Chapter 28: A Masterful Performance Must Be Grand in Scale

Outpost Six of the Patrol Department.

Outpost Chief Liu was sleeping soundly when urgent knocking reached his ears through his haze of drowsiness.

Bang! Bang!

The burly man, a retired veteran of the Black Armor Army, woke instantly.

He sat upright in bed and shouted,

“What is it?”

An anxious male voice came from outside.

“Chief, a flock of birds has appeared above the outpost. Please come out and take a look!”

Chief Liu was baffled.

What the hell?

He had thought headquarters had sent another urgent order, or perhaps some sudden supernatural incident had occurred within his jurisdiction.

Instead, it was a flock of birds.

His tone carried a trace of irritation from being awakened.

“Zhang Ting, have you never seen birds before? Just wait for them to fly away!”

The voice outside urged again.

“Chief, these birds are really different. You’ll understand once you see them.”

Chief Liu replied unhappily,

“Fine, I’m coming.”

He casually picked up his pocket watch and glanced at it.

The hour hand pointed to three in the morning.

“Disturbing a man’s sleep.”

Still, out of professional responsibility, he quickly put on his uniform and opened the door.

A straight-backed patrol officer—Zhang Ting—immediately reported,

“Chief, the flock is above the training grounds.”

Chief Liu’s heart stirred.

A few evenings ago, while strolling through the training grounds, he had picked up a lantern that drifted in on the wind and uncovered a major conspiracy involving Evil God cultists.

Later, the Black Armor Army launched a thunderous raid on the textile factory, killing several cultists.

He himself had even received a Class-C commendation.

And now it was the training grounds again.

Could this be another deed by that mysterious person?

Very likely!

Excitement immediately entered Chief Liu’s voice.

“Let’s go take a look.”

The two hurried from the dormitory building.

Before they even reached the training grounds, Chief Liu heard the dense beating of wings.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

He looked up.

Then froze in shock.

Although the night was dark as ink, his extraordinary eyesight as a powerful warrior still allowed him to make out the scene.

A massive flock of birds—certainly more than a hundred of them—had formed a perfect ring in the sky, head and tail connected, endlessly circling.

The burly man had lived for decades and had never witnessed such a strange sight.

He stood there dumbfounded.

Zhang Ting secretly glanced at his superior’s expression and inwardly mocked him.

Hah! You said I’d never seen birds before, but you’re reacting exactly the same way.

Chief Liu quickly recovered and broke into a jog.

He even urged his subordinate along.

“Hurry up!”

A powerful intuition told him this was very likely the handiwork of the mysterious person.

At the same time, he felt immense admiration.

As expected of the mysterious one.

Always capable of doing things beyond ordinary imagination.

At this moment, several patrol officers had already gathered on the training grounds.

All of them were staring up at the rare spectacle with astonished expressions.

As soon as Chief Liu entered, his subordinates surrounded him.

“Chief!”

“Chief, how should we deal with these birds?”

Chief Liu answered in a deep voice,

“Nobody acts rashly. Do not disturb the flock. Just wait here.”

If the birds were truly under the mysterious person’s control, then they undoubtedly carried a message.

Everyone acknowledged the order.

After hesitating briefly, Chief Liu strode to the exact center of the training grounds.

This position happened to lie directly beneath the center of the ring.

He guessed the flock was probably here for him.

After all, he counted as an acquaintance of the mysterious person, and dealing with familiar faces would save a great deal of trouble.

As expected.

One bird suddenly broke away from the ring.

Flapping its wings, it traced an arc through the air and dropped a small object toward him.

Chief Liu quickly stepped left a few paces and caught it perfectly.

It was a small paper roll.

Unfolding it revealed a crude drawing:

An extremely twisted serpent-like vine coiled around a sinister two-story house.

Around it stood numerous crooked human figures, seemingly writhing in agony.

Chief Liu felt as though his suspicions had been confirmed.

“It really is the mysterious person.”

He carefully examined the drawing and muttered in confusion,

“Is the mysterious person telling us that this house has a major problem? But why not clearly indicate the location?”

Suddenly, he noticed faint writing showing through the back of the paper.

He quickly flipped it over and found several extremely strange lines:

“The hungry vines whisper in the darkness. Endless lands are swallowed by shadow. Unspeakable horrors gaze upon the mortal world.

“An ancient existence wandering beyond the mists of time seeks to return from the depths of dark chaos.

“Follow the Night Owl, and it shall guide your path.”

Though there were only a few lines, words such as “unspeakable,” “ancient existence,” and “chaos” made Chief Liu’s heart skip a beat.

He vaguely felt these sentences contained information of tremendous importance.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The flock suddenly scattered into the night sky.

Only three birds remained behind.

They circled once before landing on the ground together, cawing several times.

Chief Liu immediately understood.

These were the guides.

Carefully storing the drawing away, he instructed his subordinates,

“Guard these birds. Bring them some food and absolutely do not harm them. I need to go to headquarters immediately.”

The patrol officers responded in unison.

“Understood!”

Ever since the textile factory incident, the Mystic Pavilion had dispatched two Mystics to temporarily station themselves at headquarters.

Chief Liu intended to personally report the matter to them.

And incidentally, make a favorable impression on the big shots.

Shanyi District.

“…and it shall guide your path.”

Cheng Han recited the three lines he had written in a near-chanting voice.

Then he turned toward the black cat and grinned proudly.

“Sheriff, isn’t my improvised poetry exceptionally literary?”

The so-called improvised poetry was, in truth, complete nonsense he had made up on the spot.

“Meow.”

The black cat wagged its tail and offered enthusiastic approval.

It did not really understand what “exceptionally literary” meant.

But its owner could make delicious roasted rabbits.

That alone proved he must be right.

Roasted meat was justice.

Cheng Han continued enthusiastically,

“If you want to put on a truly masterful supernatural performance… well, let’s call it a performance rather than deception.

“The opening must be grand and spectacular. It has to leave a deep impression.

“When those people at the outpost saw a huge flock of birds forming circles in the sky, they’d naturally be shocked.

“That means they’ll take the contents of the drawing much more seriously.

“I deliberately included grand-sounding phrases like ‘mists of time’ and ‘dark chaos’ in the poem. They’ll assume there’s some enormous secret hidden within.

“Then they’ll start filling in the blanks themselves, interpreting it as deeply as possible, and eventually convince themselves that these lines are incredibly profound.”

Cheng Han chuckled.

“So you see, bluffing people is actually a highly technical skill.”

Finally, he sighed regretfully.

“It’s a shame I can’t create background music.

“If I could, I’d definitely accompany the opening with something earth-shaking.

“Just like in movies—a truly epic soundtrack can elevate a scene to an entirely different level and get the audience’s blood pumping.”

“Meow.”

The black cat was an excellent listener.

Although it completely failed to understand anything its owner said after that point, it still listened attentively.

(End of Chapter)