Chapter 544: Chaos Unleashed in the City

When Han Bing emerged from the restroom, Lu Xin was quietly waiting in the corridor with a garbage bag in hand.

Seeing her, he gave a small smile before tucking the bag behind him so she couldn’t see it. Strangely, Han Bing felt as though pair after pair of eyes were watching her down the hall, but her muddled thoughts kept her from asking.

Reaching the building’s base, she saw Gecko crawling down from the wall and, from afar, calling out to Lu Xin with excitement:

“Captain.”

As he shouted, he hurried over to Lu Xin, glancing left and right as if searching for something.

Lu Xin asked with quiet curiosity, “What are you looking for?”

Still scanning the area, Gecko replied, “Where’s Sister? We were supposed to play with our toys together…”

Lu Xin simply remained silent.

Lu Xin truly was the bravest person she had ever met…

The one who first insisted on visiting home, and the very first to yearn to play with his sister’s toys…

“Squeak…”

A convertible Jeep pulled over by the roadside, carrying a visibly shaken Red Serpent and a puzzled Group Leader.

Group Leader, clearly perplexed by his daughter’s decision to return immediately after that bizarre incident to meet her boyfriend, could only assume it was true love. Red Serpent, still visibly rattled, eyed Lu Xin as if to ask if he’d come to her rescue.

Yet, seeing Lu Xin’s somber, troubled expression, she couldn’t find the right moment to ask.

After a moment’s thought, she simply said to Gecko, “Let’s get a divorce!”

Gecko: “…”

“Have I done something to you that warrants divorce?”

…

…

The situation grew chaotic, exuding an inexplicable strangeness that no one could decipher.

However, Lu Xin largely understood where this oddity came from. Not really concerned with the mystery, he lugged the plastic bag over to a nearby trash can, hesitating as he noticed the weathered “Dry” and “Wet” labels on two bins. Finally, he dropped the bag into the wet waste and turned to the others, saying, “Shall we move out?”

“Alright, alright…”

Everyone couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of respect.

Even as their Captain, he managed to remember to take the trash along at such a critical moment.

They boarded the Jeep with Lu Xin sitting in the passenger seat as Gecko playfully nudged Group Leader’s lackey out of the driver’s seat.

Red Serpent glanced at Han Bing, nodded as if confirming something, and then, letting out a soft sigh, turned to Group Leader with a smile, “Dad, we’ve got things to do. You don’t need to come along. Head home immediately, lock yourself away—if possible, secure yourself in a sealed room with windows and doors locked. And if you can, keep an eye on the family. We’ll reconvene in three days.”

“Why?”

Startled, Group Leader asked, his tone laced with concern, “Where are you headed?”

Red Serpent smiled and replied, “We have matters to attend to and can’t keep you with us.”

After a brief pause, she added, “It’s dangerous.”

Group Leader stuttered, “I’m not afraid of danger! I’m the one who can make Heichao City tremble with just a stomp…”

Worry gripped him as the Jeep roared to life, and he jogged after it, saying, “I have to take care of you…”

Red Serpent laughed, waving him off, “There’s no way you can take care of me—but my boyfriend can…”

Her tone lightened as she added, “Go home now, and remember what I said…”

Seeing her stern expression, Group Leader was too intimidated to press further. Red Serpent’s tone had grown cool, damping his usually effusive warmth, as if realizing something was amiss. Gradually, he fell behind the Jeep.

After a long pause, he shouted after the receding vehicle, “Get back for dinner as soon as you finish!”

Red Serpent retorted, “I’ll introduce you to your seven stepmothers, eight sisters, and two brothers…”

…

…

“Alright then, let’s discuss our next plan,” Lu Xin announced.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Lu Xin let his gaze drift over the chaotic streets and the frenzied crowd in the distance.

The entire city looked as though it had been scorched by wildfire.

Everywhere lay debris: heaps of trash, shattered windows and doors, toppled bins, scattered shards of glass, and clusters of flickering flames. In small groups, injured people could still be seen, some lying in painful agony in the damp alleys.

Some clutched their legs in anguish, while others lay motionless.

At that moment, the entire city had lost all semblance of order.

Lu Xin despised this chaos, yet he managed a genial smile as he spoke.

As their eyes met, Han Bing was the first to respond quietly, “Our preliminary plan has been set—using the city’s underbelly to pressure the Administration Hall of Heichao City, and seizing this chance to identify the Pollution Source.”

“But there remain countless unanswered questions.”

After a pause, she murmured, “Judging from the intelligence Black Jack shared, numerous anomalies can be detected.”

“If it’s something from the abyss polluting this city, then it must be preparing for something. Otherwise, why would it maintain a semblance of order even after seizing the city’s fate?”

“Maybe it needs something from this city?”

“Like sleep?”

“Black Jack only mentioned that it emerged from the abyss, but I believe this seemingly defiant phenomenon hides something else. In a rational hypothesis, if it enters reality, shouldn’t it pay a price?”

“Is it possible that it’s actually plotting to restore its power?”

“Perhaps both Tianhe Security’s Ghost Building and the sleep of this city’s people serve as its means to recharge?”

“…”

Listening to her analysis, both Gecko and Red Serpent stared blankly, their minds struggling to catch up.

After all, they hadn’t heard Black Jack’s intelligence briefing, nor did they know what had emerged from the abyss.

Lu Xin remained silent on the discussion between Han Bing and the others.

He didn’t interrupt her, though it was clear he was lost in thought, unsure if he had fully grasped her words.

In a way, Lu Xin was merely fulfilling his role in the ‘discussion’ rather than truly listening.

When Han Bing seemed to have finished her points, he nodded with a smile and said, “That makes a lot of sense.”

“Then, how do we locate it?”

“…”

“?”

A giant question mark seemed to hover above Han Bing’s head.

Hadn’t she just posed many intriguing questions for discussion and investigation?

So why did it now feel as if Mr. Lone Soldier was wrapping up the operation?

“Our plan has been a resounding success.”

Lu Xin smiled and continued, “We’ve avoided troubling the entire city, caught them slipping up, and even learned about our opponent’s background. So, all that remains is to capture that creature and interrogate it for answers. Isn’t breaking the case through suspect interrogation a sound approach?”

Han Bing was momentarily stunned, unsure how to reply.

Only the slightly tipsy Gecko mumbled, “A proper investigation should rely on reasoning, shouldn’t it?”

Lu Xin shot Gecko a look and remarked, “That’s for foreigners.”

Gecko: “…”

Everyone in the Jeep was at a loss for words.

After a brief silence, Han Bing resumed their original plan in a hushed tone, “Earlier, we deduced that no matter where that Mental Monster comes from or what it does, it must be using the unique mental traits generated when people come in contact with Black Grass to steal their sleep and pollute their…”

“Conversely, we can use that very mental trait to track it down…”

“…”

She paused briefly, then, glancing at Lu Xin, continued, “This was supposed to be the final step. Now, by triggering this unconscious frenzy in the city, the entire place transforms into a realm of chaos—like turbulent water naturally gravitating towards lower ground.”

“The people caught in this frenzy behave the same way.”

“Once freed from their bonds, they subconsciously gravitate towards what they depend on deep within themselves…”

“In other words, they’ll instinctively cluster near the Mental Monster. That is the inherent tendency between the Pollution Entities. We can use this to locate it…”

“Though only within a general area…”

“…”

Lowering her gaze in apparent remorse, she said quietly to Lu Xin, “I’m sorry, Mr. Lone Soldier.”

“This is as far as I can go for now.”

“…”

At this, both Gecko and Red Serpent were left dumbfounded, glancing between Han Bing and Lu Xin.

After a moment of silence, Lu Xin turned to Han Bing and smiled, “Why apologize?”

He continued gently, “What you’ve done so far is exceptional. I admire and appreciate you.”

Han Bing looked up at Lu Xin as though she wanted to say something.

Yet, overwhelmed by complex and inexplicable feelings, she only nodded lightly.

Lu Xin then turned to Gecko and asked with a smile, “Did you get that?”

Gecko replied eagerly, “Yes, yes, yes…”

Stunned for a moment, Gecko nodded repeatedly before flooring the accelerator as he sped off.

The crowd, swept up in their unconscious frenzy, had lost all restraint, abandoning rational thought and any semblance of emotion. On one hand, they charged wildly at everything like a rampant wildfire.

On the other, they resembled blank slates—vulnerable and instinctively drawn towards that inner dependency.

“Pollution Source!”

In such a state, only one method could halt them:

The Pollution Source itself must exert its will to keep them at bay.

But once that will manifests, it leaves traces that Lu Xin can track.

Previously, attempts to thwart and dismantle this unconscious frenzy had only led to further destruction.

Thus, Gecko quickly grasped his current task.

With the Captain seated beside him in the passenger seat, what was there to fear?

He pressed the accelerator and surged forward down the street.

The frenzied, almost mad crowd served as the perfect indicator. The convertible Jeep, like an exuberant spider, raced wildly through the alleys of Heichao City, barreling straight for the gates of City No.3 before speeding out.

At this point, the frenzied mob had already overrun the main gates linking City No.3—or rather, the passageways between Heichao City’s satellite cities and the Main City. In Qinggang, even such uncontrolled chaos would be contained by the barriers between Satellite and Main City—but in Heichao City, even the gatekeepers had long since fallen.

“Woooo…”

Engines roared and kicked up a cloud of dust as the Jeep barreled past the thinning crowd, heading straight for its final destination.

Inside the Jeep, Han Bing stole a glance at Lu Xin, who sat silently in the passenger seat.

Suddenly, she realized something.

For a long time now, she had sensed an unexplainable change in Mr. Lone Soldier—one that sometimes made him seem unfamiliar, even frightening. She had never quite understood what had altered in Lu Xin.

But at the moment she caught the smile on his face, everything became clear.

It was his decisiveness!

The old Mr. Lone Soldier used to be a flawless team player, always heeding others’ advice and diligently executing orders.

Now, even though he still cooperates most of the time, it was evident that he was beginning to form his own opinions and ideas…

As the Action Team’s Captain, wasn’t this a good thing?

It should be, right…