Full-Time Magister: What kind of demonic tree is this? It's clearly a sacred tree!

"Lingling, our Qingtian Hunting Grounds has always had a hard time recruiting. We finally have two fearless individuals. You could try taking them on first," an old man said as he came down from the second floor.

"Okay, I haven't taken on any commissions in a long time, and I happen to have some..." Lingling said.

"Lingling? Why does that sound familiar? Didn't it seem like it was mentioned in the commentary? I should have looked more carefully, I forgot..."

Lingling tapped a few times on the communicator, then slung her backpack over her shoulder and walked in front of the two of them, saying, "Come on! You two rookies, if you can handle this task, then you're welcome to join the Azure Sky Hunting Grounds."

"No way, you're calling us two newbies a primary school student? You didn't even ask for our opinions the whole time? Forget it, let's go see what the commission is. Even if there's danger, as long as their combat strength isn't at the commander level, I can still lead them out. I'll ask about the pay later."

Zhang Chen asked Lingling side by side, "Um... Lingling, what kind of commission did you take on?"

"The area near the abandoned city in the north of the city is one of the city's garbage disposal stations. Recently, workers there have reported that they often hear a woman's resentful screams in the evening. The city's security guards have searched the disposal station many times, but to no avail. The workers who heard the screams for a long time gradually became listless and eventually fell asleep and never woke up."

"Find the source of the screams and solve it. The bounty is pretty good, three million in total. If we succeed, we'll split it among the three of us."

Lingling replied while looking at the information about the garbage disposal site on her communicator.

"That bounty is pretty good! Let's go quickly!" Mo Fan said impatiently.

"Let's go to the homes of those workers who are bedridden and can't get any information," Lingling said, rolling her eyes at Mo Fan.

Zhang Chen also fell into deep thought.

"Never to wake up again!? So it's not dead? It sounds like its soul was sucked away by something, maybe poison. If it's a demon, what kind of demon? I've never seen one like this before..."

Chengbei

"Ding-dong, ding-dong"

"Coming!" A deep female voice rang out, tinged with a hint of hoarseness and weariness.

The door opened with a bang.

Inside the door stood a middle-aged woman with a sallow complexion, wearing wrinkled gray loungewear. Her somewhat dim eyes looked at Zhang Chen and the others. Perhaps still dazed from the recent upheavals in her family, she hesitated for a full half-minute before finally asking, "Who are you?"

Lingling took out the business card of Qingtian Hunting Agency and said in a clear and obedient voice, "Auntie, we are from Qingtian Hunting Agency. We have accepted the bounty from the North City Garbage Disposal Station and want to find out about the situation of the unconscious worker."

"Master! Finally...that's wonderful..." the middle-aged woman stammered.

She then hurriedly led everyone to the innermost bedroom, where they found a man with sunken eyes and a flat, withered face, resembling a dried-up corpse.

Lingling scanned the man's entire body with the instrument, her brows furrowing slightly. She then took out various instruments from her bag to detect and analyze the body. The more she examined, the more her brows furrowed, eventually forming a knot.

At this moment, Zhang Chen said, "Should I use a healing spell on him?"

Although he couldn't understand what her instruments were for, the way she frowned showed that she wasn't getting anything out of them.

Lingling nodded thoughtfully.

A milky-white magic circle appeared in his hand, from which two pale green sprites flew out, sprinkling starlight on the man. His face visibly regained its fullness and rosy glow.

The middle-aged woman watched the man's changes, and her eyes slowly brightened, but the man showed no signs of waking up, and the light in her eyes quickly dimmed again.

Lingling took out the instrument again to check, and the result was obviously no different from the first time.

She addressed the middle-aged woman, "Auntie, did Uncle do anything strange before he lost consciousness?...

……

In the car

Zhang Chen asked, "Lingling, did you find anything?"

The little girl shook her head and said, "Their vital signs are fine; they just seem to be asleep."

"Moreover, after questioning so many family members of those who were in a coma, some said that their family members experienced drastic emotional changes before falling into a coma, sometimes happy and sometimes afraid. Others said that they were talking to themselves with a terrified expression before falling into a coma, as if they were being haunted by ghosts."

"We'll know once we go check out the noise from the treatment plant later," Mo Fan said with a smile.

……

Waste treatment station

The workers were all gone because of the screams and the unconsciousness of some of them. The garbage was piled up into small mountains and emitted a stench mixed with the smell of rust, causing the three of them to cover their mouths and noses.

Mo Fan used his Shadow magic to bring Zhang Chen and Lingling to the top of the highest building in the processing station, waiting for the screams to begin.

"Waaaaah..."

The sound of a woman sobbing suddenly rang in Zhang Chen's ears, startling him so much that he stood up abruptly, his nose twitching.

Mo Fan and Lingling looked at Zhang Chen with suspicion.

His eyes widened slightly: "Didn't you hear that? A woman sobbing!"

"No, don't scare us..." Mo Fan frowned.

"You're kidding me! Can't you really hear me?"

The two shook their heads.

Suddenly, Zhang Chen felt something sticky on the back of his neck, and it seemed to be wriggling.

Zhang Chen immediately reached out to grab it but couldn't touch anything, and at the same time, the sticky feeling on the back of his neck disappeared.

Just then, a continuous, piercing scream rang out from all directions, instantly giving Zhang Chen goosebumps.

They had obviously heard the sound as well, and stood up to listen carefully to try and pinpoint its location. But the security guards had come here several times without finding it, so how could they possibly know where it was?

Strangely, as soon as the scream rang out, the sobbing in Zhang Chen's ears disappeared.

The screams lasted for about five minutes before dissipating.

Lingling asked, "Zhang Chen, can you still hear that sobbing sound?"

"I can't hear you!"

"Is there anything wrong with your body?"

"No! Oh right, it felt like something just crawled inside me!"

"Ah! Let me check you out."

"You seem perfectly normal!" Lingling looked at Zhang Chen with a puzzled expression, now strongly suspecting he was lying to her. Why hadn't anyone else heard her sobbing?

Why could you hear sobbing?

"How should I know!"

"Never mind, I've already recorded the frequency of this sound. I'll record it when I get back..."

"Shall we go back first? Mo Fan, don't you two live nearby? Is there anything wrong with him...?"

……

"Should I come to your house and keep an eye on you?" Mo Fan asked, feigning concern.

"No! It must be because of my sacred tree. I also smelled a very complex scent, a stench similar to that of the Black Vatican, and a fragrance similar to Xinxia's..."

"Are you trying to stare at me? You're clearly..."

"Brigade Commander, how could you say that to me? My heart is breaking... You've truly wasted my kindness!" Mo Fan said, clutching his heart with a smile.

"Okay... how about I come stay at your place?" Zhang Chen said.

"Come on in!" Mo Fan opened his door and extended a warm invitation.

Late night

Zhang Chen, who was meditating, suddenly seemed to have his soul ripped out and collapsed onto the bed.