Starting with dissecting ghost stories

Chapter 98 The Last Chance

Late at night, in the middle of Anning Street, outside a grocery store, several SUVs and a construction vehicle painted entirely white were parked.

On top of the engineering vehicle, a mast equipped with a gimbal camera and antenna array rises, reaching a height of five meters, overlooking the entire block.

The beginning and end of Anning Street have been cordoned off, and the area within a kilometer radius of No. 1 Garden is within the cordon.

Without sirens, flashing lights, or orderly formations, all frontline personnel were constantly searching and advancing from the outer perimeter inwards, narrowing the encirclement.

Only two elite teams were assigned as assault teams to try to find the most suitable infiltration method in order to carry out a decapitation strike.

Command vehicle.

The interior of the carriage had been converted into a darkroom, with the windows covered with opaque black film. A military green metal cabinet was welded in the middle, with three monitors embedded in the iron frame.

The monitor emitted a faint static noise, and the screen displayed a grayish-white street view.

Lu Lingyun sat in a swivel chair, staring at the monitor in front of her, her face as cold as ice.

"It's been confirmed that the resident of apartment 802 is Wang Ping. By comparing the abnormal distortion points in the video footage, it can be confirmed that the anomaly belongs to Wang Xinran and her son Wang Lei..."

A voice came from the walkie-talkie beside him. Lu Lingyun grabbed the walkie-talkie and said, "Continue the investigation. Find out who they have been in contact with."

At the same time, another walkie-talkie rang, with intermittent and heavily jammed audio coming through.

"Boss... we can't... break in! There are too many people..."

""

"Don't get too close. See if you can move from the building's facade to the roof of one of the units and find a sniping spot."

After giving the order, Lu Lingyun clasped his hands together in front of him and his mind raced.

The current conditions are... far too unfavorable.

They have identified the strange creature as being in Unit 3, 802, but are unable to take any concrete action.

The dense crowds have almost completely surrounded the entire No. 1 Garden.

The area was surrounded by people who filled almost every stairwell... They were all ordinary people. As soon as the assault team members got close, they would feel intense emotional interference, so they had to keep the electric shock device on at maximum power.

However, this would severely limit the power supply of the generator, making it impossible for them to dive inside.

Those ordinary people were all uncontrollable and unawakable... At first, the assault team tried to forcibly drag out the people on the periphery one by one within the battery's range, controlling as many as they could.

But those who were sobbing with their heads down, once they were pulled out and separated from each other, would display a frenzied aggression and struggle desperately. Only sedatives could calm them down.

Even if the sedative injections are effective... looking at this densely packed crowd—how many injections are needed? And how long will it take to expel them one by one?

Most importantly, Unit 3 is located in the very center of Garden One. They can only carry out sniping missions by climbing to the rooftops of other units. There is no way to find sniping positions on the floors outside Garden One.

They had also considered making certain sacrifices and directly blasting Room 802 into the sky with missiles or rockets.

However, the plan fell apart instantly after only estimating the population density on that floor.

The military has now intervened, working with the city police to seal off the outermost perimeter. If the Ninth Detachment cannot resolve this situation...

It seems likely that ordinary people will be sacrificed.

"Damn it." Lu Lingyun slammed his fist on the table in front of him, his bloodshot eyes filled with rage.

This was the first time they had encountered such a bizarre creature that controlled so many ordinary people as hostages...

This feeling is absolutely disgusting.

If it were the Russians, they would probably have just fired a missile at 802, regardless of whether there were hostages or not... but they couldn't.

Their purpose and original intention is to protect the lives of more people from these emerging strange events, and then, under safe conditions, attempt to contain and study them, rather than simply eliminating the strange phenomena.

Now, not only Lu Lingyun, but everyone in the Ninth Detachment is shrouded in an extremely tense atmosphere. Lu Lingyun must remain calm and continue to think of a solution.

If even he can't do anything about it, then the situation will inevitably head towards the worst possible outcome.

"Boss, the radio and television tower has sent back some pictures," the technician in front said.

"Put the image on the screen," Lu Lingyun said, staring intently at the screen in front of him.

Several pictures were placed on the secondary screen.

The observation deck of the radio and television tower, the highest point in the city, transmitted high-magnification images taken with a telephoto lens.

The photos appear to have noticeable camera shake, and the edges of the photos are blurred.

Moreover, due to the distance and the fact that it was evening, there was a lot of noise on the screen.

"Zoom in, zoom in, stop."

Lu Lingyun stared at the screen, her back teeth clenched tightly.

The satellite images weren't accurate enough to show the rooftop, but now, Lu Lingyun can see it.

On the rooftop of Garden No. 1, there were layers upon layers of dark figures—these were ordinary people standing on the rooftop, crowding the entire rooftop.

The helicopter rappelling plan was also out of the question... Room 802 was full of people, so sniping from a helicopter was basically impossible, and might even anger the "monster".

Isn't there any other way?

The technicians in the car knew what the picture meant, and they all lowered their heads, their morale low.

There is no way to avoid causing injury or death to ordinary people.

Time ticked by, the encirclement tightened, and bad news continued to pour in from the breakthrough team.

Just as Lu Lingyun's hopes had been completely dashed and he was about to issue the order to force a breakthrough, the technician who was typing away on the keyboard suddenly turned around and said, "Boss Lu, we've found someone who has been in close contact with Wang Xinran recently."

"Who?"

"I'm sending the information to the screen."

Soon, several surveillance images, along with screenshots of text message records, were displayed on the screen.

Although the image was low resolution, Lu Lingyun recognized the person in it at a glance. To confirm if it was the person he was thinking of, he glanced at the phone number in the text message.

Shen... Shen Xing?

Is it him again?

In addition to the pictures, there were also several texts, which were transcripts of interrogations of Wang Xinran's relatives in the city.

Lu Lingyun and the other technicians were quickly scanning the newly sent documents, trying to find some clues that could break the deadlock.

"According to Wang Chenghai's description, it seems that Shen Xing did not take the initiative to contact Wang Xinran, but was introduced by him."

"The footage from Friday is a bit blurry, but judging from the footage from the past few days... it seems like they're on a date?"

"Their chat history shows they were very intimate, and they even kissed when they parted tonight."

"It seems that Ah Xing really was dragged into this matter passively..."

'

Many of the technical team members were directly transferred from the provincial department, and some of them recognized Shen Xing.

"Boss Lu, I think we need to bring A-Xing over to find out what's going on. If Wang Xinran is the source of the emotional infection, then tonight's visit is probably one of the reasons for her outburst... Maybe Shen Xing, who knows her, can..."

"

Lu Lingyun scanned the information in front of him, his fingers tapping anxiously on the table in front of him.

I just sent my younger brother's daughter into the core area tonight, and her fate is unknown.

Now, are they going to call their old comrade's son over to die...?

It could even be a pointless death, just for the possibility of "not causing any ordinary casualties".

Lu Lingyun opened the door of the command vehicle, stood in the night, and looked at the surging, sobbing crowd in the distance.

"Boss."

"Boss Lu!"

Several technicians got out of the car and followed Lu Lingyun.

Lu Lingyun took out a cigarette, lit it, took a deep drag, then took out his phone and dialed a number.

"Beep—beep"

"Feed...Master?"

A slightly lazy voice came from the receiver, as if the person had just been woken up and was still a little dazed.

"Ah Xing, someone will pick you up later. I have something to tell you when you get there."

"Uh? Okay."

Shen Xing on the other end didn't ask any questions and simply agreed.

This was Shen Xing's trust in him as his master, and it was this trust that made Lu Lingyun feel a slight throbbing in his chest.

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