“What should we do now? Hand this guy over to the police?” Otaku pointed at the man trapped inside the cage—now a comically ridiculous sight in his lab coat, which had been completely dyed a bright pink by Wang Meili.
Lin Xiaoqiang shook his head. “No, not yet. This guy might know more than we think. And he seems to be connected to the people in black we've been trying to track down. We should contact them first.”
He pulled out the black card and examined the spiral symbol on it. The symbol looked both ancient and enigmatic, as if it held some hidden meaning.
“They said to contact them using this... but what does that even mean?” Wang Meili stared curiously at the card, unable to make sense of it.
Lin Xiaoqiang ran his fingers along the card’s surface, and suddenly noticed that the lines of the spiral weren’t entirely smooth—there were subtle ridges. He pressed down gently on one of the points, and at once, a soft blue glow lit up from the center of the card. The light projected a complex, maze-like pattern into the air.
“Is that… a map?” Otaku’s eyes widened in surprise.
The image kept shifting, then finally locked onto a location near the outskirts of Barbie City—a run-down building they had never noticed before, hidden deep within a dense forest.
“So that’s what they meant—we’re supposed to find them at this place?” Wang Meili suddenly understood.
Lin Xiaoqiang nodded. “Most likely. That spiral symbol might be their way of passing messages.”
They decided to leave the captured man in the lab for now, locking him inside with several sturdy cages for extra precaution. Then, following the map’s guidance, they headed for the abandoned building marked on the edge of Barbie City.
When they emerged from the underground lab and returned to the surface-level factory, the “Pink Hair Enhancement Master” was still there, pacing anxiously.
“Well? What were those pink things? Are they going to affect my Pink Hair Enhancement Empire?” he rushed over to ask.
Lin Xiaoqiang glanced at him, unsure of how to even begin explaining what had happened underground. “We found some clues. That pink stuff may be tied to illegal experiments. We’ll get to the bottom of it soon.”
“Illegal experiments?! But… what about my Pink Hair Enhancement?” The self-proclaimed master was still obsessed with his life’s work.
“If those pink compounds really are toxic,” Wang Meili said bluntly, “your dream of enhancing hair might be doomed from the start.”
The Pink Hair Master immediately wilted, looking utterly dejected.
The trio from the Supernatural Research Club didn’t waste another second. Guided by the map, they arrived at the dense forest on the city’s edge. Deep within the woods, they finally came upon a decaying old building. It was surrounded by a security perimeter marked with strange symbols they had never seen before.
“This place… it’s been sealed off,” Otaku said as he raised his camera and cautiously approached the perimeter tape.
Just as they were hesitating about whether to enter, a familiar voice called out from within the shadows of the trees.
“Mr. Lin Xiaoqiang… you’ve come.”
The man in black stepped forward from the darkness, followed by several others in the same black trench coats, each just as mysterious.
“We’ve been waiting for you,” he said, that same enigmatic smile still on his face. “It seems… you’ve discovered something.”
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