茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

Inside a business vehicle parked beside Riverside Road, Fang Pingfang, Ye Chong, and Li Shibao were all left speechless by the sudden downpour outside.

Just a moment ago, the sun was still scorching, but in the blink of an eye, it turned into a thunderstorm. Mother Nature’s mood swings were a bit too fast.

The rain was ridiculously heavy, as if the heavens and earth were coated with a thick filter.

“Dr. Fang, what should we do next? Our investigation seems to have hit a bottleneck. With just the three of us, it is difficult to resolve anything in a short period…”, Li Shibao, who was seated in the driver’s seat, suddenly turned back and said to the two.

The reason the three of them came to Star City was to verify a piece of information regarding a “water monster saving people”.

During this period, they made inquiries from various angles and essentially confirmed that the person who posted on social media was telling the truth; there was indeed a brief, strange mist on the river at the time of the incident, and the individual involved couldn’t swim. Without external help, it would have been difficult for them to escape the river and reach the shore.

However, apart from that, they found no other substantive evidence.

The test of the clothes the person wore that evening, the investigation into the traces left where he washed ashore, the sampling of the water in the area where he fell in, and underwater searches all did not reveal any anomalies.

They also sought past news, accidents, and stories related to the river for analysis and excavation, as well as on-the-ground verification investigations.

But these incidents are often like this; if you think everything is normal, any story or legend seems like nonsense and full of flaws. But if you have preconceptions and have imagined multiple possibilities, you may feel like every story or legend may be related to your investigation.

There is a lot of information that requires verification and obviously, it is not something the three of them can handle on their own. Although Divine Technology’s information collection and processing department are helping them, and there are locals who are assisting them, they can only rely on themselves for the actual investigation.

Especially for their “trio”, the only person with true technical capabilities is Fang Pingfang. Li Shibao mainly handles security and some dangerous practical operations, while Ye Chong mostly fulfills the role of resource allocation and information transmission for Divine Technology’s secret department.

“Just before the rain started, I received a call from Xiao Zhou. Their investigation in Chongyun Mountain today yielded significant results. They might have discovered the trace of the ‘Invisible Insect’ taken away by the ‘Giant raptor’, or maybe a new special creature. He also has a new theory about the birth of new organisms, and has already given a brief report to ‘Mr. Liang’. I reckon that if ‘Mr. Liang’ approves his report, our investigation in Star City would probably come to an end and we would return to Haixi Province.” Sitting in the back seat, Fang Pingfang shared a surprise piece of news.

After a few moments of silence, it was still Li Shibao in the driver’s seat who broke the quiet in the car: “I don’t quite understand, what exactly is ‘Mr. Liang’s’ goal? Does he want to capture creatures like the ‘Giant Raptor’ and the ‘Invisible Insect’, or investigate the reason for their appearance? Or does he have another purpose? Ever since our six-person investigation team was formed, ‘Mr. Liang’s’ orders often make me feel they’re changed on a whim…not quite professional.”

If it was before, Li Shibao would definitely never voice such complaints about “Mr. Liang”, even to his colleagues. But the six-member team has spent so much time together recently, developing a relationship and trust far deeper than mere colleagues. Everyone is thinking the same thing, so it doesn’t hurt to voice it and discuss. Even if these words reach ‘Mr. Liang’s’ ears, they don’t worry too much. After all, the motivation behind their words is the mission and the job.

Fang Pingfang also has had a similar feeling for some time. Like when they last discovered the Giant Raptor’s tracks on Wushu Mountain, she felt that Mr. Liang did not immediately provide them with the necessary equipment and personnel, as if he had no plans to capture the Giant Raptor.

Although she didn’t have much interaction with Mr. Liang in the past, her overall impression was that he was decisive, efficient, and direct, with resources allocated very quickly and sufficiently. The personnel composition and equipment during their Qinling Uninhabited Area investigation felt more like the norm for secret department field investigations.

However, after she, Mijoe, Captain Li, and others formed the six-person investigation team in Haixi Province, the orders and assignments Mr. Liang gave them became very “fleeting”, often even letting her “decide independently”, which was very unlike Mr. Liang’s usual style.

Lately, Fang Pingfang felt increasingly like their investigation behavior was also part of Mr. Liang’s experiment.

Nevertheless, they are merely employees, receiving high wages and bonuses. The one paying the money, Mr. Liang, or the bosses of Divine Technology, are the ones who give orders. They can question, but they have no right to refuse tasks unless they don’t want to continue working.

Fang Pingfang said, “Mr. Liang keeps us constantly on the move to investigate various anomalies, likely because he has some kind of profound intention we aren’t aware of. Maybe he thinks these anomalies are connected, or perhaps he wants us to look at these creatures from many perspectives to gather more information.”

Ye Chong, who had been looking at his tablet, also raised his head and asked, “Dr. Fang, if they call us back, what about the investigation here in Star City? Will others continue it, or will it simply be temporarily shelved, making all our work in vain?”

“We’ll have to wait and see.” Fang Pingfang did not say much in response.

Once the rain had lessened slightly, they left the riverside in the car and returned to their hotel.

Moments after they returned to their respective rooms, the hotel experienced a power outage. But a service staff member soon reassured the guests, advising them to stay calm and that the backup generator would restore power within ten minutes.

Ye Chong didn’t care too much originally, as the batteries in the devices he was using were still ample, and his network didn’t rely on the hotel’s WIFI, making his operations unaffected by the hotel’s power situation.

However, unexpectedly, his phone and other devices all lost signal, even the special device given to him by “Divine Technology” could not connect anymore.

This surprised him greatly. Was the impact of this power outage so extensive?

But, no matter how extensive the impact, it couldn’t possibly cause “Divine Technology’s” equipment to lose signal, could it?

Ye Chong walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, pulled open the curtain and frowned at Star City beneath the rain veils. He found that the power outage area was not big, and from his bare naked eyes, there were vast areas that still had power.

At this moment, a bolt of lightning struck, illuminating the sky. He suddenly spotted a massive shadow, vaguely resembling a cactus or wooden stake, twisting in the air above a cluster of buildings not far away. But in just a blink of his eye, it disappeared, making him doubt if he had seen wrongly.

Rubbing his eyes, he stared intently at that direction for a while, until the power supply in his hotel was reinstated, and the signal on his devices resumed, yet he didn’t see anything amiss again. Ye Chong shook his head and muttered to himself:

“This city is really a bit strange…”

…

Neither Zhou Rui, Mijoe and others in the Chongyun Mountain region, nor Fang Pingfang, Li Shibao, and others in Star City, would expect that at this very moment, “Mr. Liang” was in Haixi Province, personally chasing after the “Giant Raptor”.

Within the unbroken mountain range at the boundary of the two provinces, north of Wushu Mountain, a silhouette with a metallic sheen emerged slowly from invisibility, into visibility on the mountainside.

His pupils, uncovered by eyelids, gazed into the distance as dozens of drones of varied sizes stood by nearby, with even more scouring the mountains further away.

Five days ago, Mr. Liang began tracking the “Giant Raptor”. After AI analysis of massive data narrowed down the possible locations of the “Giant Raptor” to several areas, Mr. Liang personally searched one of them, then using his special ability, found traces of the “Giant Raptor”.

In fact, Mr. Liang himself did not expect to find the “Giant Raptor” so quickly. What surprised him even more was that this “Giant Raptor”, which had undergone multiple episodes of “predatory blood-drinking” and had evolved to an extremely high degree, showed no desire to attack or fight upon encountering him. It directly used all its strength to flap its wings and escape.

So, for seven days, Mr. Liang had actually been continuously “chasing”.

First, it was from the northern mountainous region of Haixi province to Jiangyou province, then from Jiangyou province to Zhi Jiang province, and finally back to Haixi province, entering the northern mountainous region of Wushu Mountain.

This “Giant Raptor” basically did nothing but escape, having absolutely no intention to retaliate. Moreover, it had various modes of escape, capable of becoming visually invisible and of interfering with the drones’ judgment through manipulating other birds.

Its tough feathers and hard skin gave it a powerful resistance to blunt impacts, and surprisingly, it could even withstand electric shocks. The anesthetic gun, naturally, was ineffective. Yet, despite such formidable physical strength, it only focused on flying and fleeing, showing no intention to fight.

Such behavior is neither consistent with Mr. Liang’s big data statistics on “blood-eating creatures” nor with the previous incomplete records on this “Giant Raptor”.

Previously when it hunted the “Invisible Insect” in Wushu Mountain, it was utterly indifferent to any other party, behaving in an overbearing and aggressive manner. Even when it was aware that someone was watching, it forcefully dug into the ground, excavating the “Invisible Insect” and carrying it away.

Hence, the behavior of the “Giant Raptor” this time left Mr. Liang somewhat perplexed. Had he inadvertently revealed his strength? Or did the “Giant Raptor” have some innate talent, enabling it to sense real danger?

While “Divine Technology” has official backup in some research areas, the attack potency of the drones he directly controls domestically is still limited. Hence, in the face of the “Giant Raptor”, which seemed immune to both the anesthetic gun and electric shocks, Mr. Liang had no choice but to figure out a way to keep it in check, waiting for the chance to close the distance and capture it personally.

In fact, Mr. Liang could fully report to “Old He”, and then quickly take down this “Giant Raptor” by quicker means. After all, it had caused actual human injuries in the past and was a serious threat and hidden danger to humans.

But, on one hand, Mr. Liang wanted to see what other abilities and methods this “Giant Raptor” possessed—he was certain that after its predatory blood-drinking of the “Invisible Insect”, it had engaged in at least one more episode of predatory blood-drinking this period and had undergone a substantial amount of mutation due to drastic changes in its living environment.

On the other hand, Mr. Liang didn’t want to directly kill the “Giant Raptor”. He hoped to capture it “alive”.