Chapter 1247 - 428: Informant’s Message, Top Priority (5k)

Over decades, the Virtue City Funeral House was reconstructed twice, which many people are aware of. Of course, the reason many people know for the reconstruction is that the existing equipment and buildings could no longer meet the changing demands.

The first time it was expanded for this reason, the second time was for the reason of installing the Luxury Furnace system.

But in reality, every time it was an uncontrolled runaway, and each time it happened in the deep of night. Thus, the Virtue City Funeral House only opens its doors between sunrise and sunset, remaining closed the rest of the time.

Even if no uncontrolled situation occurs, manifestations happen only at night, never before sunset.

This time it was clearly different, and the curator was particularly worried that Wen Yan might come at this time, which could lead to big trouble.

After waiting for a long time, seeing no other changes, the curator recalled the last words from Wen Yan, realizing that this time it indeed had nothing to do with Wen Yan. Shifting the blame onto Wen Yan would be unreasonable.

The curator reported the situation here, personally checked everywhere except the Old Ice Warehouse, contacted Old Wang to confirm there were no major problems, and then directly closed the doors and left.

Aside from those who had left early, only Old Zhang from the Cremation Department remained, waiting for the last client to be finished.

Wen Yan did not come, but Pei Tugou, introduced by Wen Yan, faithfully attended work. As long as he was around, slightly more complex issues could be managed without much worry, while simpler ones could generally be handled by an ordinary person.

At least in recent months, the number of problems at the Virtue City Funeral House has been almost zero, plummeting compared to prior periods. Against the backdrop of this year’s Spiritual Qi Resurgence, this statistic stands out sharply.

As this month drew to an end and year’s end approached, the curator grew anxious.

Previously, whenever Wen Yan came, something happened each time. At least there was data to support this, somewhat mystical, but he felt the reason was merely elusive, not sheer superstition.

However, with no incidents occurring, the curator worried something big was being bottled up. Today he was startled, thinking an uncontrolled situation might emerge, and he had prepared to relocate personnel, ready to sacrifice himself for the cause today.

Now that all was peaceful, the curator wasn’t in a hurry to return but sat in the car, watching the premises, making a call home.

Listening to family members nagging, they asked if it was mealtime, only to hear today he wasn’t coming back for dinner again.

The curator sighed while listening.

"I was going to earn you a martyr’s family treatment, but no opportunity came."

The line fell silent for a moment, the nagging stopped, and only one sentence followed.

"Once off work, hurry back home to eat. Today there are steamed ribs, and soup is ready."

Sitting in the car, the curator watched the premises for another hour, seeing no activity, and notifications had already been sent from his phone announcing that the funeral home’s furnaces were undergoing maintenance and renovation, temporarily closing for three days. Families with scheduled appointments could be transferred to other funeral homes free of charge.

The road leading here was now also closed off, as the weather forecast predicted heavy rain over the next few days, posing risks of landslides and falling rocks from the roadside hills. Safety measures were underway.

On his way back, the curator even saw stones of various sizes already scattered across the road, with warning signs placed in the middle of the road, alerting passersby at a distance of dozens of meters.

Upon seeing these stones, oncoming drivers would automatically detour via other routes.

Several emergency plans had long been in place targeting the Virtue City Funeral House.

If there was a better solution, the Virtue City Funeral House would have been relocated already.

Meanwhile, Wen Yan also received a message directly from headquarters.

A picture, depicting a skeletal archway seven or eight meters tall rising in a forest, with surrounding trees collapsing and dying. From the photo, behind the lone skeletal archway lay darkness, an oppressive feeling radiating even without a personal visit.

The photo also carried a timestamp.

Besides this photo and the incidents in the Northeast, almost simultaneously, with a margin of less than one minute, another event occurred—abnormalities appeared at the Virtue City Funeral House.

Later, the skeletal archway vanished, and the abnormalities at the Virtue City Funeral House disappeared with it, the timing discrepancies also under a minute.

Wen Yan pondered momentarily over these messages.

The curator surely didn’t know of these messages; otherwise, he wouldn’t speak nicely to him.

Because the person caught in the Northeast was the one who previously attacked him in the Nether Path.

But that guy was obviously silenced, not even leaving a body behind, concocting an entirely big move.

Unclear what method was used, the adversary summoned a skeletal archway that directly swallowed that person.

That skeletal archway highly likely influenced the Virtue City Funeral House, the timing of its appearance and disappearance almost perfectly aligned, with a small chance for just coincidence.

More importantly, based on descriptions from those who intervened at the time, it indeed felt similar to the anomalies experienced at the Virtue City Funeral House.

Here arises a severe new issue.

Previously, when anomalies occurred inside the Virtue City Funeral House, was someone using some method to summon that skeletal archway, causing resonance with the funeral home?

Or does an anomaly at the Virtue City Funeral House not necessarily mean there is resonance every time?