Chapter 94: Surveillance

Chapter 94: Surveillance

At a certain experimental base.

The researcher was somewhat puzzled; ever since that day, Professor Chu Qing had been acting strangely.

Professor Chu Qing has always been a bit off, but now she seems even more neurotic than before.

She often spends hours with the contaminants.

Standing by the window, Chu Qing looked down at her specimen. The cold metal door had been pushed open slightly, and the sticky red contaminant was breathing.

Being close to this thing made one feel an instinctive discomfort, which was hard to suppress even through a layer of glass.

Most researchers, due to their work, would only stay here long enough to collect necessary data, as no one wanted to become food for the contaminants.

But Chu Qing was actively approaching the contaminant, pushing the limits, with only a glass wall separating them.

She could feel the bone-chilling cold and hear the heartbeat of the contaminant.

Chu Qing observed it, recorded it. To most researchers, this was just a job, but for Chu Qing, she was obsessed with her specimen.

Using "like" wouldn't be accurate; she was obsessed.

Sss—

Chu Qing drew in a sharp breath, her teeth chattering, the fear of the contaminant rising rapidly within her. Her mental state couldn't support her staying any longer.

This was the closest she could get to the contaminant, the limit for ordinary people. If she took another step, the alarms would go off.

Chu Qing stopped, the fear crawling over her like live worms, pricking her back like needles.

The corridor was very cold, treated with low temperatures to reduce the activity of the contaminants.

Chu Qing's glasses were fogged up, her vision blurred. This was her weakness; she refused any form of enhancement, even refusing the well-established myopia surgery. Without her glasses, she couldn't see clearly.

What is the future of humanity?

In the past, Chu Qing believed that only first-class citizens could be called human, while everything else was artificially created. Why should those things be considered human?

But if Zhu Ning was a successful Alpha series experiment, what did that make her?

If first-class citizens were considered pure-blooded humans in Chu Qing's eyes, then what was Zhu Ning, who had evolved to the pinnacle of the pyramid?

A god?

Chu Qing carefully felt her fear, then removed her glasses.

...

Ant Nest.

This matter was more complicated than the Anomaly Incident Team had anticipated. Mutants appeared inside the walls, and they requested reinforcements twice, spending three days to handle the situation.

Even so, they weren't sure if it was fully resolved.

The internal structure of the Ant Nest was very bizarre, with mutants hiding in a chessboard-like layout, randomly attacking their personnel.

Three Demon Hunters died, four Cleaners, fifteen were critically injured, and thirty were lightly injured.

Despite all this, they failed to achieve complete purification. The land was already contaminated, and they couldn't eliminate all the mutants.

Finally, a protective shield was lowered, and orders were issued to evacuate the surrounding residents.

Huo Wenxi was forced to announce the loss of the Ant Nest stronghold.

Most people had evacuated the Ant Nest, but to prevent any accidents, the Anomaly Incident Team remained nearby, setting up camp to conduct the final investigation report.

The Anomaly Incident Team existed not primarily to solve problems but to uncover the truth.

Near the Ant Nest, they had a hover car. Huo Wenxi removed her protective helmet inside the vehicle. She had long hair, braided into a plait and coiled at the back of her head. After removing the helmet, the braid fell naturally.

Her pure white protective suit was stained with blood and dirt, but she ignored it, lighting a cigarette and reviewing the investigation reports from her subordinates.

"Team Leader, you're not giving up?" Her partner was named Zhuang Lin.

Huo Wenxi: "It's too obvious."

Huo Wenxi pulled out a document. "Before we entered, someone else had already been inside, leaving traces. Near Building 35, Buildings 34, 36, and 37 showed signs of structural distortion and fire damage."

Huo Wenxi pulled out a photo, taken from footage of frontline Demon Hunters.

The aerial corridors of the Ant Nest had been severed at both ends, set on fire internally, forming a fiery cage with mutant corpses inside.

Zhuang Lin reminded her, "You haven't slept in three days."

Compared to the truth, he wanted Huo Wenxi to rest. If their team leader continued to push herself like this, they would lose a valuable asset.

Huo Wenxi raised her hand holding the cigarette, signaling him to be quiet, and continued her thoughts: "At least two psychics, and they killed a contamination source without containing the spores."

The contamination spores were not contained, and when they entered, the spores were flying everywhere.

There were contaminants here. From the surface, it seemed that the tomb post attracted civilian Demon Hunters, who likely realized they had caused trouble and fled, leaving Prometheus to handle the emergency.

Zhuang Lin glanced out the window. The Ant Nest was now covered by a protective shield, but whether an A-level shield could hold was uncertain.

The Ant Nest had always been overlooked, but this time it made a grand appearance.

Fortunately, it was discovered in time. If the contamination spread, it would have been extremely troublesome.

Their losses this time were minimal.

Zhuang Lin also found the matter particularly bizarre, "We didn’t capture anything."

The ant nest had been neglected for years; there were no cameras inside, but there were some on the path leading to it and a few around the area that could be used.

However, there was no footage at all; they seemed to appear out of nowhere and then vanish without a trace.

Someone had erased all traces of them, which brought to mind Prometheus.

But even a hacker could achieve the same level of erasure. Whoever went in, they must have had an organization backing them.

Hu Wenxi and Zhuang Lin exchanged glances: "And it just happens to be a metal-type ability, possibly the one Xuan Qing and her group were looking for recently."

That incident was actually first discovered by the Anomaly Incident Team. Someone was searching for a metal-type ability user, but when the case first surfaced, no one paid much attention. It wasn't until the Anomaly Incident Team reported it that it gained notice.

After that, Xuan Qing began to pay attention, trying to find traces at the Cleaning Center. She identified a highly suspicious individual but couldn’t confirm it.

It’s said that the person was released.

Hu Wenxi found the records of Cleaning Squad A70265, consisting of three people: Xu Meng, Li Nianchuan, and Zhu Ning.

This team had only been formed a month ago, yet they had already completed a B-level mission at the aquarium. Zhu Ning stood out the most during that incident.

Zhuang Lin was already following this lead and had obtained the video of Zhu Ning's interrogation, hoping to spot any inconsistencies.

To be fair, either Zhu Ning really was just a rather high-profile "ordinary" cleaner with no connection to any conspiracy.

If Zhu Ning was indeed the person in question, her psychological resilience was top-notch—exactly the type of person Zhuang Lin feared encountering.

What a headache.

Zhuang Lin thought Hu Wenxi would definitely focus on Zhu Ning this time, but unexpectedly, she pulled up the third person's file.

Xu Meng.

Hu Wenxi pointed at it, "Do you know her?"

Zhuang Lin had never paid attention to this person. Among the three, Xu Meng was the least noticeable. Li Nianchuan left a strong impression; his video of trying to act like his sister's puppy had been uploaded to the forum, and Zhuang Lin had seen it.

But Xu Meng?

Zhuang Lin had no memory of her. Her performance at the aquarium was not outstanding.

Her skills were above average, slightly better than Li Nianchuan's, but probably far behind Zhu Ning's.

Moreover, why would Hu Wenxi pay attention to her? Was she related to the ant nest incident?

Zhuang Lin: "Is there something wrong with her?"

Hu Wenxi: "Definitely."

Zhuang Lin couldn’t understand Hu Wenxi’s reasoning, "Why?"

Hu Wenxi: "Check her out."

Zhuang Lin opened the internal network on the spot and started doing research. The Anomaly Incident Team had access to more information. His actions paused as he noticed a personnel change in Xu Meng's personal file.

Xu Meng had previously retired from being a Demon Hunter, though her specific team wasn’t mentioned, before joining the Cleaning Department.

But this wasn’t unusual; many retired Demon Hunters chose to rejoin the workforce, and for those who were injured, becoming a cleaner was a good position.

Their center also welcomed such transitions, absorbing internal talent directly.

Zhuang Lin frowned, "You don’t think it was her who entered the ant nest, do you?"

That was too far-fetched, completely illogical.

But Hu Wenxi was usually very accurate, almost like a fortune teller. In Zhuang Lin’s eyes, she was a witch.

Everyone in their department knew not to be targeted by the little witch, or you’d be stripped bare.

Zhuang Lin checked Xu Meng’s whereabouts on the day of the incident. It was easy to verify; according to the data, Xu Meng had no mission that day and should have been resting.

They could apply for a command to investigate the surveillance around Xu Meng, but Zhuang Lin didn’t think it was necessary at the moment.

Hu Wenxi shook her head: "It wasn’t her."

Xu Meng’s personality wouldn’t allow her to take such a dangerous risk.

After saying this, Hu Wenxi paused, finding it hard to describe the feeling. Xu Meng had issues, and so did Zhu Ning, but they might not both be connected to the ant nest.

Zhu Ning, Xu Meng.

They were somehow related, having intersected at some point.

If thinking linearly, the truth about the ant nest shouldn’t be approached this way, but Hu Wenxi felt they were all part of the same web, shrouded by the same mystery.

Hu Wenxi had only found two points, which didn’t seem strongly connected. Once the link was established, she could not only solve the ant nest issue but might uncover new anomalies.

She would instantly understand the entire situation.

Zhuang Lin was still waiting for her to explain why she thought Xu Meng was problematic.

Hu Wenxi extinguished her cigarette, facing Zhuang Lin’s questioning gaze in silence.

...

Recently, Zhu Ning has been playing the role of cheese, in other words, she has been resting.

After that day, Lin Xiaofeng became especially clingy to her, but her way of being clingy was a bit unusual. She didn't speak and remained very quiet, like a red hat floating beside her.

Zhu Ning guessed she might have scared her, so she hadn't gone out recently, staying home to keep Lin Xiaofeng company.

A ten-year-old child needed companionship and couldn't always rely on Song Zhizhang.

They seemed to take turns; Song Zhizhang had been resting during the day lately.

Zhu Ning sat cross-legged on the sofa, watching a war movie on the TV, while Lin Xiaofeng hugged her knees and watched the film.

Zhu Ning watched with divided attention, wanting to check on the progress of Lao Bao.

When she opened the chat window, she realized only a few days had passed since she urged Lao Bao to make progress before entering the Mechanical Oceanarium. It had only been six days.

But it felt like months to her. Song Zhizhang was right; frequent entry into contaminated areas could gradually distort one's sense of time.

It could drive you mad.

Zhu Ning felt she needed to rest for a longer period.

That's what she thought, but she didn't stop pushing Lao Bao at all. To Lao Bao, she might just be an unscrupulous boss, checking in less than a week later.

Zhu Ning sent a smiling emoji, intending to convey a death stare from the buyer.

Lao Bao replied with an even bigger smile: "Ning Bao! Hello!"

Zhu Ning: "..."

She felt this little robot lacked some social skills and completely missed her subtext.

Zhu Ning spoke more directly, "V-i-d-e-o?"

Lao Bao: "I found them! Lots of them!"

Zhu Ning hadn't really expected much, but the sudden progress surprised her. Her secondary brain flashed, and Lao Bao sent her 2TB of video.

Faced with such a massive amount of material, Zhu Ning was momentarily stunned. If it were before, she might have spent days just watching the videos.

But now she had data processing capabilities. She closed her eyes, and her secondary brain instantly unfolded in her mind, allowing her to navigate through the network as a data point.

Zhu Ning quickly skimmed through everything, which took about three minutes.

Three minutes later, Zhu Ning opened her eyes.

Most of the videos Lao Bao sent were useless, featuring meaningless empty shots. Hours of footage showed nothing but a discarded white garbage bag dancing in the corner, blown by the wind.

Many of the videos featured Lao Bao, as it often picked up trash nearby. When Lao Bao was alone, the screen would display "Lao Bao" in text.

Lao Bao~ Lao Bao~

It didn't have a sound system and couldn't speak, so it used text to talk to itself. Sometimes, a few emojis would appear on Lao Bao's screen.

Lao Bao's work style emphasized happiness above all. It happily roamed the landfill, its face displaying cheerful emojis, and sometimes lyrics would scroll across the screen.

As if it were singing.

In the landfill where no one cared, Lao Bao worked and sang silently.

Watching the videos made Zhu Ning feel a bit depressed. These videos, when pieced together, should be called "Lao Bao's Work Log." She had never been forced to watch a small robot dance from multiple angles.

Wait, Zhu Ning suddenly opened her eyes, data swirling in her eyes.

Among so much material, she found only one useful video, and it was very short, easy to miss.

The video really captured Zhu Ning, though not in high definition, just a silhouette.

Zhu Ning paused the video and zoomed in on a blurry face.

It felt strange, looking at yourself, but it didn't seem like you were looking at yourself; it was like looking at someone else.

And it was a version of herself who had already died, watching her... "pre-death" image.

She knew nothing about this other self, who was so mysterious that Zhu Ning still hadn't figured out the original owner's motives.

Before confirming whether it was indeed the original owner, she tentatively referred to the woman in the video as the original owner.

From the angle, this shot seemed to be taken at the entrance of the landfill, so it captured her, but the camera position was low, distorting the figure, making it elongated.

Her figure was identical to hers, wearing a black windbreaker with the collar up, giving her a mysterious aura.

At that time, Zhu Ning had no wounds. She walked hurriedly and entered the landfill, then suddenly looked in this direction.

After glancing, she continued forward. The entire process lasted no more than two seconds, and she appeared in the frame for less than thirty seconds in total.

The video was very blurry, and no matter how much she zoomed in, she couldn't see Zhu Ning's expression, but she could see the action of turning her head.

Why did she turn her head?

Would a normal person turn their head here? Her movement wasn't a cautious scan of the surroundings but a precise look in this direction.

Zhu Ning had a strange feeling, as if... she were making eye contact with the original owner.