Alien Hotel.

Chapter 527 Violent Road Clearing

Yu Sheng, carrying Eileen (a type of rebar), along with Hu Li and Luna, pushed open the door of No. 66 Wutong Road.

Outside the gate, the once familiar streets were shrouded in a thin mist, and the slightly distorted buildings became swaying silhouettes in the fog.

Li Lin and Zheng Zhi were just pushing open the door of the small parcel collection point when they both looked up in bewilderment at Yu Sheng, who was standing at the entrance of No. 66 Wutong Road.

Eileen ruffled Yu Sheng's hair: "Have you forgotten about this parcel collection point again?"

Yu Sheng, his neck stiff, said, "This was all part of the plan..."

"Then you've simply forgotten."

Zheng Zhi walked over at this moment: "Brother Yu, what's going on here...?"

“Your bureau chief just called me. There’s been a problem in Fog City,” Yu Sheng said immediately with a stern face. “I’m going there now.”

Zheng Zhi realized what was happening and quickly said, "Then I'll go with you."

Yu Sheng suddenly hesitated. He looked at his nephew, who was volunteering with a bright smile, and then looked up at the fog-shrouded sky of Fog City. After a few seconds of hesitation, he said, "The density of matter and the abnormal environment here are different from outside. We are heading towards the foggy district. Your physique might be a bit too strong for this."

“I know,” Zheng Zhi nodded earnestly, “but I can’t just take a salary for nothing—the bureau sent me here to assist you, and this is the perfect time for me to help…”

"Ahem, the bureau sent the two of us here to help collect packages at No. 66 Wutong Road," Li Lin coughed awkwardly, reminding him.

Zheng Zhi was taken aback: "...Is that how it is?"

“No problem. Since you want to come with us, then come with us. Maybe we can find some more clues,” Yu Sheng suddenly thought of something and patted Zheng Zhi’s shoulder, who was still a little dazed. “Then Li Lin, you stay here and keep an eye on the environmental changes in the ‘safe zone’ around No. 66 Wutong Road. Contact us immediately if anything happens—your bureau has already installed communication nodes in most areas of Fog City, so there is cell phone signal. Remember, stay within the safe zone and don’t cross the line to the courier station.”

Li Lin nodded immediately: "Okay, I understand."

Yu Sheng hummed in agreement, then turned to look at the nine-tailed fox beside him: "Hu Li—"

Before she finished speaking, the fox girl had already run a few steps forward. Then, she took advantage of the situation and pounced. With a "bang," she transformed into a silver-white fox demon the size of two vans.

The big fox carried Yu Sheng and the others into the fog.

The area where Xu Jiali's team first encountered the "spider web" was not far from Wutong Road. Even though Hu Li only used a strolling speed (by her standards), she quickly arrived at the fog-shrouded intersection.

Yu Sheng carried Eileen off the fox demon's back and immediately looked up to check the surroundings.

A distinct "fog wall" stood on the street ten meters away, covering the entire block in front of it in thick fog. Warning lights at the edge of the foggy block shone with a glaring red light. A conspicuous light curtain and the cordon tape stretched across the street were all warning the spirit detectives and investigators who had entered this block to stay away from the dangerous area ahead.

The buildings in the thick fog were crooked and twisted, and the edges of the tall buildings trembled as if they were alive. From time to time, suspicious shadows could be seen wandering between the buildings. It was hard to tell whether they were entities generated in the fog or bizarre illusions generated by the abnormal environment.

Apart from that, there were no traces of black spider webs in the entire area.

According to Xu Jiali's team's report, they started encountering strange things after they met those spider webs in this area, but they also mentioned that the spider webs only appeared for a very short time before disappearing into thin air.

"Eileen, do you feel anything?" Yu Sheng turned around and looked at the little doll on his shoulder.

With the Nightmare Star, which she used as an amplification pendant, floating above her head, Eileen was raising her hand to summon wisps of black threads, searching for traces of the same origin as herself in the surrounding mist. Hearing Yu Sheng's words, she frowned and shook her head: "No, but it's probably because the environment here is too chaotic. I need to search more carefully."

As she spoke, she jumped off Yu Sheng's shoulder, took the Ominous Star from above her head with one hand and held it in her hand, while holding a few thin black threads with the other hand. She walked around with a serious expression.

Honestly, looking at this little thing's serious expression, Yu Sheng was afraid she might utter some strange saying at any moment, like "To find the dragon and divide the gold, look at the winding mountain" or "Don't touch the gold when the rooster crows and the lamp goes out"—mainly because her temperament combined with the surrounding environment made her look too much like a grave robber...

Then Yu Sheng turned to his eldest nephew on the other side and asked, "What about you? Did you find anything?"

Zheng Zhi was looking around with wide eyes when he heard this, and shrank his neck: "I didn't find any spider silk or anything, but it felt strangely lively in this fog, especially on the other side of that isolation zone. In just a short while, seven or eight things that looked like acquaintances crawled out of there and let me pass—my great-grandmother saw them three times."

Yu Sheng had only asked casually, but he was completely shocked by the other person's answer: "Holy crap... you must be pretty strong here! Are you sure you're okay?"

"That's no problem. It's just a bit more frequent than usual, nothing really outrageous has happened. We can handle it based on experience," the nephew waved his hand, instantly displaying remarkable composure, and even chuckled. "Brother Yu, let me tell you, I'm used to seeing them..."

Yu Sheng's expression was strange: "You've gotten used to seeing Grandma too?"

Zheng Zhi shrugged: "Well, after my great-grandmother passed away, I saw her more often than when she was alive..."

Yu Sheng: "..." After marveling at the hardcore nature of his nephew's daily life, Yu Sheng decided to continue heading towards the East District, following the route taken by Xu Jiali's team to continue searching for clues.

Eileen continued to hold the ball in one hand and the string in the other, walking beside Yu Sheng as if she were looking at feng shui (mainly because her body was too heavy, and Yu Sheng was too lazy to carry her anymore).

Zheng Zhi then pulled out his pistol for self-defense, and with his other hand, he somehow produced a pocket watch from his pocket. As he walked forward, he would glance at the watch face every now and then.

“This is a life monitoring device issued by the Secret Service,” he explained enthusiastically, noticing Yu Sheng’s curious gaze. “Sometimes, alien environments can cause a person’s life force to slowly deplete, and sometimes people can’t even realize they are dying. This thing can give a warning—if the hands of the clock stop, the person is dead; if the speed of rotation slows down, the person is gradually losing life. In addition, changes in the color of the dial itself can also indicate potential mental pollution…”

Yu Sheng looked at the pocket watch in Zheng Zhi's hand in surprise, thinking to himself that the Secret Service had such amazing gadgets. After a moment, he couldn't help but ask curiously, "Can I take a look?"

Zheng Zhi immediately handed over the pocket watch: "Of course."

Yu Sheng happily accepted the pocket watch and glanced down at the dial.

The hands of the clock are spinning backwards.

After spinning backwards three times, it suddenly stopped and started vibrating and spinning forwards like it was having a seizure.

Yu Sheng was stunned for a moment, then saw the clock hand spinning faster and faster, until it was faster than even the fifth speed setting on a fan—

The next second, a soft "snap" was heard, and the watch face shattered. The hands broke free from the pivot and stood upright on the watch face.

Yu Sheng: "..."

Zheng Zhi: "..."

"This thing..." Yu Sheng's embarrassment was palpable. "Did I break it?"

The eldest nephew was on the verge of tears: "It seems like... I just received it a couple of days ago."

Does your bureau reimburse these expenses?

"Report it, but there must be a suitable reason—if it's damaged without cause, you have to write a self-criticism."

“I’ll talk to your boss and get you a new one,” Yu Sheng said apologetically as he handed the pocket watch, its hands still upright, back to his nephew. “I have a bit of a constitution that’s a little unusual, so I might not be able to handle this kind of thing… I’m sorry.”

Zheng Zhi could only sigh, and with a pained expression, he took the pocket watch. He carefully pressed the hands back onto the pivot, shook it in his hand, and watched as the hands turned clockwise, then counterclockwise, then stopped and wobbled twice. He could see a sense of bewilderment seeping into the movement from the pocket watch. Then he sighed again, closed the pocket watch, and put it back in his pocket.

The unfortunate intern shook his head and continued to keep an eye on his surroundings.

To the left is a quiet street, shrouded in mist and dimly lit.

To the right was a brightly lit hall, where two strangers in white coats were busy with their heads down.

Zheng Zhi didn't even react for the first second.

When he realized what he was seeing, he instinctively yelled and jumped back: "Holy crap—"

Everyone in the team was startled, and Zheng Zhi instantly hid behind Yu Sheng, reflexively raising his gun and quickly saying, "Brother Yu, I saw two people over there..."

The nephew's words were cut short—he could only see a fog, and there was no stranger in sight.

That seemed to be just a momentary "displacement".

If it were a regular spirit detective team or operator group, there wouldn't be much they could do at this point. Passing by an anomaly is only a matter of a split second, and if someone in the team can see a clue in that instant, it would be a gain in itself.

Zheng Zhi thought the same thing.

But the group around Yu Sheng was clearly not an ordinary spirit detective team.

Several bursts of foxfire exploded, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound as Hu Li, still in his giant fox form, launched six super-large fox-carrot missiles, bombarding the direction Zheng Zhi had pointed. Immediately afterward, without hesitation, Eileen waved her hand, sending swathes of spider silk sweeping across the direction of the foxfire explosions. Before the smoke from the explosions had even cleared, Hu Li unleashed a barrage of fox-carrot machine gun fire. While Zheng Zhi was still reeling from the shock, Yu Sheng coughed up a mouthful of blood to the side. Almost simultaneously, the little puppet yelled "Go!" and swung its arm, throwing the Nightmare Star away…

Zheng Zhi was dumbfounded.

Then he watched helplessly as large swathes of cracks appeared out of thin air under the relentless bombardment of Yu Sheng and his gang.

(End of this chapter)