Chapter 100: Looking Back and Smiling Scared
When I walked into the house, I saw bloodstains all over the walls. The smell of blood in the air had not even completely dissipated. I thought it must be left over from that night.
Seeing this scene, everyone was silent.
Although we did not know these colleagues who sacrificed their lives, as fellow investigation bureau members, we all knew that they persevered to the end.
I observed a few seconds of silence in my heart for these colleagues.
Then he turned to Fan Buqiu and asked:
"Where are your monitoring room and supply warehouse?"
Fan Buqiu answered expressionlessly while touching the bloodstains on the wall.
"The monitoring room is on the top floor, and the supply warehouse is in the basement."
When I heard that these two places were one above and one below, I couldn't help but frown.
If we want to complete the task earlier, we must split into two groups and go to these two places.
But after dividing into two groups, our safety cannot be guaranteed.
After all, Chen Yubing has lost his ability, and Jiang Wang and Fan Buqiu are both unstable factors.
If we don't split up, it will take us longer to complete the task.
As time goes by, there are more variables.
After all, from the moment I walked in, the Morse code that had been ringing in my ears had completely disappeared.
It would have been fine if it had been quiet all the time, but before that, the frequency of the Morse code in my ears became obviously very chaotic and unintelligible.
This is not a good sign, as it means there is energy nearby that can interfere with Morse code, or pollution that can cause cognitive biases.
Either way, it's tricky.
Chen Yubing, who was standing by, noticed my hesitation and thought for a moment before saying to me, "Ji Ling, let's all go to the top floor and find out the truth first."
I thought about it for a moment and nodded in agreement.
Although it may take some time, one of the purposes of our coming here is to get to the bottom of the matter.
After finalizing the decision, we went to the top floor under the guidance of Fan Buqiu.
There was a sign on the door at the end of the top floor that read "Monitoring Room". Fan Buqiu swiped his ID card on the door.
The indicator light on the door lock flashed twice, and then the door opened with a click.
Inside was a very large room with more than a dozen large screens, and each screen had twelve pictures.
These hundred or so pictures captured the entrances and exits of the entire investigation bureau, as well as some public places and some less important offices.
It can be said that as long as it is not confidential, you can see any content you want to see.
"What happened on the day the incident happened at the Investigation Bureau?"
Fan Buqiu walked to the operating table and clicked a few times on the screen. In an instant, hundreds of images on all the display screens jumped together, returning to the day of the incident.
On one of the screens, the door of an office that looked very confidential suddenly opened, and then a middle-aged man with a slightly high hairline walked out slowly and greeted the first person he met.
He turned around with a somewhat strange posture, and the next moment, his figure disappeared from the spot. The next second, the middle-aged man suddenly appeared behind the investigator who greeted him. In the blink of an eye, the investigator's head was twisted 180 degrees backwards by the middle-aged man.
The poor investigator lost his life before he could react.
Then the middle-aged man in the picture changed physically.
Suddenly, several radiating cracks appeared on his face, and then his entire face opened like a flower, but inside was not bones, but layer upon layer of teeth.
At the same time, his body swelled up rapidly, and strands of flesh grew out of his body. Those strands of flesh seemed to have life, scattering in all directions, followed by an extremely bloody massacre scene.
It didn't take him long to tell that this middle-aged man was the boss that Fan Buqiu was talking about.
After realizing that the boss was out of control, they quickly attracted the "Sword of Dawn" team. As the special operations team of the Investigation Bureau, these members were indeed well-trained.
After several days of stubborn resistance, there were still quite a few left.
I have some doubts in my mind. Judging from the current situation, even if the director is very powerful, he is not completely unable to suppress the enemy.
The strength of the special operations team is not to be underestimated.
The next second, something shocking happened.
For some unknown reason, those special operations team members who were originally well-trained suddenly all mutated.
Hundreds of surveillance footage showed either corpses or investigators transformed into monsters, creating a scene of hell with demons raging everywhere.
Even though we were used to seeing monsters and blood, we couldn't help but gasp.
And for some reason, when I see these pictures, I always feel inexplicably anxious and irritated.
If you say it's because the scene is too bloody and weird, that doesn't make sense.
That kind of panic and irritability was not fear, but a kind of - heartbeat.
Yes, that heart-pounding feeling.
It even makes people want to join in.
After realizing my thoughts, I was startled, and then a tingling sensation swept through my body.
How could I have such an idea?
Pinching my hand to calm myself down, I continued watching the screen.
Even the fast-forwarded surveillance footage was still very long. Until we all felt a little numb, the entire battlefield came to an end.
Everyone was dead, leaving only the director who had regained consciousness, kneeling beside the pile of corpses and crying.
After crying for a while, the director picked up a gun on the ground with a look of despair and put the muzzle to his temples.
A second before he committed suicide, he suddenly seemed to sense something and looked in the direction of the monitor.
To be precise, it was more like he was looking at me through the surveillance camera.
Although it was logically impossible, my intuition told me that he was looking at me.
Then the director gave me a weird smile.
Gunshots rang out and the director fell to the ground.
After that, there was no change in the surveillance footage because everyone was dead.
At this moment, I have no time to pay attention to any details.
I just felt my hair stand on end, and my mind was full of the director's appearance just now and that inexplicable smile.
He was really looking at me just now...
But how is that possible? This was surveillance footage from over ten days ago. How did he know someone would be watching this camera?
Or did he deliberately look at the camera just to create that feeling?
Didn’t Fan Buqiu notice it before?
"Did he just...look back at the surveillance camera?"
I stuttered so hard I could barely finish my sentences.
"He...he..." I pointed at the screen tremblingly, but I couldn't say the rest of the words.
"Ji Ling? What's wrong with you?" Jiang Wang asked me with some confusion.
Fan Buqiu also had a confused expression.
Chen Yubing frowned and asked me, "Did you see something just now?" Chapter 101: Isolated and Helpless
"Didn't you guys see? He just... turned around and looked at us."
I just feel that my thoughts are a little confused at the moment. I want to express myself but I don’t know how to express it clearly.
"Really not."
Everyone looked at me with confusion.
After Jiang Wang finished speaking, he stretched out his hand and waved it in front of my eyes, "Ji Ling, are you dazzled?"
"Didn't you see anything? Not even one?" I asked again uncertainly.
Everyone shook their heads.
Chen Yubing glanced at my expression and frowned. Suddenly, she turned to Fan Buqiu and said,
"Let's go back in time and watch it again."
Fan Buqiu nodded and rewound the time node back to its previous position as Chen Yubing requested.
In the surveillance footage, the director collapsed and cried loudly in front of the corpses on the ground, then picked up the pistol and pointed it at his temples with a deathly pale face.
I stared at the screen intently, my heart in my throat.
The director in the picture closed his eyes, then pulled the trigger, and then he fell to the ground.
During the entire process, he never looked back at the surveillance camera, let alone smiled at it.
Could it be that I really saw it wrong?
I didn't give up and went back to watch it a few more times, but no matter how many times I watched it, the same scene never appeared again.
"Are you okay?" Jiang Wang asked me worriedly when he saw that I looked unwell.
I shook my head and said nothing.
"Maybe you're too tired." Fan Buqiu looked at me with some concern.
Only Chen Yubing and Lin Hanning remained silent, seemingly thinking about something.
I pressed my throbbing solar plexus, exhaled a breath of foul air, and after a brief adjustment of my state, I looked up and said to everyone:
"It's okay, I'm probably just too nervous."
Even though I said this, my heart was still heavy. Regardless of whether I saw it right or not, it only proved one thing:
I'm not in the right state right now.
The most frustrating thing is that I don’t know what causes it.
"Keep reading and see what happens after the incident." In order to prevent others from thinking too much, I forced myself to stay calm and said to Fan Buqiu.
"Why don't you go to bed first?" Jiang Wang suddenly said.
I was a little confused and didn't know why he suddenly asked me to go to bed. Although Jiang Wangren was a bit reckless, he was not a brainless person. He must have his reasons for saying that.
But he didn't explain the reason, which was not like Jiang Wang's character.
Unless... he was on guard against something.
But then I thought, Jiang Wang looked at the moon yesterday and seemed even more abnormal than I was. Although I believe he has no bad intentions, I can't believe everything he says.
I waved my hand and rejected Jiang Wang's proposal: "No, I can still hold on."
As I said that, I said to Fan Buqiu, "Brother Fan, thank you for your help."
"Well, let's see first. If you really can't hold on any longer, go and rest. Although the branch office is already..., there are still safe rooms."
When Fan Buqiu talked about the annihilation of the entire army, he paused, unable to bear to continue, and directly told me that there was a room for rest.
It's understandable, after all, those people are his comrades-in-arms.
"Okay, thank you Brother Fan."
After expressing my gratitude to Fan Buqiu, I turned my attention back to the screen.
There are three reasons why I insisted on continuing to watch it.
First, Jiang Wang’s words are not entirely credible. He suddenly asked me to go to bed. There must be something fishy going on. I have to be careful.
Second, if I sleep, it will waste more time. In this environment, even one second of delay could be fatal. I must advance the investigation as much as possible before dark.
Third, in the surveillance footage just now, there were corpses all over the ground, but from the time we entered this base until now, there have been no corpses except for those shocking bloodstains.
This is also the issue that I care about most. I don’t believe that Fan Buqiu can bury all hundreds of people in the first place.
If we knew how the body disappeared, perhaps we could find the key to the problem.
"I've watched the surveillance footage many times. Actually, there's nothing interesting to see. The real problem is at night." Fan Buqiu suddenly said.
"No, just watch it this way. It won't take too long even if you turn it up to double speed." Chen Yubing refused without even thinking.
Seeing that she was so stubborn, Fan Buqiu didn't say anything more, just nodded and continued to watch with us.
Just as Fan Buqiu said, nothing unusual happened afterwards.
The surveillance footage was still silent. If the time displayed next to it hadn't been moving forward, I would have even suspected that it was stuck.
After a long time, the time on the surveillance footage finally reached midnight. Just when everyone was starting to feel a little sleepy, the content on the screen finally changed.
The corpses in the picture suddenly seemed to be lifted up by something, floating up and then disappearing into the void little by little.
"It's right here." Fan Buqiu frowned, staring at the screen and said in a deep voice.
These corpses did not gradually become transparent, but seemed to be suddenly dragged into an invisible place by something.
But there was clearly nothing where they disappeared.
On the screen, the corpses were dragged into an invisible place in the visual space one by one, until all the corpses disappeared and the picture became what it looked like when we entered the base today.
Everyone present fell into deep thought. Although the scene was strange, everyone was not without a clue.
"I've heard some strange stories before. Some ghosts and monsters can't be captured by surveillance cameras. Could this phenomenon be based on the same principle?" Jiang Wang said after careful consideration.
Although the people present were all highly educated materialist fighters, they did not believe in the so-called ghost stories. They thought that these were just explanations that ordinary people came up with when they encountered abnormal events.
But what Jiang Wang said was not without reason. It was possible that some abnormal units could not be captured by the equipment. This was recognized common sense within the Investigation Bureau.
Obviously Fan Buqiu also knew this truth. He shook his head and said:
"I've thought about this possibility, so I also carefully explored it at night, but I didn't find anything."
"Maybe the observation method is wrong, or maybe there are triggering conditions for this phenomenon." Chen Yubing said after thinking for a while.
Hearing Chen Yubing say this, Fan Buqiu's expression became helpless.
"Then what else can I do? If there really is a triggering condition as you said, then the probability is that it will go out of control or kill people. Either way, I have no way to verify it."
That makes sense, I thought about it for a while and suggested.
"Well, let's ask the company for help first, and make all the decisions after the main force arrives."
No one had any objection to my proposal.
Because we are likely to rest here tonight, Fan Buqiu was very proactive in arranging a room for us.
At my strong request, I was placed in the room closest to the monitoring room.
As soon as the rooms were assigned, we planned to go to the supply warehouse to count the supplies.
Before going downstairs, I suddenly remembered something.
"I'm going to copy the surveillance footage first. Please wait for me."
After saying that, I went to make a copy of the surveillance footage.
While copying, I also watched the video of the night of the incident again.
This time, I still didn't see that weird smile.
After finding no abnormalities for several times in a row, I left the monitoring room and went downstairs with everyone else.
Just after we left the fifth floor, the door of my room suddenly opened and a dark shadow came in from outside.
…
We went all the way down from the top floor to the basement. Looking at the warehouse full of supplies and the strange smell in the air, we felt a little headache for a moment.
Lin Hanning picked up a moldy biscuit from the supplies and said to me.
"A lot of stuff here has gone bad, mixed in with the stuff that hasn't gone bad, so it's hard to sort it out."
Before I could answer, Jiang Wangxian shrugged at Lin Hanning.
"What else can I do? I'll just clean up slowly."
After saying that, he rolled up his sleeves and began to count the supplies. Seeing that he had already started working, the rest of us followed suit and started to pack up.
After moving a box of moldy food out of the warehouse, I said to Fan Buqiu:
"Brother Fan, why are there so many things spoiled in your warehouse?"
"We can't help it. Our boss destroyed our generator during his madness, and the remaining energy is no longer enough to keep the cold storage running."
Fan Buqiu looked at the piles of rotten food and sighed helplessly, his eyes revealing the heartache he couldn't hide.
Not only him, we all feel a little sorry that these precious foods are lost due to such problems.
It took us two hours to count all the supplies.
After counting our things, we returned to our respective rooms.
As soon as I entered the room and before I sat down, there was a knock on my door.
When I opened the door, I saw Chen Yubing standing there.
Seeing her like this, I naturally knew that she wanted to say something to me, so I turned sideways and motioned her to come in.
After she came in, I leaned out the door and took a few looks. After making sure that there was no one else at the door, I quickly closed the door.
After I closed the door, Jiang Wang's room door opened.
After seeing me close the door, Chen Yubing said to me straight away, "Ji Ling, there's a very troublesome matter right now. The bureau can't send anyone over here today."
"Ah, did something happen at the bureau?"
"I just received news from the bureau that the road from Xinyan City to Tiannan City is completely blocked due to a landslide."
"Landslide?" I repeated with some surprise.
"Have you found out the reason?"
Chen Yubing nodded. "Because of the continuous rainfall, the vegetation on that mountain was already sparse. After the apocalypse, the few plants that existed were almost all dead. The soil is loose and can't hold out for much longer."
This is a very reasonable reason.
But... it's so reasonable.
"Yubing, don't you think... it's a bit coincidental? This happened right when our supply lines were cut off."
"I know what you mean. I find it a little strange too."
As Chen Yubing spoke, his expression became serious.
No one can tell when the broken road will be repaired.
"What should we do then?"
When I heard that the road was blocked, I felt a little anxious.
After all, the mission has reached a point where it is no longer something that can be completed by just a few of us.
And now we also need the bureau to transport the supplies back.
There is not much energy left here, that is, there is some backup energy for monitoring.
If these remaining supplies are not shipped back in the next two days, they will eventually spoil here.
Moreover, after finding out the cause of the incident in the Investigation Bureau here, the headquarters will most likely establish a new Investigation Bureau branch here again.
"The bureau is ready to send someone here by helicopter, but..."
"But what?"
Using a helicopter to send people here is also a good idea. Although the number of people and goods transported at one time is not large, flying a few more times can solve the problem here.
But Chen Yubing's "but" added fuel to my already anxious heart.
"It is said that a large number of unusual creatures have appeared in the sky above Tiannan City. With these creatures present, it is impossible for aircraft to approach Tiannan City."
Another unexpected change has occurred, and I always feel like I am shrouded in fog.
It was as if the truth was right in front of me, but I couldn't see it.
And all this does not seem to be an ordinary doomsday disaster, but more like some person or mysterious force is controlling all of this.
Ever since we came to Tiannan City, I have been feeling unwell.
I still vaguely felt like someone was watching me.
At this moment, I suddenly remembered the Morse code I heard last night. One of the sentences was:
It's looking for you, don't let it find you.
I have previously speculated that "it" might be the moon, but it is just a guess.
It is still uncertain what that so-called "it" is.
But I had a feeling that “it” had found me and that I was now under “its” gaze.
When I realized this, I just felt uneasy.
However, after experiencing so many strange things, although I felt uneasy, I soon accepted this fact.
Now I have a more important question to ask Chen Yubing:
"So what should we do now? Should we try to open up the road?"
"We can't open the road with just a few of us. Besides, fog will appear in Tiannan City at night. As you know, this fog is different from the fog in other areas."
Just like Chen Yubing said, there is little we can do now. We can only wait here for people from the bureau to arrive.
Just when I was thinking about how to break the deadlock, Chen Yubing asked me a question out of the blue.
"What do you think of Fan Buqiu?"
Faced with Chen Yubing's question, I thought for a moment and then answered truthfully.
"I still have my suspicions about Fan Buqiu, but I can't produce any evidence, so everything is just suspicion."
"It's okay. I'm still worried about him, including Jiang Wang."
Just after Chen Yubing finished talking about Jiang Wang, there was a sound at my door, as if someone was eavesdropping at the door.
Hearing the sound, Chen Yubing quickly ran over and opened the door.
After opening the door, Jiang Wang rushed in.
Seeing that it was Jiang Wang eavesdropping at the door, Chen Yubing took out his gun and pointed it at him.
She was already suspicious of Jiang Wang, and when she saw that Jiang Wang was still eavesdropping, Chen Yubing pointed the gun at him directly.
Seeing this situation, I held down Chen Yubing's hand while questioning Jiang Wang.
"Jiang Wang, what do you want to do?"
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