Chapter 159: Special Attention Operation |
Whether Ying Shang was actually a Natural Human or not, and whether she still remembered him or not, Shi Rang's love for her would never change.
But the fact that she could be manufactured meant there might be multiple individuals of the same model.
He still did not know what methods the Management Bureau used to create anomaly-free humans, nor how they ensured their age, memories, and personalities were perfectly intact. Yet, he couldn't help but speculate on a chilling possibility: for an artificial human, rather than using a Class F Amnesia Agent combined with a lengthy treatment process to reconstruct their personality, wouldn't it be much easier to simply replace them with another individual of the same model as a cleanup measure?
Was the person living at Number 210 in the town truly the Fan Yingshang he loved?
Jing Zi waited for him in the Parking Lot outside the Operations Zone gates. Leaning against the car like a dutiful driver, he chatted idly with two townsfolk. The moment he spotted Shi Rang, he instantly snapped into work mode, driving him away from the headquarters.
"Head to the town. I want to take a stroll around... Number 210."
Jing Zi could tell he was in a foul mood—Shi Rang's emotions were always written plainly on his face. Upon arriving at the destination, Jing Zi drove the car a short distance away, giving him some space.
Shi Rang stood before the door of that small house once again. Staring at the Out note pasted on the door, he continuously speculated about what Ying Shang might do while living alone.
'Would she tend to flowers and plants? Would she paint the exterior walls of the house beige?'
'What on earth am I supposed to do?'
Until she returned, nothing he did could quell the anxiety churning in his heart.
'I might even end up scaring her...'
Cluelessly guessing until the end, with his mind a tangled mess, he backed away from the terrifying house and released his Sensing on the street.
Perhaps he should start with the Human Manufacturer itself and seek answers elsewhere.
The Charity Foundation's frequent cross-district relocations of their headquarters definitely had a reason behind them. He suspected it was related to the containment measures for the anomaly that manufactured humans. However, since Shi Rang hadn't made any special discoveries in the Operations Zone, he shifted his focus to the off-duty employees resting in the town.
A large number of Management Bureau employees lived in the town, meaning there was a substantial number of Communication Devices.
The Management Bureau was accustomed to placing facilities and containment zones in remote, desolate areas, and this vicinity fit the bill perfectly. This entire area was the private property of the Charity Foundation; the residents were primarily employees or ordinary people who provided services for them. Treating work in the containment zone as a job requiring rotating shifts, this town was highly likely the place where employees resided during their days off.
'Would they carry their Communication Devices while on leave?'
Walking down the street, Shi Rang swept his senses over a cluster of Communication Devices flagged under the Veil Project, eventually finding the one he needed:
[Facility 009 Routine Patrol Control Communication Device #7770]
'Facility 009?'
'The place containing the Human Manufacturer is a facility?'
The Management Bureau assigned numbers to containment facilities mostly at random. The term Facility implied a relatively small containment scale internally, unlike a Zone, which could easily house hundreds of Containment Objects.
That made sense. If a massive Containment Breach occurred, it would undoubtedly affect the operation of the Manufacturer, which in turn would disrupt the Charity Foundation's activities.
Shi Rang halted his steps, directly logging into the Management Bureau Main Station with his mind, and located the registration page for Facility 009.
[Site-009]
[Current Location: Ninth District]
[Due to Veil Project security measures, please submit an application to the Intelligence Department to review physical records]
[Garrisoned Mobile Task Forces: Alpha-5 "Shipkeeper" (Standby), Beta-3 "Dongfeng Express" (Standby)
]
'Two Mobile Task Forces guarding a single facility?'
'And one of them is an Alpha-designated task force?'
Glancing at the brief location registries of these two teams on the Main Station, he discovered that the entire Shipkeeper squad was exclusively dedicated to guarding Facility 009. Shi Rang realized he had vastly underestimated the importance of the Human Manufacturer.
The inability to find similar Subjects on the Main Station proved that the data regarding the Human Manufacturer had not been entered into the network. Its containment Records were highly likely stored offline.
Combining these clues, he finally understood why both the Pan-Continent Alliance and the Ascension Society cared so much about the Charity Foundation.
The Human Manufacturer was one of the Management Bureau's highest secrets.
Just then, that Communication Device made a routine broadcast to Facility 009.
Although the data was transmitted to an outer security perimeter station, meaning Shi Rang couldn't slip in as he would with a wired connection, he managed to grasp the facility's general direction—
Several towering pillars of smoke drifted through the sky to the west of the town. The gray soot dissolved into the air, coalescing into a shroud of haze that blanketed the tops of the forests and mountains, completely out of place in this orderly and aesthetically pleasing community.
It turned out that wasn't an industrial zone, but the location of a military fortress-grade facility.
That was the direction all the donated children gazed toward; their birthplace...
"Hey, Shi Rang!"
A sudden, enthusiastic shout rang out from behind him.
Before Shi Rang could even turn around, an arm draped heavily over his neck. It was so fast and forceful that he nearly collapsed under the weight.
Struggling to lift his head from the person's embrace, he saw the complex symbol on the stranger's forehead and was instantly stunned.
"Why are you here?"
"Why can't I be here?" A Piao, one of the three Heads of the Ascension Society—formerly Sister A Piao to Shi Rang, now Brother A Piao—chuckled as they helped him stand upright. "It's been over a month. You've gotten stronger. Did you miss me?"
'Are we seriously just saying this out loud?'
'There are Management Bureau informants everywhere around here, yet they actually dared to come looking for me so blatantly, sporting this mark?!'
The body A Piao occupied seemed to be that of a delivery driver. He was quite young, wearing a freight company Uniform, and the symbol on his forehead gleamed brightly in the sunlight, noticeable from dozens of meters away.
'What would they do if someone spotted them?'
'Go on a killing spree? Or just abandon me in this mess, shift their soul, and escape?'
Shi Rang hastily scanned the surroundings. He confirmed there were no communication signals nearby, and at two or three in the afternoon, there were no pedestrians around either.
He hurriedly waved at Jing Zi, who was parked across the street and equally At a Loss, then dragged A Piao into the car.
"It's fine. I checked before I came; this area isn't in their surveillance zone. Plus, this guy has a perfectly clean background. I walked in here completely openly." A Piao glossed over the fact that they had devoured yet another human soul as casually as if they were talking about trying on a new shirt. "I'm here to assign you a task. How is your progress with the Charity Foundation?"
"I've made some progress, but they won't let me get too involved. After all, I'm just someone with connections...
"
Shi Rang glanced over and saw that Jing Zi, sitting in the front seat, was already drenched in sweat. His knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel so tightly.
Sharing a car with a capricious entity capable of taking lives in the blink of an eye terrified Shi Rang too, but he had no choice but to keep up his act.
'If I expose the fact that I'm a human and not one of A Piao's kin, I'll be the first to die.'
"...Let's talk somewhere else. There might be wiretaps around here," Shi Rang said.
"You decide. I don't mind." A Piao pillowed their hands behind their head, wearing the same perpetual smile as the last time they met.
The house Shi Rang rented in the town had been selected in advance. It was situated on the outskirts, far away from patrol routes and other residences, making it easy to flee into the mountains if anything went wrong. He sent the thoroughly spooked Jing Zi and A Wei outside, leaving A Piao sitting in the dining room to discuss their highly classified mission.
Not keeping bodyguards around didn't seem particularly safe, but compared to the Management Bureau agents who might show up, A Piao was by far the most dangerous entity present.
Carefully, Shi Rang briefed them on his discovery of the Human Manufacturer's existence, backing it up with the plausible excuse that he had "found it in internal documents." Then, he stared nervously at A Piao, awaiting their verdict.
"Not bad. Making progress on your very first day—you're quite a capable Investigator," A Piao praised. "However, you're looking in the wrong direction. While the plan did require planting an insider within the Charity Foundation to investigate, The Prism is actually trying to find another secret facility hidden nearby. They even specifically called me over to help locate it."
The Prism was another Head of the Ascension Society, a mysterious figure with an extremely deep understanding of the Management Bureau's internal operational logic.
The secrets of the Charity Foundation had become so critical that two of the Heads were personally keeping an eye on the matter.
Shi Rang had improved significantly since their last encounter, and he could hear the underlying meaning in A Piao's words.
They had come here with their own agenda as well.
"What is it that you truly want to do, Brother A Piao?"
"Me? Well...
"
A Piao cupped their chin in their hands, performing a rather girlish gesture with a male body, their face displaying an expression that could almost be described as innocent yearning.
"I want to seize The Ark and build a world that belongs to us."