dkrc Chapter 139 The Power of the Nuo Mask
Chapter 139 The Power of the Nuo Mask
Chapter 139 The Power of the Nuo Mask
The two paragraphs written by this "mysterious writer" were to help Li Jiuhe integrate this Nuo mask into his face.
If he harbors any ill intentions and writes something with ulterior motives, Li Jiuhe will do the same.
Because at that moment, all his behavioral patterns were enveloped by the power of the "mysterious writer's" words, and he was in a special "domain".
As expected, this little mustache "mysterious writer" and Tong Cheng's "opera singer" belong to the same sequence, and their abilities are somewhat similar.
However, Tong Cheng was clearly stronger; he could speak fluently and the stage would instantly appear.
Little Mustache would need to take out paper and pen to write it down. If it were a planned battle, he could write it down first. But if it were an impromptu fight, his ability would take a certain amount of time, leaving him no time to engage the enemy.
Luo Shuo had just witnessed the thick mask completely merge into Li Jiuhe's face and disappear. He looked left and right, and his surprise was no less than Li Jiuhe's.
After a moment, he asked the middle-aged man with the small mustache, "Mr. Consultant, your abilities are admirable, but why can I still sense that he is Li Jiuhe? My perception of his identity hasn't changed at all?"
The man with the small mustache waved his hand: "Teacher Xu's Nuo mask is extraordinary. It can identify and automatically isolate people who have ulterior motives towards Li Jiuhe from his perception of him, while people who are friendly to him or those with whom he usually interacts normally without malice will not have any loss of perception."
Li Jiuhe and Luo Shuo both looked surprised, while Shao Gang, who seemed to know the power of the Nuo mask, remained calm.
It seems that Nuo masks must be at least two or three times more powerful than Tongcheng's facial makeup, which is why they have such an effect.
A week has passed in the blink of an eye.
Xiongfengling, Guanjia.
In the past few days, members of Guan Chuandao's branch of the family have been restless and uneasy.
Although life goes on and I complete the various tasks assigned by the family every day in a routine manner, I can't help but feel suspicious because I haven't seen the head of the family for a while. I wonder if something went wrong during the last operation.
Originally, the third generation would pay their respects to Guan Chuandao every day and receive instructions from Guan Jiqian and Guan Jikun.
The three have not returned, including the other capable second and third-generation descendants who went with them.
Some are even speculating that if something were to happen to all of them, the Guan family branch would be finished. After all, those who remain at home now either lack strong sequence abilities or are simply unable to awaken them.
On this day, Guan Jiling, the daughter of the preacher and the younger sister of the brothers Guan Jiqian and Guan Jikun, could no longer wait.
She went to her father's storeroom and found the life-and-death stone tablet that could predict life and death.
He took out a strand of hair that he had picked up from his father's bedside, placed it in front of the stone tablet, and then silently recited the name of Guan Chuandao.
Before long, the surface of the stone tablet changed, and a large character for "death" appeared before our eyes.
Guan Jiling froze, tears welling up in her eyes.
She turned and ran out, and soon summoned her other descendants, bringing with her the hair of Guan Jiqian, Guan Jikun, Guan Guangwei, and three other younger relatives.
They each took a piece of the life-and-death stone tablet and made their predictions.
【die】
【die】
【die】
A series of identical "death" words appeared one after another, filling everyone with terror and despair.
Only when predicting Guan Jikun did different characters finally appear on the stone tablet.
【born】
"Second Brother is still alive!"
This made Guan Jiling breathe a long sigh of relief.
When Guan Chuandao left home, he told her that if they did not return from this trip, as long as Guan Jikun was alive, the operation would not be considered a failure.
It now appears that Guan Jikun is still alive, meaning the operation may not have failed.
Guan Jiling felt a glimmer of hope.
A week has already passed. If Guan Jikun is alive, why doesn't he go home?
She remembered that they said they were going to the capital, where another sequence family, the Guo family, lived, as well as the Investigation Bureau and some other organizations. There were many sequence members, and she didn't know how to inquire.
Moreover, the operation was extremely secretive, and Guan Jiling dared not release any information, so she remained in a state of utter confusion.
Left with no other choice, she decided to seek an audience with Lord Guan to see if he had any solutions.
Guan Sanye didn't wake up until seven days later, and when he did, he learned that Guan Jiling had been waiting outside for a week.
For the past few days, Guan Jiling has been coming to wait every morning and not leaving until evening, repeating this cycle.
This gesture was commendable, and Master Guan was not offended, so after waking up, he immediately had the steward invite Guan Jiling into the bedroom.
Guan Jiling lowered her head and hurried in. The moment she saw Third Master Guan, she suddenly knelt down, tears streaming down her face.
"Third Grandfather, my father and two brothers have never returned since they went to you for divination."
I used the family's tombstone to predict the future: my father and eldest brother are dead, as are all the other children. Only my second brother is still alive, but he has not returned.
As always when he woke up, Guan Yu continued to suck on liquid food through the tube in his mouth.
His expression was perfectly normal; after hearing that Guan Chuandao was dead, he didn't even blink.
He spoke haltingly until Guan Jiling finished, then said, "I once told the preacher that he was facing a calamity, and this should be his calamity. This is his own choice, and he has no one to blame but himself."
"But Third Grandfather—"
Before Guan Jiling could finish speaking, Third Master Guan interrupted her: "Go back and wait. I'll have someone investigate, and I'll let you know as soon as I have any news. By the way, do you know why they went out?"
Guan Jiling paused for a moment, then shook her head.
Guan Yu, observing the situation, said, "Is it because you are bound by the rules of the Toad of Discipline and dare not speak? It's alright, I will lift your rules, and you can speak now."
He waved his hand lightly, and the Discipline Toad, which he had already acquired long ago and was currently placed in the study next to the bedroom, suddenly became useless.
Guan Jiling quickly said, "Their trip this time is related to a black box. They said they have to kill someone before they can open the black box."
"Who to kill?"
Guan Jiling frowned, trying hard to recall, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember. She shook her head: "I can't remember, it seems—they didn't say anything at all."
"Did you not say it, or do you just not remember?" Guan Yu frowned.
Guan Jiling was still trying to recall, but she still couldn't remember anything.
After waiting a moment, Guan Yu waved his hand impatiently: "Get out of here. Tell me when you remember. If I'm sleeping, tell the steward."
"But they—"
"I will send someone to investigate, and I will withdraw."
Guan Jiling dared not linger any longer and got up to walk out of the bedroom.
Guan Sanye squinted his eyes. Because he was so fat, one might mistake him for having his eyes closed if they weren't paying attention. In reality, he had been watching Guan Jiling's figure until it disappeared at the doorway.
He looked away and couldn't help but let out a soft exclamation: "Why have I forgotten this person's name too?"
No, not the name, but everything about this person.
He slurped his food while stroking his round head and thinking.
I still couldn't remember it after a long time.
A moment later, Guan Yu summoned the steward and asked, "Has anyone come to ask for divination today?"
"Reporting to your master, there are none at the moment."
"Okay, I won't do the divination anymore."
"Understood, sir."
The butler left.
Guan Sanye spat out the food tube in his mouth, gently patted his belly piled high with layers of fat, activated his Sequence ability, and cast a divination to explain why he suddenly couldn't remember that person.
His method of divination differs from that of ordinary people; he doesn't need any auxiliary tools, and can perform the divination simply by activating his ability.
A moment later, a slight movement occurred within the pile of fat, and a strip of paper wrapped in mud ball materialized out of thin air.
Guan Yu broke off a layer of fat on his body, crushed the mud ball, took out a piece of paper, unfolded it, and took a look.
[The Heavenly Lake is shrouded in mist, distorting the reflection of the moon in the water. Cognition is obscured, and we forget ourselves.]
He frowned, read it carefully twice, and then slowly raised his head.
"Has someone clouded my perception of that person?"
He threw the note under the bed and immediately dismissed all the servants who were attending to him.
Tell the steward that I need to go to sleep immediately and will ignore all other elders unless they come to me.
1
"Yes, sir."
The servants hurriedly packed their things and left.
Li Jiuhe and Luo Shuo stayed in the capital for ten days.
During this period, he applied to the General Administration to handle a case in Yuanmeng City. After obtaining the consent of Minister Shao Gang of the Equipment Department, the General Administration's Action Department submitted the application, and the approval notice was issued three days later.
Although Minister Shao had intervened and the process was already fast enough, Li Jiuhe still felt it was too slow.
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Meanwhile, his investigator's merit awards were also issued in the past few days.
Because the basic pattern of the sequence diagram was submitted last time, the headquarters research center reviewed and verified it, and promoted the pattern to various local investigation bureaus, which achieved good results. At the same time, the awarding of merit was approved.
Not only do you get merit points, but you also receive a substantial reward.
Li Jiuhe had no concept of merit points. He simply followed procedure, returned the investigator's certificate, and was then given a new investigator's certificate with a gold rim.
He had seen Tong Cheng show this kind of identification before, but Tong Cheng's investigator's badge was black with two thick gold borders.
His badge only had a thin gold trim, and the color was the same as the other investigators' badges.
I imagine the black badge is exclusive to top-level investigators.
He later learned from other colleagues that investigators with gold-rimmed badges could freely allocate resources from an entire city's investigation bureau, acting first and reporting later, and even if the head of the city's investigation bureau disagreed, they could not be stopped.
In other words, his power has actually surpassed that of the local investigation bureau chief.
Li Jiuhe felt strange. Although he could help the General Administration by providing the basic pattern of this complete sequence, the pattern already existed before, but it was not perfect. Logically speaking, his merit points should not be this high.
A few days later, he subtly inquired with someone at the research center and learned that he had most likely stumbled upon the timing of providing the sequence base map to the General Administration by accident.
Because the General Administration had been secretly searching for this pattern for a long time, and believed that the complete pattern might be in the hands of the Sequence Families, but these families either pretended not to know or simply did not provide it.
Just then, Li Jiuhe delivered the basic pattern. This was more than just providing a pattern; it was a shot in the arm for the General Administration.
Otherwise, the Bureau of Investigation's sequence research work may never be able to advance effectively, as it will be suppressed overtly and covertly by these powerful families and sequence organizations.
Although the Investigation Bureau and these families appear to have a peaceful relationship, they actually maintain an extremely delicate balance.
Currently, the Investigation Bureau is being subtly overshadowed by other forces.
Now that they have the basic sequence patterns, as long as they increase their research, they don't need to rely on the charity or help of those families. Once they conquer more patterns, they will have the strength to compete with them.
Therefore, Li Jiuhe's merit points were enough to obtain a Phnom Penh passport. For this, even a deputy director of the General Bureau of Investigation had a long talk with him for an afternoon.
Li Jiuhe actually hoped that the Investigation Bureau would gain the upper hand in its struggle against those family forces. After all, although the Investigation Bureau also had people with ulterior motives, it was generally doing well.
Just as Chen Zhenghai said, in this place, good will prevail over evil.
Only when the Bureau of Investigation's overall strength increases will the Order members of society behave properly, and ordinary humans will not be more affected.
In addition to his merits, he also received a high reward of 50.
Although I am currently all alone and have a high salary, so I am not short of money, it is always good to have some money with me, otherwise I feel uneasy and insecure.
Luo Shuo has been repeatedly instilling this phrase in Li Jiuhe lately.
After receiving their mission from the Operations Department, Li Jiuhe, Luo Shuo, and Mary boarded a plane bound for Yuanmeng City.
The main purpose of this trip was to investigate information about my wife, Lin Fengya, visit her hometown, and inquire about her family and neighbors.
However, this was only Li Jiuhe's personal purpose. He couldn't possibly be paid to do only personal things, so his official business was to handle some more difficult cases along the way.
Information about these cases has been sent to his personal email address by the Operations Department.
One of the cases was clear; all that was needed was to arrest the perpetrator.
Meanwhile, the Yuanmeng City Investigation Bureau has submitted an application requesting that its superiors dispatch capable investigators as soon as possible to assist them in capturing this evil Sequencer.
There is another case that still needs to be investigated, and the culprit cannot be identified at this time.
Luo Shuo will play a significant role in this, whether it's helping Li Jiuhe find more clues about Lin Fengya or tracking down the murderer in the case.
Mali, this little bug, has always been carefree. She doesn't care where she goes, as long as she doesn't get locked up in a shelter.
If possible, she would like to try her best to perform well in front of Li Jiuhe and the others.
At least if Tong Cheng ever comes back in the future, I can ask him to remove that annoying mask from my face.
If Li Jiuhe and the others say some good things about him later, he might not have to be put in the detention center, but just registered with the investigation bureau.
When the time comes, the sky will be high enough for birds to fly freely and the sea wide enough for fish to leap freely. Where can this queen ant not go?
Three hours later, the plane arrived in Yuanmeng City.
Upon exiting the airport, an official vehicle from the Yuanmeng City Investigation Bureau was already waiting outside.
A young woman in charge of logistics greeted them and first took the three of them to a pre-booked business hotel.
Upon inquiry, it was discovered that the Yuanmeng City Investigation Bureau was not putting on airs by sending only a logistics staff member to pick them up. Rather, the bureau itself had a small number of investigators, and Yuanmeng City, being a major transportation hub in the northwest region, was a melting pot of people and cases of all kinds.
The investigators here are extremely busy all day long. Although their salaries are relatively higher than in other cities, they still complain endlessly.
This is a very strange phenomenon. Li Jiuhe doesn't know why, since there are so many cases in this city, the Northwest District Investigation Bureau doesn't send more people here.
The logistics girl told them that even the director and deputy director of the investigation bureau were on missions, and no one here was idle.
Normally, even the relatively easy serial cases are enough to keep all the investigators busy, and no one has the energy to deal with the major cases.
That's why we reported it to the General Administration and asked them to send people to provide support.
Li Jiuhe didn't tell the logistics girl directly that the General Administration wasn't actually being kind to this place by sending him here. If he hadn't applied to come himself, Yuanmeng City probably still wouldn't have received an investigator from higher authorities.
In order not to add burden to the investigation bureau here, after arriving at the hotel, Li Jiuhe asked the female logistics staff who received them to drive the official car back.
When they need to handle a case, they will take a taxi or rent a car.
However, now is not the time to rush things. After settling them in, Li Jiuhe took the two of them in a taxi and headed straight for Lin Fengya's parents' house.
Lin Fengya's parents are both still alive, but since their daughter married into Wangchuan City and died unexpectedly, they have never contacted Li Jiuhe again.
Even when Li Jiuhe called them, the elderly couple would only talk to Li Yi, and occasionally send some delicious local specialties or toys from Yuanmeng City to Wangchuan City.
However, the recipient was always written as "Li Yi", never "Li Jiuhe".
Li Jiuhe knew very well that in the eyes of the old couple, their daughter would not be dead if she hadn't disobeyed them and married into Wangchuan.
In fact, Li Jiuhe also had the idea of returning to Yuanmeng with Lin Fengya to develop his career, but he had been living in the Wangchuan Orphanage for a long time and had gotten used to it. In the end, it was Lin Fengya who made the decision for him to settle down in Wangchuan.
This decision led to Lin Fengya's parents not contacting them for six months, until they gradually resumed contact later.
However, after Lin Fengya's unexpected death, their attitude towards Li Jiuhe plummeted once again.
Li Jiuhe bought some health supplements and several bags of fruit outside the residential area, and then, together with Luo Shuo and Ma Li, knocked on his father-in-law's door.
The elderly couple were only in their early sixties and were usually at home. Not long after the knocking, an old woman opened the door.
The old woman's features bore a resemblance to Lin Fengya's; she was Lin Fengya's mother.
Lin's mother was taken aback, because she hadn't seen Li Jiuhe for a long time and didn't recognize him at first.
"Who is it?" another elderly man's voice rang out as he walked to the door; it was Lin Fengya's father.
When Lin's father saw Li Jiuhe, he was also taken aback, but he recognized him immediately. He looked down and glanced at the various gifts Li Jiuhe was carrying, and then looked behind him.
Behind him were two strangers, but he did not see his only granddaughter, whom he still cared about.
Li Jiuhe said, "Dad, Mom—"
Only then did Lin's mother realize: "Oh, it's Li—"
"Li what Li? We don't know him!" Lin's father pulled Lin's mother back into the house and slammed the door shut.
Luo Shuo looked somewhat embarrassed, and lowered his head to avoid looking at Li Jiuhe's current appearance, lest he become even more embarrassed.
Ma Li, in her usual carefree manner, asked, "Handsome, did I elope with you back then? Or did you just kidnap her and run away with her—"
"Shut up," Luo Shuo quickly stopped him.
Li Jiuhe ignored Ma Li and instead shouted into the house, "Dad, Mom, Lin Fengya might not be dead!"
.
No sooner had he finished speaking than the door was flung open again, and Lin's parents stood in the doorway staring at him in astonishment.
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