Chapter 1 Strange Object
Thick clouds shrouded the sky above the city. The collapsed and broken buildings in the distance were still standing crookedly. The turbid air with a slightly fishy smell filled every corner of the city. The setting sun at dusk always had a strange scarlet color.

Like other places, Tianchang is also a wounded city.

Li Yi, who had just finished his part-time job, was now walking on the deserted and dilapidated streets of the old city, carrying something in his hand. He skillfully and carefully avoided the puddles on the ground, and then quickly entered an alley.

The alleys are interconnected and connect various places in the old city. Walking through the small roads can save a lot of time.

"Cough cough!"

Li Yi, who was walking on his own, suddenly smelled a rotten stench. He couldn't help coughing twice, but did not dare to stay for long. He just quickened his pace and quickly moved away from the area covered by the stench.

Because he knew that the stench was formed when a person's body rotted after death.

The people at the bottom of the society in the city are like rats in the sewers. It is already very difficult for them to maintain a normal life. Even if they die, they can only rot and grow maggots quietly in a dark corner until the stench can no longer be covered up, and then they will be discovered by the sanitation team and cleaned up.

After all, the world has changed. Even in well-ordered cities, the mortality rate remains high.

"I don't know how lucky I am this time, whether I can make it through this."

Li Yi, who was only twenty years old, sighed helplessly in his heart, with a hint of confusion and fatigue in his eyes, but he soon became determined again and his steps were faster than usual.

Following an address in his memory, he walked through the alley and came to a community with several decades of history.

The community is not big, with only four buildings, which is very common in old urban areas.

Even though the environment in the old city is not good, at least it is safer than other places and accidents are less likely to happen. So there are actually many people living in the seemingly dilapidated and depressed old city. They are like ants gnawing at everything in this city and barely surviving. Li Yi is one of them.

Wangmen Community.

"Yes, that's right, it's here." Li Yi found the location on the address.

However, when he entered the community, he found that a lot of people gathered in the open space in the middle of the community. In the middle of the crowd, he even saw the figure of the investigator.

"Nothing will happen, right?" His expression changed slightly, and then he moved closer curiously.

"I heard that the resident of 701 in Building died. He died tragically, with blood flowing into the corridor. This is definitely not a normal death. It must be some special accident, otherwise the investigators would not come to this shabby place."

"Who lives in Building 701, ? I have no idea who lives there. Does anyone know him?"

"The one with the big wavy hair and the brightly dressed one."

"Oh, now that you mention it I remember. Her name is Liu Li, she's 32 years old, single and has big breasts."

"what?"

After hearing this, many people around looked at him in surprise.

He was a middle-aged man in his thirties, who was shaking his head with a look of deep emotion.

At this time, an investigator walked down from the corridor of Building 4, and behind him were several medical workers. They were carrying a body bag, which should have contained the body of Liu Li.

"What's the situation up there?" The lead investigator was named Wang Jian, and he was in charge of this old city area.

Although Wang Jian is only in his twenties with an ordinary appearance, his eyes are very sharp. In dimly lit places, they seem to emit a faint light, which makes people feel inexplicably palpitating.

"Captain Wang, the deceased's body was cut into more than a dozen pieces and the scene was very bloody. However, based on the current investigation, the cause of death should be suicide." Another investigator walked over, his face very solemn, and whispered some of the situations from Room 701.

Wang Jian nodded with a calm expression, as if he was no longer surprised by such situations. After all, he had encountered even more bizarre incidents.

"Any other clues?"

Another investigator said: "There is a resident opposite Room 701 who seems to have seen something."

After saying this, he gestured and a young man about twenty-five years old was brought over.

"I'm investigator Wang Jian. Tell me, what did you see in Room 701?" Wang Jian asked.

The young man said nervously, "I, I saw a group of people walking into Room 701 one after another last night."

"One after another?" Wang Jian frowned slightly: "Are you kidding me?"

"No, absolutely not. People did walk in one after another." The young man said with certainty.

Wang Jian's face darkened, and he suddenly stretched out his hand and grabbed the young man's neck. He then stared coldly into his pupils and threw him aside. "Another crazy one who has practiced cultivation. Take him away."

"Yes."

The young man immediately struggled, "No, I'm not crazy, I'm not crazy. Someone did walk into Room 701 one after another. That person was the murderer. She didn't commit suicide. I have no problem. I was practicing on the door yesterday and saw it clearly."

But the staff member who was traveling with him didn't waste any time and took him out of the community.

The middle-aged man who was watching the excitement shouted at this moment: "The deceased Liu Li can be brought out one after another, why can't the murderer go in and kill people one after another? What right do the investigators have to say that others are crazy?"

"He's not normal, so are you not normal too?" Wang Jian glanced at him and asked, "Do you want to be taken away too?"

The middle-aged man then immediately spat in the direction of the young man: "This lunatic should be taken away. I must have been influenced by him just now. We must not let this lunatic go back. Maybe he is the murderer who killed Liu Li."

"I said, Liu Li committed suicide, the case is closed." Wang Jian repeated it again.

"It seems that the suicide cases here are just coincidences and have nothing to do with what I am going to do."

Li Yi, who was watching the fun, remained silent. He just quietly carried the bag and left the crowd, walking towards the first building. This matter had nothing to do with him. He came here just to make money and didn't want to cause unnecessary trouble.

"Wangmen Community, Building 201, Room ."

Li Yi took a deep breath, came to this unfamiliar address, and knocked on the old door.

Boom boom boom!
The dull sound echoed in the dim corridor, and there was silence all around.

half an hour.

The old door opened, letting in the yellow light, and at the same time a voice was heard from inside.

"Come in." The voice was very low.

Li Yi walked in slightly nervously.

The living room was simply furnished with a sofa and a few wooden chairs. The bedroom doors on both sides were closed, and under the yellow light, the space seemed a bit claustrophobic.

"Friend, stop looking. You're late. You're the only one missing. We're all waiting for you." There were several people sitting on the sofa, both men and women. The one who spoke was a young man in a sweatshirt.

Li Yi didn't say anything, just looked at the person sitting on the chair opposite.

The man's body was shrouded in the shadow of the light. At this moment, he raised his head slightly. His eyes were exceptionally bright, flashing with a faint light, as if containing some special power that made people dare not look directly at him.

"My name is Lao Ya, and your name is Li Yi, right? You are very young. You look to be in your early twenties at most. Tell me why you want to take on this dangerous mission." The man who called himself Lao Ya spoke. His voice was still low, giving people an inexplicable sense of oppression.

Li Yi calmed down and said seriously, "I'm short of money."

The man in a sweatshirt on the sofa behind him chuckled: "Nonsense, who comes here to take this kind of dangerous work is not short of money? Life is worthless these days, and there are plenty of people who are eager to do life-threatening work."

Li Yi still ignored him and continued to explain: "My parents are Silent Ones and have been in a coma for six years."

"Both your parents are Silent? The fact that you can live for six years means that your family has two medical cabins. Even if a medical cabin is second-hand, it is worth at least one million. You don't look like you are short of money." Old Crow's voice turned cold: "Give me a reasonable explanation, don't play tricks."

"The medical cabin is broken and needs to be repaired. The repair fee is 50,000. I can't afford this money. I saw someone in the group introducing a job and said that he would be paid 100,000 after it was completed, so I came to try my luck." Li Yi's heart trembled, and he explained his situation in detail again. Perhaps he believed Li Yi's words, or perhaps he saw the uneasiness and urgency in Li Yi's eyes, his tone changed, and then he smiled softly: "It has been six years to support two Silent Ones. Even if there is some family wealth, it has been used up completely. And the medical cabin malfunctioned. In this case, it is indeed urgent to need a sum of money. After all, without the maintenance of the medical cabin, the Silent One will not survive for more than 30 days. It seems that you want to fight for your parents. Very good. Filial sons like you are rare these days. In this case, I will give you this opportunity. Your reasons are passed, sit down."

Li Yi heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing this, and found a stool next to the sofa and sat down.

"The last person has arrived. If anyone wants to leave before this, you can go now. I won't stop you. In ten seconds, I will start to explain the mission." There was a hint of threat in the old crow's bright eyes.

Obviously, this is telling them that if they don't leave now, it will be impossible to regret later.

In the dim living room, everyone fell into silence.

Time passed by second by second.

No one left here during this period.

"Very good, it seems that you all have reasons to fight hard. In this case, I will now officially begin to introduce the mission." Old Crow stood up at this moment.

At the same time, the tightly closed bedroom door next to it opened, and a man in a suit walked out, locked the door directly, and then stood at the door like a high wall to prevent anyone from escaping.

“Old Crow, stop wasting time. Just tell us what you want us to do. We can’t do anything that is too difficult. After all, we just want to make money, not lose our lives. Besides, we are ordinary people who have not practiced cultivation, and there are only a limited amount of things we can do.” The man in the sweatshirt was not nervous at all. He just grinned and said.

The old crow glanced at him and said, "Behave yourself."

The man in the hoodie shrugged, not taking it seriously.

What is there to be afraid of for those who dare to risk their lives to make money?

The other people seemed silent and did not interrupt Old Crow at this time.

Li Yi just listened quietly. He just hoped that the so-called mission would not be too dangerous. He also wanted to go back alive.

Seeing that everyone was keeping quiet, Old Crow said seriously, "Ten days ago, a building in the abandoned city was a little abnormal. Our people went in to search, but an accident happened and several people died. Only two ordinary people who had never practiced came back alive. One of them went crazy, and the other was seriously injured. He is still in the hospital and barely managed to save half of his life."

"The second time, my partner and I went to search the building again. Unfortunately, my partner died there, and I was the only one who was lucky enough to escape."

"But I got two key pieces of information from the two explorations. The first piece of information is that there is a high possibility of strange objects in that building."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's eyes widened with a look of disbelief.

"A rare object? How is that possible? The abandoned city area has been searched countless times, how could there be a rare object left?" The man in the hoodie stood up suddenly, his breathing becoming rapid.

Strange objects.

After the Tianqing incident, treasures from another world are said to possess magical powers from myths and legends.

Every rare item is priceless.

Countries around the world are unreasonably aggressive in recycling every rare object, and countless wars over rare objects have been triggered by this.

If ordinary people obtain rare items and voluntarily hand them over, the cash reward alone will be at least 1 billion. In addition, they can enter the Golden Academy unconditionally and will not be expelled for life. As for the villas in the stable area and honorary status, those are all included as invisible benefits.

But even with such a huge reward, there have only been two cases of voluntary handing over of rare items in the country.

Because in addition to possessing supernatural powers, rare objects can also allow ordinary people to change their fate and embark on a path of cultivation that far surpasses that of geniuses.

It only takes a few months to possess a rare item and the recipient will become extraordinary. But if you possess it for a few years, everyone will have to look up to you.

"Stop making empty promises. I don't believe there are any strange objects in the old city. The impact range of a strange object is at least five kilometers. Such a large area is affected. Do you think you are an investigator just for a living?" The speaker was a woman in a suspender skirt. She had a sexy figure, but there was a hint of disdain at the corner of her mouth.

Her words calmed down the others who were still in shock.

"You're right. One hundred thousand dollars to hire someone to find a priceless treasure. How ridiculous it sounds! If such a thing really existed, would we have known about it? This old town area would have been surrounded by people a long time ago." The man in the hoodie nodded in agreement with what the woman had said.

Li Yi and the rest of the people didn't say anything, they just watched quietly.

The old crow said in a low voice: "There are also different levels of rare objects. There are complete rare objects and incomplete rare objects. The top rare objects are certainly not something people like us can hope for, but if we are lucky, it is not impossible to find an incomplete rare object, or a fragment of a rare object."

"The mission for the five of you is simple. Go into that building and find the item. Even if you can't get it out, I'll give you $100,000 as long as you can locate it. If you can get it back, I'll give you $2 million each."

"You want us to risk our lives to help you find the treasure for just this little money? That's hard to do." The man in the sweatshirt suddenly grinned.

"What do you mean? Want to quit?" said the old crow.

"No, I mean to pay more." The man in the hoodie stared at him.

"Don't be greedy, or you may end up earning money but not spending it." Old Crow said coldly. At this moment his eyes were shining like a wild beast lurking in the darkness.

The man in the sweatshirt was not afraid. He said, "Do you dare to do it? If you kill me, this matter will fail. Once the investigators are attracted, you will suffer the greater loss. After all, our lives are worthless. But you are different. You have a bright future and a chance to come into contact with rare objects. It's not worth it to ruin everything for a few punks."

Then he turned to Li Yi and the others and said, "I am fighting for everyone's interests now, why don't you say a few words?"

"This mission is very dangerous. I require you to pay half of the deposit first. Otherwise, I won't go. Who knows if you will regret it later?" The woman in the suspender skirt said immediately.

Obviously, when it comes to rare items, everyone can't help but start raising the price.

Li Yi didn't want to back down either. He said, "I also think the money is a little short. In addition to paying a 50,000 deposit, you have to pay another 100,000 if you find what you want. As for taking it back, ordinary people like us still have some self-awareness and don't have the ability to do so."

Just as he finished speaking, a muscular man with a crew cut and a square face sitting on the sofa next to him stood up. His height was a bit exaggerated, nearly two meters, and his head almost touched the ceiling. Although he was just an ordinary person, he gave people a sense of extraordinary height.

"You bastard, since you have come to me, I will take the money regardless of whether the work is done or not. If you don't give it to me, I will smash your head with one punch." The man spoke in a dull tone, with a tone that did not brook refusal.

The last person left was a middle-aged man wearing glasses and slightly thin. He had been silent until now and said, "Old Crow, huh? Give me all the money from the four of them and I'll take care of this matter. But I want 30% of what you want after you get it back."

"."The old crow suddenly fell silent.

After a while, he said in a low voice: "I can see that you are all talented people who value money over life. If this is not a safe zone, I really want to kill you all."

The man in the hoodie was still grinning, the woman in the suspender skirt rolled her eyes and disapproved, the tall and burly man snorted disdainfully, and finally the man with glasses lowered his head slightly, adjusted his lenses, and a strange smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.

Only Li Yi seemed to behave normally, his eye corner twitched inexplicably and he looked a little uneasy.

But seeing that everyone was unmoved, Lao Ya decided to compromise after a brief consideration. After all, it would be troublesome to find another group of people, and he didn't want to cause any more trouble. Otherwise, once the news leaked, the situation would be beyond his control.

"Just do as Li Yi said, pay a deposit of 50,000 first, and then pay 100,000 after the deal is done. Don't bargain with me anymore, it's settled."

The others were silent for a moment, apparently accepting this condition.

"You haven't told me the second key piece of information yet." The man in the sweatshirt asked again.

The old crow said, "The second key information is that ordinary people will encounter fewer dangers when they enter that building. People like me who have embarked on spiritual practice are more likely to be targeted by danger. This is why I want to find you. Don't waste time, set off immediately."

As he said this, he signaled his men guarding the door to open it.

"I have another question." Li Yi said.

"If you have any questions, ask now." Old Crow said coldly.

"What kind of danger is there in that place you mentioned? Even you who have practiced cultivation cannot deal with it." Li Yi said: "This question is very important. At least we all know what we will face later."

"That building is haunted." After saying this, Lao Ya walked out of the room.

ghost?
Everyone was stunned for a moment, and under the yellow light, an eerie chill surged into their hearts.

(End of this chapter)