Extinction
At first, it was just some animal migration, which was not unusual during the changing seasons. But within half a month, the remains of a large number of seabirds and fish were discovered on the southern coast of Area 4, and they were decaying at an unusually fast rate.
At the same time, many precious experimental animals in the major forest areas of District 7 developed different degrees of pathological changes, and the number of experimental subjects available for research dropped sharply in a short period of time.
The most alarming aspect, however, is that a volcanic cluster located in the south-central part of Area 9, dormant for centuries, is showing clear signs of resurgence. According to predictions, if this volcanic cluster truly revives, it will cause significant disruptions throughout the eastern part of the continental plate, resulting in incalculable damage.
"Finally, the World Security Organization and the Association discussed and concluded that the safest and most thorough method is to use external force to separate the entire District 9 from the continental plate and pull it to the center of the ocean far away from the continental blocks." Ying Yungui's expression on the screen was unusually solemn. The dark circles under his eyes were unusually obvious, and it was obvious that he had been busy running around recently.
Shi Youchen's eyes dropped: "Is this the 'Lixin Plan'..." The association had issued a notice about this plan not long ago. The notice at that time did not elaborate on it, and most people did not know the inside story, including Shi Youchen.
Ying Yungui rubbed his eyes and said, "Yes, because this plan is not as simple as it sounds. It requires the cooperation of at least hundreds of people with special abilities to carry out, and it also needs to give the people in District 9 enough time to evacuate safely. Therefore, it is tentatively scheduled to be carried out in three months, which is around February of next year."
Shi Youchen: "What about your mother..." While District 9 isn't large and isn't considered a top district in any area, with its psychic population consistently at the bottom, it's still an independent region with a population exceeding 50 million. District 10 is closely connected to the mainland of District 9, and the Lixin Project will undoubtedly have a significant impact on District 10.
The evacuation and resettlement of all residents must be completed within three months or less, while also ensuring the people's living standards are maintained and not causing significant impacts on other aspects. Furthermore, adequate preparations must be made for the divestiture of District 9, and all of these tasks fall under the responsibility of the association.
All the psychics in the association have not forgotten one thing - they are still in a "war period" with the Maintenance Bureau.
No one can guarantee whether any other accidents will occur during this period. This fact makes all decision makers walk on thin ice.
Ying Yungui frowned slightly. He didn't want his emotions to affect Shi Youchen, but his accumulated fatigue was already reaching its limit. "They're relatively good. At least they have a base in District 8. Bringing everyone back won't be a big problem. It won't be long before we can resume normal operations."
In comparison, the evacuation of ordinary people in District 9 is not that simple.
"It's impossible to have all those evacuated from District 9 settle in District 8. However, time is of the essence, so the association will still consider giving priority to neighboring areas. We have also issued an order for District 8 to fully cooperate."
Ying Yungui pinched his brows. "The most troublesome thing is that before the operation to separate District 9 officially begins, a certain range of 'buffer zones' must be isolated between Districts 8, 9, and 10. These areas are definitely not habitable, but..." He opened his eyes, and the depression in his eyes was obvious. "He Xian's home has been included in the 'buffer zone'."
"..." Shi Youchen was silent.
Ying Yungui continued, "I'm still trying to find a way to preserve traces of his life there, but that place involves the management of the association in District 9, so it's not going to be easy for the time being." Now Shi Youchen probably knew why the other party was obviously much more tired than last time.
"One more thing." Ying Yungui cleared his throat and looked directly into Shi Youchen's eyes on the screen. "The biological extinction incident in Areas 4 and 7 happened suddenly. The Association has already sent personnel to investigate and deal with the aftermath. Now is a special period. Would you consider returning early?"
Today is November 3rd of the 173rd year of the new calendar, and there are exactly 20 days left until Shi Youchen's punishment border guarding mission ends.
"We're still in District 8, and the incident in District 7 happened in the northern forest area, more than half the distance from where I am." Shi Youchen said calmly, "It's far from dangerous. In fact, your situation is even more worrying than mine."
"There are only 20 days left. I'll be back as soon as I'm done here. I'll leave He Xian's affairs to you."
Shi Youchen's refusal was actually within Ying Yungui's expectations, but he was still a little unhappy. However, the other party's words were all facts and there was nothing to blame. It would be better to say that this attitude is what the association appreciates and likes, which is more conducive to the association's subsequent evaluation of Shi Youchen.
But Ying Yungui felt as if his heart was being weighed down by a huge rock, and he was depressed. His brows were furrowed until the call ended.
...
Shi Youchen hung up the call, sat there for a while, and then opened the latest video stored in the bracelet.
The reasons he gave for rejecting Ying Yungui's proposal were not lies, but they were not the real reasons. The most fundamental reason for his refusal to return to the association early was -
Lately, he's been experiencing inexplicable memory loss, or rather, forgetting what he's done. He uses a wristband to record his daily activities, and when reviewing them, he discovers...
"Another three times?" Shi Youchen muttered, watching the video of himself suddenly freeze in place. He'd been caught staring blankly in the same spot at least three times a day. He suspected he'd been possessed or affected by something since entering the cave that time.
Shi Youchen was certain his memory of entering the cave was genuine, but he couldn't recall how he'd gotten back to the house. He'd tried to find the mountain again, but he'd always gotten lost in the wilderness. He'd never even found the two mostly dried-up lakes or the small patch of woods.
In the end, he attributed everything to the "mysterious power" that made the keys float and show him the way.
As for the key left by 07, there was no response after that.
Some things that happened to him recently were obviously unusual. Shi Youchen did not intend to return to the association under such circumstances. He would rather stay in this place for a while and hoped that the situation would improve before the border defense mission was completed.
As for Ying Yungui, he knew very well that the other party was considering his own safety, but emotionally and logically, he didn't want to add any more burden to others at this time.
Looking after Lin Zhouze, completing the tasks assigned by the association from time to time, connecting with family members in District 10, and running around for He Xian's affairs... These things weighed on Ying Yungui's shoulders at the same time, occupying almost every minute he was awake.
Shi Youchen skillfully deleted and shredded the video stored in the bracelet, switched to anonymous mode, and opened the "Forum Area", a chat room for people with special abilities.
Eighty percent of the posts on the first few pages of the forum are about the "Biological Extinction Incident in Areas 4 and 7" and the "Leaving the Core Project." The difference is that for the former, most psychics have a pragmatic research mentality, while for the latter, they basically have unrealistic prospects.
Shi Youchen had no interest in bragging with them about how to implement the "Leaving the Core Plan". He was just curious about whether there was any connection between the death of a large number of coastal and marine creatures on the southern coast of District 4 and the large-scale disease and even extinction of important experimental creatures in the major forest areas in the north of District 7.
In other words, is the Maintenance Bureau involved in this? If so, will they leave any clues?
He flipped through the posts one by one, searching for the information he wanted among a large amount of text that carried the publisher's subjective wishes and pictures whose authenticity was unknown.
At this moment, a newly published topic post floated to the top, with the title:
"Am I the only one who thinks the Off-Core Project is essentially connected to the events of Area 47?"
Shi Youchen paused for a moment, then clicked on the post. The poster, also anonymous, stated in the first post that his abilities were related to animal hormones and that he frequently traveled to various experimental bases. This time, he had immediately participated in the rescue of marine life along the coastline of District 4 and the maintenance of important experimental subjects at a base in District 7.
"Although the animal species on both sides are completely different, and the manifestations of physical illness and death are also different, during the analysis process I can always feel the same wavelength feedback from these completely different animals. It may be a coincidence once or twice, but this feeling is definitely more than just a few times."
Someone quickly responded to him: "So, what do you want to explain about this and the Lixin Project?"
Doubts mounted, and the anonymous poster responded with a lengthy response: "I just retired from the front lines and made a special trip to an abandoned experimental base where I worked long ago in Area 9. There are some descendants of former experimental subjects there. I sensed the same wavelength in them as in the animals in Area 47, but they weren't sick, at least not outwardly. I collected a very short wavelength and released it in an uninhabited forest. Guess what happened?"
"Don't keep me in suspense. Tell me if you want to."
“Share a story you made up.”
"Make it up quickly, or I'll report you if you can't."
A few seconds later, a short video just uploaded by the poster was refreshed.
The video was facing the sky above a mountain forest. After a few seconds of silence, flocks of birds suddenly swarmed into the sky and then fell from the sky in unison.
"Just this short wavelength killed all the living birds in this forest in a few seconds."
"If 'its' energy can have such a huge impact on animals indiscriminately, isn't it possible that it could also have an even greater impact on things like mountains and mines where we can't see it?"
"For example...the volcanoes in Area 9."
Shi Youchen instantly closed all windows. He subconsciously wanted to refute the anonymous poster's ridiculous conjecture, but found that although the other party's assumption was exaggerated, it was not absolutely wrong in theory.
Apart from the distance factor, the hypothesis he proposed seemed to require only the common point of that mysterious energy.
No, if there was some factor that could make up for the distance spanning an entire continent...
Shi Youchen himself didn't even notice that his fingers were trembling slightly as he opened the search box.
Air circulation, topography, biological migration habits, surface vegetation... and so on, one data layer after another is covered, one transparent window after another is stacked thicker and thicker, and the data is stacked more and more densely.
Finally, a dazzling bright red line appeared before Shi Youchen's eyes. It represented the area with the highest overlapping data.
The bright red belt extends eastward from the coastline of Zones 3 and 4 at the westernmost edge of the continental plate, crawls over the north-south longitudinal center belts of Zones 5 and 6, covers the winding northern region of Zone 7, then makes a sharp turn and slowly spreads eastward along the border of Zones 7 and 8, finally stopping at the junction of Zones 8, 9, and 10.
Dense beads of cold sweat appeared on Shi Youchen's back. His fingertips slowly moved along the bright red strip, and then stopped at a certain point.
That area was infinitely magnified, and finally a cliff and a sea of clouds were shown on the interface.
That was the border area where he was now - the Lincaros Mountains.
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