so he endured it and just waved to the two "detectives" in front of him. "I won't send you away. There are still a lot of things to pack here."

"Well," Little Red Riding Hood nodded, then remembered something and reminded, "There is something under the carpet in the bedroom. Although it has theoretically lost its power, you'd better not touch it and wait for professionals to deal with it. That’s it.”

"Okay, I understand."

After coming out of the apartment building, it was completely dark outside.

Check out the correct version one by one!

The neon lights illuminated this huge city that seemed to have no boundaries. The wolf pack brought Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood to the highest rooftop nearby. Yu Sheng stood here overlooking the boundary city and saw the lights shining on the forest-like buildings. Time passed, and the huge city continued to be noisy in the night.

How many people live in this weird city? How many millions? Or even tens of millions? How many of them are ordinary people, how many are detectives and investigators who have come into contact with the "other side", how many are protectors and order keepers of the city, and how many are hidden among the shadows of those lights, like someone Like the tentacles of some wild and formless things, they are watching for those careless victims...

For the first time, Yu Sheng felt that this strange, strange, and even weird city was alive with flesh and blood.

Little Red Riding Hood broke the silence: "I will continue the investigation after I go back. I have to go to the headquarters of the Oddity Association. I also plan to meet other spirit world detectives and investigators that Old Zheng had contact with during his lifetime."

Yu Sheng: "Do you need me to follow?"

"No," Little Red Riding Hood shook her head, "I want you to go to the Secret Service."

Yu Sheng frowned: "Go to the Secret Service?"

"Go tell them about Lao Zheng - although the information about the Angel Cultists will definitely attract the attention of the Secret Service, if you find them in person, they will definitely pay more attention to it."

Yu Sheng thought for a while and was not sure: "...will it be possible?"

The girl looked helpless: "...Do you really have no self-awareness at all?"

Yu Sheng smiled awkwardly, then nodded seriously: "Okay, I'll go tomorrow."

Then the two of them fell silent in unison, and after a few seconds, Yu Sheng said thoughtfully: "What do you think is the connection between the 'Obscure Angel' and the foreign land of 'Fairy Tale'?"

Little Red Riding Hood thought seriously. After a while, she shook her head: "I have no idea - although many things coincidentally happened at the same time, they lacked the most critical 'connection'. Those angel believers were looking for I fell in love with Lao Zheng, who wanted to fight against the Fairy Tale curse, and used him to lure me into the white exhibition hall. But the most important thing is, what on earth were they targeting? Was it my identity as a member of the Fairy Tale? Or are you just looking for a strong enough 'victim'?

"In the final analysis... there is more than one dark angel in the world. We still don't even know which 'angel' those angel believers follow, and naturally we can't determine what their purpose is."