monster detection team

The underground meeting room in the center of the base.

An Liya lay down on the table boredly, and let out a long breath.

She turned her head to look at Xie Feng who was sitting on the side, and kicked his chair leg, "Where are they?"

Xie Feng grabbed the snacks and stuffed them into his mouth. He ate them and said, "Feng Yu has gone home, and Bai Ziming is outside negotiating the follow-up of the rift. Everyone else is on vacation, and we are the only ones on duty."

He hummed for a long time, and added, "Also... Boss doesn't know what he's doing."

An Liya looked at him expressionlessly, waiting for him to continue.

Xie Feng sighed helplessly, "It's not like you don't know the rest, where else can it be. He's almost going to live in the archives room."

An Liya asked softly, "What happened to him?"

"I don't know." Xie Feng shrugged and looked up at the snow-white ceiling, "Something went wrong after I came back from the crack that day, and the boss didn't let me ask, and he would only say that it was okay if he made insinuations. To be honest, I am now It hurts to see him smile. He has learned to be smart and started to hide everything in his stomach, so we don’t want to know about it.”

An Liya curled her lips, "It's as if you knew him well before. Did he let you know anything?"

Originally, this was a good time for them to quarrel, but somehow Xie Feng nodded honestly, with a heavy expression that didn't look like him.

"Yeah..." he sighed, "we don't know anything about him."

A knock on the door interrupted the train of thought of the people inside.

Yi Ange raised his head from the thick file, returning to his senses in a daze.This is already the fourth day he has been digging through the files, and last night he slept for less than five hours, and the words in front of him are all flowers.He wanted to rest, but couldn't fall asleep. There were always some voices in his head urging him repeatedly. Sometimes it was Grandpa, sometimes it was Tang Huang, and sometimes it was Zhou Mincai.He wanted to drive these people out of his mind, but he couldn't do it anyway.

The past and the present are intertwined, and Yi Ange feels that he has not really come back from the crack.

He was in a daze for a long time, the knock on the door stopped for a while, and then he knocked again tirelessly.Yi Ange stood up holding the chair, groping through a pile of documents and walking towards the door.

As soon as the door was opened, Qu Hongyang stood outside.He is one of Jing Rong's team members, and when Feng Yu is not around, he is mostly the one to contact everyone.

Now he was holding a big bag in his hand, with a smile on his face.Yi Ange took the bag and opened it, and a smell of food pierced into his brain through his nose.

Only then did he realize that he seemed to have not eaten for a long time.The memory of the last time he ate was still before Tang Xiaoxue was found, and the small schoolbag he used to hold the food was also lost in the subsequent chaos. Xie Feng and the others seemed to come and ask him to have dinner together, but he was too absorbed in checking the information , forgetting whether he responded or not.

Thinking of this, he felt a little embarrassed again.His abnormality has affected other people, Xie Feng and the others don't talk about it, but they don't necessarily care about it.

He thanked Qu Hongyang, cleared a space on the table, and began to eat.

Qu Hongyang looked at the mess in the room, flipped through the stacks of documents piled aside, and asked, "How much have you read?"

Yi Ange pointed to the half-person-high documents on his left, and then pointed to the two boxes piled up by the window.These are only two-thirds of all the files, and he brought all the information about the events 30 years ago into this room.

Qu Hongyang clicked his tongue exaggeratedly, "You're really good."

Yi Ange wasn't sure if he was praising himself, so he answered vaguely.His head is a mess now, and he can't turn around at all.

Seeing him like this, Qu Hongyang sighed, sat opposite him, and asked, "How is it?"

Yi Ange looked at him suspiciously.

"Have you found the answer you were looking for?"

Qu Hongyang propped his head on one hand and looked at him seriously.

After being stunned, Yi Ange slowly shook his head.

Qu Hongyang changed the question again, "Do you know what you are looking for?"

Instinctively, Yi Ange wanted to nod, but he didn't.Even if he is as chaotic as he is now, he has to admit that Qu Hongyang asked a good question.

He didn't know what he was looking for.Maybe it's just the answer to something, maybe it's the connection between all people and things, maybe, just want to find the figure of Yi Mingguang among the many complicated events.

But no matter what the reason is, he has not found the answer so far.

Qu Hongyang smiled, "Brother Jing is very worried about you."

"Jing Rong?" Yi Ange was a little surprised, "Is he worried about me?"

After returning, Jing Rong gave him the absolute right to use the reference room, and in the following four days, Yi Ange never saw him again.Mature adults mostly don't intervene in each other's private affairs, Yi Ange thought that he was not interested in his own affairs at all.

Qu Hongyang also seemed surprised by his reaction, pointing to the lunch box in his hand, "Brother Jing asked me to bring it to you. He's busy recently, so it's not convenient to come here."

Yi Ange looked down at the half-cooked rice, and a feeling of emotion slowly stirred in his heart.

He maintained his facial expression without letting Qu Hongyang see it, and said with a smile, "Then please thank him for me."

"You guys should say it yourself, I'm not a microphone." Qu Hongyang raised his hands exaggeratedly, making a gesture of surrender, "Brother Jing should be back this afternoon."

"What is he up to?"

"Find an explanation for that crack." Qu Hongyang said, "I don't know why the crack in the city center still exists. Brother Jing and the others are going to complete the history of this city and find a reasonable explanation for this crack, otherwise Over time, there is no guarantee that there will be no more incidents."

Yi Ange nodded in understanding.It's like Tang Huang did something to fill the gap in history after killing Zhou Min to save his daughter.Yi Ange has always wanted to know what he did, but Tang Huang has been locked in a special cell since he came back, and refused to answer any questions.

"Okay, you can eat first." Qu Hongyang stood up, "Don't be bored here all the time, go back and rest first, if you really can't do it, ask An Liya for some sleep aids, at least get a good night's sleep."

He walked to the door, turned around and said with a smile, "This is what Brother Jing asked me to tell you."

His face was full of meaningful teasing, Yi Ange waved at him and said, "Thank you."

It was a long time after Qu Hongyang left that Yi Ange touched his ears, feeling that the heat that surged into his head just now had not completely subsided.

He didn't know why Jing Rong said this to himself.Whether it's the concern between ordinary friends or the care of subordinates, it seems that they have exceeded the distance that should exist between ordinary relationships.Even the smile on Qu Hongyang's face who came to deliver the message was so obvious that it was impossible for him as the person involved not to feel it.

What exactly does Jing Rong want to do?Jing Rong has been ignoring his almost self-harming reading materials, just caring about his body?Aren't you worried that he corrupted some information?Or will it cause trouble for others?But Jing Rong didn't say a word to stop him. He just asked someone to bring him a meal and say "remember to rest" when he was about to lose his hold and wanted to hold on.

To this day, Yi Ange still can't figure out Jing Rong's temperament.

After filling the stomach, sleepiness comes as promised.Yi Ange looked at the documents in the room, smiled wryly, locked the door and left.

Before returning to the dormitory, he went to An Liya first, not to ask for some sleep aids, but to borrow something.

The huge glass case looked empty, containing nothing.Yi Ange tapped the side wall lightly, and after waiting for a while, he saw that the inside of the box seemed like ink dripping into clear water, and a black mist gradually gathered, eventually forming a limp creature, curled up at the bottom of the box.

Xie Feng leaned against the door frame on one side, raised his eyebrows and asked him, "Are you sure?"

Yi Ange smiled, "Yes."

He nodded to Xie Feng, "I'm sorry to trouble you."

Xie Feng scratched his head and clicked his tongue, "Okay...it's not a troublesome thing, after all, it's your nightmare. You set a time, and I'll wake you up when it's time."

Yi Ange looked at his watch.It's one o'clock in the afternoon, "Then three hours."

"Row."

After four days, Yi Ange lay on his bed again, feeling extremely exhausted physically, but still quite fresh in consciousness.He turned his head to look at Nightmare on the bedside table, that guy seemed to be a little afraid of him, hiding away from him, trembling, not knowing what he was thinking.

Yi Ange didn't know why he suddenly wanted to do this.He just felt that if he could go back to his dream again, he might be able to see something clearly.

He reached out to open the lid of the glass box and poured the nightmare onto his own shadow.

The curtains in the bedroom were drawn tightly, and the little lantern that Jing Rong gave him floated in the air, emitting a faint light.In such a gentle environment, Yi Ange slowly closed his eyes.

After that, his consciousness was stagnant for a long time, and when he began to regain consciousness, he found himself standing next to the stone lion in the basement center.The surroundings are empty, there is no evil, and there are no man-faced spiders.

Yi Ange looked around and came to the stone lion.

The majestic appearance of the stone lion was as usual, with its eyes straight ahead, looking at the other end of the corridor.Yi Ange couldn't touch its head, but could only touch its feet, and said softly, "Thank you."

This thank you seems a bit late.The stone lion didn't move at all, and he didn't know if he heard what he said.

Yi Ange walked around behind the stone lion, and there were some photos hanging on the wall here.He hadn't looked carefully before, but now he found that in his dream, some old and yellowed photos became clearer.

He saw a group photo of Yi Mingguang and Jing Rong's father when he was young, a panoramic bird's-eye view of the base before it was attacked, and a group photo of Jing Rong's parents.He even saw Jing Rong when he was a child, the little one was wrapped in swaddling clothes, and was gently hugged by his mother.

Yi Ange took down that photo and found another one behind it.It was a family of four. The young couple was holding their newborn child, and Yi Mingguang stood behind them. They were laughing, and the child was also laughing. Everyone looked very happy.

Yi Ange looked at the couple.He didn't have much memory of them, and he didn't know when the photo was taken.It could be their wedding anniversary, it could be his first birthday, or any other day in their lives.In front of the content of the photo, the date is not so important.

Yi Ange looked at that photo for a long time, put back the photo of Jing Rong and his mother, and put his family photo in his arms.

A voice came from behind, "This is a dream, you can't take it out."

Yi Ange turned around and saw Jing Rong standing behind him as expected.

He laughed, walked out from behind the stone lion, came to Jing Rong, stretched out his fist and tapped his chest, "Are you real, or my dream?"

Jing Rong frowned, but there was no confusion on his face, he grabbed his hand and held it in his palm.When the familiar temperature came, Yi Ange smiled even brighter, withdrew his hand, and said, "It seems to be true."

"What do you want to do?" Jing Rong asked.

Yi Ange turned his head to look at the white mist-like chaos not far away, and said, "I want to take another look at the last layer of the dream."

There, there was the fear buried deep in his heart.The laboratory, the man in white robe, the experimental subject put on the operating bed... He has to find out when these seeds were planted, was it when he went back 30 years ago, or earlier?Or, if he stayed longer in that dream, would he see Yi Mingguang's shadow?

Jing Rong looked at him quietly, her tone became gentle.

"You know," he said, "some things may never have a perfect answer."

He reached out and opened Yi Ange's coat pocket, took out the photo, glanced at it, threw it into the air, and the photo flew back to the photo wall.

The stone lion moved.It shook its gray mane vigorously, and jumped from the top of the two of them to the ground.

Jing Rong took the lead in jumping on the back of the stone lion, then bent down, and stretched out his hand to Yi Ange, "Come on."

Yi Ange looked up at him, "You just said, maybe you can't find the answer."

"That's after the end," Jing Rong said expressionlessly, "Before that, you can be willful."

Yi Ange laughed, grabbed his hand and jumped up, sitting behind Jing Rong, "Because this is my dream?"

Jing Rong urges the stone lion to stand up and run into the chaos.

"Yes. Because this is your dream."

Yi Ange stopped talking, grabbed Jing Rong's waist with both hands, and sneaked close to his body.Jing Rong didn't respond, and he didn't look back from the beginning to the end.

The stone lion continued to accelerate in the chaos, and Yi Ange saw some images appearing in the surrounding white light, as if a movie was being played backwards, and the images became clearer as they ran forward.

In the picture are his various life in the past 20 years.The pictures flashed like a lantern, he saw himself and Yueqing running around for the commission, he saw himself huddled in a small office to sleep, he saw his grandfather's funeral, the university graduation party, the path he walked to and from high school... The final picture was fixed on a house.

It was a country house, with a yard outside the house that was larger than the house, where various fruits and vegetables were planted.There is a locust tree surrounded by three people on the right hand side. The time in the picture should be early spring. The locust tree has just sprouted new buds, and there are sporadic small flower buds on the branches in spring. There are children's toys piled up under the tree, not far away , is a firm swing made of thick branches, and the white seat is slowly shaking with the spring breeze.

Yi Ange glanced at the hut, and quickly looked away.

"That was my former home." He looked over Jing Rong's shoulder to the back of Shishi's head, and his tone was calm, as if he was telling a story about someone else's house, "I lived there when my parents were in trouble. I had a long vacation. Grandpa would come here to accompany me and teach me a lot, he always said..."

"Okay." Jing Rong interrupted him, "If you don't want to say it, don't force it."

Yi Ange smiled silently, stopped talking, and just wrapped his hands around Jing Rong's waist and clasped them tightly.

The stone lion quickly ran to the end.Yi Ange saw another exit from the chaos, and after that was the deep darkness that seemed to swallow people up.

The stone lion stopped before the exit.Yi Ange was a little puzzled, but Jing Rong let him go down alone.

"Go by yourself." Jing Rong sat on the lion's back and said to him, "I'll wait for you here."

Yi Ange was a little puzzled, but still nodded and walked towards the exit.

After taking two steps, he stopped again and asked, "What if I fail?"

"I'm right here to pick you up." Jing Rong looked at him and said calmly and naturally.

Although it wasn't consolation, Yi Ange still felt a bit of peace of mind.He calmed down and started to walk.

"and many more."

Yi Ange stopped for the second time, turned around and looked over.

Jing Rong jumped off the stone lion, walked up to him, and looked down at him.

Yi Ange looked at the tall man. He saw Jing Rong's face getting closer and closer to him, and finally stopped at a distance that he said was not close. Then Jing Rong said, "You still owe me one..."

"What?" Yi Ange didn't catch the second half of what he said.

Jing Rong kissed him on the lips.

Volume Four Monsters