Atlas of Heaven and Man

Even though the puppet was dressed in real clothes and looked like a real person from a distance, Chen Chuan could not possibly mistake it for a real person.

Director Lei said from behind him, "Did you forget something? Come out first."

Chen Chuan turned his head and said, "Yes."

He turned around and walked out of the room.

After entering the room, there had been a faint sign of blurring, which was still continuing.

He carefully considered his words before saying, "In Director Lei's eyes, what is the state of his child?"

Director Lei was silent for a while, then frankly said, "Lonely, dull, doesn't like to talk, and has no friends.

But it's not his fault, he was hurt back then, and has been entangled by unexplained anomalous substances.

It's all my fault, so I can accept not treating him as a normal child anymore, as long as he can grow up safely, even if he no longer recognizes me as his father."

Chen Chuan said, "Then I'll tell you what I saw."

Director Lei looked over, waiting for his answer.

Chen Chuan also looked at him and slowly said, "What I saw was not a child, but just a puppet."

Director Lei was stunned.

He stood there in place for a long time, then suddenly raised his head, strode forward, and grabbed Chen Chuan's shoulder.

Chen Chuan stood there without dodging.

Director Lei stared at him, "Really?"

Chen Chuan nodded.

Director Lei murmured, "So that's how it is, that's how it is…"

Then his eyes seemed to turn red, and he shook Chen Chuan's shoulder forcefully, "Thank you, thank you, Student Chen!"

Chen Chuan said, "Did Director Lei think of something?"

Director Lei took a breath before saying, "Yes, this is a question that has troubled me for two years."

He seemed to have calmed down at this moment, let go of his hand and took two steps back, and asked seriously, "Student Chen, can you be sure that what you saw was a puppet, and not something else?"

Chen Chuan said, "I can be sure."

Director Lei nodded and said, "Then please wait here for a while, I'll make a few phone calls."

Chen Chuan said, "Please do as you wish, Director Lei."

As he said that, he went to the sofa on the side and sat down.

Director Lei waited for him to sit down before leaving the room.

Although he looked calm on the surface, Chen Chuan could see from his slightly trembling back that he was very excited, but he suppressed it with his strong self-control.

After waiting for about half an hour, Director Lei walked back and sat down on the sofa opposite Chen Chuan, without speaking for a long time.

Chen Chuan didn't take the initiative to speak either.

After a while, Director Lei took off his black-rimmed glasses, groped for a bit, and seemed unable to find anything, so he wiped the mist on them with his cuff.

After putting them back on, he looked at Chen Chuan and said solemnly, "Student Chen, before today, I never thought that I could save my son's life in this way, thank you."

Chen Chuan said, "Director Lei…"

Director Lei waved his hand and said, "I'm not crazy, I know what you said is right."

He looked up, "Two years, two years, who would have thought that what I face every day is just a puppet?"

He smiled self-deprecatingly, "I even pride myself on being an expert in esoteric rituals, but I couldn't recognize the esoteric ritual right under my nose."

Chen Chuan said, "Director Lei, it seems you believe what I said."

"Reason and emotion, sometimes emotion always takes the upper hand, so I always didn't want to think in that direction, but fortunately when the truth appeared in front of me, I was able to make a rational judgment, instead of immediately choosing to deny it."

Director Lei said, "If it weren't for your reminder, it would have been difficult for me to break through this point on my own."

He sighed, "Caring makes you confused."

Chen Chuan thought for a while, "Perhaps this is a bit presumptuous, but can I ask, what exactly is going on?"

"There's nothing wrong with saying it,"

Director Lei took off his glasses again, rubbed his red eyes, and put them back on, returning to his previous calmness.

"As the director of the Esoteric Sect Review Bureau, I often clash with those illegal cults.

When I was investigating a certain esoteric sect, the place where I lived was leaked.

Afterwards, I learned that a fugitive from that illegal cult had entered my temporary residence and performed a ritual curse on my son.

It's not complicated, to put it simply, it's to connect my son with a certain urban legend.

Afterwards, I used many methods to solve it, but none of them worked.

This matter also attracted the attention of my ex-wife, who immediately sued me for performing rituals on the child, but she didn't understand that if the curse ritual lost its suppression, it would affect the people around it.

There are regulations that these things cannot be disclosed to ordinary people other than law enforcement officers, so I couldn't tell her directly, I just hinted that she needed to stay away from our son.

My marriage with her was arranged by elders, and there was no affection between us.

In fact, we didn't understand each other very well.

Even if I told her the truth, she would probably only think that I was talking nonsense, making up these things to scare her in order to get the child back.

I kept trying to remedy it, but she kept hiding from me, until half a month later…"

He sighed deeply, "Actually, if I had discovered the problem earlier, I might have been able to prevent this tragedy from happening, but I'm also a little glad that her death has nothing to do with the child, so neither of them have to bear these burdens…"

Saying this, he picked up the water glass next to him, raised his head and drank all the water inside in one breath, then heavily put it back on the table to the side.

He looked up at Chen Chuan, "Do you know that to successfully execute this ritual, my child must be alive, so they should still be holding my child somewhere."

Chen Chuan said, "Director Lei, do you need any help?"

Director Lei said, "Thank you. This ritual... I almost know where they would hide the child. I've already arranged for people to go. Just wait here." After a while, he spoke again, "But..." He took a breath, "We must first break this ritual."

Chen Chuan looked at his expression, "Is it difficult?"

Director Lei's lips trembled slightly, his fingers slowly closing. After trying a few times, he finally clenched them into a fist, "I only need to personally kill what I see, and then this ritual can be broken."

Chen Chuan's eyes narrowed as he looked at Director Lei sitting there, understanding the pain he was suffering at this moment.

No wonder the director of the Secret Teachings Audit Bureau had never thought about this direction, because as a father, he would do everything possible to avoid hurting his own child. And this ritual was simply too devastating.

He said, "Can't we use another method?"

Director Lei shook his head, "The original intention of this ritual was to destroy the love between family members in the cruelest way. If we don't use this method, even if it's broken, it will repeat in the future." He took a deep breath, "As a father, I failed to fulfill my responsibility and brought him misfortune, so I should bear the consequences."

He stood up and said to Chen Chuan, "Student Chen, please help me one more time. I need you to watch from behind so you can remind me that it is indeed a puppet, otherwise I'm afraid I won't be able to do it."

Chen Chuan also stood up and said solemnly, "Director Lei, I am willing to help you with this, but..." He said, "Director Lei, aren't you afraid that I might be mistaken?"

Director Lei looked into his eyes and said, "You are indeed a student of Supervisor Cheng, but from what I know, you have personally dealt with many strange tales. The Flying Head Monster of Manshan was eradicated by you, and I noticed that the intervals between your clearing of strange tales are not long, yet you have not been affected in any way.

Perhaps you don't even know it yourself, but you have an extremely special talent that can resist the invasion of certain strange substances. What you say is more believable than what others say."

Chen Chuan understood. Director Lei must have not only arranged the rescue of his child just now, but also checked his background at the same time. He understood this, after all, it involved the life of his own son, so it was right to be cautious.

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Moreover, he roughly understood that it might not only be that Director Lei felt his son was alive when he saw him, but perhaps other people felt the same way. And the invasion of strange tales against him was all borne by the Second Self, so he was not affected. This was the talent that Director Lei was talking about.

"Wait for me a moment."

Director Lei greeted him and left. After waiting for a moment, he returned with a hammer in his hand.

"Let's go."

Chen Chuan followed him up and returned to the third floor.

After pushing open the door, Director Lei looked over, his eyes filled with inquiry. Chen Chuan looked inside and saw that the puppet was still quietly huddled in the corner, so he nodded to him.

Director Lei gripped the hammer in his hand and walked in. In his eyes, his well-behaved son was still sitting there, but he should have known something was wrong, because his son still looked like he did two years ago.

He hadn't changed at all.

He instinctively wanted to close his eyes, but the breaking of the ritual didn't allow it. Taking steps as if his feet were filled with lead, he walked forward. He tried hard to lift the hammer. From his perspective, the child suddenly raised his head and looked at him with innocent eyes, "Dad, why are you hitting me?"

Director Lei said with tears in his eyes, "Xiaoying, I'm sorry." He picked up the hammer and struck down hard again and again.

In Chen Chuan's eyes, the puppet gradually cracked and deteriorated under the hammering. At this moment, the virtualization signs of the Second Self suddenly became more pronounced.

As Director Lei struck the last blow, with a crack, a glass bead serving as an eyeball fell to the ground as the sound of wooden objects breaking echoed.

Director Lei was panting there, and all he could see in his eyes at this moment was a broken puppet. With a clang, the hammer in his hand also fell to the ground.

He took two steps back and leaned against the wall.

Chen Chuan looked at the Second Self, and the virtualization signs on it were gradually disappearing at this moment.

Director Lei recovered for a while, regained some spirit, his eyes rekindled with light, and said to Chen Chuan, "Thank you, let's go down."

Chen Chuan nodded and glanced at the puppet again before following him down.

Downstairs, Director Lei waited there silently. He was waiting for a result he could accept. Chen Chuan didn't speak either. For a moment, the only sound in the living room was the ticking of the clock.

After waiting for about ten minutes.

"Ding Ling Ling..."

The telephone in the living room suddenly rang.

Director Lei quickly reached out to grab it, but after his hand reached it, he paused for a while before slowly picking it up, placing it to his ear, and trying to keep his voice steady, "Hello, this is Lei Guangcheng."

In the empty living room, a clear and excited voice came from the phone, even Chen Chuan heard it, "Director Lei, we found him, we found the child, we found your son!"

Director Lei's eyes suddenly became wet.

"But he's a little weak now. Those guys only gave him simple water and food every day, but it's nothing serious. We'll send him to you now."

Director Lei suppressed his surging emotions and said, "Thank you, Lao Gao! Thank you, you've worked hard."

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