Chapter 19
Chen Nan's first task was to go with the group to mediate a neighborhood dispute. A young man called, saying that the elderly person upstairs was acting strangely, constantly banging on the floor and smashing things in the house in the middle of the night and early morning. He hoped they could go over and check on the situation and stop it.
This sounded like a typical neighborhood dispute, so everyone was quite relaxed. At Tang Ke's reminder, Chen Nan also engaged the safety on her sidearm.
But in this society, it's better to be safe than sorry.
When they arrived at Building 17, No. 78, Fourth Ring Road, He Jun and Yu Guangyuan put on protective suits. Chen Nan and Tang Ke, on the other hand, wore their usual superpowered police uniforms because they were superpowered individuals and their uniforms were specially made and could provide some protection.
"Xiao Yuan, why don't you stay in the car?"
Just before going up, He Jun thought that Yu Guangyu was only in his early twenties, still a young man. He Jun didn't want him to get started too quickly, so he left him in the car.
"ah--"
The young man, who wasn't very old, had initially wanted to act cute, but after He Jun said "be obedient" in a serious tone, and seeing Tang Ke and Chen Nan already waiting in the car, as well as the elderly residents who were out shopping and walking their dogs, Yu Guangyuan quickly said yes and closed the car door tightly.
"Officer, are we sure we're not in any trouble here?"
In this day and age, when something happens, the thing people most want to see is the police. But when things are peaceful, the thing people least want to see is also the police, especially those in blue superpowered suits. Almost as soon as they got out of their car, several elderly people with dogs and children in the neighborhood quickly approached them and started asking questions.
Perhaps young people are increasingly afraid and unwilling to go out. They basically avoid leaving the house unless absolutely necessary, except for work. But for older people, perhaps out of boredom or a feeling of having had enough of life, most have an indifferent attitude.
Even though they usually acted fearless, when they saw that there were actually supernatural police officers in their neighborhood, their expressions changed drastically, and they all rushed over anxiously.
The two people who brought their children down for a walk had almost ashen faces as they hurriedly questioned Chen Nan and Tang Ke while holding their kids.
"It's nothing, just a regular case, so don't worry. But while we're handling the case, everyone should go home as soon as possible, keep your doors closed, and if possible, wear a mask for now."
Although the police report was just a typical neighborhood dispute, Tang Ke, who had worked in various departments across the country and had seen all sorts of possibilities, still followed the procedure.
“Yes, everyone go inside now. Wait until we say you can come out before you come out.” He Jun glanced at Tang Ke, who was skillfully enforcing the law, and was somewhat surprised. But he quickly put aside those concerns and immediately began to disperse the nearby residents and homeowners.
"Sigh, when will this ever end!"
As they turned to go home, an elderly person holding a child couldn't help but mutter something under their breath.
"Alright, even if life is bad, it's still better than our parents staying underground for more than 20 years."
An elderly man walking beside her, leading a tiny dog, muttered a protest as he headed towards his building. Chen Nan looked down and realized that the dog the old man was leading wasn't a tiny dog at all, but a realistic-looking toy dog with fur.
Looking at this thing, Chen Nan recalled a related news report she saw online during the pandemic in her previous life, and tears instantly streamed down her face.
Fortunately, she was following behind Tang Ke and He Jun, so when she realized she had lost her composure, Chen Nan quickly raised her hand to wipe away her tears.
This morning, Chen Nan actually learned that she was just a cannon fodder female supporting character in the book.
She also knew that no matter how powerful and rare her current superpowers were, she would eventually be easily pushed into a pile of mutated rats.
She even knew that the world that others were complaining about now would be dozens of times more miserable and difficult in the future than it is now.
But that's life. You know you're going to die eventually, so does that mean you shouldn't live now?
I know that no matter how hard you try, reality may not be good. Don't you want to try and change things?
The Chinese have always believed that human will can overcome fate, and Chen Nan's favorite saying is "My fate is in my own hands, not in the heavens." This is her favorite phrase when creating comics. In almost every one of her works, she portrays characters who start as ordinary people but eventually become heroes. Even in the occasional works where the male and female leads meet tragic ends and cannot escape their predetermined fate, her protagonists always strive and never easily give up.
Anyway, at that moment, she glanced back at the old man who had already led the electric toy dog into the building. Thinking of the countless people who were working tirelessly to protect this country, Chen Nan, who had felt a pang of sadness and disappointment about her fate that morning and at noon, quickly composed herself and silently followed.
Everyone quickly entered Building 17, No. 78, Fourth Ring Road. Although some buildings in this world have normal names on their facades, for the sake of government management and easy identification when reporting to the police, the first thing to do is report the ring road number, followed by the number outside the entire community. The numbers for the next few buildings are also very clear within each community.
At this time, Building 17 at No. 78, Fourth Ring Road, was a typical six-story building without an elevator. The broken cement stairs, the dense black and white wires crisscrossing the ceiling of the stairwell, and the piles of cardboard boxes and old, broken vats in each stairwell all spoke volumes about the environment and the economy of the area.
Like the headquarters of the supernatural ability institute where Chen Nan had worked before, there were elevators everywhere, surveillance cameras everywhere, and all sorts of complex and eye-catching touch screen buttons inside the elevators. In that place, many of the food delivery and cleaning staff were all kinds of advanced robots that Chen Nan had seen in her previous life.
Even the police dormitory Chen Nan stayed in today, although it didn't look luxurious from the outside, actually had facial recognition access to the unit doors, and their door locks were decent fingerprint locks.
But this place gives the impression that the buildings are at least 25 years old, a typical old building and neighborhood.
"Oh, officers, you've finally arrived! I'm Cao Yun, the one who called the police. It's the apartment upstairs from mine. The people in that apartment always walk around and shout at night. I've been to their door several times, but the old man and woman never open it. I work online, teaching art classes to kids all day. After a long day of teaching, I just want to rest and get some sleep at night. They used to make some noise, but it was normal, and I didn't care. But for the past month or so, their noise has gotten louder and longer. I already have neurasthenia, and they still won't open the door when I knock. I had no choice but to call the police."
As soon as everyone went up to the fourth floor, a slightly overweight middle-aged man in his thirties was waiting at the entrance on the fifth floor.
This is a three-unit layout. As soon as the middle-aged man saw them, he explained the situation and immediately stated his profession and name.
"Okay, we understand. We'll head over now. Just in case, please stand a little further back. By the way, where's your mask?"
Tang Ke nodded and quickly went upstairs.
The kind-hearted He Jun comforted the other person with a remark, then suddenly asked about their mask.
"Masks?" The man who had called the police glanced at Chen Nan, who had already walked past them upstairs, and at the tall, supernatural police officer who had also put on a mask and reminded Chen Nan to wear one too. He then quickly turned around after a moment's thought: "I'll go get them right now—"
As Cao Yun returned to apartment 501 to retrieve her mask, He Jun, dressed in protective gear, stood in the fifth-floor stairwell. Tang Ke, already wearing a mask, turned to look at Chen Nan behind him and pointed to the pistol at her waist. He then drew his own pistol, aimed it inside, and knocked on the security door of apartment 601: "Hello, we are police officers from the Sanhuan Ping'an Police Station. Someone has reported you for noise pollution. Please open the door!"
Tang Ke spoke loudly, and as he spoke, he also knocked rhythmically on the door.
"Chen Nan, grab your pistol!"
Having heard the noise for the past month, and noting its increasing volume at night, the experienced He Jun had a rough idea of what was going on. Seeing Chen Nan standing behind Tang Ke, tense and focused, he mouthed something in a low voice.
Chen Nan gripped the pistol, nodded subconsciously, and then quickly raised her gaze.
In today's society, very few people attend a real university; most of those who do are from extremely wealthy families. And if they do go to university, most of them study military academies, medicine, or science.
Anyway, someone like Chen Nan isn't really qualified to be in such an occasion. But now that she has superpowers, she's been rushed to this place to hone her skills, just like any other ordinary young person infected with superpowers.
"Hello, we are police officers from the Sanhuan Ping'an Police Station. Someone has reported that you are causing noise pollution. Could you please open the door?"
While Chen Nan was anxiously lost in thought, Tang Ke, who was in front of her, had already knocked on the door for the third time with a blank expression.
Just then, through the wooden planks, they heard an elderly woman's clearly nervous reply: "Officer, we understand. Don't worry, we'll be more careful in the future. The disturbance he mentioned is because my husband is having an episode. He's getting old and has Alzheimer's, so I had no choice but to lock him in the house in the closet. He often goes crazy in the middle of the night because he doesn't like being locked up."
The old man's voice was full of apology, but Tang Ke still raised her hand to grab the pistol and continued, "I understand, but you still need to open the door. I need to see what you look like. Is it just you and your partner inside?"
"Yes, we don't have any children. I won't bring this old man out. I'll open the inner door; you can look at us through the security door, okay?"
As they were talking, the old woman inside slowly opened the inner door.
As soon as the inner door opened, through the semi-open iron security door, both Tang Ke in front and Chen Nan behind could see the old woman's normal human appearance, as well as the vague back view of her head wearing a hat, sitting on a rocking sofa with her back to them.
“My old man is sitting on the sofa. He's not thinking clearly, and I finally managed to calm him down. Please don't scare him anymore. I know what you're worried about, but you can see what we look like; we're normal people. Regarding the noise issue, we promise we won't do it again—”
"Stop talking. Since you don't want to come out, let me scan your body chip. If you haven't had a chip implanted, showing me your health bracelet will do the same."
In recent years, almost everyone who has been to a hospital within the designated safe zone has had a health monitoring chip implanted. Even those who haven't been to a hospital and haven't had a health chip implanted will likely have a health monitoring bracelet.
In any case, if it's from the Empire, it's either a health chip or a health bracelet; they absolutely must have one.
“We haven’t been to the hospital for several years, and we didn’t have the kind of chip you mentioned implanted, but we have a wristband. You wait here, I’m going to get my partner’s.”
The old man slammed the door shut after he finished speaking.
Tang Ke stood there expressionless, Chen Nan waited somewhat helplessly, and even He Jun, who was standing at the next stairwell, was expressionless.
About five seconds later, Chen Nan smelled a pungent odor.
But just as Chen Nan was about to speak, Tang Ke gently shook her head. The next second, Chen Nan heard an unusually sharp scream or animal roar coming from inside.
At this moment, Tang Ke kicked the iron security door in front of him hard.
In just one kick, he had already kicked open the seemingly sturdy iron security door.
When Chen Nan nervously followed him inside, she saw an old-fashioned house. The old woman, who had been speaking shakily, was holding a large plastic bottle. Two meters away, on the rocking chair that had been swaying back and forth, a grayish-black object, tightly bound by chains, was struggling and writhing. A ball of flame, about a meter high, was erupting from its body; clearly, the old woman had set it on fire.
"Captain He, seal off this area!"
Upon seeing the scene inside the house, Tang Ke immediately turned around and shouted outside.
"This way, you won't have to trouble yourselves to quarantine us anymore, he won't have to go in and suffer anymore, and I won't have to live in fear anymore."
Just as Tang Ke was speaking, the old woman holding the plastic bottle ran over and hugged the struggling figure that had caught fire in front of her.
The gray cockroach monster, which had been tied to the sofa for who knows how long, was still roaring and struggling desperately.
Amidst the clanging of the chains, he was suddenly embraced by the old woman who rushed over.
Then the terrifying thing, which had no human shape at all, struggled even more fiercely, and finally stopped moving amidst screams. It allowed the short, old woman, now a fireball, to hold him tightly, to suppress him, or rather, to embrace him.
*
This was the first case Chen Nan was involved in. They did almost nothing, and the old man set himself on fire right in front of them.
There were two fire extinguishers on the table next to them, and they quickly put out the fire using those.
What followed required the help of other departments; first, the police station sealed off the entire community.
Next, the information department and hospitals joined forces. For those who had visited the hospital in recent years, the information department could easily check their real-time health data through its internal system. Once the information was checked, almost every resident would receive a message stating that they were currently in a danger zone, but fortunately their health data was normal, and urging them to remain calm and not go out. Of course, at this time, for those who received messages indicating abnormal health data, police and doctors would almost always personally go to measure their data.
During this community-wide inspection, residents who haven't been to the hospital in recent years will also have a real-time monitoring chip implanted to replace their old health monitoring bracelets. This way, any abnormalities they experience won't require a doctor's visit. Once the system analyzes the data and confirms any abnormalities, they won't be greeted by hospitals, police, or officers from a small local police station like Chen Nan's, but rather by people from the Special Abilities Institute.
Chen Nan was taken to the hospital by supernatural police officers on the street, and the hospital checked her over and found nothing wrong. However, the health chip implanted in her later showed abnormalities, indicating that her physical data was incorrect. The police and the hospital reported the data simultaneously. Finally, Chen Nan's situation was reported to the headquarters of the Supernatural Abilities Institute, and all her matters thereafter were handled by the Supernatural Abilities Institute.
Anyway, right now, apart from Building 17 where the incident occurred, which will be under strict quarantine for a month, all residents of the other buildings in the community who received safety text messages are temporarily staying at home. Those who received other notifications are starting to come down one by one for testing and microchip implantation.
This is a huge project. In this community alone, there are at least a hundred workers in protective suits on site.
These checks are all free; they are all provided by the government.
Only when there is someone in charge of the country and the state organs continue to operate will there be someone to deal with these issues.
Although the world now is so magical that it surprised Chen Nan.
But seeing everything stabilize and become orderly in almost half an hour, Chen Nan felt proud of the managers and maintainers of this world, as well as all those who cooperated with the country's actions.
"Let's go!" After cooperating with the relevant departments to handle the two bodies in apartment 601 of building 17, Tang Ke came out. As for He Jun and the handsome intern who had come with them, they were no longer here; they should have gone to other buildings in the complex.
After Tang Ke came downstairs, she greeted Chen Nan normally.
After the transformation, Chen Nan, who was seeing the cockroach monster and self-immolation for the first time, quickly followed.
Then, as she was leaving the neighborhood, she couldn't help but ask, "Tang Ke, couldn't you stop that old woman just now? She should only be in the infection phase right now. If she had gone to the Superpower Institute, she might have survived!"
Chen Nan was taught to persuade others to live whenever possible. In her country, if someone wanted to die or was feeling down, all the police officers and everyone around her would desperately try to persuade her to stay and hold on.
So, since earlier, Chen Nan had been wondering why Tang Ke hadn't offered a hand in that situation. As a spatial ability user, even if his ability was somewhat useless, he was still an ability user, and his physical abilities were superior to ordinary people. Even without his ability, with a soldier's reaction speed and arm strength, Chen Nan didn't believe he couldn't have caught that elderly person. Therefore, Chen Nan had been agonizing over this, waiting to properly ask Tang Ke about it.
Call me Master!
Tang Ke turned and corrected Chen Nan, then took off her mask and led Chen Nan on foot towards Ping'an Police Station.
"Master!" Tang Ke should be under thirty years old this year. Chen Nan is young now, but she was not young before.
So after reluctantly calling out to the other person, she asked the same question again.
It's currently the time when most companies are getting off work, and there are still buses and taxis on the main roads outside. Some young people who live nearby choose to walk or cycle to get off work.
But whether it's a taxi, a bus, or someone riding a bike or walking outside.
Seeing their attire and the white mask Tang Ke was carrying from afar, everyone quickly ran away. People and bicycles swiftly moved aside, and buses and taxis dared not stop near them, fearing they might suddenly try to flag them down. After all, if they did, they would have to stop. But if they actually got on, many people would worry about their safety.
Amidst the furtive yet envious and curious glances of the crowd, Tang Ke, dressed in a tight-fitting superpower suit and waving a mask, looked up and said nonchalantly, "The most important thing for people is human rights. Since she wants to leave with her lover, why should we force her to stay? Besides, at her age and in that mental state, do you think she still has the energy and strength to fight the virus in her body? Rather than letting her become a monster and die without dignity, it's better to let her choose her own way of dying!"
Tang Ke floated along, and Chen Nan followed him unconsciously onto the main road.
At that moment, she suddenly realized that everyone in this world, from those who formulate national policies to ordinary citizens, is actually quite pessimistic and takes their own lives lightly, or rather, they often tend to choose their own fate.
Regardless of whether people choose to jump off buildings or commit suicide, many public officials in this country tacitly choose to respect people's choices.
Perhaps this world is too cruel; in any case, many people show extreme respect for life, but also extreme contempt and indifference.
Chen Nan couldn't quite describe the feeling; in any case, she didn't know what to say at that moment.
In her original world, when encountering someone contemplating suicide, regardless of their circumstances or age, everyone would try their best to save them or persuade them to stop. We are often accustomed to rescuing others, hoping to act as saviors. But in this world, the philosophy is respect for those who want to leave, commit suicide, or self-harm. Especially for those infected with the actual virus, the country and everyone around them almost entirely leave the choice to the infected person.
Feeling agitated, they followed Tang Ke for half an hour before returning home. The first thing they did was go to the police station's special disinfection room to disinfect themselves and take a shower.
After washing up and changing into clean clothes, they began writing reports under pressure from their superiors.
Chen Nan wrote this report based on Tang Ke's report.
After finishing writing, Captain He quickly returned with the health watches of the two elderly people.
When this item arrived in their hands, it had already been disinfected, and the data on it had also been copied by the information technology department next door.
When Team Leader He opened the data on the big screen, the IT staff also sent them a copy of their analysis report.
Then, at this point, Chen Nan realized that simply sealing off the entire No. 78 Fourth Ring Road wasn't enough. Their most important task now was to analyze the data and find out how the elderly man in apartment 601, building 17 of No. 78 Fourth Ring Road contracted the virus. After being infected, they needed to determine if he had met anyone privately, visited any special occasions, or transmitted the virus to others. They also needed to investigate the recent whereabouts of his spouse.
This terrifying virus from Sunflower Planet is something humanity still hasn't been able to truly overcome.
Even though a hundred years have passed, aside from the fact that nature gave humanity a conversion rate of one in a thousand to one in ten thousand for superpowers, and aside from the fact that personal information chips have now appeared in this world, everything else is exactly the same as it was a hundred years ago. When faced with such a situation, it seems that all the country can do is still invest a great deal of manpower and resources, using the most primitive methods to find everyone connected to the virus and infected individuals, and then choose to isolate all the infected people.
Then we'll see what fate brings to this person.
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