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Chapter 149 Decrypting the Video
Inside the Weixian agency's office, a briefing on the television station case is underway.

The whiteboard was covered with photos of all the relevant individuals, and the red "death" markers on the left were particularly alarming. This was the first time such a serious incident involving casualties had occurred since the establishment of the Jiangcheng branch of the organization.

All nine people eventually died; apart from Lu Lixin, the others didn't survive the night. The forensic doctor determined the cause of death to be multiple organ infection and failure, likely due to the exposure of internal organs leading to a large influx of bacteria.

“We have obtained the identity information of the main culprit.” The report was given by Wang Qianduan, another assistant to the new captain. At forty years old, he looked quite reliable. Although his eyes were slightly fierce, his personality was surprisingly calm. In a sense, he was more like the captain than Xiao Kanong. “Simply put, it’s another family tragedy.”

Honglian looked at the report in her hand. According to the police investigation, Lu Lixin's original name was Lu Sisi. She was 26 years old. Her parents divorced early and remarried. Because she was not well-liked by her family, she had lived alone since high school. Her only contact with her biological parents was the monthly allowance they sent her.

Lacking proper family guidance, she behaved quite unruly in high school, often associating with a group of street thugs, and ultimately failed to get into university. After her allowance was cut off, she could only make ends meet by doing odd jobs, and in her earlier years, she was imprisoned multiple times for theft and fraud, with her most recent release being a year ago.

"So he was a habitual offender," Wang Baihu scoffed. "He got lucky and gained the ability, and immediately amplified his evil deeds dozens of times over."

“But judging from her resume… she’s a complete failure.” Xiaojiu asked curiously, “I watched the video that leaked from the scene. She acted so passionately, as if she saw herself as a fighter against the authorities. It doesn’t seem like something a thug would do.”

The team members nodded in agreement.

But the intelligence team members remained calm.

As expected, Xiao Kanong, who was standing to the side, said with a smile, "Miss Jiu has a good question. Our intelligence team has just found out that someone is secretly guiding Lu Lixin, leading her down the path of no return of taking revenge on society."

"Can't you include this in the report too?" Honglian sighed.

“This is firsthand news; I only found out about it before the meeting,” Xiao Kanong said, feigning innocence. “In the six months after her release from prison, people transferred money to her account, totaling more than 3.5 million. The eight accomplices also had their own prior convictions, and she used this money to recruit them.”

"Who hit me?"

“An overseas organization called the Gospel Church.”

People couldn't help but whisper among themselves.

The Gospel Church—this is not an unfamiliar term; rumors about the Gospel Church have circulated within the Limits Organization for a long time. This organization was formed by individuals with out-of-control abilities, with the aim of challenging the Organization's control.

"So the rumors are true?" Zhang Yingzi shrugged. "I originally thought it was just nonsense."

"It's a shame, but it does seem to exist." Instead of showing any worry, Xiao Kanong smiled and said, "Now that the secrets of the ability users have been exposed to the world, I didn't expect them to dare to show their faces. I think the Gospel Society won't be the first group to oppose the Limit Authority, nor will it be the last. There will be many more like this in the future."

The thought that more and more criminals would gain these abilities made everyone frown.

Honglian stared at her superior with dissatisfaction and said, "Why do you seem quite happy?"

“Of course!” To everyone’s surprise, Xiao Kanong readily admitted, “Haven’t you heard, Miss Honglian, chaos is a ladder? The more serious the security problem, the bigger our stage becomes! Do you know what my biggest regret is about the TV station incident? It’s that the person who took care of the criminals wasn’t our execution team, but a highly dangerous wanderer!”

He opened his arms to the crowd and said, "Just imagine, if you had solved this problem, what would the news be like today? Every TV station, every website... would have put your story on the front page! You—would have become heroes of Jiangcheng!"

An uproar erupted in the office.

However, the reasons for the uproar varied.

Some lamented that they were just a little too late, while others were surprised that the captain dared to say that chaos would benefit the organization. Honglian, of course, also disapproved of his frivolous remarks, but she was even more astonished by his last sentence.

"A Wanderer? His identity has been found out too?" "Of course not so quickly." Xiao Kanong heard her question first. "However, headquarters declassified a document for me, which confirms that he must be a Wanderer."

The whispers gradually subsided.

What is the decrypted file?
"Are we qualified to look into it?" Kobato asked curiously.

"Yes, it was originally a top secret document, but considering that the intrusion point has now been made public, its classification has been downgraded by one level. Actually, I was planning to show it to you at the morning meeting. Without understanding these things, you will find it difficult to comprehend the danger posed by the other side."

As he said this, he pressed the remote control button, and the curtains outside the office slowly fell, dimming the indoor light.

Then the captain handed a videotape to Wang Qianduan.

"It's a videotape!" Wang Baihu exclaimed in a low voice. "So that's why there's a videotape player in the office. It's for this."

"A USB drive just doesn't have this atmosphere..." Xiaojiu said excitedly, "Even without seeing the contents, I feel like it's something mysterious!"

Honglian remained silent, realizing that few of her teammates were normal.

Soon, the picture appeared on the television.

First came the logo of the security agency, followed by a warning notice in black and red lettering. The gist was that if anyone unintentionally obtained this videotape, they should destroy it immediately; otherwise, disclosing or copying it could result in extremely severe legal penalties.

After a few seconds of blackout, everyone finally saw the main topic.

It was a video from a bygone era, and the photographer seemed to be in a city. The architectural style of the buildings was unlike any city on Earth, with dark gray steel facades forming its dominant color scheme.

This is... the world on the other side of the intrusion point?

Honglian keenly realized that the photographer had crossed the boundary.

But where are the people on the streets? In such a large city, the empty streets are almost deserted. There are quite a few cars, though, parked along the roadside, their designs rather classic.

Screen switching.

The photographer appeared to have walked along the street for quite some time, and the surrounding buildings became increasingly strange, with many sticky, bubbly substances attached to their surfaces, resembling giant insect eggs. Occasionally, the camera would be pointed down, revealing clumps of writhing muscle tissue on the road surface, as if tumors were growing there.

This scene immediately reminded everyone of the deceased in the TV station lobby!
At the same time, Honglian finally saw the inhabitants of this world—tall and thin, with withered limbs, kneeling in twos and threes by the roadside, kowtowing and worshipping the sky. The further she went, the more people like them she saw.

To whom...or to what are they bowing?
The camera cut to another segment.

When the screen lit up again, the camera had been moved to the side, but it was still faithfully performing its task. They could only see a small portion of the scene from this ground-hugging perspective. The number of people kneeling was countless, easily in the thousands, but among them stood one unusual figure—wearing a relatively modern windbreaker and jeans, with a rifle slung over his shoulder. Yet, what he did was no different from the listless passersby: prostrating himself on the ground, repeating the motion of full-body prostration.

The streets are no longer asphalt pavement, but rather slices of meat with distinct textures!
The surrounding buildings have sprouted many tentacles!

At this moment, the video recorder clicks, the timer resets to zero, and the recording ends.

(End of this chapter)