CH 79

The team leader nodded, "Rest assured, no matter what request you make, we will do everything in our power to fulfill it."

"Very well, immediately mobilize all resources to investigate.

In our country, there's probably a small town involved in illegal human trafficking. I suspect it is located in the southern mountainous region of our country, and the town's name might be something like 'Huan Dao town' or a homonym.

This town is collectively engaged in wrongdoing, with neighbors covering up for each other, so I suggest conducting the investigation in different locations. It's likely that the town was invaded by the Weird Powers before, so I recommend starting the investigation from the towns where the weird powers have invaded before.

Better to kill the wrong person than to let them go.

Once you find suspects involved in human trafficking, arrest them immediately. This matter must be resolved as quickly as possible; there is no time to waste, as I don't know how long I can stay in this world.

We are racing against time, and every moment counts."

After speaking, Gu Yi took out a piece of paper from his pocket, on which were written several numbers from the number list in his mother's jewelry box.

"Can you see the numbers on this paper?"

"Yes, I can see them. Why?"

"Investigate these numbers immediately; they may be related to the human traffickers."

The team leader didn't ask why but diligently noted down every word Gu Yi said, "We have noted everything. Do you have anything else?"

After a moment of contemplation, Gu Yi spoke rapidly, "The host may be from our country, and perhaps we... time's up."

Beep-beep-

A busy tone came from the phone.

Time started flowing again.

Gu Yi hung up the phone and wheeled himself out of the phone booth.

The director took notice of him and arranged such a special dungeon for him. He even prevented his progress from being live-streamed.

--It's like an entrance exam for the Weird world!

If he successfully clears this dungeon, he might become a potential talent in the eyes of the director, and the host in this dungeon serves as the interviewer.

Perhaps the director never expected him to achieve a 70% exploration level, which is why he didn't prohibit him from communicating with the real world, nor did he expect him to command the Dragon Country Strategy Team to search for the real-world prototype.

Of course, there's another possibility.

--The director is so arrogant that he doesn't care about what he does. Just like how humans don't care about what ants do; in his eyes, he's just a slightly stronger ant.

Gu Yi had already speculated that all the dungeon worlds have their real prototypes, and they might actually exist in reality.

This dungeon world was created entirely based on Dragon Country. Gu Yi had instructed the Strategy Team to find the real "Huan Dao town" to verify whether there is a mapping relationship between the real world and the weird world, and if changes in the real world would affect the weird world.

If such a relationship exists, it would mean that the survival probability of adventurers worldwide would increase, and humanity would have one more way to combat the weird world.

"Son, what are you daydreaming about?"

His mother came over with a bottle of almond water.

Gu Yi reached out and took it, unscrewing the cap to take a sip.

The taste of this almond water was different compared to the taste of the one from the Huan Dao convenience store. Gu Yi looked at the bottle and realized that his mother had bought the wrong brand.

"It doesn't taste right."

"What's wrong?"

"The brand is wrong."

"But you've been drinking this brand since you were little." His mother looked at Gu Yi with concern. "Are you okay? You seem like a different person."

"Oh, I must be a bit absent-minded."

Gu Yi grinned, trying to brush it off.

His mother didn't probe further. After all, he had a head injury, and who knows what might happen?

"Your father will come to pick you up soon. We will go home then."

"Okay."

In the afternoon, his father finally arrived at the hospital.

In this Surface world, his father was not one to smile easily, even more, distant than the father in the inner world.

Gu Yi glanced at the residential area they lived in, which was called "Huan Dao".

"Mom, how is grandma doing?"

"Grandma is doing well."

"I got into an accident; I wonder if it will affect Grandma. After all, she's getting older."

"Sigh, you're such a filial child."

His mother sighed and took out her phone to video call Grandma.

Gu Yi turned his head away.

The elderly woman in the video had gray hair, wore reading glasses, and had a plump figure—nothing like Han Chunzhu at all.

"Hello, grandma."

"Hello, my grandson."

Gu Yi pretended to communicate with his grandmother for a while, then used a headache as an excuse to hang up the call.

As expected.

He and his sister had been abducted.

Han Chunzhu was his real grandmother.

Now, Gu Yi's top priority is to find Han Chunzhu and his missing sister.

"Son, don't force yourself..."

"It's okay, I can manage on my own."

Supporting himself against the wall, Gu Yi slowly walked and gradually adapted to the movement.

Since entering the surface world, Gu Yi hadn't encountered any weird events. He temporarily let down his guard and rested at home for a night.

The next day.

The house was empty, and Gu Yi found only a note left by his parents on the refrigerator.

[We've gone out for business, we'll be back before noon.]

"Hmph, doing business, huh?"

Gu Yi sneered and searched the house.

He first went to his parents' room and indeed found his mother's cancer medication.

At the same time, he discovered the hospital discharge receipt from when his mother received treatment, and it was the same hospital he woke up in.

In the dressing table, there was his mother's medical insurance card, and Gu Yi immediately noted down the social insurance code.

Returning to his room, Gu Yi found his backpack inside the closet. Inside the backpack, he found an eye patch and a whip.

"Where's my phone? Did it break during the transition?"

Continuing to search the backpack, Gu Yi felt a hard object, like a phone. He took out a small knife and cut open the backpack, confirming that the phone was inside, along with a pile of ashes.

The ashes were likely the diary. It must have been burned during the journey through the void. The contents of the diary were all symbolic references from the inner world to the surface world. When he arrived in the surface world, the diary turned to ashes.

After Gu Yi took out all the items, the backpack began to decay and turned into a pile of garbage in less than a minute.

Without the protection of weird power, the backpack turned into ashes.

Gu Yi turned on the phone, and the countdown was still ticking.

[2 days, 20 hours, 31 minutes]

"What the heck? Does it mean if I don't find my sister within three days, I'm going to die?"

Taking a deep breath, Gu Yi couldn't believe he had already left the inner world but was still burdened by this annoying countdown. He opened the phone and indeed found his sister's latest diary entry.

[May 15, 2021, sunny]

[My injuries have worsened, but Mom still keeps making me jump into the ice bucket to strengthen my willpower.]

[Last night, the pain was unbearable, and I wanted to ask Mom to take me to the hospital.]

[When passing through the kitchen, I finally understood how Mom makes the rat oil.]

[She somehow found a bunch of little mice, all hairless, just newborns. She put the mice in sesame oil and drowned them alive, then she ate them.]

[The sesame oil in which the drowned mice were soaked is what they call 'rat oil'.]

[I was so scared that I screamed.]

[Mom saw me and walked over with the plate, asking what was wrong.]

[I told her I needed to go to the bathroom.]

[Mom said she had just made a fresh batch of rat oil, and if I applied it externally and ingested it, I would recover faster.]

[The blood of the mouse was floating in the dish, showing a faint pink color.]

[Mom pinched my mouth and poured all the sesame oil down my throat.]

[Mom has gone mad, my brother is dead, will I be the next one?]