[New Interview Log: 1099 Containment Breach Incident-4-6]
"Alright, the recording is ready... Robin, how are you feeling right now?"
"A bit dizzy... Is this Red Capsule addictive?"
"Hardly. It is much safer than you think. Once you become a Class-C employee, you can apply to use it to enhance your memory and cognitive retrieval. Are you ready?"
"I am ready."
"Then I need to confirm with you once more: when you defeated the facility's deputy, was there anything unusual about his appearance?"
"It was very dark at the time. Let me think... Everything seemed normal... No, I mean, he looked completely normal."
"Are you sure?"
"I am sure. I even noticed that his shirt was fully buttoned. Yes, I remember a lot of details, it is absolutely true. Right, that pen I couldn't find this morning actually fell into..."
"Thank you, Robin. Excessive talkativeness is a normal side effect of the medication. You will recover shortly. I will have someone escort you back to the Onboarding Training Ground now."
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[New Interview Log: 1099 Containment Breach Incident-4-10]
"Look, I have been cooperating with you guys all along. All this military training is making me feel miserable. My head aches, my bones are sore. You know I have been cooped up in the facility with barely any sunlight, and I am calcium deficient..."
"We did not bring you here to discuss that issue, CVA. If you feel you are not suited for the Mobile Task Force's Support Squad, why didn't you submit a formal request instead of constantly writing complaint letters about your poor treatment?"
"But I..."
"You can write an application when you get back. If you do not have a pen, I can lend you one. For now, state the target's condition the last time you saw him."
"..."
"CVA-D-9013, I am asking you a question."
"I know, I know... Phew. When I finally escaped with those special ops guys, those monsters were already gone. Anyway, I didn't see him then. I figured falling rocks might have buried him, so I didn't waste time looking. That guy wasn't exactly a good..."
"And before that?"
"Before that... When I tried to hold off those monsters, I saw him smashing her with something. I wanted to help, but I couldn't get through. My hand had been bitten..."
"Did his physical form show any Anomalies at that moment?"
"I am not sure. I was too far away, and the lighting was poor..."
"Stop rocking back and forth, CVA. Do not make any unusual movements. After you blocked the leading Anomaly, did none of them try to bypass you?"
"How could I have time to observe that? But if you insist... It was definitely strange. The Corridors were wide enough for them to pass. Maybe it's because they didn't have eyes and couldn't see the path beside me?"
"From your perspective, do you think the target could have slipped away during the chaos when the horde of monsters broke through?"
"It is possible."
"Your reasoning?"
"You weren't there to experience it, but I could sense that they had no interest in humans. They gave me the distinct feeling that they just wanted to run away. Haha, kind of like me. I... I mean fleeing for their lives! Not escaping!"
"Understood. You may return to your training."
"Wait a minute, can we change my reassignment location? You have a dedicated logistics department, don't you? I could..."
"Guards, please escort the Entity out."
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The factory doors, sealed shut for years, swung inward with a prolonged creak.
Although it was already night outside, the faint glow of the stars and moon made the exterior slightly brighter than the pitch-black interior of the factory. A head cautiously poked in from the edge of the door, observed for a moment, and looked down to press something. A bright beam of light then flared to life.
Shi Rang held up his Mobile Phone's flashlight, inching his way deeper into the factory.
Shi Rang had already cursed the Chief Editor countless times in his head. The fact that he had resigned did not stop him from venting his resentment. Later, he began to reflect on his own faults, cursing himself for being forgetful, cursing himself for being foolish, and cursing himself for not having the courage to fall out with the Chief Editor sooner.
He had countless opportunities to improve his life, but his constant hesitation only ended up making things worse.
Just like right now!
Factory buildings stood in dense clusters across the Yunling New District, the various indoor structures packed tightly together like building blocks. Navigating through them was no easy feat, even in broad daylight. Unable to find his way while scouting locations that afternoon, he had been forced to press himself flat against the walls multiple times just to shimmy past the edges of old pipeline trenches. But he wouldn't dare attempt such acrobatics in the dead of night, not even if his life depended on it.
He still could not fully comprehend his previous experience of escaping from the deep pit, and he did not dare to bet on a miracle happening a second time.
Ultimately, he was forced to choose a relatively intact factory building and attempt to pass straight through its interior.
'I hope the exit leads straight to an open clearing...'
As long as he could find an open space, he could follow the city lights to find a road and reach an area with cell reception.
The subsequent steps were still fraught with uncertainty and danger, but compared to being trapped in this terrifying, abandoned industrial zone, those were minor problems.
[Battery Remaining: 12%]
After browsing the internet for most of the day, his Mobile Phone battery was nearly depleted. Shi Rang gripped the device tightly, moving cautiously behind the beam of light, occasionally glancing at the battery percentage in the top right corner.
Every time the number dropped by a single digit, his heart gave a painful twitch.
The darkness seemed intent on swallowing the light, allowing the Mobile Phone's flashlight to illuminate no further than three paces ahead. Shi Rang was forced to slow his steps, frequently holding his breath to listen intently for anything stirring in the factory other than his own footsteps.
A few minutes later, he bent down to slip through a square opening. As he raised his head, a spherical object suddenly loomed in his vision.
Shi Rang halted abruptly.
His body went rigid as he carefully scrutinized the object resting at the edge of the light, only to realize it looked like nothing more than a faded basketball. Mustering his courage, he walked over and nudged it aside with the tip of his shoe, finally allowing the paranoid delusions of severed heads to slowly dissipate from his mind.
'Why would there be a basketball here?'
He raised the light higher, subsequently revealing a pile of discarded cardboard and a battered Sofa.
A vagrant must have stayed here at some point.
Upon closer inspection, this Stronghold was surprisingly luxurious. There was bright spray paint on the walls, a mattress resting on the Sofa, and even a wooden table paired with an armchair nearby. It was a picture-perfect vagrant shelter.
This indicated that the area was safe.
Shi Rang immediately entertained the thought of spending the night here and waiting out the darkness until dawn.
He shook out a piece of cardboard and draped it over the mattress on the Sofa.
Although the kicked-up dust made him sneeze three times in a row, it didn't look too bad...
A sinister gust of wind swept across the factory roof, scraping against the metal with a shriek-like noise that instantly extinguished Shi Rang's desire to stay. Shaken by the lingering feeling that something might lunge out from the darkness, he hurriedly stepped away from the Makeshift Bed and pressed onward.
[Battery Remaining: 10%]
The factory was much larger than Shi Rang had imagined. After passing through an unknown number of doors and crossing multiple workshops once designed for round-the-clock production, an iron door finally blocked his path.
The door was heavily rusted, only allowing him to pull it inward just enough to create a three-inch gap.
Fresh air flooded in through the opening, and Shi Rang's flashlight beam revealed no more walls beyond it.
'It is an exit!'
But no matter how hard he pulled, he could not widen the gap any further.
Shi Rang spun around and found a Metal Bar nearby. He hurriedly switched off the flashlight, shoved the Mobile Phone into his pocket, grabbed the Metal Bar, and forcefully wedged it into the gap—
Rumble...
The distant sound of a vehicle brought Shi Rang's movements to a halt.
Peering through the narrow opening, he watched a pair of headlights emerge from the distance.
The vehicle did not drive toward his wall; instead, it parked behind another building. This was followed by the loud slam of a car door. A silhouette stepped into the pool of light spilling from the headlamps, pacing around in the distance as if waiting or searching for something. The person's physical outline looked somewhat bizarre, but Shi Rang could not make out the specific details.
'Who would come to an uninhabited area in the middle of the night?'
'Have I stumbled upon another criminal syndicate?'
A rapid succession of theories flashed through Shi Rang's mind, making the Camera hanging around his neck feel increasingly heavy.
'Could this be Blue Signal coming for revenge?'
'Has my identity as the whistleblower been exposed?'
The iron bar remained wedged in the door gap. Shi Rang rested his hand hesitantly on his Camera for a moment, but when he raised his eyes to look again, the headlights were gone.
The low hum of an idling engine could still be heard in the distance.
It took Shi Rang a few seconds to adjust to the returning darkness before he realized the pool of light was actually still there. It had simply been eclipsed, outlining the silhouette of whatever was blocking it. It outlined...
The figure of a person standing right outside his door.