Chapter 510 Black Spot

The goldfish swam slowly in the spherical fish tank, and then swam out of the tank as if drifting between wakefulness and dreams, and blew a bubble in front of Baili Qing.

Then it quickly returned to the fish tank, and the bubble grew bigger and bigger until it became a crystal sphere with a diameter of about one meter and a strange glow, and a clear image appeared on the surface of the sphere.

That was the entire process of the "attacker" appearing in the office. Compared to the bubbles that appeared uncontrollably in the office when the containment area was in a "flooded" state just now, the image projected by the goldfish at this moment was obviously clearer and more complete, and there were a lot of details that had not been there before.

Then the goldfish spit out another bubble, and the picture in the bubble was even blurrier and dimmer. It was the scene at the edge of the core area, where a security team was engaged in a fierce firefight with unidentified enemies. Their opponents were several tall and thin figures in black combat uniforms, moving as agile as the wind. Not only were they fully armed, they also seemed to be using strange and extraordinary skills. The attacker who had appeared in the dean's office before was standing behind those tall and thin figures, obviously being protected.

A fuzzy and distorted voice came from the screen, as if the "attacker" with a swollen and twisted head was speaking:

"Don't kill them—the death of the security team will trigger the core area burial... Get me out of this place first!"

After that, the image in the bubble stopped.

Baili Qing raised her head and looked at the "Dean" standing in front of her.

"That's all I saw," the tall humanoid figure said, bending slightly. "After that, I completely lost control and couldn't see what happened next."

Baili Qing didn't say anything, but turned to stare at the two bubbles. After thinking for a moment, he broke the silence: "...They are agents of the Black Spot Group."

Then she raised her hand and pointed at the "attacker" in the office: "The one who attacked you was a 'sleeper' from the Black Spot Group. He must have been the one who put those agents into the sanatorium as an insider."

"...A lurker?" Jinyu's voice was filled with astonishment. "But this guy named Sun Chen was just an independent investigator before he was admitted to the hospital. He had never even left the border area..."

"He may have lived in the Borderland for half his life, but his mind likely left it many years ago. Most of the 'sleeper agents' working for the Black Spot Group don't even know they're Black Spot employees until they're activated," Baili Qing said calmly. "Sleeper agents lurk within their own minds, like parasites within their hosts. That's why they become the world's most notorious infiltrators."

The goldfish froze for a moment, its fins twitching nervously. "So... what should we do next? I'm afraid these people have already escaped. Can we still catch them?"

"They've gone to such great lengths, even going so far as to expose a lurker and a team of agents, it's impossible they're just here to smash your fish tank," Baili Qing shook her head, quickly reflecting on many things. "...These people are after the 'knowledge' buried deep within history. There's no doubt more action will follow."

She was silent for a moment, then suddenly spoke, "Where is the body of 'Sun Chen'? The one with the exploded head."

"He should still be in the morgue," the dean said quickly. "I just checked the access control systems at all the locations, and there's no sign that the morgue's security system has been compromised."

"Okay, take me to see it," Baili Qing stood up from her chair. "If the 'Sun Chen' who attacked you was a 'latent personality' that separated from his original body due to personality materialization, then his original nervous system may still contain traces of the 'guidance' left by the Black Spot Group."

The dean hurriedly followed as he spoke: "...Can you still keep any clues if your head is blown?"

Baili Qing turned around, the shadow of the goldfish reflected in her faded pupils: "It doesn't matter, as long as he had a head before the explosion, I can check his brain yesterday."

…

It's late at night.

In a high-end residence in the central area of ​​Jiecheng, Baili Qing came to the large floor-to-ceiling window.

There were no lights on in the house. Only the dim glow of the night lamp in the corner of the wall was on in the dark room. The night scene of the city outside the floor-to-ceiling window seemed particularly vivid. Cars were flowing like water, neon lights were endless, and the huge city with no end in sight maintained its usual hustle and bustle in the night. The erosion, pollution, weirdness and reshaping that occurred beyond the ordinary people's vision seemed so far away that it seemed like another world.

A pair of giant eyes quietly appeared on the French window, and Baili Xue's voice rang out, "What do you think the Black Spot Group is after? Could it be the 'Goddess of Bad Omen'?"

"It's very likely. After all, they're most interested in 'knowledge' and 'artifacts,' and what 'Sun Chen' said before attacking the goldfish revealed that his superiors were at least after the secrets of the tower—and that tower is a key part of the 'Goddess of Omen's' arrival," Baili Qing said thoughtfully. "But we can't be sure how much they have mastered yet..."

"Sun Chen first encountered the 'Tower' three years ago. Clues suggest it was an accident," Baili Xue said. "But we can't rule out the possibility that he was tricked into coming into contact with the Tower by the Black Spot Group. After all, judging by the marks left on his body, his neurological disease began around three years ago."

"Either the Black Spot Group lured a gifted independent investigator into contact with the 'tower' three years ago, or perhaps an unlucky investigator accidentally came into contact with the tower and was contaminated by its knowledge, and the knowledge that resonated in his mind attracted the Black Spot Group's 'human resources specialist,' who ended up being hired," Baili Qing said, letting out a soft sigh. "Either way, a new rat has gotten in—it's a real scare."

"Yes, we're never short of worries," Baili Xue said slowly, "...then it's necessary to 'share' this worry."

Baili Qing raised her eyebrows and instantly understood what her sister meant.

She took out her cell phone and took another look at the night view outside.

"I guess Yu Sheng didn't sleep."

"...How about you wait another hour before calling?" Baili Xue urged, "He'll definitely be asleep by then."

"A childish, bad idea."

Baili Qing commented lightly, then picked up her phone and started looking through her contacts...

At this time, Yu Sheng was scraping putty off Irene's arm in the attic of No. 66 Wutong Road.

——When she pulled Zheng Zhi out of that strange space before, Irene used a lot of strength. Because the situation was urgent at the time, she didn't have time to carefully select her body. The body she used was made by Yu Sheng from lotus roots, which was not very strong. Although she succeeded in pulling the man back and her arm was not really broken, she still found several cracks on her arm before going to bed at night, so it needed to be repaired now.

The little doll sat on the table obediently, with its arms resting on the wooden racks on both sides. Yu Sheng sat opposite her, holding a small bowl in his hand. He carefully picked out the "repair material", carefully applied it to the cracks on Irene's arms, and slowly spread it evenly with a spoon.

Hu Li sat aside, staring with wide eyes at her benefactor repairing Irene's arm, her saliva dripping all over the floor.

Yu Sheng looked up at the side, rubbed Irene's arm twice more, scooped a spoonful from the bowl and stuffed it into Hu Li's mouth.

The air is filled with the aroma of lotus root powder.

He just rubbed it on Irene twice, gave Hu Li a bite, then rubbed it on Irene twice again, gave Hu Li a bite... half a bag of lotus root powder was almost not enough.

Hu Li squinted his eyes happily: "Lotus root starch is so delicious~"

Irene (smelling of lotus root) puffed up her cheeks: "If it's delicious, go downstairs and get it yourself! Why are you messing around here... Hey, stay away from me! Go lick the bowl yourself!"

Hu Li quickly licked the little doll's arm, then snatched the bowl on the table used to mix lotus root powder and started slurping.

Yu Sheng watched the scene happily. Just as he was about to say something, he heard a rapid ringing of his cell phone.

I took out my cell phone and saw that the call was from Baili Qing.

Irene looked over and was immediately surprised: "Oh, it's not easy, she also called you in the middle of the night!"

Yu Sheng was also quite surprised. He rubbed Hu Li's head while answering the call, reminding the girl not to lick Irene's arm, which had not yet fully healed. Then he put the phone to his ear and said, "Hello? Director Baili? It's so late..."

Before he could finish his words, he heard Baili Qing's voice on the receiver: "Something's happened at Jinglin Sanatorium. A group of rats have gotten into the border area. I think they might be going after the 'Goddess of Bad Omens'."

Yu Sheng: “…Ah?”

The ears of the fox next to it suddenly stood up.

Minutes later, they learned about the attack at Quiet Forest Sanatorium.

Relying on the mechanism of personality materialization, the sleeper entity that emerged after the death of "Sun Chen", the director who briefly broke through the containment, the special agent team that sneaked into the sanatorium... and the Black Spot Group.

Everything happened shortly after Yu Sheng and Little Red Riding Hood left the sanatorium.

Yu Sheng was stunned as he listened with his phone in hand.

"Oh my god..." He was astonished. "No, so many things happened in the time we left there?! And there's this black spot group..."

He paused for a moment, the information in his mind quickly matching up. "Oh, yes, I remember now. I've heard of them before. They seem to be some kind of vibrant folk group on par with the Angel Cultists and the Saintly Hermitage, right?... How come they suddenly appeared?!"

"From the perspective of the borderlands and most lawful civilizations, the Black Spot Group, like the Angel Cultists and the Saintly Hermitage, is a dangerous extremist organization. However, the Black Spot Group themselves don't see themselves that way—they've always defined themselves as a 'cutting-edge technology company' and a 'free academic organization,'" Baili Qing's voice sounded somewhat weary. "Some of their members are from the Terra Archaeological Association and the Algrade Astrological Society. I suspect the rats that sneaked in this time belong to one of those branches. What attracted them... was most likely the knowledge about the 'Goddess of Omens.'"

(End of this chapter)