Am I really hallucinating?

Chapter 666 Lots of doubts
Lin Yilin began investigating the physical characteristics of the body described by Zheng Fan, hoping to find out the other party's specific origins.

While sending out the message to mobilize her intelligence network for investigation, Lin Yilin looked at Chen Hongliang, whose expression was grave, again: "Where did the portal maintenance personnel go after being questioned last night?"

Chen Hongliang said, "Give me your phone, I can help you ask." He pointed to the phone next to Lin Yilin. This was one of the reasons he hadn't acted rashly earlier; without his phone, he couldn't even call for help.

However, he now felt there was something more important than calling for help, but he didn't know if Lin Yilin would be willing to give him her phone.

Lin Yilin glanced at it, picked up her phone, and casually tossed it over.

"Thank you for your trust." He breathed a sigh of relief, picked up his phone, and began typing.

Lin Yilin let him do as he pleased, though she could tell from his button-pressing gestures whether he was making any underhanded moves. Of course, with Zheng Fan watching intently from the side, Lin Yilin didn't need to demonstrate such a skill at all.

Soon, Chen Hongliang received news: "They have become the main people responsible for last night's accident. In addition to resigning and never being rehired, they are now being restricted in their freedom and will soon be going to jail."

"Tell me the location."

……

Central District Police Station.

Lin Yilin sneaked in.

There are many surveillance cameras in the central district, and even more so in the core area around the police station. No matter how skilled a normal person is, it's impossible for them to move freely here without being detected.

However, Lin Yilin has a Zheng Fan.

Under Zheng Fan's guidance, she easily bypassed all the surveillance areas. Even in areas where it was impossible to avoid, Zheng Fan simply stopped pretending and directly helped to cover up the surveillance cameras.

Finally, Lin Yilin entered the special detention cell inside the Central District Police Station, where, under Zheng Fan's identification, she found the portal maintenance personnel who were on duty the previous night and were being held there.

For these individuals, this whole affair was a completely undeserved disaster. Some are still not even realizing how things turned out this way.

They not only bore the primary responsibility for last night's accident, but they even caused the Wave Society to disband due to their negligence.

The incident caused by Prism... there was no prior warning. This is normal; the existence of Prism is not publicly disclosed, and any internal disciplinary actions are matters for the Prism team to handle.

Externally, only the visible wave of learning can take responsibility.

"Why?! Even so, why should we take full responsibility?" someone said indignantly.

They looked much more haggard after just one night apart.

With this huge blow falling on them, their lives are essentially over. Many of them have families, making their situation even more despairing.

Just then, one of the men turned and glanced outside the cell, nearly having his heart leap out of his chest in fright.

Suddenly, a girl with a scar on her face appeared outside the cell, silently watching them with emotionless eyes.

"You... are you?"

Everyone's attention was drawn to it.

"I've come to ask about what happened last night," Lin Yilin said directly.

"What happened last night? Haven't you asked me that many times already?" Someone subconsciously frowned, somewhat impatiently.

Some more perceptive people sized up Lin Yilin and realized something was amiss: "Wait, you're not from the central government."

"I'm definitely not," Lin Yilin readily admitted.

"Then why should we cooperate with you? We're already exhausted just dealing with the investigators and police who keep coming in to question us. This matter is already closed, and we're just waiting to be taken to a proper prison, or worse, sent to work in the mines in the dark suburbs."

Their seemingly resigned words revealed that their hearts were not so calm. "Then treat me as someone from the Disposal Bureau, wouldn't that make me more credible? Although not entirely, my actions do have a certain element of being for the Disposal Bureau." Lin Yilin still showed no expression. "Furthermore, if the investigation makes a breakthrough, I might be able to change your current situation. You probably don't really want to go mining in the black suburbs, do you?"

Most remained silent.

“You have no other choice now. There’s not even an ecosystem for firms to exist in the Central District. The Wave Academy is completely at your mercy and no one can help you at this time.”

The last sentence shattered their last shred of resolve.

Aside from this girl who suddenly appeared outside the cell, they really had no other hope or opportunity.

Even the Wave Society itself wouldn't defend them.

"Ask whatever you want, but let's be clear: we're all still confused. Even after reviewing last night's events together, we still don't understand what exactly happened in that brief moment. Don't count on us too much," someone said, offering a deflated warning.

"Do you remember the guards of the portal last night?"

"guard?"

This was a point that none of the other people who asked questions had mentioned before, which made the maintenance personnel hesitate.

"I don't remember. We've been at the portal for ages, and the guards have changed every day. We haven't had time to pay attention to any of that."

“Generally speaking, there should be people you know well, right?” Lin Yilin continued to ask. “Please think carefully and connect everything that seemed off to you last night, even the smallest things, to me.”

"This……"

Upon hearing this, although they felt it was a bit unreasonable, they still tried their best to recall.

"The guards after the shift change didn't seem to hand over duties to their assigned positions, and they didn't clock in either. But this happens often... no, usually even if they don't hand over duties to their assigned positions, the previous guards will wait for the next batch to arrive before leaving. Last night, the previous guards left on time, and the next batch arrived later. But it wasn't for very long, so we didn't pay much attention and just assumed they weren't following the rules again." Someone actually figured something out.

This kind of trivial matter wouldn't be worth paying attention to under normal circumstances; it's just a group of slacking-off guards who want to be on time and don't want to wait for the next group of people who are late.

But now, urged by Lin Yilin to recall, it felt rather unusual, and a hint of doubt, rarely seen in the past, was found.

Lin Yilin nodded in satisfaction; this kind of thinking was a good sign.

A relatively young-looking repairman hesitated for a moment before saying, "There's another point, which I mentioned when they asked before. But it's just a minor thing that doesn't seem worth paying attention to."

Lin Yilin turned her gaze over, and the young man then said, "When I was taking stock of the tools and parts in the warehouse, I found a box that was about this big." As he spoke, he made a gesture of clasping his hands together.

"It wasn't there before; it appeared around the time the guards changed shifts. It was placed in a corner of the warehouse, and we don't know what it's for. There are no markings on it, but the location of the teleportation portal is always borrowed from other people's territory, so it's normal that there might be things we don't know about."

“I have another question,” an older man added. “I’m getting old and I go to the toilet quite often. Every time I pass by the portal, I notice that the guards who come after me are very negligent in their duties. In the past, even if they relaxed, they wouldn’t leave the area around the portal. At least they fulfilled their responsibilities, and occasionally one or two of them would leave to buy something. But after going to the toilet a few more times, I found that for a long time, only a handful of them actually stayed around the portal. Most of them were wandering around in other places.”

At this point, a sense of unease arose within these maintenance workers.

Under Lin Yilin's instructions, starting from the guard post and combining it with some seemingly insignificant little things that happened last night, the truth became increasingly terrifying upon closer examination.

“Someone’s coming,” Zheng Fan suddenly said.

Lin Yilin immediately looked toward the door of the special detention cell.

"Who are you?"

But the sound came from behind her.

Lin Yilin turned around again, but saw no one, only a pitch-black area at the end of the corridor.

(End of this chapter)