Chapter 40 - 38: I’ll Support You

Chapter 40: Chapter 38: I’ll Support You

Bai Qiang quickly ran over, scooped Yin Zhen up from the ground, and held her up to her face with a beaming smile.

"It’s strange. I, Bai Qiang, have fed at least eighty, if not a hundred, stray cats, and at least eighty percent of them wanted to come home with me. Yet, after petting you just once, I couldn’t stop thinking about you all night. Did you put some kind of kitty hex on me?"

"MEOW—"

Bai Qiang completely ignored Yin Zhen’s protest. She tucked chrysanthemums under her arm, staring into the cat’s amber pupils as a strange glint flashed rapidly in her eyes.

"Who exactly are you? State your name!"

The sensation of Spiritual Manipulation washed over her, but Yin Zhen remained very calm because...

"Meow, meow meow."

She thought, "Even if I told you, would you understand?"

After being chased by Nan Jiamu last time and running into Bai Qiang, Yin Zhen had verified it herself. Since turning into a cat, no matter what she said, it only came out as meows. Even other cats couldn’t understand her, let alone humans.

PFFT~

Bai Qiang was amused. After cursing herself for being "crazy," she rubbed the Li Hua cat’s head.

"We really hit it off. Come with me. I’ll take care of you."

"MEOW MEOW MEOW!!"

"Since you have no objections, it’s a deal then."

Bai Qiang hugged the little Li Hua and walked toward the cemetery with a smile. Yin Zhen struggled a couple of times but couldn’t break free, her tail swishing in annoyance. She had to admit, Bai Qiang’s spiritual power restraint was quite practical. It was a pity Lucia didn’t know how to do it.

The people Bai Qiang came to visit were her parents. Today was the anniversary of their deaths. She placed chrysanthemums in front of the tombstone and crouched down, holding Yin Zhen.

"Mom, Dad, I’ve come to see you again. I’ve had a pretty good year. Work is going smoothly, and I’m in good health. It’s just that I miss you guys quite a bit sometimes. Look, I even picked up a super pretty little Li Hua today. You must have been afraid I’d be lonely and sent it to keep me company, right..."

The wind blew through the cemetery. RUSTLE RUSTLE.

Bai Qiang rambled on for a while, reporting only the good news and hiding the bad. Even in front of her parents’ tombstone, she didn’t mention anything that would make them worry.

"Let’s go, little one. Even though you look pretty clean, you still need to get vaccinated and dewormed!"

"MEOW—"

This cemetery was huge, and Bai Qiang took a shortcut through a small grove.

Yin Zhen was pondering how to find a chance to escape when her body suddenly stiffened.

Blood!

The scent wasn’t strong, but it couldn’t hide from a kitten’s nose. Her ears pricked up, and her amber eyes stared into the deepest shadows of the woods. Her feline instincts made her fur stand on end, her back arched, and a vigilant growl rumbled in her throat.

Bai Qiang paused. "What’s wrong?"

Yin Zhen hissed at the patch of darkness. She thought, "There’s a problem over there. Can’t you sense it?!"

Bai Qiang followed her gaze, her eyes narrowing sharply. Deep in the woods, a figure slowly walked out. He wore the gray uniform of a cemetery groundskeeper. Blood stained the corners of his mouth, and his eyes were frantic and greedy as he stared fixedly at Bai Qiang. In the bushes behind him, a pair of feet poked out, motionless.

Bai Qiang’s grip on Yin Zhen tightened slightly.

The figure suddenly grinned, revealing two teeth slightly sharper than a normal person’s.

"Fresh..."

He lunged with incredible speed, but Bai Qiang only frowned. An invisible Strength exploded from her, slamming into the man like an unseen tidal wave.

The Blood Clan invader was knocked to the ground. Before he could even get up, the shadows on the ground seemed to come alive, surging from all directions and transforming into countless pitch-black tentacles that instantly wrapped around the man’s neck.

CRACK!

With a crisp sound, the man’s head tilted at an uncanny angle, and he stopped moving. The shadows dispersed, leaving only a twisted corpse.

Yin Zhen watched the scene, her eyes gradually widening. Bai Qiang’s spiritual power wave was stronger and more effortless than the one she used on the Bloodthorn Squad in the apartment lobby last time. And there was that Shadow Manipulation. She hadn’t even raised her hand; with a mere thought, those shadows rushed forward and snapped the intruder’s neck.

She thought, "She is too skilled! So... back in the hotel lobby, Bai Qiang was indeed pretending to be powerless against Victor? She was hiding her true Strength!"

Yin Zhen didn’t have time to settle the score with Bai Qiang right now. Her feline brain spun rapidly. She wondered, "If I can observe how Bai Qiang uses this spiritual power, can I learn something from it? Or... if I take a bite and suck a little blood now, I could get some of her memories. Would anyone be on guard against a cute little kitten?"

She looked down at the hand Bai Qiang used to hold her. On the wrist, cyan veins were faintly visible.

"Don’t be afraid, little one. I’ll protect you."

Bai Qiang rubbed Yin Zhen’s head and walked over to the corpse. She then looked at the pair of feet sticking out from behind the bushes. It was an old man, and he was no longer breathing.

Bai Qiang took out her phone and took a few deep breaths. When she spoke again, her voice became panicked and trembling, laced with tears.

"Hello? I... I’m at the suburban cemetery... Someone is dead... A body... Yes... I don’t know what happened... Please come quickly..."

Yin Zhen was speechless. She thought, "She is quite the actress too!"

Hanging up the phone, Bai Qiang curled her lips into a smile.

"Alright, little kitty. Let’s go eat first. How about Wagyu beef or salmon? Would you like that?"

Yin Zhen, who hadn’t eaten meat in a long time, swallowed a mouthful of saliva ungraciously. She thought, "Maybe... I’ll bite her after I finish eating the meat?"

Meanwhile, at the Guan City Information Center.

A wall-to-wall array of surveillance screens divided the city into countless grids. The convenience store on the street corner, the corridor of a residential building, the shadows beneath the overpass—every grid was operating silently. Technicians sat in front of rows of computers, their fingers flying across keyboards, occasionally conversing in low voices.

Nan Jiamu stood in the front row, her arms crossed as she checked her quest panel.

[Current Round Public Quest: Eliminate Blood Clan Invaders 67/100]

Overnight, they had achieved remarkable results. During the initial and most chaotic period, they had already eliminated more than half of the Blood Clan invaders and captured six alive. The captives, along with the bodies of those accidentally bitten and killed, were sent to the experimental base in the mountains.

The situation was largely under control.

The remaining twenty-seven Blood Clan invaders were relatively smart and were currently lying low in Guan City. The sunlight during the day was too intense, so they wouldn’t come out to move about. By tonight, when the citizens were asked to clock in, a few would definitely be exposed.

The invaders couldn’t hide their canine teeth, which were slightly sharper and longer than normal people’s. The clock-in system required citizens to show their teeth and smile. Aside from elderly people living alone, anyone who failed to clock in would definitely be an invader!

Right now, Nan Jiamu needed stability in Guan City more than she needed the hunting rewards. This was her world, and she didn’t want it to turn into a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

"Chief Engineer Nan," a middle-aged man in uniform walked up to her, holding a printed list. "The two individuals who previously posted using the Blood Clan language and claimed to have become Blood Beasts have been found. Based on the information you provided and big data cross-referencing, we’ve also locked onto fifteen people."

The large screen switched to fifteen photos. There were both men and women, all around twenty years old. ℯℯ𝑙.

"These people all appeared within the invaders’ activity range last night. Furthermore, their search and browsing histories involve relevant keywords, especially around the times the countdown first appeared and the first transmigration occurred."

Looking at the photos, Nan Jiamu figured that the Players from the forum were likely among these people.

"Continue to investigate their backgrounds and their movement trajectories over the past week. Also... while ensuring the safety of the citizens, leave a few invaders alive. Let them run, and then find people to leak their trails on social media platforms."

The middle-aged man paused for a moment before nodding.

Nan Jiamu looked up at the fifteen photos on the large screen. Surprisingly, Bai Qiang, whom she suspected the most, was not among them.

Since the people on the forum refused to meet her, she had no choice but to bait them. For the hunting rewards and word count, the Players would definitely come out to hunt the Blood Clan invaders. She just needed to wait.

"How is the investigation into Blossoming Prosperity going?"

The middle-aged man shook his head. "There are too many people with this screen name. Comprehensive big data cross-referencing hasn’t found a suitable target."

Nan Jiamu furrowed her brows. This "Blossoming Prosperity" was too mysterious, making her feel endangered. Especially after Sheng Yehan died, she strongly suspected that Blossoming Prosperity was the one who killed him and obtained Sheng Yehan’s Identity Card.

She needed the Identity of that villain to cooperate with her and kill the protagonist of the Red Corpse World. Thus, she had to find this "Blossoming Prosperity."

Unfortunately, Sheng Yehan had too many enemies; too many people wished him dead. The first person that popped into Nan Jiamu’s mind was the girl who lost her mother because of Sheng Yehan and was paralyzed in both legs. Her hatred for him must be the most intense.

The moment that thought arose, Nan Jiamu had looked into that girl named Yin Zhen, only to find that she was still sitting in a wheelchair.

"Expand the scope and keep investigating. What about Bai Qiang?"

"Everything is normal with Bai Qiang," the middle-aged man said, flipping through the documents in his hand. "She stayed at her teacher’s house last night and drove straight to the cemetery this morning. Today is the anniversary of her parents’ passing. However, we received a police call from her earlier saying she found a body at the cemetery. By the time our people arrived, there was only ash left on the ground."

"What about the surveillance cameras?"

"The cemetery’s cameras are broken, so we don’t know what happened at the time. We are already stepping up the deployment of satellites and repairing surveillance systems in all districts to ensure every part of the entire city can be covered in the future."

Nan Jiamu nodded. "Understood."

During their previous interactions, Nan Jiamu found that Bai Qiang was capable and intelligent. She also cooperated with the authorities, providing free psychological counseling to victims of various cases. She was a good person with a sense of justice.

If Bai Qiang were also a Player, Nan Jiamu would definitely list her as a top choice for the protagonist’s team. It was just a pity that this Bai Qiang was too hard to read. Every time they met, Bai Qiang always had that languid demeanor, as if she cared about nothing, yet simultaneously saw through everything.

Nan Jiamu pinched the bridge of her nose and looked back at the fifteen photos. She would choose the members of the protagonist’s team from these people first. Players who could survive the first two rounds wouldn’t be completely useless, at the very least. Those who took the initiative to hunt the invaders were, at the very least, not cowards.

"Chief Engineer, the Research Department wants you to head over there."

"Got it."