Chapter 136: Hunter |
At the base of the apartment buildings in Dongshang City's Hongxin Garden, there was a pavilion where the elderly gathered, as always, to escape the heat and gossip about their neighbors.
Today, however, amidst the trivial neighborhood chatter, a few unusual topics of discussion emerged.
"A family of four... the husband and wife, and their two school-aged kids, all gone."
"What kind of deep-seated grudge could drive someone to do such a thing?"
"The husband was a criminal police officer. I heard it was a criminal he caught in the past taking revenge after getting out."
"It feels like these kinds of incidents are happening more and more lately...
"
"Maybe they got a heavy sentence back then and came back for revenge? Otherwise, why would there be such a huge grudge—"
A figure entered through the residential complex's main gate, interrupting the elders' idle chatter and causing the half-formed rumor to dissipate into the air.
The man then briskly walked into the complex, glancing left and right as he checked the number plates outside the stairwells, quickly locking onto a specific building.
The newcomer was none other than Shi Rang.
He had forgotten where he read the saying that "when you carry a ladder, you can get into any venue," but he never expected the trick to actually work.
Not only did the elderly stop paying attention to him, but even the toothless old security guard at the front gate had let him right in.
The content obscured by classified symbols in the Records had no effect on Shi Rang at all—it merely required him to stare a little longer to reveal what was hidden.
He quickly found the location of the incident, sensing the signal sources of the Bureau's equipment from a distance.
The communication devices of two researchers, four field agents on guard duty... He might as well estimate there were about ten people.
A "Pest Control Notice" was pasted on the entrance door of Building 5. As Shi Rang walked by, the field agent disguised as a neighborhood committee worker stood near the entrance of the apartment building, sizing him up.
Shi Rang naturally stopped, read the notice, shrugged, and continued on his way.
'To actually evacuate all the residents of the entire building just to conduct a containment test, no wonder they are in such a hurry to complete the Records.'
'Making an excuse to drive the residents away for three to five days could still be explained away, but if it dragged on for too long, the outside world would definitely get suspicious. That does not fit the Bureau's usual style of covert operations.'
Once he reached a spot out of sight from the field agent and the nearby hidden sentries, Shi Rang turned on his heel and slipped into the wasteland behind the residential building.
"Jing Zi?" he called out in a low voice.
An almost imperceptible glint of a camera lens flashed from the roof of a high-rise building not far away.
"I am here. I have a clear view of your current position. Do you need me to open a portal?"
"No need, just a routine check-in. There are a lot of Bureau personnel around here. Stay hidden and try not to use your abilities."
Shi Rang weighed the toolbox in his hand. After getting off the plane, he had Jing Zi take him to the nearest stronghold in Dongshang City to retrieve some "combat equipment" from the Ascension Society.
If he needed to infiltrate the scene and attempt to kill this anomaly, these tools would be essential.
With the exact coordinates in hand, he actually could have performed the Sensing from Jing Zi's observation point. However, the results he obtained had left him confused. Suspecting there was an issue with his long-distance Sensing accuracy, he had to come to the residential complex in person to try again.
Hongxin Garden was an old complex. Overgrown weeds thrived between the buildings, perfectly concealing his figure.
He focused his mind, maintaining his Phantom Transformation visage while activating his Sensing.
Without needing to adjust the sensing range, the entirety of Building 5 was enveloped by Shi Rang. The fourth floor, where the incident occurred, was slightly above his default sensing height, so Shi Rang tilted the sensing plane to wrap the entire fourth floor within it.
Immediately after, his brows furrowed deeply.
Absolute silence.
He still only found the signal sources of those special communicators.
He had arrived with two equally terrible theories in mind, and the current clues kept pushing him toward one of them. Unwilling to give up, he increased the precision of his Sensing, but still found absolutely nothing.
Shi Rang's mood plummeted drastically as an icy surge of anger welled up in his heart.
The Terminal Station's judgment was not wrong.
The reason the Locking process failed was that no matter how many characteristic descriptions were provided, they could never correspond to something that did not exist.
In Apartment 401 of Building 5 in Hongxin Garden, the so-called mind-corrupting, attack-inducing CVA-C-3096 simply did not exist.
That family of four had been killed by mistake.
'Then why did the action report claim that "the residents actively attacked the field agents, forcing the agents to retaliate"?'
'Did the adults in the house think they were being robbed, and so they launched an attack?'
'Killing the adults in self-defense is already a tragedy, but why did the two children have to die as well?'
'How exactly do the Bureau's field agents handle things?!'
The handle of the toolbox creaked in his grip. Shi Rang was not a real Council Member of the Bureau, nor was he even a part of the Bureau—in fact, he was their enemy—but he was still human.
If he guessed correctly, someone would soon discover the fact that the anomaly did not exist. However, based on Shi Rang's understanding of bureaucratic systems, the vague description in the action report would likely carry over into the post-incident investigation. Following this line of possibility, the deaths of this family of four would very likely be written off as some kind of "collateral damage," hastily concluded and sealed away.
Whether out of a sense of justice or a desire to avenge the dead, there was no way he could sit back and watch this happen.
True, the Bureau was an organization with noble goals. They were powerful, well-staffed, unfathomably deep, and had made tremendous contributions to the normal functioning of the world.
But the Bureau was not an airtight, absolutely rational machine.
Shi Rang, who was well-versed in history, knew that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Even if the Council Members at the very top were all saints, it was impossible for everyone in the middle and lower ranks to be the same.
There were too many examples in history proving that as long as the core of an organization consisted of humans, no matter how hard they tried to fight and suppress the darkness of human nature, they would gradually rot over time, ultimately deviating completely from their beautiful original vision.
'No, I shouldn't jump to conclusions just yet...'
Shi Rang picked up the folding ladder and walked toward the complex's main gate.
As he passed Building 5 again, he disconnected his third Mounting slot from the communication device of the "Negative Review Jury" Mobile Task Force, and mounted it onto the communication device of a senior researcher present at the scene.
He had no reason to stay here anymore.
He could complete the remaining work from the data layer.
This time, what he was hunting was not an anomaly, but humans.
[Dongshang City Field Branch Medical Site Audio Record]
"The current time is 2:17 PM on May 4th, 1664. Alright, we can begin. Xing Jianyuan, are you still taking your medication on time?"
"Yes, I am still taking them. There are about six or seven different kinds every day."
"Do you know that these are psychiatric medications?"
"...I am aware."
"Let's start with a specific action. Don't think about anything else. Here, hold this pen. You only want to grab this pen, nothing else. Come on, give it a try—very good, you've broken through your previous somatic symptoms. How do you feel right now?"
"There is a stinging sensation inside my body."
"Hmm, that is a good sign. Stepping out of your comfort zone takes time. You will overcome this hurdle step by step."
"
"...Will I be unable to hold a gun in the future?"
"Why do you hold a gun?"
"...To stop anomalies."
"In your recent hallucinations, did you manage to do that?"
(A period of silence)
"Do you agree with the theory I proposed last time?"
(A long silence)
"We need to gradually break out of your comfort zone so your memory stops hiding the truth from you. The logistics department has organized the records from that time, including the security footage from outside Room 401. Would you like to watch it?"
"
"...The action record of my mission with Eguan?"
"I am starting the playback now. Look here."
Xing Jianyuan, he was the field agent in charge of executing the operation.
According to the medical records, this man had already undergone two months of psychological therapy and multiple interrogations.
This discovery made Shi Rang, who was lurking within the data layer, hesitate.
'He doesn't sound like a violent or arrogant person...'
At that moment, sensing a new signal connecting to the medical room, Shi Rang immediately shifted the battlefield, paying close attention as a bystander to the digital evidence that could reveal the truth for him.
[Initial Exploration Record for Room 401]
"Are you certain there are four highly aggressive entities behind this door? I know we must ensure they are controlled first to prevent them from causing havoc once we leave... but the Analysis isn't complete yet, and this is a residential area—"
"Xing Jianyuan, if you spout any more nonsense, I will replace you and give you a demerit for dereliction of duty."
"Fine, awaiting your orders—but I still feel that storming in like this is inappropriate. Even if they are ordinary people on the other side, there are still four of them. What if they resist leaving... Are you really not worried we won't be able to control the situation?"
"Listen to me, Xing Jianyuan. Inside are an adult male, an adult female, and two minors, while you are a fully armed field agent. Are you expecting everyone at Command Headquarters to wait for you to get ready? If you can't handle this, then there's no need for you to stay in the Bureau. Now knock on the door!"
(The communication device picked up a sigh)
(Footsteps climbing the stairs, the sound of knocking)
(A voice answered from behind the door, accompanied by the shuffling sound of slippers)
"Who is it?"
"Little one, I'm from the police station. Please ask your dad to come out."