Chapter 1 A Sense of Unease

Li Cheng颐 felt somewhat concerned about the inexplicable surge of malicious intent he had experienced at home last time.

Although the malicious intent had eventually disappeared, he had also absorbed it, so the danger should have been averted.

But the sudden appearance and disappearance of the phenomenon left him feeling very uneasy.

He had tested the absorption of malicious intent, and it had to be within a certain range, no more than about thirty meters around him.

In other words, in his home at the time, centered on him, within a radius of thirty meters, there must have been someone who instantly generated extremely terrifying malicious intent towards him, and then the malicious intent disappeared inexplicably.

Such emotional ups and downs did not seem like something an ordinary person could do.

This kind of mental state made Li Cheng颐 suspect that this mysterious person might have a mental problem.

He had wanted to ask this question before, but he had been too busy with other things and had forgotten about it until now.

"Your sister? We did notice that she has been in contact with some rather complicated people recently. Her Zhimeng Shi (Intelligent Mechanical Engineer) assessment failed, her registration fee was wasted, and she had a conflict with someone at school, beating them up. Then, she suddenly got in contact with several people with rather complicated backgrounds," Xindela replied, paying close attention to Li Cheng颐, a talented individual with high mental strength and the ability to easily experience memory flashes.

"People with complicated backgrounds? Is it possible to find out their identities and origins?" Li Cheng颐 asked, his heart stirring.

"It's not possible. Our main focus is on you. Because your sister is at a higher military academy, there is a lot of information lockdown. We often cannot access the internal information of the military academy, which is isolated from the network. We are not even allowed to approach it. The cost of inquiry is too high," Xindela explained.

"Of course, if you are worried, we can send someone to investigate specifically. But we can't guarantee that we'll get any results," he said sincerely, looking at Li Cheng颐.

"If possible, I hope you can investigate," Li Cheng颐 nodded affirmatively.

"Well, your sister is indeed a bit difficult to describe. Are you worried about your parents?" Song Ran asked from the side.

"Yeah, a little," Li Cheng颐 nodded.

He didn't care about Li Chengjiu as a person. The previous owner of his body knew her very well. That woman was ruthless, selfish, and could do anything.

What he was worried about was that the previous owner's parents were honest and good people. If they encountered danger, if they were implicated by the bad people Li Chengjiu was in contact with, and their lives were threatened, that would be troublesome.

So he wanted to investigate and, if possible, eliminate this hidden danger completely.

"I don't want something to happen to my family while I'm investigating and trying to escape from the Dead Angle. If it's not too difficult, I hope to completely eliminate the potential threat," Li Cheng颐 thought, and that's what he said.

The atmosphere in the car suddenly turned cold because of his words.

Xindela was slightly stunned. He remembered that not long ago, Li Cheng颐 was just an ordinary and rather simple Dead Angle newcomer, but now....

He shouldn't have said such a thing...

At least not now.

"It seems you've experienced a lot in the Dead Angle," Si Magui raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, the first Dead Angle I encountered, and the only one, was much more difficult than Mist Street. Three of us went in, and only I survived. I only survived after taking my chances on my third entry," Li Cheng颐 replied.

"Then you're ruthless enough. Most Dead Angles are not that dangerous. They usually just make it so you can never get out," Si Magui gave him a thumbs up.

Screech.

The car braked sharply.

"Okay, we're here. It's time to get out," Song Ran, who was driving, interrupted their conversation.

"I'm thirsty. I'm going to buy something to drink. What do you want?" Si Magui asked, opening the car door and looking back.

"Sparkling water," Zhong Ying.

"Bean," Xindela.

"Tadado," Song Ran.

Li Cheng颐 shook his head, indicating that he didn't need anything.

Bean was a cola-like drink, while Tadado was a sweet drink with a little stimulant added. He didn't like either of them.

Everyone got out of the car one after another. Li Cheng颐 put on his AR glasses, and a holographic image of the topographic map of Xuezhong Road from more than a hundred years ago was automatically superimposed in his glasses.

The car was parked on the side of an old street called Tianxing Road.

As soon as they stopped, an old man in a deep green camouflage uniform came up to collect parking fees with a receipt.

Song Ran prepaid some money to him and took a receipt.

Li Cheng颐, Zhong Ying, and Xindela looked around.

This was an old neighborhood with small square white bricks on the ground.

The houses on both sides were about the same height, about ten meters, and had a European-style appearance.

Each house had a small semicircular balcony, and the windows were mostly arched.

Downstairs, there were storefronts.

Some of these stores were still open, with rectangular signs hanging, while others were closed.

Li Cheng颐 looked around and saw a lot of black smoky marks remaining on the walls next to the storefronts.

He walked to the bottom of a storefront sign. The name of the store was 'Blue Ocean Pearl'.

The sign was hung on a load-bearing column at the bottom of the building and fixed with three black metal clips.

Li Cheng颐 reached out and gently rubbed the back of the sign with his fingertips.

When he took it out to look, there was already a layer of black ash on his fingertip.

He looked at the store along the sign. The store was already closed, and the metal rolling shutter door was vaguely written with the shop's sales phone number in red, but the number was no longer clear.

"There used to be a fire here," Song Ran walked up to him and whispered.

"I can see that, the smoky traces are obvious," Li Cheng颐 nodded.

"Don't worry about anything else, we just need to find Wu's Grocery Store. That slot machine is likely to be from Wu's Grocery Store," Song Ran reminded him.

"Understood. I'm waiting for a memory flash," Li Cheng颐 replied.

If there was a Dead Angle near here, then as a Dead Angle person with high mental strength, he would have a high probability of experiencing a memory flash.

This was also one of the main ways they investigated Dead Angles.

"Okay, be careful," Song Ran understood.

"By the way, when we are experiencing a memory flash, what do I look like to you people on the outside?" Li Cheng颐 suddenly asked. He was curious about what his state looked like to outsiders when he was inside the Dead Angle.

"Disappeared," Song Ran said solemnly. "You disappear inexplicably, and then you reappear inexplicably when your memory flash is over. The most uncomfortable thing is that no matter what state you are in when you appear, we outsiders will take it for granted. This taken-for-grantedness leads to an extremely serious sense of contradiction in our hearts, and that feeling is very uncomfortable."

"Is that so?" Li Cheng颐 understood.

"Let's go, let's look around," Song Ran patted him on the shoulder and took the lead in looking at the stores one by one around the area.

He went to the left, Si Magui went to the right, and Xindela and Zhong Ying went to the row on the opposite side.

Li Cheng颐 saw that everyone was scattered in different directions, so he simply strolled slowly in the middle of the street, looking around.

There were very few vehicles on Tianxing Road, so he only needed to avoid them occasionally.

Li Cheng颐 wore AR glasses and constantly compared them with the restored map from more than a hundred years ago.

Everyone could contact each other through AR and verify the common map from more than a hundred years ago.

As the marked points on the map were lit up one by one, the fact that Tianxing Road Old Street was once Xuezhong Road became more and more believable.

Li Cheng颐 saw from afar that Zhong Ying was taking advantage of her cosmetically enhanced face to strike up a conversation with an old man sitting in front of a street store for shade, asking about the situation.

Xindela was talking to young women passing by. The two had a clear division of labor.

"According to the map, this should be near Wu's Grocery Store," soon, Si Magui's voice came from the AR.

"I've bought the water and drinks. According to the map comparison, the place where I'm standing should be Wu's Grocery Store."

He paused.

"But... something's not right about this place."

Everyone shared communication in the AR, so everyone could hear what he was saying.

"What's wrong? It's normal if it's not a grocery store. After so many years, it must have been replaced by another store," Xindela said.

"No..." Si Magui hesitated. "You'll know when you see it."

With a crisp click, he quickly took a photo and uploaded it to the AR.

Instantly, a prompt asking whether to view the transmitted photo popped up in everyone's AR.

Li Cheng颐 clicked yes.

Swish.

A clear photo popped up directly in front of him.

"This is!?" Li Cheng颐 was slightly stunned, stopped, and moved to the side to avoid oncoming traffic.

"Something's not right? According to the map, this should be the grocery store?!" Zhong Ying's voice revealed a hint of incomprehensible anxiety.

"According to the map from more than a hundred years ago, it is indeed like this. But times have changed... perhaps," Xindela was interrupted by Zhong Ying before he could finish speaking.

"No matter what, the original store couldn't have become like this," Zhong Ying said sharply.

"Yes, such a place could not have changed so much in a hundred years..." Li Cheng颐 also echoed in a deep voice.

In the photo that appeared in front of him, it was not a store, not a building, not even a street.

It was a wide, gloomy small lake with blue-green ripples.

On the left side of the lake, he could vaguely see the corners of the old buildings on Tianxing Street. On the right was a deserted white stone arch bridge.

"Could it have been demolished? Revealing the lake behind it?" Song Ran guessed.

"I asked the old people here, and this place has never had buildings on it. Originally, this was a desolate and messy graveyard, with nothing. Later, the government carried out a large-scale land development, and Xuezhong Road, which is now Tianxing Street, was slowly built," Xindela said in the AR.

"Could it be that the map is wrong?" Zhong Ying wondered.

"We got the map from the local chronicles and compared it with the National Geographic Database. Everything is consistent, so it is unlikely to be a problem," Song Ran replied.

"Then where is this Wu's Grocery Store?!" Zhong Ying said anxiously.

No one spoke. The current situation was that the map was completely meaningless, and nothing matched up. The clues they had found before were now unknown from where to start.

"Si Ma, have you experienced a memory flash over there?" Xindela asked.

"I haven't encountered one," Si Ma replied.

"Same here," Li Cheng颐 said.

"It seems that there is no Dead Angle nearby. The Mist Street Dead Angle may not be related to this place..." Xindela concluded.