Bai Ci did not hide it. She raised her hand slightly, revealing the ring on her middle finger.
“Yes, but its protective range is limited,” she said calmly, playing along with his assumption and describing the ring as a special item she had obtained by chance.
From the forums, she knew that the Bureau of Investigation dealt with these anomalous events year-round and had even prepared hazmat suits in advance this time. They should be quite accepting of someone luckily obtaining a special item.
Captain Chen nodded. “A blessed item. Our Bureau of Investigation deals with these anomalous events year-round. There are forces in this world that science cannot explain, and a select few occasionally get lucky enough to acquire such things.”
He paused, his solemn gaze sweeping over the two of them before slowly shifting to the horrific scene in the stairwell. His tone instantly grew heavy, filled with grim resolve and helplessness. “You two from the detective agency, the current situation is extremely critical. The insect swarm is still spreading outward, and the situation has far exceeded our initial estimates.”
“To be honest, at this stage, we can only rely on a special item to temporarily quarantine the bugs within this apartment building and a limited surrounding area. But I must be frank with you—the duration of this item is highly limited. More importantly, its side effects are immense. Continuing to use it will only do more harm than good.”
“What’s worse, quarantining the area means the living people trapped inside will become the bugs' only source of food. Their chances of survival will plummet. But we have no choice. We have no other way out.”
To prevent the swarm from spreading further and harming more people, the investigators had no choice but to sacrifice the living residents in this area, using their lives to buy time to resolve the incident.
“Your ring can effectively ward off these bugs. This is exactly the kind of power we need right now to combat the swarm and turn the tide.”
“Therefore, in the name of the Bureau of Investigation, I solemnly request your cooperation in our operation to locate and completely eliminate the insect queen. This is not just for our Bureau, but to protect all the citizens in this area and prevent further casualties.”
He softened his tone slightly, though he remained earnest, clearly showing official sincerity. “In return, the Bureau of Investigation will make sure your efforts do not go unrewarded.”
“We will immediately apply for the most generous material rewards to compensate for any losses you incur during this operation. Furthermore, should you encounter any anomalous events in the future, as long as you ask the Bureau for help, we will do everything in our power to provide protection and assistance—no excuses, no half-measures.”
“Please, give it serious consideration.”
Bai Ci immediately began weighing her options.
Leaving aside the fact that she couldn't just stand by and watch so many innocent residents die a gruesome death, purely from the perspective of her instance evaluation, cooperating with the investigators to resolve the crisis was undoubtedly the best way to boost her score.
After all, while the core mission of this instance was related to Lele's disappearance, resolving the insect swarm crisis and preventing more deaths was clearly a far more critical side quest. Completing it would surely yield a massive score bonus.
Moreover, the material rewards promised by an in-instance faction like the Bureau of Investigation would very likely translate into equivalent settlement rewards. Whether it was points or items, she wouldn't lose out.
She glanced sideways at Lin Wenyu beside her, her eyes carrying a hint of inquiry.
Lin Wenyu seemed to have realized this as well. Meeting her gaze, she nodded slightly, signaling that they should agree.
She shared the same thought as Bai Ci. Rather than fleeing in disgrace, they might as well seize the opportunity to cooperate with the investigators and resolve the crisis. This would not only secure rewards from the Bureau but also boost their instance evaluation.
Having secured Lin Wenyu's agreement, Bai Ci turned back to Captain Chen and said firmly, “Alright, we agree to cooperate with you. However, we aren't very familiar with the situation here, nor do we know the exact location of the insect queen. We will need your guidance going forward.”
Captain Chen nodded. “Wonderful. With your help, our chances of success will increase dramatically. Rest assured, we will do our best to keep you safe and fully brief you on all the information we currently have.”
With that, he patted the other investigator on the shoulder and pointed toward the room, signaling him to continue searching the apartment. He then led Bai Ci and Lin Wenyu, carefully making their way toward the main entrance of the building.
Along the way, Captain Chen did his best to avoid the corpses and bugs on the floor. As they walked, he gave brief instructions: “Our people have already made preliminary deployments in the courtyard. Once we get out there, I’ll explain the details about the swarm and the insect queen.”
Before long, the three of them stepped out of the apartment building and into the courtyard.
The scene in the courtyard was slightly better than in the stairwell, but the atmosphere remained thick with tension.
Two investigators in hazmat suits were stationed in the corners of the courtyard, holding specialized insecticides and detectors, warily monitoring their surroundings.
On the open ground in the center of the yard lay several chunks of what appeared to be fresh raw pork. The metallic, bloody scent wafted through the air, attracting scattered black bugs that landed on the meat and gnawed at it frantically.
As they gnawed, the bugs were actually consumed by the meat instead. Consequently, the volume of the meat did not decrease. However, the number of bugs attracted was overall very small, doing next to nothing to resolve the swarm.
The bugs that couldn't fly away were drawn back by the stench of blood from the apartment building, constantly buzzing in and out of the entrance.
Captain Chen stopped and turned to face Bai Ci and Lin Wenyu. “Based on our preliminary investigation, these insects are called Tidal Ever-Sting Bugs. They feed on flesh, possess immense vitality, and reproduce at an extreme speed. However, they have one fatal weakness: all the bugs are linked to the insect queen. Once the queen dies, the rest of the swarm will instantly lose their vitality and perish completely.”
“We placed proliferating live meat in the courtyard, originally hoping to lure away a portion of the swarm to buy time for our search. But these bugs have undergone an unknown mutation that contradicts our previous data. They now seem to prefer human flesh, which is why we've attracted so few of them.”
“Captain Chen,” Bai Ci said, connecting the pieces of information they had gathered so far to form a hypothesis. “Is the swarm related to Old Man Li, the scavenger who lives in the apartments?”
“Yes. Former laboratory researcher Li Mingxuan—the Old Man Li you mentioned—took advantage of a riot at the lab to steal the insect queen.” Captain Chen did not hide the truth, though due to the urgency of the situation, he only briefly explained the backstory. “Have you discovered any information on your end?”
“One of our colleagues previously went to the underground passage at the back of the apartments and encountered a massive swarm there,” Bai Ci replied. “So I suspect the insect queen is very likely hidden inside that underground passage.”
Rate on N.U.
