In the early morning, Lin Yilin arrived at the office and pushed open the door.
"Good morning, Mr. Illusion," Lin Yilin greeted a black cat curled up on her desk.
The black cat yawned, and before he could speak, Lin Yilin had already reached out to stroke his head, moving from the back of his neck down his back to his rump.
The black cat shivered as he was stroked.
"Hiss, a sneak attack without martial ethics! I told you not to touch me." Zheng Fan swatted Lin Yilin's hand away with his small paw, leaped off the desk, and transformed back to his original form.
"This time, Mr. Illusion is even better than before. The fluffy texture is excellent, so I couldn't resist," Lin Yilin chuckled softly, then sat back down at her desk.
Zheng Fan said, "Well, thank you for the compliment, but I didn't transform to be petted by you."
Lin Yilin's gaze swept over the office's reception area and asked, "She's been here?"
Zheng Fan was not surprised: "She came suddenly last night; I didn't expect it either."
"Hmm, it seems she understands. To avoid too much trouble, it's best to keep a distance from each other," Lin Yilin nodded, speaking softly.
"So I still can't understand the reason for this," Zheng Fan said.
"There's no need to understand everything so clearly, Mr. Illusion."
"Ignorance can also be excellent protection. I didn't expect you to be a proponent of agnosticism."
"Not at all. What drives me forward is the spirit of exploration and discovery, but if you ask me what is most likely to bring disaster to this world, it is indeed various kinds of knowledge," Lin Yilin blinked.
"Then I think invisible monsters are scarier."
"But invisible monsters, without human help, are ultimately like trees without roots. The more you understand, the more likely you are to encounter illusions you shouldn't. The fact that a delicate young girl like me can see Mr. illusion is good proof of that."
Zheng Fan thought about it and agreed: "Okay, you have a point."
The morning's casual chat came to an end, and Zheng Fan asked about the main business: "Is there any progress on the shoes?"
"Yes. We're approaching it from two angles: one is the distribution channels for those Phantasms shoes, and the other is the other strange person wearing shoes that Teng Jun mentioned," Lin Yilin pulled up the data on her computer.
"But it's not as smooth as I thought. There are many and varied manufacturers related to counterfeit shoes, which suggests they're using this as a cover. The data alone doesn't show any problems. As for the strange person who targeted Teng Jun, although there are indeed eyewitness accounts, he hides his movements very well, and we can't track him down for a while. It might require on-site confirmation," Lin Yilin elaborated.
"Do you know the person's identity?" Zheng Fan asked.
"I don't. I suspect that person changed their appearance. I even searched the data for the areas around Xixikeke, but still found no match. It's really strange," Lin Yilin was uncharacteristically perplexed.
Compared to the 'big and powerful' remnants of Kan Neitong, who had been operating in Xixikeke for a long time, these seemingly loose fragments here are actually very easy to confuse and difficult to connect.
Zheng Fan stared at Lin Yilin's computer for a while, also seeing some of the shoe transaction routes she had compiled.
From Xixikeke's various counterfeit shoe factories to various underground black markets, there was no discernible pattern.
"A pair of shoes appeared in the black market on Cameron Street next to Xixikeke. Did you know about this?"
"Hmm?" Lin Yilin suddenly turned her face to look at Zheng Fan, then paused: "Jiang Si told you?"
"Yes." Zheng Fan replied, relaying what Jiang Si had told him to Lin Yilin.
"Killing demon Feierqi..." Lin Yilin quickly typed on the keyboard, pulling up the email database for a search, and finally found the relevant file.
"A Killing demon who appeared in Dadu this year. If they continue to commit crimes for more than three months without being dealt with, they're considered a mature Killing demon. He's appeared a few times in Xixikeke but hasn't left any crime records. He's quite clever, after all, large Grey Districts aren't that easy to operate in," Lin Yilin said, looking at the photo displayed in front of her.
Zheng Fan saw the photo, which must have been taken by a surveillance camera. Although it was blurry, that red spiky hair was impossible to ignore.
He gained a deeper appreciation for the Killing demon's desire for performance, as described by Jiang Si.
Walking around like that, any sane person would be wary. He really seemed afraid of not being noticed.
And yet, such a guy was a Killing demon who had survived three months in Dadu. Killing demons are indeed extraordinarily gifted!
After staring at the photo for a while, Lin Yilin moved on to the next step: "Shoes circulating to other districts, that's really strange. If it's just to spread bait, it would be completely sufficient within Xixikeke. Although there's a suspicion of being worse, Xixikeke's average level should still be stronger than the neighboring small and medium districts, right?"
Saying that, she stood up: "Looking at the computer won't give us direct results. Let's go for an on-site investigation, Mr. Illusion."
"Mm." Zheng Fan responded and followed.
"Oh, and Mr. Illusion, if you're going to play with Cheng Fei's body tonight, please be restrained. At least clean up after yourself. I've noticed some meat scraps in the corners haven't been cleaned thoroughly, and they'll start to smell after a while," Lin Yilin suddenly said, sounding like a parent telling a child to clean up their toys after playing.
In a sense, it was true.
"Although your phrasing is strange, but... okay," Zheng Fan honestly agreed.
"Woof!" Toast barked from the side. It was all Fan Laoda's fault, nothing to do with him.
Then Zheng Fan tore a piece from Toast's rump and chewed it.
As for whether it was dirty, Zheng Fan cared less and less.
At least he cared very much about how loud Toast's screams were.
...
For a whole morning, Zheng Fan and Lin Yilin walked through all the shoe factories in Xixikeke where Phantasms shoes had circulated.
However, there were no valuable discoveries.
There were also some people interested in Phantasms shoes investigating on-site. The factory workers were annoyed but could only endure and do their jobs when facing these gangs or offices.
"Phantasms shoes all flowed out from counterfeit shoe factories, then were taken by people, either worn directly or sold to the black market. There were also instances of changing hands along the way. This environment is too complex to track through rituals; the main issue is the lack of reliable connections and the vast scope," Lin Yilin said after coming out of yet another counterfeit shoe factory.
Next to her, a jet-black, grey-eyed sparrow circled her a few times and finally landed on her head.
"It's a bit trickier than expected," Zheng Fan said, turning the sparrow's small head.
"If it really doesn't work, we can only consider finding Feierqi. Waiting for the rabbit is also an excellent solution," Lin Yilin aimlessly looked around.
At that moment, she saw a truck loaded with goods driving out of the shoe factory they had just investigated.
..." She watched for a moment, then suddenly lowered her head, shaking off the sparrow that was standing on her head.
"Ah!" The sparrow hastily flapped its wings, but due to its lack of coordination, it ultimately fell to the ground with a thud: "Can you at least say something before you do that?"
"Sorry. I just suddenly remembered something I noticed last night before going to bed, but I forgot it after going to sleep on time. It's not the shoe factory's problem. When it comes down to it, although the shoes flowed out of the shoe factory, they weren't produced there. So the key isn't how they came out of the shoe factory, but how they got here... These thought traps are truly terrifying."
Zheng Fan transformed back from the sparrow, lay on the ground, and looked up at the departing truck: "Logistics?"
"Yes."
