"I saw that in the data, but didn't go into detail," Li Cheng颐 nodded.

"Perhaps you encountered a dead corner intersection. The older the dead corner, the more mysterious and unknown things tend to remain, and its structure may also merge and intersect with later dead corners. We've encountered this before," Xindela said. "And depth is a level that every dead corner has. One expert once said that if you can dig out the deepest core of the dead corner, you might be able to find the secret to its formation."

"Secrets are too far away. Since that little fatty was stealing things from Zhou Ji Pastry, perhaps they were from the same era? Why not follow this clue and look again? Maybe we'll find something," Li Cheng颐 suggested.

"I've already asked people to do that. But there are too many old materials involved, and we can't check them all in a short time. It takes time," Xindela shook his head and adjusted his AR glasses, apparently already contacting his employees at the company through AR.

"Oh, right, that little fatty seemed to be wearing a school uniform with a mark on it. The name is Dongliu Experimental Elementary School!" Li Cheng颐 suddenly added.

"There's a school name? That'll make it much easier to find!" Xindela's spirits lifted.

To outsiders, Li Cheng颐's condition might seem like a precursor to mental illness, but he believed that this situation was likely a memory flash.

But whether the memory flash was a complete or partial entry into the dead corner, Li Cheng颐 didn't have an accurate description yet.

Sitting in the car, he carefully recalled that when he was investigating Geliwusi, his memory flashes weren't as serious then, just intermittent.

Occasionally seeing a hand, or suddenly seeing a human figure, these were just fragments.

But this time, in Mist Street, he had completely entered the Mist Street dead corner.

Before long, Sima Gui also returned and got into the car.

His expression was serious, his face pale, and there was a faint trace of blood on one of his arms.

"The situation has changed!" As soon as he got into the car, he found the first-aid kit and quickly treated the wound on his right arm.

"I just entered a memory flash, and as soon as I went in, I found a large group of black-masked weirdos attacking everywhere in Mist Street. I was careless and got hit on the hand. Fortunately, I retreated with the force of inertia, otherwise..."

He picked up a bottle of iodine and poured it heavily on a palm-sized abrasion on his right arm.

嘶...

Sweat quickly seeped from his forehead, condensing into fine beads of sweat.

"Does iodine hurt too? Isn't that alcohol?" Zhong Ying couldn't help but ask from the side.

"Whether it hurts or not is for me to say! What, do you have a problem with that!?" Sima Gui glared at her fiercely.

Li Cheng颐, sitting to the side, was strangely silent.

He suspected that the current changes in Mist Street were caused by him.

He had worn the Flowery Scale Armor and fought the slot machine head-on, resulting in the change.

"So, does this mean we can't just go into memory flashes casually now?" To pretend that he didn't know anything, he asked.

"Probably not for the time being," Sima Gui shook his head. "I was wearing two layers of bulletproof suits, and they were still scratched. If an ordinary person went in unprepared, they'd probably be killed instantly."

"Don't worry, the dead corners will automatically return to their original state after a while. We just need to wait, perhaps this is part of the Mist Street dead corner's cycle of change," Xindela said in a deep voice.

"Okay..." Sima Gui nodded. "That's all we can do."

"What if I go in halfway through..." Zhong Ying immediately became worried.

"Then you're out of luck," Sima Gui sneered.

For a time, no one was in the mood to talk.

While waiting for the company to check the information, everyone went back to the villa to rest.

Because the chaos in Mist Street had greatly increased the danger, Xindela reminded both Sima Gui and Li Cheng颐 not to wander around that area, and to wait until things had completely calmed down.

The calming time for dead corners is usually around a week, a pattern that Xindela had summarized after tracking dead corners for so many years.

Time passed day by day.

The information about the little fatty hadn't been found, and Zhong Ying was getting more and more anxious.

Because the time for her to enter was getting closer and closer. If it was as dangerous as Sima Gui said, she felt that she would definitely die if she went in at this time.

As the time approached, Li Cheng颐 also gradually became nervous. Every day, besides going out to find materials and absorb evil thoughts, he kept searching for information about Dongliu Experimental Elementary School.

Taking action was always more reassuring than doing nothing.

His worries had nothing to do with Zhong Ying. He was mainly worried that when his time came, he would also face a new dead corner, and at that time, he might not have so much time to investigate the Mist Street matter.

Once pulled into a dead corner, one would continue to be pulled in, again and again, until complete death.

Soon, a week had passed. The news hadn't been found, but Zhong Ying was clearly restless.

She went up and down the villa every day, constantly asking Xindela and Song Ran, trying to get accurate news, but each time she received disappointment.

In the blink of an eye, the end of July arrived, and August was almost upon them.

Ding.

In the hall on the first floor of the villa, Xindela's phone suddenly made a soft sound.

He picked it up and looked at it, his expression instantly becoming serious.

"It's here! It's been found!!" There was a hint of surprise in his voice.

The others, sitting on the sofas and chairs, stood up one after another and looked at him in unison.

"My ten million!" Sima Gui laughed.

Li Cheng颐 also felt relieved. The clues had been found, and his Feiyi might also have a lead.

The main thing was, that little flower....

"Boss, is it the little fatty's clue?" he asked.

"Yes, that little fatty does exist. The information from Dongliu Elementary School is incomplete, and with the Silent Fortresses between cities, some places can't even connect to the internet. So it took a lot of time," Xindela nodded seriously.

He took out his old signature tool - the projection flashlight.

He pressed the switch against a white wall on the side of the hall.

唰.

Suddenly, a beam of light was projected, forming a screen on the wall.

At the top, reflected out, was the photo of the little fatty that had left an extremely deep impression on Li Cheng颐.

Cylindrical body, three lines, only two holes for nostrils, and almost no nose bridge. www.

Below, the person's specific information slowly emerged.

'Bai Feipeng: 3101-3178. The only son of Bai Tang, the owner of Bai Family Bookstore on Xuezhong Road. He later inherited the bookstore and lived there his entire life. He never left Zhaoshan. In 3177, he fell ill and was bedridden, losing his ability to move. He died in the autumn of the following year.'

"That's it?" Sima Gui said in surprise, "After searching for so long, that's all the information?"

"That's all there is," Xindela nodded. He turned to look at the others.

"But that's enough." he continued.

"How so?" Li Cheng颐 asked.

"Because, Bai Family Bookstore, is still open!" Xindela said in a deep voice.

*

*

*

Bai Family Bookstore, on Qianhong Road, Qingshui Town, more than ten kilometers away from Xuezhong Road.

A black luxury SUV slowly stopped on the side of the road, pausing between two still-slender saplings.

The car door opened.

Song Ran got out of the car first, looked left and right, then Sima Gui, Zhong Ying, Li Cheng颐, and finally Xindela.

The group looked around.

This was a transitional area between the old and new urban districts.

Old buildings teetered, and just a few steps away were new shopping malls with flashing colored billboards.

Standing in front of the old store, one could hear faint howls coming from the latest-technology ktv in the distance.

The new and the old formed a strange intersection here.

The group stood in front of Bai Family Bookstore, looking up at the bookstore.

To the left of the bookstore was a cafe, to the right was a stationery store, and upstairs was a dark, dilapidated house waiting for demolition, with the balconies and windows already removed.

Slogans and advertisements were clearly visible on the walls outside the shop.

It was only a little after four o'clock in the afternoon, but the store was already deserted.

Only a bald old man wearing a checkered shirt was sitting at the door playing a mobile game.

"Bai Family Bookstore has been open for over a hundred years, and the owner has never changed. It's always been a Bai family member, so if we want to find the original Wu's Grocery Store, we'll definitely find clues here," Xindela said in a deep voice.

"I'll go," Zhong Ying looked at the old man, finally feeling confident. She puffed out her chest and walked closer, leaning down and gently asking.

"Uncle, are you the owner of this bookstore?"

The old man remained motionless, not even looking up, his eyes expressionless, his hands still moving lightning-fast on his phone.

Zhong Ying's face stiffened, and she repeated the question.

Unfortunately, there was still no reaction. The old man didn't even lift his head, and even though Zhong Ying wandered around him, his basic posture didn't change at all.

"See that? That's the determination of a true gamer!" Sima Gui said with respect. "We gamers can ignore any temptation around us to achieve our goals! Forget about Zhong Ying not being beautiful, even if she was, it would be meaningless!"

"Are you a serious game addict?" Li Cheng颐 said speechlessly.

"Reality is too boring, I rely on games to find it," Sima Gui sighed.

Li Cheng颐 was speechless.

Seeing that Zhong Ying had no effect, Xindela walked over and slowly took out a few hundred-yuan bills from his wallet.

"Boss, I want to buy a book."

The old man paused and slowly raised his head.

"Look for it yourself inside, ten yuan for two books, a little over a hundred and I'll give you a free one."

The group exchanged glances and didn't enter the bookstore. Xindela continued to talk to the old man.

"Is your surname Bai, boss? I heard that this Bai Family Bookstore has been open here for over a hundred years? Is it really that long? Doesn't look like it?"

"Of course it has, my grandfather passed it down to me. He said to only run the bookstore. Back then, we earned much more than we do now," the old man put down his phone and sighed. "You're not here to buy books, are you?"

Old people were experienced, and besides, it was too obvious that these people didn't even enter the bookstore.

"Well, we're here to ask the boss about someone, Bai Feipeng, do you know him?" Xindela asked.

"That's my grandfather," the old man smiled, the wrinkles on his cheeks squeezing out like orange peel. "He's been dead for many years."

"That's a coincidence," Zhong Ying breathed a sigh of relief from the side. "Uncle, since you've been running this bookstore in this place for so long, do you know where Wu's Grocery Store used to be? You used to be on Xuezhong Road, right?"