Chapter 711 What I fear most is a sudden attack from the enemy.
As for the two severed arms that fell onto the seat?
He had no intention of picking them up; he estimated that the two severed arms were worthless, and it was definitely not because he wanted to be lazy.
Most importantly, he only had two hands. One hand had to carry the corpse, and the other hand had to habitually touch the butt of the gun, otherwise he would not feel safe.
Having accomplished all this, Chen Zhen once again cautiously looked around. After confirming that it was safe, he slipped back into the bushes beside the road and ran back the way he came.
Just as he ran back to the third of the way, Xu Yingyan suddenly issued an urgent warning through the miniature earpiece he was wearing:
"Chen Zhen, hide! Quickly! That white spider... he's back! He's fast, heading straight for the scene!"
Chen Zhen instinctively lay down on the ground, throwing the body on his shoulder into the deep grass ditch beside him. He then pressed himself tightly against the ground, using the dense vegetation to conceal his figure, and instantly held his breath.
He lowered his voice and asked suspiciously into the communicator:
"What do you mean? What do you mean... he's back?!"
Before Hawkeye could answer, a series of confused and angry roars came from the highway, followed by the violent sounds of cars being dismantled and metal tearing apart.
Chen Zhen was filled with questions: "???"
What does this mean? I've become a corpse thief?!
No, you walked away so casually without even looking back, I thought you didn't care about this corpse and were planning to throw it away anyway.
In fact, it wasn't just Chen Zhen who felt puzzled.
Inside the dilapidated bungalow, the other members of the Relief Studio, who were silently observing everything from the aerial perspective of a drone, looked at each other in bewilderment, their faces filled with incomprehension.
On the screen, the white spider that had returned was like a child who couldn't find his toy, pacing around the dilapidated car in agitation, occasionally smashing the car body with its mechanical arm, seemingly venting its confusion and anger over the disappearance of the corpse.
They simply couldn't understand the perplexing behavior of this white spider.
No, you're a humanoid spider! You have 10 arms, two more than a normal spider. If you want both corpses, why don't you just carry them both away at once instead of making an extra trip back?
Don't you find it troublesome?
Or perhaps you just enjoy racking up steps all the time?!
The puzzle-solving studio couldn't figure it out for the time being, unless they could crack open the white spider's skull and see for themselves how the walnut-sized brain circuits were coiled inside.
To be honest, Shadow Scorpion has fantasized about this "brain-opening exploration" impulse more than once a day.
At that moment, the iron claw on the highway was also having similar thoughts.
He also wanted to crack open the corpse thief's skull to see what was inside.
Why would someone steal a corpse?
Moreover, what they stole was a corpse that was both disabled and disfigured!
This is like stealing a bicycle that's missing a wheel and is rusty and peeling. What's the point?
Iron Claw truly couldn't understand. In his simplistic understanding, corpses were the most worthless things in the world; if you wanted one, you could just grab someone off the street and kill them.
Why bother picking up "leftovers" that have already been processed and are clearly in poor condition?!
Iron Claw grew angrier the more it thought about it, jumping up and down frantically on the spot. Its eight gleaming mechanical limbs stomped on the asphalt road in turn, producing a dense and ear-piercing clanging sound.
It looks like a giant white spider that has gone mad, performing an ingenious disco on the highway.
I don't understand!
I really don't understand!
My limited intelligence is about to burn out.
But what Iron Claw could understand was that the captain's initial order was to bring back two "living" prisoners.
And now one of them has been shot in the head by his own men and is dead beyond any doubt (although it can't all be blamed on him).
The other one was taken back by him, but he was also partially disabled and had a broken tongue.
Overall, it was quite disappointing for the captain.
If he loses another corpse and goes back empty-handed, the captain might make him fill in for that corpse.
Of course, the captain might not actually do that. Iron Claw asked himself honestly, he could still create more value for the team while he was alive than if he were dead.
The captain was particularly short, so he especially hated doing business at a loss.
This principle was secretly taught to him by Fortress. Although Ironclaw did not understand the logic behind it at the time, he pretended to understand it and kept it firmly in his heart.
The problem is, the captain doesn't do anything that doesn't benefit him, but Shadow Scorpion loves to see him suffer losses.
Just thinking about that bastard Shadow Scorpion might—no, he definitely would—talk sarcastic and sarcastic remarks to the captain.
Iron Claw shuddered, and Disco couldn't jump down anymore; all his joints froze in place.
At this moment, my muddled mind became clearer than ever before.
"No, I can't go back empty-handed. I have to find my body."
Yes, yes, I was only gone for a short while. The corpse thief couldn't have gone far. As long as I can find the corpse thief, I can find my body.
Moreover, I can bring back one more survivor for the captain, so wouldn't I have brought back three people in total, one more than the captain initially requested?
Iron Claw's breathing suddenly quickened, his eyes lit up, and his mind began to race.
"Isn't that the phrase Fire Crow always says? What's it again? Something like, 'A scholar's misfortune may turn out to be a blessing in disguise'?!"
Iron Claw didn't fully understand what the sentence meant, but after hearing it so many times, he felt that it fit his current situation perfectly.
That's just...wonderful!
……..
Meanwhile, about 784 meters away from the road, deep in a patch of dense grass about waist-high.
Chen Zhen was like a sleeping rock, or a dead tree root, completely still.
Every muscle in his body was in a subtle state of tension, containing an astonishing power that could be unleashed in an instant; yet his breathing was so light that only his chest, close to the ground, rose and fell slightly like ripples.
This is a fighting instinct forged through long-term exposure to life and death, tempered in blood and fire—capable of erupting like thunder in an instant, slaying enemies in a flash, and also capable of lying dormant like a snake, waiting for the best opportunity.
He keenly sensed that the situation on the highway had changed.
The roars, filled with anger and confusion, disappeared.
The world seemed to have been muted, with only the rustling sound of the wind blowing through the long blades of grass remaining.
Instead of feeling relieved, Chen Zhen felt a sinking feeling in his heart.
I'm not afraid of the enemy shouting and yelling, I'm afraid of the enemy suddenly falling silent!
Chen Zhen began to move extremely slowly through the grass, adjusting his angle between the grass roots and the soil, carefully turning his head and buttocks around so that he was facing the road.
Then, he slightly raised his chin and peered through the gaps in the grass towards the direction where the white spider was.
He spoke into the tiny microphone positioned just below his Adam's apple, in an extremely low voice:
"Hawkeye, why isn't he yelling? What's he doing?"
Inside the bungalow, Xu Yingyan had almost worn out his keyboard from typing so much.
Multiple drone-transmitted surveillance footage was constantly switched, zoomed in, and enhanced on the main screen in front of him.
From aerial views to distant side views, and then to close-up shots as close as possible... we locked onto the white spider from every angle, observing and recording its every move, and incidentally... capturing its "stunning beauty".
As the saying goes, "fair skin covers a hundred flaws," and the white spider's face was all white, making it extremely handsome!
Xu Yingyan answered in a flash:
"Energy readings are stable, with no obvious changes in aggressive posture. Behavioral pattern analysis suggests he appears to be...thinking?"
Zhang Shenyi stared at the pale face on the computer screen, his expression gradually becoming serious. From his tightly pursed lips, he slowly uttered three words:
"White mask."
I only caught a glimpse of the strange and ferocious back view; the features weren't clear enough.
But now, the iconic pure white face is clearly presented before us. With the information database and knowledge of the Relief Studio, it is impossible for them not to recognize who this "spider" belongs to.
Before the mission could even officially begin, and before they could even see their target, Feng Mu, they were already running into White Mask murdering and looting at the entrance of the Second Prison.
This is definitely not a good sign.
For safety reasons, the potential danger level of this mission needs to be readjusted and significantly increased immediately.
Just then, the maintenance worker, who had been watching from the sidelines and almost forgotten, suddenly seemed to have a nerve touched and started muttering to himself.
His voice started low, as if he were talking to himself, but it became clearer and faster as he spoke:
"That's the White Masks. The White Masks are the Hidden Gate Mobile Force. Why would the White Masks appear at the entrance of the Second Prison and even kill someone? This must be a violation of regulations, this..."
He spoke as if explaining to the members of the problem-solving studio, or more like organizing the fragments of thoughts that were swirling in his mind; his speech became faster and faster, and more and more disjointed.
"Yes, it's Du Changle. Du Changle was transferred back from the Hidden Sect by Councilor Wang Xinfa some time ago. This white-masked man must be one of his people."
Feng Mu is a member of Councilor Wang's group, and so is Du Changle... So, is Du Changle helping the Second Prison deal with trouble? Is this white-masked guy helping the Second Prison kill someone?
"Yes, I think I've heard that Councilor Wang has some kind of proposal related to the Second Prison..."
The man in the maintenance department had increasingly bright eyes, and spoke so fast he almost bit his tongue.
His expression shifted rapidly, then he broke into a look of wild joy, excitedly shouting at Zhang Shenyi and his teammates:
"An opportunity! This is a golden opportunity! We must bring that body back; it's invaluable, irrefutable evidence."
No, bringing back the body alone isn't enough. Capture that white-masked man alive too, catch him red-handed, that's how you take him down..."
The man in the maintenance department had a glint in his eye as if he had discovered an opportunity.
It's hard to say how he managed to piece together such a logically consistent and perfect script from the fragmented information he knew in the blink of an eye.
I can only say that the process was entirely correct, but the conclusion was slightly off.
But that's okay.
As long as the Relief Studio listens to him and brings back the white mask and the corpse, he has his own way of aligning the conclusion with the facts.
Unfortunately, no one in the Relief Studio, from top to bottom, paid any attention to his ecstasy and his commands.
He's just a paid "spectator"; he has no say in how the team fights go.
Zhang Shenyi frowned slightly, glancing at the man from the maintenance department out of the corner of his eye, and said calmly:
"This is not on our mission list; our mission is simply to capture Feng Mu."
The man from the maintenance department instantly went from flushed with excitement to as black as the bottom of a pot. His lips moved as he tried to argue his case, emphasizing the immense value of this "unexpected gain."
But Zhang Shenyi didn't give him any chance at all, and directly issued new instructions to Xu Yingyan:
"Raise the altitude of all drones, expand the scanning radius, and search for all suspicious heat sources, signal sources, and abnormal activity units in the surrounding environment."
"clear!"
Xu Yingyan immediately executed the command, rapidly swiping his hands across the control interface.
High in the sky, the invisible drone swarm, hovering like ghosts, quickly dispersed, like an invisible giant net being cast out.
The camera zoomed out rapidly, revealing the wilderness, winding roads, scattered buildings, and everything else in full view.
Suddenly, Xu Yingyan's gaze locked onto one of the split screens:
"Something seems off about this sparrow!"
In the picture, a gray-brown sparrow is circling in the air.
Sparrows are very common creatures in the countryside where weeds grow abundantly and insects abound.
From the drone's overhead view, several gray-brown sparrows could be seen hopping, flying, and chirping as they foraged for food from time to time at low altitudes.
But one of them seemed a bit out of place.
Alone, it flew at a significantly higher altitude than its kind, and its flight path was not aimless, but rather circling the pile of car wreckage on the road, gradually expanding its flight radius.
Xu Yingyan's heart tightened, and his hands flew across the keyboard, immediately mobilizing several nearby drones to focus on the target simultaneously for multi-angle capture and data analysis.
In the high-definition magnified image, the sparrow looks exceptionally lifelike, with the texture of its feathers, the keratinous sheen of its beak, and the details of its claws all rendered with remarkable realism.
Its flapping wings and turning movements in the air are no different from those of a real bird.
To the naked eye, it is almost impossible to detect any flaws, enough to fool the vast majority of observers.
However, on the computer screen in front of Xu Yingyan, a dynamic recognition algorithm developed internally by the studio was running at high speed.
It inputs dozens of parameters from the image, including the sparrow's flight trajectory, wingbeat frequency, the subtle time it hovers in the air, and the stability changes in flight altitude. After a series of complex mathematical calculations, it quickly deconstructs the sparrow's flight dynamics model.
Then it was compared with the real sparrow flight model recorded in the database in the Relief Studio, and the result appeared instantly.
"Flight attitude simulation accuracy is 87%, loiter time exceeds the average for sparrows in nature by 33%, flight altitude fluctuation range is greater than the standard value by 43%, turning acceleration deviates from the natural model by 17%..."
Xu Yingyan spoke rapidly, with a hint of lingering fear in his eyes:
"Based on the analysis of all parameters, the overall deviation from the standard natural model is 35.4%."
Exceeding the warning threshold, and confirmed to be correct, this should be a disguised mimicry drone performing a regional grid search mission.
Based on its current speed, flight radius, and search range…
Xu Yingyan quickly did some mental calculations and hurriedly said:
"In 37 seconds, the probability of it finding Chen Zhen's hiding place will rise to over 89%. Captain, what should we do? Should we shoot down this 'sparrow' immediately?"
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
