At this moment, he realized that the seriousness of this matter was far beyond their ability to deal with it.
"It's over..."
Chapter 182: Passing Enthusiastic Adventurer
Inspector Goering's consciousness was becoming increasingly blurred. He knew that once he and his two subordinates fell completely unconscious, they would most likely die.
Then, they were transformed into zombies by the evil crystal ball, or the gloomy face, adding three more to the pale and swollen figures.
"Snapped!"
Just before he was about to completely lose consciousness, a loud, crisp snap of fingers suddenly sounded from behind him.
All of a sudden, as if a basin of ice water was poured over his head, Inspector Goering shuddered and immediately came to his senses.
The severe pain that erupted from the temple and skull also subsided instantly and disappeared without a trace.
"Uh……"
The moment he regained control of his body, he quickly turned around and looked behind him.
I saw a short and slender figure standing two or three meters away.
She looked like a young girl, wearing a simple classical long cloak, with beautiful and smooth black long hair flowing down, attracting attention.
The hood on the back of the cloak was not worn, but draped over the back. However, because the little girl was almost standing in the shadow, Inspector Goring found it difficult to see her appearance clearly.
However, based on the vague outline, he always felt that this was a very beautiful and cute girl.
At this time, the two police officers beside him also struggled out of the severe pain, subconsciously took a few steps back, and stared at the room with cold sweat on their foreheads.
"Captain, we... um? Captain?"
They quickly pulled out the spiritual items from their arms and held them in their hands, asking Inspector Goering whether to launch an attack, while using meditation to inject the few ordinary spiritualities they had into them.
But they soon noticed with their peripheral vision that their boss seemed to be looking behind them, so they turned their heads and saw the little girl in the cloak hiding in the shadows.
"Who?!"
"...little girl?"
Inspector Goering half-turned his body, paying attention to the situation in the room while paying attention to the little girl in the cloak. His expression became more and more solemn:
"who are you?"
"An enthusiastic adventurer passing through."
The little girl in the cloak in the shadow spoke leisurely, her tone neither hurried nor slow, with a smile in her voice. Her voice was childish but pleasant and clear, full of unique charm.
"...Adventurer?" Inspector Goering raised an eyebrow in slight surprise.
In Sunset Harbor, adventurers are a very rare profession, as there is basically no market for such people.
Is he a resident here, or is he just passing by? What does this have to do with the anomaly in the room?
He considered for a moment and asked cautiously:
"You saved us just now? Do you know what happened here?"
As he said this, he quickly glanced around the room and found that nothing inside had changed, all the objects and figures remained the same.
But he always felt that something was different: as if there was an invisible barrier blocking the door frame, blocking the evil power in the room and preventing it from seeping out and affecting the three people.
...Is this her work? Is she really a transcendent?
The mysterious girl of unknown origin nodded slightly, confirming the previous question, and then continued in that leisurely and smiling tone:
"I can tell you what happened and I can solve this problem for you, but you have to promise me one thing."
"Please say."
Upon hearing that there was a price to pay, Inspector Goering frowned.
He was not petty, but he was worried that the girl might ask for something that would endanger other people or involve confidential information of official forces such as the Security Team, the Super Management Bureau, and the Executioner Team.
As an official with a relatively high position, he does have this level of sensitivity.
"It's very simple." As if she saw his worry, the girl smiled lightly, as if telling him not to be nervous, "You need to hand over the remaining items in the room to me."
"Legacy?" Inspector Goering was slightly stunned, but soon understood what the other party meant:
"You mean, the abnormality in the room is caused by some objects with a special smell, or evil spirits?"
"You can understand it this way," the girl shrugged, then tilted her head slightly, "How about it, can you accept it?"
"If I don't accept it, will you just leave?" Inspector Goering said hesitantly.
As an official, he certainly didn't want any malicious items or spirits to fall into the hands of outsiders. Moreover, not only was the origin of this little girl unknown, but her purpose was also completely unclear. Who knew what she would do with the relics after getting them?
"Um……"
The girl hesitated. Although he couldn't see her face clearly, Inspector Goering could sense that she had an embarrassment on her face.
"Even if you don't agree, I will still help you. But do you really want me to work for you for nothing?"
When she said this, her tone was filled with the innocence and coquettishness that is unique to a child, making everyone who heard it feel accommodating and protective.
Inspector Goering was slightly startled, then he sighed helplessly:
"Okay, I agree to your request. I hope you can solve this trouble for us."
After a brief thought, he still felt that it was more urgent to deal with the abnormality in the room as soon as possible. After all, at least three people had died as a result. If it was delayed any further, no one could guarantee whether the abnormality inside would not spread and lead to more tragic consequences.
"Thank you very much~~"
The girl responded with a bright smile, then took a step and walked straight towards the open door.
The three of them stepped aside to make way for the girl. Inspector Goering reminded them with a little concern:
"be careful."
The girl nodded silently and walked into the wooden door that exuded an ominous and evil atmosphere.
"Squeak-"
"boom!"
After the girl walked in, the wooden door automatically closed with a sound of friction and stuckness, isolating everything from outside.
Inspector Goering and the two police officers looked at each other and waited for more than half a minute in complex and subtle emotions. Suddenly, they heard a heavy and short cracking sound from behind the door, like the sound of something dense being crushed.
The next second, three consecutive muffled sounds of heavy objects falling to the ground were heard, and then there was complete silence.
Light footsteps sounded, and then the wooden door was pulled inwards. The figure of the cloaked girl appeared in the half-meter gap of the door:
"Done, you can come in now."
The three police officers looked at each other silently, drew their guns and spiritual items, and followed the girl in very cautiously.
At first glance, they saw the three figures carrying the smell of decay. They... or rather, they, lay in a mess on the ground and turned into real corpses.
Then there was the crystal ball on the table. It no longer glowed, and the pale face floating in the air also disappeared, as if it had lost all its magical properties.
"Is it all over?"
Inspector Goering held a gun in one hand and a spiritual object in the other, looking around and asking.
"No," the girl shook her head, "not yet."
Chapter 183 "The Root of Evil"
"what?!"
Upon hearing this reply, Inspector Goering felt his scalp tingling instantly. He took an inconspicuous but very quick step back, putting a little distance between himself and the girl.
As a senior official, he did not let his guard down just because someone offered to help. On the contrary, his spirit was tense and he did not relax at all from the moment he entered the room.
The girl's answer just now made him involuntarily think of some horror stories he had read before.
One of the most classic scenes is when the protagonist thinks the crisis has been resolved, the savior suddenly says with a gloomy face:
"Finally, no one is competing with me for food..."
With such bad thoughts in mind, Inspector Goering had a hard time suppressing the urge to raise his gun and point it at the girl.
"You seem to have misunderstood something." Seeing the other party's cautious reaction, Qi Ji couldn't help but chuckle and waved his hand, "What I mean is that although the danger on the surface has been eliminated, the 'root of trouble' still exists."
The expression and movements of the apparently experienced police officer did not relax, but his tone was slightly more relaxed:
"The root of the evil? What is it?"
"promise."
Qi Ji pointed to the crystal ball on the table under the window:
"that's it."
"You mean to say that the root cause of all this is that...strange face?" Inspector Goering inadvertently changed the way he addressed the girl to be more respectful, "and that it has not been completely erased by you?"
Although judging from the girl's voice and figure, she is not very old, and most likely not even an adult yet, she is about fourteen or fifteen years old.
But the means she has demonstrated so far have obviously far surpassed those of her own people, and she is undoubtedly a "strong one" relatively speaking.
When facing a "strong person", no matter how big the difference in seniority or age is, one should treat him with respect.
This is a customary and well-known precaution in the extraordinary world.
Qi Ji nodded and walked to the small table. He stretched out a hand and pressed it on the top of the crystal ball, with his palm completely touching its surface. He stroked it gently like a fortune teller about to start a performance:
"Would you mind telling me the details? This may help me solve the problem completely."
Inspector Goering stared at the crystal ball being stroked, his heart tense as he feared that the girl's actions would be too aggressive and something unexpected would happen.
Hearing the other party's request, he frowned and thought for a moment, and finally said half calmly and half tentatively:
"We received a report from the owner of this hotel that there was a guest on the second floor... named 'White'. He did not come downstairs to hand in his room after the lease expired, so we asked the waiter to remind him and check the room, but he never came out after he went in..."
"Is this the room?" Qi Ji nodded slightly, thoughtfully.
"Yes," Inspector Goering confirmed, and then continued, "After a while, the store owner discovered something unusual and sent another clerk to check... and the result was the same."
"Who is the remaining person?" Qi Ji pointed at one of the three bodies on the ground, "The White from the beginning?"
It was obvious that two of the three bodies were the hotel waiters Goering had just mentioned, but the other one looked like an ordinary tourist, whose identity was not yet known.
"No," Inspector Goering shook his head. "This person should be White's companion. He came to the hotel about a few hours after White checked in and entered this room to look for him."
"So, the mutation happened very early." One of the police officers expressed his judgment.
"Yes," Inspector Goering did not deny his subordinates' speculation, "It is very likely that it happened not long after White moved in."
At this moment, he saw a brilliant light flash suddenly in the girl's hand that was touching the crystal ball.
It was a luster composed of countless deep and bright colors, like the magnificent and brilliant starry sky shrouded outside the sky in the deep night without clouds.
But unlike the previous colors of the crystal ball, it was very pure and profound, without any dirty or disgusting connotations at all.
The light just flashed by like lightning and then disappeared completely. After it went out, the crystal ball made a "crackling" sound.
Then, in a very short time before anyone could react, it suddenly cracked.
It turned into crystal clear fragments of various sizes, scattered on the table, on the ground, and hit the window glass.
The three police officers immediately stepped back, and raised their pistols and spiritual objects, pointing them at the pile of debris and the girl herself:
"What's wrong?!"
"Well... don't be nervous." Qi Ji spread his hands helplessly, then looked at the table full of transparent fragments:
“You see, that’s the essence of the problem.”
Inspector Goering moved his eyes cautiously and saw that the pile of debris suddenly and rapidly emitted a large number of light spots of different colors. They floated into the air like balloons, and then, as if attracted by some force, gathered towards the center of the table.
Soon, these bright spots emitting brilliant light condensed into a strange object:
At first glance, it looks like a huge diamond, half the size of a fist, with colorful luster flowing on the surface and inside, making it look very dreamy.
But if you look closely, you will find that these colors are extremely chaotic and dirty, full of a disgusting feeling of pollution, which makes people irritated and crazy.
Inspector Goering stared at the strange "diamond" for only a few seconds before he felt dizzy and nauseous. He quickly shifted his attention and looked at the girl:
"This is……?"
"This is 'White'." The girl paused for a moment, as if she had thought of something, and then corrected herself:
