ACIFITFDB – Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Brother… The Country Needs You Now…

Path of Communicating with Ghosts? Ghost-Controlling? What a joke.

“So this is how you were all fooled?” Qin Xian chuckled.

The fatty immediately became agitated.

“Fooled!? This is real! Look at these things. We used to think there were no ghosts in the world, but our boss opened our eyes. We also gained magical powers, we’re not ordinary people anymore!”

Yes, it seems they were truly simple-minded. It’s normal for them to be deceived. But it’s also troublesome. After all, there are many brainless people in society. Now that they have grotesque powers, even two people can cause immense casualties. It seems difficult to have peace in the future.

“Aren’t you afraid of serious consequences from interacting with these grotesque things?”

Compared to legendary ghosts and monsters, grotesque beings are far more terrifying. Their feeding and growth aren’t simply about eating a few people; they find ways to expand their “pollution,” assimilating or devouring more.

A powerful grotesque being can control a large part of a city in one go. It’s said that an S-class grotesque being can pollute an entire province.

No one who deals with such things ends well. In the Infinite Stream Worlds, some people chose to cooperate with grotesque beings or seek power from them. The result was always assimilation through pollution.

“You’re lucky, I’m planning to save your lives,” Qin Xian suddenly said.

The fatty’s eyes lit up.

“You’re going to let us go!?”

Qin Xian’s expression was strangely kind. “How could I? I’m going to send you for some tea.”

Once you’re in jail, you can break off your connection with the grotesque beings.

The fatty was stunned for a moment before understanding. He immediately began to struggle.

“Son of a bitch! You call this…”

“Crack!”

A black whip flashed down like lightning, striking the concrete slab at his feet. The concrete slab actually broke in half, the crack extending all the way to beneath his buttocks.

His buttocks clearly felt the vibration, and a part of them even felt numb.

“Ugh… I’ll listen to you, I’ll listen to you!”

Qin Xian calmly put away the whip and commanded, “Carry him and go find the police over there. Speaking of which, there’s such a big commotion here, and no police have approached. Did you use some kind of item?”

“It was a talisman paper. If you light it nearby, it creates a ghost wall for anyone who comes over…”

Interesting.

“Let me see it.”

“It’s… it’s all burned. We only had one.”

Qin Xian snorted coldly and walked slowly behind him. At the same time, he searched his memories for any items or grotesque beings with such abilities, perhaps related to illusionary powers?

The range of this ghost wall was very small. As soon as they walked out of the mudflat area, a strong flashlight beam shone over. Qin Xian squinted in annoyance and said to the fatty, “Go turn yourself in.”

The fatty swallowed and nodded. After taking a couple of steps, he suddenly ran quickly towards the police, pointing at Qin Xian in terror as he ran, “Officer, he has a gun!!”

“Tsk.”

Qin Xian’s face darkened. He had originally planned to slip away once they got close to the police, but now he had to make a trip to the police station.

He took out a dusty, tattered sack and handed it to the police.

The police officer opened the package and was stunned. He drew the gun from his waist and yelled at the three of them, “Don’t move! Put your hands on your heads and squat down!”

Qin Xian sighed and complied, squatting down.

He had never experienced being pointed at by a police gun in his life.

The police officer was highly tense and directly used his walkie-talkie to call for several more people.

After a chattering explanation of the situation, two more police officers drew their guns, while the others cautiously approached them to conduct a search.

Just as they were about to search him, Qin Xian suddenly heard a familiar voice.

“Hey? Brother Qin, is that really you? I was just thinking of finding time to invite you over, and here you are, showing up at my doorstep?”

Qin Xian rolled his eyes directly.

“Huang Quxie? Are you in charge of this precinct?”

“Yes.”

“Heh, I’m really unlucky. My dog was barking wildly when I went out today, so it was bound to be bad news.”

Huang Quxie smiled and reached out to pull him up. “Don’t say that. You haven’t committed any crimes, so why be afraid of us police?”

He greeted his two colleagues. “This is the person who saved me and that pair of siblings yesterday. The guns should belong to them. Let them come in.”

The other three police officers nodded but still kept their guns and riot shields tightly held, not daring to relax.

Once inside the interrogation room, the two were secured in interrogation chairs with their hands fixed for questioning. Qin Xian was taken to the interview room.

He sat down with an unhappy expression. Huang Quxie, with a smile, poured him a cup of water before sitting down opposite him.

Huang Quxie spoke first. “Back in Fanggu Village, I knew you were no ordinary person. I didn’t expect you to be that Clearer. Xuan? Your name also has the character Xuan, so you used this codename? Right, Comrade Qin Xian?”

Qin Xian crossed his legs, took a sip of water, and then slowly said, “Your investigation is quite fast, Officer Huang Dehui.”

Huang Dehui was startled, thinking about how Qin Xian knew his name, then suddenly remembered that all the police officers’ names and positions were displayed in the police station lobby.

Huang Dehui smiled generously. “There’s a saying that you shouldn’t use your real name when dealing with ghosts and monsters, so I chose the alias ‘Quxie.’ Aren’t many of you also not using your real names?”

Qin Xian repeated his words. “You? It seems you know a lot. Tell me, how much have you police figured out?”

Huang Dehui replied, “I’m just a low-level police officer, I don’t know much. It’s roughly that another space exists, and humans are brought into it to participate in death games. One person won and came out, and others brought back monsters from that world to return.”

“That’s all?” Qin Xian asked.

Huang Dehui nodded. “That’s all.”

“Then what countermeasures do you have? Are the recent incidents in the city caused by other players?”

“Some are, but as they spread the seeds of grotesque beings, many new grotesque beings have also been born here. I really don’t understand. The logic of bringing back grotesque beings to return to the Real World is easy to understand, but why do they relentlessly spread them after they return?! They’ve even created some cults…”

Huang Dehui became more and more angry as he spoke. “They’ve already brought disaster, why continue to abet evil?! Why harm their own countrymen! Aren’t they human?”

He slammed his fist on the table, his brow furrowed and his expression grim, wishing he could find a player who was abetting evil right now and tear them apart.

Qin Xian silently drank some water and said faintly, “It’s quite normal. They’re already bound to the grotesque beings. Spreading grotesque beings increases their own strength, and with strength comes wealth and power.”

Huang Dehui gritted his teeth. “Damn it, I really want to shoot them all! Actually, when I first found out you were a player, I wanted to kill you too.”

Qin Xian gave a fake smile. “Oh? Is that so?”

Huang Dehui nodded. “But I saw that you didn’t seem like a bad person, and you saved people, so I hesitated. After reporting back, I found out you were the only player who cleared the game. You’re really amazing.”

“You flatter me. Your police force knows this because you’ve caught players before, right? You found out from their mouths?” Qin Xian asked.

“Yes, but all we know is your codename and the weapons you frequently use. We don’t know anything else. The higher-ups have been looking for you, but we haven’t seen any trace of you. Where have you been hiding for the past two months?”

“Two months?” Qin Xian frowned and said, “In my own perception, I only returned a few days ago.”

Heh, he didn’t expect the Main God to leave him such a huge pitfall. His return time was inconsistent with other players.

“Is that so… The Main God controls the time of your return? That’s very strange, why didn’t the Main God just kill you directly? After all, it has such powerful strength…”

“Who knows.”

Of course, there were still the rules of the world above the Main God. In the Infinite Stream Worlds, grotesque beings had to act according to the rules. For example, if the rules of a dungeon were that everyone would survive and receive rewards after winning, then they had to comply and couldn’t change their minds and kill everyone after the game ended.

No one knew what this “rule” specifically was, but even the Main God had to abide by it. The Main God had once promised that the winner of the final game could leave the Infinite Stream World and return to reality, so He had to let people return.

It was just unexpected that this cunning fellow would tamper with the timing.

“…”

Seeing that Qin Xian didn’t want to say more, Huang Dehui immediately changed the subject. “Do you want to join us?”

Qin Xian: “No.”

“Not join our small police station, but somewhere higher up. There are people above who want to recruit you, with a salary.”

Qin Xian’s mouth twitched. “You’re talking as if I’m a rebel.”

Huang Dehui quickly corrected himself. “Oh, I’ve said that phrase too many times. It’s not recruitment, it’s a sincere invitation.”

“Not coming,” Qin Xian refused decisively.

He didn’t want to take orders from others, let alone work. In this chaotic period, going in would definitely mean being incredibly busy. Besides, he was sure that the people above wouldn’t fully trust him.

“Sigh… Brother… The country needs you now.”

“Don’t elevate me to that extent. I’m just an ordinary person, how much power can I have?”

Huang Dehui’s mouth widened exaggeratedly. “Ordinary person? You mean an ordinary person who defeated a massive grotesque being and just now single-handedly subdued two armed thugs?”

Qin Xian said nothing, but his expression was impatient, and his head turned to the side as if he was about to turn and leave the next second.

Knowing he couldn’t persuade him, Huang Dehui could only sigh. “Okay, it seems I can’t convince you. Let’s change the subject. Tell me about those two people, what happened, and what did you encounter?”

Qin Xian turned his head back and replied, “I heard there was an explosion, so I wanted to check out the situation. I was attacked by these two people. They are from an organization called the Path of Communicating with Ghosts, and the LPG explosion was also their doing. This organization might be deliberately creating grotesque beings, do you know?”

Huang Dehui replied grimly, “I know. We’ve arrested several people from the Path of Communicating with Ghosts. The higher-ups of this organization seem to have some players. They use grotesque beings to play tricks and attract a large number of idle personnel to join. Initially, it was just to scam money, but now they’re involved in murder, arson, drug trafficking, and all sorts of other heinous acts. We’ve been trying to arrest them for a long time, but we’ve only caught the lower and middle levels. We haven’t even seen the shadow of the organizers.”

Has the situation become this chaotic? No wonder recently in the city… no, across the entire country, things have been somewhat chaotic. There are frequent news reports of casualties.

Author’s Note:

———————-

The dog at home: Woof… (Why isn’t he back yet!)

I thought of a super interesting plot!

“Everyone Around Me Are My Summons!?”

Shen Rui transmigrated into a Western fantasy world and became a summoner who had just enrolled.

Magic was difficult to learn, and he couldn’t summon any summoned beasts. Shen Rui felt his days were exceptionally difficult. Sitting in class, he imagined:

The beautiful and gentle teacher on the podium looked like a cat with heterochromia and curly fur. The top student next to him looked like a wise Golden Retriever. The arrogant second-generation rich kid looked like an enraged hamster.

In his final assessment before being advised to withdraw, Shen Rui casually waved his staff and recited a spell, successfully summoning a beautiful cat with heterochromia.

The cat looked confused and disoriented, falling clumsily with uncoordinated limbs.

Shen Rui quickly picked up the cat and kissed it. “You’re my first summoned beast, don’t get hurt.”

Then, he summoned a confused Golden Retriever, a squeaking hamster, a sharp-eyed falcon… It’s just that these summoned beasts looked more and more like the people around him?

——————

Mini Theater 1:

Xavier: We need a mount. What creature do you think the principal looks like that could be ridden?

Shen Rui: The teacher!!?

——————

A funny, doted-on story. All the friends and classmates who became summoned beasts dote on the protagonist, and the protagonist also dotes on all the fluffy creatures he summons.

A seemingly cute and well-behaved summoner who is even darker when cut open x A beautiful, elegant, and even darker attacker, who has a jester-like personality.