Chapter 29

Just as Zheng Shangyun was about to retract the protective shield.

The technician guarding outside suddenly stood up in surprise and uncertainty.

At some point, a “delivering” icon had popped up in the inbox on the computer screen.

A long progress bar appeared before their eyes, leaving anyone who glanced at it momentarily stunned.

Network email… delivering?

That wording felt so strange.

As Technician Xiao Wang frowned, there was suddenly a loud “thud.” The intense vibration was clear even through the walls inside, sounding just like something had… crashed into the protective shield?

After Bo Ting got up that morning, he saw Boss Zhu’s handwritten letter detailing everything. The calligraphy, worthy of a master, surprised him a bit. He hadn’t expected Brother Zhu to be so talented.

Moreover, the wording was very careful.

It neither revealed their neighborhood nor failed to explain the whole situation—practically perfect.

Bo Ting pretended their neighborhood was just an ordinary one in Mengjia City, the kind that had the bad luck to encounter a pervert. He sealed the letter and the hair into the box.

Though during the sealing process, he encountered a minor issue: the collected hair suddenly twisted like living strands, tangling up.

But that wasn’t a problem.

Something that fell from a serial killer couldn’t possibly be entirely normal. This had to be some kind of black tech.

Bo Ting took it in stride.

After all, Mengjia City seemed full of all sorts of bizarre things.

Not only were there roving Two-Headed Rats, but also those disgusting wriggling worms with human faces tattooed on them. Compared to those, the twisting hair seemed almost acceptable to Bo Ting?

The black hair settled down after just one glance from him.

On Jinding Peak, a woman with strange movements sat by a small river, covering her face. Her body suddenly stiffened, as if she had sensed something.

A bad premonition surged up.

Ever since her failure in an ordinary residential area the previous day, the Night Crying Woman had fled to Jinding Peak. The crying in her throat had nearly spiraled out of control.

But amid extreme fear, she forcibly suppressed it, not daring to cry at all.

Afraid that one cry would summon that “terrifying thing.”

Yes, it was too horrifying… That seemingly ordinary neighborhood wasn’t a place for humans at all!

As an SS-level weird who had devoured countless flesh and blood, the Night Crying Woman had seen it all. Yet when she encountered them, she couldn’t muster even a shred of resistance.

This had never happened before.

Last night, after targeting that “Bone Dog” as prey and toying with it playfully, a chilling dread crept up her spine.

For some inexplicable reason, the Night Crying Woman felt that if she continued luring the dog with her voice, she would absolutely die.

In a flash, her survival instinct made her abandon the dog.

Fortunately, she made that choice; now she could return to Jinding Peak.

Thinking back to the “figure” that walked in from outside the door after she hid in the security room’s trash can.

The Night Crying Woman went rigid all over, not daring to move.

This was almost the most terrifying thing she had ever encountered. Strangely, it reminded her of the prey she had toyed with.

Was this how they felt before dying?

Fortunately, the other side merely glanced around casually before leaving with the dog, letting her escape disaster.

The Night Crying Woman lowered her hands. In the instant she raised her head, countless hairs surged out from her body, then quickly retracted.

The twisting hairs spread across the forest like a gloomy, disgusting ghost forest, enveloping the entire mountaintop.

But the hairs she had sent out from her head and not yet recalled remained sparse, making her turn her head in surprise and doubt.

…

After Bo Ting packed everything, he prepared to send it off. As originally planned, he intended to ask Mr. Xu for help.

But as soon as he turned around, Bo Ting noticed… something was off.

Wait, why did the box inside the packaging look a bit different from before?

It seemed taller?

Did he pack it wrong? He opened the box to check again, only to find that the handwritten letter from “Boss Zhu” he had just put in had suddenly sprouted… two legs out of nowhere?

The two legs turned toward him. As Bo Ting doubted his eyes, the next second, those legs carried the box and vanished swiftly— so fast he didn’t even react.

Bo Ting: …！！！

What the hell!

What was that?

In all his years, Bo Ting had never seen a box grow legs before, and certainly not ones so crudely done.

It just “whoosh”—and bounced out?

Reflexively, his expression turned serious, suspecting his vision had glitched.

But… the box was really gone?

He stared suspiciously at the empty spot.

Bo Ting took a deep breath and shakily pulled out his phone.

“Mr. Xu.”

When faced with something this absurd, his first instinct was to consult Mr. Xu. After all, Mr. Xu always seemed to accept anything during their talks, which inexplicably reassured him at this moment.

The phone buzzed. Xu Qinglai was nursing a headache from the commotion at the Resurgence Management Office.

Especially since, ten minutes ago, an unidentified delivery box had appeared outside the Resurgence Management Office.

Though blocked by the protective shield, the impact had thrown the place into chaos.

Xu Qinglai, who had received an early morning text alert, pressed his brow and opened the photo on his phone.

He glanced casually at first, but the next second, he inexplicably felt that the delivery box from the Resurgence Management Office looked familiar?

To prevent leaks, the office had only sent a vague photo to social scholars like them for vigilance, without clear details.

After replying to the office contact along with other scholars, Xu Qinglai lowered his eyes.

The next second, he tapped on Bo Ting’s message.

Eight in the morning…

Honestly, this wasn’t their usual chat time.

A flicker of doubt passed, but as Xu Qinglai jumped to the chat, he saw the hesitant words from the other side.

“Mr. Xu, do you believe… that delivery boxes can grow legs and run off on their own?”

Xu Qinglai: …

Delivery box, growing legs, running off.

Every word was utterly abstract.

Xu Qinglai’s handsome face relaxed as he was about to brush it off with a reply. But then he suddenly remembered something, paused, and his expression shifted slightly as he clicked back to the photo he’d skimmed.

He looked again.

The faint smile faded from his face.

Tch.

He knew it looked familiar from the start—the unmarked delivery box from the Resurgence Management Office.

Wasn’t this the same box he’d used last time to buy dog food for Bo Ting?

Silence hung in the air for a few seconds.

Having masqueraded in the human world for so many years, Xu Qinglai experienced being choked up for the first time.

So, the thing that suddenly appeared at the Resurgence Management Office this morning was his dog food box?!

He stared at the text for a few more seconds.

Xu Qinglai calmly typed: “An ordinary delivery box shouldn’t have that capability.”

Bo Ting: …

Ahem, an ordinary delivery box certainly couldn’t, but the handwritten letter inside didn’t seem ordinary at all.

It had propelled the box away.

Bo Ting sighed.

“I actually saw legs grow on that letter. How is that possible?”

Xu Qinglai: …

His mind briefly scrambled from Bo Ting’s words.

He glanced up slightly. As a weird himself, saying something like that felt too odd—legs on an envelope were clearly just mutation.

But Bo Ting’s questioning tone sounded so normal that Xu Qinglai couldn’t tell if it was right or wrong for a moment.

However…

So, this was why Bo Ting sent the box to the Resurgence Management Office?

To investigate the Night Crying Woman’s identity?

Verify DNA?

On the phone, Bo Ting was still questioning.

“Mr. Xu, do you think I might have seen wrong?”

The chatty young man’s tone was puzzled and honest.

Xu Qinglai narrowed his eyes: “The weather’s gloomy; it’s possible your eyes played tricks.”

“But why not ask the person who wrote the letter?”

He subtly led him on.

Bo Ting didn’t notice the trap at all.

Ask Boss Zhu?

Right, he’d been too stunned by the bizarre scene to think of it.

Actually, asking Boss Zhu directly might be more reliable than asking Mr. Xu?

Mr. Xu always gave useful advice.

Bo Ting nodded and immediately relaxed, replying.

“You’re right.”

“Mr. Xu, wait a sec. I’ll ask Boss Zhu right now.”

“Okay.”

After sending that, Xu Qinglai watched the screen dim and finally frowned slightly.

He had a feeling Bo Ting’s inquiry would yield something unexpected.

But tch, first things first—he needed to handle the trouble from that delivery.

Fortunately, he’d used a different identity when shopping, or this box would drag in his human persona.

At the Resurgence Management Office:

After receiving the package, they immediately ran all sorts of checks.

Good thing they did.

Otherwise, they’d have been caught off guard for sure.

The detection instruments showed that the box contained highly concentrated weird aura residue—a high-grade remnant.

Zheng Shangyun’s face darkened. After having all non-essential personnel fall back, he carefully opened the box.

An odd combination.

A letter, and… a bag of hair.

The black hair, stained with blood, looked utterly eerie. The high-grade weird aura detected earlier emanated from it.

“What the hell is this?”

Lu Jingshan twitched his mouth.

“How should I know?” He Chengfeng, who had always opposed the Third Esper Squad making contact, shot back. His muscles were tense all over.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to interact with the weird?”

“Let’s at least read what they sent.”

Lu Jingshan resignedly picked up the letter. Surprisingly, even it carried some residual weird aura, though fainter than the hair.

By now, the aura in the opened box had mostly dissipated.

Lu Jingshan skimmed it quickly, his expression turning strange.

“What is it?”

A higher-up guarding the bag turned.

Lu Jingshan hesitated: “It seems… like another tip-off letter?”

Just like the one about Yunhe Convenience Store last time, this letter reported information.

It claimed a serial killer had recently appeared near Wenhua District, and the bag of hair… might be remnants from the killer.

They used “suspected” rather than being definitive this time.

The tense atmosphere at the Resurgence Management Office gradually eased.

Zheng Shangyun glanced at the letter too and slowly understood.

“So, they sent the box to have us run an identity check on this hair?”

“Probably something like that.”

Lu Jingshan nodded, his expression indescribable.

Not just him—everyone in the hall felt complicated.

A weird asking them to run tests… wasn’t the logic a bit off?

And most shockingly, it arrived in that eerie morning manner.

“Haha, it’s joking, right?”

Xue Hengfu couldn’t help saying.

Around the Ability Users, the ever-contrarian He Chengfeng fell silent. He stared at the hair for a long time, then suddenly said upon thinking of the letter’s “serial killer”: “Do you think the ‘killer’ mentioned here could be the Golden Summit Weird?”

He suddenly recalled that the special situation at Jinding Peak last night coincided exactly with [Taiping Luxury Garden]’s contact.

And the described “serial killer” did match the Night Crying Woman.

As for their wording… Though reluctant to admit it, He Chengfeng had to concede that to [Taiping Luxury Garden], an SS-level weird like the Night Crying Woman was probably like a high-rank Ability User facing an ordinary human.

After He Chengfeng voiced his guess, the captain of the Third Esper Squad—who had been grimacing in pain—suddenly changed his expression. His eyes lit up in that moment.

This wasn’t impossible!

After all, before this, they had been feeding information about the Golden Summit Night Crying Woman to the other side. What if the other side hadn’t ignored it but had already taken action?

Wasn’t this cardboard box right in front of them the best proof?

Though the dog food logo on the delivery box was quite conspicuous, Lu Jingshan ignored it in that instant. He hurriedly picked up the clump of hair to test it.

“This guy.”

He Chengfeng twitched the corner of his mouth and looked toward his superior, only to hear the man say, “The hair has been sent for testing.”

“Send this delivery box for checking too.”

After all, it even had a dog head printed on it.

Even as he said this, Zheng Shangyun couldn’t help feeling a bit expectant deep down.

It would be great if it really was the Night Crying Woman’s hair.

The reason the Night Crying Woman had been able to commit crimes for two years was that the Resurgence Management Office couldn’t track her at all—not even a single eyewitness had seen her true face. If they could detect her identity before her mutation, it might truly be a breakthrough.

The Resurgence Management Office bustled about, while in the neighborhood:

Bo Ting had already dressed properly and carefully put on a mask before heading upstairs to Boss Zhu’s place.

Boss Zhu lived on the top floor and was a bachelor like Elder Wen, but the key difference was that Boss Zhu was a stone-faced cat lover who had taken in a bunch of strays a few years back.

Bo Ting had just reached the upstairs landing when he heard a series of meows.

The “meow meow meows” echoed down from the rooftop. Though he didn’t understand cat-speak, Bo Ting still knocked on the ceiling in response.

The next second, the calico poked her head out from the rooftop stairs, only to be scooped straight into someone’s arms.

For a moment, both Bo Ting—who had only meant to greet the suddenly appearing cat—and the calico felt extremely awkward.

Bo Ting: …

“Alright, is Boss Zhu in?”

the calico: “Meow meow meow meow.”

Bo Ting: “Got it.”

“Boss Zhu’s in the study?”

“Meow meow meow meow.”

Boss Zhu, obsessed with books, spent most of his time shuttling between the bedroom and the study. Thinking back to how Boss Zhu had nearly passed out in the study from low blood sugar before the traversal, Bo Ting wasn’t surprised at all. He reached out and rang the doorbell.

“Ding-a-ling.”

“Ding-a-ling.”

The doorbell rang three times, and it wasn’t until the fourth press that a clumsy “thud thud clatter” sounded from inside.

Boss Zhu emerged with disheveled hair, flung open the door, and saw Bo Ting standing outside.

“Oh, it’s Little Bo?”

“What brings you here at this hour? I was just working on a literary submission.”

Boss Zhu explained briefly and stepped aside.

“Come on in, Little Bo.”

Bo Ting nodded. After confirming there were no cameras in Boss Zhu’s home, he calmly walked inside while holding the cat.

However, around three in the afternoon, the light in the living room was already somewhat dim. Bo Ting glanced at the curtains and realized that, engrossed in whatever he was creating, Boss Zhu had already drawn them—leaving only a small lamp lit in the study.

Ever since entering the door, the calico’s tail had been swishing back and forth. Sensing safety, she even tried to climb onto Bo Ting’s head.

Bo Ting didn’t stop her at all.

After all, he was basically an air conditioner. Cats loved lounging on them—wasn’t that perfectly normal?

Soon, by the time Boss Zhu turned his head again, the little cat had settled into the hood of the black raincoat.

Bo Ting’s expression remained perfectly calm all the while… until his gaze fell on the still-open study door.

Under the dim yellow light, a wrinkled page lay face-down on the book.

And on the desk, two things that looked just like severed human hands were neatly placed beside the notebook.

Bo Ting: !!!

“What are you looking at, Little Bo?”

A curious voice came from behind, laced with the feeble exhaustion of someone who had stayed up all night.

Bo Ting shook his head. “Nothing, I was just curious about the draft Brother Zhu wrote.”

“You want to see it too?!”

Boss Zhu immediately perked up, his earlier confusion vanishing as he flung the door wide open.

“This is my submission for ‘Madness’ magazine. I got a lot of inspiration from an article of theirs last time.”

Boss Zhu grew more excited as he spoke, and the severed hands on the desk subconsciously lifted up.

They swiftly flipped through the pages of the book.

Bo Ting glanced at the hands, then at the book.

He was just about to ask where Boss Zhu had bought this hyper-realistic high-tech “page-turner” gadget from—it even looked eerily lifelike—when the calico jumped down from his head.

The chubby the calico pounced toward the hands like she’d spotted a cat toy, delivering two quick “whoosh whoosh” paw swipes.

Boss Zhu, who had been excitedly talking, suddenly yelped “Ow!” as if he’d been struck hard. He quickly scolded, “Tang Yuan, get down!”

Bo Ting: …???

Something felt off here.

“Brother Zhu, this morning…”

Bo Ting took a deep breath, about to continue.

But as he turned his head, he saw the middle-aged man—who had just had dark circles, looking weak, disheveled, and listless—roar in fury after the cat struck his dantian.

The next second, parts of his body scattered across the floor like disassembled machinery…

Bo Ting’s words came to an abrupt halt as he stared at the pair of legs clad in black pants—identical to the ones from the morning envelope.