CH 8

Huacheng, Peony Street.

There are many ancient streets that are lined with blue tiles and white walls in the city, and Peony Street happens to be one of the more famous streets.

At the entrance of the street stood an antique memorial archway, which was decorated with blue tiles and four majestic stone lions at its four corners. The surfaces of the archway were smooth, clean, and glimmering. It donned peony patterns and clouds of fire, and a plaque that read “Peony Street” was written on the archway.

A canal is in the centre of the street, and from north to south, it forms a winding channel. On both sides, there are nearly a hundred crisscrossing cobblestone alleys that are connected in a network.

This actually isn’t the real appearance of Peony Street, and there is nothing ancient about it. This was built a few years ago to attract foreign tourists.

Only the residents and locals know that, past the quaint buildings and decorated streets, an unremarkable, tiny street with a length of no more than 200 meters that had dilapidated streets and worn walls was the real Peony Street.

On that dilapidated and run-down street was the headquarters of the Night Division.

At 10:00 am, Bai Kai, who had been working all night, carried himself out of the street, holding a meat bun in his mouth while stretching himself.

In the distance, a rather luxurious black car could be seen stopping at the intersection, taking the entire street for itself.

Seeing this, Bai Kai spit out and frantically caught the meat bun in his hand: “Bad luck.”

The person in charge today was Jiangli.

Because of the heart-wrenching words that she said to him last night, he decided to blame her for Yibei blocking him.

‘Right? I’m nice to Yibei! I bet he would let me sleep beside him with nothing but underwear on! There is no way he could hate me!’

Bai Kai patted himself on the back and stuffed the bun back into his mouth. At this moment, her maid got out to open the door for her.

Jiangli got out of the car and saw Bai Kai standing at the corner of the street as if he were a stray dog who had just found food.

Jiangli ignored his fretful gaze and used her cane to support her walk. Surely enough, Bai Kai stopped her.

“W-wait a moment. There was an attack in the suburbs while we were investigating Mr Rabbit’s case. Make sure to look at the file,” Bai Kai reminded.

“Got it,” Jiangli responded coldly.

She made her way to the ancient ancestral building, which was hidden under a few overgrown ginkgo trees. The grey stone steps were infected with moss, and a brass-coloured metal plaque hung on the red pillar that was peeling, and it read [Huacheng Folk Culture Research Administration].

Entering the hall, there were only a few tourists, and it was quiet and solemn. When you walk in and enter the house facing the gate, you’ll see a strangely bright corridor that is decorated with simple décor. The corridor itself stretched endlessly, with no end in sight.

Anybody normal would wonder how such a corridor could be packed into such a small, tiny hut.

On both sides of the corridor were thick metal doors that faced each other. The first seven doors were marked with numbers from 1 to 7, representing the different main operators on duty during the seven days and nights of the week.

Some numbers were in traditional Chinese characters; some were normal Arabic numbers; some were in Greek numerals; and sometimes, hieroglyphics… This is tied to the identity of the owner behind the door.

The depths of the corridor extended into darkness. There was more space inside, but it was simply too dark to explore.

Jiangli walked until she reached a metal door that was imprinted with the letter “V.” She turned the doorknob, and it was covered with a layer of white lace.

A table lamp with a light-green shade could be seen. On it were a rotary dial telephone and an enamel tea mug that had the words [Serve the People] on it.

If it weren’t for the brand-new computer on her table, it would look like a room that was fit for the 1970s or 1980s.

Although it was Jiangli’s shift today, strange rumours and urban legends didn’t usually pop up before dark, which meant she still had seven or eight hours to do whatever she wanted.

She patiently watered the flowers on the window sill and brewed a cup of strong tea for herself as she passed the time by playing a game of Mahjong on her computer.

A beautiful girl held a tea mug vulgarly as she sat on her desk playing a video game. No matter how you look at it, she looked disobedient.

Half an hour later

Jiangli won two games of Mahjong and closed it. She then clicked on the crescent-shaped icon on the desktop, which was labelled with [File Management System].

She started to read the files that were uploaded when she wasn’t on duty.

URBAN LEGEND 1032

CODENAME: MR. RABBIT

THREAT LEVEL: C

FIRST APPEARANCE: MAY 5TH

CASE OVERVIEW: MISSING PEOPLE CASES ARE OCCURRING IN HUACHENG AT AN ALARMING RATE. EACH MISSING PERSON SHARED THE SAME FOUR QUALITIES:

ADDENDUM 1

THE LEAFLET IS PAPER-LIKE, BUT FURTHER ANALYSIS YIELDS THAT THE MATERIAL USED IS MADE OF UNKNOWN BIOLOGICAL FUR. SIZE IS 176MMx250MM. THE LEAFLET IS PURE BLACK WITH BRIGHT YELLOW PATTERNS, USUALLY WRITTEN WITH A STRING OF WORDS.

[PICTURE 1.0] [PICTURE 2.0] [PICTURE 3.0]

Jiangli continued reading the contents of the leaflet, a frown forming on her face: “This is a curse written in Hebrew. How could it even understand that language?”

In Jiangli’s memory, Miss Twilight didn’t know the concept behind a spell like this, so the source of Mr Rabbit’s spell must not be her.

But if it wasn’t for Miss Twilight, then where did the rabbit get the spell from?

“Perhaps it’s a trigger-based curse. The rabbit targets anyone who collects the leaflet.”

Sunlight is usually the best method to suppress rumours, urban legends, ghost stories, etc.

Although Mr Rabbit wasn’t that big of a threat, it was difficult to hunt him down.

“Tsk, I can’t believe people are actually stupid enough to read the leaflet after getting it. I would have tossed it aside immediately. Idiots, all of them!”

Jiangli continued to slide across the screen before coming across an audio file.

[POLICE_PHONE_CALL_01.wav]

Jiangli’s eyebrows furrowed as she clicked on the audio file.

A wave of static could be heard, and a frantic female voice could be heard running.

“H-hello? P-police? I need help!”

“Ma’am, calm down. This is the Linjiang Police. What seems to be the problem?”

“kill me… He’s trying to kill me!”

“Excuse me? I’m sorry, but prank calls-“

“I’m being serious!” the woman screamed as her breath hitched, pausing. “P-please.”

The operator paused before asking, “Alright. What seems to be the problem?”

“T-there’s someone outside my home… I saw him. I swear! I can’t see his face clearly, b-but he’s out-outside…”

“He followed me back home!” The woman’s voice was trembling. “He’s outside! I can see him! I can hear his footsteps, and every time I go near the door, he’s gone!”

“P-please…” the woman begged. “He’s here again.”

…

“He’s gone…?” the woman said with a strangely clear voice.

“Ah, ma’am, you might be stressed from work. Might I suggest taking a hot bath to wind down after you’re done with your work? I’ll let this prank call slide, but please call us when something actually happens.”

Beep!

[POLICE_PHONE_CALL_02.wav]

“I’m not delusional! He’s right outside my house! P-please! I’m begging you, please. I think I’m going to d-die…”

The woman on the phone was crying, and it was obvious that she was terrified. She would move her sobbing away from the phone as if she were trying to hide from something.

“Ma’am, help is on the way. I need you to tell me your address.”

“N-number 28, Building number three, Fuming Road, and m-my name is Lin Kexin,” the woman spoke in a hushed and hurried tone.

“Alright, ma’am, I…”

“N-no! Don’t hang up! Please don’t leave me alone, I’m going to die…”

“N-no, ma’am, I’ll stay on the line with you. Please, try to calm down. Help is on the way.”

“No! Don’t hang up! Why?!” The woman cried as she screamed into the phone. “Why? Sh*t! He’s o-outside my door. I-I barricaded it, but I can hear him coming in; he’s in! He’s-“

“,,,”

“Ma’am?”

“…”

“Ma’am, I am still on the line. Ma’am? Ma’am!”

The sound of chewing could be faintly heard, and then there was silence.

Jiangli frowned as she clicked off the audio files.

Spells of unknown origin: being able to suppress help, the ability to pass through walls… She didn’t want to admit it, but Bai Kai was right. These things are evolving.

Creek!

She looked towards the door and found her maid, who was holding a stack of documents and a few photos in her hand.

“Miss, there are new developments in the case. In an apartment complex near the university town this morning, somebody found two rabbit corpses near the park’s lake. These two corpses, which had high levels of residual magic, are suspected to be Mr Rabbit’s pawns. These documents show the information from on-site analysis, and these are the photos from the scene.”

Jiangli’s eyes widened slightly. Something… or someone in that apartment dealt with Mr Rabbit’s pawns, causing his attack to fail. This is the equivalent of declaring war on Mr Rabbit.

Jiangli subtly nodded at the competence of that person, picking up the document and photos, but frowned immediately upon seeing a young man in the photo.

Black coat, sunglasses, wearing a mask, acting sneaky…

“This person right here,” Jiangli pointed. “He’s hiding himself from the crowd, and he seems unbothered from the incident. I think he’s important to this case.”

“Is that so? But I think that…”

“No,” Jiangli tapped on the photo. “Catch this man.”

“I understand.”