Atlas of Heaven and Man

When Chen Chuan arrived at the company, he saw a man in his thirties wearing the administrative department's uniform. The man's eyes lit up when he saw Chen Chuan, and he took the initiative to shake his hand.

"This must be Expert Chen, I am Wang Bian from the Jia County Administrative Office. Expert Chen can call me Clerk Wang, or Little Wang." He seemed very enthusiastic, without any airs of an Administrative Office employee, but rather with a deliberate flattery.

Chen Chuan shook his hand and said, "Hello, Clerk Wang."

After exchanging greetings, they sat down. Clerk Wang sighed and said, "This strange tale has been causing widespread panic recently. We really have no choice, so we contacted Yangzhi City. A colleague in the Administrative Department recommended your company to me. Oh, I heard that the Flying Head incident was resolved by you. Amazing, truly amazing."

Chen Chuan said, "I heard a rough outline before coming. Can Clerk Wang tell me more details?"

Clerk Wang said with distress, "Oh, it's like this…"

Under his narration, Chen Chuan and Ren Shu gradually understood the matter.

Due to the customs and traditions of Jia County, many young people in the county town like to get tattoos. Recently, some people have discovered that a butterfly-shaped pattern inexplicably appears on their bodies, and it cannot be washed off no matter what.

Because this tattoo is very beautiful and vividly lifelike, seeming to flutter as the body moves, those who have this tattoo will proudly show it off to others. But when asked how they got it, no one can say for sure.

However, these young people soon realized that something was wrong, because the number of these tattoos increased almost every day. In just a few days, they covered the entire body.

What is most terrifying is that these tattoos will densely overlap each other, and once there is no space left on the body, they will turn into real butterflies and fly out of the body, not only from the surface of the skin, but even from the internal organs.

At this point, people realized that the tattoos actually existed inside the body, but were invisible. In the end, the person was left with a pile of rotten flesh and bones full of holes.

When Clerk Wang said this, he also revealed a look of horror. He had gone to see the corpse, and he vomited on the spot. When he returned, he had nightmares for several days in a row. The first thing he did when he woke up in the morning was to check his whole body to see if there were any similar butterfly tattoos.

In just ten days, the local Administrative Office received more than a dozen similar cases. This is only what was reported; who knows how many were not reported.

If it was just ordinary people having problems, that would be one thing, but the officials in the Administrative Office were also worried that they and their relatives and friends would be infected with this thing, so they ordered these people to be arrested. However, this was only a temporary solution, and similar incidents continued to occur.

What is most headache-inducing is that some people, for reasons unknown, deliberately tattooed this kind of thing on their bodies after hearing about it, increasing the difficulty of dealing with the matter. This led them to seek experts everywhere to handle this matter.

After listening, Chen Chuan's expression became more serious. He considered it and said, "I understand the situation. I need to check some information on this matter, and I will reply to you this afternoon."

Clerk Wang said, "Okay, okay, then I'll leave it to Expert Chen. I'll wait for Expert Chen's reply at your company."

After Chen Chuan returned, he looked through the strange tale materials that Cheng Zitong had given him. In recent days, he had been reviewing these things in his spare time every night to increase his knowledge and background, but because of the large number, he had not been able to finish reading them yet.

He checked the summarized directory and finally confirmed that there was no butterfly tattoo mentioned in the collected strange tales. This also meant that this was a strange tale that Cheng Zitong had never seen or heard of.

He didn't have a high degree of certainty about such a request, and he could have chosen not to accept it, but after careful consideration, he decided to give it a try.

Having encountered many strange tales and seen many examples, he also had some experience.

The strange tales he had encountered before, including those mentioned in the materials, were mostly fixed in a certain place, and the scope was not too large. They might cause chaos in a certain place, but unless there were human-driven or participatory factors such as the Flying Head Sect, they were generally not enough to cause social-level turmoil and unrest.

Strange tales that can spread like this usually have a root cause. As long as the root cause is removed, the matter can be resolved.

Speaking of which, the strange tales he had dealt with before basically had summary materials and precedents to follow, so he only needed to do things step by step. He had never independently handled this kind of unheard-of case before.

But as he came into contact with more and more of these kinds of requests, he would always encounter similar strange tales, so this time he did not intend to avoid it, but tried to actively solve it.

However, although he had an idea, he did not lose his due caution. He called Cheng Zitong to ask about the matter and explained his analysis.

After listening, Cheng Zitong said, "Little Chuan, your thinking is correct, assuming the information is accurate. Sometimes what affects your judgment is not the strange tale itself, but precisely people."

Chen Chuan said, "Teacher, I understand what you mean. Because strange tales affect people, solving strange tales actually lies first in handling personnel matters well, and personnel matters are often more complicated than the strange tales themselves."

"That's right." Cheng Zitong said, "So you have to be mentally prepared. Solving strange tales is not only about the strange tales themselves, especially when you are outside Yangzhi City, you need to be more careful."

Chen Chuan said, "Teacher, I understand."

Cheng Zitong hummed and said, "If there is anything you need me to solve, just call me."

Chen Chuan ended the call. After pondering for a moment, he called the company and said that he accepted the assignment and needed to go to Jia County to take a look immediately.

Ren Shu immediately told Director Wang, who was overjoyed to hear that he was willing to set off immediately, repeatedly saying good, saying that he would come to pick him up immediately.

Half an hour later, Chen Chuan got into Director Wang's car and hurried to Jia County. To facilitate understanding the situation, he and Director Wang rode in the back row, with the driver responsible for driving. Ren Shu, considering that he was going to a foreign county, the company also sent an empty car to follow, so that he could travel back and forth easily.

Among the six counties of Yangzhi City, Jia County is located at the northernmost end of the southwest, and it is also the smallest. The county town is surrounded by mountains on three sides, making it difficult to enter and exit. However, because a tributary of the Bai River makes a bend here, which is located at the exit, shipping is more convenient, and it is not too closed off.

After leaving Yangzhi City, it was only a two-hour drive. The vehicle drove onto a winding mountain road. More than ten minutes later, the light on both sides suddenly dimmed, and they entered a canyon passage, with the light on both sides blocked by the mountain walls.

Director Wang also introduced Chen Chuan, saying that this place is called Pingkong Gorge. In the old days, this was a very famous dangerous place. During the Great Development period, it was widened. If you don't go by water, this road is the only way to enter and exit the county town.

Chen Chuan glanced upwards and saw outposts and wall passages carved out during the Great Development period on both sides.

At this moment, two-wheeled motor vehicles quickly overtook the car. One of them even came to the front of the car and swayed for a while before accelerating away.

Director Wang was a little embarrassed and said, "This is a group of rich students, not only from Jia County, but also from several nearby counties. They especially like to travel here."

After about two and a half kilometers, they finally left the canyon, and the light suddenly brightened, giving people a feeling of returning to the world.

Shops and residential buildings gradually appeared on both sides. Perhaps because the county town is not large, the population seems very dense, and there are many people on the streets.

Director Wang said, "I'll arrange a place for Expert Chen to stay. The conditions are simple. Please don't mind, Expert Chen."

Chen Chuan said, "No need to rush." He picked up the map in his hand, "I just looked at it. The butterfly tattoo first appeared in the Chang Street area, as well as Bo Street, and here…"

He circled a few places on the map with a pen, and then drew a large circle on it, and handed it to Director Wang, "Director Wang, it's best to bring some people and walk around this."

Director Wang took it, looked at it, his expression became serious, and said, "I'll make a phone call." After the car stopped, he went to a roadside telephone booth to make a call. After waiting for a quarter of an hour, two vehicles from the local Security Department drove over. He got into the car again and said to Chen Chuan, "The people have been called. Expert Chen, shall we go now?"

At this time, Chen Chuan looked at his Second Self, because whenever he encountered a strange tale, the Second Self would inevitably produce virtualization, so he prepared to use a simplest way, which is to take a car around the main locations where butterfly tattoos appear. As long as someone contaminated with this type of strange tale appears, he will definitely be able to observe it.

Then, following the traces of these people in the past few days, if all goes well, he should be able to find the source.

The area circled on the map is not large. The vehicle drove around for more than an hour and finished, but there was no discovery. He said again, "Narrow the scope and go around again."

Director Wang didn't know what his purpose was, but since he was an expert in dealing with strange tales, he must have a purpose, so he told the driver to continue driving according to his instructions.

Next, the vehicle continued to narrow the range. The driver didn't say anything, but the security team members in the back became impatient and complained a few words. Director Wang quickly comforted them and looked at Chen Chuan with embarrassment.

Chen Chuan then asked, "Director Wang, do you have night markets here?"

Director Wang said, "Yes, especially near the Qiaoshen Festival, some young people like to go out at night. The night markets have been particularly lively these days."

Chen Chuan said, "Tell them that if we can't find any clues, we will continue to look for them at night. Now, please trouble them to work hard now, and we won't bother them at night."

"Okay, okay."

After Director Wang said this, the security team members didn't say anything. Instead, they felt a little sympathy for those team members who had to run errands at night, and they seemed to feel like they had found a bargain.

At this time, the vehicle had already driven to the innermost street of the area circled on the map. After passing this place, the entire area marked on the map would be completed.

However, at this moment, Chen Chuan suddenly saw his Second Self suddenly virtualize slightly, and then quickly passed.

He turned his head to look at one side of the street and saw a bald man with a somewhat dull look walking by, but the muscles on this person's body were unusually strong. His eyes moved, and he immediately said, "Wait a minute, stop the car, stop that person."

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