Roster of Demons

During breakfast, Gu Zhen kept monitoring the little crow's every move.

"Why are you staring at me?" The little crow grabbed a large multigrain cake with rich fillings and stuffed it into his mouth.

He was a little choked after eating, so he took a clean spoon and took a spoonful of tofu nao from Gu Zhen's bowl.

"Hello!" Gu Zhen lowered his voice and quickly glanced around, "Didn't I order sweet soy milk for you?"

"Stingy." The little crow put down the spoon and took another bite of the multigrain cake, "You can't even try it."

"Is this the same thing?" Don't you feel how ambiguous sharing food is?

But Gu Zhen didn't say the last half of the sentence, as if he cared a lot.

He was so angry that he pulled the bowl of bean curd to the corner of the table where the little crow could not reach, bowed his head and took a big sip.

While drinking, Fu Xiaozi's call came in.

Why is she so early?

Seeing the photo of Fu Xiaozi jumping on the screen, Gu Zhen connected the phone suspiciously.

"Morning." He picked up a fried dumpling, put it in a saucer of spicy vinegar, and rolled it back and forth to dip it.

"What are you doing?" Fu Xiaozi asked anxiously.

"Eat breakfast." Gu Zhen said as he stuffed fried dumplings into his mouth, "What else can I do."

"Don't eat it." Fu Xiaozi said, "Just received the information that the hooked snake has gone down."

"Really?" This is undoubtedly the rare good news recently, Gu Zhen quickly swallowed the dumplings, "Where are you, I'll come here now."

"Tianyun Grand Hotel." Fu Xiaozi said, "Don't rush to be happy. The informant said that the hunter and the buyer made an appointment at 9:[-], and the deal was a crystal pendant."

"Sell real objects? Is that what I mean?" Gu Zhen grabbed the wallet and stopped looking for change.

"That's what you think." Fu Xiaozi raised the volume impatiently, "Don't dawdle, let's go now!"

Hunters do dirty business. They catch monsters, draw out their spiritual consciousness while they are alive, seal them in calligraphy, paintings, sculptures and other objects, and make them into objects with special functions for the rich to collect or use.

Sometimes the captured monsters are of a higher level, and the hunters will satisfy the buyers' thirst for knowledge and let them see the live ones.

According to common sense, the hooked snake is a monster of Shanhaijing, and the possibility of surviving before being sold is very high.But this time, he had no such luck.

Perhaps it is because the hooked snake is directly related to the death of Li Yan, and his existence will pose a threat to the hunter; or it may be because of the identity of the hooked snake star, too much exposure will easily cause unnecessary troubles, and the hunter A relatively safe solution was chosen.

But this is just speculation, not sure.

But no matter what, Hook Snake is dead, and his plan to get news about Liang Haoren and Xiao Zhu from him may be in vain.

Gu Zhen sighed softly and put the change on the table.

"Going?" The little crow raised his head and asked him.

Gu Zhen hesitated, but nodded anyway.

He didn't know whether he should take the little crow with him. The danger factor of directly facing the hunter was much higher than investigating from the outside: "How about you..."

"I'll go with you." The little crow picked up the sea bowl and drank the sweet soy milk in one gulp, "We agreed."

"Okay." Gu Zhen thought about it for a while, then she stopped being entangled and warned him in a low voice, "But this is a matter of our meeting, and it has nothing to do with you. You can follow, but you must put your own safety first , retreat immediately in case of a situation, understand?"

The little crow held his mouth and didn't respond, so Gu Zhen asked again: "Understood?"

"Understood!" The little crow waved his hand perfunctorily, "Aren't you in a hurry? Hurry up and leave."

One person and one demon rushed to the Tianyun Hotel.

The place of the transaction was room 1014. Fu Xiaozi reserved room 11 on the 14th floor and waited upstairs in advance.Gu Zhen went straight up to the 11th floor according to her prompt, and found the room number following the guidance of the signboard.

Just as he was about to ring the bell, the door opened from the inside.

Fu Xiaozi saw Gu Zhen first, and then saw the little crow behind him, with a flash of surprise on his face: "It's you?"

"You know each other?" Gu Zhen asked hurriedly.

"Come in and we'll talk." Fu Xiaozi tilted her head, motioning for the two to enter the room.

There is also a young man in the room who is putting the rope out of the window.Fu Xiaozi continued the unfinished work just now, picked up the other end of the rope, and tied a knot to fix it.

With outsiders around, it's not easy for Gu Zhen to ask more questions.He walked to the window and leaned over to look down, then turned around and asked Fu Xiaozi, "What is this for?"

"There are people guarding the entrance and exit, and there are people on the 9th and 10th floors. When the people who will be trading arrive, we will come and catch them." Fu Xiaozi tugged at the knot, "See where they go."

"Will the hunter really come?" Gu Zhen was dubious.

Recently, the inner ghost incident made him panic. He always felt that there was an Infernal Affairs drama going on around him, and if he didn't pay attention, he might be stabbed in the back at any time.

"Should come." Fu Xiaozi patted the ashes on his hands, pointed to the mineral water on the table and said to the little crow, "Give it to me."

The little crow was choosing a channel, but without turning her head when she heard the words, she grabbed the water bottle and threw it to her.

"Thank you." Fu Xiaozi grasped it firmly.After taking a sip, she continued to say to Gu Zhen, "The informant said that the hunters are in urgent need of money this time. They are in a hurry to get rid of the hook snake, just to replenish their equipment and catch a big monster."

"Big monster?" The photo of Qi Wei on the information flashed in his mind, "Kirin?"

"You are very well informed." Fu Xiaozi looked at him in surprise.

"I got the one from a few days ago." Gu Zhen gestured to Fu Xiaozi, and he got the information of the special third group.

Fu Xiaozi understood, and continued: "I heard that there is an adult unicorn that has gone to the neighboring city. The hunters want to make a lot of money from him, and they are planning to make a big move. My dad told me last night that the monster list may be In the hands of this wave of people, so the third team will also set off for the neighboring city today."

"What about us?" Gu Zhen asked.

"Catch those raising money." Fu Xiaozi threw away the empty bottle, looked at the wall clock on the wall, "9:20, the time is just right."

"Little Fatty, how is the situation in the lobby?"

At 9:25, Fu Xiaozi confirmed the situation with the teams again.

"No abnormality." The young man called Xiaopang pretended to be a foreign tourist waiting for his companion, sitting in the rest area of ​​the hotel lobby, looking down and playing with his mobile phone.

Not far away from him, a companion in a similar dress is earnestly inquiring about housing business at the service desk.

Time passed by, the gates, stairs and elevators, residents came in and out, and no suspicious person was found.

"It's half past nine." Gu Zhen reminded Fu Xiaozi.

"Not coming? It doesn't make sense." Fu Xiaozi frowned.

She was most afraid of wasting her brain. Things didn't go as expected, and the next arrangement would have to be redeployed. It was too difficult for her.

Gu Zhen patted her on the shoulder and took the walkie-talkie: "Pang, within half an hour, is anyone going to the front desk to book a room?"

"Yes." Xiaopang's memory is not bad, "It's not a weekend or a holiday. There are not many people checking in at this time, and most of them are checking out. The only people who booked rooms I saw were a couple with children, a A girl in a denim skirt, and a middle-aged man with a briefcase."

"Earphones, can you find out which floors they went to?" Gu Zhen asked another young man who was also in the lobby.

"Wait a moment." The earphones lowered their voice and responded, bid farewell to the female receptionist who was chatting happily, and walked towards Xiaopang, "1621, 0508, 1217. I just wrote down the room numbers when they registered."

"Understood." Gu Zhen responded, and turned around to ask Fu Xiaozi, "The one who wants to buy the snake hook pendant is a rich businessman, right?"

"Yes, didn't I say that, he booked the room on the 10th floor, checked in last night, and never came out." Fu Xiaozi said.

"I think," Gu Zhen paid attention to Fu Xiaozi's expression, "we might be tricked. Number 1014 is a trick."

"What are you talking about?" Fu Xiaozi was taken aback for a moment, then patted his head, "Don't be crowed."

The little crow was watching TV to pass the time, but his attention was all on Gu Zhen and the two of them. When he noticed the movement, he gave Fu Xiaozi a displeased look, and said, "If you don't believe me, let someone check it out." That's it."

Fu Xiaozi thought for a while, and it made sense, and grabbed the walkie-talkie back: "The one on the 10th floor, go to 1014." Then he asked Gu Zhen, "What should I do next?"

Gu Zhen shook her head: "I'll ask again."

He contacted the young man in the parking lot and asked, "Is there anyone passing by your place? Couples with children, girls in denim skirts, or middle-aged men with bags?"

"Ah, I saw a girl. Thin and tall with long hair, wearing a denim skirt, and carrying a large backpack." The other side replied quickly, "I drove away 5 minutes ago."

Gu Zhen gave Fu Xiaozi a helpless look, and then asked Xiao Pang: "Pang, that girl in denim skirt, did you bring any luggage?"

"A messenger bag, right? The kind girls like to use. It can hold mobile phones and change." Xiaopang said.

"Okay." Gu Zhen put down the walkie-talkie and said to Fu Xiaozi, "Did you hear that? I think we're already one step too late."

At this time, the feedback from checking room 1014 also came back: "The room is an ordinary old man who has received money from others to stay here for one night. We have made an appointment to stay until 9:[-], and we can leave as soon as the time is up. Now He's filling a bag with instant noodles and chips, take it to the service desk?"

Fu Xiaozi: "..."

"Let's see." Gu Zhen spread his hands, "How about we call it a day?"

Fu Xiaozi couldn't keep up with his train of thought, and his mind was full of muddleheaded: "Be clear first, don't play charades."

"I reckon, what your informant got was false information." Gu Zhen slowly analyzed it to her, "The half-truth and half-false transaction time and place attracted our main force to around the 10th floor, and then We pay and deliver under our noses.

"The girl in the denim skirt should be the hunter who took the money and left. The buyer may live on any floor below the 9th floor. After getting the new room number booked by the hunter, he will trade in room 0508.

"Well, doesn't it make sense?"

Gu Zhen's analysis is plausible, but there are many loopholes.

Fu Xiaozi was dubious, and asked, "If the information given is false, why not just choose a completely irrelevant place? With so many people in our group here, the risk is also high?"

"How do I know? It's just a random guess." Gu Zhen said, "If I were you, I would follow up with the girl in the denim skirt now. Since the focus of the hunter has shifted to the neighboring city, she will definitely find a way Get in touch with your companions."

He stood up and waved to the little crow: "Hey, I'm leaving, will you go?"

Without saying a word, the little crow jumped off the bed and left with him.

"Where are you going?" Fu Xiaozi shouted behind him.

"Continue to have breakfast!" Gu Zhen said without looking back.

One person and one demon walked quickly to the elevator room, the little crow looked back at Room 1114, and asked Gu Zhen, "Do you really want to have breakfast?"

"Do you want to push yourself to death? I'm not stupid." Gu Zhen opened the mobile app and quickly placed an order to buy the nearest high-speed rail ticket, "I'm going to the neighboring city."

Gu Zhen is actually very clear about Fu Xiaozi's doubts.

If the informant got false information at the beginning, then the hunters would not need to complete the transaction at the Fortune Hotel, they could choose a place with a higher safety factor.

You must come to Tianyun Hotel for only one reason, and that is because the buyer is in this building.

In other words, at least half of the information in the hands of the informant is correct.The two parties agreed to trade in room 1014, and the buyer lived on other floors, so it was convenient to play by ear.

As for why the time and location of the transaction were temporarily changed, the most likely reason was that when Fu Xiaozi got the task of intercepting the transaction, someone passed the news to the hunter organization.

Only then did the scene of taking the risk to trade under the noses of a whole team of special operations team members at the Tianyun Hotel.

"Are you going by yourself? Are you going to tell Fu Xiaozi?" Little Crow asked.

"Don't tell me, her tone is too loose." Gu Zhen booked the ticket, put her phone back in her pocket, and raised her head, "I don't know who else I can trust. I'm going to act alone from now on."

"Count me in," said the little crow.

Gu Zhen turned his face, the little crow spoke very seriously, he couldn't understand what was hidden in his eyes.

"I will never leave you alone again."