What? You're a notorious bandit? What a coincidence, me too!

Lin Chang'an accepted the task and stared at the golden task panel in front of him, pondering it.

The mission details are too few. Haicheng is so big, how are we supposed to find a murderer?

This is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Suddenly his eyes widened.

One of the mission requirements was to subdue the villains within two hours.

He hadn't noticed this before, and now he kept scratching his head. Wasn't he just handing himself over to the King of Hell?

What can you do in two hours? You can't even find the person, let alone subdue them!

Unless the person is right in front of you?!

Lin Chang'an's eyes darted around, and he suddenly noticed a red dot in the upper left corner that was flashing as if it were breathing, like a nighttime alarm light.

Lin Chang'an subconsciously shifted his gaze over there.

The next second, the scene before my eyes suddenly changed, and in its place was a 'picture' that glowed with a pale golden light.

In the center of the image is a fixed yellow dot surrounded by a misty haze. Not far away, a red dot flickers irregularly, seemingly moving slowly.

[The traveler activates [Buddha's Eye of Insight] to begin quest tracking, consuming 10 merit points, with a 10-minute usage time limit.]

"Holy shit!"

Lin Chang'an's eyes widened; he could tell it was a tracking map!

The constant yellow dot of light must represent him. He tried walking around in the courtyard, and the yellow dot of light began to breathe, confirming his guess.

Then the red dot is the mission objective.

The appearance of this tracking map solved his pain point, but the problem is that this tracking map consumes merit points...

But his merit points are 0!

Just as I came up with this conclusion, a prompt immediately appeared, each word piercing my heart:

[The traveler has not yet accumulated any merit; 10 hours of their lifespan will be deducted proportionally.]

Lin Chang'an grinned and suddenly looked up at the countdown in the upper right corner.

My lifespan was indeed reduced by 10 hours.

"What the hell! I traded 10 hours of my life for 10 minutes of map data?!" Lin Chang'an almost jumped up and cursed.

Despite his cursing, he dared not delay for even a moment, his eyes fixed on the map.

The faint grid pattern on the map seemed to represent the streets and neighborhoods, but it was obscured by fog.

Lin Chang'an roughly calculated the distance; the straight-line distance between himself and the red dot was approximately 3 kilometers.

No wonder the mission only lasts for 2 hours.

However, a chill immediately ran up his spine, and Lin Chang'an broke out in a cold sweat on his back.

Then a bad thought popped into my head.

Fang Qingzhu's home was in the direction of that red dot, and she had been walking for more than an hour. Logically, she should have arrived home and let him know she was safe by now.

But now, he hasn't received any messages at all!

He quickly took out his phone from his pocket and dialed Fang Qingzhu's number.

The number you dialed is currently switched off...

A mechanical notification tone came from the receiver, and Lin Chang'an's palms instantly became sweaty, almost causing the phone to slip from his hand.

Fang Qingzhu never turns off her phone, especially now that their wedding is approaching, they still chat on the phone almost every night.

Moreover, mobile phones in this era were all keypad phones, with long standby times. A single charge could last for several days, and there was unlikely to be a situation where the phone would shut down due to a lack of power.

"No...it can't be that much of a coincidence! Damn it!"

Lin Chang'an cursed under his breath, his eyes flashing with murderous intent.

He hung the chain around his neck, immediately ran to the bungalow, and took out a machete from the inner room.

Damn it, if anyone dares to hurt my woman, no matter who he is, I'll skin him alive!

The tracking map's time limit was ticking away, with only a little over 7 minutes remaining.

Lin Chang'an tucked the axe into his pocket, hopped on the motorcycle in the yard, and sped out of the house.

He had to find the bandit Yang Xinghai before the map disappeared.

The night was thick, and the roads in the urban-rural fringe were full of potholes, with water splashing up from time to time.

The motorcycle roared and sped through the darkness, moving as fast as the wind.

His eyes were fixed on the tracking map in front of him, the red flash getting closer and closer.

However, a straight-line distance of 3 kilometers actually takes at least four or five kilometers to walk, and the road surface is bumpy in some places. Before he even reached the red dot, the tracking map went black.

Lin Chang'an raised an eyebrow, looking at the two streets in front of him. The direction of the red dot was roughly in this area.

He tried to reopen the tracking map; now was not the time to worry about his lifespan.

However, the system notified him that [Buddha's Eye Observation] was on cooldown, with a cooldown time of thirty minutes.

"Grass!"

Lin Chang'an cursed angrily.

This piece of junk failed at a crucial moment.

He rode his motorcycle back and forth in the area, his brow furrowed in worry.

Here are two parallel gravel roads, with potholes on the ground caused by the occasional passing trucks, and the rainwater is murky.

The houses on both sides of the road are in a mess, including low houses with exposed red bricks and multi-story buildings with tiled walls.

There are few decent shops on the street. The only decent places are at the street corners, where there are hair salons, convenience stores, billiard halls, and the like.

Lin Chang'an slowed down the car, his eyes scanning the houses on both sides warily.

The red dot disappeared roughly here, but the area is not small, and without a map, finding the person in a short time would be extremely difficult.

He gritted his teeth, his heart burning with anxiety.

In his previous life, he had read special reports about Yang Xinghai and knew a little about this criminal.

This is a man with an extreme level of psychological abnormality!

Yang Xinghai failed to get into university after high school and started working. Later, he was arrested for theft and served five years in prison.

After his release, he repeatedly encountered setbacks in his job search. Even when he finally found a job, the landlady deliberately withheld his wages because of his status as a former convict.

Yang Xinghai was introverted from a young age, a self-conscious and sensitive person who didn't like to talk and didn't dare to make a fuss when faced with such a situation.

Frustration at work, coupled with repeated setbacks in his love life, gradually made him feel as if the whole world was against him, leading him to develop a desire for revenge against society.

However, he was initially timid and only dared to direct his anger at the safest target: women, whether old women, young women, or underage girls.

The women's vulnerability made his violence seem powerful, highlighting his masculinity and filling the void in his inferiority complex.

He wanted to conquer these women, then kill them one by one.

At this moment, Lin Chang'an dared not think about what the villain Yang Xinghai was doing; he was just grinding his teeth to powder.

Suddenly a detail flashed through his mind, and he turned to look at the opposite corner of the street.

The mission hints mentioned that the thief might be hiding in a low-rent apartment.

There is only one affordable housing unit in this area!

Suddenly, a piercing scream tore through the night sky, the sharp sound particularly jarring in the quiet night.

"ah--!"