INHA Chapter 70

“Sealed successfully?” Tian Ze still found it hard to believe.

You have to understand that this time was entirely different from the last. They hadn’t completely sealed the cursed objects, specifically, the three hundred mobile phones, two of which contained life.

But with the addition of these talisman stones, they were able to temporarily seal the evil ghost. The chief hurriedly sealed the human-faced spider, preparing to take it back to the research department of the Anomaly Handling Bureau. Wu Fang, who had been eagerly waiting for this moment, immediately adjusted his glasses and said, “Take me back.”

The others quickly complied.

Xu Dongyou still had some follow-up matters to handle, such as locating the family of three who triggered this incident.

The special forces, who had already surrounded the neighborhood, promptly brought the three individuals over. It turned out that after they had run out, they were caught by the special forces. During the entire time, they kept shouting and screaming, saying that it was angry and would eat everyone.

The mental state of these three seemed to have collapsed. No matter how much Xu Dongyou questioned them, he couldn’t get any useful information, so he had no choice but to hand them over to the bureau as well.

Xu Dongyou called for the camera equipment and once again displayed a very standard smile to the camera. “This is the end of today’s livestream. I want to remind everyone once again that if you encounter something strange, remember to call the police. Although today’s incident was triggered by cheap mobile phones, I hope everyone will be more vigilant about similar events. Try to buy branded phones and avoid purchasing those without any identifiable brand. This is the end of today’s livestream. If there are any updates, we will post them on the website.”

And just like that, the live stream ended, leaving the audience in confusion.

【That’s it? That’s it? The beginning was good, the middle was explosive, and the ending just wrapped up like that? They only fought a few times, and the spider monster that looked super powerful was sealed? The plot doesn’t make any sense.】

【Fire your scriptwriter already. Seriously, this story was indeed more exciting than the last one, but it left me utterly confused.】

【But honestly, the special effects were amazing! I recorded the whole thing and watched it three times, and it still looks incredible!】

Soon, the Anomaly Handling Bureau quickly edited the content of the live stream and uploaded it online. As always, it featured the same high-end narration and commentary, along with a professional-looking explosive opening and background music.

Some people who weren’t fans of watching live broadcasts specifically followed the Livestream channel just to catch the documentary later, which they enjoyed watching while eating—it somehow made the food taste better.

Meanwhile, the residents of Feng Nian City could finally access the internet again. The two people who had seen the police take Zhang Minfang away in their neighborhood hurriedly clicked into the live stream, only to find that it had ended just seconds earlier.

What a coincidence.

The live stream ended just as they regained internet access. A coincidence once or twice might be excusable, but these consecutive coincidences clearly indicated something.

This live stream was probably real!

Realizing this, the two of them got excited and immediately logged into Weibo, where they posted about their suspicions, explaining everything in detail. However, without any pictures to back up their claims, they were ridiculed and accused of trying to ride the wave of popularity.

But soon after, more and more people began posting on Weibo, saying that their city had indeed suddenly lost signal earlier, and there were a lot of police officers around, conducting investigations in several neighborhoods.

Some neighbors even mentioned seeing the police enter the apartment across the street, only to take away a mobile phone. According to a child, it was because they had been playing a game called “Monster Town”, which led to the police confiscating the phone.

Xu Dongyou only learned the game was called “Monster Town” when he arrived at the Anomaly Handling Bureau, where someone briefly explained the situation with the phones.

So when Xu Dongyou saw a person named Zhao Minfang engrossed in the game, leading two players in evading monsters, he was stunned for a moment. He immediately ran out into the hallway to call his younger brother.

Earlier, his brother, Xu Yangchen, had been playing a mobile game with the same art style as what he had just seen. And when he recalled that “Monster Town” was a game where you could earn rewards by finding bugs, it matched exactly what Xu Yangchen had mentioned before.

As soon as he made the call, Xu Dongyou realized he might have been too hasty. If Xu Yangchen’s phone had really been confiscated, the SIM card was probably taken too.

This was because the Bureau worried that the SIM card might also possess some of the evil properties and need to be sealed away. Replacing a SIM card wasn’t too difficult, so it wasn’t much of a hassle.

After everything was resolved, the Bureau would reimburse these people for their losses, enough to buy a new SIM card and even a better phone.

So, he might not be able to reach his brother by phone. It would be better to directly inquire with the Bureau—

But just as this thought crossed his mind, the call connected. It was still his brother’s voice, with a hint of surprise, “Bro, why are you calling me?”

Usually, Xu Dongyou rarely called his brother. Since his brother was in his rebellious phase, any concern from him or other family members often annoyed Xu Yangchen. So unless it was something important, Xu Dongyou would avoid bothering him.

Suppressing his confusion, Xu Dongyou quickly got to the point, “Is the mobile game you’ve been playing called ‘Monster Town’?”

Xu Yangchen replied, “Yeah, why?”

Xu Dongyou wasn’t even sure how he felt at that moment. His mind went blank, and it took him a while to find his voice again, “Has anyone unfamiliar come looking for you today?”

Xu Yangchen found this even stranger but still answered that no one had.

Xu Dongyou calmed down a little and, for the first time, spoke to his brother with such seriousness, “Stop playing that game right now. Get out of there. I’m coming to find you!”

He hung up the phone and quickly explained the situation to Tian Ze. The chief, who happened to overhear part of the conversation, also grew serious.

“Tian Ze, you go with Li Dong. We’ll also look into this on our end,” the chief decisively ordered.

After that, everyone dispersed.

Xu Dongyou sat in the van that Tian Ze was driving, his expression uneasy. Even though he was quietly sitting there, Tian Ze could sense that Xu Dongyou had lost his composure.

As he drove, Tian Ze said, “Stay calm. The more panicked you are, the more likely things will go wrong.”

Xu Dongyou understood this, forcing himself to take deep breaths, but he couldn’t stop the guilt gnawing at him. He mumbled softly, “I noticed this game months ago, but I didn’t realize anything was wrong back then.”

Tian Ze could understand Xu Dongyou’s feelings. He knew that telling someone not to blame themselves usually wasn’t helpful, so instead, he asked, “Save the self-blame for later. First, think about whether your brother has been acting strange lately.”

That suggestion actually worked.

Xu Dongyou put aside his guilt and carefully recalled his recent interactions with his brother. After a moment, he hesitantly said, “He does seem really absorbed in the game, but later I found out he was doing it just to save up money to buy a laptop.”

Of course, part of the reason might have been that he just wanted to play the game.

But then, Xu Dongyou remembered something else. His brother had mentioned that the game was in its beta testing phase, developed by a relative of a classmate’s family.

This meant that besides his brother, there were probably quite a few other students also playing the game.

Tian Ze nodded, “The evil ghost has been temporarily sealed. If it’s just the game, there shouldn’t be any major problems.”

However, they would need to coordinate with the police and have the students who downloaded the game hand over their phones.

On the other side, after questioning the developer of the mobile game, the chief learned that besides being installed on those three hundred phones, the game had also been shared with the developer’s relatives for promotion.

After all, students love playing games, and they could even earn some pocket money, which made them take the game seriously.

However, the developer wasn’t sure how many people his relatives’ kids had sent the game to, though this could be traced through the backend.

The chief immediately turned to the busy staff behind him, his face dark, and ordered, “Find out who downloaded the game and send the list to everyone. Make sure all the phones with the game are handed in.”

Everyone sprang into action. Most importantly, the tech expert in the Bureau’s computer department accessed the game’s backend data, identifying all the phones that had downloaded the game so far, allowing the staff to confirm and track down every one of them.

To ensure that nothing was missed, every single phone that had ever downloaded this game had to be recovered without exception, or else there was a risk of creating a new evil ghost.

The thought of that scenario alone made everyone’s skin crawl.

Meanwhile, Xu Dongyou and Tian Ze arrived at the school, where Xu Yangchen was already waiting at the gate.

Xu Dongyou quickly ran over and used his heightened senses to carefully examine Xu Yangchen, only relaxing once he confirmed there were no traces of gray mist on his brother.

Xu Yangchen noticed Tian Ze standing nearby and immediately tensed up. His brother looked innocent and harmless, but this man had the appearance of a gang leader, with a fierce expression.

Unaware of his brother’s thoughts, Xu Dongyou pulled Tian Ze over and introduced him, “This is my friend.”

Tian Ze smiled warmly, but that only made Xu Yangchen even more nervous. He stiffened and pulled his brother aside before asking, “Bro, what do you need?”

“Where’s your phone? Let me see your game,” Xu Dongyou asked.

Xu Yangchen was taken aback, “You came all the way here just for that?”

Xu Dongyou looked at his brother very seriously, “Yes, give me your phone. After this, I’ll take you to buy a new one.”

Xu Yangchen quickly shook his head, refusing, “Bro, this phone works fine for me. Besides, I’m in the middle of the game. If I give it to you, I’ll have to start all over again with a new account.”

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Moonlit: Younger brother Xu really did play the game…