Xingchuan University.
The restless, panicked crowd had been calmed by the arrival of large numbers of law enforcers.
The mutated humans were subdued. The injured were sent to the hospital.
The chaos on campus was swiftly quelled. Over a hundred teachers and students had mutated and lost control. The number of those injured as a result reached four digits. Fortunately, the death toll was kept to just over a dozen.
However, two matters caught the attention of the law enforcers and were reported to the leadership of the Law Enforcement Department and the Yongan City government.
The first was that they discovered the injured ordinary citizens showed no signs of further mutation. Upon continued observation, they remained indistinguishable from normal humans.
The second was when they arrived at the ground-floor lobby of the third girls' dormitory, intending to rescue trapped students. They were stunned to find the place littered with unconscious, mutated female students—over a dozen of them.
And standing intact amidst these mutated humans was a young woman with a composed and elegant bearing, pure and refined in appearance, wearing delicate glasses.
This woman's expression was dazed, her face still bearing traces of lingering fear.
It was hard to believe that such a scholarly-looking, seemingly frail woman—surrounded by a mob of mutated humans—could have escaped completely unscathed.
For safety's sake, the law enforcers still brought this female student to the hospital for routine examination.
No matter how much she explained that she was fine and that she had an uncle serving as the director of the Criminal Investigation Department, none of it could stop her from having to undergo mandatory medical isolation and observation.
...
Yongan City, East District, Longxi Road, Abandoned Factory.
Under the night sky, caution tape sealed off the entire abandoned factory. Armored vehicles loaded with live ammunition and law enforcement vehicles surrounded the perimeter, barring any gawking civilians from entering.
Not many had come to rubberneck. Those who did were mostly fearless young people—the only ones daring enough, after such heaven-shaking commotion, to try and visit the scene.
"Director Xia, would the Criminal Investigation Department happen to know why your Detective You came here to send out a distress signal—and then vanished without a trace?" A middle-aged man with eagle-sharp eyes and an imposing presence spoke.
The one addressed as Director Xia was a refined gentleman in a suit, wearing a single-side gold-rimmed eyeglass.
Director Xia looked at the middle-aged man. "Rather than that, I'd like to ask you, Director Fu—why did the law enforcers arrive so late, missing the optimal rescue window?"
Director Xia adjusted his glasses and said calmly: "Moreover, with such a huge commotion here, when the law enforcers arrived, did they really not find a single suspicious person?"
Director Fu rubbed his brow and said: "Xingchuan University is experiencing frequent anomalies—most of our law enforcement forces were deployed there. And this factory is in a remote area. By the time law enforcers arrived, all that was left was a wrecked scene..."
"...and this terrifying, massive abyss."
The two were standing at the edge of a circular pit even larger than a basketball court. The depths of the pit were invisible—only an expanse of darkness, as though it were a passage straight to the abyss of hell.
This crater was precisely the vestige left behind after the Dark Young had vanished.
Director Fu turned his head to glance at the pit. Something within it seemed to carry a strange gravitational pull, enticing him to jump in.
He swallowed and involuntarily took two steps back.
Director Xia stroked his chin and slowly said: "This pit should be at least several hundred meters deep. Moreover, the drone we just sent down lost contact at around 150 meters. It's clearly beyond our ability to handle."
"But I can share with you some of what the Criminal Investigation Department has learned."
Director Xia continued: "According to surveillance footage, around 5 p.m., a female professor from Xingchuan University evaded the law enforcers' notice and secretly left the campus on her own, heading in the direction of Longxi Road in the East District."
"Then at 5:10 p.m., You Rui left campus through normal procedure, following the same route as that female professor, but without notifying his superiors or colleagues. Oh, right—those two had a rather special relationship."
"So, that female professor should have been here too."
Director Fu's expression shifted slightly: "Could she have killed You Rui?"
Director Xia shook his head: "That's uncertain. Perhaps she discovered You Rui had mutated and acted in self-defense. But aside from You Rui's belongings, no traces of the female professor were found at the scene. Unfortunately, the surveillance here was also absent."
"More importantly..."
"The scene actually showed traces of combat consistent with 'Nyx'!"
"The question is—what kind of monster was 'Nyx' fighting?"
"Who knows? Maybe both 'Nyx' and that goat-bleating monster fell into this pit and will never come out again. If that's truly the case, then I might actually be able to get a good night's sleep."
Director Fu sighed, pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and began puffing clouds.
He said heavily: "Yongan City's current complexity has far surpassed the scope of what either of us can handle—whether it's this abyss inside the factory, or that spider, 'Nyx.'"
"But this dark hour won't last much longer. Very soon, the Federal Secret-Keeper Bureau will be stationed in Yongan City!"
Director Xia's eyes lit up: "The Federal Secret-Keeper Bureau? That organization that specifically handles anomalies, mysteries, and other special incidents?"
Director Fu nodded. "That's right. The mayor and I applied to the Federation as early as when 'Xingtian' was defeated. But because anomalous incidents have been breaking out in clusters across the entire Federation lately, the Bureau is short-handed. They're only now able to dispatch personnel to Yongan City."
"Whew—"
Director Xia exhaled a long breath upon hearing this. "Wonderful. Dawn is finally coming. I've been suffering from insomnia for far too long, always worrying that my niece might run into danger at Xingchuan University."
Hearing this, Director Fu's expression immediately became peculiar: "Your niece... would be afraid of danger?"
"I have some impression of her. I heard from a subordinate's report that on campus, she faced over a dozen mutated, out-of-control humans alone—and actually survived."
Beneath his glasses, Director Xia's eyes were unreadable. He merely replied impassively: "Oh, is that so?"
"My Qimeng may be a young girl, but she's studied traditional martial arts, karate, and taekwondo since childhood. She's well-versed in all kinds of self-defense and grappling techniques. Surviving a dozen mutated humans—isn't that perfectly reasonable?"
Director Fu stared hard at Director Xia, only to see the latter's face was utterly serious, without the slightest hint of joking.
"But... she was completely uninjured!"
"And I've seen the photos. Such a slender, delicate girl—how could she possibly beat a dozen mutated humans into submission?"
Director Xia offered a polite, faint smile and said: "That's because you don't understand her family background."