Chapter 353
Chapter 353 Making an Announcement
The convoy arrived at their destination at four in the morning.
Before this, they had gone to the local Ability Bureau to discuss the latest situation with the director, along with handling some routine handovers and such. Although this had nothing to do with Xia Xinyan and Ling Mo, they still had to wait for Lin Nan and the others to depart together, which wasted quite a bit of time.
…It wasn’t really a waste of time, though. If they had rested normally at night, it probably would have delayed them until tomorrow… no, this afternoon.
Important matters can never afford delays, especially potential major events like this one. Staying up all night isn’t a big deal for this.
Yet, the fat guy complained a bit: “Come on… Anyone who’s seen a few horror movies should know that it’s not wise to explore eerie places in the dark.”
They were currently at the intersection of the provincial road leading into the mountain village. There were streetlights on the road, the dim yellow light barely illuminating the junction. The abandoned cars of several missing persons still lay here; considering there might be clues, the Ability Bureau had not moved the vehicles. As a result, these cars, scattered without any sort of regulation and with their doors wide open, added a layer of eeriness to the scene.
—It had that opening-scene horror movie feel.
“This is the real world, not a dungeon,” Morning Light chuckled, “Just relax.”
“But who can guarantee that there won’t be all sorts of craziness happening in the real world?” The fat guy shot them a sideways glance.
Morning Light shrugged slightly: “At least we won’t be as stupid as the characters in a horror movie.”
“That’s not necessarily true—normal people would choose to come to a place like this during the day.”
“Isn’t this to quickly resolve a potential danger?” Lin Nan chimed in, “But now we have a group of top-notch powers here, so there shouldn’t be any major problems.”
The fat guy rubbed his chin and looked at Bai Yu beside him: “What if I want to go back?”
They hadn’t even entered yet, and he’d already planted a bunch of flags; he was afraid he wouldn’t make it out alive.
Bai Yu’s mouth twitched: “If you say a few less words, you’d reduce your flags by 100%.”
“Alright,” Ling Mo scanned the surroundings, casually took Xia Xinyan’s hand, “Let’s check here for any discoveries. The others can stay here and wait; we’ll go see those cars.”
Xia Xinyan’s gaze fell on his hand.
Noticing her gaze, Ling Mo smiled slightly: “Just in case.”
What if some illusion suddenly separated them later?
Xia Xinyan silently surveyed the area but didn’t say anything.
Just pretend she was being merciful.
This place wasn’t suitable for getting caught up in that kind of stuff anyway.
The group approached the cars and began investigating the situation inside.
Two of the cars had crashed into roadside trees, but judging by the impact marks, they likely weren’t traveling fast; the front damage was minimal. One car was parked lower on the road and hadn’t even turned off yet. Inside all three vehicles, the situation was chaotic, with signs of struggle.
Notably, all three cars had dash cams that were still operational; however, after Bai Yu retrieved the internal footage, he couldn’t find any complete records from the time of the incident.
The footage showed that as the cars approached this intersection, they saw a few shadowy figures blocking the road ahead, the drivers slowed down normally, and then the recording became blurry just before contact. In the end, it turned into a static snowstorm. By the time the dash cams resumed recording, it had already shifted to a perspective after the incident.
Bai Yu then checked the internal computer records of a few more cars to assess their actions at the time of the accident. The two cars that had crashed into trees suddenly revved up after stopping, leading to the impact, but since the speed hadn’t increased much, they didn’t suffer serious damage; the remaining car hadn’t moved after it stopped.
“It looks like… they might have been taken away by those shadowy figures,” the fat guy speculated while stroking his chin. “These two guys tried to escape but got caught, leaving the last guy with probably no chance to run.”
Ling Mo raised an eyebrow: “What if those people are demons?”
After all, they hadn’t seen monsters disguised as humans before.
Lin Nan agreed: “It’s possible. If the creatures in that village are mimicking humans… then the situation becomes tricky.”
In such situations, the more people involved in the operation, the easier it is to fall into a trap.
Xia Xinyan frowned slightly, recalling the events from her past life concerning this matter.
Unfortunately, back then she hadn’t paid much attention to it, making it hard to recall more details; she really didn’t know who the main enemy in the event was.
“If there are no other findings, let’s go in,” Morning Light said, looking at the small path, “Everyone just be careful.”
They couldn’t give up on the mission just because they knew it was dangerous—especially since they already knew this incident was risky; now it was simply confirming it was even more perilous.
“Wait,” Ling Mo made a waiting gesture, then turned his gaze to the fat guy, “You can start now.”
“Got it.” The fat guy grinned and, under the watchful eyes of Lin Nan and Morning Light, pulled out a bunch of random live-streaming devices from his spatial watch, skillfully setting them up for broadcasting, “Have the brothers been waiting long? I, Zhang Banshan, am live again!”
Saying this, he turned the camera to include Morning Light and the dark little road leading to the mountain village: “We aren’t streaming a dungeon or the Dark Zone this time; we’re here for the real deal—handling the Lanxiang Village anomaly incident! The Chicks and the Ability Bureau are joining forces to solve it! It could be the most explosive event of the year! Brothers who are looking forward to it, hit us with those expectations!”
Lin Nan: “…”
Morning Light: “…”
They hadn’t heard anything about this before.
Ling Mo smiled kindly at them: “Let’s take this opportunity to promote the Chicks. Please understand.”
Lin Nan’s expression froze for a while, then he quietly asked, “Aren’t you afraid something will happen?”
If something went wrong during the live stream, both the Chicks and the Ability Bureau would be in deep trouble, right?
“As for that…” Ling Mo shrugged, “Let’s not plant flags, but we should have a bit of confidence in ourselves.”
With that, he immediately turned to the Chicks action team that had come along, calling out loudly: “Everyone! Come and get your gear!”
“Yes!!” The synchronized response from the action team forcefully broke the eerie atmosphere, and everyone looked at Ling Mo with fervent excitement, waiting for his next words.
The fat guy also swung the camera over to them.
In the next moment, Ling Mo snapped his fingers.
Under the streetlights, all the members of the action team were suddenly enveloped in silver battle armor, radiating fierce and imposing energy in the gloom, creating a stark contrast to the members of the Ability Bureau nearby.
While the onlookers were stunned, it reminded everyone of the recent joke circulating online—“like a group of war gods.”
