Chapter 619 Abnormal Activity

The once clear sky had suddenly become dotted with clouds, the warm sunshine had faded, and the surrounding temperature seemed to be dropping. The alley was cold in winter, and the wind was also cold—but Li Lin and Zheng Zhi felt that at this moment their blood was colder than the surrounding wind.

The tall, elegant, seemingly flawless "Iron Doll" exuded a tomb-like coldness and danger, standing there quietly. No one knew when or where she had emerged. Her pale female face calmly gazed at Zheng Zhi and Li Lin, who didn't even dare to breathe for a moment.

Li Lin, holding a roasted sweet potato, stood frozen in place as if struck by lightning. His first instinct was to draw his gun, but in reality, he didn't dare to move a single finger, as if he was afraid that even the slightest movement would trigger some kind of "switch" and make the killing machine in front of him pounce on him.

For a moment, he even had a self-deceptive thought, hoping that the other person was just passing by, or that the sensor was malfunctioning and couldn't see him—but that pale face stared straight at him, instantly extinguishing his thoughts in the cold wind.

Just then, Zheng Zhi's voice suddenly rang out, stammering and very low: "Brother Li, don't panic, I...I have experience, she's just an illusion, she can't actually touch us..."

Li Lin seemed to feel a vague sense of comfort from his partner's experience-based words, but the next second, he saw the tall, still figure suddenly move—she walked over to him, her heels clicking on the cement ground, making a crisp, cold sound in the alley.

Zheng Zhi swallowed hard, but still whispered to Li Lin, "Don't panic, don't panic. Last time was even scarier than this. She just lunged at me and stabbed me, but I was actually fine. You'll see—"

As he spoke, he waved the roasted sweet potato in his hand in the air, as if to prove that what was walking towards him was really just a non-interactive spatial projection.

Then the artificial saintess snatched the roasted sweet potato from his hand.

Zheng Zhi was stunned, and Li Lin was stunned too. The two of them stared wide-eyed, like fish out of water, watching the cold, killing machine snatch a roasted sweet potato from her hand. Then Zheng Zhi opened his mouth as if to say something, but before he could speak, he saw the artificial saintess grab the food in her hand and put it into her mouth...

She seemed to want to eat something.

However, the artificial saintess is unable to eat; apart from the bionic structure on the surface of her face, this steel body has no swallowing system whatsoever.

So she simply pressed the food to her lips, squeezed it a few times in vain, and then let it fall to the ground as it was squeezed.

Seeing this bizarre scene, the two brothers instinctively took a half step back. Li Lin also took the opportunity to secretly put his hand into his pocket, but instead of touching his gun, he sent an alarm signal to the Special Operations Bureau.

The situation was bizarre, but he was prepared to die here today—the artificial saintess in front of him was acting strangely, but once a fight broke out, even the most abnormal artificial saintess could easily take his and Zheng Zhi's lives. After all, they were just two special operations agents who hadn't even worked for two years combined. Even if they risked their lives, they might not be able to leave a dent in that piece of starship armor steel. Being able to send the message back before dying in battle would already be considered a meritorious deed.

Similar thoughts also crossed Zheng Zhi's mind.

However, the next second, he saw the killing machine extend a hand towards him—the steel hand did not carry the terrifying sharp blade, but only held a handful of shiny round pieces.

Zheng Zhi stood there dumbfounded, while the artificial saintess stood silently without uttering a word.

Several seconds later, Zheng Zhi suddenly realized what was happening and instinctively reached out his hand.

The artificial saint placed those glittering round pieces in his palm—

It was a bunch of game tokens, the kind commonly seen in many arcades in Jiecheng. I don't know where it was picked up from.

Zheng Zhi looked up blankly, only to see the tall figure take half a step back, disappearing into the cold wind as if the shadow had dissolved into the air.

The chilling feeling and pressure of death, as if a sharp blade were pressed against their necks, suddenly vanished. A cold wind blew through the quiet streets, and neither Li Lin nor Zheng Zhi spoke for a moment—mainly because they hadn't reacted yet.

After three or four seconds, Zheng Zhi finally managed to squeeze out a syllable from his throat: "...Huh?"

He lowered his head, looking somewhat blankly at the handful of game coins in his hand.

Li Lin's lips were trembling, but it was hard to tell whether it was from the joy of surviving a disaster or simply from being chilled by the cold wind. He then handed over the remaining half of the roasted sweet potato in his hand: "...How about I give you this half?"

Zheng Zhi didn't answer. At this moment, his mind finally cleared up. The first thing he did after regaining his senses was to quickly take out his phone and dial a number with trembling hands. He dialed Yu Sheng for the first time, but heard a message saying that the other party was not in the service area, so he dialed Eileen instead.

Those who frequently deal with hostels know that the little doll now has a phone watch. Usually, Eileen keeps at least one body at No. 66 Wutong Road, one of the purposes of which is to be able to answer the phone at any time. In this way, through the doll network's characteristic of ignoring interference from other realms, even if Yu Sheng is active in some other realm, she can still transmit the message at any time.

A surprised voice came from the phone receiver: "Ah? My nephew?"

"I've run into the artificial saintess again!" Zheng Zhi's voice was a little off-key. "It's probably the same one as before—quick, tell Brother Yu! I'm on this street behind the old Runda Shopping Mall!"

...

Yu Sheng arrived quickly. Zheng Zhi had only hung up the phone for two minutes when he saw a door suddenly appear at the intersection not far away.

In the old town area, there are coordinates left by Yu Sheng at almost every intersection. These were basically notes he made casually when he went out to walk his fox.

Yu Sheng was the first to walk out of the door, followed closely by the fox girl who had transformed into an ordinary human. Eileen, as usual, had dead fish eyes and pretended to be an ordinary doll, nestled in Hu Li's arms. Finally, Luna came out of the door—she was still dressed as a nun, but she had put on a hooded windproof cloak and a mask that covered half of her face, making her completely covered up.

Of course, even though she could be wrapped up so tightly, Luna rarely left No. 66 Wutong Road on her own. After all, her height of about two meters was too conspicuous no matter what. Wherever she stood, she was like a landmark. And given her personality, she obviously didn't like this kind of "high profile".

There's no other way today, since she has a "former colleague" active in Jiecheng, and it's highly likely that things have gotten out of control.

Upon seeing Yu Sheng, Zheng Zhi felt as if he had seen a savior and rushed over in a few strides: "Hey, Brother Yu, you're finally here! I was almost scared to death..."

"Your news startled me too!" Yu Sheng quickly spoke up, subconsciously glancing around as he spoke. He didn't see any signs of a fight, and Li Lin and Zheng Zhi didn't seem injured either. This made him frown. "Are you alright? That artificial saintess didn't attack you two?"

Zheng Zhi's expression suddenly turned a bit strange, and after a long pause, he blurted out, "Well... I guess you could call it an attack..."

Eileen, who was pretending to be dead, couldn't hold back any longer. Seeing that no one was around, she lifted her head from Hu Li's arms and asked, "What do you mean by 'even if it's an attack'?"

Zheng Zhi: "She stole half of my roasted sweet potato..."

Yu Sheng and his party: "...?"

Zheng Zhi thought for a moment and then added, "But it wasn't really robbery. She even gave me money; she just gave me a bunch of game coins."

As he spoke, he rummaged in his pocket and showed Yu Sheng the "coins" he had received.

To put it simply, at that moment, Yu Sheng even suspected that he had accidentally eaten a psionic mushroom when he went to the valley for a free meal last time, and that he was now deeply trapped in a powerful illusion. The absurdity of it was no less than seeing Little Red Riding Hood squatting on the roof and howling at the sky—while hanging in the sky was Rapunzel curled up in a ball.

But the nephew's expression was clearly serious, and Li Lin next to him looked even more serious.

Yu Sheng turned his gaze away from the game tokens and looked into Zheng Zhi's eyes: "...Tell me the specifics of what happened, explain the cause and effect clearly."

Zheng Zhi then recounted everything that had just happened.

The matter was not complicated, and it only took a few minutes. Although the situation was extremely unusual, it was easy to explain.

After confirming the authenticity of the whole incident, all that remains is to consider the reasons behind it all.

Yu Sheng then recalled the scene he had witnessed in the dark alley through the memories of the "cat".

Suddenly, just before the evacuation, she froze, attacked her own teammates, and then "escaped" from a dark alley. She then ran into the Boundary City in the real world, inexplicably stealing food, yet seemingly still knowing how to "pay the bill"...

There's also the bizarre act of "attempting to eat."

In fact, Yu Sheng could easily come up with many answers—after all, he is a novelist.

“It sounds like she suddenly broke free from the mental shackles set up by the Secret Order of Saints, but not completely,” Yu Sheng stroked his chin, frowning in thought. “She might still think she’s human? That she bought food from Zheng Zhi? But she clearly doesn’t recognize currency, and she doesn’t seem to be able to speak… She seemed a little panicked when she ran away from the alley. Did she realize the changes in herself then? Or did she mistake the ‘knight’ in front of her for a monster?”

No one at the scene could provide an answer, and Yu Sheng pondered for a moment before suddenly looking up again: "Has the situation been reported to the Secret Service?"

Zheng Zhi scratched his head: "Not yet..."

“I just sent a police report,” Li Lin said, taking out his phone and dialing a number. “I’ll contact the bureau to explain the situation.”

Eileen secretly raised her head again, looked at Li Lin, and then at the super trainee operative with a simple and clear face.

"...Um, do you still remember that you're a member of the Secret Service?" the little doll asked with a curious look.

Zheng Zhi thought for a moment, then continued to scratch his head.

(End of this chapter)