After Yu Bei left, Ye Yang told Shen Ming everything that had happened that day, along with the new information and Yu Bei’s deductions.
Shen Ming’s reaction was similar to Yu Bei’s. He agreed that the phantom image of the red-furred fox Ye Yang had seen must be significant. Combined with the red fox fur Yu Bei had found and the pure, vivid red spiritual energy they had encountered multiple times, it was almost certain that the culprit was a red fox demon—and an exceptionally powerful great demon at that.
“But no such great demon exists,” Ye Yang said.
Ye Yang wasn’t naturally inclined to heavy thinking, and after a full day of it, his brain felt like it was about to explode.
Shen Ming took one look at him and knew he was spent. He turned back to the kitchen, took the still-warm cookies out of the oven, and packed a full bag for Ye Yang before saying, “Stop thinking about it. Isn’t Yu Bei already looking into this? You don’t need to worry anymore. You’ve had a long day—get some rest.”
Ye Yang blinked. That was true. He could wait until an investigation task was actually assigned. With Professor Yu on the case, it was bound to be more reliable than anything Ye Yang could do on his own.
With a warm bag of cookies in his arms and a freshly heated glass of milk tucked under his elbow, Ye Yang hurried off happily. After a late-night snack, he fell asleep quickly.
·
The next morning at the office, Ye Yang immediately checked the newly released tasks. Sure enough, he found the investigation task regarding the red-furred fox great demon, but it had already been claimed. He could only browse the case file.
Besides what he already knew, the file contained some of Yu Bei’s recent findings, as well as the full details of the Niǔyáng Mountain case—details that had been inaccessible before because Yu Bei needed to avoid conflicts of interest, so neither Ye Yang nor Shen Ming had been allowed to see them.
Now that the information was unlocked, Ye Yang learned more about the Niǔyáng Mountain case.
It turned out that the Lushu deer had a fatal flaw: they struggled immensely to gain spiritual awareness and become demons.
Their kind couldn’t truly be counted among demonkind, yet because they lived in the demon realm, their position was incredibly awkward. They occupied the very bottom rung. According to the laws of nature, they should have gone extinct long ago, just like other less powerful species in the demon realm.
If it weren’t for the fact that their old chieftain had done a favor for the Rotating Turtle King, and the Rotating Turtle King had repaid that kindness, they never would have survived to this day, let alone maintained such a large population.
But even with the Rotating Turtle’s protection, the Lushu deer faced many other survival challenges. This time, the near-total annihilation of their underage members was a devastating blow to the species.
Reading further, Ye Yang couldn’t help but pout. There was really no point in looking anymore. The task had already been claimed, and even if it hadn’t, Ye Yang wouldn’t have qualified.
The investigation task was rated SS—a solid SS at that. The hard requirements included team members ranked Fourth Grade or above, with no fewer than five members.
Some operational branches didn’t even have five people in their entire division. That alone showed how difficult this task truly was.
“Alright, alright. Let’s see what other tasks I can do. Helping others is helping myself, right?”
As long as this unknown, malevolent great demon remained at large, it was a huge threat. Worried as he was, Ye Yang knew that rushing wouldn’t help. Besides, he was just a little sea hare demon. He’d only get in the way if he wasn’t careful.
Yu Bei always said Ye Yang was talented. Shen Ming also always said Ye Yang was a genius who progressed in cultivation faster than anyone. But Ye Yang had always assumed those words were just encouragement.
After all, ever since leaving preschool, he hadn’t encountered a single demon with a lower rank than his own. Ye Yang was always the weakest one around.
As for Chi Lian… although Chi Lian’s combat ability was a bit lacking, he had cultivated to the Fourth Grade entirely on his own—nothing to scoff at.
If Little Thirteen and the others, whom Ye Yang always forgot about whenever it came to comparing strength, ever heard that, they’d probably want to throw him in a sack and beat him up.
See? Wasn’t that just humblebragging?
Ye Yang scrolled down the task list and noticed a task that both Xing Tian and Chi Lian had flagged.
Flagged but not claimed? He checked the release date—it had been posted two months ago. His curiosity piqued, he immediately opened it up.
It was a comprehensive S-level task. The objective was to investigate a strange religious organization, determine whether they were harming humans, and clarify the nature of the group.
Ye Yang skimmed the available intelligence. Information about this religious organization was scarce, but recently, the group had expanded rapidly across the Eastern Continent and several surrounding cities, producing a large number of self-proclaimed followers.
Ye Yang: “?” That was contradictory. If they were expanding quickly and had so many members, why was there so little information?
Calling the information “scarce” was being generous. Aside from the organization’s name, they knew nothing.
On the surface, the organization was affiliated with Christianity. Its name was the Ideal Mutual Aid Society, and its members called themselves Mutualites.
Preliminary investigations showed that its members included not only Christians, but also followers of other religions or sects, as well as a large number of previously non-religious people.
That did sound strange. But otherwise, nothing seemed abnormal? And it didn’t sound like there were any supernatural elements involved. So why had this been passed to YCG?
Ye Yang grew more and more intrigued. Checking the team size requirement—three people. That meant he would fit right in!
“Brother Xing, Chi Lian, let’s team up and do this cult task!”
Xing Tian readily agreed. “Sure, let’s do it together.”
“It’s a comprehensive investigation of a religious organization,” Chi Lian corrected.
But Xing Tian largely agreed with Ye Yang’s assessment. “Given the context of China, any group that uses Christianity as a cover and calls itself a ‘mutual aid society’ is probably a cult. They’re either after money, lives, or both.”
“We can’t classify it as a cult without enough evidence,” Chi Lian said cautiously.
After locating one of the Mutual Aid Society’s meeting places, Chi Lian immediately went to find Ye Yang and Xing Tian. But Xing Tian said, “There’s too little intelligence on this task. Let’s not tip them off. We need to investigate further.”
Ye Yang and Chi Lian set to work. After digging through all sorts of information, they finally found some leads in the human household registration system.
Among the several hundred cult members who frequently attended the Mutual Aid Society, every single one had lost an elderly family member in the past two months.
These deaths all appeared normal—some from chronic illnesses, some from sudden acute conditions. No homicides, no unnatural deaths.
But these members ranged widely in age. And yet, the parents of several hundred people had all died within just two months? Some had even lost both parents in that timeframe.
The most extreme case was someone who had lost his father, mother, grandfather, and paternal grandmother all in one month. His maternal grandmother had passed away years earlier.
The climate in the Eastern Continent had been pleasant over those two months. There were no flu outbreaks or other epidemics. For so many elderly people to die in such a short period was absolutely abnormal.
But when they examined each elderly person’s medical records and death certificates in detail, they found nothing wrong. The onset of illness, the treatments used, the outcomes, the patients’ responses—every record was perfectly reasonable.
“And that’s exactly the problem,” Xing Tian said, frowning as he compared all the printed medical records. “Look at these records. They’re too perfect—no flaws at all. I used to be a doctor myself. Even the most meticulous person couldn’t achieve something like this. Not even an audit from higher-ups or the health insurance bureau would find a single error.”
“Brother Xing used to be a doctor?” Ye Yang’s focus wandered slightly.
“I worked in surgery for a while. Eventually, I realized it wasn’t quite a good fit. My field of vision is relatively low, which made surgery a bit inconvenient.” Xing Tian explained briefly.
Ye Yang: “…I see.” An image formed in his mind.
Getting back to the matter at hand, the medical records were indeed too perfect—that in itself was a problem. They had to keep following this lead.
Chi Lian thought for a moment and said, “All these deaths are concentrated within two months. If the Mutual Aid Society is really behind it, the members should have shown corresponding changes in their lives.”
Ye Yang caught on immediately. “Exactly! Whether they’ve noticed something suspicious and are trying to leave the society, or whether they were complicit from the start, their lives will have changed. I’ll go investigate right away!”
It took two days, but Ye Yang quickly found evidence.
Over those two months, members of the Mutual Aid Society had experienced varying degrees of improved fortune.
Fortune—a rather abstract concept. Intangible and invisible, yet often manifesting in concrete ways.
The most typical example was the middle-aged man who had lost five family members in two months.
He was a gambler. By the time he joined the Mutual Aid Society, he was already millions in debt. His entire family was being dragged down by him.
But after joining the society at a neighbor’s recommendation, his luck at gambling gradually improved. After his elderly relatives passed away, he won eight million in a single night. Not only did he pay off all his previous debts, but he also had several million left over. However, around that time, he also got divorced.
Chi Lian suggested, “Should we go talk to the gambler’s ex-wife? It feels like she might know something.”
According to Ye Yang’s investigation, the gambler’s ex-wife had worked hard to earn money while they were in debt. But after the gambler turned his fortunes around, she had been the one to initiate the divorce, and she hadn’t taken a single cent of his money.
Xing Tian nodded. “Alright. Keep it low-key.”
Low-key? That was something Chi Lian excelled at.
Ye Yang continued investigating the others. Because there were so many people, he decided to print out all their information for side-by-side comparison.
As luck would have it, the office printer was broken.
Matters like this were Wu Jie’s responsibility. She walked around the printer once, took the lollipop out of her mouth, and casually said, “Maybe it’s because you’ve been printing so much lately. The poor thing’s exhausted.”
Ye Yang: “…” He almost believed that.
Wu Jie scratched her head. “I don’t really know, either. I mean, this thing was hardly ever turned on before you showed up.”
Ye Yang still had mountains of information to print. He scratched his head in frustration. “Isn’t this your responsibility, Wu Jie? Isn’t there some kind of demon or magic spell—you know, bam!—and it’s fixed?”
“What are you saying? Why don’t you try it yourself?” Wu Jie rolled her eyes. “Did you even study properly in school? Restoration spells require understanding the structure and operating principles of the object you’re restoring.”
Ye Yang—a demon only a few hundred years old—had no clue about any of that. How could the older generation possibly understand? These young technologies hadn’t even existed for a hundred years, and they evolved so fast. No way, no way.
So what now? Ye Yang was stumped. He couldn’t take these documents to an outside print shop. Should they just buy a new printer?
Wu Jie didn’t mention the price or anything. She just said, “You can’t buy one.”
Ye Yang: “?” This was China. How could you not buy a regular printer?
Was that still Chinese?
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