"In the end, it was Beibei who found a way, by finding a traditional Chinese idioms dictionary at his ho and letting the kid recognize them, but out of five idioms, he made mistakes in four, unable to read the characters clearly. Following that, without our intervention, the child’s parents picked him up and hung him on the wall and beat him harshly, no one could persuade them otherwise." Da Xiong sighed as he said this, as if savoring the mory, "In the end, it was the policewoman guarding the scene who couldn’t bear it and told them not to go overboard, believing that the child could still be used if educated."
"When you guys co back, don’t forget to bring that supernatural novel with you. I want to see what’s going on too." Yang Xiao also breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, it was just a false alarm, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to shake off the label of a Ghost Summoner.
Upon hearing this, Da Xiong laughed and said, "Don’t worry captain, I’ve read a bit of the book. The author does know how to write horror, it’s quite scary, no wonder it caused spiritual disturbance to the child."
"What’s the na?" Yang Xiao put down the docunt in his hand and casually asked.
"’Nightmare Assault.’"
In the evening, Da Xiong personally ca to deliver the book to Yang Xiao, with both hands holding the book and a serious look on his face: "Captain, rember to return it to after you’ve finished, read it quickly; we want to read it too."
"Is it that good?" Yang Xiao got sowhat curious.
Da Xiong nodded heavily, speaking in a muffled voice: "It’s good, indeed a bit scary. Xi nxiu, that coward, didn’t dare to read it alone and had hold him."
After sending Da Xiong off, Yang Xiao took the wrinkled cover book back to his office, closed the door, and casually turned off the lights in the room, leaving only a small desk lamp emitting a green light.
Placing the book on the desk and casually flipping open the wrinkled cover, Yang Xiao sneered with a mix of three parts indifference and seven parts disdain:
"Let see what’s this all about."
At nine o’clock at night, Huang Qiang made a call to the director’s office, anxiously waiting for more than ten seconds before the phone was picked up, "Captain Yang, why haven’t you gone to the underground training hall? Mr. Lu is still waiting for you!"
"Don’t rush, I... I’m on my way. That... next ti... please don’t call the office phone, just call my cellphone, it’s quieter."
At these words, Huang Qiang couldn’t help but frown, "Captain Yang, what’s wrong with you? Your voice sounds... are you ill?"
Yang Xiao’s voice revealed three parts weakness and seven parts unease, clearly not right, as if drained of energy, or as if spooked by sothing.
"Captain Yang, wait, I’m coming right over."
Huang Qiang was about to hang up and rush over, but the next second, Yang Xiao’s voice suddenly beca panicky as if he had stepped on a tail, "Don’t co, don’t knock on the door, don’t make footsteps in the corridor, tell Mr. Lu for that I... I’m on my way, and you don’t have to wait for in the elevator either, it’s not necessary, I... I’m fine."
After the call disconnected, leaving Huang Qiang with a forehead full of question marks, but he soon let it go, considering all Angel Envoys are eccentric, and the stronger they are, the more peculiar they are, so Captain Yang was still relatively normal.
After hanging up the phone, Huang Qiang picked up a pen, pondered for a mont, and recorded Yang Xiao’s abnormal behavior in the notebook in front of him. Similar entries had already filled up more than ten pages, detailed records of Yang Xiao’s daily work activities.
Ten minutes later, Yang Xiao sneakily appeared in the underground training hall, where it was very quiet. Only a few lights illuminated it, and the silhouette targets in the shooting range were enshrouded in darkness, only showing their vague outlines. From a distance, they looked like ghosts standing there.
To be precise, Yang Xiao now felt there were ghosts everywhere, and he had to admit the author of "Nightmare Assault" indeed had sothing about him; Yang Xiao even suspected the author had visited Nightmare World because expressing that imrsive, eerie horror feeling is difficult for non-Angel Envoys to accurately portray.
Daring not to read further, he increasingly suspected that other things had mingled in the nearby darkness. He imdiately stopped his imaginative thoughts and concentrated his mind, walking toward the direction of the collection room, where a lonely incandescent light was shining in front of the door.
He was already thinking of an excuse on the way because he was late, and Lu Youdao was weird.
"Creak—"
This sound made Yang Xiao’s heart leap into his throat, as the iron gate not far in front of him was pushed open from the inside. Faint yellow light seeped through, revealing a hunched figure behind the gate.
Looking against the light, the pitiable state of the person was shocking; bald-headed, face corroded by strong acid, missing eyebrows, half a nose, no eyebrows – if Yang Xiao hadn’t braced himself in advance, just the sight of that face would have made him draw the Ghost Duster without a second thought.
"Mr. Lu..." Yang Xiao, like a student who had done sothing wrong, forced out a slight smile and courteously greeted him.
Originally, he thought that Lu Youdao would keep a stern face and coldly say, "You’re late" or "Too late, go back now, and don’t bother coming again" – that sort of thing. But unexpectedly, Lu Youdao just nodded and stepped aside.
This sudden treatnt made Yang Xiao even more unsettled. He didn’t know what Lu Youdao was planning; after all, this man was the forr Sect Leader of the Gate of Shock, one of the Upper Three Gates of the Resentnt Sect, even Nalan Shuo showed him respect.
Beyond the iron gate was a deep, long hallway. Under the dim lights, one could see more than a dozen doors lined up along the corridor, each leading to a separate room, and each door differed in size, shape, and even material.
Lu Youdao turned around and limped ahead. This ti, instead of heading to the door closest to them as usual, he approached the next one.
It was a gray door with a marble-like sheen, and as a bronze-colored key was inserted into the lock, it opened a crack amidst the sound of chanical gears shing. However, what was strange was that Lu Youdao did not enter after unlocking the door but just pulled out the key.
Turning to face Yang Xiao, the look in Lu Youdao’s eyes exerted trendous pressure on the latter. "Co here, go in."
"Mr. Lu, I was late today for a reason, I know I shouldn’t make excuses, but... please forgive !" Yang Xiao’s admission of fault was very sincere – he knew that behind this door was likely his punishnt.
Sure enough, Lu Youdao was petty, this was revenge.
"Being a bit late is no problem, I can wait," Lu Youdao’s hoarse voice was as abrasive as gravel, causing more discomfort, "Now you go in."
After resisting for a long ti, Yang Xiao still couldn’t suppress the resistance in his heart, stopping 2 ters away from Lu Youdao and the door, "That... Mr. Lu, may I ask what is behind this door?"
From previous experiences, he deduced this place was the collection room. Each door here hid a Resentful Eye, and the abilities of these Resentful Eyes were diverse, each with a high level of danger; the Raincoat Man ghost that had attacked him and Nalan Shuo last ti was one of them.
That incident had been a huge shock to Yang Xiao, one of the most dangerous supernatural events he had encountered in the real world outside of Nightmare World missions.
"It’s Director Nalan who arranged it, if you don’t want to go in, I won’t force you. You can leave now," Lu Youdao’s voice was as unpleasant as always.
"Director Nalan..." Yang Xiao ca to his senses belatedly. He had been too busy during the day, with tight work schedules leaving no ti to think. Only now, as he settled down, did he realize that there was sothing suspicious about Nalan Shuo’s departure; neither his rank nor his experience was suitable for the position of acting director – it was like pushing a duck onto a perch.
"What happened to the Director? Where did he go this ti?" Yang Xiao started to panic. There was sothing off about the Director’s departure, but he hadn’t taken it seriously, especially since the two of them had already returned.
However, Lu Youdao didn’t react to Yang Xiao’s questions at all, just calmly looking at him while slowly pulling the door handle, gradually closing the door.
"What happened to the Director? Where did he go this ti?" Yang Xiao started to panic. There was sothing off about the Director’s departure, but he hadn’t taken it seriously, especially since the two of them had already returned.
However, Lu Youdao didn’t react to Yang Xiao’s questions at all, just calmly looking at him while slowly pulling the door handle, gradually closing the door.
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