Scarlet Descent
Ch. 64 - The Vanished Life Demon

Upon entering the archive room, Wei Wei realized that despite Scrap Iron City being a small base, its archives were unexpectedly extensive.

The records included supernatural incidents handled by their so-called "Environmental Protection Agency," as well as numerous murder cases and unsolved mysteries filtered and sent over by the Security Bureau. Among these, there were both truths and fabrications—countless in number.

For instance, there were rumors of water monkeys  appearing in certain areas, tales of haunted houses, and even a case where a married woman claimed she was impregnated in her dreams after her husband lost his sexual ability. She swore she had been violated in her sleep. Note: Water Monkeys are part of Chinese folklore commonly believed to be formed from drowned floating corpses.

After skimming through the files, Wei Wei concluded that, apart from the dream-violation case which warranted further investigation, the rest were clearly fake.

Nevertheless, he patiently sifted through the files while forming a plan in his mind.

The demon family he had encountered before worshipped the Life Demon, represented by the Blood-Flesh Rose . Its grotesque, writhing flesh-like appearance left a deep impression. Thus, it was likely that the person he sought was also connected to the Life Demon system.

Wei Wei meticulously sorted through one file after another in the archive room. His strategy was to first identify cases categorized under or resembling traces of the Life Demon system and then examine them thoroughly.

However, the results surprised him.

Although Scrap Iron City was a small place, it was located on the border of the Third Defense Line—a chaotic mix of dragons and snakes. Confirmed or suspected cases involving demon worshippers and supernatural factors filled an entire shelf in the archive room.

Yet after over an hour of searching, Wei Wei was astonished to find not a single file directly related to the Life Demon system.

The few related files only involved missing persons suspected to be connected to it or incidents occurring outside the city that were recorded due to proximity. There were also confiscation records of inferior "Life Serums" seized on the black market—nothing substantial.

In contrast, cases involving Death Demons , Order Demon, Knowledge Demons, and even War Demons  were plentiful.

"Strange…"

Wei Wei couldn’t help but feel puzzled.

The Life Demon sequence ranked first among all demon systems and undoubtedly had the most followers worldwide. In almost every city, supernatural incidents related to the Life Demon were always among the most numerous. After all, life itself is what stirs human desires most deeply and what countless people yearn for above all else.

But why was Scrap Iron City so peculiar? While other cases seemed normal in quantity, there wasn’t a single confirmed Life Demon-related case here. Upon closer examination, it almost felt as though this city repelled the Life Demon entirely.

As he continued flipping through files and organizing those he had reviewed, Wei Wei noticed something peculiar about these archives—or rather, about how they had been systematically recorded since Captain Ouyang Jian  and his team arrived at Scrap Iron City three years ago. Among all these records, only one case was explicitly categorized under the Life Demon system: his own.

The "15th District Demon Boy Murder Case.

Internally, however, it was referred to by another name: "15th District Youth Demon-Slaying Case" .

Seeing this label gave Wei Wei pause for a moment.

Judging by the handwriting, he couldn’t tell which team member had written it during file organization—but strangely enough, he felt a faint sense of warmth?

Sighing nostalgically, he flipped through this file briefly before placing it back on the shelf.

After all, during his time at training camp, he had already obtained a more formal internal report from the Foundation through his instructor. In terms of completeness and accuracy, it far surpassed anything recorded locally in Scrap Iron City.

The file left here was merely a copy transferred from the Security Bureau archives.

Still unwilling to overlook anything important, Wei Wei read through it carefully again but found no new discoveries.

One thing became certain: within Scrap Iron City—or at least since records began being systematically archived three years ago—there hadn’t been a single confirmed Life Demon-related incident besides his own case. It was as if all traces of Life Demons had been wiped out three years ago…

…What nonsense—how could he possibly be that thorough? After spending an entire morning poring over records and grabbing lunch specially prepared by Zhu Zai,  Wei Wei resumed his street patrols with lingering doubts clouding his mind.

Unable to shake off his confusion about what he found—or didn’t find—in the archives room, he called Ye Feifei  for advice.

Ye Feifei had once been groomed as Captain Ouyang’s potential secretary but ended up nearly burning down the archive room instead. Her greatest accomplishment during that time was treating classified case files as ghost stories for her personal entertainment. While she might not have as clear an understanding of organized data as Wei Wei now did after combing through it himself, she possessed an uncanny familiarity with obscure events thanks to her unconventional reading habits.

After hearing Wei Wei’s question, Ye Feifei thought carefully but confirmed she had no recollection of anything relevant either.

This only deepened the mystery.

Could there be a link between his "Youth Demon-Slaying Case" from three years ago, the strange absence of Life Demons in Scrap Iron City, Father An from the long-forgotten Faceless God Church, and the lingering questions about the origin of his abilities—questions that neither the training camp nor the Foundation’s reports had ever been able to explain?

Wei Wei tried calming himself down to think rationally but quickly gave up—it was too difficult.

In any case, focusing on finding the Blood-Flesh Rose seemed like the right move for now.

If there was anything capable of tying these threads together—if there was any key to unraveling everything—it would undoubtedly be that rose. To say that Wei Wei wasn’t anxious would be a lie.

Years had passed since he first formed his theories—and now that he finally found something resembling proof or direction—he couldn’t wait any longer to uncover answers about him or them. Yet despite days upon days spent investigating—seven or eight straight with no progress—the results remained disappointing.

His search through archives yielded nothing useful; Yuan Guaizi, whom he’d entrusted with inquiries elsewhere, hadn’t reported back either—making him question Yuan’s competence or sincerity in helping out altogether.

Perhaps it was time for another nighttime visit?

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