Chapter 153: The Hitchhiker |
Shi Rang had read in the Bureau's Records that the number of Anomalies in the world had now reached a terrifying level, and the Bureau's containment capacity was pushed to its absolute limit.
Setting aside the isolated Eleventh and Twelfth Districts, which lacked sufficient data, the Ninth District held the highest number of Containment Objects. It was hard to say whether the political turmoil here was influenced by the frequent occurrences of Anomalies.
And now, less than ten hours after arriving in the Ninth District, a strange hitchhiker had inflicted a Cognitohazard on Shi Rang and Jing Zi. She brazenly boarded their vehicle as an "old friend," sitting beside Shi Rang and twirling her long hair around her finger to pass the time.
'Bureau, you call this "anomalous activity in the inland Ninth District has been effectively controlled"?!'
As a veteran who deeply understood the diversity and danger of Anomalies, Shi Rang did not dare make a rash move, even though this "Mary" had her back turned to him, gazing out at the Night View.
Heaven only knew what this woman actually was.
If she were a human with an Anomalous Effect or a Reality Bender, she would at least still be afraid of bullets.
But if she was not human at all, any wrong move could cost him his life.
Fighting an Anomaly was like guessing a riddle with no clues. Once you guessed wrong, you paid a massive price.
Fortunately, Jing Zi was also in the car, earnestly driving under the influence of the hazard.
Without realizing it, they had deviated from their original path and were approaching a small town. Buildings and faint lights could be seen in the distance, and the town itself displayed no Anomalies.
Shi Rang sincerely hoped that Mary's house was located here.
'Please get out of the car soon, ma'am. I hope you really just wanted to use your ability to hitch a ride!'
[Sent to Robbie: Tell everyone in the combat team to hold their ground. Do not come out of the bag until you receive my orders.]
The vehicle drove past a few houses on the outskirts of the town. Jing Zi did not slow down.
[Analysis Failed, Insufficient Intelligence]
The vehicle drove past the church in the center of town.
The speedometer proved that their destination was still far away.
[Young female, hitchhiking under false pretenses in the Ninth District. Cognitohazard compels individuals to feel obligated to escort her home.]
[Analysis Failed, Insufficient Intelligence]
Shi Rang watched in near despair as the houses and shops of the town disappeared in the rearview mirror, the vehicle plunging back into the dark night.
He began attempting to search for the Anomaly Project in the Terminal Station.
[Query: Female, hitchhiking...]
[1 Result Found]
[CVA-C-1313 - "Hitchhiking Mary"]
'C-Class?'
'Whether it's the difficulty of containment or her abilities, what part of her resembles a C-Class Subject?'
'She's running around wild outside!'
Before Shi Rang could click into the file, he heard a sudden shriek beside him. He nearly yanked his Handgun straight out of his backpack. Turning his head, he realized it was Mary shouting.
"Please, stop the car!"
Jing Zi slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road, turning to look at her in astonishment. "What's wrong? We haven't reached your house yet."
Mary, however, ignored their gazes.
She stared intently at a patch of wasteland outside, forcefully pulled the car door open, jogged out, and dashed into the dark night.
Only then did Shi Rang realize that the area outside the car was a Graveyard. Countless tombstones stood tall in the darkness, as if silently gazing at the arrivals. Mary's figure blended into the cemetery, looking as though she had been swallowed by the graves, and vanished in the blink of an eye.
Jing Zi looked back from the Graveyard to the still-open car door. "She left her sweater behind."
Shi Rang followed his gaze, surprised that he had not noticed the sweater folded on the seat. This was likely another manifestation of the Anomalous Effect.
'So, is this sweater going to explode or something...?'
Jing Zi had completely immersed himself in the NPC Role of "Mary's friend." He suggested, "Mary went who-knows-where. How about we return the sweater to her parents first?"
"...Wait a moment," Shi Rang said.
After digesting the Records for "Hitchhiking Mary," Shi Rang took a Flashlight and exited from the other side of the car. He walked around the vehicle, closed the door Mary had left open, and headed toward the Graveyard.
This cemetery was already quite dilapidated. The low iron fence was deeply embedded in the mud and could be stepped over with a single stride.
Shi Rang switched on the Flashlight he had brought along and swept its beam across the ground, but he didn't see any footprints.
Many of the graves here were untended. The mounds had either caved in or bulged outwards, the stones were cracked, the tombstones were covered in moss, and the engraved words were blurred beyond recognition. However, some were clearly well-maintained—Mary's tombstone was one of them.
[Here lies our beloved daughter, Mary. She was walking home alone at night when she met with misfortune.]
[Please beware of any suspicious strangers at night!]
It was exactly as the Records stated.
Mary was dead. She had been dead for many years.
Shi Rang let out a long breath.
[...The Entity will appear in the form of Mary. This individual was abducted, subjected to ritualistic torture, and in 2016,
executed in [Redacted] on May 19th. The Entity appeared in the areas surrounding her hometown after her death. This incident is suspected to be the work of a Heterodox Beliefs organization operating locally.]
When Mary was alive, she was abducted while walking at night by someone offering a ride, and was ultimately brutally murdered.
Fortunately, this Anomaly was merely repeating her actions from when she was alive.
As for whether the Anomaly was truly Mary's ghost or something else entirely, it remained unknown.
She would get out of the car and leave when passing her own grave, vanishing without a trace. Aside from causing a bit of a fright, she harbored no malice. Her behavior was more like a lingering wish from her life—she wanted to go home, but she could never return.
Because the locations where she appeared were too random, and there was no way to prevent her manifestation, the Bureau had not been able to successfully contain her. They could only send agents to drive around outside every night, seeing if they could pick her up.
Shi Rang and Jing Zi had simply happened to drive along a highway within her area of activity.
Thank goodness his Rapid Regeneration—or perhaps his Sensing capability?—had helped him break free from the Cognitohazard.
'As for why an uncontainable Anomaly Project that could easily cause widespread supernatural urban legends would be rated C-Class...'
Shi Rang returned to the car, letting Jing Zi continue driving toward Mary's house, while holding the red sweater she had left behind.
This was her fixed behavior upon leaving—dropping the sweater, after which the driver would feel a compelling need to return it.
As long as they completed this process as usual, there shouldn't be any problems.
Mary was a pitiful person. He just hoped she wouldn't blame Shi Rang for not participating in the act of returning her belonging.
"Mr. Shi, we've arrived. Are you going to return the sweater?"
After being affected by the Cognitohazard, Jing Zi spoke in a dull, wooden manner, very much like an NPC Role in a video game.
Shi Rang lamented the controlled innocence in the other man's eyes. He silently ducked down, hiding in the gap between the car seats, keeping his body low as he tossed the sweater to him.
"You go. Remember, you drove here alone. I am not in the car. Whatever you do, don't let it slip."
"Okay," Jing Zi replied without finding it strange at all. He took the sweater, got out of the car, and headed toward the small house standing alone by the highway.
Shi Rang heard Jing Zi ring the doorbell, and soon after, someone answered the door.
"Oh, something belonging to my daughter?" The speaker was an elderly man. His tone was stiff, as if he were reading from a script. "Thank you, thank you so much. May I show you something?"
Jing Zi replied, "I would be honored."
This was followed by a sharp hissing sound.
Well, that elderly man certainly did show Jing Zi something.
That something was a spray can of a Class-A Memory Erasure agent.
Mary's parents were still alive. They currently lived in the house from her memories, a small cottage by the side of the road near an abandoned Farm.
Unlike when Mary was alive, the two elders had been recruited by the Bureau as Class-E Field Agents. They were issued pensions, Special Communicators, and a massive stockpile of Memory Erasure agents. Their sole job was to spray a face full of chemicals at anyone who came to return the sweater.
"Go back."
With a click, the old man closed the door to the house.
Jing Zi stumbled back to the car in a daze. He pulled the door shut and sat silently for a moment, facing the dark night beyond the windshield, before his entire body shuddered.
"What's going on? Where is this? Has the plane landed yet? Mr. Shi—oh, there you are! Where did this car come from? Why is it dark out?"
"It's a long story. We just had some bad luck." Shi Rang gestured for him to drive forward. Afraid of being seen by the two elders in the house, he still hadn't sat up. "I'll explain it to you later. Let's hurry up and regroup with A Wei first. I reckon it'll be a long time before he even realizes we're missing."
Jing Zi cluelessly searched the navigation system and turned the car around to leave the small Farm. While resisting the nausea brought on by the Memory Erasure agent, he tried hard to figure out what was in the segment of memory he had lost.
Shi Rang was finally able to climb back into his seat, letting out a long breath.
He realized that he had been gripping the Flashlight tightly the entire time, holding onto it as if it were a life-saving talisman. Only then did he casually stuff it back into his bag.
Suddenly, his hand brushed against something moving inside the backpack. He looked down and immediately locked eyes with an innocent little face.
"Jack? Why are you here?"