Life Dungeon Game

This is a way of saying goodbye.

She didn't believe for a second that Moonlight hadn't considered hacking these hard drives, after all, this branch stored a lot of internal research data.

If the research institute hadn't discovered it quickly and she hadn't arrived in time, these hard drives would probably have been hacked, copied, and put back together.

Wu Lan did not come alone this time; she also brought along some research institute staff she had temporarily assigned.

These staff members are currently using access control devices to unlock the locked computers and access the data inside, striving to restore the branch's operations as quickly as possible.

This process may involve recovering confidential documents, and it might not be appropriate for Moonlight's people to stay here.

"fine,"

West laughed and waved his hand, "Maintaining peace in Newland is our duty. Contact us anytime if you have any problems."

The subtext of this statement is to tell Wu Lan that this is Moonlight's territory, and they will not give up their surveillance of this area.

They both understood what the other meant and said goodbye with smiles.

Wu Lan escorted West to the door before returning to the lobby outside the office.

Watching the busy staff in the lobby, Wu Lan leaned against the office door, lost in thought.

Does West really know nothing?

Is it that they don't know, or are they unwilling to say? Or perhaps they can't say?

Is the force that caused everyone in the branch to disappear really some kind of 'strange phenomenon'?

If it's not a strange phenomenon and is man-made, then why choose a branch of the research institute?

Didn't the other party realize that this would attract the attention of the research institute, and even the attention of several B-level experts?

Judging from the other party's actions, if it was indeed deliberate, then it was a latent [action].

A certain force lurking in the shadows, operating within the sphere of influence of the moonlight, has rashly provoked another major power.

Is the intention to muddy the waters and fish in troubled waters?

However, given the current state of the research institute and Moonlight, a conflict is simply impossible.

Or is there a compelling reason to choose a branch of the research institute?

After pondering for a moment, Wu Lan went back into the office.

She looked up at the ceiling.

The lights were broken. Night had fallen, and the entire office was lit by a temporary emergency light hanging from the ceiling.

The building has good natural lighting; she was here this afternoon. The outdoor office lobby has a great view even during the day without the lights on.

They now speculate that the 'attack' occurred yesterday morning, when everyone was at work.

Why would an attack that occurs during the day damage the lights?

Was it accidental destruction? Or was it deliberate destruction?

Wu Lan walked step by step to the broken desk. Some of the original drawers were broken, revealing torn documents inside, while the remaining intact ones were pulled out.

According to Moonlight, the drawers were like this when they came in, and they tried to preserve the scene as much as possible.

Clearly, the drawers had been searched, but no additional fingerprints were left at the scene.

Wu Lan glanced at the drawer in front of her, but she didn't linger on it. Instead, she reached under the desk on the side of the desk.

She fumbled with her fingers for a while, found a small hidden snap, and then gently pried it open.

Click—

A thin, hidden compartment popped out, containing a rather thin investigation document.

The head of the Newland branch of the research institute is Xia Ye, a cautious but strong-willed person.

As old friends of many years, having explored ruins together, slayed monsters together, and solved strange phenomena together, Wu Lan knew her old friend's personality and habits very well.

Xia Ye liked to create these hidden compartments under the desk to hide things that she didn't have time to put in the safe.

This document might be something Xia Ye sensed was wrong and hid beforehand.

Wu Lan pondered for a moment, then took out the document.

The document appears to be an investigation report by staff at a branch of the research institute.

Wu Lan glanced through it; it was an investigation report about an uncontrolled supernatural phenomenon that might exist in the city-state of Newland.

This book is the responsibility of the research institute's branch: to collect information on supernatural phenomena and then report it to headquarters. This may include phenomena such as the opening of ruins or the existence of some powerful supernatural item.

In principle, this information gathering will not be particularly rigorous, and the branch will not get too involved, otherwise it will arouse Moonlight's hostility.

The report in Wu Lan's possession also roughly conforms to this principle.

It only contains some basic survey information; the core conclusion is...

Over the past year, a large number of people have gone missing in Newland City. The closer the timeline is to the present, the more people have gone missing. Some of the informants' family members, and even the informants themselves, are suspected to be among these missing people.

In fact, it was precisely because of the disappearance of these informants that Xia Ye noticed this strange phenomenon.

Anomalies.

Furthermore, geographically, these missing persons were not located in a few fixed areas, but were evenly distributed throughout the city-state.

Xia Ye believes that there is a very strong and strange phenomenon in the city-state of Newland, and these missing people are this strange phenomenon 'hunting' them.

The report was marked just two days ago. I checked the database of the Wu Lan Research Institute and found no record of this report.

In other words, the report has not yet been uploaded.

According to Xia Ye's habits, this means that she believes this report is not the final version.

Is she still investigating? Has she obtained some 'additional' clues?

Did she leave the document here because she believed the attackers were connected to it?

However, the 'mysterious disappearance' of this branch of the research institute is indeed very similar to the 'missing persons' mentioned in the documents.

Did the research institute's branch investigation lead to the attack by the mastermind?

“Witchcraft Department,”

While I was pondering this, a young man carrying a tablet walked in from outside. "The surveillance footage has been analyzed."

"Let me see."

Wu Lan turned around and reached out her hand.

These surveillance videos were stored on an encrypted drive at the research institute, and Moonlight was unable to decipher them.

The young man handed the tablet computer to Wu Lan.

Wu Lan looked down at the screen on her computer. The first thing she saw was an office hall full of staff members, with people coming and going. The time displayed in the lower right corner of the monitor was 9:17 a.m.

But then, in the very next second, all the staff in the lobby, whether sitting in office chairs or walking between workstations, instantly disappeared from the screen.

It's like all the scenes with people were directly removed and replaced with scenes without people.

Immediately after that, the entire screen went black, and the camera was destroyed.

Wu Lan frowned slightly, dragged the video progress bar forward, and watched the video again. The people who were taking action disappeared from her sight once more.

This time, she glanced down at the time in the lower right corner: 9:17:16. The time progressed smoothly, without any signs of splicing.

How did you do it.

She held the tablet, rubbed her temples, and then glanced at the young man beside her. "You go ahead and do your work. I'll call you if I need anything."

"it is good."

The young man nodded.

"Hey, wait a minute,"

Just as the young man turned to leave, Wu Lan seemed to remember something and said softly, "Has your lodging for tonight been arranged?"

"As usual, I booked the Maple Leaf Hotel,"

The young man replied slowly, "This hotel has a contract with the research institute, so it can use the company's accounts directly."

"Okay, thank you for your hard work."

Wu Lan nodded.

"It should be,"

The young man nodded, glanced at Wu Lan to make sure she had nothing else to say, and then turned and left.

Wu Lan, meanwhile, kept her head down, staring at the tablet in her hand, at the video that was playing on repeat.

After a while, she looked up at the marks around her.

Why was Xia Ye able to resist? That kind of thing that can directly make someone 'disappear' is ineffective against stronger superhumans.

What was its purpose? Or did Xia Ye discover something?

She took out her phone and accessed the data that originally belonged to this branch, which had just been unlocked by the research institute staff and shared to the research institute's cloud platform.

She searched through these materials and found that there were many clues about the 'Newland City-State Disappearance Case', but they were very disorganized. However, she only had this one comprehensive investigation report, and there were no specially marked materials.

As she was searching through the documents, her phone screen flashed, and an incoming call appeared.

This call wasn't in my contacts; it was from an unknown number.

After thinking for a moment, she chose to answer the call.

"Hello,"

The voice on the other end was gentle and clear, "I am Hao Yi."

"what?"

Wu Lan was stunned.

"I have the research institute's account, and I've already sent you a message."

The person on the other end of the phone seemed to have anticipated her question and calmly continued speaking.

Wu Lan quickly opened the research institute's software and, sure enough, saw a message from a stranger named 'Hao Yi' in the private chat, along with a friend request.

Within the research institute's software, users can send messages directly to each other without being friends, but they must be friends before they can send files and large amounts of image data.