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Chapter 32 Strange Phenomena Appear in the Sky
The car drove out of the underground parking garage and turned onto the main road.

Many people had already stopped to watch along the roadside.

"What are they looking at?" Honglian asked.

"Holy crap... You should focus on driving..." Wang Baihu climbed out of the sunroof, leaned on the roof, and stared incredulously in the direction everyone was looking.

A blood-red wilderness was reflected in the sky.

Compared to the surrounding sparse white clouds and blue sky, it stood out so strikingly, like a long, narrow scroll painting. Many people witnessed this spectacular sight, taking out their phones to take pictures of the horizon, their faces beaming with excitement.

This is completely different from past invasions... He could even imagine the despair the logistics team would feel cleaning up the mess.

"No way..." Honglian quickly noticed the strange phenomenon in the sky through the gaps between the tall buildings. "What the hell is that?!"

"I'm not sure, but it looks like it's raining over there... and the rain is blood red..." Wang Baihu murmured, squinting. His eyesight was the best in the team; he could see the denomination of a coin 500 meters away with his naked eye. "What are we going to do now? The whole city will probably see it!"

“It’s not just the whole city.” Honglian rolled her eyes silently. “In just a few minutes, this will be known all over the world.”

Past pollution intrusions were often limited to a door, a house, or a "space" of limited size, and most of these spaces had traceable clues. For example, the intrusion numbered 98 encountered last time was set in medieval France, so the connection point would also appear in a shop on a replica of the Champs-Élysées.

Therefore, in order to concentrate the intrusion, they spent a huge sum of money to build a massive Window of the World on the outskirts of the city. Since traveling abroad is becoming increasingly easy these days, amusement parks that imitate famous landmarks from various countries are obviously outdated. Honglian remembers that many newspapers "criticized" the construction of this park at the time, but little did they know that its purpose was not to attract tourists at all.

The sky was clearly empty, so why did this strange phenomenon of intrusion suddenly occur?
Wang Baihu climbed back into the car, turned on the radio, and found that all the channels were playing the same station's voice.

"...A rare and spectacular light and shadow phenomenon has appeared in the sky above our city. Experts say this is a special mirage, caused by the refraction of light due to the southward movement of a cold air mass from the north being partially blocked by Lushan Mountain. Please remain calm and observe the spectacle in a civilized and orderly manner. Below are some viewing points recommended by our radio reporter..."

“A mirage? That’s a good idea,” he praised. “The logistics team reacted quite quickly.”

"It'll only fool us for a while," Honglian said dismissively. "The intrusion brings not only strange sights but also anomalies. If we don't handle it properly, the secret that this world has long been riddled with holes will probably be exposed."

After she finished speaking, she took out a police light from the glove box and stuck it to the roof of the car.

The sirens blared, and the vehicles dawdling ahead quickly made way.

"Hey, that's against the rules. We're not—"

"We don't have time for those details! At this rate, the roads will be completely blocked soon. Are we supposed to run there on foot?"

Wang Baihu had to admit she was right. Those attracted by the strange phenomenon weren't just passersby, but also drivers. Traffic was slowing down noticeably, and many people were pulling over to watch this rare mirage. It was foreseeable that major traffic jams would soon occur on all the city's main roads.

"Don't worry, the traffic police are too busy to check us right now; they're already overwhelmed with their own problems." Honglian gripped the steering wheel tightly and slammed the accelerator to the floor. "Hold on tight, I'm going to speed up!"

In less than fifteen minutes, the two arrived at Heping Avenue in Tianlu District at breakneck speed.

Below the strange phenomenon was a small green park.

It wasn't yet time to leave work, so there weren't many people wandering around the park—only a few dozen at a glance. They were directly beneath the mirage, and could see the spectacular sight of the sky being torn apart simply by looking up.

Wang Baihu felt his breathing quicken.

He had to admit that observing the phenomenon from a distance was a completely different experience than standing beneath it and looking up at it. First, there was the size; when it appeared directly overhead, it occupied almost half of his field of vision, creating an immense and oppressive feeling. Second, at the edge of the phenomenon, he could clearly see several clouds cut in half, white wisps of cloud falling into its interior, as if the crimson earth were sucking away everything in the world. It hung high in the sky, yet resembled a bottomless abyss.

"Take this and go chase them away." Honglian tossed something to him.

Wang Baihu took it and saw that it was a police officer's ID card, and the photo on it was his.

"Where did you buy this from?"

Pinduoduo.

"You've broken the rules—"

"Hmm?" Honglian raised an eyebrow. "Then I'll go."

"No, I'll do it." Wang Baihu quickly grabbed her and got out of the car himself. Although dispersing the crowd was for their own good, his colleague's disregard for the rules was obvious to all, not to mention that she had just suffered a great humiliation and now had nowhere to vent her anger.

"Hey, this isn't safe, you guys get out of here!" He brandished his police badge and rushed towards a couple holding up their phones. "Didn't they say it was a mirage?"

"Yeah, what's unsafe about it?"

"Would I lie to you!" Wang Baihu waved his badge to emphasize, "The park is about to be cordoned off, you'd better get out of here!"

Perhaps it was the persuasive power of his identity as a police officer that made the two heed his warning and leave with their heads held high.

He then ran toward the second group of people.

But just then, a sharp scream suddenly rang out!

Everyone heard the scream and looked in the direction of the sound. They saw a young woman in her early twenties sitting on the ground, frantically twisting her body backward as if trying to escape, but unable to leave the ground due to fear. Her left hand was tightly clutching her right wrist, and blood was spurting from her fingertips.

Wang Baihu was startled and rushed to the other party's side in one stride.

There was only a pet dog with a collar in front of the woman.

The dog was licking a pool of strange, shimmering blood, ignoring the woman's cries, while a piece of skinned hand lay scattered at its feet.

He recognized it immediately as a woman's hand.

At this moment, the dog also looked at him—not by raising its head, but by moving both eyes to the same side, staring at him side by side! Its mouth opened even wider, almost stretching from the tip of its nose all the way to its neck.

Wang Baihu felt a chill run down his spine.

Alienation... has happened to the dog?

Without further hesitation, he drew the gun hidden in his waistband and shot the pet dog!

With a soft whoosh, the bullet struck the dog precisely between the eyebrows.

This is no ordinary handgun, but a special weapon issued by the organization. It looks like a toy and fires powerful tranquilizer darts. The advantage is that even if the public sees it, it won't arouse much alarm... The disadvantage is, like now, the pet dog shows no signs of being tranquilized. It just paused for a moment before opening its mouth and biting the ground!

Biting into the earth?

Wang Baihu suddenly noticed that the grass beneath his feet was moving.

In the blink of an eye, a dog's mouth burst out of the ground and fiercely bit his calf! Incredibly, the pet dog did not leave its position; it seemed to have buried its head in the soil, and its body was still three or four meters away from Wang Baihu!
Upon witnessing this bizarre scene, the woman let out a sob and fainted from fright.

However, the dog's mouth failed to bite off his calf in one go, and even broke several of its sharp teeth, with sparks flying from the point of contact.

Wang Baihu easily pulled his leg away, then leaped back, picked up the unconscious woman, and ran towards the car. "Red Lotus, bullet number MZ3!"

"One second left," came the calm reply from my colleague through the headset. "Run faster."

"Couldn't you have delayed for a few more seconds—" Before he could finish speaking, the explosion behind him drowned out any reply.

Boom!

Wang Baihu was blown off balance by the blast. Looking back, all that remained on the grass was a charred black patch and the shattered lower half of his pet dog.

No one dared to linger in the park any longer, and in the blink of an eye, everyone had disappeared.

"That saves trouble," he muttered. "I just wonder what the logistics team will say."

"What else can I say? A gas pipe explosion." Honglian walked over. "What were you hitting just now?"

"A dog."

"Huh?" She frowned.

Wang Baihu said, still somewhat incredulous, "That dog... gained power."

(End of this chapter)