fictionpage Chapter 113 is cursed again!
Chapter 113 is cursed again!
Chapter 113 is cursed again! (First update, 5.2k words)
Li Jiuhe looked puzzled and turned to look out the window.
He could feel this strange palpitation coming from all directions, overwhelming him, as if he had fallen into a vast ocean, with invisible seawater surging in from all sides.
"What's causing this feeling?"
After confirming that it was just palpitations and there was no other danger, Li Jiuhe looked at Luo Shuo.
Luo Shuo lay on the bed, seemingly not nervous at all, and replied, "This is the ability of the Order Correctors. They are correcting the common people in this area's perception of the world. It can also be considered a kind of—cognitive intervention."
"Order correction?" Li Jiuhe was surprised.
At this moment, he finally had the most direct understanding of sequencers like the Order Rectifiers.
I had known before that this world seemed ordinary and commonplace, with most humans living peaceful and contented lives. I had never heard of any Sequencers or any strange Sequence objects, because of the existence of Order Correctors.
These restorers periodically perform an order correction in their respective regions, bringing the perceptions of people who don't need to know the truth of this world back to their established course.
So to ordinary people who are completely unaware, the world is still just as ordinary and beautiful, with nothing special about it.
However, since he had never experienced it firsthand before, Li Jiuhe was not clear about some of the details of the order correction.
He asked Luo Shuo, "How extensive is the scope of an order restorer's corrections?"
Luo Shuo, who had already closed his eyes and looked like he was about to fall asleep again, forced his eyelids open upon hearing this and replied, "Vast, enough to cover several cities like Pearl City. This is their exclusive ability, unimaginable to ordinary people."
"So, at this very moment, an Order Rectifier is carrying out order rectification in multiple cities, including Pearl City?" Li Jiuhe exclaimed in astonishment.
Luo Shuo nodded: "Yes, but usually it's not just one Order Rectifier, but multiple ones acting together, so it's possible that half of the entire northeastern region of Tian Shu Kingdom is currently undergoing Order Rectification."
One thing Li Jiuhe was clear about was that these order restorers were all bedridden vegetative patients. Although they could not actually move, their mental activity was exceptionally developed.
Moreover, their modifications to the world order are passively triggered, and are only triggered when they sense that the normal operation of a certain order is approaching a critical point.
Before reaching that critical point, all the order restorers in the region will initiate corrections, just like in the current situation.
However, this correction is ineffective for all Sequencers; it only applies to ordinary humans.
Those within the coverage area will experience the same palpitation that Li Jiuhe is currently feeling, as if enveloped by seawater, because they are sensing the spiritual power emanating from the Order Rectifier.
This shows how powerful these guys are, but thankfully their numbers are also very small.
Furthermore, because it cannot move and the sequence ability belongs to the "mission" category, it does not pose a threat to humans.
Although Si Mingyu's mutated Order Modifier has already posed a threat, he may be the only one, and there have been no "mutated Modifiers" before, so everything is still in the research stage, and we have very little information about this.
Of course, after the incident in Wangchuan City, the mutated Order Restorers will now be under the special care of headquarters.
It's even possible that they would carry out humane destruction immediately after discovery.
Li Jiuhe's palpitations didn't disappear until more than ten minutes later, while Luo Shuo, who was used to the feeling from traveling to various cities all year round, quickly fell asleep again.
Li Jiuhe didn't know when he fell asleep. He had a dream in which Tong Cheng entered the deserted wooden house as he wished, and also met his teacher and his daughter.
In the dream, Tong Cheng stood in front of Li Jiuhe. He asked Tong Cheng if Li Yi was alright, but Tong Cheng stammered and couldn't understand what he was saying.
This made Li Jiuhe feel anxious.
Finally, the commotion woke him up abruptly; his body twitched violently, and he opened his eyes.
He found his forehead covered in sweat, and it was already getting light outside the window.
Li Jiuhe hasn't been sleeping well lately; he has all sorts of dreams whenever he falls asleep, including the one he just had.
"Dream?"
He suddenly paused, remembering Shao Gang, the head of the Equipment Department of the Investigation Bureau. Shao Gang was a master of dreams; it was he who, in his dream, confirmed that Tong Cheng's teacher was in an abandoned wooden house.
Could Shao Gang contact Tong Cheng through a dream?
Li Jiuhe suddenly felt a little tempted.
Because Shao Gang's dream manipulation abilities are extremely strong and he can control them autonomously, his abilities are two levels higher than those of dream demons.
After things are settled here, if he is unable to enter the cabin or contact Tong Cheng, Li Jiuhe plans to immediately return to the capital headquarters and ask Shao Gang for help.
Hearing the sounds of washing up in the bathroom, Luo Shuo quickly got up and came to the bathroom door with some surprise.
"Brother Li, aren't you sleepy? You went to bed so late last night and got up so early this morning."
Li Jiuhe spat out the toothpaste foam in his mouth and shook his head: "I'm worried that something might happen to Zhang Song, the cursed one we're looking for, so I'm thinking of going there as soon as possible."
Luo Shuo nodded: "Okay, I'll go wake Ma Li up."
I had just finished washing up when Huang Guozhong called.
Because Li Jiuhe was worried that something might have happened to Zhang Song last night, and he couldn't get in touch with him, he mentioned it to Huang Guozhong.
Although Huang Guozhong was an honest and unassuming investigator, he took the matter very seriously and immediately began to investigate.
However, only now have we found a clue.
"Investigator Li, I've investigated Zhang Song's situation. His family said he went to study under his tutor, and they haven't been able to contact him."
"Mentor? Study?" Li Jiuhe asked, puzzled.
Huang Guozhong explained, "It's like this: our bureau and other city investigation bureaus organized an event where people with similar abilities from nearby cities could exchange ideas and help each other improve. Zhang Song, as a curse user, has a mentor who is a curse master from the neighboring city of Xingtai. These past few days, he's been leading his students in training and exchange—"
"A sorcerer?"
Upon hearing the words "spellcaster," Li Jiuhe felt a chill run down his spine.
Huang Guozhong continued, "Zhang Song just left Mingzhu yesterday and went to Xingtai City. Because it was a group exchange activity, he thought the Investigation Bureau knew about it, so he didn't report it."
"How many sequencers of similar level as spellcasters are there in the nearby cities?" Li Jiuhe tried to ask.
Luo Shuo, who was standing next to him, listened to his words but did not say anything. He simply held up one finger.
Then Huang Guozhong's voice came through the phone: "I need to check to find out the specifics, but there aren't many sorcerers. It's already quite good if one appears in a few cities."
Li Jiuhe suspected that Zhang Song's mentor might be the guest who stayed in room 1808 across the street a few days ago.
However, if these people have been conducting training and exchanges, they will most likely have alibis.
"Is their training and exchange location in Xingtai City?"
"Yes."
"Could you contact the other trainees?"
"I'll give you this sorcerer's name and contact information."
Huang Guozhong quickly sent the sorcerer's phone number to Li Jiuhe's mobile phone. It was clear that the sorcerer was someone their investigation bureau frequently cooperated with, and they should be quite familiar with him.
In this way, the suspicion surrounding this sorcerer is decreasing, but Li Jiuhe has not relaxed his vigilance towards this person.
He immediately made the call.
This time, the phone rang a few times before being answered, and a middle-aged woman's voice came from the other end: "Feed?"
Li Jiuhe was taken aback. He assumed the sorcerer was a man based on the name and asked, "Excuse me, are you Zhou Yiwen?"
"Zhou Yiwen is my father. May I ask who you are? Do you need to see him?" the middle-aged woman asked.
Because he had not obtained any further information about this sorcerer, Li Jiuhe realized at this moment that Zhou Yiwen was already quite old.
"My name is Li Jiuhe, from the Capital Investigation Bureau. I do have something to discuss with him," Li Jiuhe said directly.
The woman seemed to be taken aback for a moment before replying, "Please wait a moment, let me see if my father is awake yet. He hasn't been feeling well lately."
"OK."
Li Jiuhe held his phone and waited. Because he had the phone on speakerphone, Luo Shuo and Ma Li next to him could hear everything clearly.
A moment later, a rustling sound came from the other side, and soon an old voice rang out.
The voice sounded like the speaker was in their seventies or eighties, and it definitely sounded like they were in poor health, lacking energy and with a hoarse voice.
"Feed".
"Is this Zhou Yiwen, the sorcerer? I am Li Jiuhe, an investigator from the Capital Bureau. I would like to ask you about some things concerning your student, Zhang Song."
"Zhang Song, are you also looking for Zhang Song?" the old voice suddenly asked.
"Yes, I haven't been able to contact him." Li Jiuhe nodded. "Why isn't he with you?"
"exist."
Zhou Yiwen's tone sounded very bad, but it was hard to say whether it was because he was unwell or because of the matter.
He continued, "But I'm looking for him too."
Li Jiuhe and Luo Shuo exchanged glances, feeling that this guy's words were strange.
"Since he's with you, why are you looking for him too?"
"Sigh, it's hard to explain in just a few words —"
"It's okay, tell me slowly. I'm coming over with my colleagues now, and we'll figure out a solution."
Li Jiuhe intuitively felt that the key to this matter lay with the curse master, or Zhang Song, the one who uttered the curse, and he needed to find out the truth as soon as possible.
Moreover, Xingtai City is right next to Mingzhu City, about 300 kilometers away, and a high-speed train can take you there very quickly.
Through the phone call, Li Jiuhe learned that the problem stemmed from a training and exchange program organized by Zhou Yiwen.
Zhou Yiwen is indeed a skilled sorcerer, but he is too old, already ninety-two years old this year, and has not left Xingtai City for many years.
Besides assisting the local investigation bureau in completing some cases, he mainly teaches newly awakened or long-awaited cursed individuals, most of whom come from nearby cities.
This time, including Zhang Song, a total of four cursed individuals entered the training program yesterday, but all four have disappeared.
Even Zhou Yiwen himself is currently unable to determine their location.
He didn't go into details about the specific project over the phone, only saying that he would discuss it with Li Jiuhe in person.
Luo Shuo immediately booked tickets online, but they soon discovered a problem—Ma Li didn't have an ID card.
However, for the investigators at the General Administration, this matter was easy to resolve.
Li Jiuhe told Huang Guozhong not to ask why, but just to have the police station issue a new ID card for Ma Li.
Her name is "Ma Li", and her birth information is filled in according to her own wishes.
Ma Li originally wanted to fill in that she was exactly eighteen years old because she found out that the best age for women is eighteen, but Li Jiuhe and Luo Shuo immediately rejected it.
"While it's undeniable that you've become younger and more beautiful, you don't look eighteen at all," Luo Shuo suggested. "Just fill in 24 or 25, that should be fine."
Ma Li finally accepted Luo Shuo's suggestion.
As for the address, it was Nanfeng Town, since it is the closest human town to Dragon Ridge Mountain.
Less than an hour later, Huang Guozhong personally delivered the ID card to the hotel.
While checking out, Li Jiuhe asked about the hotel's surveillance footage to see if he could see what the person who stayed in room 1808 looked like.
Unfortunately, the hotel's surveillance cameras have been undergoing upgrades and replacements for the past few days, and they weren't filmed during the time they stayed there.
Not long after, Huang Guozhong personally drove them to the high-speed rail station.
During this time, he also handed over the entry information of Yu Minmin that he had investigated to Li Jiuhe.
Yu Minmin entered Mingzhu City by plane the night before last, using her own identity information, and there was nothing unusual about it according to the airport surveillance footage.
No one could tell that this was a controlled corpse, and the person controlling the corpse had arrived with Yu Minmin.
The man in the surveillance footage looks the same as the curled-up corpse found on the sofa in that residential area.
It seems the corpse controller made a special trip to Wangchuan City, then brought Yu Minmin's body back to Mingzhu. It didn't take long; the next day, the controller took Yu Minmin to Nanfeng Town.
It seems that the murders of the petty thugs in Nanfeng Town were also committed by Minmin.
Then Yu Minmin was dealt with by Li Jiuhe and others, her body was burned, and then the Corpse Controller's plan failed. She died at home with her hands on her head and a painful expression on her face.
Meanwhile, the body of a suspected cannibalistic person was also found in his home.
The Bureau of Investigation has checked the face of the body and found that it was not registered, so it is impossible to determine what sequence the individual belonged to.
In this way, all the clues seem to point to Zhang Song or Zhou Yiwen.
At the same time, Huang Guozhong told Li Jiuhe and others that they had performed an autopsy on the deceased body controller and found that his brain tissue had been shattered by a mysterious force, and it was no exaggeration to say that it was a complete mess, but it was not visible on the outside.
The exact cause of death cannot be determined at this time.
Upon arriving at the security checkpoint of the high-speed rail station, Li Jiuhe and Luo Shuo turned to look at Ma Li.
"Are you sure you can do it?" Li Jiuhe asked.
Ma Li nodded confidently: "The human I transform into now is so realistic that it can perfectly mimic human bones, muscles, and heartbeats."
Luo Shuo scoffed: "If you can imitate perfectly, why were you seen through by Brother Li and me at a glance back then?"
Ma Li gave him a reproachful look: "My abilities hadn't evolved yet back then! If I had eaten the corpse-controlling flesh a day earlier, I would have been even stronger."
"Are you sure everything's alright?" Li Jiuhe asked, still worried.
"Sure."
Ma Li was the first to rush through the security gate, and sure enough, after a series of checks, she passed through perfectly.
Seeing this, Li Jiuhe couldn't help but feel suspicious and turned to look at the passing passengers.
He suddenly began to wonder how many of the people he saw were real humans, and how many were other sequence beings in disguise.
As for the three pots of corpse-controlling flesh that Ma Li brought, they were wrapped in green plants beforehand, making them look like several pots of succulents.
The three of them soon arrived in Xingtai City. After leaving the high-speed rail station, they went straight to the address Zhou Yiwen had given them, without even leaving their luggage at the hotel.
This is a large villa located by the lake, which shows that Zhou Yiwen, the sorcerer, comes from a wealthy family.
Before they even went inside, Li Jiuhe warned Luo Shuo, "Don't touch anything—"
Before he could finish speaking, Luo Shuo nodded: "I know, this is the home of a sorcerer, who knows if his belongings are cursed!"
Because he had made a reservation in advance, Zhou Yiwen knew they were coming soon, so he got up and tidied himself up. He was being taken care of and sat in a wheelchair waiting for the guests to arrive.
This was an old man who had lost all his hair. His body was thin and his skin was like sunken clay, wrinkled and clinging tightly to his aged bones.
The first impression Li Jiuhe and the other two had upon seeing Zhou Yiwen was that he was nearing the end of his life.
To say he's old and frail is an understatement; Zhou Yiwen gives the impression that he might not see the sun rise again at any moment.
The woman standing behind the wheelchair was also quite old; she was Zhou Yiwen's daughter. Although she sounded like a middle-aged woman on the phone, she was actually over sixty.
After Li Jiuhe and the other two sat down and introduced themselves, a servant brought out hot tea and snacks that had been prepared in advance.
Then Zhou Yiwen smiled and said something that surprised them.
"I'm sorry to have made you laugh. I was actually able to go hiking, fishing, and complete the tasks assigned to me by the Xingtai City Investigation Bureau on my own last week. My body started to break down seven days ago."
"Why so fast?" Li Jiuhe couldn't help but ask.
Luo Shuo, being more knowledgeable, asked, "Is it because you, Master Zhou, overused your magical power?"
Li Jiuhe suddenly realized that he had heard Luo Shuo say that powerful sorcerers could make their words come true, but each time their words came true, they would suffer a certain backlash.
After all, the use of such extraordinary abilities cannot be without a price.
He paused for a moment when he thought of this.
Is the ability to define one's own tasks defying the heavens? And what is the price to pay?
It seems that no one has noticed this.
Moreover, the opera singers in Tongcheng are also incredibly skilled, yet we haven't seen any backlash or consequences.
There may be differences between different abilities, and the use of some abilities may have certain side effects.
Li Jiuhe was initially suspicious that the sorcerer in front of him was someone who had plotted against him, but if his body had really started to break down seven days ago, the timeline simply didn't add up.
Just seven days ago, he was still at the headquarters in the capital and had no idea when he would be coming to Dragon Ridge Mountain.
Judging from the state of this sorcerer's now-collapsed body, he would probably have a hard time dealing with an ordinary person, let alone himself.
Zhou Yiwen shook his head: "It's not due to overuse. This has nothing to do with you, so let's not talk about it. You want to find Zhang Song, is it to have him remove the curse from you two?"
Upon hearing this, Li Jiuhe and Luo Shuo were taken aback.
Seeing their bewildered expressions, Zhou Yiwen exclaimed, "So you didn't know you were under a curse!"