Chapter 385: An Unsettling Report

“Something wrong?”

Lu Xin paused for a moment then roused himself. He reached out, gently lifting the Doll’s little face from where it rested on his leg and slowly sat up straight.

But just as he sat up he saw the Doll had already straightened up too, a contented smile gracing her face.

It turned out she had woken up earlier as well, merely resting her head on his leg without opening her eyes.

Lu Xin shook his head and left the room. Guided by the service personnel he arrived at a room on the left side of the villa’s first floor. Inside was an old-fashioned bronze-colored telephone. The receiver was already off the hook placed to the side. The trees around the Doll’s residence were too dense and the location too remote causing poor signal reception. Communication often relied on this landline.

Lu Xin picked up the phone, “Hello?”

“Single Soldier how are things going with the Doll?”

Chen Jing’s voice came through the receiver still calm and strong.

Lu Xin answered honestly since accompanying the Doll was part of the mission, “Pretty good. We took a nap together.”

“Hmm?”

Chen Jing was clearly surprised.

“On the sofa, on the sofa…”

Lu Xin quickly explained, “I just got tired from reading the materials and dozed off.”

Chen Jing let out a sigh of relief and continued, “There’s a problem with the investigation team sent to collect basic data on Happy Town…”

“Okay.”

Lu Xin nodded acknowledging her, letting Chen Jing continue without interruption.

“The message came through half an hour ago.”

Chen Jing spoke faster, explaining, “After you submitted the preliminary materials on Happy Town Qinggang dispatched a seven-person team to establish an observation post ten miles from the edge of Happy Town’s radiation zone.”

“The intention was to prevent any sudden mutations within the forbidden zone and simultaneously monitor changes in the zone’s radiation levels.”

“We’ve always been cautious with observation posts for S-level polluted areas. Besides a series of alarm systems for anomalies the personnel at this post are required to make routine contact with the Special Cleaning Department every three hours. This ensures we know immediately if something goes wrong, even if they don’t realize it themselves.”

“And that’s exactly where the problem occurred.”

“The first step for the investigation team we sent out this time was to contact the staff at this observation post. Then they were to expand it into a main observation center establishing several more points to collect comprehensive basic data on Happy Town.”

“However when our team arrived at the observation post today they discovered a serious problem.”

Hearing this Lu Xin grew curious, “What kind of problem?”

All this time the Doll had been following Lu Xin standing quietly behind him listening to his call with Chen Jing. She saw the changes in Lu Xin’s expression her own face showing a hint of curiosity. She glanced at the phone thoughtfully then suddenly turned and walked straight upstairs. Since this was her home Lu Xin didn’t pay much attention to her movements or changes.

“The personnel at the observation post.”

Chen Jing paused briefly before saying, “…They’re already dead.”

“Huh?”

Lu Xin was taken aback asking instinctively, “What do you mean?”

“Simply put…”

Chen Jing tried her best to explain clearly, “Just an hour ago the observation post had routine contact with the Special Cleaning Department headquarters reporting everything was normal. Half an hour before the information gathering team reached the post they also contacted them confirming everything was normal and they were ready for their arrival. But precisely when the information gathering team arrived at the observation post they found…”

She paused again, “Work at the observation post was proceeding as usual. All the personnel were there handling their tasks methodically. They even seemed prepared to welcome the information gathering team. The only problem was…”

After another pause she said softly, “They were already dead.”

“Large patches of lividity had appeared on their bodies their hearts had stopped beating some had even begun to decay…”

“But they themselves seemed completely unaware still diligently working.”

“…”

Lu Xin suddenly sensed something was terribly wrong, “Then this…”

Chen Jing nodded.

“This means that all along the ones making regular routine contact with us were essentially dead people.”

“The last face-to-face contact this observation post had with Qinggang was three weeks ago. Now that this incident has occurred it means we have no idea when the problem started within these twenty-odd days or…”

“What exactly went wrong!”

“…”

Lu Xin thought about it carefully and couldn’t help but feel surprised, “That’s quite strange…”

Hearing Lu Xin’s words Chen Jing sighed helplessly.

She wanted to say it was probably more than just ‘strange’ but she was used to Lu Xin’s slightly delayed reactions.

Lu Xin himself didn’t notice anything frowning as he asked, “Were there any other anomalies at the observation post?”

“Yes.”

Chen Jing said softly, “For instance some electronic components of unknown origin were found around the observation post.”

“Also the information gathering team detected an unknown type of mental radiation inside the post…”

“The information gathering team we sent is highly trained they knew not to act rashly in this situation.”

“They have already withdrawn from the observation post and are waiting for specialized personnel to investigate.”

“…”

Lu Xin quickly nodded, “So Team Leader what are you suggesting?”

Chen Jing stated, “According to our procedures we either dispatch an investigation team first to determine the cause or select a suitable Ability User from Qinggang to investigate. However because the location is so close to Happy Town the best option is…”

Lu Xin understood, “Then I should be the one to go.”

Chen Jing sighed in relief seeming somewhat moved. She paused before saying, “Thank you for your hard work.”

“You can come to the Special Cleaning Department to meet me first.”

“…”

Lu Xin agreed then prepared to go upstairs to get his bag.

But just then he saw the Doll walking down the stairs.

She was once again dressed in her black Gothic Lolita dress wearing a pair of brand-new black Roman lace-up boots. Her face was hidden behind a smiling fox mask. In one hand she held her parasol and in the other she carried his black bag.

She looked completely ready to go out.

“This…”

Lu Xin instantly understood the Doll’s intention and had to explain, “I can’t take you this time. I’m going out for work outside the city. It’s too dangerous for you. So you should wait here for me okay? I’ll come back to see you after I finish my work.”

The Doll kept her head down continuing to walk forward.

Lu Xin reached out and grabbed her wrist. The Doll stopped.

Lu Xin looked at her and smiled gently.

He pulled her wrist took his black bag from her hand then smiled, “Go back inside!”

He waved goodbye to the Doll slung the bag over his shoulder and walked out the door.

Holding her parasol the Doll stood silently in the lobby watching him until his figure disappeared. She didn’t move.

With the mask covering her face her expression was unreadable.

But the nearby service team personnel already looked heartbroken.

…

A car was waiting at the door. Lu Xin got in directly.

Five minutes later he arrived in front of a three-story white building on the west side of the Special Cleaning Department.

Someone was waiting below guiding Lu Xin quickly through a long corridor to an office at the end. As soon as he entered he found it quiet inside. All the staff Chen Jing and several professors were listening to an audio playback on speakers.

“The information gathering team has arrived right? Did you notice any other problems?”

“Haha no problems here. We’re just wondering if the collection team brought us the latest magazines and some Erguotou this time. But those guys just showed up briefly then ran off saying something about regulations preventing contact for now. I mean when did they make up such a stupid rule? Aren’t they being a bit overly cautious…”

“…Well try to understand. You know our code is the more cautious the better.”

“Alright alright I wasn’t really complaining. By the way does their arrival mean we can withdraw soon?”

“Stuck in this damned monitoring post we can’t even call home directly. My kid’s three years old now I miss him like crazy…”

“…”

After walking in Lu Xin nodded to Chen Jing then stood aside listening.

It sounded like a very normal routine call.

The various large and small contact points established by Qinggang in the surrounding areas all made such routine calls every three hours.

Some calls were long some short sometimes the operator and the observation personnel would even chat for a while on a whim.

All this was done to determine through various details and communication whether something had gone wrong at the observation post.

This particular call sounded perfectly normal.

“Okay please remain calm for now. I will report this to the higher-ups.”

At this moment a researcher in a white coat spoke softly and hung up the phone.

Only then did Lu Xin realize that what he had just heard wasn’t a recording but a live regular contact call.

“Even now they still don’t know there’s anything wrong with them.”

When the researcher turned around his face was grave showing even hints of fear.

Completely different from his calm and friendly tone during the call his voice seemed to tremble slightly:

“The data reports and mental assessment reports they submitted during this period were all perfectly normal.”

“Even this recent contact call was made strictly according to the rules.”

“The only thing abnormal is…”

He paused then lowered his voice, “…We all know this call came from dead people.”

…

The temperature in the meeting room seemed to drop several degrees.

None of the staff present rushed to speak because they didn’t know what to say.

The calmest among them was a young man in a black suit with a buzz cut who still looked rather green.

He stepped forward and said, “So right now we primarily have two problems.”

“One is to investigate why they ended up like this.”

“The other is…”

He paused, “How do we tell them that they’re actually already dead?”