Chapter 63: Was it an illusion? Why did it feel like she was not here with good intentions?
Redstone Windbreak Bay.
At nine o’clock at night, the place that should have been remote and quiet was still brightly lit.
The armed forces had sealed off the road, and all the experimenters at the scene had been dispersed to wait for instructions. The red and blue police lights illuminated every corner, and the observation tower continued to emit linear beams of light, piercing through the night to the endless distance.
The relevant person in charge and the management operators were gathered in the 200-meter-high tower to cooperate with the investigation of the cause of the 78th sea defense incident.
The main control center room at the top of the tower.
“Have there been any abnormal situations in the past six months?”
The one asking was Dong Wentao, the leader of the 7th squad of the Internal Security Group of the Investigation Department. He was now temporarily integrated with the 4th squad of the third branch to form a crisis response team.
This place was far from the sea, and they could take off their protective suits after entering the door.
The 7th squad was responsible for questioning and investigation, and the 4th squad was responsible for data integration. Everyone was standing upright with a grim expression, except for a woman who was sitting in the back, who was different. She had a silver-white collar on her neck, her legs were crossed, and her four fingers were tapping lightly on her knee, as if she were not very concerned about this operation.
“There was once,” a staff member in front of the control panel said, flipping through the records. “It was during the period when the research institute had borrowed the site to conduct experiments, in March—yes, on March 21st, the spring equinox. The experimental creatures had a riot, some of the facilities were damaged, the No. 2 shuttle elevator had crashed, and a researcher was trapped at the bottom of the sea for six hours… The specific cause has not yet been found.”
She brought up all the security surveillance records of that time, and the large screen in the center of the ring lit up, playing them frame by frame for everyone to see.
Qu Ying was sitting in the back. She had originally been bored with everything, but she suddenly turned her head and stared at one of the surveillance monitors, her brow furrowed.
The researcher who was said to have been trapped for six hours before being rescued was wearing a white protective suit under the surveillance camera. She was being supported to the surface, and her hair in her hood was also scattered, half-covering her pale face.
She was very familiar—it was Cheng Ming.
She stood up, and the metal chair legs scraped against the ground with a screech. The several members of the Investigation Department in front turned their heads at the sound and made way for her, watching her go forward.
The sea surface observation was normal… the basic quarantine net was not damaged…
The underwater survey facility was malfunctioning… the pipeline transport was abnormal…
The shuttle elevator’s mooring was suspended… the safety protection station was activated…
She squinted at the abnormal data of that day and asked, “Who was in charge of security at that time?”
Below the large display screen, the staff member continued to flip through the records, “The 1st squad of the Investigation Department’s External Threat Unit. The team leader is called Yan Li.”
…
Going to Redstone Bay to cooperate with the investigation of the 78th sea defense incident?
When she first saw this instruction on her bracelet, Cheng Ming was a little stunned.
What was her relationship with Redstone Bay—no, what was Yan Li’s relationship with Redstone Bay?
Soon, she found the most recent contact in her memory. It was when she was the security captain for their fungus-virus joint project group’s local experiment.
Then what was the relationship between Redstone Bay and the 78th sea defense incident?
Cheng Ming frowned and recalled the accident she had encountered in Redstone Bay at that time—a huge metal arch was hidden at the bottom of the sea, and the unknown creature that was raised behind it could communicate with Xiao Ming, and had even told her to run…
Thinking of that dark and dead place where even light would be swallowed, she felt her heart beat faster and her breathing was a little labored. Although she had not suffered any actual harm, it seemed that she had also developed PTSD in the few hours she had been trapped.
The unknown was the most terrifying.
And now, she was being asked to go back to that place.
It was now 9:23 PM. Cheng Ming thought for a moment, then went out and knocked on Yan Rong’s door, telling her about this matter.
Yan Rong was not asleep either. A small table was on the bed with a laptop on it. She was sitting in the covers and typing something. Hearing her speak, she pulled her head out of the screen and asked:
“When?”
“We’re leaving at 8 tomorrow morning. I’m not sure when we’ll be back,” Cheng Ming stood by the door and looked at the electronic device in her hand. “Are you contacting the pharmaceutical company? Is it time for you to get new medicine?”
Shenzhou Pharmaceutical had always been mysterious and unattainable in Yan Li’s impression. It could always accurately locate her and assign her missions. She had never expected that her own sister had a hand in this.
It was truly a case of being unable to guard against a thief in one’s own house.
Yan Rong understood what she meant. She grabbed the bottle at the head of the bed and shook it. A clanging sound came from inside. She said, “There’s still two weeks’ worth.”
If one were to ask how Yan Rong had gotten in touch with Shenzhou Pharmaceutical Company, the root cause was still Yan Li.
She had been in charge of security at a conference organized by the foundation and had been given a business card by a public relations officer from the pharmaceutical company’s marketing department, asking her if she had a need to obtain medicine directly from the source, bypassing the cumbersome procedures. Yan Li had immediately classified the other as a pyramid scheme and had warned her that if she continued to pester her, she would report her to the Security Department.
But, for some inexplicable reason, she had neither reported it nor had she thrown away the business card. Instead, she had brought it home and had secretly hidden it in a corner.
Her room might be searched, so she could only store it in a public area.
Until it was discovered by Yan Rong.
She had discovered that her sister had gotten a way to solve the dilemma, but had hidden it and had turned a blind eye.
She had not accepted it, nor had she told her.
If you want to live, you have to contact them yourself.
She had memorized the number and had quietly put the business card back in its original place.
At that time, she had resented Yan Li. Were the rules more important than a blood relative? She had repeatedly and “unintentionally” shown her pain to Yan Li, forcing her to pay attention to her, and had questioned her with words without words, sister, why don’t you save me? Sister, have you forgotten what Mom said?
Finally, as she had wished, Yan Li had abandoned her principles for her and had compromised.
Yan Rong was probably a classic case of “when one door closes, another opens.” Her body was not good, but her mind was very active. The lack of social activities gave her enough time to study the fields she was interested in. She was good at information technology programming and design, and at modifying various electronic products. She would be a highly valued talent no matter where she was.
However, in order to tie Yan Li down, she had not shown it at all, and all the money she had earned had been attributed to tutoring. She had worked so hard to “leech off her sister.”
And the pharmaceutical company was also more at ease with her—Yan Li might still leave at any time, but she needed the other to supply her with medicine for a long time to sustain her life.
And so the two sisters had two lines, one in the light and one in the dark. Yan Li was responsible for the flow of materials from the foundation to the Defense Center, while Yan Rong was responsible for the virtual channels. In a corner that Yan Li did not know, they had cooperated quite tacitly.
When Cheng Ming had just learned of this, she didn’t know what to say.
She didn’t know if it was a blessing or a curse for Yan Li to have such a sister.
But for herself, it was definitely a great benefit.
A short while after she had returned to her room, she heard her phone vibrate. She flipped it over and saw a text message with the note “signal abnormal.”
The pharmaceutical company’s mission had come—
2174-10-22T22:00:00, entrance of shuttle elevator No. 1, item handover.
Cheng Ming glanced at it, and her gaze fell on the last four words.
The word “handover” was very interesting. In the past, it was just picking up and dropping off items, but this time, it required a handover, which meant that it couldn’t be done without manpower… what was so important?
Just as she was about to go back and confirm the time, her vision suddenly blurred, and the entire line of numbers and text became garbled.
This…
It really was a signal abnormality.
Cheng Ming was a little stunned.
In her memory, Yan Li would always exit after a glance. The feeling was not obvious. Was the effective time in between really so short?
…
October 22nd, 9 AM.
The three-month rainy season of the Defense Center had ended, and the weather was clear and crisp today.
Underground experimental area.
The breeder with the employee ID M-0368 was temporarily called to the first basement level. In this very special monitoring room, he introduced the situation to the investigators.
“After March 21st, we reinforced the facilities. It has been kept under close watch, and there is no extra space for it to move, so it has been living quite well until now.”
The woman with the M-prefix on her work badge was wearing a protective suit and goggles, with only half of her face exposed. Perhaps because she was always nocturnal and worked at the bottom of the sea where she couldn’t see the sun, her skin was abnormally white, and she looked a little anemic.
There was no light at the bottom of the sea, and the surveillance monitor was a pitch-black. She clicked on the operation button to adjust the parameters, and finally, a hazy and distorted biological trace appeared in the lower left corner.
“You call this living well?” Qu Ying raised an eyebrow and looked at the three-dimensional color map that had been reconstructed by technology on the screen, the smile on her lips was intriguing.
“Uh…” The breeder clearly didn’t understand the meaning of this sentence. She carefully glanced at her and didn’t dare to answer.
The 7th squad leader, Dong Wentao, and the 4th squad leader, Qiu Ju, were also present and couldn’t help but glance at her.
Qu Ying didn’t care about their gazes and asked, “When is the next feeding?”
“Ten o’clock tonight,” she asked cautiously. “Do you want to go down and have a look?”
“Is there anyone down there now?”
“There are researchers.”
“When will Yan Li arrive?” Qu Ying turned her head and asked Dong Wentao.
The latter raised her hand and pressed the communicator to ask the team member outside, and got a number, “About 12 noon.”
“Alright, then I’ll go down and have a look now,” Qu Ying stood up and looked at the two people next to her with a faint smile. “Do you two want to go together?”
Team Leader Dong calmly replied, “I don’t have the authority.”
But Team Leader Qiu gave a bitter smile. She knew that this was a sign of her dissatisfaction with them. But she still braced herself and stood up. “I’ll go with you.”
All the other locations had been visited, and it was confirmed that the adult Jiao that had been contained was dead. The situation at the north and south headquarters was the same, and there was no news from the other two sides for the time being. In short, on the east side, only this one in Redstone Bay was left.
Now, the living were even more precious. Before a decision was made, the department would not allow her to act rashly.
…
At 12:03 noon, Cheng Ming got out of the car.
The head-on sea breeze brushed past both sides of her protective mask. The towering observation tower, the thick roar of the waves, and the return to an old place gave her a sense of unreality and a daze.
The last time she had come here was with her colleagues from the research institute, with a arduous experimental mission, with the goal of solving the third stage of pollution, and with the future of mankind and the ocean on her shoulders.
And this time… she was carrying a mission from Shenzhou Pharmaceutical, and she didn’t know what her purpose was. When she thought about the future, she felt confused.
But she still remembered that she was now Yan Li. She maintained an unchanging expression, her back straight, and she followed the guidance of the Investigation Department team member and strode forward.
The first thing she entered was a long science education passage. On both sides, the various functional areas were introduced in detail, with high-definition maps and emergency signs, and the focus was on the response measures in an emergency.
It was a place she had not been to before.
It should have been specially set up for the Security Department.
After walking for a few minutes, the environment became more and more hidden, and a conference room appeared at the end.
It was a little unexpected.
She was received with considerable ceremony.
“Team Leader Yan, have a seat.”
There were three people in a neat row below. Two of them had gold and green badges on their chests, which were the signs of a team leader. In addition to the oval conference table in front of them, this place gradually became less like a meeting place and more like an interrogation room.
The main seat was the interrogation chair.
And the most grand part was that—she saw Qu Ying.
Yes, she was the one who had spoken.
Although they were all wearing protective suits, and it was easy to get them mixed up, and they might not have known each other in the first place, compared to the other two, her posture was much more sharp.
So was the gaze she cast.
Cheng Ming had rarely seen her so cold and sharp, like a loaded gun aimed at her.
So much so that the smile that had subconsciously appeared when she had seen Qu Ying, after she had realized that something was wrong, had silently been restrained into a polite smile, and then she had realized that this was still not in line with Yan Li’s personality, and she had slowly pressed down the corners of her mouth.
And it was precisely because she was very familiar with Qu Ying that now, when she sat down in the main seat and saw the details of the other’s facial expressions—
Was it an illusion? Why did it feel like she was not here with good intentions?
Even Xiao Ming could see it.
It finally couldn’t bear it anymore, “Be rational. She’s treating you as a suspect now!”
