"Go ahead."
The officer scrolled the mouse slightly, keeping the page in place.
Now, the computer was fixed on the page with Zhu Yan's ID number.
On the other end of the line, the aunt anxiously read out the numbers, her voice trembling.
The officer leaned close to the screen, checking the numbers one by one.
Exactly the same.
Every single digit was exactly the same!
"Are you sure?" the officer asked, looking back at his superior.
The police captain realized something and signaled the officer to turn on the speakerphone.
"I'm sure, I'm sure," the aunt quickly said, earnestly reading it out again.
The captain leaned his head closer, pointing at the screen with his finger, checking it once more.
This time, his brows were tightly furrowed.
"Ma'am, do you have his contact information? A phone number, a WeChat ID, anything is fine."
The aunt read out another string of numbers.
"That's all," the captain confirmed. "Thank you for your cooperation."
After hanging up, he personally entered the search into the system.
As expected, the search results came up completely blank!
The captain's expression grew increasingly serious.
Unable to find a corresponding name for the ID number meant that this person's identity information had completely vanished.
The phone number search was also a blank!
"Report this immediately," he decisively ordered. "Report it to the higher-ups. This matter is very serious."
The officer immediately stood up from his seat.
"I'll go right now! Master, can I ask why?"
The captain wiped away his cold sweat.
"I've read the case files from that city. It might sound unbelievable to you, but the person we're trying to catch highly likely possesses the superpower to hide his own information."
"There's an even more serious possibility, which is..."
"Which is that he might be colluding with forces beyond our imagination, working hand in glove with them."
"He might even be one of them!"
He hurriedly ran out, and the officer had to follow.
"Master, then I'll go find Guan En right now to verify this issue!"
...
Zhu Yan slept for about ten hours, fully replenishing his energy.
By the time he opened his eyes feeling refreshed in the soft bedding, it was already seven o'clock in the evening.
Seven o'clock was exactly when the old city district was bustling.
Zhu Yan opened the window and looked out.
Milk tea shops, barbecue stalls, and various small eateries were brightly lit and lively. The sound of spatulas mixed with the aroma of food drilled straight into his ears and nose.
...He was hungry. Zhu Yan finally felt a long-lost appetite.
He went downstairs with his original face and randomly found a small shop that smelled pretty good, ordering a bowl of beef fried rice and a hot soup.
Right now, the police station didn't seem to have taken any further action, and [Hidden But Not Issued] would help hide all of his facial information.
Under these circumstances, moving around with his own face was actually the safest option.
A large plate of fragrant fried rice was served.
Zhu Yan gorged himself while staring at his palm for three seconds, opening the [Player Center].
The familiar four color blocks popped up.
Personal Information and Settings, Player Forum, Thriller Map, and Online Mall.
The broadcast after the novice dungeon was still fresh in his ears. The female voice had said that thriller currency and human currency could be exchanged with each other, though the current exchange rate wasn't high.
However, Zhu Yan had to follow the map's instructions and head to the nearest [Hall of Mourning].
This time, Zhu Yan chose to stare at the thriller map for three seconds to enter and view it.
"Mushroom soup," the landlady pushed a steaming bowl of thick soup over. "Enjoy your meal."
Zhu Yan mumbled his thanks.
He was highly concentrating his attention—
The Thriller Map interface was so shocking that it left him speechless.
In fact, the [Thriller Map] wasn't a simple flat map, but two parallel layers, top and bottom, each suspended in mid-air like a 3D model.
The distance between the upper and lower layers was about 30 centimeters. High-rise buildings, low houses, streets, and streetlights could all be seen clearly.
The upper layer map was the realistic architectural style Zhu Yan was familiar with. [Carnival Paradise] thoughtfully used a black caged bird to show Zhu Yan's current location.
Above this layer of the map floated the red words "Uncorroded World - Anwu City."
Zhu Yan looked carefully and found that some locations were tied with thin red threads.
These red threads connected them to certain buildings on the lower layer map.
Most of the buildings on the lower layer map were bizarre.
Zhu Yan saw densely packed dwellings resembling honeycombs, low building clusters like melted candles, and various houses and buildings growing strange horns or tentacles, as if they were living creatures.
Some of the buildings tied by the red threads had already been uprooted, and the red threads were slowly pulling them upward.
What was this?
The red threads meant they were forcibly connected by some kind of power. Did that mean the two worlds would eventually merge?
Would the merged world become as bizarre and eerie as the scenes in [Carnival Paradise]?
Zhu Yan inappropriately thought of the legend of the Old Man Under the Moon, and was then frightened by this hellish thought.
The aroma of pan-fried beef nicely buffered the thriller feeling this scene brought him.
Zhu Yan blinked, looked around the warm and bright small shop, and then continued to focus his gaze on the two-layer map.
In the layer belonging to [Carnival Paradise], a huge building with an exterior resembling a human head attracted Zhu Yan's attention.
The top of this head was abnormally pointed, and a head full of black hair floated eerily around the skull.
Its eyeballs, lips, and teeth were liquefied like metal thrown into a furnace. At first glance, it looked like a man crying with his mouth wide open.
The four red words [Hall of Mourning] floated brightly right in the center of the head.
Currently, it had detached from the map layer belonging to [Carnival Paradise], and its topmost part connected with the bottom of a certain building in the [Uncorroded World].
Zhu Yan grabbed the mushroom soup, took a sip, and tried to stare at the intersection of the two buildings.
The map at the intersection indeed magnified, and Zhu Yan was surprised to find that the map actually displayed the interior furnishings clearly.
So, when encountering a maze-type dungeon, could he cheat?
Zhu Yan silently read the red words that suddenly popped up.
"After verification, there is temporarily no dungeon descending in this area, so the original furnishings of the area can be displayed for you."
...Alright, no cheating.
The red words twisted and turned into a new line of location guidance.
"WE Coffee Shop, Basement 1, Wanxiang Plaza, May Street."
"Today's clearance password: Silence is the way home."
There was even a password?
Zhu Yan's curiosity was piqued.
Who was the password for?
Were there thriller creatures existing in this seemingly ordinary coffee shop?
"Note: The mall operates until 10:30 PM. The [Hall of Mourning] does not provide accommodation. If you need to go, please pay attention to the time."
Zhu Yan finished the last bite of his beef rice.
He turned on his phone; the time showed 7:50.
Taking a taxi to Wanxiang Plaza would take about 30 minutes.
If all went well, he could enter the [Hall of Mourning] by 8:30.
Two hours should be enough.
Zhu Yan didn't hesitate and immediately called a taxi.
...
Meanwhile.
Inside the police station, it was brightly lit.
Guan En sat among the experts of the special task force, a thin layer of cold sweat breaking out on his back.
This was simply unbelievable.
On the screen at the front of the room played all the surveillance footage they had found of Zhu Yan from train G3075 and various other locations, including the time Zhu Yan picked up the envelope at the courier station.
The bizarre part was that in every single piece of footage, the clear human figure Guan En remembered was completely gone.
In its place was a highly blurred, dark silhouette. Let alone a face, even the person's height, build, clothing, and hairstyle were completely indistinguishable!
Furthermore, this shadow was incredibly faint, almost blending seamlessly into the background.
The police officer leading the meeting wore a grim expression as he read out the general conclusions that everyone present had deduced over the course of the day.