The last time Xiao Jinyu came to Haidu City to assist in the investigation, he did not enter the headquarters of the Extermination Squad.
In most cities, the Users’ Committee, the Extermination Squad, and the Logic Research Institute are established together.
Haidu, however, is an exception.
The headquarters of the Haidu City Extermination Squad stands on a towering, steep sea cliff, with the Logic Research Institute located in the hollowed-out cliff below it. The Users’ Committee, on the other hand, is set up separately, quite a distance from the other two.
Arriving at the squad’s headquarters by car, Xiao Jinyu and Zhao Hen had just gotten out when a young man with a crew cut strode out of the white building.
Xu Qi greeted, “Long time no see!”
Zhao Hen laughed heartily, “Indeed, it’s been a while.”
Xiao Jinyu nodded in greeting to the other party.
Xu Qi was very familiar with Zhao Hen, and the two quickly became chummy, hooking arms as they walked. He led them into the quiet and elegant three-story white cottage, and as they walked, he said, “Thanks for coming over again. Recently, a lot of things have happened in Haidu: Zhang Haixiang’s jailbreak, the theft of the Court of Judgement, and just the day before yesterday, the disappearance of A55 Piggy Shampoo. Each event has kept us extremely busy, and all significant events.”
Xu Qi briefly recounted the incidents involving Zhang Haixiang and the Court of Judgement.
Zhao Hen had already explained the general situation to Xiao Jinyu on their way. Xu Qi said, “…Among these three incidents, Zhang Haixiang’s escape is serious but not fatal; Piggy Shampoo’s disappearance is concerning but not crucial. Even the death of a fifth-level user wouldn’t affect the overall situation.
“It’s the situation with the Court of Judgement.”
Xu Qi’s expression suddenly turned stern, his tone heavy, “Due to the disappearance of the Court of Judgement, Huo Lanxu’s execution has been temporarily postponed. That’s not the important part, though. The crucial thing is, Haidu will never have a second Court of Judgement. And nobody knows what Zhang Haixiang plans to do with the Court of Judgement he stole.”
Xiao Jinyu’s mind stirred slightly. He glanced at Xu Qi, who looked grave, and his brain rapidly processed the information.
Zhao Hen once mentioned that nine major cities in China possess a Court of Judgement.
This indicates that the Court of Judgement is not unique; there are at least nine of them. If it’s not a contaminant and can appear in nine instances, then it must be artificially created by humans. Given that it’s man-made, why can’t a tenth one be produced now?
The Court of Judgment, the Spear of Judgment.
The fact that there won’t be a tenth Court of Judgement in the world, could it be because it’s impossible to create a tenth Spear of Judgment…
Could the logic factors of Suzhou collapse?!
A myriad of thoughts had already flashed through his mind. Even though no one had mentioned that the Court of Judgement was created by Su Jiuzhou, Xiao Jinyu suddenly thought of linking the two. Recalling fragmented information that seemed unrelated, he couldn’t find a concrete clue, yet everything seemed to point toward this answer.
Zhao Hen anxiously inquired about the Court of Judgement, and Xu Qi responded with worry and helplessness.
Suddenly, the young man’s calm voice arose, “Are we certain it was Zhang Haixiang who stole it?”
Xu Qi was momentarily stunned, then turned to look at Xiao Jinyu, “We can’t be sure yet.”
“And are we certain that the person is Zhang Haixiang?”
Xu Qi looked at him in surprise, “Your reaction is the same as Colonel Su’s. The first thing Colonel Su did upon arriving in Haidu was to ask whether the captured second-level user was really ‘Wind Blowing Fart’ Zhang Haixiang. We can only say there’s a 99.99% chance it’s him because he possesses the ‘Wind Blowing Fart‘ logic skill.”
Xiao Jinyu pondered thoughtfully, about to speak.
Xu Qi preempted with a smile, “Were you going to ask if we’ve done a DNA test?”
Xiao Jinyu: “…”
He indeed wanted to ask that, but quickly dismissed the idea.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Xiao Jinyu: “Do you have Zhang Haixiang’s DNA?”
Xu Qi sighed, “Of course not. We’re not □□, the committee doesn’t just collect every user’s DNA for no reason, that would be a violation of privacy.”
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November 12th.
Xiao Jinyu’s eyes flickered with thought.
Zhao Hen nodded slightly, surprised, “The Dreamer came to Haidu? Makes sense, though. If she gets involved, she can meticulously recreate all the details of that day. If there’s anything we missed, she can precisely pinpoint it.”
Xiao Jinyu asked, “The Dreamer is…”
His voice suddenly stopped.
Zhao Hen made a curious sound, pulling out his phone. At the same time, Xiao Jinyu also retrieved his phone from his pocket.
After a moment.
The two looked up at each other, simultaneously saying:
“We found it!”
“It’s not a contaminant!”
Xu Qi stopped in his tracks, curiously looking back at the two users from Zhongdu, “What did you find?”
Zhao Hen briefly explained to Xu Qi about the strange mission Xiao Jinyu had taken on the day before heading to Haidu.
Upon hearing the end, Xu Qi expressed his surprise, “Someone was found in a contaminated area… a person?”
Xiao Jinyu’s gaze swiftly scanned the mission summary sent by Li Xiaoxiao. Li Xiaoxiao’s message was concise and clear, summarizing in just a few lines what the Eradication Squad had found in Contamination Zone 132… a person.
Yes.
Not a contaminant, nor a polluter.
But a living, breathing human being!
Zhao Hen’s thick eyebrows furrowed, “He’s not a user. The captain said they tested him with a detector, and he’s not a user. There’s no logic skill reaction on him.”
Xiao Jinyu wanted to say that the logic factors detector wasn’t always accurate; he had managed to evade Qi Simin’s detection at the subway station.
However…
“He has no face.”
His skin, white and smooth, tightly enveloped a thin, small frame. He wasn’t a polluter, but he was still a victim trapped in the web of logic skills!
This was all too strange.
The entire situation was shrouded in countless mysteries.
Why would the perpetrator use a logic skill to strip a living person of their face, yet not kill them, instead confining them deep within a contamination zone?
Contamination Zone 132 was a safe zone, but it wasn’t true that users would never enter it for tasks.
Within at most three months, users were bound to enter Contamination Zone 132, providing a chance to discover the faceless victim locked in chains in the factory warehouse.
The perpetrator not only didn’t want to kill him but also intentionally left behind a whole barrel of nutrient solution.
“According to the captain, when they opened that door, the room was filled with the faceless person’s excrement. He must have been locked there for at least two months. Yet he hadn’t died; judging by the remaining nutrient solution, he could survive for at least another two months,” Zhao Hen was also puzzled, voicing his doubt, “So, did the perpetrator want to kill the faceless person or keep him alive?”
Xu Qi pondered for a moment, then said decisively, “He wanted the faceless person to live, and moreover, he might have even wanted others to find him!”
Zhao Hen was startled.
Xiao Jinyu abruptly looked up at the other party.
Xu Qi noticed his gaze, “Do you think so too, Xiao Jinyu?”
The young man’s face was indifferent, but his bright eyes held a deep light, “Yes, he wanted the faceless person to be found. If he really wanted to kill him, there was no need to leave so much nutrient solution; if he wanted him to live for a few months for some purpose, then hiding him in a place where he couldn’t be found would have been better.
“The perpetrator didn’t do that; instead, he hid him in Contamination Zone 132.”
Xiao Jinyu’s voice paused.
This place was the hometown of Subject 004, and according to Li Xiaoxiao…
The faceless man was confined in a factory adjacent to the pharmaceutical company where 004 was discovered!
Xiao Jinyu never believed in coincidences.
There are no coincidences in this world.
Only inevitable outcomes of countless calculations.
What, then, was the perpetrator’s true motive?!
…
Xiao Jinyu, steadying the turmoil inside, spoke calmly, “Moreover, hiding him in a safe contamination zone close to a residential area, where users often go for tasks, is one thing. But I don’t believe the perpetrator didn’t notice the exposed water pipe on the wall of the small warehouse where the faceless man was locked!”
The factories within the contamination zone had been abandoned for years, unused by anyone.
Yet no one knew where these pipes within the factory buildings connected. The slender pipes descended into the earth and eventually converged outside the contamination zone, at the main water pipe in the southwest corner of Kangding Gardens.
That’s what caused the three incidents of pets barking frantically.
Animals have a far greater range of hearing than humans. They heard through the pipes buried deep in the soil, hidden behind the walls, the heart-wrenching screams of agony of an innocent human, coming from three kilometers away!
Furrowing his brows, Xiao Jinyu murmured to himself, organizing his thoughts, “Why not kill the person directly, but instead lock him in a safe contamination zone and even ‘overlook’ an exposed pipe in the room? Once the victim is discovered, the Users’ Committee will surely trace the perpetrator through the ‘logic skill that can strip a person’s face’.
“He is not foolish to overlook these details. Otherwise, there would be no need to deliberately bring the person to Contamination Zone 132, prepare nutrient solution enough for four months, and lock the victim with heavy iron chains. Each of the four chains locking the faceless man weighed fifty kilograms.”
It was difficult enough to find these two-hundred-kilogram chains, let alone transport them into the contamination zone…
Xiao Jinyu suddenly stopped.
He looked up in astonishment, about to share his speculation with Zhao Hen when suddenly his gaze froze.
Descending the antique, dignified wooden spiral staircase of the small western-style house was a handsome man in black, his deep, dark eyes quietly fixed on Xiao Jinyu.
Su Jiuzhou smiled, “Something is very wrong.”
Zhao Hen and Xu Qi turned their heads, only then noticing his arrival.
Xu Qi: “Colonel Su.”
Zhao Hen: “Colonel Su.”
Pausing briefly, Xiao Jinyu nodded lightly, “Yes, something is very off. If the person locked up is just an ordinary individual, already cruelly bound by such a terrifying logic skill and confined in a desolate contamination zone, then there’s no need to additionally lock him up with chains, especially ones weighing fifty kilograms each.”
Xu Qi clapped his hands together, “Exactly! Even a healthy ordinary person, let alone one who’s severely injured, wouldn’t be able to escape from a place surrounded by walls in a deserted area. There’s no need for chains. Unless, he’s not an ordinary person at all!”
At this moment, all four of them arrived at a conclusion.
“…He’s a user!”
The next instant, Xiao Jinyu looked up at the man he hadn’t seen for a long time, “Colonel Su, this mysterious user frequently made noises, which were discovered by people in the surrounding residential areas. But the noise he made wasn’t significant; under normal circumstances, animals couldn’t hear it, and only a second-level user could perceive it. However, there were three instances where the disturbance he caused was extremely loud, heard by the cats and dogs in the nearby neighborhoods.
“These three instances occurred on October 18th, November 5th…
“And at 3 PM on November 12th!”
Xu Qi sharply noticed, “You didn’t specify the times for the first two dates, only for the last one. Is there something special about this time…”
His voice abruptly stopped.
Xu Qi’s eyes widened in shock.
Xiao Jinyu saw his astonished expression and understood that this fourth-level user had already sensed something unusual.
He looked up at Su Jiuzhou, “Colonel Su, I know the Users’ Committee doesn’t have Zhang Haixiang’s DNA, but isn’t there another way to verify if a person is Zhang Haixiang?”
“There is a way.”
Xiao Jinyu was taken aback.
When Xiao Jinyu asked the question, he didn’t really expect an answer. The faceless person had no traces of logic factors, most likely being a user who had “lost” their logic skill. Therefore, trying to test for the “Wind Blows Butt” logic skill would definitely not work.
Moreover, the faceless person’s facial features were gone, reduced to a smooth skin. According to the information from Zhongdu City, all identifiable markers like fingerprints and palm prints were erased, as if his skin had been smoothed over, leaving no unique imprints.
It seemed as if this white skin did not belong to him, but rather replaced his real skin, wrapping around his bones.
Xiao Jinyu asked, “You have Zhang Haixiang’s DNA?”
“It’s not DNA.” Su Jiuzhou, looking down at the young man, pulled out his phone to call Wang Tao, meanwhile explaining, “Three days ago, I found a user who had interacted with Zhang Haixiang. From him, I learned that Zhang Haixiang had once suffered a very unique injury.”
Xu Qi was momentarily speechless, “Colonel Su, you never gave up on verifying whether the escapee was Zhang Haixiang…”
Su Jiuzhou slightly raised an eyebrow, about to respond.
Xiao Jinyu interjected, “What kind of unique injury, was it severe?”
Su Jiuzhou returned his focus to the young man with a cold, handsome face.
“Not severe, but quite unique. A year ago, when Zhang Haixiang was still a first-level user, he and others took on a private task to poach Northeast Tigers. They did catch a tiger, but Zhang Haixiang got his face injured by that precious Northeast Tiger. His strong user physique allowed his facial wounds to heal perfectly, but the tiger’s sharp claws shattered half of his right two molars…
“Since then, on his right side, he has two half molars left.”
The person who have done all this must be very cunning, and intelligent. He have plan it so thoroughly.
Dang. I thought it was Piggy…
The thief stole ZH’s face and ability then steal the Court of Judgement and visit Piggy Shampoo and Piggy Shampoo disappeared. Did he have Piggy Shampoo’s face and ability next? What was Piggy Shampoo’s ability again? Then somehow, all these things involved Xiao Jinyu I think?
Thank you for the chapter! <3