Starting with dissecting ghost stories

Traffic Police Detachment, Monitoring and Dispatch Room.

Inside the room, blackout curtains were drawn, and a dozen technicians sat in front of rows of flat-screen CRT monitors, browsing through the city's main road surveillance network.

Everyone was fast-forwarding or replaying the surveillance footage in front of them, searching for images with large areas of snow noise or distortion.

Suddenly, a technician wearing headphones raised his hand: "Boss Lu."

Lu Lingyun walked over to the technician, her eyes showing a hint of weariness.

Since parting ways with Shen Xing last night, he has barely rested, only managing to take a short nap in the middle because he was too exhausted.

His age no longer allows him to stay up all night like he did when he was younger.

"What did you find?" Lu Lingyun asked, looking at the screen in front of the technician.

The technician typed on the keyboard and switched to the footage of the park in the old town. The video resolution was not high, but the flow of cars and people in front of the park could be clearly seen.

"This is Li Ya, and the figure next to him is completely blurry." The technician said, then rewound the video again. "Here, this is also Li Ya, and there is also blurry noise next to him."

"Yes." Lu Lingyun nodded. It was confirmed that Li Ya was indeed connected to those strange beings.

The technician continued fast-forwarding: "This is a video from before Li Ya's body was discovered, taken in the early morning. There's a blurry noise here, heading towards the video rental store."

"Can we trace its previous trajectory?" Lu Lingyun pressed.

"No, it mainly roams the side streets. Only the surveillance cameras at the park entrance captured it; they didn't capture it on the bridge. It's probably active in the old town area," the technician replied.

"No, there are surveillance cameras on the new bridge, but not at the entrance to the old bridge." Lu Lingyun shook his head. "Any other findings?"

"Yes, there is." The technician switched to another view, "Noise has also appeared on another street."

That's... Fruit Street? Traffic cameras at the intersection of Fruit Street?

"Are there any traces of Li Ya being here?"

"No, and in the surveillance footage further back, the noise has disappeared, leaving only slight image distortion, making it practically unrecognizable..."

"Its activity trajectory doesn't overlap with Li Ya's?" Lu Lingyun pressed.

"There is no overlap."

Hearing this, Lu Lingyun took a deep breath.

Another one...

Moreover, there are only surveillance cameras at the intersections of Fruit Street, and the surveillance footage of Fruit Street can only capture less than one-fifth of the street.

Lu Lingyun picked up the walkie-talkie: "Notify the Information Section's Groups One and Two to set up observation posts at the beginning and end of Fruit Street, respectively. The mobile team should be on standby at the intersection. All of you should change into municipal work clothes. Code name: Underground Gas Pipe Emergency Repair."

"Don't let others notice; carefully observe everyone who enters or leaves this street."

"Everyone must wear earmuffs and is strictly prohibited from directly observing targets on the street with the naked eye. All sightlines must be viewed through electronic screens and cameras, and night vision goggles must be used at night."

"Lu Wenying, lead the way for the mobile team."

After giving the instructions, Lu Lingyun patted the technician on the shoulder, signaling him to keep up the good work, and then turned and left.

The current Ninth Detachment has relatively few personnel and a simple structure, with only three departments.

Information Department, Detention and Inspection Department, Mobile Response Team.

The Information Department is not only responsible for investigation and monitoring, but also for collecting information on the Internet and handling public opinion after an incident has occurred.

The containment and inspection department is also quite simple, mostly staffed by forensic scientists, biologists, and chemists, whose main task is to study and contain unusual items brought back.

The mobile unit, on the other hand, is composed of elite military and police personnel drawn from various parts of the province. The personnel screening process is even more rigorous than that of the newly established special police system—the most important aspect being psychological testing.

Shortly after Lu Lingyun issued the order, the mobile team set off.

At noon, the sun shone brightly.

A white Iveco construction vehicle was parked under the shade of trees at the intersection of Fruit Street, with the rear half of the windows covered in black explosion-proof film. Another vehicle continued to drive forward and stopped at the end of the street.

The door of the white Iveco van parked on the street was pushed open.

Four information team members wearing reflective vests with the word "municipal" printed on them and yellow safety helmets got out of the vehicle and placed a metal sign that read "[Municipal Gas Pipeline Emergency Repair, Please Detour]" in front of the vehicle, facing the intersection.

They all had thick, black tactical earmuffs covering their ears as they sat back in the car.

The inside of the car is another world altogether.

The exhaust fan emitted a dull hum, and the high-powered car air conditioner kept the temperature very low.

A screen is placed in the center of the vehicle, connected to a high-magnification monitoring camera on the roof. Next to it, an IT technician is typing on a keyboard, adjusting the camera's angle and focus.

The screen displayed a live, colorful image of the interior of Fruit Street. Everyone was in front of the electronic screen, waiting for the target with unusual noise to appear in the picture.

Meanwhile, in the monitoring and dispatch room, it seems there has been a new discovery.

"Boss Lu, look, something's not right here." A technician raised his hand, his voice startling Lu Lingyun from his drowsy state.

"Is there any noise?" Lu Lingyun walked unsteadily to the technician's side and looked at the screen.

"No, but look... I don't know how to say it..." The technician pointed to the screen, and his somewhat inexplicable words drew the attention of several other technicians nearby.

In the surveillance footage at the entrance of Fruit Street, at night, all the vendors came out of their shops and moved in unison toward the depths of the street beyond the screen.

As if they had received some kind of instruction, everyone acted in unison, their expressions obscured.

"Go back a little."

Technician's operation video playback.

"Go back a little further."

The technician played it again.

"A little further ahead...stop."

Lu Lingyun looked at the screen, where a noise-free figure appeared at the entrance of Fruit Street and walked inside.

Shen Xing? This time... was it shortly after I left last night? He went that way on his own?

Lu Lingyun took out her phone, took a picture of the monitor screen, sent an MMS to Shen Xing, and then made a phone call.

The phone rang twice before being answered.

"Hey? Ah Xing? Did you go to Fruit Street last night?" Lu Lingyun asked directly.

After a while, Shen Xing's somewhat puzzled voice came through the phone.

"Yes, I was planning to buy some fruit last night... What happened?"

"Did anything strange happen to you last night?"

"Strange things?...Yes, there are."

"What's wrong?"

"When I was leaving after buying bananas, the vendors stood up and walked towards me, and then just kept staring at me... I felt a little uneasy being stared at, so I walked faster."

"Just watching you?"

"Oh right, I remembered what you said last night, so I took a picture with my phone... but it didn't have the noise you mentioned, so I didn't think it was useful and didn't send it to you."

"You took photos? Send them to me." Lu Lingyun spoke quickly.

"it is good."

After hanging up the phone, Lu Lingyun held her breath, waiting for the text message to arrive.

A short while later, a multimedia message was sent to Lu Lingyun's phone.

Lu Lingyun opened the text message and waited for the image to slowly load. After the image was fully loaded, Lu Lingyun took a deep breath.

In the scene, the backlit crowd stands at a distance, calmly watching the camera. Behind the light blue glass of the buildings on both sides, there are also dark figures leaning against the windows.

Terrifying and bizarre.

but.

On them.

There is no noise whatsoever.

How could that be?

Lu Lingyun's heart sank.

A wave of waves has risen again.

This time, the scope of those things' impact may be even greater than I imagined...