Investigation

Inside the archives room.

Jiang Xun set down the last file and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his eyes, which were sore from overuse.

“Finally finished!”

Not far from him, the bald man named He Chengye nodded vigorously and sighed. “Exhausting. And that was just a simple sorting. Honestly, couldn’t they have organized this stuff before we arrived?”

“Alright, don’t get worked up. It’s not easy for the Jade Capital team either; otherwise, they wouldn’t have called us out to handle these cases.”

Jiang Xun stood up and stretched his neck. Hearing this, Old He raised an eyebrow, looking intrigued. “Has our team captain heard some key intel again?”

“I’m not entirely clear on the details, but let’s just say things in Jade Capital aren’t simple. Didn’t you notice that at yesterday’s welcome banquet, not a single member of the local resident team showed up?”

“Huh? I thought it was just because they looked down on a newly formed squad like ours.”

“…”

Jiang Xun stared at Old He for a moment, then shook his head and decisively changed the subject. “That’s not for us to worry about. Our current priority is to find and contain that necklace as quickly as possible, and incidentally, help the police solve this bizarre serial disappearance case.”

He walked around the table toward the door.

“Let’s go. Time for food. We’ve been busy until now without lunch; I bet you’re starving.”

Seeing that the captain didn’t want to elaborate, Old He didn’t push. His stomach was indeed growling, so he got up to follow.

Just as he rose, the door was pushed open. A young man wearing glasses rushed in with documents, nearly colliding with Jiang Xun. He froze for a second before quickly stepping back.

“Captain…”

“Well? Any results?”

Seeing the youth’s urgent expression, Jiang Xun realized he must have found something. Suddenly, lunch didn’t seem so pressing.

But just as he invited the boy inside to hear the lead, a knock sounded at the door again, and it was pushed open once more.

A tall, middle-aged man in a police uniform entered with a serious expression. Scanning the three people in the room, he managed a small smile. “I’m not interrupting, am I?”

“Director Chen?”

The three men inside hurriedly stood up. Jiang Xun, leading the group, looked puzzled before his expression turned grave. “What brings you here, Director? Has something happened?”

As the saying goes, one doesn’t visit the temple without a reason.

Although they used the identity of police officers, they weren’t actually part of the same system. Even with their special status, it wasn’t every day a Director personally came to pay them a visit.

When Director Chen appeared in person, not only Jiang Xun, but even He Chengye and An Ye realized it immediately.

Something big had gone wrong.

And it had.

“If you aren’t too busy, I actually have something I need your help with right now.”

Director Chen looked grim. Jiang Xun glanced at An Ye; seeing him give a slight shake of the head (indicating they had no other immediate crises), Jiang Xun turned back to the Director and nodded. “No problem. Please, tell us.”

…

“Just now, at approximately 3:15 PM, a nearby hospital received a call. The caller claimed that an unknown accident had occurred at the Sunset Hotel on Wanning Street—a large number of people inside were unconscious and the situation was critical. The hospital immediately alerted the relevant departments and dispatched ambulances. They have arrived and confirmed that the report is essentially true.”

A black van sped down the road. Old He was driving, Jiang Xun was in the passenger seat, and An Ye sat in the back.

Hearing the intel from the back seat, Jiang Xun’s brow furrowed.

“If it were just ordinary fainting, they wouldn’t need us.”

An Ye nodded while scanning the police report. “Yes. After the doctors arrived, they examined the unconscious victims but couldn’t find a cause. The police checked the facilities and air toxicity—everything is within normal range.”

“Everything is normal, yet they collapsed mysteriously? And many people at once?”

“That’s how it looks for now.”

Jiang Xun pondered for a moment. “Any other useful info? Never mind, we’ll see for ourselves at the scene.”

Fortunately, the distance wasn’t far. Since it was mid-afternoon and not rush hour, traffic was light.

Shortly after, the black van pulled up in front of the hotel.

By this time, the Sunset Hotel and the surrounding plaza had been cordoned off. A crowd of onlookers had gathered, and faint murmurs about a “gas leak” could be heard.

Jiang Xun led his team inside, showing their credentials. They were quickly escorted into the lobby.

The lobby had been completely transformed. Tables and chairs had been cleared away, and the floor was covered with blankets brought in from somewhere. Men and women lay on them, unconscious.

A quick count revealed over a dozen people!

“These are the more serious cases. Actually, by the time you arrived, some had already woken up. The doctors couldn’t find anything wrong, and the victims have no memory of what happened, so we’ve asked them to remain in their rooms for now.”

A police officer briefed them. There weren’t many officers or doctors active in the lobby.

As for why these people weren’t sent to the hospital?

Under normal circumstances, that would be the first priority. But these were not normal circumstances. In a world where mysterious powers existed, it was unwise to move a large group of victims when you didn’t know the nature of the event.

For example, what if they were carrying a “pollution” or a “curse”? Taking them out would only spread the influence and harm more people. These were lessons learned through blood in the past.

Until they understood why these people had fainted, they couldn’t leave. Besides, the situation wasn’t life-threatening. While unconscious, their vital signs were perfectly normal.

“We were briefed on the way, but we need specifics. Was there anything strange at the scene?”

Jiang Xun knelt beside one of the men. He wasn’t a doctor, so he couldn’t see much. He gave Old He a look; the older man knelt and lightly placed his hand over the victim’s face. Jiang Xun then stood up to look at the officer.

Officer Wang nodded. “Yes. Besides the unexplained fainting, all victims show some degree of anemia. Furthermore, those who have woken up suffer from extreme emotional lethargy—they have no memory of the event and seem to have lost interest in everything around them.”

“Anemia and emotional lethargy?”

“Yes. But there are no physical wounds. We have no conclusion regarding the emotional state. Additionally, the surveillance system was interfered with—all equipment and recordings were damaged for unknown reasons.”

Jiang Xun nodded. Just then, Old He withdrew his hand and looked over. The two stepped a short distance away, and Jiang Xun whispered, “What’s the verdict?”

“His spirit has sustained minor damage, but it’s not severe—at least not enough to keep him unconscious.”

“Then what is this?”

“I don’t know. It feels very strange.” Old He’s brow was tightly knit. “I found no traces of ‘pollution.’ To be more precise, their mental state is much more ‘normal’ than I expected. So normal that it’s… abnormal.”

What kind of nonsense was that?

Jiang Xun found it inexplicable, but Old He didn’t know how to explain it further. They decided to scout the hotel for clues.

Ultimately, they found nothing.

The surveillance was destroyed, the victims remembered nothing, and no suspicious traces were left behind.

Left with no choice, Jiang Xun had Old He and An Ye take out special instruments to conduct a floor-by-floor search of the hotel.

During the process, the hotel manager woke up and provided a potentially useful lead.

“…At noon today, I was heading out. In the underground parking lot, I saw the Second Young Master’s bodyguards stuffing someone covered in blood into a car trunk.”

Despite just waking up, the manager seemed much more energetic than the others. While everyone else was listless and indifferent, he seemed to be in decent spirits—though it might have just been sheer terror. After all, if something this big happened at the hotel, the management would be held responsible.

As soon as he woke up, he found the police to report this suspicious activity.

Jiang Xun’s eyebrows shot up. “The ‘Second Young Master’?”

“The second son of the Yuansheng Group, Young Master Yu Yuan. He has a private presidential suite in our hotel and stayed here last night. He left around noon today.”

The manager nodded frantically.

Jiang Xun looked pensive. Yuansheng Group—he had heard of them. They were a local titan in Jade Capital.

Was this related to them?

Jiang Xun fell silent for a moment, then led the way toward the elevator.

“Take me to this Young Master Yu’s presidential suite first.”