Urban Night Returner

"No?" Seeing Zhong Lecen frowning and closing the webpage, Shen Gu knew that there was not much hope.He glanced at this webpage just now, it is called "Tianshi Information Network", divided into history version, character version, animal version, utensil version and rule version.What Zhong Lecen entered just now was the animal edition. There was a wild beast painted on the board, which was very strange. Its head resembled a dragon but had no horns, and its body resembled a lion.Zhong Lecen said that this is Bai Ze, a kind of divine beast that can know all ghosts and gods in the world.However, both of them were eager to check things, and had no intention of talking about this fetish.

"No." Zhong Lecen shook his head, "I can't find any shadow beasts."

"Or, call and ask the second uncle?"

"This website is a database accumulated by the Celestial Masters Association for decades. If there is nothing in it, it is useless to ask anyone. Besides, Mr. Zhong is good at catching ghosts. My second uncle may not know a lot about these ghosts."

"Forget it." Seeing his eyes flushed from the heat, Shen Gu felt a little distressed, "Don't look at it anymore, your eyes can't take it anymore? Take a break, I'll go buy some soy milk and fried dough sticks, and you can eat some to catch up on sleep later .I'm going to work first."

"Don't." Zhong Lecen stood up, "I'll go with you and buy something to eat on the way. Although I don't know what it is, I think we can analyze its activity rules or something. If we can find it, it will be natural. You'll know what it is."

"Okay." Because Zuo Jian suddenly asked for leave to go home, Shen Gu has already completed the two cases.After all, this may not be an ordinary disappearance case. If other people are asked to investigate, even the investigators may be in danger. Only he is the most suitable.

"Yakumo will go too." Zhong Lecen greeted the dog ghost who was sleeping with Tang Yuan, "Maybe we can find some clues."

"Just take it last night, maybe you can smell something. Hey, can't you figure out a way to know it as soon as you call it?"

Zhong Lecen was a little bit embarrassed: "Its contract with the Tuyumen family has not yet been terminated. I am not its shikigami, so it is impossible to call it. It is not easy to take it out..."

Shen Gu just said it casually, nodded when he heard the words, and turned his mind to the case again: "There should be many beasts that eat people, but are there any ones that eat women?" There are several similarities between the two cases, One of them is that the missing are all young girls.

"This... I have never heard of it before."

"Then why Zheng Guangqiang was fine at the time, but his girlfriend was missing?" The only thing Shen Gu couldn't figure out was this point, "Obviously the shadow fell on him at the time, and he was answering the text message with his head down, and he didn't notice anything more. Impossible to escape or resist, if that shadow didn't just eat women, why would it let him go?"

"Maybe there's something about a woman that attracts it more?"

"What's there? The meat is more tender?"

"Maybe it's not for eating?" Zhong Lecen made this statement, and his face turned a little red.

Shen Gu was shocked: "Could it be—"

The symphony of fate suddenly played, and Shen Gu was taken aback: "Who changed the ringtone of my mobile phone?" He was startled when he first heard it, it was such a big movement.But as soon as the voice sounded, he suddenly felt as if some inspiration had passed before his eyes, but he didn't catch it all at once.

"I didn't move." Zhong Lecen knew that Shen Gu had different ringtone settings for different people, and he could tell whether it was a call from home, the bureau, or an outsider, so he never touched Shen Gu's phone.

The dog ghost lay down very solemnly in the back seat, put his head on his front paws and looked out the window, pretending not to hear.Zhong Lecen saw it at a glance, and stretched out his hand to grab its ear: "Did you dance with Tangyuan on the sofa yesterday and stepped on Shen Gu's phone?"

The dog ghost pretended to be innocent and purred twice, Shen Gu had already answered the phone, and his face was ugly: "Heizi found the body, let's go and have a look."

The body was found by cleaners in a small park, not so much a body as a skeleton.On the withered grass, there was a pile of scattered bones, big and small stacked together, and Liu Wu was collecting and sealing them one by one.The flesh and tendons on the bones were all digested, and they were scattered on the ground miserably.If it wasn't for a badly corroded mobile phone in the bone pile, it would be impossible to tell the identity of the deceased.Xiao Heizi's face was even uglier than Shen Gu's, and it had already turned green: "Brother Shen, she is the first missing girl. Liu Gong said that it was excreted, and all the bones are not a lot."

Shen Gu's face was livid: "Yakumo, go and smell it."

The dog ghost leaned over and sniffed around the pile of white bones, the hair on his back suddenly exploded, with his nose touching the grass, he walked slowly forward.Zhong Lecen followed it, but when he got to the edge of the grass, the dog ghost lost his way, turned around several times, and still shook his tail regretfully at Zhong Lecen.

"Yakumo said that the smell of this thing disappeared suddenly, and it can't be traced." Zhong Lecen walked to Shen Gu's side and said in a low voice.

Shen Gu nodded, but the phone rang again. It was Zheng Guangqiang calling, asking if there was any progress in the case.Shen Gu simply said a few words and hung up the phone, he couldn't tell the anxious young man that his girlfriend might be found somewhere soon, in the form of a pile of bones.

After tidying up the bones, Liu Wu stood up, took off his gloves and said, "The bones are very clean, with no flesh left. They look like they were picked out with a knife at a butcher's stall. There is still liquid left on the phone. It's like digestive juice, but the specific ingredients need to go back and analyze."

Xiao Heizi suddenly turned his head and retched.Liu Wu's words are always too vivid and too simple, giving people unlimited room for imagination.Shen Gu looked at the bones in the bag—I don't know what Zheng Guangqiang would look like if he found a second pile of bones tomorrow...

Zheng Guangqiang!Shen Gu suddenly grasped the inspiration he hadn't grasped before going out, turned around quickly, and grabbed Xiao Heizi: "The ringtone of Zheng Guangqiang's text message is firecrackers, right?"

"That's right." Xiao Heizi was a little confused, but Zhong Lecen who was beside him suddenly took a step forward and stared at Shen Gu.Shen Gu continued to ask: "He said that he just received a text message when the shadow was cast on him?"

"Yes." Little Heizi became even more confused.He knew that Shen Gu's memory was excellent, and he could never forget it by ear. The reason why he asked so repeatedly must be that there must be important discoveries here, but he really couldn't figure out what the ringtone of Zheng Guangqiang's cell phone had to do with this case.

Shen Gu turned his head and glanced at Zhong Lecen, the two looked at each other, and said in unison: "Nian Beast!"

"Ah?" Little Heizi was completely at a loss, looking at this and then that.But those two people had already thrown him aside completely, and Gu Zi had a heated discussion: "So the two disappearance cases happened in secluded places, one is the new community and the other is the villa area."

"At first it was Zheng Guangqiang who wanted to eat that thing, but because his cell phone rang suddenly, that thing bypassed him and devoured his girlfriend."

"It also stayed outside our community, but there were so many people setting off firecrackers that it didn't dare to come in."

"But doesn't the Nian beast only appear on New Year's Eve? It should leave on the first day of the new year, right?"

"Well, it should be like this, but it has not left now, and it is constantly devouring people, there must be other reasons."

"Nian Beast actually appeared as a shadow?"

"I don't know. There is no mention of this in any book. Maybe, no living person has seen the appearance of the Nian beast with his own eyes."

"Brother Shen!" Little Heizi finally couldn't bear it anymore.Even if the left team said he was born slow, he didn't want to be ignored like this!

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Nian Beast." Zhong Lecen explained, "We think the man-eating one should be the legendary Nian Beast."

"Nian Beast?" Little Heizi's eyeballs were about to fall out, "Brother Shen, you can't just—"

He swallowed back the second half of the sentence, but Shen Gu already understood what he meant, and nodded: "I know. But you have to think about it in this way. You continue to investigate according to the robbery and murder case, here I'll come, don't let other people get in, or they're in danger too."

"Is there really a Nian Beast?"

Shen Gu watched him say nothing, then pointed to the grass: "Then what do you think about these bones? Especially the digestive juice on the phone."

Little Heizi's face turned pale: "In...the belly..."

Shen Gu felt that there was no need to say anything more to him. In fact, Xiao Heizi already believed it, but he couldn't accept it yet.He turned to Zhong Lecen: "Will Nian Beast come out tonight?"

"If you haven't left, you will still come out according to the pattern of the previous two nights."

Shen Gu looked at his watch.It was three o'clock in the afternoon, only a few hours before dark.Although Binhai City is not very big, there are at least dozens of secluded streets. Who knows where the Nian Beast will appear?

"Nian Beast is afraid of sound. It doesn't dare to go where there are loud sounds."

"Aren't you afraid of firecrackers?"

"No. I think it's only the sound of firecrackers that it's afraid of. Zheng Guangqiang's mobile phone ringtone can scare it away, but it's not real firecrackers. Before there were no firecrackers, people used bamboo knots to throw them into the fire to burn them. Crackling sound, so I think that as long as it is a sudden loud sound, Nian Beast can be frightened, at least, it will be willing to stay in a quiet place."

Shen Gu suddenly had an idea: "Heizi, your father is from the Provincial Public Security Bureau, right?"

"Ah? Ah." Xiao Heizi didn't know why he suddenly mentioned this.

"Tonight, the whole city will crack down on pornography and illegal activities."

"What?" Little Heizi was puzzled.

"I leave this to you. There must be sirens in all secluded corners."

"Hand it over, leave it to me?" Little Heizi's eyeballs were about to fall off again, "I, I can't control this matter!"

"Use your father's relationship, I don't care what to do, but after dark today, the police sirens must be sounded throughout the city."

Little Heizi almost scratched his scalp: "Brother Shen, Ancestor Shen, you are trying to trick me to death!"

Shen Gu looked at him squarely: "It must be like this. The Nian Beast is afraid of the sound, and only when it is heard everywhere, it will go to the place we designated for it to hunt."

"What time is it now? How can it be before dark—" Xiao Heizi complained halfway, and suddenly understood, "Brother Shen, what do you mean? What do you mean hunting at a designated place? It can go to a designated place How? How do we catch it?"

"It's not us, it's me."

"Brother Shen, are you going alone?"

"There are too many people, and the Nian Beast may not dare to show up if they are all together. If you disperse the people, it will be hard to tell who is going to ambush whom. I will go alone, and I can move forward and retreat flexibly."

"I'll go with you." Zhong Lecen grabbed his hand.Shen Gu patted the back of his hand: "Not good. We don't know how the Nian beast will deal with it, and this thing is obviously fast, you can't deal with it."

Zhong Lecen repeated stubbornly: "I'll go with you. You don't know how to deal with this thing, maybe I can help."

Shen Gu had a headache: "What if it attacks you? If I don't have time to save you—"

Zhong Lecen thought for a while: "Maybe we can take Yakumo with us. If Nian Beast approaches, Yakumo may be able to smell it."

Shen Gu knew that he had made up his mind.Zhong Lecen seems to have a good temper, but in fact, once he gets angry, he will be very terrified.If he didn't agree, he might secretly follow behind. That would be even worse. If something happened, it would be too late for him to save him.

"Okay, but you can't stay away from me."

It is indeed rare to have a large-scale crackdown on pornography and illegal activities before the seventh day of junior high school.The sound of firecrackers and the siren that suddenly approached and far away made the noise so loud that countless families couldn't even watch TV, and cursed secretly.

Amidst the noise, only the demolished streets in Cangkou District are quiet.The street is very narrow, the houses on both sides are no longer inhabited, and the doors and windows have been removed, leaving only black holes, like mouths, open to the people in the middle of the street.

Zhong Lecen walked slowly on the street, the dog ghost followed closely beside his legs, it looked like a shadow under the dim street lights.Shen Gu followed about 30 meters behind him.The two just walked back and forth like this, as if they were strolling.In the distance, the sharp screams of police cars could be faintly heard, making the place even more terrifyingly quiet.

Shen Gu mobilized all the sensory organs in his body to feel every movement around him - sounds, smells, changes in light and shadow, and even the touch of the wind blowing on his body.However, they were almost walking from one end to the other, and there was still no movement.

Maybe the commotion was too loud, and the Nian beast didn't dare to come out to look for food?As Shen Gu thought about it, his eyes turned around Zhong Lecen again.He was most worried about Zhong Lecen. He was not sure if he could make it to the 30-meter distance.There is no movement now, and while he is disappointed, he can't help but feel a little relieved.Speeding up his pace a little, Shen Gu wanted to catch up with Zhong Lecen, but in such a short time, he suddenly realized that something was wrong with his shadow.Just now it was on the road, stretched by the light of the street lamp, now cast on the steps by the side of the road, it is naturally a little distorted, but this kind of distortion-it does not conform to the laws of physics.

Shen Gu felt that the hair on the back of his neck stood up at this moment.He saw a claw protruding from his distorted shadow—Nian Beast had followed him at some point.

Shen Gu continued to walk, every inch of his body tensed up.Jin Tiezhiying slowly emerged from the palm of his right hand, revealing a sharp edge without a sound.His gaze was fixed on his own shadow. Following his steps, the street lamp behind him moved away, but the street lamp in front gradually approached, so the distorted shadow gradually shortened.But when it shrinks to two-thirds of its length, it no longer shortens.

One step, two steps, three steps... Shen Gu could almost hear his breathing getting heavier.He had never felt this way before, the fear that came from the bottom of his heart.He didn't feel this way when he was alone and surrounded by enemies. The fear of being invisible is the greatest fear.

The street lamp is already in front of him, and Shen Gu's own shadow has moved from under his feet to behind him, but there is still a shadow in front of him, and it is slowly expanding, gradually widening from the long one, and gradually revealing the head , and a mouth, which is only half open at this time, but the tips of the four upper and lower fangs have already picked out the head.As Shen Gu moved forward, this shadow kept casting on the steps or walls, so it kept bending and straightening. If Shen Gu hadn't been staring at it, it would be difficult to see its changes.He slowed down his steps so that he could see the shadow more clearly. His head was gradually raised, his mouth was gradually opened, and the shape of the four fangs was fully revealed...

Le Cen and Gou Gui were walking on the road, paying attention to the movement around them, while listening to the steady footsteps behind them from time to time.The dog ghost suddenly leaned against Zhong Lecen's lap, and let out a low whine from its throat, which gradually turned into a low growl, but it was tightly pressed deep in the throat and did not burst out.Zhong Lecen raised his head and looked around in horror, but there was no movement.He shivered, and suddenly turned to look at Shen Gu.Shen Gu has fallen behind a lot at some point.Looking from Zhong Lecen, the street lights behind him seem to be much dimmer than those around him, so that he can't even see Shen Gu's face clearly, only a vague outline, as if Shen Gu is trapped in some kind of cave .And above the cave, there were two faint lights. At first he thought they were street lamps, but then he realized that the two lights were actually slightly green, clearly looking like the eyes of a beast.As the cave gradually expanded, it was able to cover Shen Gu's whole body, and above his head, a row of white things gradually appeared, and Zhong Lecen's mind thumped—that row of white things were teeth ...