Chapter 367: Don't Let Chao Zi Get Played to Death...

“But the identity of the diary’s author is unknown, and they claim to have no knowledge of the experiments mentioned inside.”

“In other words… this diary might have been written specifically for someone else to read.”

Su Cheng spoke, sharing his deductions and speculations.

What did it mean for the diary to be written specifically for someone else to read? It meant the so-called “active substance” extracted from children was likely exaggerated.

“So you’re saying the diary itself wasn’t for record-keeping, but was intended for the so-called ‘Creator’ to see?”

Xu Huo narrowed his eyes and put down his chopsticks.

“So the more they read, the more emotional outbursts and curses they see, the more reassured they’ll be?”

Su Cheng nodded. “That seems to be the case. The children do have an effect, but it’s not enough to halt the aging process on its own.”

“Then what about all those abducted people?”

“Hmm… accessories? Window dressing? Or perhaps, low-yield sacrifices?”

Su Cheng paused, speaking skeptically from a researcher’s point of view.

In other words…

The table fell silent, and everyone was speechless for a long moment.

After a moment, Xu Huo drew in a breath.

“Any progress?”

“We’ve made a little progress. It’s an organization that operates both at home and abroad. And, well, that’s the good news I mentioned earlier.”

“It seems they want to stir up some domestic conflicts,” Su Cheng said.

“But for some reason, they haven’t made a move in over a decade. It seems the organization’s mission has changed.”

‘A foreign organization… trying to create chaos?’

‘Is that possible?’

For example, staging some attacks or a major incident.

It might not seem like that could do much to a country. In a novel, you’d expect something more sci-fi.

But the truth is…

This kind of thing really happens.

For example, look at the Bald Eagle in the Western Country. They have plenty of similar incidents. Maybe someone is fanning the flames, or maybe it’s just their own internal problems.

For example, the planes crashing into the towers, or the race riots—each one caused a massive economic decline.

Take the riots in ’98 and ’20, for example. Those two events alone caused direct losses of around twenty billion dollars.

And the planes?

The losses from that were far greater than you’d think.

It was ‘just’ planes knocking down two towers.

What were the negative effects of that?

The economy slowed, causing losses in the ballpark of ‘1’.

A hundred million?

One trillion! Dollars!

Furthermore, insurance payouts ranged from thirty to seventy-seven billion dollars, bankrupting insurance companies large and small.

The global stock market lost hundreds of billions of dollars!

Lost wages from unemployment were nearly ten billion dollars, rebuilding costs were around twenty billion, and the cleanup cost another ten billion…

And that’s not even counting the other social effects.

When you add all that up, isn’t it terrifying?

“We have to watch them like a hawk. Prevent this at all costs, no matter what!”

Xu Huo said grimly.

‘Has anything similar happened in the Eastern Country?’

Actually… yes.

Just not on such a heinous scale.

For example, the incident in the region famous for its lamb skewers. It was influenced by foreign powers and left countless innocent people with lifelong trauma.

That was the 7/5 incident. The details… well, they’re always tragic and brutal.

So.

Those people on the outside really would dare to do something like that!

“Okay.”

Su Cheng nodded. He would have done so even without Xu Huo’s order. He paused, then added,

“By the way.”

“The name of this organization is…”

“Pyramid.”

“Pyramid?”

“Pyramid!”

Xu Huo’s brow furrowed.

‘Pyramid? What does that signify? Who are these outsiders who could be considered at the top of the pyramid?’

He fell into deep thought.

After a long moment, he suddenly spoke:

“Alright, I understand.”

“How is the ‘Ghost Knocks on the Door Case’ coming along?”

Xu Huo changed the subject, burying the word ‘Pyramid’ in his mind. He then turned to look at Li Jianye.

Li Jianye stuffed a dumpling into his mouth, swallowed, and said:

“Almost wrapped up.”

“The case isn’t complicated, and very few people are involved.”

“Well, Zhang Jiayu’s body is a bit tricky, but it’s not a major issue. The decomposition fluids can confirm his death, and with Sun Jian’s testimony, we can establish what happened to the body.”

“The fifth body has been found as well.”

Besides Wang Wei, Qian Hao, Song Xiaoyang, and Zhang Jiayu, there was another person Zhang Jiayu killed six years ago.

Wang Wei and his group hid that body, too. It was also in the river.

Mhm.

That was the Shuangyue Village chief’s second-favorite fishing spot. He could always catch a ton of fish at those two spots.

When the village chief found out, his face turned green and he flew into a rage, cursing up a storm.

Hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

“Alright, since we’ve pretty much investigated everything we need to for this case.”

“Let’s try to wrap up our current tasks as soon as possible so we can have a good holiday.”

Xu Huo broke into a smile.

Su Cheng and the others had already decided to stay in Jiangsan City for the holidays instead of going home.

But they were used to it. With their job, there was no helping it. Zhang Liang hadn’t been home for the New Year holidays in ages, so not going back this year was nothing new.

At this thought, smiles appeared on everyone’s faces.

Until…

CLATTER!

A tray landed on the table.

A dark figure sat down right after, his curious eyes scanning his surroundings.

“What are you all talking about?”

“Why’s everyone so happy?”

Wang Chao asked suspiciously, his eyes wide as he looked around at them.

The smiles on the faces of Xu Huo and the others slowly vanished.

“Uh, the weather is pretty nice today.”

Zhao Gang said casually, looking outside with a smile.

“It really is nice,” Li Jianye said with admiration. “The sky is so… sky. And the clouds are so… cloudy…”

Wang Chao casually fiddled with the medal on his chest, then glanced outside.

“But isn’t it overcast today? What good weather?”

“Oh. Then I must have been mistaken.”

Zhao Gang retracted his gaze and said nonchalantly.