335: One hundred ninety-two.
All infected persons 335: One hundred ninety-two.
All infected persons “`
Contaminants are also known as infection sources, and infection sources are a more advanced term—it represents the difficulty of discovery, perception, and resistance.
Just as ghosts and resentful spirits are commonly referred to as ghosts, contaminants and infection sources are also collectively called contaminants, only distinguished when necessary.
Contaminants usually have a source which could be an object, a corpse, a book, a segment of text, and the method of infection varies; it could be through contact, reading, or sight.
The taboo abilities and contents of a contaminant will warp all existence it infects, whether it’s the mind or the body.
This infection generally comes with the negative effect of reducing one’s Sanity Value.
Such fluctuations could be detected and alerted by a contaminant detector, which is a common method exorcists use to investigate contaminants.
However, some contaminants produce no fluctuations whatsoever; they are like the rats at the bottom of cargo ships, silently infiltrating human settlements as the ships dock, with no one the wiser.
Exorcists don’t have a good solution for these types of contaminants.
Their method often goes : a group of people in a certain area goes mad/dies/becomes ill—there’s suspicion of contaminant spread—dispatch an investigator to investigate—the investigator goes mad/dies/becomes ill—it can be confirmed that there is a contaminant spreading in the area—Night Watchmen step in to handle the trouble.
Fortunately, contaminants are not too numerous, and their rate of infection is limited.
For instance, if the contaminant is a book, only those who have read it will have their minds warped by the content, meaning the infection will spread within a limited scope.
But there are also extremely terrifying contaminants, or rather, sources of infection.
They are like diseases, and even more despairingly and terrifyingly so.
Perhaps proximity to them or mere sight of them could result in infection, and others who come near or see someone who has been infected would also become infected.
For example, the “door” within Lu Li…
After Pryce finished explaining the secrets of the contaminants, he quietly watched as Lu Li bowed his head in thought.
But after waiting for a while, he saw Lu Li turn his head slightly, his attention falling on the group of ordinary people at the back of the shop.
Since the return of Lu Li and his companions, there had been a brief silence, which had now returned to normal as they engaged in low-toned conversation.
Except for a child and two ladies who weren’t talking, the relationships among the others seemed quite good.
Observing these people and the expression on Lu Li’s face, Pryce suddenly saw Lu Li pick up a piece of paper and a pen from the table, writing down Petra’s name followed by the number one.
Beneath that, he wrote down the coffee shop owner’s name with the number two and the number three beside Elm Street 3.
The remaining four were written by Lu Li in the last line.
Waiting for Lu Li to put down the pen, Pryce took his eyes off the paper and asked, “You seem to have an idea.”
“I have some thoughts,” Lu Li replied, capping his pen.
His fountain pen slid over Petra’s name.
“The Petra incident is the first, at least the first in this city.
It can be seen as the source.”
The fountain pen slid down to the coffee shop owner’s name, pausing briefly before moving to Elm Street 3.
“The coffee shop incident and Elm Street 3 incident are the second and third, occurring less than an hour apart, while they are a week apart from the Petra incident.
They can be seen as infections.”
The fountain pen moved to the third line.
“The evil consciousness in the remaining four incidents has not yet manifested, which can be seen as the second batch of infections.”
The pen was moved aside, the cap removed, and Lu Li drew a circle around these three lines of names, encompassing them.
His calm voice arose in front of the display window, “Considering that the awakening of the evil consciousness from these incidents takes about a week, to understand the spread of the contaminant, we should investigate the Petra incident and the coffee shop and Elm Street 3 incidents.”
“These three demons have awoken; we cannot enter,” Pryce said.
“The house doesn’t necessarily hold the clues,” Lu Li said, his dark gaze falling on the civilians.
“The owner of the coffee shop seems to know everyone; it means he can reach out to everyone.”
“So, as long as we ask him if these people have been to his coffee shop in the past week, everything will be clear.”
“I’ll go.” Matthew, who had been standing behind Pryce listening to the entire conversation, turned around with a swish of his ponytail.
“No need, I’ll ask.” Pryce pressed her back and walked towards those ordinary people.
As Pryce approached, the murmuring among the group promptly ceased.
Minutes later, Pryce returned to the display window with the answers, his expression somewhat troubled, “Your guess was right, they’ve all been to the coffee shop this week, they are regulars there.
What aligns even more is that Petra would come to the coffee shop for tea in the morning, while the owner of number 3 on Elm Street would arrive about an hour after Petra.”
Lu Li bowed his head and drew several straight lines among those names—Petra connected the coffee shop owner and number 3 on Elm Street, the coffee shop owner connected everyone in the third row.
Petra passed the infection to the two people in the second row, and the coffee shop owner transmitted it to everyone.
Pryce’s complexion grew increasingly unsightly, with a heaviness that was hard to accept, “We’ve all had contact with him…”
This meant that everyone present, including Lu Li, had been infected by the coffee shop owner.
A suffocating presence suddenly emanated from the void next to Lu Li.
Pryce and Matthew, who were closest to Lu Li, stiffened.
“Anna, don’t worry.” Lu Li whispered to soothe Anna and then explained, “But the infectant might not be a person, as I haven’t sensed anything unusual in him or us.”
The chill in the air gradually subsided.
Pryce composed himself from the shock and quickly said to Matthew, “Tell the base we’ve found an infectant here, blockade Elm Street to prevent anyone from leaving, and avoid communication with people inside.”
After speaking, he turned to Lu Li, “You can do anything from now on, our Seventy-Eight Squad will fully cooperate with you.”
He didn’t want the entire squad to be wiped out because of this.
Lu Li nodded, “Bring the coffee shop owner over.”
The coffee shop owner was quickly brought in front of the display window, Pryce moved his chair towards Lu Li, suddenly recalling his “assistant” and instead of sitting beside him, he seated himself on the other side.
The coffee shop owner took Pryce’s previous place.
Officer,” said the owner cautiously.
Lu Li skipped the formalities and went straight to the point, “Tell me about Petra.”
“What would you like to know?”
“Everything about her recent visits to your coffee shop.”
she doesn’t talk much.
Every time she comes over with her cup for a cup of tea, she’d sit by the display window and look at the scenery.
Sometimes her former students would come to see her, chat for a few moments, then leave…
I don’t know what they were about.
Petra usually stays for an hour or two and then leaves, always in the morning.
I really don’t know,” explained the owner with difficulty, unable to recall overly detailed particulars.
But Lu Li still noticed a critical detail, “You just said ‘cup’.”
The coffee shop owner paused briefly, “…
Yes, Petra has a set of cups, she likes to use those to drink her tea.”