Chapter 551 Father's Photo
The convoy arrived at the base in the afternoon.
When Yun Zhao received the message, he was busy in the counseling room.
She assumed Bai Yu was referring to the dried mangoes she had brought for her, and without thinking too much about it, she replied, "You must be tired from your journey, go back and rest first. You can give me the things tomorrow."
Now that they were home, Bai Yu didn't bother to hide anything anymore.
"It's not a local specialty! It's something Wei Xu found in the contaminated area, and it's related to your father..."
Yun Zhao's fingertips suddenly dug into her palm, and the words displayed on the screen exploded in front of her eyes.
Her hands were trembling as she typed, deleting and retyping, finally replying with just four simple words: "I'm coming right away."
Yun Zhao told Yuan Lan and the others, then hurriedly ran out the door. Suddenly remembering that they hadn't agreed on a meeting place, she quickly sent a message to Bai Yu, "Go to Dongshan Street."
The sun outside was blindingly bright.
The location of the evacuation room was too remote; there wasn't even a passerby.
Yun Zhao asked the sentry on duty at the gate to escort her back. When she arrived at the building on East Third Street, Bai Yu was already waiting downstairs, holding an iron box in her arms. A tall figure stood beside her.
The long-sought-after clue appeared unexpectedly this afternoon.
Yun Zhao didn't even notice Wei Xu nodding at her until Bai Yu grabbed her cold wrist.
"Zhaozhao, let's go upstairs to talk."
Seeing her nervous expression, Bai Yu was glad that she had endured so many days.
Otherwise, Yun Zhao would have spent every day anxiously waiting for her return.
Bai Yu pulled Yun Zhao into the apartment building, turned to look at the man behind her, and said irritably, "We have things to do, what are you doing following us?"
She got off at East Third Street, and he actually got off there too.
Wei Xu stopped and pointed to the box in her arms. "I found it. Are you sure you don't want me to tell her?"
Bai Yu: "..."
The three of them took the elevator to the twelfth floor.
Recently, due to the busy farming season, there are few people in the building, and the doors of other apartments on the same floor are tightly closed.
Bai Yu knew she was anxious, so as soon as she entered the room, she handed her the box she was holding, saying, "The password is four 2s."
This box is the same as the one Jiang Mu used to store his diary, only it looks a little bigger and feels very light in your hand.
Yun Zhao concluded that the contents were very light.
"Thud"
Yun Zhao's throat tightened slightly, and the iron box made a soft rattling sound in her hand.
This is the first time someone has brought back evidence that their father ever existed.
She slowly opened the box.
Three things lay quietly inside.
A crystal with a bluish luster, a hexagonal badge, and a photograph.
Yun Zhao's hand trembled slightly as he picked up the photo.
The photo appears to have been taken hastily, tilted at the angle, with blurred edges. Against the dim background, a tall, slender figure leans against the twisted metal wreckage.
The man only showed half of his face, with a half-smoked cigarette loosely dangling from his thin lips. The cigarette butt flickered in the darkness, reflecting a dangerous curve at the corner of his eyes.
In the background, the remains of several mutants are scattered on the ground in bizarre poses, their wounds so neatly arranged they are chilling.
Even just a side profile can convey a suffocating sense of oppression.
Yun Zhao pursed her lips and stared at the man's profile.
It's Dad...
Even though the photo was blurry and looked like it was taken secretly, she recognized it at a glance as Yun Jue.
She was younger than she had imagined.
“There are words on the back,” Wei Xu reminded her.
Yun Zhao turned the photo over.
On the back, scrawled in dark red marker, were the words: "[Madman! He is Yun Jue, he's a madman!!!]"
That's all.
There's no time available, so we can't determine when or where the filming took place...
Yun Zhao was eager to know her father's whereabouts, so she hurriedly rummaged through the other two items in the box.
A palm-sized hexagonal badge, dark gold in color, with tiny crystal-like inclusions inlaid along the edges.
The center of the badge features a double helix-like pattern, but its exact nature cannot be discerned from its appearance.
Another deep blue crystal, its surface covered with tiny star trails that are difficult to see with the naked eye, has fine lines engraved on its edges and shimmers with an eerie halo under the light.
Yun Zhao picked it up and was surprised to find that it was so light that it was almost weightless.
The back is etched with a string of unfamiliar symbols—unlike any known script, they resemble some kind of intricate circuit diagram, with a faint glow that flickers upon touch.
"This is...?" Yun Zhao frowned, his fingertips unconsciously tracing the patterns, feeling that they looked very familiar.
Bai Yu thought Yun Zhao was asking her a question.
Unaware of this, she quickly turned to look at Wei Xu.
Since it was a girl's home, Wei Xu stood by the door after entering the house and didn't move from his spot.
Receiving Bai Yu's gaze, Wei Xu replied, "I don't know either. It was found in a sealed compartment, placed with the other items in the box."
"A sealed compartment?" Yun Zhao looked up.
"Yes, there was an S-class mutant in the contaminated area. While it was chasing me, I hid in a sealed chamber and accidentally discovered these things."
Wei Xu spoke casually.
Bai Yu was visibly taken aback. "Is it that dangerous?"
That's an S-class, and there are only five in all of humanity so far.
Even a Sentinel of the same level might not be a match for him, yet this A-level individual encountered an S-level mutant in the contaminated zone...
No wonder he was in such poor condition back then.
Moreover, it seems that he has not received any psychological counseling until now. Bai Yu once accidentally bumped into him secretly taking hormones on the road.
Wei Xu couldn't help but smile, but the next second he forced himself to keep a straight face and replied calmly, "Indeed... it's quite dangerous."
Bai Yu opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but then forcibly held back, turning her head away from him.
Yun Zhao's mind was completely focused on the contents of the box, and he didn't pay any attention to the interaction between the two.
She took out the photo and carefully examined her father in it.
Dad doesn't look like a guide at all.
He lacked the fragility of a guide; instead, his posture, leaning against the ruins, resembled that of a lazy beast.
The smoke blurred half of his profile, but it couldn't hide the almost violent cold light in his eyes.
There was not a trace of a guide.
The person who secretly photographed Yun Jue called him a madman.
Do they know each other?
Or did that person see something before pressing the shutter?
The Polaroid photo was quite loud; Dad must have spotted it.
Was that person killed?
Otherwise, why would the photos be in Yun Jue's hands?
The two items made of unknown materials clearly belong to the father, and the fact that the photos were placed together already speaks volumes.
Yun Zhao lowered his head in thought, then suddenly asked Wei Xu, "Which contaminated area is it?"
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