As night fell, the commercial district remained bustling, with the cacophony of human voices mingling with blaring car horns to form a nocturnal symphony.
Yet just across the street, Hongxing Mansion was shrouded in solemn silence.
Behind the blue color-coated steel barricades, police officers stood guard every few dozen meters. Under the illumination of ultra-high-powered searchlights, the entire building shone as brightly as a colossal pillar of light reaching toward the heavens.
Surveillance cameras operating twenty-four hours a day were trained on every entrance and exit of the building, their flashing crimson indicator lights exuding a chilling aura.
Under the ultra-high-definition lenses, how many times a bird flapped its wings or how far an insect crawled—no movement could escape these electronic eyes, and every anomaly was meticulously logged.
The twenty-first and twenty-second floors had been requisitioned temporarily as backup operations rooms.
Over a hundred monitors were illuminated simultaneously, connected to the infrared wave reflection monitors across all twenty-seven floors.
Any change in readings, even the slightest fluctuation, drew three or four experts to record it immediately.
It could be said that every ventilation shaft, every fire exit, and even every bathroom stall in the entire building was under tight surveillance.
Qin Yue stood behind the massive pane of tempered glass, staring through the window at the largely unchanged data on the screens, feeling a touch anxious.
—The moment her analysis report and operational plan had been submitted, they had received immediate approval.
Ma Mingyuan had approved personnel and funding, and had even borrowed two military-grade monitoring devices from the military district.
With such a massive mobilization, if she failed to produce results...
It would truly betray the trust of her superiors and fail the innocent civilians who had been dragged into this.
“Teacher He, we've waited two nights, yet we haven't found anything new.”
Unable to hold back any longer, Qin Yue turned to look at He Xiaoyi.
“Could it be that the target has already left this building?”
Over the past two days, her anxiety seemed to have infected the others present as well.
Some researchers had already suggested reanalyzing the surveillance footage.
After all, everyone had been brought up on a materialist education since childhood.
Even with video evidence, it was hard to make them truly believe that entities beyond scientific explanation actually existed in this world.
“What's the rush? You young comrade aren't very old, yet you have even less patience than an old man like me.”
He Xiaoyi was standing in front of a desk piled with documents, making instant noodles with boiling water. Hearing Qin Yue ask this, he countered:
“If you were Chen Ping and saw a hundred-odd police officers bringing dozens of instruments to capture you, would you not run?”
“Teacher He, let me reiterate once more. We harbor no malice toward the target; we merely wish to communicate through negotiation, understand his needs, and resolve the issue at its root.”
Qin Yue rubbed the space between her brows. Dark circles shadowed beneath her eyes, and a closer look revealed bloodshot webs across her sclera.
Under such intense pressure, her nerves were stretched taut like a fully drawn bowstring, constantly on edge.
With her focus pushed to its limit, Qin Yue's total sleep over the past two days amounted to less than four hours.
“That may be true, but...”
He Xiaoyi smacked his lips.
“Folks in your line of work carry an inherent official aura and are shielded by the national destiny; ordinary little ghosts can't even get close to you. Since Chen Ping refuses to come out, our only option is to wait. Aside from waiting, there's no other way.”
“I heard you have an ancestral technique, Teacher He, where you can communicate with spirits by scattering rice.”
Qin Yue brought it up as if offhandedly: “I wonder if...”
“Do you really think scattering rice is as simple as eating and drinking?”
He Xiaoyi snapped irritably, “First, you have to pick an auspicious day, nurse your health, and replenish your blood and vitality. Then before scattering rice, you must bathe, change into clean robes, and observe a vegetarian diet for three days. Every session expends a great deal of essence and yang energy—and the stronger the spirit you communicate with, the more essence it consumes. The last time I communed with Chen Ping, this old man nearly lost half his life. If I force myself to do it now, you'll probably have to carve my tombstone tomorrow.”
“I apologize; I was too impatient and acted inconsiderately.”
Qin Yue sighed. “The pressure from above is simply immense, and Director Ma has high expectations of me. I cannot fail the trust of the organization and the people.”
She was not worried about her own future.
Rather, time was running out for her.
Director Ma had made a solemn pledge during the meeting to resolve the Hongxing Mansion incident within seven days.
That was why the authorities had officially announced that the building was sealed for seven days for pipeline inspections.
Although quite a few people were skeptical, the vast majority of the public did not care that much.
After all, Weibo's trending searches changed daily—even by the minute—so the government sealing a building for pipeline repairs was hardly sensational news.
But if the deadline passed and the Hongxing Mansion incident remained unresolved, the sheer pressure from netizens' public opinion would probably be enough to drown the Qianli City Public Security Bureau.
“Being anxious won't help; you still need patience.”
He Xiaoyi offered a few words of comfort, but just as he shoved the instant noodles from his fork into his mouth, an intensely shrill buzzing alarm rang out:
“Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep!!”
The operations room froze for a second before loud, increasingly excited reports erupted one after another:
“Unit 2 is reacting!”
“Unit 1 has also detected anomalous fluctuations!”
“I have visual on my end, requesting to switch to the main screen!”
“Camera 23 detected an anomaly!”
“Camera 76 detected an anomaly!”
“Tracking Camera 137 detected an anomaly!”
“Tracking Camera 107 also detected an anomaly!”
It was here!
“Log it: Anomaly detected at 1:52:15 AM.”
Qin Yue took a deep breath and tapped her earpiece communicator, her eyes shining with determined confidence.
“Everyone get ready. Implement the first operational plan: complete silence, await my command. If anyone drops the ball right now, write up your own disciplinary report tomorrow.”
As her words fell, the entire building went dead silent.
Whoosh—
Just like the footage captured on surveillance.
First, irregular tree shadows appeared outside the window, and subsequently, bloody handprints began spreading along the thick glass pane.
A gust of wind blew a window open.
On the infrared monitors, there was nothing.
Yet a sensation rose in everyone's hearts: something had climbed in through the window.
Though she had mentally prepared herself, Qin Yue still shivered, a cold dread washing over her.
Witnessing this scene with their own eyes dealt a heavy blow to the worldviews of Qin Yue and many researchers.
This was unscientific!
Not even mirages or magic could explain this.
It felt like being trapped in a nightmare where absurd, uncanny visions bled into reality.
“Drip...”
“Drip...”
“Drip...”
Blood dripped to the floor drop by drop, pooling into irregular shapes.
Finally, the bloody prints stopped in front of the blast-resistant glass.
It was as if an invisible person, dragging bleeding limbs, was peering at them through the blast-resistant glass.
“...”
Qin Yue stood right behind the glass.
She could see nothing.
Yet she had an eerie feeling that an invisible entity was standing right behind the glass, staring gloomily at her.
Qin Yue's breathing grew increasingly heavy.
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