Scarlet Descent-Chapter 25 - The Black Goat Family

Everyone in the team clearly expressed great praise for Wei Wei and Ye Feifei—the two interns who solved the death demon spreading case and rescued the missing infant in less than three hours. They kept complimenting the duo for their boldness and decisiveness. Of course, there was also no lack of admonitions after the praise: "You two did very well, but don't do it like this again next time..."

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After eating a big meal cooked by Zhu Zai, everyone had their own things to attend to. Although the two were the heroes who solved the case, their remaining task was simple. They only needed to return the infant to its grieving parents and rebury the female corpse to conclude the matter. The infant was easy—Ye Feifei had protected it well, and when handed over to the police, the little one was still sleeping sweetly. But as for the female corpse... everyone was truly uncertain about it. The girl's parents had offered a high reward to find their daughter, and now she had been found. The twisted body, tattered bullet holes, and the body neatly split in the middle all made one's heart tremble.

Captain Ouyang sat in front of the corpse, sighing for a while, then rolled up his sleeves: "Bring me my white coat."

"Go buy an identical wedding dress—the size can't be off at all." "..."

At that time, Wei Wei was surprised to see a captain completely different from before. He put on the white coat brought by Uncle Gun—a very old one that hadn't been worn for a long time. Then he had Uncle Gun steal Sister Lucky's makeup box, connected a water pipe in the room, and specially asked Uncle Gun to get suturing needles and thread from the hospital. Finally, he gently closed the door.

"The two things the captain worries about most are, first, suddenly hearing demon whispers before death, and second, the fear of being dug up after death. He's always been very sensitive about these things..."

"..."

Uncle Gun explained in a low voice, noticing the confusion on Wei Wei's and Ye Feifei's faces. They didn't know what to say; they only knew that several hours later, when the bride's parents rushed to the Guard Office and saw their daughter's body, they instantly broke down in tears—holding the forensic doctor's hand and thanking him profusely, even wanting to kneel and kowtow.

Captain Ouyang, with a cigar in his mouth, looked somewhat proud as he said to Uncle Gun: "Collect the reward from these two later."

"Also, when she's reburied, help me buy a bouquet of flowers to send over." "..."

With the victims returned, it came to the final step of every mysterious event. The person in charge was Brother Xiao Lin. The emergence of demonic powers had already divided this world into two distinct circles: one of people who believed in "scientific explanations" and another of people who devised such explanations. The Mental Barrier Project had long been implemented—not only building super cities to counter large-scale demon attacks but also effectively calming urban panic about unknown or mysterious events. Even in small places like Scrap Iron City, when something happened, they didn't try to cover it up but actively reported it. However, the reports had to be scientific!

Brother Xiao Lin's responsibility was to produce an "explanation" that could be understood by the public and was scientific. Simply put, no matter what happened, the security office had to analyze the event from a scientific perspective, then have the administrative department polish it, and finally release it to various media to resolve public doubts. The worker making animal specimens, the recovered infant, the twisted female corpse, and the eerie flock of crows seen by many all needed "explanation." When returning to the office, Wei Wei saw the outline of ideas on Brother Xiao Lin's writing board:

• Mine worker making animal specimens — Long-term suppressed repetitive life leading to psychological perversion, calling for public care for physical and mental health   • Recovered infant — Outstanding police ability, worthy of commendation   • Twisted female corpse — Illegal elements stealing corpses for ghost marriages, calling for cremation   • Eerie rotting flock of crows seen by surrounding farm workers — Rumors stop with the wise

...Anyway, it seemed quite reasonable.

"Come, come, everyone stay for a while today."

Before Brother Xiao Lin's draft was ready, Captain Ouyang had already showered, changed clothes, and even applied hair gel. He walked out of the office with a document and said to Brother Zhu Zai, who was watching over the stove: "How's dinner preparation going?" "It's ready." "Then prepare for dinner, and let's have a small meeting to discuss today's events." "..."

Hearing Captain Ouyang say this, the others began to tidy up their things. Wei Wei immediately went over to help Brother Zhu Zai serve soup, set out bowls and chopsticks, and then brought baskets of pre-fried meat patties to the table. The meat patties were fried very well—golden and crispy, with full and delicate meat filling inside. They went perfectly with tender green onions and spicy mustard threads. Along with the savory pork trotter soup, it was truly a treat.

"First point, commend the two interns, Little Wei and Feifei, for their performance today... um, not bad."

Captain Ouyang nodded with authority, holding a meat patty in one hand. Ye Feifei immediately showed a pleased expression, but before she could say anything, Captain Ouyang continued: "But although this matter was resolved quite well, we can't be careless. Since we came to Scrap Iron City, we've rarely seen such crazy things—secretly stockpiling necromantic materials, grave robbing, inducing miners to steal infants, even attempting to summon unknown evil spirits..." "This kind of thing is very rare and of a very vicious nature..." "..."

Hearing Captain Ouyang's tone suddenly become heavy, Ye Feifei immediately felt a little scared and didn't dare speak, lowering her head to drink soup.

Sister Lucky smiled and said, "Indeed, there are many people in Scrap Iron City who have come into contact with mysterious powers. We turn a blind eye to many things, but everyone understands this boundary in their hearts and won't cross it. But the people we encountered this time, called the Black Goat Family?" "We have no records of them, and they seem..." "...to have no sense of awe." "..." "It should be fearlessness born of ignorance."

At this time, Brother Xiao Lin, who usually sat in the corner and never spoke unless necessary—content to be a quiet, handsome man—said softly: "We've always been keeping an eye on those superhumans hiding their identities in Scrap Iron City, and have even deliberately maintained very good relationships with them. But we've overlooked that the number of people worshipping demons is constantly increasing. Those newcomers are younger, bolder..."

"...and more unscrupulous, not even considering the consequences!" "..."

Hearing this, everyone unconsciously shifted their gaze to look at Wei Wei and Ye Feifei beside them. Brother Xiao Lin froze for a moment, suddenly blushing, and hurriedly explained to Wei Wei: "Don't misunderstand, I wasn't talking about you."

Wei Wei quickly waved his hand: "It's fine, it's fine, please continue." Brother Xiao Lin nodded, and after the shy blush faded from his face, he continued: "So, I believe the clues Little Wei got from Old Yuan—although we can find the essential source of this incident, I don't believe a mine worker could prepare to this extent. Therefore, it's very likely that there really is such a mysterious organization behind it, planning this event." "However, Uncle Gun also said that they seem to have cleaned up the clues very thoroughly." "..." "Even cleaner than Sister Lucky's stockings." Uncle Gun snorted and said, "And I've asked around in my circles—some have heard of them, but there are very few clues. These people are extremely careful, never meeting directly with people in the circle, and have never had any interactions. It's difficult to find them. Also, to put it bluntly, even if we find them now, we don't have any direct effective evidence to accuse them, right..." Sister Lucky glared at him before saying, "So we can only give them a warning like before?" Captain Ouyang frowned and said, "A warning must be given, but we should also find a way to track down this group. This incident is considered small, with little impact, but if there really is such a group of reckless youths in the city, who knows what trouble they might cause next?" "Start by investigating the farm owner's connections; ask the Guard Office if they have any clues." "..."

The discussion ended here, and everyone could only disperse. Those who needed to file went to file; those who needed to write "popular science" continued to write it; those who needed to go to the police station went there. Everyone had experienced similar incidents many times and had become proficient. There was no joy in solving a mysterious event, nor anxiety about the existence of behind-the-scenes manipulators. Just like real environmental protection agencies, they can only deal with pollution when it occurs, and it's difficult to intervene in other matters.

Ye Feifei was clearly having some difficulty accepting this, always feeling that not enough had been done. However, Wei Wei, appearing very knowledgeable, privately explained to her: "Many investigators in cities are like this. Demon-related incidents are too complex and always involve too many supernatural powers. It's basically impossible to investigate as thoroughly as real police. Besides, in such a big city, with just these few people, how much can they investigate?"

"Everyone knows in their hearts that all they can do is try to maintain the overall stability of the city..." "So we're not going to deal with the masterminds behind this?" "We want to, but can't. First, you can't find them; second, there's no evidence..." "Third, even if you find them, there's no reward, and you have to be careful they don't hire lawyers to sue you..." "This..." "..." "Oh, Feifei, you should learn more from Little Wei—he explained it very clearly." Uncle Gun smiled and advised from the side, "If you really want to help, come help me sort out some documents and quickly find them." Suddenly he added, "Oh right, you can't touch the documents either, so you should just go patrol the streets!" Ye Feifei stomped her foot, feeling very angry, but Wei Wei was already smiling and picking up the car keys, walking toward the door: "Captain, Uncle Gun, Brother Xiao Lin, Brother Zhu Zai, Sister Lucky, I'm heading home first..."