Chapter 1 The Ruins

Dozens of kilometers from the Grieves Parking Lot ruins, Yongnian Town.

Inside a ten-plus-story silver-white building surrounded by coconut trees.

A tall man wrapped in gray-white gauze, with only a pair of brown eyes exposed, was quickly approaching the building.

He walked through the lobby as if no one else was there, ignoring the slight bows of the security guards and staff who passed by, and walked to the elevator. He entered and pressed the ninth floor.

Outside the elevator, two employees who were about to enter stepped back just as they were about to cross the threshold when they saw the white-gauze man standing inside, letting the elevator doors close.

The white-gauze man seemed used to it, and without a word, stared at the floor display screen.

Soon, the ninth floor arrived.

The doors opened.

The entire ninth floor was a large lounge.

On the right wall, a gray-black marble-patterned wall cloth served as the base, with blue-black metal forming the lines of a neat logo: Ace Real Estate.

The lounge had everything for entertainment: wine cabinets, billiards, audio-visual game consoles, and more.

In front of a curved floor-to-ceiling window stood a hunched old man with snow-white hair.

The old man looked out at the sea, seemingly lost in thought.

Apart from him, there was no one else in the entire lounge, so much so that the huge space, despite being filled with a large number of items, still lacked a trace of vitality.

The white-gauze man stepped out of the elevator and quickly walked across the gray carpet to the old man's back.

"Someone is investigating the Grieves Garage," he said, his voice somewhat strange, not unpleasant, but too standard. It was a standard male voice from a language package that lacked any personal characteristics.

"Gernan has already told me," the old man turned around, revealing a face full of wrinkles.

He had very little beard on his chin, almost invisible, and his skin was like a fleshy turtle shell, with many wrinkles that looked more like cracks.

His eyes were small and somewhat round, but the spirit they radiated was unusually abundant and full.

"It's a new company that hasn't been established for long, and the registrant is a White Star person. We can't find out their background," the white-gauze man replied.

"I originally wanted them to back down, to understand the principle of knowing one's limits," the old man sighed, "Unfortunately, they don't care."

"They need to feel pain before they know to withdraw. Gernan is not good enough; his methods are too gentle. Let me go," the white-gauze man suggested.

"His methods are very effective against ordinary backgrounds, but this time is different," the old man nodded, "You go, and make sure the operation is clean. It took a lot of effort to suppress what happened back then, and it must never be revealed again."

"Don't worry, how many people disappear every year in this border area? There are so many smugglers and armed groups coming and going. With a little bad luck, they'll disappear without a trace," the white-gauze man took off his veil, revealing an ugly face full of burn scars. Most terrifyingly, his entire chin was made of silver-white metal.

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A yellow sandy area, surrounded by clusters of coconut palm trees.

In the center of the sandy area, two yellow vehicles resembling excavators were already at work.

One by one, workers wearing small yellow hats stood around, holding long tubes that looked like pipes in their hands.

All of their shirts had the simple words "Hong Jin" printed on the back.

A buzzing sound gradually approached from a distance, and soon two vehicles, one large and one small, slowed down and stopped on one side of the sandy area.

Two men got out of the black car in front.

One of the two men was burly and tall, and the other was well-proportioned and young. It was Song Ran and Li Cheng颐 who had just arrived.

Three small yellow-hats, who had previously contacted them, also got out of a yellow cargo truck behind them.

Li Cheng颐 got out of the car, his eyes immediately falling on the black hole in the middle of the sandy area, about five meters long and wide.

The edge of the hole was reinforced with special metal materials, and the center was pitch black, with an unknown depth.

Two black pipes extended from the edge of the hole, constantly drawing something out.

"Our people have been working here for two days. The machines have dug down, and we need the advice of experts, otherwise we wouldn't dare to dig casually. We've already touched the outer wall of the garage," said the company负责人 with the small yellow hat. He was a middle-aged man with a mustache, looked very vicissitudes, and had dark skin.

"I'm Huang Zhisheng, and I'm responsible for all the excavation work here," he reached out and shook hands lightly with Song Ran and Li Cheng颐.

"What about Expert Ding Chongyi? Did she give a plan?" Song Ran asked concisely.

"She..." Huang Zhisheng pointed to the hole in the center, "She's still down there, saying she wants to personally check the soil material at the bottom."

"Then let's wait," Song Ran nodded.

Li Cheng颐 had no objection. Professional matters were the responsibility of professional people. He was here only to wait until everything was ready.

Since the scene was not ready yet, he needed to do something else to save time.

That was to investigate the mysterious boy and test the method of absorbing evil thoughts.

He took out his mobile phone and checked the text messages, reading them one by one. There was nothing from Syndra.

He had previously profiled a photo of the boy, and now the company's experts were helping to search for the boy's identity, name, and other information.

But now it seemed that the search was difficult, and there was no response yet.

Putting away his phone, he exhaled and took out his AR glasses, gently approaching the central hole.

"The Grieves Parking Lot was completely buried in the Rhodes earthquake that occurred in this area more than eighty years ago."

A small yellow hat approached a few steps and gave him a basic explanation.

"The entire parking lot is divided into five floors, all located underground. According to estimates, it can park more than six hundred small cars. The builder was an old company called Ace Engineering. But strangely, this parking lot was restricted due to various unqualified facilities not long after it was built, and it could not be used," the small yellow hat said in a low voice.

"Unqualified? Not used?" Li Cheng颐 raised an eyebrow, "Then how could there be casualties inside?"

"This has to be said about the particularity of that era," the small yellow hat raised her head, revealing a young and attractive face. Although her skin was a little dark, her eyes were bright, her pupils were blue, her hair was shoulder-length, and she had a smile on her face, making her look very friendly.

"Eighty years ago, it was the time when the border conflict broke out. Our country was unstable due to internal strife and was oppressed by the White Star. Gries on the border wanted to take the opportunity to occupy several small cities here and build a port in this area," the girl said softly.

"Once there was a riot, Diamog was on fire everywhere, and thugs with guns were burning, killing, and looting in the city. Many people were looking for places to hide.

Grieves is located in a remote area, with well-connected ventilation channels. As long as a few guns are set up at the entrance, it can be easily defended. Many people hid inside."

"Then there was an earthquake?" Li Cheng颐 understood.

"Yes. Many people died. Some people ran out, but more were buried. It is estimated that more people were trapped inside and died," the small yellow hat girl nodded.

Li Cheng颐 sighed softly, looked at the hole in front of him, and was silent for a moment. He put on his AR glasses and walked closer, looking down into the depths of the hole.

The hole was deep and dark. Looking carefully, you could only see a depth of more than ten meters, and it was no longer possible to see deeper.

Li Cheng颐 frowned slightly and turned on AR's engineering mode.

Poof.

A pale hand suddenly grabbed the edge of the hole.

Li Cheng颐 was startled and took a step back, quickly taking off his glasses.

But there was nothing on the edge of the hole in front of him, no pale hand.

He frowned and glanced at the small yellow hat girl next to him, who looked inexplicably.

He looked back at the hole.

'Hallucination?'

Picking up the AR, he thought for a while and put his glasses back on.

This time, there was nothing in the hole, no pale hand.

In engineering mode, he turned on the zoom function and the night vision function.

The blackness in the hole quickly faded, turning into a light gray.

His vision extended all the way inside.

Rough black mud, fixed silver metal frame, and the inner wall was covered with some kind of transparent adhesive used for solidification.

Together, the three formed this deep hole leading to more than two hundred meters underground.

After watching for a while, the depth was too deep and the light was too dark. He still couldn't see anything, so Li Cheng颐 shook his head and left.

He didn't stay, but instead wandered around with Song Ran to check the terrain.

Diamog City is nearly thirty kilometers away from here, and it is not convenient to buy anything. There are no hotels nearby, only a fishing village two kilometers away.

The two waited on the ground for more than an hour, finally.

At the hole, a camouflage-clad old woman covered in dirt and wearing AR glasses slowly climbed out.

As soon as the surrounding small yellow hats saw her, two of them immediately went up to help the old woman out.

"Old Song, we meet again. I'm so glad to see you."

Judging by her age, this woman was at least sixty years old, with a face full of wrinkles and some gray in her black ponytail. Although her clothes were simple and plain, she still exuded the temperament of a scholar.

"I would be very happy if it were someone else, but not you," Song Ran replied with a cold face, walking closer.

The two approached slightly and touched elbows. This was a social etiquette in White Star, equivalent to a handshake.

"I'm here with Mr. Li Cheng颐 to survey the situation. You can tell him what you found," Song Ran pointed to Li Cheng颐, who was approaching from behind.

"Hello," Li Cheng颐 extended his hand in a friendly manner.

"Hello, a good young man, very energetic," Ding Chongyi smiled and shook his hand.

"Please introduce the situation below, Expert Ding," Li Cheng颐 went straight to the point without wasting words.

From what he could see now, there was nothing that irritated Song Ran. This was a very normal old expert.

"The situation below is relatively stable. A small part has collapsed, but most of it should be fine. I used a vibration wave detector to measure it, and the vertical load-bearing walls are intact," Ding Chongyi explained.

"In other words, people can enter?"

"Yes, but the structure needs to be reinforced, and it will take time," Ding Chongyi nodded, "In addition, before you came, we found some information based on the photo you profiled. You can take a look."

As she said that, she took out a silver-white storage device from the pocket of her outer coat and handed it to Li Cheng颐.

Li Cheng颐 took it, pressed the button on the side of the storage device, and touched it on the AR.

Immediately, a large area of images and text appeared in his vision.

These were all about the Grieves Parking Lot and the boy in white.

Li Cheng颐 carefully and quickly scanned it, his expression becoming a little serious.

This information recorded various investigation results and the company's think tank's speculation and analysis in detail.

"We couldn't find the information about this boy because it was too long ago, but according to our investigation, we found some very interesting things," Ding Chongyi said with a smile.

"The plague?" Li Cheng颐 said in a low voice. The information speculated as such.