Investigators began their work in an orderly fashion. Investigation lights were set up, their pale beams far brighter than the cold storage's lighting, focusing on the area where the bodies were first discovered.
UV lights were switched on to carefully scan the floor and shelves for any lingering biological traces. The sound of camera shutters and the rustle of evidence bags filled the air.
Yue Shi and Bai Wanyang stood slightly on the periphery to avoid interfering with the investigation. Although they weren't professionals, they were transcendents and might perceive clues that ordinary people would miss.
Bai Wanyang scanned the area with wide eyes, trying to catch any hint of abnormality.
Unfortunately, he found nothing.
Yue Shi quietly activated his Insight vision. A golden vertical mark flickered beneath the hair at his brow. In his field of vision, a stream of textual data began to overlay the real-world scene.
Investigators, raw material bins, shelves... most of the information was normal.
As his gaze swept over the highlighted areas, the human fragments appeared in his Insight vision with the label 【Human Tissue (Necrotic)】, with no unusual notes attached.
However, when Yue Shi's gaze drifted upward and accidentally brushed across the ceiling, a line of distinct information abruptly emerged:
【Ceiling (Must not be directly illuminated by other light sources in the dark)】
Yue Shi's gaze narrowed. What did that mean?
Was the ceiling material special, such that direct light would damage it?
He couldn't figure it out. When he looked away, he saw the refrigeration units working in the distance. The main control panel displayed the current storage temperature: -20°C.
But in his Insight vision, the information appearing on the control panel was:
【Temperature Control Panel Display (Temperature value must be -18°C)】
It must be -18°C? What the hell was that?
The temperature shown on the panel was already -20°C, and there didn't seem to be any problem.
Moreover, these bits of odd information seemed to have no connection to the skinless corpse case in the cold storage.
What did those strange prompts in the brackets actually mean? Doubt welled up in Yue Shi's heart.
“Brother.” Bai Wanyang's voice interrupted Yue Shi's thoughts, a look of disgust on the youth's face. “Do you think the corrupt owner of this factory was already in league with that skin-peeling monster?”
“What makes you think that?” Yue Shi asked.
Bai Wanyang speculated with great malice, “Who knows how long that monster has been lurking in Amber City? It would need a place to dispose of the evidence.”
“Maybe this factory is just a ‘dumping ground.’ Perhaps skinless corpses have appeared in this cold storage before, and the owner has handled this kind of thing many times. It's only because the human skin monster was exposed recently and the commotion got too big that the corrupt owner finally got caught.”
He grew angrier as he spoke. “Damn, scumbags like that should be arrested and interrogated properly. We might even find the monster's lair!”
“Hmm, you have a point. The Investigation Bureau will definitely dig deep into that lead.” Yue Shi nodded in agreement, though his mind was still stuck on those two strange pieces of information.
Right then—
Snap!
Without warning, all the main lights in the cold storage went out.
The low hum of the refrigeration units continued, sounding even more jarring in the sudden silence.
“What happened?”
“A power outage?”
Various investigation devices were still lit, so the cold storage didn't fall into total darkness. Everyone present was a trained professional and didn't panic at the sudden blackout.
Several high-intensity investigation lights and UV lights were immediately redirected to serve as emergency lighting, driving away most of the darkness. However, the angles of the light became strange, casting longer and more distorted shadows between the shelves.
“Maybe the factory's wiring is old, or a breaker tripped,” someone guessed, their voice echoing slightly in the vast space.
Despite this rational judgment, being in a cold storage where bodies had been dumped made everyone instinctively raise their guard. Their breathing grew much lighter.
The work continued.
An investigator found a suspicious mark on the high edge of a shelf. He stood on his tiptoes and adjusted the angle of his flashlight to see more clearly.
In the process, he subconsciously raised the flashlight a bit higher. The beam inevitably... shone directly onto the ceiling!
In an instant, the investigator's movements froze. He remained paralyzed in that tiptoeing, head-tilted position.
“What's wrong?” A nearby colleague noticed something was off and reached out to pat his shoulder.
“Hiss!” A piercing cold immediately shot into the colleague's palm, and he pulled his hand back with a cry.
Hearing the sound, everyone's gaze converged. After seeing the situation, they all gasped.
The investigator who had frozen in place... had actually turned into an ice sculpture! His entire body was covered in a layer of white frost, and the startled expression on his face was frozen in time.
He was dead, frozen in an instant for no apparent reason.
“What's going on?!” Short cries of alarm rang out.
The rest of the group quickly moved back-to-back, their lights scanning the surroundings.
With two transcendents present, they were still able to maintain some level of composure.
Bai Wanyang immediately shielded everyone behind him, looking around with extreme caution.
But in the next second, the investigator closest to him stopped moving. Frost rapidly crawled over the man's entire body.
Within seconds, a second human ice sculpture appeared.
Bai Wanyang was shocked. At such close range, he hadn't sensed any abnormality at all!
Panic began to spread. The crowd was no longer as calm as before, given that even two transcendents had failed to prevent the arrival of death.
“What happened? Did anyone see what happened?”
“No, nothing. It just happened suddenly...”
“My phone has no signal!”
“It's a supernatural incident! We've definitely been caught in a supernatural incident!”
Bai Wanyang paced around anxiously, looking everywhere. An energy ball condensed in his palm, emitting a faint blue glow as he tried to find the culprit and blast them to pieces.
Without noticing, he seemed to have stepped in a puddle of water.
He ignored such a minor thing. The unknown enemy was hiding in the shadows, and he couldn't afford to be distracted.
However, in the next instant, he felt a bone-chilling cold invade his limbs. His movements became stiff, and his thoughts slowed down.
“Dammit, I've been hit...”
By the time Bai Wanyang realized he was the one in trouble this time, it was already too late. His entire body was frozen. Relying on his unique supernatural power to stay alive, he didn't die instantly, but he completely lost the ability to move.
Witnessing a transcendent also mysteriously turn into an ice sculpture, the remaining survivors could no longer remain calm. However, their basic common sense remained; they didn't scream or run around aimlessly, but instead pinned their hopes on the other transcendent.
Yue Shi stood where he was, remaining calm throughout. As long as it didn't hurt him, he could stay calm indefinitely.
The abnormal information seen by his Insight vision kept replaying in his mind—
【Ceiling (Must not be directly illuminated by other light sources in the dark)】
【Temperature Control Panel Display (Temperature value must be -18°C)】
Was the bizarre freezing phenomenon occurring before him related to these pieces of abnormal information?
This method of killing didn't seem like Boss Pi's style. Was it another supernatural creature? Or...
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