Clue 025 three
In the cold white light.
Click.
Li Chengyi removed the magazine and replaced it with a new one.
He slowly began walking towards Meng Dongdong step by step.
Previously, to improve accuracy, he had aimed exclusively at the opponent's torso, after all, with only a month of practice, it was difficult to shoot with unwavering speed and precision at the opponent's head from at least thirty to forty meters away.
With rapid-fire, the recoil of the gun would continuously destabilize his hands. If the first shot missed, the subsequent ones, amidst the shaking, would likely miss as well.
Therefore, to be absolutely certain, he aimed where the target was biggest and the effect was best—the torso.
Of course, if the opponent wore something...
Suddenly, Li Chengyi's gaze condensed, noticing no blood flowing from beneath Meng Dongdong.
'As I thought, a bulletproof vest...' It seemed the armed man from last time had also given his opponent a warning.
Without hesitation, he quickened his pace towards Meng Dongdong, hoping to take advantage of her apparent unconsciousness, when...
Boom!!
An enormous black shadow suddenly pounced from the right.
A human face!!
Li Chengyi only had time to twist his head to get a glimpse.
Thump!!
He was brutally thrown off his feet by the face, as his gun flew from his grasp.
Just then, Meng Dongdong barely recovered from her brief unconsciousness, and she saw this scene unfold.
Her heart leapt with joy, ignoring the sharp pain in her chest as she strained to draw her magnum pistol from her pocket.
The Gels R9 magnum pistol was custom printed by a private workshop specifically for her father, an absolute forbidden weapon that must be discarded in a blind spot after use to avoid detection.
But the power of this gun was enough to easily penetrate any bulletproof vest. With her strength, she could fire at most three shots.
'I probably won't need it now...' She twisted her head with difficulty towards the direction the monster moved. As long as that person died, she could leave again.
She hadn't expected to be so lucky on this venture.
Thump!!
At that moment, a sharp explosion came from the ramp around the corner.
A clear cloud of ash, like smoke, spread out from there.
Tap, tap, tap…
Crisp footsteps drifted out from the ash.
Meng Dongdong's eyes widened, as if she suddenly realized something.
"How... how is it possible!!??"
She hadn't left her blind spot!
This meant...
That person...
Wasn't dead!!?
She felt a numbing sensation on her scalp, her body tingled as if electrified, and even the intense pain in her chest felt insignificant as she stared fixedly in that direction.
Tap.
The footsteps gradually approached.
From the dusty haze, a foot stepped out first.
A heavy boot clad in purple-black metal armor.
There were three distinctive joint seams on the top of the boot, and floral patterns with wisteria crystal lines inlaid on the outside.
These patterns, now dynamically glowing with purple light, couldn't be concealed even by the dispersing dust.
"You...!!? Modified..." Meng Dongdong suddenly shook as something clicked in her memory.
Whoosh!
In an instant, a swooshing sound buzzed by.
A purple shadow burst through the ash, rapidly charging at her.
Meng Dongdong screamed, trembling as she raised her gun.
Thump!!
Everything went black before her eyes, a sharp pain spread from her head, and she lost consciousness.
Click, a soft sound rang out as Li Chengyi retracted his hand from Meng Dongdong's head. At this moment, his entire body was clad in the Floral Dress, which had undergone subtle changes.
The surface of the armor previously, although also covered with wisteria flower patterns, were just common designs—more decorative than practical.
But this time, it seemed as though all the patterns had been activated, which contributed to a significant boost in his defense, strength, and speed.
Standing there, purple wisteria patterns flowed all over him with a faint purple luminescence, giving off a sci-fi feel like some sort of ionized matter.
Looking down at Meng Dongdong, who had passed out, he didn't finish her off but just knocked her out.
He was worried that killing her might also remove him from the Grecius Parking Garage.
'This time, I hope to find a clue...'
Li Chengyi bent down, picked up the magnum pistol from Meng Dongdong's hand, and searched her, finding a short blade in a sheath.
Pulling out the blade, he saw a trace of blue on the edge, clearly poisoned.
After tucking away the blade safely, Li Chengyi quickly removed the Floral Dress.
As his face emerged from the helmet, he exhaled a long breath, thought for a moment, drew the short blade, and made a small cut on the back of Meng Dongdong's hand. Then he turned and walked towards the corner bend.
Even a potent poison in a wound on a limb could be delayed for some time before it turned fatal, enough for him to explore this place.
Reaching the bend,
There was a two-meter-tall black and white head rubbing against the wall, producing a rough sandpaper-like noise.
Although the human face looked terrifying, seeing this scene somehow struck Li Chengyi as comical, and his sense of dread towards the face lessened strangely.
'It's time to look for the crevice.'
Ignoring the face monster, he stepped on the giant white arrow on the ground and made his way up another level.
This time the Floral Dress seemed to have evolved in strength, and since he hadn't directly confronted the monster face, there was little damage, and his physical exertion was also not significant.
Of course, he speculated this might also be related to his recent physical training.
Physical training plus various aids had improved his overall physical condition.
While thoughts floated through his mind, he passed behind the monster and headed to an upper level.
On the walls of the layer above, he immediately noticed the somewhat hidden crevice.
'Indeed... just as the company analyzed, the crevice must have appeared simultaneously with the monster. This could also explain why I didn't find the crevice while wandering around earlier. Logically, such an obvious gap shouldn't have been overlooked.'
Li Chengyi walked towards it.
Once again standing in front of the crevice, he peered inside.
The light from outside could only reach a meter into the crevice; beyond that was total darkness.
'Following the crevice, the exit clue must be here...'
Li Chengyi took a deep breath, looked around, and checked behind him.
Directly behind him was a red maintenance door, tightly closed without any movement.
Li Chengyi turned back, focusing his gaze into the crevice again.
He breathed slowly, steadied his heartbeat, put one gun back into its holster, and slipped the other into his jacket pocket. Then he slowly lifted his foot, stepping into the crevice.
One step.
Two steps.
Three steps.
He stopped at the third step.
From here on, it was complete darkness ahead.
Behind him was the bright, open space of the Grecius Parking Garage.
Li Chengyi lifted his foot to continue walking in.
But this time, his raised right foot didn't come down and hung in mid-air instead.
It wasn't that he didn't want to put it down.
Instead... it was an inexplicable, hair-raising sensation that suddenly surged to his scalp.
His body gradually grew cold, and sweat began to seep out from his forehead and temples.
Hu...
Suddenly, a faint breath could be heard coming from behind him.
Li Chengyi spun around sharply in shock.
The red door behind him had opened.
Standing in the doorway was a young boy in all white, with a pale face.
The boy's eye sockets were deep-set, his lips blackened, looking at him silently.
Thump.
Just then, Li Chengyi's vision darkened as the wall crevice in front of him eerily began to close.
Outside the gap, a huge black and white face was rapidly approaching, pressing against the gap to peer inside as if trying to squeeze through.
A leg of Meng Dongdong was protruding from its mouth, blood slowly dripping down from the corner of its mouth.
Thump.
The gap closed instantly, darkness enveloping everything, blinding his sight.
Li Chengyi felt as if he had lost gravity and staggered backward, falling over.
Thump.
A strong hand firmly caught him, helping him to stand steady.
"What's wrong? Are you okay? Are you feeling dizzy because of low blood sugar?" The voice of his father, Li Zhao, sounded as if coming from far away.
The darkness before Li Chengyi's eyes began to slowly dissipate, revealing faint glimmers of light.
He widened his eyes to find himself still standing at home, at the bedroom doorway, about to walk out to the living room.
His father, Li Zhao, stood by, looking at him with concern.
"I'm fine... probably just a bit dizzy. I felt my eyes go dark for a moment," Li Chengyi said with an awkward smile.
At this moment, the face of the white-clothed boy he'd just seen still lingered in his eyes, his eyes, his expression, that blank, implicit despair, and panic made his chest feel oppressed, making it difficult to breathe.
"Come eat something to settle yourself," Li Zhao urged, pulling him to sit at the dining table in the living room, then got up to search through a tall cabinet in the corner for a piece of chocolate.
"This will work fastest to replenish blood sugar." He pressed the chocolate into Li Chengyi's hand.
With the chocolate in his hand, Li Chengyi remained preoccupied, constantly recalling the young boy he had just seen.
As a result, he didn't pay much attention to his sister, Li Chengjiu, who was more irritable than usual during the afternoon meal.
After the meal, Li Chengyi couldn't hold back any longer. He made an excuse to his parents about going for a walk and hurriedly left home, hailing a taxi to the company.
On the way, he quickly sent Xindela a message.
'I've just gone in again, to Grecius.' — Cheng Yi.
After about ten seconds of silence, his phone lit up with a reply.
The quick response indicated that Xindela had prioritized his message, replying almost instantly upon seeing it.
'The time shouldn't be up yet, right? What's going on?' — Boss.
'I don't know, but I have new findings this time. I'm currently on my way to the company and need the assistance of a profiler.' — Cheng Yi.
'Okay, I'll arrange that. Just go there, and I'll be there shortly.' — Boss.
'Got it.' — Cheng Yi.
'Also, congratulations.' — Boss.
'Thank you.' — Cheng Yi.
Without sending another response, Li Chengyi watched as the streetlights outside the car window swiftly streamed by, the yellow lights forming a continuous line due to speed, blurring the faces of the cars and people beneath.
This time, thanks to the protection of the evolved Floral Dress, he wasn't much harmed. However, the sudden appearance of the young boy and the implication of the gap caught his attention.
Moreover, the monster's human face had grown stronger. Compared to the previous two times, the face's speed had increased so much that he barely had time to react before it struck him.
If he hadn't quickly put on the Floral Dress and used the Flower Language Ability to stick the face monster to the wall, he would have been finished on the spot.
It was only because of him; anyone else would have met the same fate, devoured on the spot.
Click.
Suddenly, the taxi driver reached out to turn on the radio.
A clear sound of music with rhythmic beats and rap flowed out, full of passion.
"Ah, driving makes me a bit sleepy. I need to listen to something to avoid dozing off. You don't mind, right?" The driver was an elderly man with white hair, his hands on the steering wheel also covered with age spots.
"I don't mind," Li Chengyi replied.
The two fell back into silence.
The car sped up and slowed down intermittently, then came to a stop at a red light just before going onto the overpass.
The traffic on the overpass seemed to be much heavier than usual, with some cars decked with white flowers, seemingly part of a funeral procession.