Chapter 96: Knocking on the Door

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

“There’s actually someone who has mastered both the light and thunder abilities! This genius!”

Upon hearing what Hong Su said, Zhi Hu let out a sigh.

“Yes, just like you thought, Student Lin Yao is absolutely a genius… A genius like him will definitely become the guardian angel of the city, or even the province, when he grows up. We have to try to win over this genius no matter what… Besides, the profound meaning of Heavenly Thunder and Malice Detection, which he has comprehended, is and will always be extremely useful to our team. What a pity.”

Sighing, Zhi Hu cast a reluctant look at Lin Yao as if she could not bear to let him go. Upon seeing this, Lin Yao touched his face.

‘Does she think that highly of me? I hope it’s not what I think.’

Just as Lin Yao thought that being handsome was a crime, he discovered Hong Hu looking at him with a gaze filled with passion and enthusiasm. Lin Yao’s heart turned cold when he saw this.

‘I hope it’s not what I think! Absolutely not!’

…

Inviting Lin Yao to the team was just a part of the whole story. The Red Fox Team’s ultimate goal tonight was to deal with the alley freak.

Hong Hu and the team did not take the risk to barge into the alley. According to the flaws of the freak provided by the policewoman, for a start, the team decided to use a water jet to erase the graffiti in the alley from the outside.

However, this did not have anything to do with Lin Yao. When Hong Hu and his team took over the mission, the command center instructed Lin Yao and the rest to continue patrolling.

“Sigh… What a pity. The freak we encountered this time is very strong. We’ll be able to get a lot of merit points if we deal with it ourselves…”

Before Li Shan could finish his words, the policewoman chided him. “You need to be alive in order to receive the merit points, no matter how many of them there are. The Red Fox Team will be able to deal with it easily. We don’t know how many of us will die if we go over… After all, we are the ones who discovered the freak, so we will be rewarded regardless of whether we deal with it or not.”

After she said that, the policewoman also looked at Lin Yao. “It is all thanks to you.”

“It’s nothing. I also want to thank you for helping me escape earlier.”

“You would have been able to escape even without my help. I didn’t expect your speed to be that fast.”

At the thought of the communication in the command vehicles and the notion that he could deal with the alley freak without risking his life, Lin Yao could only exclaim about the merits of a strong and powerful organization.

‘With the support of the government, I won’t have to deal with any major problems on my own. I’ll just have to report to the higher-ups. Please call me Alarm Yao in the future.’

After returning to the command vehicle, Lin Yao thought that he would be continuing what he’d been doing earlier—patrolling the areas overseen by the policewoman.

However, after seeing Lin Yao’s ability, the command center assigned him a new mission.

They would no longer serve as a secondary command center to assist the patrol team. According to the orders of the command center, they were to investigate some suspects or special locations, and their geographical coverage had expanded to the entire city.

The policewoman explained to Lin Yao what these suspects and special locations were.

“Whenever the Sky Eye surveillance system detects suspicious characters or places, we’ll go over and investigate. However, we’re sometimes unable to determine whether the freaks have exerted their influence. There are always some freaks who are good at concealing or hiding themselves by parasitizing human bodies. These kinds of unique circumstances will be deemed ‘suspicious’ by us.

“As for the special locations, they are places with abnormal death rates or neighborhoods with people who have experienced sudden nightmares. There is abnormality in these places, but we’re unable to detect anything. Therefore, they have been marked as special locations.”

The policewoman’s words helped Lin Yao understand their next task better.

“We’re no longer patrol officers. We’re going to solve cases now. Let’s go.”

“Wait a minute. The command center sent us a chart. Let me take a look. The nearest suspect is in a residential building two kilometers away from us.”

After giving directions to the driver of the command vehicle, the group soon sped toward the location of the first suspect.

On the way to the location, the policewoman also retrieved the case file from the police station and explained the general situation to Lin Yao.

“In this case, the suspect was the one who took the initiative to report the situation. He said he’d been having the same nightmare for four consecutive days. He dreamed of someone knocking on the door. In his first two dreams, the knocking sound was outside the main door, and in the two subsequent dreams, someone was knocking on his bedroom door. Although he didn’t see anything while the knocking sound was heard, he had a bad premonition and decided to report it to the police. We immediately offered him protection and kept him at the police station, but nothing happened that day. The next day, a member of the special spirituality department accompanied him home. First, they checked his residence and his various belongings. Then, they arranged for some people to lie in ambush in his surroundings and bedroom. Still, nothing happened.

“The ambush lasted three days… Obviously, we can’t protect an individual at all times. There are too many strange cases in the city, and we don’t have enough manpower to keep a watch over all of them. The protection was removed after three days. We then arranged for two people to follow him. Mr. Wang was also told to call the police immediately if something happened.

“Since then, Mr. Wang has moved… He rented a house somewhere else, and nothing happened afterward. However, we’re still a little worried. Therefore, we plan to check on him again every two days. Since you’re with us, we’ll get you to help us investigate this.”

“Understood.”

The abilities of the freaks were diverse. Those with real bodies, such as the freaks in the amusement park, were actually easier to deal with, but it was difficult to handle those with various kinds of strange abilities.

For example, the alley freak was impossible to guard oneself against. Lin Yao’s head hurt at the thought of the freak knocking on doors in a dream. It did not have an actual body. It was just a dream. Facing such a freak made it difficult for the special department to render any help even if the incident was reported.

Their first destination was Mr. Wang’s residence, which was an ordinary apartment. Lin Yao heaved a sigh of relief when they first arrived. He didn’t sense any of the malice of the freaks.

In fact, although the freaks had special abilities and were good at hiding and charming others, the Good and Evil Distinguishment ability could restrain them fairly well. After all, they could hide their bodies and aura but not the malice—a spiritual existence even present in illusions—in their hearts.

At the same time, although the freaks came in different shapes and sizes, the malice in their hearts was very strong. Besides some unique beings, such as the owner of the haunted house, Lin Yao had never perceived the slightest bit of kindness in the freaks, and this made it easy for him to distinguish them.

However, Lin Yao didn’t know for sure. There were numerous freaks in the world, and he couldn’t promise that he knew everything. Furthermore, if a freak had shut off its abilities before taking action, Lin Yao would not be able to detect it.

‘I must not be careless. I can’t restrain everything, but I don’t have to be overly modest either.’

As Lin Yao positioned himself, they arrived at Mr. Wang’s door. Although it was night time, everyone was accustomed to such visits because the freaks frequently moved about at night.

Boom, boom, boom.

When the knock on the door was heard, a heavy-duty fighter with a shield was standing in front of the door. Lin Yao stood by the window, protected by the policewoman. This was a precautionary measure so that she could escape with Lin Yao the moment something occurred.

Lin Yao and the others did not have to wait long. After about 10 seconds of that knocking sound on the door, a slightly agitated voice was heard…

“Who is knocking on my door in the middle of the night? Where are your moral values?”

As soon as the man finished his words, the bedroom door opened but the safety door did not. Then, an ordinary, middle-aged man appeared in front of everyone.

“It’s you guys. Has there been any progress in my case?”

“Here’s what happened. We are here to…”

The fighter in front of the door communicated with the man while the policewoman glanced at Lin Yao.

Lin Yao was a little confused, but he shook his head in the end.

“I sensed normal good and evil feelings.”

Upon hearing this, the policewoman quickly gestured to the fighter standing opposite them. The fighter asked a few casual questions and left when nothing happened.

“Was it really a nightmare? But it shouldn’t have been. He had the same nightmare for four consecutive days. That’s impossible.”

While muttering, the policewoman led the team away.

However, after taking a few steps, Lin Yao suddenly paused in his tracks.

“What’s wrong?”

Upon seeing Lin Yao suddenly stop, the policewoman also halted.

“The feelings of good and evil in Mr. Wang’s room have disappeared.” After he finished speaking, Lin Yao elaborated. “Most people’s external senses will dissipate after they fall asleep. In addition, the activity in their heart will be reduced tremendously, and their heart will be free of thoughts and worries. There is naturally no distinction between good and evil then. It is thus very difficult for me to distinguish between good and evil when both the human and the freak are asleep. When we first arrived, I didn’t sense a lot of good and evil feelings in Mr. Wang. When you guys knocked on the door and woke Mr. Wang up, I could sense the good and evil feelings of an ordinary person. However, now that he’s closed the door for less than 10 seconds, I can no longer sense them.”

At that moment, it was needless for Lin Yao to explain further. Li Shan’s expression changed drastically, and he looked behind him.

It was very calm over there, but this kind of calmness was very frightening. If Lin Yao was right, they had probably spoken to a freak earlier. After all, a human could not possibly fall asleep within 10 seconds.

Everyone glanced at one another with ugly expressions. In the end, the policewoman led Lin Yao to the window, preparing to jump out of the window and escape at any time. Meanwhile, Li Shan knocked on the door again.

Knock, knock, knock.

“What now?”

The response this time was exactly the same as before. However, after being woken up, Mr. Wang was obviously cross, and his eyes and expression looked displeased.

“Mr. Wang, are you feeling alright?”

“Of course I am. I no longer have nightmares bother me, and that obscure woman has already let me go.”

As he spoke, Mr. Wang looked as if he was heaving a sigh of relief. However, Lin Yao was staring at the policewoman with chills up his spine.

“I recall that, based on the information in the case file, the knocking sound stopped outside the bedroom door. The fact that he knows who has knocked means…”

“The door… was knocked open!”