As night fell, the commercial district remained bustling. The noisy clamor of voices mixed with the honking of cars, converging into a symphony unique to the night.
Yet, just across the street, Hongxing Mansion was currently shrouded in a solemn silence.
Behind the blue steel isolation barriers, police officers stood guard every few dozen meters. Under the ultra high power searchlights, the entire building glowed like a giant pillar of light reaching the sky.
Electronic eyes, active twenty four hours a day, were aimed at every entrance and exit of the building. Their crimson lights flickered with a cold, mechanical gaze.
Under the ultra high definition lenses, even the fluttering of a bird’s wings or the crawl of an insect was captured.
No movement could escape these electronic eyes, and any abnormality was recorded with extreme precision.
The twenty first and twenty second floors had been temporarily requisitioned as a backup operations room.
Hundreds of screens lit up simultaneously, connected to infrared wave reflection monitors across all twenty seven floors.
Any change in values, even the slightest fluctuation, would immediately draw the attention of three or four experts for recording.
It could be said that every ventilation duct, every escape exit, and even every restroom stall in the entire building was under strict surveillance.
Qin Yue stood behind a large pane of reinforced glass. Looking through the window, she stared at the unchanging data on the screens, feeling slightly anxious.
—Once her analysis report and operational plan were submitted, they were approved immediately.
Ma Mingyuan had authorized the personnel and funding, even borrowing two military grade monitoring devices from the military district.
With such a massive setup, if she did not produce some results...
Then she would truly be failing the trust of her superiors and the innocent citizens who were being affected.
“Master He, we have waited for two nights and found nothing new.”
Qin Yue finally could not help herself and turned to look at He Xiaoyi.
“Is it possible the target has already left the building?”
Over the past two days, her anxiety seemed to have affected everyone else present.
Some researchers had already suggested reanalyzing the surveillance footage.
After all, everyone had been raised with a materialist education.
Even with video evidence, it was difficult for them to believe that things beyond the scope of scientific explanation truly existed in this world.
“What is the rush? You are young, yet you have less patience than an old man like me.”
He Xiaoyi was standing at a desk piled with documents, making instant noodles with boiling water. Hearing Qin Yue’s question, he asked in return:
“If you were Chen Ping and saw over a hundred police officers with dozens of instruments coming to catch you, would you not run?”
“Master He, I will reiterate once more.”
“We have no ill intent toward the target. We simply want to understand their needs through communication and solve the problem at its root.”
Qin Yue rubbed her brow. There were dark circles under her eyes, and upon closer inspection, fine red veins could be seen on the surface of her eyeballs.
Under high pressure, her nerves were like a drawn bowstring, constantly taut.
With her focus so intensely concentrated, Qin Yue’s total sleep over the past two days added up to less than four hours.
“While that may be true...”
He Xiaoyi smacked his lips as he spoke.
“People in your line of work carry an official aura, and you are protected by the national destiny. Ordinary small ghosts cannot even get near you.”
“Since Chen Ping will not come out, we can only wait. There is no other way.”
“I heard that Master He has a family technique that allows you to communicate with spirits by scattering rice.”
Qin Yue mentioned it as if in passing. “I wonder...”
“Do you really think Scattering Rice to Question Spirits is as simple as eating and drinking?”
He Xiaoyi said irritably, “First, a suitable day must be chosen. Then, one must rest the body and replenish their vital energy.”
“Before scattering the rice, one must bathe, change clothes, and maintain a vegetarian diet for three days.”
“Each communication consumes a massive amount of essence and yang energy. The stronger the spirit being contacted, the more essence is consumed.”
“The last time I channeled Chen Ping, this old man almost lost half his life. If I were to force a channeling now, you would probably be carving my tombstone tomorrow.”
“I am sorry. I was too impatient and did not consider the consequences.”
Qin Yue sighed.
“The pressure from above is very high. Director Ma has high expectations for me. I cannot fail the trust of the organization and the people.”
She was not worried about her own future.
It was simply that she was running out of time.
Director Ma had issued a military order at the meeting, stating that the Hongxing Mansion incident must be resolved within seven days.
Therefore, the official announcement to the public was that the building was closed for seven days for a pipe inspection.
Although many were suspicious, most citizens did not actually care that much.
After all, the trending topics on Weibo changed daily, or even every minute. The government closing a building to fix pipes was hardly exciting news.
But if the Hongxing Mansion incident was not resolved within the allotted time, the pressure from public opinion alone would be enough to overwhelm the Qianli City Police Bureau.
“Being anxious is useless. You still need patience.”
He Xiaoyi offered a few words of comfort. Just as he shoved the instant noodles into his mouth with a fork, he heard a sudden, sharp, and rapid buzzing:
“Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep!!”
The operations room froze for a second. Then, one after another, excited reports rang out:
“Unit Two has a reaction!”
“Unit One has also detected abnormal fluctuations!”
“I have a visual here! Requesting a switch to the main screen!”
“Camera Twenty Three has found an abnormality!”
“Camera Seventy Six has found an abnormality!”
“Tracking Camera One Hundred Thirty Seven has found an abnormality!”
“Tracking Camera One Hundred and Seven has also found an abnormality!”
It was here!
“Record it. One fifty two and fifteen seconds AM, abnormality discovered.”
Qin Yue took a deep breath and tapped the communicator at her ear. Her eyes shone with a confidence determined to succeed.
“Everyone, prepare to implement the first operational plan.”
“Total silence. Wait for my command.”
“If anyone drops the ball at a time like this, you can write your own resignation report tomorrow.”
As her voice fell, the entire building went silent.
Whoosh—
It was just like the footage captured by the surveillance before.
First, irregular tree shadows appeared outside the window. Then, one by one, bloody handprints began to spread across the thick glass windows.
A wind blew the window open.
On the infrared monitors, there was nothing.
But everyone had a feeling in their hearts.
Something had crawled in through the window.
Despite being mentally prepared, Qin Yue still trembled, her whole body turning cold.
Seeing such a scene with her own eyes, her worldview, along with that of many researchers, was being shattered.
This was not scientific!
Even using mirages or magic could not explain all of this.
It felt like being in a dream where the absurd and eerie sights were bleeding into reality.
Drip...
Drip...
Drip...
That blood fell onto the floor drop by drop, merging into irregular puddles.
Finally, those bloody prints stopped in front of the blast proof glass.
It was as if an invisible person was dragging bleeding limbs, observing them through the reinforced glass.
“...”
Qin Yue stood right behind the glass.
She could see nothing.
But she had a bizarre sensation.
An invisible presence was standing just behind the glass, staring at her gloomily.
Qin Yue’s breathing gradually became heavy.
Rate on N.U.
