I buried the gods in the restricted area.

"You mean there are many more stone tablets like this around the world?"

A few minutes later, Jiang Mian looked away from the blood-red stone tablet and asked, slightly surprised.

"Yes……"

Jiang Rou nodded weakly, and said somewhat nervously, "But I don't really know where these stone tablets came from..."

She was telling the truth. To this day, let alone ordinary people like her, even a massive organization like "The End," which controls countless secrets, has not been able to fully trace the origins of these blood-red stone tablets.

All people know is that each blood-red stone represents a restricted area, and the letters engraved on the stone indicate the level of danger of that restricted area.

At this point, Jiang Rou glanced at Jiang Mian's expression, her lips moving several times before she finally couldn't help but cautiously ask, "Mr. Jiang Mian, you just said... you lost eighty-eight tombstones, is that true?"

She had just learned from Jiang Mian that he was a tombstone sculptor who specialized in carving tombstones for the dying. It was said that most of the tombstones in the cemetery of Wangchuan City were made by him, which explained why he said last night that he was good at dealing with the dying.

But the problem is...

There is no cemetery in the City of the Unjustly Dead.

"Of course it's true."

Jiang Mian gets angry just thinking about it. "There are a total of eighty-eight tombstones. The deposit alone is hundreds of thousands of yuan. If I find that bastard who stole the tombstones, I will never let him get away with it."

"Huh? Are tombstones that valuable?" Jiang Rou's eyes widened, her attention immediately diverted.

"yes."

Jiang Mian said with a headache, "If we can't find the tombstone in time, not to mention how to explain it to the employer, I can't even afford to lose the deposit."

...Would anyone really order 88 tombstones in one go?

Jiang Rou hesitated for a moment, then swallowed her words, asking curiously, "Mr. Jiang Mian, did you spend all of the hundreds of thousands in deposit?"

"Pretty much, most of it was used to buy stone."

Jiang Rou's red lips parted slightly, as if lost in thought, and after a long while she muttered something under her breath:

"The cost isn't even as much as the deposit; Mr. Jiang Mian is truly heartless..."

Her mind was preoccupied with how much she could collect on the remaining payment for the eighty-eight tombstones, and she even temporarily forgot her fear of Jiang Mian.

"What did you say?"

"N-nothing!"

Jiang Rou's cheeks flushed, and she quickly shook her head, hurriedly correcting herself, "I meant, I'll look for the tombstone with you!"

Jiang Mian had just checked repeatedly. Although they were quite similar, this stone tablet with the words "City of the Wrongfully Dead" engraved on it was not his lost tombstone. He felt a pang of regret.

Hearing Jiang Rou say this, he didn't feel comforted at all. Instead, he looked at her suspiciously and said, "Strange...aren't you a little too concerned about my affairs?"

Jiang Rou's expression stiffened slightly, but she quickly regained her composure: "I... I already told you I've fallen for you..."

"Besides! Didn't you say you had something important to take care of? I think you meant this, right? The sooner you find the tombstone, the sooner my two friends can rest in peace, isn't that right?"

"That's true."

Jiang Mian automatically ignored the first half of the sentence. Even if the girl really liked him, he still had to pay her. After thinking for a moment, he added, "But if they really can't hold on any longer, remember to let me know in advance. After all, respect for the dead is paramount."

Thankfully, those two people were already dead. If they were alive, I really wouldn't know when to "in advance" notify them... Jiang Rou thought to herself with a weak grumble, but could only agree with a forced smile.

Along the way, she chatted with Jiang Mian in a casual manner, but her eyes kept glancing back, as if afraid that Zhou Kai, who had already left, would turn back again.

A few minutes earlier, after hearing Jiang Mian say that the blood-red stone tablet outside the restricted area looked very similar to his lost tombstone, Zhou Kai hurriedly left, leaving only one sentence before departing—

"If you want to live longer, you'd better let Mr. Jiang Mian live on in his imagined world."

Jiang Rou was skeptical of these words. She had witnessed Zhou Kai's coldness and cruelty. Even though the two sides had made a verbal agreement, she was still worried that he might turn around and do something unexpected. At this moment, the only way she could find a little sense of security was to continue to stay by Jiang Mian's side.

Jiang Mian had no idea what Jiang Rou was thinking. All he wanted to do was find the tombstone as soon as possible, and he was currently using Jiang Rou's phone to call the police.

Jiang Rou was filled with trepidation. She was extremely reluctant to make this call, since the police station was no longer what Mr. Jiang Mian remembered. If the officer on the other end of the line said something wrong, no one knew what the consequences would be.

But she racked her brains and couldn't find a legitimate reason to refuse, so she gritted her teeth and dialed the "police" number.

"Thanks."

Jiang Mian thanked him and then proceeded to recount the case over the phone.

"You said your tombstone was stolen? And the stolen item is worth millions?"

The voice on the other end of the phone was languid, as if she hadn't woken up yet. Even with such a large theft, she seemed completely unmotivated.

"Are you sure it's just a few tombstones that are missing, and nothing unusual like ghosts have happened?"

Upon hearing the word "abnormal," Jiang Rou, who had been listening intently, felt a sudden tightness in her chest.

Fortunately, Jiang Mian did not show any abnormality. He just pondered for a moment and said seriously, "Yes, there is an unusual event."

"Oh?" The woman's voice finally showed some emotion. "Tell me more about it."

"That bastard, he even took my eye patch."

"An eye mask?"

"That's right, an eye mask for sleeping."

"...Is this the unusual event you were talking about?"

"They even steal eye masks. How could someone be so depraved? Isn't that bizarre enough?"

"..."

After a brief silence, the woman said lazily, "Sorry, we're short-staffed lately and can't focus our energy on such a small matter. Call the police later."

Jiang Mian was not given a chance to speak again before the call was abruptly ended.

"What is it?"

Across from him at the desk, Qin Zhen, who was flipping through documents, asked without looking up.

"It's nothing, just a 'harmless case'."

Yi Ziyue put the microphone back on the landline, slumped into the back of her chair, too lazy to even open her eyes completely, her voice weak and listless, carrying a hypnotic weariness.

Seeing her listless appearance, a hint of helplessness appeared on Qin Zhen's resolute face: "Do you still remember what I just said?"

"Allocate all available personnel to re-register the population of Linjiang City as quickly as possible, the more detailed the better. For those who did not have prior identification records, compile their files and submit them to me. Remember, this is the top priority right now; cases unrelated to the anomalies can be put on hold for the time being."

Yi Ziyue repeated it word for word, even mimicking the serious tone perfectly.

The Bureau of Abnormal Affairs has two departments: the Public Events Section, which is responsible for matters within the city, and the Abnormal Management Section, which is responsible for matters outside the city.

The former, in addition to handling anomalous events related to aliens and forbidden sequences, also needs to take on ordinary cases; while the latter is mainly responsible for investigating and clearing out forbidden zones.

The so-called "harmless cases" are ordinary cases that are unrelated to any abnormality and have a low degree of harm, and are usually handled by a special team within the Public Events Division. However, with all staff currently being redeployed, these cases have to be temporarily put on hold.

"Is there anything else?"

"No supernatural abilities may be used during the population registration process unless threatened, especially when dealing with unregistered individuals."

"Just remember that."

Qin Zhen nodded. Although this girl was a bit lazy, he trusted her to get things done. So he put down the documents, got up and walked towards the door. "I want to see your report within three days."

Three days?!

Upon hearing this, Yi Ziyue seemed to instantly become much more alert, and her voice was no longer as weary as before. She protested, "Linjiang City is so big; completing the population registration within three days will require working overtime for a very long time!"

"I will have an administrative staff member from the anomaly management department come to assist you."

As if he had expected her to say that, Qin Zhen's expression remained unchanged, but he quickened his pace and left the office as if he were fleeing.

"Honestly, they always make our public affairs department work overtime, but they don't even give us a raise..."

Watching the door close hastily, Yi Ziyue muttered something, yawned deeply, and reached for the half-cold cup of coffee on the table.

The moment my fingertips touched the handle of the cup, the landline rang again.

I glanced at the screen; it was still the same number.

She sighed, resignedly picked up the receiver, and lazily said "feed".

"If it's related to 'ghosts,' can you dispatch the police as soon as possible?" Jiang Mian said in a deep voice on the other end of the phone.

"You can understand it that way."

Unlike harmless cases, abnormal events, if left unattended, could potentially trigger a series of disasters. Therefore, the bureau always keeps a certain number of people on hand to handle such matters.

"I've been thinking about it carefully, and it seems like the tombstone was indeed haunted when it went missing."

"Oh?"

Yi Ziyue listlessly tossed sugar cubes into her coffee cup, signaling the other person to continue.

There was a pause of a few seconds on the other end of the phone before Jiang Mian's slightly desolate voice came through.

"If those tombstones aren't found, the world will soon have one more homeless pauper."

Yi Ziyue: "..."