Chapter 5. Mysterious Marking Revealed 

He Shiqing took the cargo list and gently stroked the strange marks with her slender fingers. The fingertips felt rough and a chill spread throughout her body.

She looked at the mark, which looked like an ancient totem. The complex lines outlined a strange shape. The visual impact made her feel indescribable uneasiness.

"This symbol...have you seen it before?" She asked Lucy beside her casually, but her eyes swept over the other guys around her calmly.

Lucy was humming a little tune while sorting the shelves, but the cheerful little tune suddenly stopped. She was like a chicken with its neck strangled, and her singing came to an abrupt halt.

Her face turned pale, her eyes flickered, and she stammered, "I... I didn't notice..." After that, she hurried away with the goods. He Shiqing seemed to hear her hurried footsteps, as if there was some ferocious beast chasing her from behind.

He Shiqing raised her eyebrows. This reaction...

Quite interesting.

She turned to several other old employees, but received the same avoidance and silence. Some even showed a hint of subtle hostility.

There was a strange atmosphere in the air, like an invisible net that enveloped her. She seemed to be able to feel the oppressive force squeezing her.

"It's strange, each one of them looks like a gourd with its mouth sawed off." He Shiqing muttered in a low voice, but she became more certain in her heart that this matter was definitely not simple.

She walked to the corner of the warehouse and looked through the other documents that Boss Tom had given her. The papers made a slight rustling sound as they turned in her hands. However, the marks on those documents had been deliberately erased, leaving only some vague traces.

This attempt to cover up something only aroused her curiosity even more.

There seems to be an unwritten rule in the Chamber of Commerce that there are some things that cannot be asked, cannot be said, and even cannot be thought about.

This depressing atmosphere made He Shiqing feel suffocated, as if an invisible hand was strangling her throat.

She hated the feeling of being kept in the dark, and hated this invisible control even more.

"I'm going to get to the bottom of this!" She gritted her teeth, and at this moment, a burly figure blocked her way.

A burly man with a face full of flesh said in a bad tone: "Little girl, there are some things you shouldn't know, so it's best not to meddle in other people's business." He Shiqing raised her head and looked into the other's eyes, which were full of unkindness. She sneered: "Really? I'd like to see what shameful secrets are hidden in this Chamber of Commerce..." He Shiqing was not someone who could be frightened. She had a spirit of not admitting defeat in her bones.

He Shiqing was not afraid at all in the face of everyone's obstruction and silence.

When the burly man threatened her, she simply fought back and then used her system skills to quickly obtain key information.

She took advantage of her lunch break to sneak into her room and gently closed the door. The door lock made a slight click. She quickly locked the door and drew the curtains. The whole room suddenly became as dark as a doghouse. She seemed to smell a hint of dullness in the darkness.

She rubbed her hands and said nervously, "System dad, it's time to go out to work!" A blue light flashed, a little dazzling, and the familiar system interface unfolded before her eyes.

She chose the "Information Retrieval" skill without hesitation, and then lit up the two sub-skills of "Tracking" and "Decryption". A tingling electric current flowed from the top of her head to her toes, and the current was like a little bug crawling through her body. She felt like she instantly had super powers like Sherlock Holmes was possessed. It was so cool!

If Boss Tom found out about this, he would probably pack her up and send her to a "luxury single room experience tour with food and accommodation included".

But she doesn't care. Fortune and wealth are achieved through risk. If she takes a chance, the bicycle can be turned into a motorcycle!

He Shiqing returned to the warehouse again, and this time, she no longer ran around like a headless fly.

She turned on the system scanning function and scanned in the mark on the cargo list.

The system quickly analyzed the result and showed that the mark was an ancient magic rune that represented "curse".

"Curse? Such a big deal?" He Shiqing took a breath of cold air, which made her throat feel a little chilly. It seemed that the water of this Chamber of Commerce was deeper than she had imagined.

She continued to track the source of the marks and discovered that the goods all came from a place called "Black Crow Valley".

"Black Crow Valley? The name doesn't sound like a good place..." He Shiqing muttered to herself, feeling a sense of uneasiness rising in her heart.

Just then, the warehouse door creaked open, and the sound was a bit harsh in the silence.

He Shiqing narrowed her eyes and quickly went over the personnel composition of the Chamber of Commerce in her mind. A name popped up - Old John.

He is the oldest fellow in the Chamber of Commerce. He is usually taciturn and has a very low sense of presence, but every time he moves goods, he always stares at the marks unconsciously.

"It's you!" He Shiqing curled her lips and decided to start with Old John.

She found Old John wiping his tools in a dimly lit corner.

She stood in front of Old John, with a dim corner of the warehouse behind her. The light hit her face from the side, half bright and half dark. Her eyes were firm and sharp. Although her voice was not loud, it was full of oppression. Every question was like a bullet shot at Old John: "Uncle John, I have a question for you." Old John raised his head, a trace of vigilance flashed in his cloudy eyes, and his tone was still calm: "What's the problem?" "About the marks on the cargo list," He Shiqing said straight to the point, "Uncle, you are knowledgeable, you must know something, right?"

Old John's face turned pale instantly, and the hand holding the rag trembled slightly, and the trembling seemed to cause the surrounding air to vibrate slightly.

He hesitated and talked about other things.

Upon seeing this, He Shiqing immediately started the "interrogation mode", using both soft and hard tactics, bombarding Old John with attacks one after another, and finally forced him into a corner.

Beads of sweat the size of beans appeared on Old John's forehead, and the sweat slid down his forehead. Finally, he broke down and told everything in a trembling voice.

It turned out that those marks were an ancient curse rune, and the goods the Chamber of Commerce was transporting were cursed "black goods".

And Black Crow Valley is the source of the curse.

After hearing this, He Shiqing was shocked. This was not an ordinary chamber of commerce at all; it was clearly a smuggling group!

She felt like she was at the forefront of eating a melon. This melon must be ripe!

"System dad, well done!" She silently gave the system a thumbs up in her heart, and felt that the speed at which she was upgrading and killing monsters was like a rocket.

He Shiqing took the investigation results and went straight to Tom.

After hearing this, Tom's face instantly turned as dark as the bottom of a pot and his eyes widened like bells.

He never expected that the chamber of commerce he had worked so hard to build would be set up by someone.

"He Shiqing, you did a great job this time!" Tom changed his previous profit-seeking attitude and praised He Shiqing highly. He announced on the spot that she would become the special investigator of the Chamber of Commerce, giving her great power.

Everyone in the Chamber of Commerce came up to her to try to please her, but she just glanced at them with disdain, then turned around and continued to investigate the next clue.

She did not get carried away by this, but continued to dig deeper for clues.

Through system tracking, she discovered that there was an abandoned mine near Black Crow Valley, which might be the base of the mastermind behind the incident.

"It's time to meet them." He Shiqing's eyes flashed, and an inexplicable sense of excitement surged in her heart.

She quietly avoided the eyes and ears of other people in the Chamber of Commerce and came to the outside of the mine alone in the dark.

The surroundings were unusually quiet. She could only hear the rustling of leaves in the wind, a sound that seemed somewhat eerie in the silence. There was a faint smell of sulfur in the air, which was a bit pungent when it entered her nose, making her feel a chill down her spine.

She could feel that an invisible danger was lurking in the darkness.

She slowed her breathing and walked carefully towards the entrance of the mine. The gravel under her feet made a "crunching" sound, and the sound was particularly clear in the quiet environment.