the truth

Lan turned around and continued driving, keeping an eye on Shi Youchen in the rearview mirror. She had an inexplicable, subtle feeling.

A few days ago, the documents revealing the resolution of the District 10 mental invasion incident and the execution of the fugitives were released. When she first saw Shi Youchen's name, she felt a sudden pang of anxiety. It was as if she had known this person for centuries; it was absurd and ridiculous.

The palpitations had been recurring for the past few days. After repeatedly checking her body to confirm there were no physical abnormalities, she decided to investigate Shi Youchen. But she had just returned from the research institute with Wuyan when she saw someone she had met before standing by the roadside in a dilapidated park, and for some reason she stopped.

Until she heard him reveal his identity just now, her heart felt a dull pain again the moment the name "Shi Youchen" appeared.

The car was silent for a long moment. Shi Youchen tried to contact Ying Yungui again, but to no avail. Lan observed him and asked, "Have we met before?" Shi Youchen's fingertips hovered above the electronic screen, carefully considering it, and replied, "We've met twice. I guess... not."

Lan was about to ask further questions when Wuyan suddenly raised his left wrist and moved the automatically pop-up screen in front of the few people. The screen was connected to the central control display of Area 9, which was usually used to send important confidential notifications and could be connected to the wristband of every psychic logged in to Area 9.

"Ahem." The object covering the camera was removed, revealing a complete scene. The man wearing a strange mask took two steps back, grabbed a man by the back of his collar, and pulled him in front of him.

He Xian's vision was half-blurred by the dripping blood. His right eye swollen and painful, he shut it tightly. His left eye slightly opened, catching sight of a flashing red light before him. Before he could register what it was, the man behind him spoke, "Good afternoon, everyone in District 9. We're about to make an important announcement. Please pay close attention and listen carefully."

"First, let me introduce our assistant commentator this time, Dangdang! Mr. He Xian, the only son of the heroic He Lan couple!"

The man placed his palm on the top of He Xian's blood-stained head, turned to the person next to him, whistled, and said happily: "Let's start~" The cold energy instantly flowed into He Xian's body, filling his dry meridians - the supernatural power was forced to activate.

Everyone on the other side of the electronic screen saw a curtain of light unfold, dense and dim, like a theater before a movie. The first scene of the "movie" was an old man coughing up blood as he treated a person lying in the rubble.

"Stop talking! Open your eyes! Don't fall asleep." The old man's voice was already weak, but his hands persisted in delivering energy. The man's pupils were already dilated, and he used the last bit of his strength to place his remaining right hand on the old man's wrinkled wrist.

"Minister... Department Head... forget it." He spoke in a voice as soft as a mosquito. The camera moved slightly to the right, capturing his entire body - his body below the waist had disappeared, only a section of his upper arm remained on his left hand, and the only intact right hand was covered with scars.

The light in the old man's palm dimmed, the regenerative energy had been completely consumed, and no more flesh grew on the man's body.

A weak voice-over said, "Branch Chief, he's no longer able to make it." The sweat from the old man's palms dripped onto the man's still warm skin. He trembled and withdrew his hands, hanging them at his sides, hunched over and staring at the dirty corpse on the ground.

"Mr. Lu...is there any news?" the old man asked.

“…”

"No, it's been 41 minutes since he left with the fission source." The voiceover could be heard crying. "He sacrificed himself to save this town. Branch Chief, we..."

The old man said, "He's a great lover." He struggled to stand up, supporting himself on the ground. Hands reached out to help him, but were gently patted and pushed away. "He'll be rewarded." "Jiang Da, go gather the other team members. I have something to tell you."

The screen dimmed after this sentence, then re-lit a few seconds later. The second scene showed the old man facing a dozen people. Only his face was visible; the others were shown from the shoulders up. It was clear they were all injured, their hair and clothes stained with blood and dust.

"Everyone, no one expected to encounter this situation. The Association certainly didn't anticipate that communications would be completely cut off."

"We've already lost seven comrades. Thanks to everyone's protection, the casualties among the townspeople were minimal, and the enemy suffered heavy losses. However, Comrade Lu Shen from our team escaped alone with the fission source. We need to find him and bring him back with us."

"Before that, I want to apologize to everyone." He bowed deeply to the crowd. "Because of my mismanagement, this area has become so chaotic, and this mission has also come about because of it. I'm sorry."

Someone spoke up from the audience: "It's not the branch chief's responsibility, there's no need to do this." "Yes, yes, we should thank the branch chief." "It will be fine later. We have completely eradicated the rebel stronghold here, haven't we?"

The scene suddenly cuts away, and the third act begins immediately.

At the foot of the mountain, they discovered a dedicated energy marker for the task force, extending all the way up the mountain. "Great! A marker means Lu Shen is still alive!" "He must be up there! Let's go find him!" Overjoyed, they climbed up and followed the marker into a cave halfway up the mountain, where they found Lu Shen, his back pressed against the wall.

He saw his companions, not delighted, but instead stumbling to their feet in terror. "Go! Get out!" But it was too late. Deep within, a loud explosion and a crashing sound erupted. The ground shook, the swaying so thick that it was impossible to discern figures. Some tried to use their abilities, but found they couldn't muster a single ounce of energy.

The screen went dark again.

The fourth scene is shot from a bird's-eye view. Some of the people left outside the cave reacted, using their supernatural powers to prop up the mountain, and then went to find the other members who had entered the cave. Ultimately, they only brought back fragments of body parts, barely piecing together 11 bodies. Adding to the 12 people outside, there was no trace of even the remains of the remaining 6.

The scene froze on eleven bodies lying side by side. The masked man interrupted, "What you're seeing is the record of the S-rank mission from three years ago. So, is it very different from what's registered in the association's files?"

"The mission file makes no mention of communications being severed, nor does it mention the sacrifices made in protecting civilians or evacuating them, nor does it even mention the cause of death for these 11 individuals."

"Why?"

The scene shifted to a darkened room. There were no tables or chairs inside, and several figures stood against the wall or by the window. They were talking: "We can't send this message. This news must be suppressed." "This mission already involves border security, and with the unknown space and energy source, are you trying to cause a riot?" "But Big Brother is dead too! He deserves an explanation, and the people of the entire region deserve one!" "He went there for that kid He Xian! We should ask that guy for an explanation!"

...After a moment of silence, a voice rang out again. "Listen to me. Don't act rashly until we find out where they came from. This is for the benefit of all of District 9." The voice that had just been about to give instructions said, "So, what do you want to do?"

"Just report it as a normal high-difficulty mission. New Year's is coming soon, and this is probably the only S-level mission this year. And there's no trace of energy there..."

"It's normal for a few casualties on a mission of this magnitude. Until we investigate, no one is allowed to publicize or mention this incident."

Shi Youchen only heard the conversation but could not understand the content, but every psychic in District 9 could hear that they were the voices of the most powerful people in the District 9 branch, including the current branch director.

The light screen was shrunk, and outside the screen, the masked man threw He Xian, whose head was covered in blood, aside like a rag, clapped his hands and walked in another direction - on the interrogation chair in the interrogation room of the association's regulatory department, a man was tied tightly, and it was the current branch director.

His limbs were pierced with barrier spikes, and a thick black cursed shackle was placed around his neck. His head tilted back slightly, his eyes staring blankly at the sky. "Restore his hearing," the masked man ordered. A buzzing sounded in the man's ears, and after a moment, he finally heard the sounds of the outside world again. He began to struggle, a miserable cry emanating from his throat. The barrier spikes clung to his flesh, stretching the wounds wider and wider as he struggled. A strange dark blood flowed inch by inch, staining his limbs like mud.

"Shh--" The masked man pressed his index finger to his lips, then remembered that he couldn't see, sneered, put down his hand and said, "Old man, let me ask you something." Upon hearing his voice, the branch director stopped moving, his neck stiff.

The masked man spread his right hand, gently stroking the lines of the cursed shackles. He made a strangling gesture and said, "You could have asked for help from headquarters back then, so why didn't you do it?" "You clearly said you would conduct a thorough investigation and submit a report to headquarters, but what happened?"

His five fingers tightened around his swollen throat, the air in his breathing passage constricting as he heard a powerful, oppressive voice approaching. "Tell the truth, I'll see your little granddaughter again, or I'll wait down there for her to find you."

The branch manager's throat rolled over, and even after swallowing, he couldn't suppress his panic. It had been quite a while. Why hadn't headquarters or the districts sent reinforcements yet? Just as he was thinking this, he heard a devilish whisper, "Let me help you calculate. The attacks on the nearest Districts 10 and 8 were probably only three or four times as severe as your worthless district. Their reinforcements will take at least two or three hours."

"Well? Do you think it would take me two hours to break your old bark-like neck and then send your son and his family to reunite with you?"

This sentence was said close to the ear, so those who were forced to watch the live broadcast did not hear it.

The branch director felt a chill creeping up his spine from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, and he finally uttered with a shiver: "In order to... avoid riots and maintain law and order in District 9... I didn't do that..." The corners of his mouth curled up under the mask, and energy ignited in his hands, pouring into the curse shackles. The branch director instantly felt the icy cold piercing through his entire brain, and a "sizzling" sound like a burning fire came from inside his brain.

"I'll give you another chance to speak nicely, okay?"

The branch director's entire body began to tremble slightly and strangely, but even so, he gritted his teeth and said, "For...peace...of the entire district..." The masked man stared at his pale, cracked, and bleeding lips for a long time. He was still mechanically repeating "for peace of the entire district" and finally lost his patience completely.

With a "zi-zi" sound, the branch director's body, strapped to the interrogation chair, rose up briefly before falling heavily back into the chair, motionless. The cursed shackles around his neck vanished, along with the beating of his heart and the activity of his brain.

The masked man shook his hands in disgust and turned to face the camera: "How hypocritical." He walked back to He Xian. At this time, several other people also gathered around. The woman who spoke first lifted He Xian's face with the tip of her shoe: "Tsk, so dirty, wipe it for him." Then a short man really took out a tissue, walked over and squatted down, wiping the blood off He Xian's face.

The woman looked around and said with satisfaction, "Okay, take it away." Before turning around, she deliberately let the camera scan the surroundings in slow motion - the barriers on all sides of the 9th District Branch Base were still there, but the buildings inside had become post-war ruins. There was not a single intact building to be found, and there was no one standing except the invaders.

The center console display is cut off.

The car was completely silent. Wuyan, who couldn't speak to begin with, anxiously gestured to Lan with sign language, but Lan was so focused on driving the car at top speed that she couldn't think to respond. Shi Youchen was even more silent, because they both knew—

The base was slaughtered unilaterally before any reinforcements could arrive. The invaders were far superior to the District 9 Association.

"We're almost there, the southernmost border mountain," Lan finally spoke. The car brushed past a crack in the ground, over three meters wide. Shi Youchen looked toward the village gradually emerging in the distance and spotted a crowd gathered at the foot of the mountain. This unusual sight instantly dispelled his chaotic thoughts, temporarily putting aside He Xian and Lu Shen. He realized only one thing.

Could it be that the S-level task force has been completely wiped out?